I am Bast, Divine Mother of Cats,
daughter of Ra, Lord of the Sun.
My day side is pleasure, loving, and warmth,
but at night I defend the life of the Earth!

My sister is Sekhmet, Blazing Lioness of Strength,
daughter of Ra, Lord of the Sun.
Her day side is prowling and seeking fair game,
but at night She protects the daylight from death.

My sister is Hathor, Glorious Goddess of Beauty,
daughter of Ra, Lord of the Sun.
Her day side is love, lust, and adornment,
but at night She helps Father to win free to day!

Many are the names of His great, shining ship:
In the morning--Ma'atchet--"Day becomes strong."
In the evening--Semktet--"Day becomes weak."
But always it's Wia hehe--"the Boat of Million's of Years."

Many are the souls who ride on his ship:
The blessed dead who've followed the prescriptions for safety.
The dead poor who've no one wait, hoping for mercy.
The evil dead who've done wrong await soul's destruction.

Many are the neters who sail forth with Ra:
Neith in the West, Bast in the East,
Uatchet for the North, Nekhebet for the South.
Isis stands in the center, and Thoth brings his words.

Old Ra is Atum, the first neter and the last.
He sinks down to Amenti in the blood of his death.
He reaches the arret of the first Hour of Night
that lies between Manu, the twin hills of Sunset.

Wepwawet throws open the portals of Night.
Ra sails through and Mother Nuit swallows him down.
His blood fills the water, and swells the night flood,
'til the dark between the stars drowns it in dusk.

We mourn for old Atum in the second Hour of Night,
passing its portal on the flow of our tears.
The poor dead souls leave us to live in dusk's shadows
until Anubis leads them forth to find their own ways.

The daylight has dimmed; the Aten is in shadow.
We cannot see clearly what things lie ahead.
Anubis and Thoth prepare Atum's body,
wrapping the darkness like linen for his shroud.

A light grows ahead through the Third Gate of Night--
firelight seethes and burns on the waters!
Here stay the souls of the unquiet dead,
trying to hide from the shadows of their deeds.

In the Third Hour, here, we encounter our chief enemy.
Apep, the serpent, seeks to swallow the Sun Boat
so that all will be darkness and chaos will reign.
We fight him back briskly: Ma'at rules supreme.

The rowers fight through to the Fourth Gate of Night.
Bloody, but unbowed, Apep slinks out of sight.
Hathor weeps and watches over Atum's dead body,
while Nephthys guides the boat on into the darkness.

Sekhmet and I watch out for more serpents,
minions of Apep that slither through the sands.
Our duty lies in wakefulness, watching and waiting
for cats' eyes see best in the dark hours of night.

We pass the arret into the Fifth Hour of Night.
The boat runs aground as the river runs dry.
The riverbed still lingers as an old road before us:
dry as dust, dry as old tears--as cold as the grave.

Our companions leap overboard and seize the great ropes.
They groan as they drag the boat over the sands.
Slowly we slide forward, still in the darkness,
heaving our way toward the Sixth Gate of Night.

Horus awaits us to lead us to judgement:
the Sixth Hour sees Ra stand before great Osiris.
Anubis weighs Ra's heart in the scales of Ma'at
so that Thoth can record the day's deeds for eternity.

Here the blessed dead are led to their judgement.
One by one they come to stand before the Judge.
Pure heart and true voice ensure their rebirth,
coming forth to the new day in the new world that waits!

Atum's body is gone; all that's left is the Aten.
Dim but still shining, it seems like the Moon.
We sail again, slowly, into Night's seventh Hour.
Now is the time we must watch for our enemy.

Apep attacks us from out of the darkness.
We fight and we slash at his slithery minions.
Set spears Apep's heart; he retreats from the field.
The Boat moves forward toward safety and morning.

We arrive at the Eighth Hour, tired and sore,
pulling towards freedom through the shallows and marshes.
Slowly our boat traverses the nightmarish swamp,
lit only by faint, glowing false-lights that shimmer.

Wary, we watch for more sign of our enemy,
as we sail with our hopes and the ka of Ra's heart.
These hours are weary, cold, dark, and so lonely!
The only way out is forward; we cannot go back.

The Ninth Gate lets out onto a river of starlight.
Even the bright Aten is just another star now.
Stars swirl in the shimmer of the eternal Rostau;
our dazzled eyes seek our enemy--Apep is coming!

I see him, so does Sekhmet: the advantage of cat's eyes.
We yell forth our war cry--you hear it in the night.
We leap to the fray, and tear at our prey!
The battle is glorious; we get drunk on his blood.

In the Tenth hour, we rest ourselves panting on deck.
Isis sings to us gently, bathing our wounds.
Thoth shines his moonlight into the star shadows.
We sail the ancient River onward toward morning.

We sail along slowly, our senses navigating the shoals:
Sa'a senses shifting currents through soles of his feet.
Hu tastes the waters; its savors tell where we're going.
Ma'a looks ahead, while Setchem listens for the dawn birds.

The Eleventh Hour arrives as we pass through its portal.
The ka of Ra's heart is beginning to stir!
Apep strikes fiercely, his last chance before him.
Set, Sekhmet, and I leap at him, roaring our warning.

Fiercely we fight to shield the sacred magicians:
Isis and Hathor, Nephthys, Thoth and Anubis.
Their resonant hekau shiver over Ra's birthing,
shaping his form that will live out a new day.

Bloody, rejoicing, we rejoin the Great Boat.
Apep is vanquished this Night, torn into pieces.
We sail through the Gate of the Twelfth Hour of Night,
onward towards the morning. The Eastern Star is our guide.

The Twelfth Hour is cold; the wind dies down to nothing.
You can't tell that we're moving; the river is like glass.
We watch as the new God arises from his sleep.
Khepera now bears forth the ka of Ra's heart.

The twin hills of Morning, Bakhau, glow before us.
Ra's birth blood is coloring the skies of the world.
Shu lifts us up through the last passage from darkness.
Khepera rolls the Aten forth into the sky.

The others go their ways to their own day's amusements.
I know what's best--a nap in the sunshine!
Dreaming of loving and dancing and living,
I rest now for the next night's battle for Life.

The day passes in its Hours. They are never my worry.
Khepera becomes Ra; old Ra becomes Atum.
We sail forth to evening in the world's endless cycle:
the eternal, ethereal long night's journey into day.

About the Author: Michael A. Starsheen is an ordained priest in the Temple of Isis and the Fellowship of Isis. Michael put up what is believed to be the first ever FOI related website on the internet in late 1994. The website was titled after his FOI centre “Lyceum of Isis of the Stars.” It was primarily a teaching site for his lyceum. By early 1995 there were several pages on the site devoted to the Fellowship of Isis, including a copy of the Manifesto and detailed information about the Star of Ishtar Tiamat Dragon Diagram. He did it the hard way, because this was during the period when everything had to be programmed by hand - one pixel at a time. Michael is a skilled poet, writer, teacher and artist. You may view a new version of his Isis of the Stars Lyceum website here: http://www.isisofthestars.org/  If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the art displayed with this article, it is available at Michael's storefront at lulu.com. His storefront contains a listing of his current books, "Mythic Voices" and "Universal Alchemy" and other pieces of his artwork. www.lulu.com/Starsheen

Michael is a member of the ArchPriesthood Union, ArchDruid Union and Grand Commander Union of the Fellowship of Isis.

Copyright 2000, Michael A. Starsheen