EQUINOX GODDESSES AND THE LAWS OF MA-AT

Autumn equinox: Day and night are of equal length everywhere on our planet as the sun leaves the sign of Virgo and enters the sign of Libra, the scales. Therefore it is an opportune time to balance body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Harvest begins as nature's energy shifts inward, preparing for sleep and rest. May we too complete summer's activities and begin to prepare for the quiet of winter.

Equal day and equal night.
Equal dark and equal light.
First the light and then the shade.
Out of these our lives are made.

In the Tarot pack, the card Justice represents balance. She lives in many cultures. She is the Greek Goddess Themis who holds the scales of truth. Themis, with the earth Goddess Gaia, was sacred at the famous oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece. Justice is also the Babylonian Goddess Tiamat who gave benevolent laws to the first kings, which were later rewritten under patriarchal influence.

The African Goddess Ma-at, who predates Greek culture by millenniums, holds the scales of truth. She balances the heart of the deceased against the weight of her ostrich feather to determine a heart light with spirit or heavy with hatred. In Egyptian hieroglyphs, her feather means the word “truth.” Ma-at was worshipped wherever truth was perceived. Here are her laws. May we live by them:

I have not been a person of anger. I have done no evil to humanity. I have not inflicted pain. I have made none to weep. I have done violence to no one. I have done no harm to animals. I have not robbed the poor. I have not fouled water. I have not trampled fields. I have not behaved with insolence. I have not judged hastily. I have not stirred up strife. I have not made any person to commit murder for me. I have not insisted that excessive work be done for me daily. I have not borne false witness. I have not stolen land. I have not cheated in measuring the bushel. I have allowed no person to suffer hunger. I have not increased my wealth except with things as are my own possessions. I have not wrongfully seized the property of others. I have not taken milk from the mouths of babes.” (Adapted from The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara Walker.)