Mystical systems
Eye of Ra
Direct answer
Eye of Ra: The Eye of Ra is the active, feminine power of the Egyptian sun god, pictured as a sun disc with a rearing cobra and personified as goddesses such as Hathor, Sekhmet and Bastet.
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At a glance
- Also called
- eye of re
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Eye of Horus, Isis, Ankh, Djed
The Eye of Ra is the active, feminine power of the Egyptian sun god, pictured as a sun disc with a rearing cobra and personified as goddesses such as Hathor, Sekhmet and Bastet.
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What is the Eye of Ra?
In Egyptian religion the Eye of Ra is more a being than an emblem. It is the sun god's eye conceived as a goddess who can leave him, act on her own and return. She is his daughter and his defender, and her character is double: as Sekhmet she is a raging lioness who burns his enemies, as Hathor or Bastet she is joy, music and motherhood.
In art the Eye is usually the sun disc itself, or the uraeus, the cobra that rears on the brow of gods and kings and spits fire at their foes. It is often drawn as a wedjat eye as well, which is why it is confused with the Eye of Horus. A common rule of thumb gives the right eye to Ra and the sun and the left to Horus and the moon, though Egyptian sources do not keep the two strictly apart.
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What sets Eye of Ra apart
What sets the Eye of Ra apart is that it has a will. Other Egyptian emblems are things held or worn; this one walks away, grows angry, has to be found and soothed. The rites that answer the myth are rites of pacifying: music, dance and offerings of drink to turn the lioness back into the kindly goddess. Its commonest visible form is on every royal brow, since the uraeus cobra on the crown was understood as the Eye spitting flame at whoever approached the king with ill intent.
- Nature: the sun god's eye as an independent goddess, his daughter and defender
- Goddesses named as the Eye: Hathor, Sekhmet, Bastet, Tefnut, Wadjet, Mut
- Usual images: sun disc, uraeus cobra, lioness, or a wedjat eye
- Destruction myth: the Book of the Heavenly Cow, in New Kingdom royal tombs
- Wandering myth: the Distant Goddess, who leaves for Nubia and is brought home
Often mistaken for something else: The Eye of Horus was torn out and restored, and stands for healing and wholeness; the Eye of Ra was never injured, and stands for the sun's power sent out to act.
The story behind Eye of Ra
The Book of the Heavenly Cow, inscribed in royal tombs of the New Kingdom including those of Tutankhamun and Seti I, tells how Ra sent his Eye as Hathor to punish rebellious humankind, and how she was stopped from destroying everyone by beer dyed red to look like blood. A second cycle, the myth of the Distant Goddess, has the Eye quarrel with Ra, go off to Nubia as a lioness and be coaxed home, a return celebrated in temple festivals.
Why Eye of Ra matters
Eye of Ra explains why so many Egyptian goddesses share one title, and why the same deity can be gentle in one temple and deadly in another.
How to read Eye of Ra
Egyptologists use the term for a role several goddesses play; in ancient practice the uraeus on a crown invoked her protection of the king.
Eye of Ra in practice: an example
A statue of Sekhmet with a sun disc and cobra on her head shows the Eye of Ra in her dangerous form.
Where readings of Eye of Ra go wrong
Modern charts that assign fixed meanings to left and right eyes are simpler than the Egyptian evidence.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- eye of ra meaning, eye of re, eye of ra vs eye of horus, eye of ra symbol, egyptian eye of ra
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What is the Eye of Ra?
It is the power of the sun god Ra imagined as a goddess who acts for him, protecting him and striking his enemies. Hathor, Sekhmet, Bastet, Tefnut, Wadjet and Mut are all called the Eye of Ra.
Is the Eye of Ra a symbol of protection?
Yes, with an edge. Egyptians invoked her to guard the king, temples and homes, and she protects by threatening. Her myths stress that the same force that defends can destroy if it is not calmed.
