Isis and the Seven Scorpions

Isis in a scorpion form
Afterwards the death of Osiris, Isis was confronted with many hard knocks. Her evil brother Set held Isis and the infant Horus captive in a house (See [Conflict between Horus and Set (Mythology)]). Thoth, the great god of wisdom and magic,  came  to  Isis  and  pepped up  her  to  escape  from Set and to hide her child in a papyrus brushwood in the fens of the Delta. Seven scorpions, who were a demonstration of Selket the scorpion goddess, guided Isis as she fled her vicious brother Set. As she traveled to the Delta, Isis sought shelter one night with the wife of  the  township  official,  but  when  the  woman  saw  the seven scorpions accompanying Isis, she shut her door and  rejected  them  refuge.  Angered  because  Isis had been treated so badly, six scorpions abandoned their poison on the tip of the tail of the seventh scorpion, and the seventh entered the house of the inhospitable woman and burned her son. The excited woman ran through the town crying and bitter, for she did not know if her child would live or die. Upon hearing the screams of the mother, Isis felt sad, for the child had done nothing wrong, and she visited to the woman, Come to me, for my speech has the power to pro-tect, and it has life. Isis settled her hand upon the child and radius, O poison of Tefen, come forth, and come out on the ground! For I am Isis the goddess, and I am the lady of language of power, and I know how to  work  with  words  of  power,  and  strong  are  my words! The poison left the child and he lived.

Then Isis said to the seven scorpions, I speak to you, for I am unique and my regret is greater than that of anyone in all the Nomes of Egypt. . . . Turn your faces down to the ground and lead me to the swamps and the occult places.

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