Bastet
Offerings
Water, milk, teas, coffee, beer, wine, gin, tequila, vodka, fruity drinks
Meat, bread, fruits and vegetables, spices (saffron, turmeric, cinnamon, pepper), onions, grains, lettuce, chocolate, cakes and pastries. Any healing herbs and plants, or those used in medicines, would be acceptable like aloe vera, lavender, garlic, echinacea, chamomile, and ashwagandha.
Any perfume would be acceptable to her, but kyphi, frankincense and myrrh, dragonsblood, sandalwood, vanilla, cedar and catnip are all great incense, candles, or essential oils. The fire itself can also be an offering to her.
Cat toys, treats, and herbs that are safe for your cat that get them riled up like catnip. While she's not going to eat your cat treats (lets make that clear), the act of treasuring your fur baby is enough for her.
Crystals and stones like carnelian, sunstone, fire quartz, citrine, garnet, jasper, rubies, rhodonite, black tourmaline, onyx, obsidian, malachite. Any jewelry is acceptable, too.
Red linen or the color red.
Lady Bast was first seen as a lioness goddess, so figurines of lions would be acceptable, as well as figurines of cats (she became associated with cats later on). She was also associated with the ichneumon, the vultures, and the ureaus (based in epithets) so you can offer her items like these, too. Along with statues and figurines of her, the sistrum, the menat, ankh, or maat.
Devotional acts
Singing and dancing! Lady Bast has epithets that associate her with joy, drumming, and she can often be seen holding the sistrum. You can play the sistrum for her, or play other musical instruments. You may even start learning how to play one, if you don’t know how to already.
Running. Lady Bast is known as ‘the swift one,’ so running is a great devotional act. As the Eye of Re, she’s a protective deity, so exercising in general would be great.
As the Mistress of jewelry, you could take up the craft of jewelry making. Or you can learn about how to make perfumes, too and/or make them yourself.
While it wouldn’t translate this way back then, she’s known as ‘the one with many faces’ or ‘the one with many forms,’ which, historically, would translate to the ways she could be perceived- whether taking on another goddesses name as an epithet, or changing into different forms (cat, lioness, human, etc.),- nowadays, though, you could translate this to acting. This could be done by being an actual actor, voice acting, cosplaying, etc.
It’s believed that her name may mean ‘she of the ointment jar,’ though this is only speculated and the actual translation is still unknown, but you could learn about medicine, healing, or even go the route of helping others in this domain. As an enforcer of the laws of maat, taking the route of law and justice- or learning about it- could be a great devotional act, too.
Signs
Signs of Bast could include seeing her scared animals of symbols like cats, lionesses, vultures, ichneumon, cobras, the menat necklace, the sistrum, or items of royalty. She’s known to be a part of the ‘cat distribution system,’ so she may even start sending you stray cats.
You may start hearing music with a really good beat that you cannot help but sing along with and tap your foot to.
You may have better intuition about people. Cats are very intuitive, watchful, and she’s also loosely connected to water (inundation), so you may start catching on how people act around you. She’s a protective deity, as well, so those who need to be out of your life are going to see their way out if they’re not good for you.
Cats are really good at setting boundaries, too (they will bite you to let you know to leave them alone!), so you may notice you’re becoming better at setting boundaries.
