Sekhmet was a powerful and unique therianthropic mother goddess with the body of a woman and the head of a lion. In various contexts she held dominion over everything from fire to magic, as well as hunting, wild animals, death, war, violence, retribution, justice, plague, chaos, the desert wind, mid-day sun, medicine and healing. As with many Egyptian goddesses, through her myriad associations, she had two polarized aspects to her personality--on the one hand a dangerous and destructive aspect, and on the other hand a healing and protective aspect. Her name literally means ‘The powerful one’ or ‘One who has control’.