In the ancient Egyptian culture, the gods could indwell one another, where the power of one would manifest through the personality of another, while being a distinct, unique deity, then, still. If something is written as, like, sun-god, or is hyphenated, it usually means that it is both the god of the object, and the object, such as, the sun, it's self, and the object is the god, or is part of the god's being. You could say something like, "I washed in the goddess Tefnut [the goddess of rain, purifications, and moisture] and she made me pure," when you just bathed, for instance, and hence, the physical is viewed as a part of the divine, then. The ancient Egyptians had a very clean, ordered culture, much like in modernized countries, today, and they had large, clean temples, like you could say we have today. However, Spirit was seen in everything -- in animals (and hence, the symbolism used, of animal-headed gods), plants, people, activities, celestial objects (the sun, and the stars, for instance), and so on -- and nothing was believed to happen without Spirit and religion being a major part of it, even in all daily life, every day.

Names were extremely important in ancient Egypt, and no one used their original name because it was thought that if someone had your "true" name, then, they could curse you and afflict you with anything, and any variety of spells. On a more positive note, saying or chanting the name of the goddess "Isis," is, or can be, a prayer in it's self, as, too, could be the name of any revered deity, with the proper intention and focus.

* See the About Wicca and Paganism page (aboutwp.htm), for more info on "god concepts."

Note: some of the things they said the gods did in stories and legends, were examples of what people should not do, like inverted parables, or something like that.

Also, legends vary. And, many remote towns (and perhaps, individual families) had their own gods, too, in addition to the main gods, hence, thousands of gods, at least, were revered, and so, one can't name them all, and they're not all remembered, anymore.

Interesting quote: "All gods are one God, and all goddesses are one Goddess, and These, too/two, are One."

Also, every god and goddess, usually, in the ancient Egyptian pantheon (group of gods) is shown carrying an ankh, the symbol of Life, a looped cross, and sometimes bestowing ankhs (symbols of life), hence, life, on their worshippers, especially like Ra or Amun, or Isis, or Hathor.

Amaunet -- a mother goddess type of deity, and wife of Amun (in certain areas Mut was his wife, instead)

Amen, or Amon -- see *Amun, below; a creator-god; god of the life-force; the name or word "Amen," means, "The Hidden One," and of course the occult deals with mysteries or things hidden (hint: usually in plain sight)

Amun (pronounced "Ah-moon") -- the creator god, husband of Mut (pronounced "Moot"), god of life, sometimes a sun-god, or moon-god (Note: Ka was the Egyptian name for the vital force of life.)

Amun-Ra ("Ah-moon-Rah") -- the sun-god/creator-god, the power of the creator manifesting through the personality of the sun-god; see *Amun

Anubis ("An-noo-biss") -- his Egyptian name is Anupu; guide of journeys, protector, comforter, benevolent god of the dead, god of gateways, travels; son of Osiris and Nephthys; depicted with the head of a jackal, or as a jackal; guardian of his aunt and step-mother, Isis; protected the dead from the second death in the Underworld (which, the Underworld had good and bad parts to it); Anubis is very strong, protective, you can rest in his arms; god of funerary arts and embalming; associated with the Necropolis, which is the ancient Egyptian word for cemetery

Anuket -- goddess despenser of cool water; wears a feather on her human head; companion of Khnum and Sati; a sort of gazelle goddess (the animal, a gazelle), too

Apep -- the monster thing of the Underworld; devoured the souls of the dead found unworthy (in the Weighing of the Hearts in the Scales of Truth ceremony) to enter heaven and be with Osiris

Apophis -- the serpent of chaos, not very nice, appearantly; well, I can either think of Harry Potter, or Stargate SG-1, here!

Atum ("Ah-toom") -- a creator-god, like Amun, and closely linked with Amun/Amen/Amon

Bast, or Bastet, or Ubasti -- goddess of home, hearth, cats, protection; depicted/shown as a cat, or as having a human body with the head of a cat; wife of Ptah; mother of the lion-god Mihos, or Mahes; daughter of Ra, or sometimes, of Amun; sometimes seen as the more peaceful side of the fire goddess, Sekhmet, who's shown as a lionness; though, Bast is occasionally associated with the Eye of Ra

Bes -- a dwarf god, or depicted as a short god, who was the protector of children, though, originally, of the Royal family of Egypt, generally with a happy and benevolent demeanor; guards against "evil" spirits and misfortune; a household deity; helped the goddess Taweret in childbirth; was shown rather ugly (and very much armed with swords, etc., though, also, musical instruments) to scare off nasty spirits

The Eight, Primordial Deities -- the eight beings/gods that first appeared on a mound of earth (sometimes a pyramidal stone, called the Ben-ben stone) appearing out of the oceans, on which the creator god (usually Ra, or with help from Thoth) first stood and created; they are: Heq and Heqet, god and goddess of immortality, Nun (pronounced "Noon") and Naunet, of the primeval waters, Amun and Amaunet (or Amen and Amenet), of the creative power, and Kek and Keket (or Kau and Kauket), of the darkness "before time" (primordial darkness, like outer space; nothing to do with evil)

The Four Sons of Horus -- like guardians of the four elements; but they are gods, and protectors; can be invoked in a magick circle/ritual in that way, for protection; Quebsennuf ("Keb-snoof"; hawk-headed god) in/at the East, Duamutef (or Dua; pronounced, "Dwa-mu-tef"; jackal-headed) in the South, Imsety (human-headed) in the West, and Hapi ("Hah-pi"; baboon-headed) in the North.

Geb ("Geeb" with a long "E", and a hard "G," sounds), or Seb -- the earth-god; here the Earth is seen as masculine, whereas, you usually hear of the Earth Mother; husband of Nuit; father of Isis, Osiris, Nephthys, Set; and of Horus the Elder

Hapi ("Hah-pi") -- different from Horus's son, Hapi; this Hapi is the god of the rising Nile River in flood, at the New Year, and therefore, a little linked to the star-goddess, Sothis, at least in those type of rites; he's a fertility; depicted with pendulous breasts; he lives in a cave most of the year (when the Nile's not flooding)

Harpocrates ("Har-poc-cra-tees") -- or Horus the Child, a god of silence, often shown holding a finger to his lips in the "shhhh" or "hush" gesture, or shown suckling milk from his mother, Isis's, breasts

Hathor -- goddess of the sky, of heaven, of sex, alcohol, dance, foreign lands, motherhood, lactation, love, nursing a child, beauty, nurturing, and beer, sometimes of the sun, or the moon; sometimes the mate of Horus; depicted (shown in art) with the head of a cow, the horns, though, being more of a lunar symbol; goddess of beauty; sometimes offered libations (offerings) of milk in a special bowl

Heqet ("Heck-ket") -- frog goddess and goddess of immortality and fertility; depicted with the head of a frog; her male consort/mate/companion is Heq

Horus -- falcon-headed or hawk-headed god of victory, god of light, the sky, the sun; Horus the child is son of Isis and Osiris, and Horus the Elder is usually the brother of those two, instead, and is the son of Nut and Geb, then, therefore; he is sometimes the mate of Hathor; son of Isis and Osiris; "the divine and conquering child"; the Eye of Horus, his Eye, a magickal talisman and symbol, is often seen as the Moon, which is his good eye or left eye, here, and in some rites his eye is that which destroys evil; if you call on Isis and Horus to protect you, you need not ever be concerned that your enemies would prevail over you

Imhotep ("Im-ho-tep") -- his name "em hotep" means "in peace"; god of peace, and of high priests, and of those "second-in-command," and of solar/sun powers, magick, healing, physicians, cures; I always think of "The Mummy Returns" movie (2001), but the god Imhotep is much more benevolent/helpful

Isis ("Eye-sis") -- an OverAll Goddess; Lady of Peace; She of Ten Thousand Names; Egypt's foremost goddess, worshipped all over the world for millenia (thousands of years); her Egyptian name is Aset; Lady of Beauty; the Great Mother; Full Moon goddess; mother-goddess; goddess of day; and goddess of midnight; goddess of all parts of the day and night; goddess of motherhood, the throne, leaders, rulership, education (with Thoth, also), writing, immortality, nature, fertility, power, love, earth, children, the seas, sailing, magick, spells, washing, purification, the stars; the great magician; mother of Horus by Osiris, her brother; daughter of Nut ("Noot") and Geb; the Ankh is especially sacred to her; lapis lazuli (a blue stone) is sacred to her, in particular; Isis is depicted sometimes with the wings of a sparrowhawk, to fan life (ankh) into the dead form of Osiris, her husband-brother; this is all able to be understood, if you consider the cycle of the seasons, and how life ebbs and flows, is born, dies, is born again, and so on, with the metaphors and symbolism; not to detract, of course; the sistrum, a musical instrument, is sacred to Isis

Khepera -- creator god of the rising sun, and associated with scarab beetles (which are associated with the sun), and god of immortality

Khons, or Khonsu, or Chons ("Kons") -- the moon-god who waxes and wanes; son of Amun and Mut; the son in the Great Triad (or trinity) of Thebes (a city of ancient Egypt), consisting of Mother, Mut, and Father, Amun, and the Son, Khons or Khonsu

Khnum -- a creator-god; also thought to have fashioned humans on his pottery wheel; the companion of goddesses, Sati and Anuket

Khu -- a shining spirit

Maat, or Ma'at -- goddess of order, truth and justice, or truth and justice personified; also, the order that rules the universe through truth; the Scales of Truth and Justice are Her domain; one could say she's a goddess of karma, and she plays no favorites; she has the Feather of Truth; she is the daughter of Ra

Min -- god of fertility, in plants, crops, people, whatever; depicted with an erect phallus or penis; sometimes mate of Taweret; associated with the harvest

Mut (pronounced "Moot") -- a mother-goddess; her name means "mother"; the Great Mother; can be an aspect of the individual goddess, Isis-Sothis; Mut is the mother of Khons, the waxing/waning moon-god; wife of Amun; also a vulture goddess, or with the head of a vulture, associated with death, and perhaps, then, with change, or rather, even, endings and beginnings

Neith -- a creator-goddess; probably a mother archetype, and something like a combination of Sekhmet and Isis

Nephthys -- goddess of the dead, who comforts and consoles; goddess of sisters and surprises, and midwives; goddess of affairs; goddess of the New Moon and the Dark Moon; goddess of night; twin sister of Isis; sister of Osiris and Set; mother of Anubis, the guardian god; usually shown human, like Isis; they have various symbols above their heads to distinguish the gods in ancient Egyptian art (for one way to tell)

Nu ("New") -- the father god of the Nun (pronounced "Noon"), the primeval waters of chaos, before Creation (Nun can be also a god, of the same thing); sometimes the father of Ra

Nut ("Noot"), or Nuit -- sky goddess of the nighttime sky; mother of Isis, Osiris, Set, and Nephthys; wife of Geb, the earth-god

Orion -- the great hunter; the celestial form of Osiris, as the constellation of Orion; mate of the star-goddess, Sothis (a personhood, therefore, of Isis), or Sirius; as far as they can tell, the Great Pyramids were situated to align with or coincide with the constellation of Orion, and thus, with heaven, or the part of heaven where Osiris lived, and where the royalty, at least, wanted to go, or to ascend to there, or Orion; sounds like a god of enlightenment, too, because, remember, the spiritual metaphors go along with the physical ones

Osiris -- his Egyptian name is Ausar; an overall god-form; god of vegetation, after-life, nature, judgment, the Underworld (which has good and bad parts); god of ressurrection and rebirth; god of death, and new growth; god of plant-life, who usually has green skin; wears a tall, white hat (like a mitre), and holds the Pharaoh's crook and flail; looks fairly human; can be associated with the Ostara (spring) Sabbat, if you like, as being a part of the growth of new plants, and therefore, their ressurrection; Osiris as Orion is the Great Hunter; husband of Isis, and therefore, her aspect, Sothis, the star-goddess, when he is Orion; father of Horus; Horus avenges his father's death by conquering and imprisoning Set (who slew Osiris); Isis assisted Osiris to go rule in the land of dead, and so, he become a moon-god, as the Underworld was associated with nighttime, and so forth; otherwise, he's sometimes a sun-god, and associated with Ra, though, much more so, is his son, Horus, identified with Ra; Osiris is called "The Shining Sun at Midnight," showing his resurrection from death, and symbolizing life still existing in the midst of death, and/or also, of darkness; sort of a god of light, therefore; sometimes the souls of the dead are extremely associated with Osiris, in the hopes that if Osiris rose, so shall they rise from death (somewhere, probably the after-life); god who purifies the soul, as does Horus

Ptah ("Ta") -- a creator-god from Memphis (an ancient city); architect of the universe; husband of Sekhmet, or of Bast;. curious to note, there's another god that's a shepherd god in the ancient Egyptian pantheon, like just like Jesus (from the Christian/Roman pagan mix -- there, I said it -- pantheon; there have always been dying and ressurrecting gods, and those dying for their people, both spiritually and physically, or so they claim, and most Christian stuff is borrowed from ancient Egypt [well, the interesting parts], though, "the bible" has it's good philosophy, but anyway, they globbed old myths onto a dead guy, all right, and formed their own religion, which Jesus could have started in his cult following; I'm not saying you can't be a Christian, or whatever, so don't get all ticked off, thanks)

Qetesh -- goddess of beauty, and love; sort of ancient African (Egypt is part of Africa), or even Mesopotamian, not just ancient Egyptian; though, many things have Mesopotamian, Chaldean, or Babylonian origins, worth your study, if you can find anything about that

Ra ("Rah"), or Re -- the sun-god; the creator-god; shown as falcon-headed, or hawk-headed; the grandfather of the gods, and of humankind, in a way; the father, variously, of Shu and Tefnut; the possesser of his Eye, the Eye of Ra; interesting to note that the name of Ramses, a Pharaoh of ancient Egypt, was/consisted in the parts of "ses" or "son," and "Ra," and so, his name meant "Son of Ra," or "Son of the Sun," and Son of God, and so forth; and the pharaohs were viewed as living gods, incarnate, not merely human rulers; Ra is the Exalted Sekhem, or Exalted Power, that is; he either always existed, or he's self-produced from before Creation; and Thoth, god of wisdom, is usually said to be self-produced, as well

Renenutet -- harvest goddess; an aspect of Isis; can be associated as a mate of Min

Sati -- a goddess, one would think of a woman under the sign of Taurus, or very earthy, etc.; a companion of Anuket and Khnum; she can most likely be associated with Isis, too

Sekhmet -- fire goddess; sun goddess and goddess of the desert heat; her name means, "She Who Is The Powerful One"; goddess of female power, and of the raw, eternal, source of power; sometimes she dispersed justice from Ra through the Eye of Ra (often seen as the sun, or fire) upon humankind, or as the form of Hathor-Sekhmet, another goddess (though, the indwelt, combination of the two, rather, and producing, obviously, then, a third goddess in culmination, or Hathor-Sekhmet); Sekhmet is depicted with the head of a lionness (a female lion)

Selket, or Selkis -- scorpion goddess; helper of women in childbirth (I don't get that, but O-K); scorpions acted as guardians, especially the guardians of Isis, so this goddess can be a form of Isis, and scorpions are associated with the moon, and I'd say, with the stars, as being very "friendly" with (or even combined with) the celestial Isis, then, or even Sothis, and the starry, night-sky, or the goddess Nuit

Set, or Setesh -- god of storms, and chaos; god of dark magick (hard to say what that means, I guess); dark usually does not mean evil, but a lot of people would say "evil," here, so, you could use that wording, I suppose; brother and husband of Nephthys; brother of Osiris and Isis; uncle of Horus; step-father of Anubis (man, step-fathers got bad reps back then, even, huh? what is it with people? I'm not male, though, just to note; and I don't mean that to be ambiguous)

Sheshmetet, or Shait -- Sheshmemet is lady of writing and libraries, a goddess, and a form of Isis; Shait can be the same, and/or is goddess of fate, who plays no favorites, though, sometimes, plays tricks, so to speak, or it seems like she does, for people who don't take the proper responsibility with their lives; a goddess of karma? oh, yeah; probably say so

Shu -- god of the air, and the atmosphere, god of the winds; husband of Tefnut; father of Nut and Geb; could be a god of enlightenment, generally helpful

Sobek -- crocodile-god; more important than that sounds, per se

Sothis -- the goddess of the New Year; star-goddess; can be an aspect of the goddess Isis, or Isis as star-goddess; Sothis is the occult name for the star, Sirius (actually a double-star, light and dark, or sometimes, Horus and Set, interplayed, so to speak); Sothis is the celestial Isis, and mate of Orion, therefore, or who is, Osiris; and a goddess in her own right, as well; sometimes one sees the goddess name, Isis-Sothis

Taweret, or Taueret -- goddess of childbirth, and the forces of life, therefore; the Tau is the original cross, in it's many forms (such as, the ankh, or looped cross), and is the symbol of life; fierce protectress of the young; depicted as hippopotamus goddess; sometimes her consort is Min, the fertility god

Tefnut -- goddess of rain, moisture, and purification; mother of Nut and Geb; very beneficial, powerful; shown with the head of a lionness

Tem, or Temu -- god of perfection; associated with the direction of west (as Osiris is, with the Underworld being toward the west, or the west banks of the Nile River, in ancient Egyptian thought); the god who assists the dead to rise into heaven in a perfected spirit-body by the humans using magickal rites, Words of Power (important!), and talismans

Thoth (pronounced with a long "O" sound) -- god of magick, magicians, god of writing (along with Isis), builder, god of mathematics, spells, architechture, inventor of heiroglyphic writing; god of the Moon, especially the Full Moon; Thoth is usually self-produced from before Creation; he bet with Khons (another moon god) for the Moon's light, and Thoth won (he is god of wisdom!), and ever since, Khons is the one who has to wax and wane (seen in the Moon, of course)

Upuaut ("Oo-poo-out") -- his name means "Opener of the Ways," usually he's a form of Anubis, sometimes depicted with the head of a rabbit, and an Underworld god (there's usually many Underworld gods, just to note, as a curious fact)

Wadjet and Edjo -- goddesses; Wadjet is the Uraeus (infinity symbol, a snake sollowing it's own tail) goddess, or cobra goddess; these two are symbolized in the vulture and serpent forms or emblems on the pharaoh's headdress or crown; a vulture goddess and a serpent (snake) goddess; protectresses; and Edjo can actually be a name of the goddess Wadjet, identified with the goddess Hathor

Wepwawet (generally, the same deity as Upuaut) -- god of war and of the funerary cult; can be seen as another form of Anubis; again, "Opener of the Ways," (see *Upuaut) both of making the way clear for the pharaoh's armies, and for the spirits of the dead; has a jackal-headed, human form, or a jackal