Kitiri, Goddess of Creatures

Kitiri is the ancient Egyptian goddess of creatures. Her name is derived from Mkitiris (which means guide of Re), and tiri also means beautiful.

She watches over all creatures, both in life and when they pass on to the afterlife. She always wears two snakes, one on either wrist. The black snake represents the afterlife, and his name is Almaut (which is Arabic for death). The white snake represents life, and its name is Hayat (Arabic for life). Kitiri is often times accompanied by a black cat whose name is Mawla (Arabic for protector). Both the snakes and the cat are capable of transforming into huge creatures to protect her, other gods, or even her followers. The cat becomes the size of a panther, while the snakes can grow to the size of anacondas.

Kitiri always wears makeup on her left eye that mimics the Eye of Horus, or the Udjat. Horus was the son of Osiris and Isis. Egyptian myths state that Horus lost his left eye in his war with his uncle Seth for the throne when Seth murdered his brother Osiris. Since Horus was said to be the sky, he was considered to also contain the sun and moon. It became said that the sun was his right eye and the moon his left, and that they traversed the sky when he, a falcon, flew across it. Horus' left eye had been gouged out by Seth (or Set), which explained why the moon, which it represented, was so weak compared to the sun.

Since Kitiri was Horus' lover and later his wife, she too wore the Ugjat. In ancient Egypt, the Eye was a symbol of protection, a duty of Kitiri's. Kitiri is also the daughter of Re and Bastet.


<sub>I am going to be an ancient Egyptian for Halloween this year, and I modeled Kitiri from my costume.

The background is courtesy of this website which offers beautiful ancient Egypt wallpaper [link]</sub>