Bast: The Egyptian Cat Goddess of Protection & Pleasure
Have you ever looked at Bast and thought she's just a cute cat goddess who belongs on a candle or an altar cloth? Yeah. So did most people. Let's talk about who she really is.
Bast is our goddess of the month here at Inked Goddess Creations, and honestly, she's one of the very first goddesses I ever worked with in this business. Her energy came to me years ago while I was living in England making mists and oils, and a friend who honored the Egyptian pantheon helped inspire her products. She wanted her story told, so here we go.
Who Is Bast?
Bast, also known as Bastet, is depicted with the head of a cat and the body of a woman, or sometimes as a woman wearing a cat headdress. She's the daughter of Ra, the sun god, which gives her that solar fire energy right out of the gate.
According to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, she's also named as the sister of Sekhmet, the lioness goddess of war. In some traditions, the two are actually understood as two sides of the same coin: Sekhmet is the claws, Bast is the purr. She doesn't choose between gentle and fierce. She holds both at once, the same way a cat can be curled up asleep in a sunbeam one minute and defending her territory the next.
There's also a daily story tied to her: she was said to ride through the sky with Ra as his boat carried the sun, protecting him by day, then transform into a cat at night to protect him from the serpent Apep. That nighttime cat form is also part of why she's known as a goddess of the moon, alongside her solar lineage. I couldn't find a source that fully explains how she holds both, but honestly, that fits her perfectly. She's a goddess who holds contradictions, sun and moon, fierce and gentle, as one.
Her main cult center was at Bubastis, where ancient accounts describe festivals full of music, dancing, wine, and huge joyful crowds. She was celebrated loudly, not whispered about.
What Bast Actually Governs
Bast is a protector first, watching over homes, children, and mothers. That protection is active and vigilant, willing to bare teeth the second something sacred is threatened. She also governs healing, sensuality, feminine power, strength, and passion, refusing to separate body from spirit.
There's a fertility and pregnancy side to her too. Some sources describe ancient Egyptian women hanging Bast plaques in their homes to encourage fertility, healthy pregnancies, and safe deliveries. If you're pregnant, trying to conceive, or growing your family, she can be an ally there.
Her element is fire, showing up as both solar warmth and hearth warmth. And she's a goddess of music, dance, and embodied joy, teaching that pleasure is sacred, not something you earn after the real work is done, but devotion in its own right.
Signs Bast Might Be Calling You
An affinity for cats is the non-negotiable one here. Without it, some of these signs could point to a different goddess entirely.
You feel a fierce, primal protectiveness over your home or the people you love. Cats keep showing up in your life, in dreams, symbolism, or literally following you around. You're craving more sensuality, pleasure, or embodied joy as something you need, not indulge in. Sunlight or firelight feels spiritually significant. You're learning to hold softness and fierceness at once. Music or dance pulls at you as more than entertainment.
If several of these resonate and cats are part of the picture, Bast might already be reaching out.
Bast's Correspondences
Crystals: Cat's eye (protection, joy, confidence), sunstone (solar fire, personal power), tiger's eye (protection, courage), obsidian (protection), gold (radiance, royalty).
Herbs and resins: Catnip (happiness, protection, luck), frankincense and myrrh (cleansing, raising energy), cardamom (confidence, prosperity), vervain (protection, banishing), sandalwood and cinnamon (warming, sensory).
Colors: Gold and yellow for the sun, deep red for passion and protective fire, black for her sacred cats and the mystery she holds.
Building a Relationship With Bast
Bast wants you to interact with her, especially in your own home. Leave offerings she's historically loved: milk, honey, sweet fruits, honey cakes, or a fine perfume (Egyptian musk if you can find it). Light a candle at sunrise and sit with its warmth. Dance or move your body as devotion, not exercise. Spend time with a cat and notice how they move between total rest and total alertness. Wear an Ankh, Eye of Ra, or Eye of Horus to tie yourself to that energy.
She's So Much More Than a Cat Goddess
Bast holds a duality most of us are still learning to hold ourselves: fierce and gentle, sun and moon, protector and pleasure-seeker, all at once. Defending what matters to you and chasing joy in your everyday life aren't opposites. They're both her domain, and they can both be yours too.
This post is pulled from Episode 230 of Busy, Gritty, Inked and Witchy. If you want the full conversation, including more on her correspondences and how to work with her directly, watch or listen below. New episodes drop every Wednesday.