Nephthys Birthday

"Ascend and descend; descend with Nephthys,

 sink into darkness with the Night-bark.

Ascend and descend;

ascend with Isis, rise with the Day-bark."

~Pyramid Text

July 31 is  the Birthday of Nephthys, Egyptian Goddess,  the sister of Isis and Osiris, and companion of Set. Nephthys is a protective goddess who symbolizes the death experience.

Nephthys is the "Friend of the Dead," and is first mentioned in Old Kingdom funerary literature as riding the "night boat" of the underworld, meeting the deceased king's spirit and accompanying him into "Lightland." Her hair is metaphorically compared to the strips of cloth which shroud the bodies of the dead.

Nephthys is a guardian spirit, invoked in magical rites. She may be petitioned for fertility, especially by those who have been assured that they will never have children but with to prove naysayers wrong.