Seshat, Scribe of Destiny and Foundations
January's badass goddess, setting intentions and laying foundations...
In ancient Egypt, Seshat was the goddess credited with inventing writing. Her name means the “female scribe,” and she is the keeper of the word, the master architect of written language, and record-keeping.
She is considered the female counterpart, maybe the consort or daughter, of the god Thoth, who ruled over similar domains, and was said to have given writing to mankind.
Seshat played a role in the ancient ritual of “stretching the cord” to place the temple foundations, so she’s also associated with architecture, surveying, and astronomy.
She was the keeper of the histories for the powerful pharaohs, recording their victories, progenies, and other details of their reigns.
Also known as the “Lady of the Library” or “Keeper of the Books,” two excellent titles I wouldn’t mind having myself. Through Seshat’s writings, human deeds were recorded for eternity in her celestial library, granting them a kind of immortality.
At this time of year, Seshat is the perfect goddess to keep in mind as we prepare to turn the page to a new year. Recording the events of the past year has ancient roots, whether we’re taking stock of what we’ve done, posting “best of” lists or sharing our Spotify: Wrapped.
New Year’s Intentions
No sooner have we wrapped the year, we find ourselves looking down the barrel of a new one. Some people set goals and make resolutions, start gym memberships, or take a month off drinking.
I’ve never been one for making grand resolutions for the new year. If I want to do something, I just try to do it. If it becomes too onerous, I make excuses. This year, I’m doing something a little different.
Saturn Rituals
Last month, Alison Price and I celebrated our 200th episode of the Starzology podcast with family, friends, and fans of the show. One of our great friends gifted us each with a ritual for setting Saturn intentions.
In each bag were three stones (we both had mookite jasper for vitality, lotite for path navigation, and I had garnet for passion rooted in grounding), a three-legged pig, a coin, a glass bottle, a leather bookmark, three colored candles (mine were purple for power, pink for playfulness, and lavender for peace), a bar of slate-colored, scented soap and a tube of artisanal toothpaste.
The Instructions:
Write 13 intentions on individual pieces of paper. They should all be things you truly wish to accomplish, but make sure that they are benign enough to offer them in sacrifice to Saturn (more on this later). Fold them so you don’t know what is written inside.
On the first day that the sun enters Saturn’s domain of Capricorn (December 22), burn one of the intentions. You are offering this intention as a sacrifice to win Saturn’s favor. Continue to burn one each day for a total of twelve days, leaving one behind.
On the twelfth day, smash your stones (three stones pictured above) with a hammer and place them in Saturn’s vessel (the glass bottle). Place the vessel on top of a mirror, marked with Saturn’s sigil (glyph). Be sure to place it in a space that can remain free of disruption until the sun exits Saturn’s domain, the first day of Pisces (February 19).
Light the candles, representing yourself, and allow them to burn until the flame is extinguished on its own. Read the last remaining intention aloud and place it into Saturn’s vessel.
Place the three-legged pig and coin atop of the mirror because everyone requires fortune to be blessed by Saturn’s presence. This reminds me of the coins placed on the eyes of the dead as payment to cross the river Styx into the realm of the afterlife.
Place the leather bookmark, a symbol of a far away place, to show Saturn how far your intentions reach. (Leather is one of Saturn’s favorite materials on earth because it symbolizes the cost of life and life’s contributions to others’ needs.)
Practice self care and patience (represented by the soap and toothpaste), and work hard, paying respect to Saturn during his yearly reign, until the sun moves from Aquarius into Pisces. If you gain Saturn’s grace, he will grant you support to accomplish your last remaining intention.
13 Wishes
As you can probably imagine, I had a lot of follow up questions! Most of them were about what kinds of intentions to set. I could barely think of three intentions, and none that I was willing to sacrifice to Saturn. I was thinking too much like a Virgo.
Don’t make them things you’re already doing (exercise, make art, do well at your job), my friend advised. Make them things that are just out of reach, more like wishes than intentions.
Like, send me someone to teach me a new skill. Give me the extra push I need to accomplish something that’s been on the back burner, but that wouldn’t be soul sucking if I didn’t get it.
With that guidance, I was able to write down 13 things, but it still took me a couple of days of thinking, which was a novel kind of ritual all it’s own, for someone who has never been a new year’s resolution kind of girl.
Ritual Origins
Some of you may be wondering about the roots of this ritual, so here are some of the takeaways from my conversations with my friend about its origins.
It is loosely based on a yule tradition called the Rauhnächte ritual, but adapted for an astrological belief system with Saturn as the gatekeeper and many other elements incorporated.
The selection of candles comes from candle magic studies, with the colors representing the performer of the ritual and the burning of the candles representing time and sacrifice. Fire is also needed for burning the 13 wishes.
The crystal selection comes from crystal magic studies, which draws energies of support to the ritual. The destruction of something beautiful, in this case the crystals, is an effort to demonstrate sacrifice (both of something material as well as the effort), demonstrating your commitment to the transmutation of your final intention.
Mirrors reflect energies back into the world, but they can also act as a portal. Marking the mirror with Saturn’s sigil/glyph is reflecting that energy or transporting that energy directly to Saturn.
This is a pact with Saturn, symbolizing time, traditions, sacrifice, and hard work. Saturn loves ritualistic behavior (tradition) and destruction (in an anarchy sort of way), as well as labor and sacrifice. Saturn rules Capricorn and Aquarius in traditional astrology, so that is the duration of the ritual.
Turning the Page
I’m five days into the ritual now, having folded my 13 intentions/wishes and placed them in my alien mug. I shake them up and remove one every day, then burn it with a match over the stove.
I’m still overthinking my 13 wishes, wondering if I should have included this or that instead, but maybe that’s half the ritual. Just the act of writing down what you want to accomplish, and what you need help with (from Saturn, the universe, some as-yet-unknown mentor, or whatever) is ritualistic, and focuses the mind.
Seshat would agree, writing is powerful, whether it’s history, intentions, speculations, love letters, or summaries of your favorite TV shows and podcasts of the year.
Even if the last wish left unburnt on the 12th day is something I will wish were something else, this was a great exercise in thinking differently about goals and intentions.
Another question I asked (for someone new to rituals and only a little bit superstitious) is, what happens to the other 12 wishes? Are they out of reach forever once you sacrifice them? Oh no, my friend assured me, nothing is permanent with Saturn… Arguably, nothing is permanent with anything.
And with that, I committed fully to the ritual.
I hope you find some fun and interesting ways of thinking differently during this liminal time between Christmas and New Year’s. We’ll have an entire episode of the Starzology podcast about this ritual in the coming months, so be sure to check it out.
Friends and family at Relish the Pub, celebrating 200 episodes.
Thanks for reading, everyone!