Sopdet

Goddess of the Star Sirius, Mother of the Nile, and Herald of the New Year. She is one of Egypt's most ancient and cosmic deities, connected to the light that brings life back to Earth, a symbol of rebirth, cyclicality, and spiritual awakening.

Sopdet is the Goddess of the star Sirius, the brightest in the sky.
With her rising, she announces the flooding of the Nile and the return of life to the land, marking the beginning of the new sacred year.

The name Sopdet derives from the Egyptian term spdt, meaning “the Shining One” or “She Who Glows.”
The Greeks identified her as Sothis, associating her with the star Sirius (α Canis Majoris) — the brightest star of the heavens, which rose just before the Sun at the onset of the Nile’s inundation.
This celestial event marked the beginning of the Egyptian year and the return of abundance.

Sopdet was therefore the Mother of Time, she who rekindles the cycle of life and grants the world water, light, and fertility.

In cosmology, Sopdet is the consort of Sah (the constellation of Orion, associated with Osiris) and the mother of Sopedu, the god of the eastern stars.
Together they form a celestial triad that represents the cosmic dawn and the perpetual renewal of creation:
• Sah (Osiris): the eternal strength of the starry sky.
• Sopdet (Isis-Sothis): the light that rekindles life.
• Sopedu: the warrior spark that opens the way of dawn.

Sopdet is also a celestial aspect of Isis, and in many texts she is called “Isis-Sothis.”
She watches over the waters of the Nile and regulates their flow, ensuring fertility to the fields and well-being to the people.

On an initiatory level, Sopdet represents the awakening of the soul after the dark night, the first light of divine awareness that guides toward inner resurrection.
She is the Goddess who restores the memory of the Self, just as Sirius brings back the Sun in the sky of the soul.