Geb
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
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Geb is the personification of earth in both its life-supporting and terrifying aspects; crops grow from his body, but his laughter is manifested in the earthquake. He is present not only in the croplands, but also the barren desert. In the desert, Geb might release the dead from their tombs or sequester the unworthy dead from the Field of Reeds. Being an earth-god, he also has power in the underworld, witnessing the weighing of their hearts by the goddess Ma’at, providing meat and drink to weary souls on their afterlife journey, and guiding the deserving dead to the paradisal Field of Reeds.
Within both ancient and modern Kemetic, African, and African-Diasporic traditions, Geb is both the brother and husband of Nut, the sky goddess. Their father Shu separated them during their conjugal embrace because it was so intense that they were merging into a single being. This separation was devastating to Geb, whose tears were copious enough to fill all the world's oceans.
Geb and Nut are the parents of the third generation of Netjeru or Egyptian gods — Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. As the father of multiple deities, and of the first Pharaohs, Geb was identified by the Greek conquerors of Egypt with their own god Cronus; even representing them with each other’s iconic symbols and attributes. Geb is frequently represented as an athletic young man holding an ankh and possibly a scepter. He is also portrayed as a man reclining on the ground below the arched, starry body of his wife Nut. Sometimes the figure of Shu stands between them, holding Nut away from Geb to make space for the multitude of living creatures they created to live and reproduce. Another symbol of Geb is a goose standing on his head, possibly simply a phonogram of his name. He is often depicted with green skin, representing the vegetation growing from his body, the earth.
Hoodoo psychic readers, spirit workers, and root doctors who practice in the North African religion of ancient Egypt or contemporary Kemetic Neo-Paganism, and who call upon the netjeru on behalf of clients, may petition Geb for matters of spirituality, the Blessings of Earth, and increasing abundance and prosperity.
Credits
This page is brought to you by the AIRR Tech Team:
- Author: Miss Michaele
- Contributors: cat yronwode, nagasiva yronwode
- Image: Unknown Artist, copy of ancient Egyptian painting in Gods of the Egyptians, vol. II, by E. A. Wallis Budge, 1904
