“It’s about opening yourself to magic and surrendering yourself to the ancient, magical powers–the basic natural laws of the universe–and letting them work within and through you. Although it requires your full attention, life continues, and you quickly learn to live in multiple dimensions simultaneously.”
–Nicki Scully
The intensity of Sekhmet: Transformation in the Belly of the Goddess by Nicki Scully is immediately captivating and mesmerizing. Fittingly, I 
devoured it!
Sekhmet is a dramatically visual journey–the imagery of the ongoing meditation is potent, assertive, powerful, and deep. While each section has a meditation, they build up on each other, weaving one long contemplative, deconstructive, and reconstructive journey of self-discovery as the book unwinds. I included one of the beginning meditations, the heart-breath invocation, in a guided First Fruits ritual that is available here. Also, there are black and white pictures and then a series of color plates in the center of the book.
Sekhmet is the lioness goddess of the Egyptian Pantheon, a fierce protector of truth, balance, and the Cosmic order of Ma’at. Known and feared as the goddess of war and destruction, she also represents the transformative power of kundalini energy and is the main goddess to harness this power for healing. Sekhmet takes offerings of fear, rage, and weakness and transforms them into alchemical gold, the universal medicine for physical, emotional, and soul healing.
This book is for the serious devotee, not for casual interest. It is an extensive, embodied, immersive, book-length ritual. It assumes you will be willing to go “all in,” to be dissolved and rebuilt by Sekhmet. While I don’t feel personally ready for this level of experience with her, I find that the book was an inspiring read anyway due to its commitment, unswerving dedication, and unapologetic approach. Does not attempt to convince or convert or persuade you into a belief system, it just lays out the truth/facts and is compelling in its utter certainty about the validity and reality of these processes, experiences, and this goddess.
There are small personal testimonials from other people who have participated in Scully’s Sekhmet workshops sprinkled through the book and I enjoyed the presence of other voices and experiences in this way. There are stories of her temples and experiences with her statues in ancient sacred sites and museums.
I kept having a feeling of complete fascination, almost enthrallment, as I read, but I also found that this was a book that was written to be used and practiced and I, personally, do not feel comfortable undertaking the journey and processes within it without an experienced face-to-face teacher. It is powerful and intense and not for the dabbler!
Sekhmet: Transformation in the Belly of the Goddess is published by Bear and Company and is available at Amazon, Amazon.uk, and on Kindle.