I've sometimes wondered myself why I found myself so attracted to the Goddess Isis. Perhaps it began in the Catholic tradition of the veneration of the Virgin Mary. Isis's maternal aspect certainly was appealing in the early stages I started learning about Isis.
I often was depressed as I was underemployed and suffered from low self-esteem. When Isis emerged in my life it was as a loving goddess who enfolded me in her wings. I felt no judgement or disappointment on her part. It was just love, peace and the warm protectiveness of a mother watching over her daughter.
My depression diminished and I felt a need to change my life. Isis started revealing ways I could improve my life situation and also some problems stemming from my lack of self confidence. Isis is an inspiration because she is a goddess who's experienced hardship, loneliness and grief herself.
Her husband Osiris was murdered by her brother, Set. She raised Horus as a single mother and lived an exile in the Nile Delta to protect her son from his uncle. Isis then had to use her cunning and magic to trick Set into acknowledging Horus's right to the throne.
What I find inspiring about Isis is her refusal to give up. Even in her grief she searched for her dead husband, Osiris. Set severed and scattered Osiris's body so Isis might never find him. Isis not only found her husband, she resurrected him with magic and bore him a son, Horus.
Isis stands for everything a woman should be - independent, self-assured and confident in her power. She isn't dependent on her husband or her son for her identity. Her strength and wisdom is within herself and she's willing to use it to receive justice and restore ma'at to the world.
She also draws strength from being a woman. Isis also is no second-class deity because she is a woman. She is not a passive goddess standing in the shadows of other male Egyptian deities. She has an unbreakable spirit and emerges triumphant through her magic and inner strength. I wonder how different women would be if they looked to Isis as their heroine and goddess rather than growing up believing they are second-class and powerless because of the "sin of Eve."
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