Heqet (also Heqtit, Heket, Hekat) is the Egyptian frog-headed goddess of childbirth. To Ancient Egyptians, who at certain times of the year witnessed thousands of frogs along the banks of the Nile, the frog came to represent fruitfulness and fertility. As a personification of a water animal, Heqet naturally became associated with the later stages of labour. She is the divine midwife, presiding over the births of royal persons such as Queen Hatshepsut, as depicted in her birth colonnade. Heqet is also one of the midwives of the Sun, who Nut births every morning as the god Khepera. There is evidence that in the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BCE) Her priestesses served as midwives. Women were thought to wear frog-shaped amulets, inscribed with Her name, to protect them during childbirth.

Heqet is often found paired with the god Khnum, a potter deity who is believed to create an infant’s form and ka on His wheel, while Heqet breaths life into it before placing it in the mother’s womb. She is also depicted as the wife of Her-Wer (Horus the Elder, brother of Osiris).

Another of Heqet’s associations is resurrection or rebirth. This may be because one myth, The Funeral of Osiris, credits Her with helping resurrect Osiris. This may also be why She is sometimes thought of as Her-Wer’s wife. (Her-Wer’s sisters, Isis and Nephthys, are the Goddess generally credited with the resurrection of Osiris.)

Name: Heqet
Pantheon: Egyptian
Associations: childbirth, fertility, grain germination, resurrection
Animal: frog

Sources
Conway, D.J. Ancient and Shining Ones, The: World Myth, Magic, and Religion. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn; 1993.
Names of Netjer: Heqet. URL: http://www.kemet.org/glossary/heqet.html [April 16, 2003]
Seawright, Caroline. Heqet, Frog Headed Goddess of Childbirth. URL: http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/heqet.html [April 16, 2003]