One of the groups I’m in has been having some fun lately with “Googlism.” It enables you to search a word or name and get a pageful of quick definitions of your search topic—according to the googlic algorithms.

Naturally, I had to try googlism-ing Goddess Isis.

Most of what came back was fine, but unremarkable: “goddess isis is also known by many names,” “goddess isis is the great goddess of egyptian religion,”  “goddess isis is goddess of sacred magic and alchemical powers for manifestation and protection.” (Yes, they use all lowercase letters.) But my three favorites are more enigmatic: “goddess isis is back,” “goddess isis is again,” and “goddess isis is.”

Now, we’re getting somewhere.

If “Goddess Isis is back,” then She must have gone away at some point. But did She really? In Isis Magic, I traced Her presence from pre-history to today and feel quite confident Isis has been with us, in one form or another, from the Beginning. Or perhaps this return refers to the broader Return of the Goddess, the modern manifestation of which has been in full swing since the 1990s. On the other hand, it seems that the Goddess has been “returning” to us for quite a long time. Before the 90s uptick, the Goddess returned with the magical and hippie consciousness of the 60s and 70s. Before that, the occultists of the 30s and 40s discovered Her. Before that, turn of the century esotericists like the Golden Dawn and Anna Kingsford welcomed Her return. Before that, the Great Goddess returned as the hidden Mystery of secret societies, and before that She reappeared in more overt forms, such as the Virgin Mary of Catholicism and the Shekinah of Judaism. Does this seeming disappearance and return tell us something about the nature of Goddess (at least here in the West, where we’ve restricted our Goddesses)? Or does it tell us something about ourselves?

The second statement, “Goddess Isis is again” delves deeper into the Goddess’s return. This time, it’s about existence. She is again, so She must have not been. Do Deities come into being and/or go into non-being? The ancient Egyptians conceived of non-being as Nun, the great primordial waters of No-thing-ness from which all things, including the Deities, arose. (Sort of like the Big Bang, but damper.) The Sun God Re returns to the Nun as part of His nightly journey through the Twelve Hours of the Night. By briefly passing into non-being each night, He is strengthened and renewed so that He can continue to expend energy in the world the next day. Perhaps Deities—or at least the Presences They send into the world so that we might know Them—need some downtime.

My favorite of the three googlisms is, “Goddess Isis is.”

How can we know that the Divine is, that Goddess is, that God is? How can I know that Goddess Isis, in particular, is? There is no formula, no algorithm, no experiment that can prove it—or disprove it, for that matter. The only way we can know is the way human beings have always known; by sensing it in our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits. Goddess Isis is because She awakened my heart, illuminated my mind, and enfolded me in Her wings. Goddess Isis is because She spoke to my soul all those many years ago. Goddess Isis is because my spirit is renewed in Her each day just as Re is renewed in the Nun. Goddess Isis is Isis. Goddess Isis is Goddess. Goddess Isis is the primordial No-Thing-Ness and She is the primordial coming into existance. The Goddess  is alive. In you. In me. In all that IS. She always has been.