The Nurturing Mother
Lesser Deity
Symbol: Horned cow’s head wearing a lunar disk
Home Plane: Heliopolis
Alignment: Neutral Good
Portfolio: Motherhood, folk, music, dance, the moon, fate
Worshippers: Bards, dancers, mothers
Cleric Alignments: CG, LG, NG
Domains: Family, Fate, Good, Moon
Favoured Weapon: Long cow horns (Short Sword)
Hathor (haa-thor) is known for her soft speech, which is like receiving comforting words following a raging argument, words that seem gentler because they dispel anger and sadness. Her laughter is like the joy of an infant, and all babies are precious to her. Hathor’s very presence brightens her surroundings and brings peace and contentment to those in the shadow of her presence. Hathor never utters a harsh word, shows impatience or loses her smile. She speaks earnestly and humbly except when performing one of her dances or a song, when she is wildly exuberant.
The church of Hathor is loosely organized, eschewing the trappings of theocratic power common to Mulhorand’s other temples. Hathor has no interest in politics, and few of her clerics seek temporal power — a rarity in Mulhorand. Instead, her servants seek to nurse the sick, aid the poor and protect all children. Clerics of Hathor wander Mulhorand dispensing aid to the poor and downtrodden. They donate much of their money directly to those who need it most and many live solely on the charity of those they aid. Almost all her clerics are female.
Clerics of Hathor pray for their spells at whenever the moon is highest in the sky during the day or night. Clerics of Hathor follow a lunar calendar of 30-day months that does not include the standard special days of the Calendar of Harptos. They have a cycle of prayers corresponding to each day in a month that repeats with each full moon. On the day of the first full moon after Greengrass, the clergy of Hathor celebrates a holy day known as the Birthing. Clerics try to time their pregnancies so they may give birth near this holy day. All clerics of Hathor are required to unveil a new song, dance or poem at this time, if they are not in the final stages of pregnancy or the mother of a newborn. Midsummer’s Eve is known as the Celebration of the Moon to clerics of the faith, who spend the day in joyous revelry and uplifting hymns. Her clerics sometimes multi-class as bards.
Hathor’s relationship with the other deities of the Mulhorand is a servile one, with the exception of Set and Sebek, whom she dislikes. Many of the Mulhorandi deities look down on her, with the exception of Osiris, Isis and Nephthys, who appreciate her kindness. Hathor’s role overlaps that of Isis in some respects, but Hathor is seen as a mother and Isis as a wife. She misses the rest of her celestial family and, like lonely Geb, may abandon her power in Faerûn to return to them.
Help all who turn to you for aid, be the slave or free, high born or low born, for all Mulhorand’s children are equal in Hathor’s eyes. Provide sustenance for the hungry, healing for the hurt, health for the diseased and protection for the endangered. Act humbly, for pride and haughty words come not from the heart of the Nurturing Mother. Treat those in your care as royalty, for so shall you be cared for in the peaceful garden of the Quiet One in the afterlife. Be joyful and spread happiness with your words and deeds. Dance and let your heart be light, for goodness and mercy shall be yours in this life and the next.
Source: Faiths and Pantheons (Page 142)