Heqat

(Hekat) - (meaning unknown; perhaps derived from the words for "ruler" and "sceptre" given Her purview over royal and divine births) Depicted as a woman with the head of a frog (viewed by the Kemetic people to be a particularly fertile animal), Heqet is the midwife of Netjer, presiding over all births and particularly those of royal parentage, as witnessed in paintings in tombs and temples. In the company of Aset, Meshkhenet and Khnum, Heqet was attributed with the deliverance of the three initial kings of Dynasty V in a folktale (preserved in Papyrus Westcar) which comes down to us by the popular name of "Khufu and the Magicians." As midwife, Heqet is sometimes paired with Khnum, who creates the form of the infant and its ka upon His potter's wheel. Heqet is also sometimes considered the wife of Her-wer, and at least in the Old Kingdom, Her priestesses served as trained midwives.