Bast is a Egyptian goddess of cats and in legend the daughter of Re. Queen of all cats, including those of Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus. Also spelt Bubaste and Ubaste. The name is sometimes connected with Sekhmet and linked with the goddess Mut. Bast is also linked with ghouls by some Saracen sorcerers, who call her "the Chewer of Corpses". A ghoul-cult to Bast fled from the Middle East to Cornwall where they established a secret temple.
It is speculated that Bast qualifies as an Elder God due to H.P. Lovecraft's feline obsession and because of hints given in Lovecraft's "The Cats of Ulthar". She appears as a female human with a cat's head or a regular cat in Egyptian mythology. Robert Bloch clearly inserts this goddess into the Mythos in his fiction.
Another spelling of her name is Bastet, but due to the way the Egyptian language works it does not change the pronunciation. The additional 'et' ending is added merely to emphasize the t in her name which denotes that she is female.
Bast (Goddess of Cats or Pasht) appears as a female human with a cat's head. Likely named after the ancient Egyptian goddess Bastet.
Associations: Fertility, family, pregnancy, cats, love, motherhood, music, joy, perfumes, protection, the moon, the sun, health, physical pleasure, sexuality, war, fire, home, pharaohs, secrets, thieves, fire fighters, red, relationships, snakes and pests, etc
Offerings: lotus flowers, incense (daily), perfumes, a statue of her, food, candles, etc.
Ritual Idea: for those seeking to have children, wear a necklace with her on it and for however many kids you desire (for example, 2) place that many kittens with Bast (2 kittens = 2 kids)
Husband (in some scripts): Anubis
Son: Nefertem
Father: Ra
Mother: Isis
Bastet was worshipped in lower Egypt in the town of Bubastis (now destroyed though it was once considered the most beautiful temple in the world!) as a caring goddess with the head of a cat and body of a woman or as a female cat adorned with jewelry such as a necklace and golden earring (originally a lion in the old kingdom). In upper Egypt, they worshipped a more violent goddess named Sekhmet who had a lion's head and was associated with war and disease. Cats were revered as the goddess herself and were worshipped. More than 300,000 mummified cats were excavated as a result since they were so beloved. Only the wealthy were allowed in her temples hence many people making small shrines of their own. The goddess was often depicted holding a sistrum, a rattle used as a musical instrument. Her festivals were for adults only and can be compared to Mardi Gras or Carnivale to a degree. She was thought to be bisexual as she had 3 husbands but was said to have been with females and males before.
Lessons
Embrace femininity, relax, embrace luxury, don't be put down by others opinions, accept the true nature of things, accept ourselves, be free, be yourself, be independent, be "eternal"
Prayer
Beloved Bastet, mistress of happiness and bounty, twin of the Sun God, slay the evil that afflicts our minds as you slay the serpent Apep. With your graceful stealth anticipate the moves of all who perpetrate cruelties and stay their hands against the children of light. Grant us the joy of song and dance, and ever watch over us in the lonely places in which we must walk - Ancient Egyptian Prayer to the Goddess Bastet
The root of Bast's name is 'bas', an ointment jar, so it would appear that the name Bast or Bastet means something like 'She of the ointment jar'; which is just one interpretation. A 'bas' jar has been placed in the Ished Tree as a representation of Bast's name, but also as an embodiment of Her power, Her fiery nature, which has always been very solar, associated with Ra the Sun-God.
Bast is called the 'Eye of Ra', and in this She takes upon Herself the role of the destructive or defensive power of Ra, which shoots out as fire to incinerate the enemies of the Sun-God. The 'bas' jar here has been very faithfully modeled upon the hieroglyph for ointment jar, which itself was modeled after a specific type of alabaster jar with its tightly sealed lid.
ater on, Bast's association with the domestic cat came to dominate Her iconography, and because that is the aspect of Her that contemporary devotees gravitate towards, She has been depicted here in Her cat form.
The intimate relationship of Bast with Ra is spelled out in the presence of the large Wedjat Eye, its falcon talon reaching out to exchange a blessing of power with the Goddess. The Wedjat Eye is always used as a symbol of solar power, and in this instance it is used to denote the creative power of Ra as the originator of the cosmos.
The Goddess carries upon Her head the disk or face of the Sun, which the Egyptians used as a determinative for the name of Ra. In fact, the name of Ra can be written with just the solar disk, having a dot in the center. To accomplish this, a sumptuous Indian star ruby has been placed in the center.
Foremost of Bast's symbols, and the primary symbol used in all ancient images of the Goddess, is the Sistrum, which the Egyptians called sesheshet, a ceremonial rattle beloved of the Gods. This is a highly charged ritual object used first and foremost by chantresses or priestess singers in the temples. Bast seems to have been associated with music and the joy it brings from almost the beginning of Her iconography, and is practically inseparable from it; so, in this icon of Her we see the Sistrum as an embodiment of Her power and the light She brings. Notice how the multicolored flames shoot out from the base of the rattle and writhe upward. These can be thought of as music, as the sacred power being produced as the Goddess flicks Her wrist back and forth to create the rattling sound.
Two of the other important symbols of Bast are the menat necklace and the aegis or sacred shield. The menat is a heavily beaded ritual object closely associated with the adoration of goddesses such as Hathor and Bast, and was used as a form of rattle, having a counterweight at one end that was held by priestesses. Bast holds a menat decorated with golden lotus leaves and a sixteen-petaled rosette, in the center of which has been placed a ruby-coloured Austrian crystal. Two strings of beads connect the menat to the aegis-shield, which has at its center a tiny image of Bast as a lioness, paying tribute to Her roots.
The hieroglyphs framing the Goddess read: Bastet the Great, Bastet Who is the Great Enchantress. Bastet the Lady of Heaven, Who is Mistress of Illumination, the beautiful of face as the Eye of Ra.
Now, this isn't to say that there cannot be times when the actions of Mythos entities might 'benefit' the Investigators in the short term. In the past, The Yithians, the Elder Things, Nodens, Bast, Hypnos, the Mordiggian Ghouls, and others have been cast as potential allies of sorts. But remember, each and every one of these entities A) Have their own Agenda, B) Are immortal and have aeons to enact their plans, and C) Are fundamentally outside and beyond human understanding. While they might take some action or even provide some boon to the Investigators, it is not out of sympathy or any inherent good that they do so. It merely benefits their plan in some way. The humans only get to see a tiny, tiny portion of that plan, and it might seem beneficial to them in that extreme short term.
I've used Bast as a possible ally for investigators before. Even then, I've always been careful to portray her as capricious, playful and potentially cruel, much like a cat.
Even when investigators manage to strike alliances with inhuman and powerful forces, they should never feel like they are in control of the situation. An ill-judged ally may be even more dangerous than a powerful enemy.
Bastet is the Ancient Osirian goddess of cats, desire, sensuality, and secrets. She protects against epidemics, evil, and snakes. She is usually relaxed and indolent, but Bastet's anger can be terrible.[1]
Relationships
A Family Tree of the Osirian Pantheon.
Bastet is the daughter of Ra and sister of Hathor, Sekhmet, and Maat. She has often faced off against Apep on her father's behalf. Bastet has no mate, but her affairs with numerous other deities are well-documented.[1]
Cults
Bastet is the patron of rogues and bards. She is particularly popular among women, and most of her clerics are female. They usually keep cats as pets, and when these cats die, they are mummified and buried with their owners.[1]
Bastet's temples host elaborate, decadent festivals, and are home to sacred prostitutes of both sexes.
Titles The Sly Enchantress
Alignment Chaotic neutral
Areas of Concern Cats, pleasure, secrets
Domains (1E) Animal, Chaos, Charm, Protection, Trickery
Subdomains (1E) Deception, Defense, Fur, Lust, Protean, Thievery
Favored Weapon Cat's claws (tekko-kagi)
Symbol Golden cat
Sacred Animal Cat
Sharess (pronounced: /ˈʃɑːrɛs/ SHAH-ress[9]) was the deity of hedonism, festhalls and sensual fulfillment. She had the individualistic and hedonistic personality of a feline and she was constantly grooming herself to ensure her appearance was always up to standards. Sharess was an innate flirt and loved toying around with beautiful mortals; once she had her fill, she swiftly moved on to other sources of pleasure.[9] She was known in the Mulhorandi pantheon as Bast.[1]
Relationships Edit
As Bast, she opposed the evil Set along with the other good-aligned gods of that nation. She had a close relationship with Nobanion, who shared her interest in felines, though Sharess did as much to annoy him as she did to entice him. She also had a romantic relationship with Anhur, though their opinion of each other varied wildly from absolute love to indifference depending on how many fights that they had.[9]
Church of Sharess Edit
The Church of Sharess was of casual nature, and her clergy were responsible for the running of many festhalls found throughout large cities in Faerûn. These festhalls sought to indulge every pleasure imaginable. Privately owned festhalls usually employed at least one or two Sharessan clerics.[9]
The Church of Sharess probably celebrated the most festivals out of all the faiths of Faerûn. These revels were known collectively as the Endless Revels of Life. Even daily events, such as the rising and setting of the sun, presented a chance for Sharessans to revel. Their most beloved festival was the Midsummer's Eve festival, where the pursuit of pleasure had no boundary.[9]
Sharessan clerics prayed for their spells at dusk.[9]
CelebrantOfSharess
A Celebrant of Sharess.
Affiliated OrdersEdit
Sharess didn't have any orders as such, but a group of werecats devoted to both her and Selûne, and calling themselves the Eyes of the Evening, hunt down Sharran cultists on nights of the full moon.
Description
Bast appears as a dark-skinned human woman with the head of a cat, though she can appear as any feline of any size. She is a wild deity; to those she favors she gives great blessings, but when she is angry her wrath knows no bounds. Her portfolio includes protection (as a mother protects her children) and the punishment of wrongdoers.[2] Bast was known as Anhur's lieutenant in the eternal struggle against Set. She is also the patroness of cats, revered for their ability to keep rats from the precious grain of the Mulhorandi people and their eternal vigilance against Set's serpents and scorpions.[1] Due to her influence, cats are accorded special reverence, and mistreating a feline invites the wrath of the goddess on the perpetrator.[2]
Dogma
To speak of dogma in connection with Bast is almost contradictory. Bast is a chaotic, often whimsical deity who demands no rigid adherence to principles of faith. In general, she promotes life and liberty, asserting the value of mortal life, things of beauty, and freedom from oppressive regulation. Bast hates evil, particularly Set and his followers, and people who worship Bast generally share that enmity.[2] Many of her followers are both seducers and warriors, hedonists and pious champions of good, believing that evil is the enemy and that pleasure is to be enjoyed and shared with all as an act of good.[4]
Clergy and Temples
Bast's clerics wear white robes and shave their heads if they are male. Clerics of Bast are charged to remain constantly vigilant against the forces of evil, as a cat watches for vermin invading the home. They often serve as the voice of the common people among the Pharaonic clergy, who are so often obsessed with royalty and the orderly function of government that they may forget those they serve. Most of Bast's clerics are female.[2]
Bast's temples follow the general layout of most Pharaonic temples. The goddess is also revered at countless small shrines and household altars.[2]