God Weret Hekau

Weret Hekau (Urthekau)

Weret Hekau aka Urthekau was a ancient Egyptian goddess depicted as a lioness headed goddess and sometimes as a snake with a woman’s head. In Egyptian mythology she was associated with protection and divine authority

She was particularly the wife of Re Horakhty the sun god often depicted with his symbol the sun disc on her head and a cobra Weret Hekau was a protector of the sun god and a wet nurse to the pharaohs.

The pharaohs who derived their power from divine lineage saw Weret Hekau as a maternal figure whose connection to the previous king’s Great Wife proved their right to rule This led to the myth that the queen became the goddess when she gave birth to the next pharaoh a myth famously used by Hatshepsut to justify her reign as a female pharaoh

The name Weret Hekau means great magician she was associated with magic spells and protective rituals. Some scholars think she might have been an aspect of the goddess Isis due to the similarities in their roles and attributes.

As a deity who could take the form of a lion or a snake Weret Hekau was also associated with other Egyptian goddesses like Wadjet and Sekhmet particularly in the Eye of Ra narratives which symbolized divine protection and justice.

Her influence extended beyond mythology into funerary practices where her name and the symbol of a snake appeared on magical weapons buried with the deceased to protect them in the afterlife. Ivory knives with her name were used to protect pregnant and nursing women.