Tefnut

The Goddess of Moisture (Art by Eternal Space)

### Aliases

Tefenet, Tefnet, Tphenis, Goddess of Moisure, Goddess of Rain and Moist Air, Goddess of the Morning Dew, First Daughter of Ra, The Lioness Mother Goddess, The Most Honorable One, The Most Venerable One

## Relatives

### Offspring

Geb, Nut

**Tefnut** is the Egyptian goddess of moisture, moist air, rain, and dew. She was born of Ra's spittle, along with her brother Shu with whom she married and mothered the gods Geb and Nut. She is also the older sister of Sekhmet, Hathor, and Bastet. She is a part of the Ennead.

## Appearance

Tefnut is often depicted as a goddess with the head of a lioness, wearing a wig, and topped with either an uraeus serpent, or an uraenus and solar disk. She wears traditional Egyptian dress made out of silk, along with various golden accessories. Her eyes are depicted as "glowing with heat and power".

Sometimes, she is depicted as a lion-headed serpent. Her face is sometimes used in a double headed form with that of her brother Shu on collar counterpoises.

## Personality

According to Set, she is a great, loving, and generous goddess who treat everyone with respect. However, she is also known throughout the pantheon for her violence temper, which is said to make her sisters Sekhmet's and Bastet's seem like saints in comparison.

## History

### The Birth of Tefnut

Years after Ra came into existence, he became lonely as he was the only being into existence, with the Ogdoad gods going into their eternal slumber and Thoth watching over Apep in the chaotic sea of Isfet.

One day, after seeing the gods of other Pantheons with their own children made a spark of envy lit inside of Ra and made him desired children of his own. Using his own divine power, he created two child from his own bodily fluids - a son and a daughter.

For his son Shu, Ra granted him the title of the god of air, granting him authority over the air between the primordial sky and the barren earth. For his daughter Tefnut, Ra granted her the title of the goddess of moisture, granting her authority over the rain and water of the entire Ancient Egypt.

### Creation of the Ancient Egyptians

When Shu and Tefnut were newly-born, they quickly became curious with the world around them and would often travel away from their father to explore the waters of Nun.

One time, they traveled too far away from home to the point Ra could't find them. Thinking his children had gone lost forever, he wept and as his tears touched the baren ground, humankind would be created. Because those tears was shed by Ra in a moment of weakness and distress, unlike his strong-willed children, humans was born with flawed natures, doomed to live sorrowful lives.

Hearing their father's cries, Shu and Tefnut quickly traveled home and promised to never leave him again.

### Tefnut's Anger

After an unknown fight against Ra, which many speculated to be because of her grandchildren's higher worship, Tefnut and her father fell out and she decided to leave for Nubia in a fit of rage, taking away all water and moisture in Egypt with her.

As she left, the land began to die and humanity suffered greatly because of it. Fear for the life of his subjects, Ra decided to take to false and ordered Shu and Thoth to come and take Tefnut back to Egypt. As the two arrived at Nubia with their servants, Tefnut transformed into a giant lioness and tore away all of their men, leaving only the two gods behind at a warning.

However, with Thoth's sly and cunning nature, they managed to calm the goddess down and conviced her to go back to Egypt. As she returned, she brought her water and moisture she took with her, and Egypt went back to normal. Thoth then given her the title of "most honorable" and "most venerable".

Following this event, the ancient Egyptians started associating her with heat and the Sun.

## Trivia

* According to Thoth, the five little ducks nursery rhyme was based on the story of Shu and Tefnut.