Pagan Book Reviews

Sekhmet: Transformation in the Belly of the Goddess
Nicki Scully
Bear & Co, 2017

Review by Anthony Rella.

Nicki Scully codifies years of transformational work with Egyptian mysteries into this powerful book. Incorporating practical guidance on magic and transcriptions of guided meditation work, Scully presents her framework for readers to engage in their own transformational relationship with Sekhmet and the Egyptian gods. This kind of initiatory work is a worthy undertaking for students of magic or those interested in serving the gods and spirits, and Scully’s offering fills a need for those particularly interested in Kemeticism or Egpytian cosmology.

This process is quite thorough in its approach with great potential for personal healing, attested to by former participants in the work whose writings are included throughout the book. Each phase of the working leads participants to sense, name, and energetically connect to blockages in growth and development, then to dissolve these blocks, struggles, and obstacles within the transformative cauldron of the goddess’s belly.

Readers concerned about issues of cultural appropriation and blending approaches across cultural lines may take issue with Scully’s incorporation of concepts from multiple traditions and cultures into this work, including concepts from Vedic and Chinese traditions. Scully centers the Egyptian cosmology in this work, but in her efforts to construct a workable model appears to incorporate these other cultural concepts where relevant Egyptian constructs are absent or unknown.

Overall, this book is a worthwhile read for those interested in engaging in self-transformative work, Egyptian or Kemetic approaches to self-healing and magic, or those devotees of Sekhmet looking for deeper layers of connection and healing. People unfamiliar with paganism, polytheism, or Egyptian magic and practice may not glean much from the book unless they were willing to engage with its practices. Much of its potency happens off the page, in the reader’s engagement. While Scully does incorporate theoretical context and insight, the book is primarily a step-by-step detailing of the practices. It is not a dense book, but neither is it written for the casual reader.

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