Serqet was the scorpion-goddess of ancient Egypt — the goddess of protection, healing, and the cure of venomous stings and bites, who guarded against scorpions and snakes and protected the dead, and who was one of the four great goddesses who watched over the canopic jars and the body of the deceased. The healer of the sting, she turned the deadly scorpion into a protective and curing power.
The Scorpion-Goddess
Serqet (Egyptian Serqet, also Selket, Selqet) was depicted as a woman with a scorpion upon her head (the scorpion shown with its tail raised, ready to sting), or sometimes as a scorpion itself. Her name is connected to the idea of “causing to breathe” or “she who tightens the throat” — for the scorpion's sting could constrict the breath and kill, but the same goddess could also loosen the throat and allow breath, healing the sting. She thus embodied both the danger of the scorpion's venom and the power to cure it — the deadly sting and its remedy in a single goddess.
The Healer of Stings and Bites
Serqet was, above all, the goddess of protection against and healing of venomous stings and bites — from scorpions, snakes and other poisonous creatures, which were a constant and serious danger in Egypt. Her priests were healers and magicians who specialised in treating scorpion stings and snakebites, working through her power; to be a “follower of Serqet” was to be a physician-magician skilled in curing venom. She protected against the dangerous creatures and cured those who were stung or bitten, holding the power over the venom that could kill or, if she willed, be neutralised. She was invoked for protection from these deadly creatures and for the healing of their attacks.
The Guardian of the Dead
Serqet was one of the four great protective goddesses — with Isis, Nephthys and Neith — who guarded the dead and the sacred canopic jars that held the embalmed organs of the deceased. Serqet specifically watched over the jar holding the intestines (protected by the son of Horus named Qebehsenuef), and she spread her protective arms (often shown with outstretched winged arms) over the corpse and the canopic shrine, guarding the deceased in the tomb. The four goddesses together formed a protective circle around the dead, and Serqet's fierce scorpion-power was turned to the defence of the deceased against all dangers in the afterlife. She also helped protect the young Horus in the marshes, healing him when he was stung.
The Power Over Venom
Serqet endures as the scorpion-goddess of ancient Egypt — the goddess of protection and healing, the curer of venomous stings and bites, the guardian of the dead and the canopic jars. She embodies the Egyptian way of confronting deadly dangers by making them divine and protective — turning the feared scorpion into a goddess who could cure as well as kill; and she stands among the great protective goddesses of Egypt, her scorpion-power guarding the living from venom and the dead in their tombs, the healer who held the deadly sting and its remedy alike in her hands.
The scorpion-goddess who holds both the deadly sting and its cure — the healer of venom who guards the living against scorpions and snakes and shelters the dead with her outstretched arms.