Justice

     As the US enters a supercharged political season, the goddesses Themis of Greece and Maat of Egypt provide apt guidance.  Both gods personify justice, truth, and the rule of law.
     Although Themis is often blindfolded in modern art, her vision was not originally constrained; instead she was armed with both scales of balance and a sword of justice.  
​     In Lost Goddesses of Early Greece, Charlene Spretnak describes Themis as  “the force that binds people together.  She is the collective conscience, the social imperative, the social order…she became the personification of justice and righteousness.” 
​     The author quotes the goddess:  “The young shall be fed and nurtured, protected and loved.”  Worthy values, indeed.

     Barbara G. Walker suggests Themis was worshiped by the Amazons of the Black sea “in the form of a black stone on their sacred island of Themyscira,” according to The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths of Secrets.

     In The Book of Goddesses & Heroines, Patricia Monaghan writes:  “The ‘steadfast one,’ the daughter of Gaea, [Themis was an] earth-goddess personified as an unshakable power.  [The personification of] social cohesion, Themis was shown bearing a pair of scales; as the fruitful earth, she was shown holding the cornucopia….Themis ruled prophecy, for she knew human nature and the nature of human society and so could predict the outcome of any struggle.”
     The Greeks worshiped Themis through group dancing, a joyful way of enhancing community cohesion.   

    As an oracular goddess, “she was the divine voice (themistes) who first instructed mankind in the primal laws of justice and morality, such as the precepts of piety, the rules of hospitality, good governance, conduct of assembly, and pious offerings to the gods.”

     The Egyptian goddess Maat, another deity of justice, was closely associated with judgment of the dead.  According to The Book of Goddesses & Heroines, “Maat had no temples but was worshiped in the rhythm of truth, wherever it was perceived.”
     From another source:  “Ma’at was more than just a goddess to the ancient Egyptians.  She represented the crucial concept of how the universe was maintained.  The ancient Egyptians believed the universe had an order to it, and it was Ma’at who kept everything in balance.”

     Maat is described in The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths of Secrets:  “Egyptian personification of ‘Truth’ or ‘Justice,’ Maat’s symbol was the feather against which she weighed each man’s heart-soul in her underground Hall of Judgment….Maat’s laws were notably benevolent, compared to the harsh commands of later patriarchal gods.”
     An Egyptian was expected to recite the following “confession” in Maat’s presence to show they had obeyed Maat’s rules of behavior in life:

I have not been a man of anger.  I have done no evil to mankind.  I have not inflicted pain.  I have made none to weep.  I have done violence to no man.  I have not done harm to animals.  I have not robbed the poor.  I have not fouled the 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 born false witness.  I have not stolen land.  I have not cheated… I have allowed no man to suffer hunger.  I have not increased my wealth except with such things as are my own possessions.  I have not seized wrongfully the property of others.  I have not taken milk from the mouths of babes.

     I can think of at least one prominent politician who would fail many if not all of these directives!
     The ancient wisdom of Maat and Themis can provide guidance for our personal lives, and help us elect wise and just rulers who respect the rule of law and "good governance." 
​     May Justice prevail~

---