Editing Nut (goddess) (section)

== Origins ==
A sacred [[symbol]] of Nut was the ladder used by [[Osiris]] to enter her heavenly skies. This ladder-symbol was called ''maqet'' and was placed in [[tomb]]s to protect the deceased, and to invoke the aid of the deity of the dead. Nut and her brother, Geb, may be considered enigmas in the world of mythology. In direct contrast to most other mythologies which usually develop a [[sky father]] associated with an [[Earth goddess|Earth mother]] (or [[Mother Nature]]), she personified the sky and he the Earth.<ref>Women of Ancient Egypt and the Sky Goddess Nut, by Susan Tower Hollis ''[[The Journal of American Folklore]]'' 1987 [[American Folklore Society]].</ref>

Nut appears in the creation myth of [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]] which involves several goddesses who play important roles: [[Tefnut]] (Tefenet) is a personification of moisture, who mated with [[Shu (Egyptian deity)|Shu]] (Air) and then gave birth to Sky as the goddess Nut, who mated with her brother Earth, as [[Geb]]. From the union of Geb and Nut came, among others, the most popular of Egyptian goddesses, [[Isis]], the mother of [[Horus]], whose story is central to that of her brother-husband, the resurrection god Osiris. Osiris is killed by his brother Set and scattered over the Earth in 14 pieces, which Isis gathers up and puts back together.