Chaos Fish vs Sobek the Crocodile God, Sweater Fail, Where’s October?

Recently, as I was doing some light research for a poem I’m writing about cats, I fell down a completely separate rabbit hole pertaining to the myths of Sobek, the Egyptian Crocodile god. According to one of these myths, in a fit of rage, Isis cast a spell on her son Horus to remove his hands, then threw them into the depth of the Nile where they sank to the very bottom of the river. The Sun God Ra, observing this from the skies, felt that Isis’s actions were unjust, and decided to help Horus retrieve his hands. However, the river was too deep for him to navigate himself, so he enlisted the help of Sobek the Crocodile God, enticing him with a beautiful, shining gold ring that he knew Sobek would find irresistible. Ra enters Sobek’s temple and offers him the ring in return for retrieving the hands. As predicted, Sobek is enraptured by the ring, and agrees. He dives deep into the Nile and approaches the bottom, where the hands are hidden under a rock formation and are in the possession of the Fish of Chaos, Sobek’s life-long nemesis. The Fish of Chaos are fast, clever, daring and ruthless. After several days of unsuccessfully chasing the fish in a rage, Sobek suddenly has a moment of creative inspiration. He returns to the rock deep in the night when the fish are sleeping, and waits. When the fish awaken and the chase begins anew, Sobek is calm and focused. He bides his time, and eventually the fish are trapped in his ingenious invention—the world’s first fishing net. Sobek brings the hands to Ra, Ra gives him the ring and returns the hands to Horus, and order is restored.

I love the interplay of chaos and order in this story. The lesson for me is in the gift of calmness that creative inspiration brings to Sobek. It is only until he answers the call of inspiration that his emotions settle and he is able to think through and execute on a plan with patience and intention, rather than wildly chasing the fish in an exhausting and futile pursuit. There is more that I love about this tale, including the endearingly short-tempered and impulsive Sobek, but that for me that was the lesson.

On a more mundane note, I am annoyed about sweaters. In anticipation of the coming winter, I ordered three sweaters from Amazon, which in itself was a stressful experience, because I was looking for professional-looking, medium-length sweaters—ones that hang just above or at my hips. This was seemingly impossible. There was very little middle ground between sweaters that hang below the knees and those that cut off just under the breast bone. I don’t understand it. I finally found a handful that seemed to meet the criteria, and so far, the two that I have received out of the three will need to go back. One is way too big, and the other cuts off above my belly button and is itchy. I’m convinced that COVID killed the work wardrobe. I can’t seem to find any professional work clothing anymore, and the last time I asked at a retail outlet for “business casual” clothing, they looked at me like I had three heads.

This may be all be moot anyway, because if the current weather pattern continues, we may not even have a winter in Seattle this year. We are in the middle of the strangest October I’ve ever experienced. It’s been dry, sunny and warm the whole month, and we’re supposed to hit a high of 77 today. The weird, out of season dryness and warmth is odd enough, but combined with the relentless wildfire smoke hanging in the air, it’s downright disconcerting. This is October, the time of infamous lattes, suede boots, fall rain and snuggly scarves. Instead I feel like I should be laying on a lawn chair next to a kiddie pool, sipping a Mai Tai and catching some rays. I want a proper October, darnit!

If you are interested in the Crocodile God, this video was one of the ones I watched. It’s long, but very interesting. If you just want to skip to the myth portion, it starts at the 15 minute mark. For some reason, videos are not uploading properly, so the direct link is here.

-Kristen McHenry