The Goddess Seshat was related to Thoth, the God of wisdom and learning, who brought writing and Hieroglyphs to the Egyptian people. Most accounts consider Seshat to be Thoth’s daughter, but sometimes she is seen as a consort sister or wife instead. As a goddess in her own right, Seshat was tasked with presiding over all that was written. She ruled the entire domain of the written word, overseeing its use in the mortal world, the celestial heavens, and the realm of the dead.

Seshat was also known as “she who is foremost in the library” (Handbook of Egyptian Mythology by Geraldine Pinch), given she was the collector and cataloguer of all the works stored within. Libraries were vital institutions in Egyptian life, so much so that the literal translation from the hieroglyph for library is the House of Life. This institution was not only where all of the important and sacred texts were kept; but it was in the House of Life that scribes and scholars would meet to discuss concepts such as religion, cosmology, astronomy and mathematics.

The texts Seshat collected in her libraries on earth were also mirrored and collected in the celestial House of Life in the heavens. Here, texts were given immortality through their eternal storage in this heavenly library. This meant scribes could earn themselves a form of immortality via their words if Seshat retained them in her collections- a blessing for any writer who manages to impress the Goddess.

As well as collecting works, Seshat also took on the role of a scribe alongside Thoth. The Egyptians saw writing as a form of magic, believing that if something could be created in the form of the written word, it could also manifest into the world through the word as a medium, something that holds true for many magical systems to this present day.

Seshat’s work as a scribe also meant recording and tallying the passing of years, and she is often depicted holding a palm frond which she marks with notches to designate the passage of time. In his article “Seshat and the Pharoah” Egyptologist Gerald Avery Wainright notes how her role as tally master also connected her to Sed festivals, significant jubilee celebrations conducted to commemorate 30 years of a Pharoah’s rule. Seshat, as the marker of time, was the goddess that recorded the Pharoah’s rule and therefore became a major deity involved with these lavish ceremonies. Sed festivals were important, both marking a long rule, but also the help reassert authority as the Pharoah aged. If a ruler made it to their first Sed festival, they would then be held every 3-4 years to continue to show the ruler still retained the favour of the gods through their aging years. Wainright also puts forward a theory that prior to the Old Kingdom, Seshat was even more revered, and that as well as counting the Pharaoh’s living years, she controlled the allotment of them, i.e., how long the Pharoah would live.

Seshat also functions as a psychopomp, a guide in the underworld. As the keeper of books, she was also associated the with funerary texts which were central to ancient Egyptian religion and burial rites. In this form, Seshat could assist the newly dead in interpreting the spells written down in their own Book of the Dead, especially given that the books were unique and often varied in which spells they contained. In this role Seshat functioned by helping them to navigate safely through their underworld passage and into the afterlife. This idea of a psychopomp is also echoed in Seshat’s iconography – she is often depicted wearing leopard hide, traditionally symbolic of funerary priests in ancient Egypt.

Seshat marking her palm frond, carved on the back of the throne of a statue of Rameses II.

Another vital task Seshat performed was helping the Pharaoh in the ceremonial laying of the knotted cord. The knotted cord was a device used in Ancient Egypt by builders and served a purpose in measuring out foundations and aligning with the sacred geometry of the heavens above. This ceremonial task was known as the Stretching of the Cord and expanded Seshat’s patronage to builders as well. In ancient Egypt, building and writing were seen as intimately related processes; after all, they both involve the conception and creation of something that has not existed before. This is a poetic understanding of the process of writing as well as architecture, though it could be extended to any of the arts.

So, the next time you are writing or building something from nothing, remember the Goddess Seshat and hope that she smiles upon you.