Egyptian Goddess Taweret

A friend recently brought up the subject of fertility issues in the aspect of motherhood, not just abundance in life, so I was inspired to paint some unique Spiritkeepers™ Stones featuring the Egyptian Goddess Taweret, or The Great Female. Usually I pass my hand over a selection of rocks seeking the feel of energy for the image I want to create and will be lucky to find a single stone that's right for the job; in this case the blessing was a total of three pebbles volunteering to become representations of Taweret!

"Taweret (Taueret, Taurt, Toeris, Ipy, Ipet, Apet, Opet, Reret) - The Great Female - was the ancient Egyptian goddess of maternity and childbirth, protector of women and children. Like Bes, she was both a fierce demonic fighter as well as a popular deity who guarded the mother and her newborn child. She was depicted as a combination of a crocodile, a pregnant hippopotamus standing on her hind legs with large breasts and a lion. Unlike the composite demoness Ammut, her head and body were that of the hippo, her paws were that of the lion, and her back was the back of a crocodile." -- British Museum Glossary

Some of the many aspects associated with this Goddess are as follows...

• guardian of women and children


• a fierce protector


• giver of fertility


• pregnancy & motherhood


• guide & protector through childbirth & labor


• a good harvest


• help with female sexuality


• magical protection


• ward off evil & fight demons or negative ghost spirits


• a guide to souls of the dead and rebirth


• a loving household deity

This Goddess is a lesser known feature character in the famous Egyptian Book of the Dead, but I've most often seen depictions of Her on everyday items a woman might use such as vanity mirrors and drinking cups. She was also an important symbol to be included on birthing blocks; wood or stone blocks women stood upon while in labor to ease delivery of the baby. Lucky babies and children in Egypt would have some sort of amulet or talisman featuring a depiction of Taweret near the bed or on worn jewelry because being comprised of both the hippopotamus and crocodile Taweret is fiercely protective of offspring! When depicted standing in profile, She's often holding the sa, which is a hieroglyph of protection similar to the ankh hieroglyph of life. She was an important deity in Her day, and I feel that Her energy if called upon today could offer comfort and magical assistance to a woman in need.

The Taweret Spiritkeepers™ Stones I painted are currently available in my Etsy.com Curio Castle store, but if you're opposed to becoming a member of a shopping site you are welcome to contact me for direct purchase (Contact link tab). Make sure to include a return email address when contacting me so that I can get back to you with ease. If you stop by the store, I do hope you'll enjoy browsing the Taweret and many other one of a kind stones I have to offer!

* Taweret & other Egyptian deities to print & color yourself
http://karenswhimsy.com/egyptian-gods-goddesses.shtm

* The Book of the Dead, by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge
Download ebook for free from Project Gutenberg Literary Archive http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7145

Painted stone art work images, unless otherwise credited, copyright Tree Pruitt. Totem animal text information may not be used for profit.

Story Time Painted Stone

Peruvian Storyteller with Children; This rock had been a member of my studio space for a few years before I felt called to paint the unique Peruvian Storyteller design. Warm earth tones accent the friendly charm of this heartwarming Ayacucho storyteller and her young friends, including the white bird. Wearing traditional clothing of Peru, the expressive characters bring the design on the stone to life. It's hoped to be an inspiring piece reflecting family values, togetherness, and showcasing the age-old legacy of storytelling. Sized at three inches wide, three and a half inches long and standing at about one and a half inches high this one of a kind hand painted rock makes a perfect desktop paperweight or addition to any home decor.

The design is totally unique to this piece, and there is no pattern that exists. It was drawn directly onto the stone, then painted with quality acrylic paints. When I work with materials, especially rocks, I often get impressions or mental images. I feel that I tap into the energy of a stone, and we seem to exchange waves, or communicate. I interpret that energy, in combination with natural marks and bumps on the surface, to create the spiritual images that are Spiritkeepers Stones. I'm fully open to the concept that this process is simply my active imagination alone, but through my own experiments, I'm satisfied that I am communicating with the stone, or object, in most cases; my experience with this spiritual energy is perhaps akin to Remote Viewing. Some stones seem as if they've been assigned, or chosen, a spiritual job to do, and may need to find the person they are to do work for; That's where someone like me enters the picture. I am a helper to the stone along its path.

Now, this particular stone told me that it was very old and had journied far. Once it had been a giant boulder high up in the mist covered Olympic Mountains. It had slowly begun to shift its location on the mountain until it reached the river. Boulders and stones do this by altering the energy waves and weakening the soil structure around them. It doesn't damage or effect the health of the soil, but simply changes the energy waves; like giving a wiggle. Tiny wiggles eventually create a full move. It doesn't matter to most rocks how quickly the move occurs; time is a different matter to stone. By the time this particular stone reached the place where I found it, there was not more than a handful of the original boulder left; having been worn down from the river. I knew the slightly triangle shaped rock was more of a storyteller than most other stones, so decided upon the Native Peruvian storyteller woman as a motif. There is a strong connection to the heartbeat of the Earth inside her. Someone is in need of the gifts this stone has to offer ... is it you?

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• Shop for Spiritkeepers Hand Painted Totem Animal & Spiritual Stones http://www.mysticgriffin.com/

Other Storyteller Spiritkeepers Stones by Tree

* Kokopelli Dancing Spiritkeepers Stone #skko07

Patron of music, dance, creativity, storytelling, and abundance. Kokopelli compares somewhat to the Lakota Heyoka medicine person, or Sacred Clown, in that through entertainment and shock the people are distracted into learning lessons to take right action.

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~ Other Storyteller links ~

*Tim Sheppard’s Storytelling Resources for Storytellers http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/index.html

*A traditional tale from Peru, "The Fox and the Mole," from Latin American Tales, by Genevieve Barlow http://www.globaled.org/globalLiteracy/handouts/glHandout23A.html

*More about storytellers http://www.towson.edu/csme/mctp/StudentProjects/Storytellers/TitlePage.html

All art work images, unless otherwise credited, copyright Tree Pruitt. Text information may not be used for profit. Information about hand painted Spiritkeepers ™ stones & shells by WWAO artist, Tree Pruitt.

Peruvian Storyteller with Children

Warm earth tones accent the friendly charm of this heartwarming Ayacucho storyteller and her young friends, including the white bird. Wearing traditional clothing of Peru, the expressive characters bring the design on the stone to life. An inspiring piece reflecting family values and showcasing the age-old legacy of storytelling. Sized at three inches wide, three and a half inches long and standing at about one and a half inches high this Spiritkeepers Stone makes a perfect desktop paperweight or addition to your South American decor.

Great links of interest

*Tim Sheppard’s Storytelling Resources for Storytellers http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/index.html

*A traditional tale from Peru, "The Fox and the Mole," from Latin American Tales, by Genevieve Barlow http://www.globaled.org/globalLiteracy/handouts/glHandout23A.html

*More about storytellers http://www.towson.edu/csme/mctp/StudentProjects/Storytellers/TitlePage.html

*Shop for Spiritkeepers http://www.mysticgriffin.com/

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ABOUT THIS STONE

This rock had been a member of my studio space for a few years before I painted the Peruvian Storyteller design on it. A great friend had taken me to a river in Washington State to explore for the day. That's where I gathered the stone.

We had a wonderful time splashing around in the cold mountain water. It was salmon run season so we stayed close to shore; Some of those fish are nearly as big as myself and powerfully strong, so I had plenty of incentive to stay clear. At one point, I was standing in the water remembering all of the stories I'd read of magic fish raising up out of the waters surface to speak or even grant wishes, (wishes from fishes)! My imagination played with the idea of being a character in one of those stories. As I thought of the fish, a large shape to my left suddenly rushed at me! I squealed and ran for the shore as if in a Jaws movie. I thought one of those big salmon was coming to get me, so I ran for my life! I lost my footing on the rocks and went face first into the cold water! My friend was laughing at my "green horn" behavior and literally smacking his knee. You see, the sun had peeked out just enough to cast a cloud reflection in the water. The shape that came at me was a cloud reflecting in the rippling water! Of course I felt a fool, but I had to laugh too.

Before I pulled myself up out of the water, a single stone seemed to whisper to me -- "take me!", it called. I picked it up to have a look at my find. Well, some people say that true beauty is more than skin deep; it's deep inside. This was a plain white-ish stone; no crystal sparkles, no fossils, no scratches or breaks. I noticed the sort of triangular shape, and again the stone seemed to whisper, "yessss". So I opened myself to test the energy of the stone; the spiritual and/or physical energy it puts out. The rock seemed to tell me this was what it wanted.

My experience with this spiritual energy is somewhat akin to Remote Viewing, I think. As I tap into the energy of the stone, we exchange waves and I get impressions or mental images. I'm fully open to the concept that this process is simply my active imagination alone, but through my own experiments I'm satisfied that I am communicating with the stone or object in most cases. Now, this particular stone told me that it was very old and had journeyed far. Once it had been a giant boulder high up in the mist covered mountain. It had slowly begun to shift its location on the mountain. Boulders and stones do this by altering the energy waves and weakening the soil structure around them. It doesn't damage or effect the health of the soil, but simply changes the energy waves like giving a wiggle. Tiny wiggles eventually create a full move. It doesn't matter to most large rocks how quickly the move occurs; time is a different matter to stone. Some smaller stones might have care about time if they've been assigned a spiritual job to do. They may need to find the person they are supposed to work for; that's where someone like me enters the picture. I am a helper to the stone, and because I try to discern what it is they might like to do they reach out to me.

 

So this particular stone had been worn down from the move down the river. By the time it reach the place where I had found it there was not more than a handful of the original boulder left. The slightly triangle shaped rock was more of a storyteller than most other stones. I knew this stone had even more to tell. It has sat in my collection for some time now. I became sure that it was a storytelling stone so then decided upon the Native Peruvian storyteller woman as a motif. The feeling of someone calling is out there. Someone is in need of the gifts this stone has to offer. Is it you?