Yes, ISIS indeed is BLACK.

Egyptian woman and man in the Otherworld, worshipping.

Like most people, ancient and modern, the Egyptians depicted their Deities (at least the
anthropomorphic ones) as more beautiful, more powerful, more perfect images of
themselves. So, of course, Isis was shown as a strong and beautiful Egyptian woman.
Images of the Goddess show Her with the skin color and features of Her countrywomen and
men. As Egypt is an African nation, Isis is an African Goddess. In at least one ancient text,
She is specifically a black African Goddess when She says of Herself, I am the Nubian and I
have descended from heaven. (Nubia was what is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan.
Nubian pharaohs ruled Egypt as its 25th Dynasty.) Another text, from the Ptolemaic temple of
Hathor at Denderah, says that Isis was born a black and ruddy woman, endowed with life,
sweet of love.

Black Isis by Zingaia.

Modern artists are increasingly depicting Isis as a black woman and Im very happy to see
their beautiful work showing up online more frequently.
But blackness wasnt just about ethnic heritage to the Egyptians. It was also symbolic. Black
was the color of fertility, the color of the rich, black silt that the Nile deposited on Egyptian
fields during the Inundation. Black was the color of the healing statues that were carved with
magical formulae and over which sufferers poured water, then drank the magically infused
water as a medicine. Black is the color of the heavens at night, from which the Goddess
descends to us as a Nubian. Black is the color of the dead, as the resins used in
mummification turned dark over time.
When the worship of Isis passed into Hellenistic lands, the Greek symbolism of the color black
came into play in Isiac iconography as well. In Greek-influenced lands, black was associated
with death and the underworld, thus it was the Greek color of mourning. As Isis is a
mourning Goddess, She was often depicted wearing robes of black and Melanophoros,
Wearer of the Black, became one of Her epithets.

Green Isis on a sarcophagus; I know, it looks like a tattoo, but its a cartonnage sarcophagus.

In Egyptian symbolism, the colors black and green were interchangeable. Everything we
associate with the color greenlife, freshness, renewalthe Egyptians also associated with
green andwith black. In scenes of the Otherworld, we often see both Isis and Osiris painted
with green skin. Just as the rich black silt from the Nile brings forth bright green plants; the
rich darkness of the Otherworld is overseen by the bright Goddess and God of Renewal, Isis
and Osiris.
In the same way that green and black were
associated, green and blue were also related
concepts. Blue was specifically used to indicate
the waters and the heavens, and of course, both
were essential for the greening of the land of
Egypt. Since all these concepts were connected,
the throne symbol on Isis head was frequently
painted in black, green, or blue. Her skin might
be blue, too, as in the example above. And, like
other Deities, Isis was described as having blue
lapis lazuli hair.

Golden Isis

But the ancient Egyptians didnt stop with black, green, and blue. Since skin color was
symbolic, it was very flexible. Isis is also shown with the yellow skin that Egyptian artists
sometimes used for Egyptian women or the golden skin of Goddesses and Gods. Indeed,

Egyptian tradition held that all the Deities had golden skin. This was literally true when it
came to the many statues or reliefs of the Deities that were covered in gold. And it was
symbolically true as a way to express the purity and incorruptibility of the Divine Ones for
gold is the one metal that never corrodes.

Roman Isis, from the 2nd century CE, in the Farnese Collection in Naples. Image copyright Forrest 2009.

When Isis made Her entrance into the Greek and Roman world, just as the Egyptians had,
those worshippers, too, portrayed their Goddess as more perfect reflections of themselves.
There are a number of striking Roman statues of Isis in which the flesh of the Goddess is
carved from white marble while Her robes are carved from black. (I honestly dont know
whether these statues were originally painted as we are discovering many ancient Greek
statues were. Yet the fact that the artist used two different colors of marble seems to indicate
that the marble itself was intended to be seen. And even if they were painted, the Goddess
skin would have been pale, as She was portrayed in polychromatic Roman paintings.)
The Isis image on my own altar is black in both color and features. But I also have a green
Isis, several golden Isises, a terracotta Isis, a turquoise Isis, and the lovely Farnese Isis on
the left is one of my all-time favorite images of Her.
Yet all these images are simply ways human beings have portrayed Her so that we can more
easily relate to Her. Isis is a Goddess, not a woman. She is not exclusively Egyptian or Roman
or American or Japanese. She will always reflect back to us our own faces. She is of no color
and of every color. She is a Black Goddess, a Green Goddess, a White Goddess, a Red
Goddess, a Purple Goddess. She is my Goddess. She is your Goddess. She belongs to us all.
But more importantly for those who love Her, we all belong to Her.