Summoning Hathor By Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki This is a ritual for women. Hathor is particularly their goddess in the same way that Aphrodite is their goddess. She rules beauty of face and mind and character. She is the original Fairy Godmother giving gifts to the newborn. She is love in all its aspects. She is sevenfold in power: 1) Hathor as a beautiful girl.
2) Hathor as mature wife and mother.
3) Hathor as the older woman of wisdom.
4) Hathor as priestess.
5) The Hathor as the Goddess.
6) Hathor as the Sacred Prostitute. (This is not to be thought of as anything demeaning, for the Heterai were drawn from the most noble families.)
7) The Hathor as the Royal midwife. Hathor the Goddess, holds all these aspects within the One. This is not a long ritual but it has a special purpose to link all the women of the group with their animas through the Egyptian Goddess of Grace, Beauty and Passion. It is perhaps more of a celebration than a true ritual. It is best worked after midnight in the time of the full moon. First decorate the altar with Her colors of turquoise and rose, and adorn it with flowers and candles. There should be wine and small honey cakes and flower petals to strew over the altar. Then build up the image of Hathor Sevenfold, with a different woman speaking for each one. Use all your powers of imagery to build Her as given. The more detailed the image the better it will work. 1st Speaker:
I build Hathor the Goddess of Beauty and Youth. She is golden of skin and slender as the Nile reed that bends to the wind. Her waist is like the neck of a perfume jar smooth and curved. Her hair is unbound and flows like a black tide over her shoulders. Her hands and feet are narrow and painted with henna. Her breasts are young and firm. Black are Her eyes and soft as gazelles'. Her power is that of attraction. Her mouth is a pomegranate ripe and sweet. This is Hathor the Goddess of Beauty. All:
We praise Thee, Hathor, Goddess of Beauty. We welcome Thee. 2nd Speaker:
I build Hathor as Wife and Mother, one who knows the joys of the marriage bed, and the pains of birth. Her joys are those of the Giver of Hospitality, the Lady of the House, the Mother of the eldest child. She is the Maker of Bread and the Giver of Wine. Her power is that of comfort and compassion. Her hips are wide and her breasts are full, Her days are long and rewarding. This is Hathor the Goddess of Marriage and Connubial love. All:
We praise Thee, Hathor, Goddess of Marriage and Connubial love. 3rd Speaker:
I build Hathor as she is seen in the older woman. Her Youth and Beauty have gone, but they have left behind a different kind of Beauty. The fine lines on her face are like the finest linen, and as strong. She wears Her life as precious jewels, each one a year of Her life. Her laughter holds no malice for She is beyond the sword of jealousy. Strong and patient is the Hathor of the older women, and this is Her power for She is full of wisdom to share and to teach. This is the Hathor of age. All:
Praise to Hathor of the later years. 4th Speaker:
I summon Hathor the Priestess, She who guards the temple with the power of Ever-Creating Life. This is Hathor of the Sycamore Pillar. She who resides in the adytum of the temple. She is the guardian of the rites and chants, the temple dances and the wisdom of potions, oils and unguents. This is the Giver of Dreams and the Granter of Desires. Such is the Hathor who is the Priestess. All:
Praise to Hathor the Priestess. 5th Speaker:
I call upon Hathor the Goddess. She who wears the cow's head with the silver disk of the moon between Her horns. By the power of this disk She rules the ebb and flow of womanhood and the pull of desire between man and woman. As the Goddess She commands the womb to open and the child to come to birth. When the time is right, She seals that womb forever. This is the great Goddess Hathor. All:
Praise to Hathor the Goddess. 6th Speaker:
I build Hathor the Divine Prostitute, She who becomes the container of human desire. She is the dancer, the enchantress, the lover of human men. In the ancient temples She overshadowed the priestesses who gave Her their service and through them touched the lives and hearts of men, instilling in those able to reach Her the love of the anima. For them it was the Goddess in whose arms they lay at peace. In Her they found their true strength. This is Hathor the Prostitute. All:
Praise to Hathor the Temple Prostitute. 7th Speaker:
I summon Hathor the Midwife. She who enters the room when child is born. It is She, as Tuaret, who lifts the bed above the earth so they may be born out of time and space. It is She who gifts them seven time seven, though not all the gifts are welcomed. Hathor as Tuaret stands by every cradle, by every marriage bed, and every deathbed. For what is death but a different kind of birth. Such is Hathor the midwife. All:
Praise to Hathor-Tuaret the midwife. 1st Speaker:
Let us seek within for the Spirit of Womanhood and in looking upon it, search out that aspect of Hathor that it reflects. Not always will it show us the face we think it bears, but sometimes another and less welcome one. Let us light our candles from the Goddess' light and seek within for Her in Her true aspect. Silence for meditation. A bell is rung to warn you to return to full awareness. 2nd Speaker:
Sisters, let us praise the Goddess who is Sevenfold. All:
In beauty You walk, divine Hathor, and the birds of Amenti sing praises to your beauty. Your feet never press the smallest flower, but lightly touch it, and it blooms in praise to the Goddess. In the lovers couch, in the marriage bed, in the heat of love, You are there as the senses offer praise to the Goddess In the temple dance, in the song of the chantress we shall see you and sing praises to the Goddess. In youth and in maturity, in age and in the final days of life you are there. Praise be to the Goddess! Let us see with the eyes of Hathor, speak with Her breath, love with Her heart and dance in the Temple of Life in praise of Hathor the Goddess. 3rd Speaker:
Thou art the beauty of Egypt. Thou art the beloved of Horus. The passing of time has not diminished Thee. Thou art forever held in beauty. All:
Goddess of Beauty, Thou art forever held in Beauty. 4th Speaker:
Look upon those who praise Thee, Beauteous One. From the far future of your time we come to seek Thee. We make Thee offerings as did the women of ancient times. The 4th Speaker pours wine into Chalice and offers it up, sprinkles flower petals over altar. Walk the earth again, oh Hathor, that we, the women of this time may know Thee. All:
Walk the earth again, oh Hathor, that we may know Thee. 5th Speaker:
This land and these times, the worship of Egypt is different to the one You knew, but turn not Thy face from us in anger. Comfort the women who need Thee. Bring to them the sense of their own worth once more. Let them be free in their minds and their bodies. We who count ourselves their sisters ask this of Thee, Great Goddess. All:
Hathor, we ask this of Thee. 6th Speaker:
Lady of the Sycamore, we call to Thee to help us see with the inner eye and feel with the inner heart. We come in love and with reverence. Bless us we pray Thee, and those we hold dear. Bless the earth that once knew thy footstep. Return to us who call Thee, Great Goddess. All:
Return to us Great Hathor. 7th Speaker:
Let all be done according to Thy will, Great One. We do but ask like children for what we hope is right. In Thy wisdom let it be as Thou, the Goddess, shall will. All:
Let all be done according to the will of Hathor. 7th Speaker:
Let us share wine each woman with her sister. Let us embrace that we may feel the love of the Goddess within. Let us rest in each other's trust, knowing the inner peace of the heart. Take time for silence, sharing and maybe dancing. 1st Speaker:
O my sisters, let us depart on silent feet, with full hearts, loving thoughts, and gentle ways, knowing that we are under the hand of the Goddess Hathor. Praise be to Her name! Worldwide 1992, Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki | 
