Property of Sekhmet

Shafer discusses the earliest development of Egyptian religion. It's not clear when Egyptian gods took on human attributes - whether there was a stage in which the gods were objects and animals. "Yet what appears significant," he argues, "is not the form the concept of the divine took but the fact that the concept could be manifest in an image. For even when the power/force was represented as an animal, it was possible that the believer also attributed to it human behaviours and traits." For example, Predynastic gods are often shown as animals, but acting like human beings. Later, human and animal seem to fuse - literally in the case of the familiar animal-headed human figures. (p 13-15)

The importance of sacred animals greatly increased in the Late Period. As Shafer points out, animals were more accessible than statues hidden away in temples. "For worshippers, the animals' relation to deities was comparable to that of living and deceased human intermediaries." (p 196-7)

"In Egypt, the notion of evil overlapped to a great extent with that of disorder." (p 163) This makes sense to me, considering the violence, starvation, and general chaos of the Intermediate Periods. But of course, as Shafer points out, the pharaoh had a vested interest in paralleling his or her own rule with cosmic order.

In a Coffin Text of the Middle Kingdom, the creator god assigns the blame for evil on human beings and not on the gods: "I made every man like his fellow. I did not ordain that they do wrong." Literally: that they engage in izfet (itft?), disorder), the chaos outside creation, which is where unworthy souls are thrown after judgment. (p 128-9, 163)

Where does "natural evil" come from, then? Elswhere Shafer discusses the Instruction of Amenemope from the New Kingdom, which emphasises that everything happens because the gods ordained it. "… although the gods created order and uphold it, they are free to act by their own lights and may appear to be capricious… The morality of these instruction texts focusses as much on accepting and enduring events as on making them happen." (p 194-5) Shafer argues that in polytheism, evil has two possible sources, human wrongdoing and the "tension and disorder" within the pantheon - hence "the existence of evil is not deeply problematic because nothing is truly perfect (p 186-7).

One sharp difference between Egyptian and Mesopotamian religion is that, in Egypt, personal devotion to a particular god was rare (p 174), while in Mesopotamia everyone had a "personal god". OTOH, "Thousands of votive offerings have been found at shrines of the goddess Hathor, the patroness of women." Some of these were probably prayers for fertility (p 180-1).
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Shafer, Byron E. (ed). Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice. Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY, 2001.

Neith was one of the four goddesses who protected the canopic jars, along with Isis, Nephthys, and Serqet. She was also a protector of the royal house.

The click beetle (family Elateridae) has a body which resembles an Egyptian shield, which Neith is often depicted wearing as a headdress. A First Dynasty relief shows the heads and abdomens of two click beetles "incorporated into the symbol of the goddess Neith". Another First Dynasty relief shows one of these beetles holding the was sceptre. Elaterid beetles are brilliantly metallic in colour, and some are bioluminescent, reflecting Neith's association with the rising sun and as the "opener of the way" for souls in the underworld.

Neith was also associated with the fly, perhaps because of its association with the military.

ETA: Neith's recognition and influence dwindled over time, perhaps for political reasons; at first known throughout Egypt, later her importance was mostly limited to Sais. She was Khnum's consort at Esna.

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Kritsy, Gene and Ron Cherry. Insect Mythology. Writers Club Press, 2000.
Motte-Florac, Elisabeth and Jacqueline M.C. Thomas. Les "Insectes" Dans La Tradition Orale. Peeters Publishers, Belgium, 2003.
Shafer, Byron E. (ed) Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Pratice. Cornell UP, Ithaca, 1991.