Tefnut was one of the goddesses who formed part of the Ennead of Heliopolis, a group of nine gods believed to be responsible for creation that were principally worshipped at Iuna, known by the Greeks as Heliopolis. The popularity of this creation myth and its gods spread to other parts of Egypt as Heliopolis grew in importance.
Tefnut is the goddess of moisture, who mates with the god of air, Shu, and gives birth to Geb, the earth, and Nut, the air, making her the mother of the world. She was also a goddess of the moon, time, and the underworld. She could also be a vengeful goddess associated with fire and sometimes considered the Eye of Ra.
The Creation Myth
According to this creation myth, in the beginning, there was only the primordial waters of Nun. The sun god Atum emerged from these waters and initiated creation, first making the god of dry air, Shu, and the goddess of moist air, Tefnut. Some versions of the myth suggest that Tefnut was created from Atum’s spit, with the name being an onomatopoeia for the sound of spitting. She was also associated with rain, dew, and mist.
They mated, and Tefnut gave birth to the god Geb, the earth, and the goddess Nut, the air. This pair also became pregnant, and Shu had to separate them for their children to be born. These are the gods Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Shu holds the two apart, allowing the world to exist in the space in between, which is ruled by their children. Tefnut is sometimes depicted helping Shu hold Nut above Geb.
When Memphis became a powerful city and elevated its god Ptah, he was incorporated into this myth, and Tefnut became known as the “Tongue of Ptah.”
In the Coffin Texts, early in creation, Atum has a conversation with Nun in which he implies that his child gods are already within him and are attributes of him that give him life. Their birth is better seen as a separation from Atum. Shu is described as the life that makes Atum’s heartbeat and his mind function. Tefnut is the breath that Atum inhales to wake to consciousness. After this consciousness, Shu expands with Atum to create a void filled with air, allowing Atum to self-create the cosmos from within his body.
Goddess of Moon and Life
While Shu was associated with the hot, dry air, Tefnut was the moist air. This meant that she was associated with fertility and the idea of sprouting plants and good harvests. This gave her an association with regulating the waters, which in turn connected her with the moon, which has power over the tides.
Despite her association with the moon, it was Shu who was considered the god of cyclical time, Neheh, the type of time that repeats with birth, death, and renewal. Instead, Tefnut was associated with static time, Djet, the things that stay the same for eternity.
As one of the Eyes of Ra with her husband-brother Shu, she was sometimes considered his left eye, which represented the moon. But she was also sometimes described as the right eye of Ra, representing the sun.
Goddess of the Sun, Lady of Flame and Vengeance
Tefnut was sometimes known as the Lady of the Flame, seemingly referring to her connection with the sun. One myth suggests that after the creation of man, Tefnut fell out with the ruling pharaoh, who was either her father, Atum-Ra, or her husband, Shu, and fled to Nubia, causing great storms.
Gods were sent to coax her back, but she turned herself into a lion to destroy any who came after her. Eventually, Thoth, the god of wisdom, was able to convince her to return. This same story is also told about the god Anhur and his wife.
This myth seems to suggest that Tefnut was the Eye of Ra, a vengeful entity that Ra could unleash on the world to deliver his wrath if he wished. Other goddesses, including Hathor, Bastet, and Sekhmet, who were also cat goddesses, were also considered the Eye of Ra.
Interestingly, while Tefnut was linked with fire, she also brought the rains that cooled Egypt’s baking hot temperatures.
Chthonic Goddess
The Pyramid Texts, as recorded on the tomb of Unas, suggest that Tefnut was involved in the weighing of the heart ceremony, which sees the heart of the deceased weighed against the feather of Ma’at to gain access to the underworld.
The text says that: “Tefen and Tefnut have weighed Unas, and Ma’at has listened, and Shu has borne witness.”
Iconography
Tefnut appears as a woman with the head of a lion, but could also appear as a full lioness, or a full human woman. As a woman, she is depicted wearing a wig topped with an uraeus serpent, sometimes also with a solar disk, reinforcing her connection with the sun.
Like her husband, Shu, Tefnut is one of the few gods who continued to be worshipped during the period of sole Aten sun disk worship. Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti were sometimes depicted as Shu and Tefnut, gods who exist within Aten.
Temples and Worship
While the primordial gods received limited worship compared to gods such as Ra, Osiris, and Isis, they had their temple complexes and often appeared in the temples of other gods.
Tefnut had temples at Heliopolis and Leontopolis. At Heliopolis, she is referred to in relation to the purification of wabet priests, where it says that they passed through Tefnut to cleanse and purify themselves. At Leontopolis, Shu and Tefnut were depicted as a pair of lions, imagined to be the eyes of Atum-Ra.
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