My religion has many creation myths and all of them are true. They tell us about creation. Atum masturbated and Ptah spoke and everything was created. The Celestial Cow as Mut or Hethert or Mehet Weret or Nit gave birth to the sun god Ra and as She spoke everything was created. Aset spoke the Word in the Beginning as did Nit and everything was created.
The other Gods, the air in the form of Shu, moisture in the form of Tefnut; Geb and Nut in the forms of earth and sky. Ma’at and Life in the forms of Ma’at, Tefnut and Shu. Ra, Shu, and the Eye Goddesses gave birth to light. Wesir, Heru Wer, Set, Aset and Nebet Het were born and thus more was created by them.
Do you not see? One became many. Creation cannot exist without differentiation. There are many Netjeru for a reason. For each job to be performed, someone must be equipped to do it. Some of Us have the same job, yet do it differently. To borrow a phrase: Diversity is Our Power; Unity is Our Strength.
All of nature is touched by these Gods and Goddesses. Sunbeams are Ra, Mut, Tefnut, Bast, Sekhmet, Aset and other solar Goddesses. The air you breathe is Shu or Aset. The earth you stand on is Geb.
This is a review of Auset Egyptian Oracle Cards by Elisabeth Jensen and Illustrated by Marie Klement. First off I have to say I love the art. The cards are gorgeous. The gods and goddesses are depicted in very traditional, ancient Egyptian styles and motifs. They are absolutely stunning! (I do prefer this art style, so I am completely biased here). The only card I did not like the image of was the Sirius card.
I posted this on my Patreon and thought people here would find it useful.
So I have a book that just came out with ancient hymns in it (see here) and it occurred to me that many people may not know how this works.
Once I find a hymn or quote I want to use, I look up the publisher and email them with the information of what I want to include (the hymn, the full citation of the book or article, including page number) and information about my book (title, publisher, rights, distribution, approximate cost). Then starts the waiting game. Sometimes it takes a few days, a month and some take years to get back to me. Yes, years. (I’m still waiting on some in fact).
Now, once I hear back, I can get different kinds of responses:
Got permission. It’s free. Just send us a copy of the book and cite everything completely. Sometimes, they’ll even give me a template to use for citations. So, literally cut and paste, just add the page number. (and no, you can’t abbreviate citations. Full citation for each hymn)
You may have permission if you send us money. $50 USD
You may have permission if you send us money. $200 USD
You may have permission if you send us money even though you asked for only 6 to 12 lines. $198 USD (Yes, this happened)
You may have permission to translate and include one hymn if you pay us. $350 USD (Yes, this happened too and I said no)
And I must include the books in the bibliography as well.
So if the hymn is in German or French, I have to ask permission from either the author or the publisher to translate it and include it in my book. If it is already translated into English, I ask permission from the author/translator or publisher to include it in my book. Sometimes, they will ask for a copy of the book in exchange which I am more than happy to provide.
If it is in hieroglyphs then I ask someone who knows hieroglyphs to translate it for me in exchange for a book copy or monetary compensation. If I knew hieroglyphs, then I could just translate it myself. (But I digress…)
So I hope this helped to clear up any issues about what I include in my books as far as content or footnotes.
Thank you to all the authors, translators and publishers who kindly gave me permission to include their works in my books.
The Eye of Ra is a title of many ancient Egyptian Goddesses. The Eye of Ra protects Ra and all of Egypt from enemies. The Eye of Ra is a solar goddess associated with the cycles of the sun, solar eclipses, the star Sirius, Venus, the Morning Star, and the full moon. All the Eye goddesses are associated with solar rays, flame and starlight—in both restorative and destructive capacities. The Eye Goddesses are associated with snakes, cobras, lionesses, leopards and cats.
Within Flaming Lioness, there are ancient hymns to:
Roses themselves were introduced to Egypt via the Greeks and Romans. The Goddess Aphrodite (or Venus) was born from the sea-foam and during her birth; a white rose was formed from the waves. This is why it is associated with Aphrodite. When Aphrodite’s lover Adonis died, she cried and the white rose became red with his blood. And this is why red roses are associated with the Goddess.[1]
Aset’s worship became greatly linked to Aphrodite so much so that there was a syncretic deity Isis-Aphrodite within the Ptolemaic period. Aset as a mourning Goddess would also be associated with the red rose.
Rhodophoria “Bearer of Roses” or Rosalia festivals were ancient Greek and Roman festivals to honor the dead, the military dead and various deities. It was also a spring festival about fertility and flowers, especially roses so many Goddesses were honored during this time such as Aphrodite, Venus, Hethert (Hathor), Aset, Isis and Isis-Aphrodite.
Some scholars think that a garland of roses may have been religiously associated with the Crown of Victory given to Wesir after his victory over death in the afterlife. Even though this was initially given to Heru, it was transferred to Wesir. Other gods associated with this festival are Heru and Ra. Other ways this occasion was celebrated was victory triumphing over enemies or protecting from harmful forces. During the Ptolemaic Period and later, the festival became more affiliated with Wesir’s mythos.[2]
A long Rhodophoria festival (lasting 13 days) is listed on the Temple Festival Calendar of Soknopaiou Nesos which was dedicated to the crocodile God Sobek and Aset as both Aset Neferset/Isis Nepherses (with the Beautiful Throne) and Nephremmis (of the Beautiful Arms).[3]
This festival for Aset comes from the Ptolemaic period. It is obviously Greek in origin, but was adapted to ancient Egyptian religion.
Roses were the flowers which were left on graves. Aset is honored here as the Lady of Beauty, Fertility of the Land and Abundance, Queen of the Land of the Dead (Amenti), Queen of the Ancestors and the Mourner of Wesir.
Make offerings to Aset and some family members such as Sobek and Wesir
Offer red roses in a vase or rose petals in a bowl
Make or buy garlands of roses to put in your hair or drape around the shrine
Offer red roses and other offerings to the dead in a separate ancestor shrine or at a graveyard
Sources
[1] J. Gwyn Griffiths, Apuleius of Madaurus: The Isis-Book: (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (Brill, 1975), pp 39; 159–161.
Forrest, M. Isidora. Offering to Isis: Knowing the Goddess Through Her Sacred Symbols. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 2005. (Rose entry: page 258-259)
[2] J. Gwyn Griffiths. Apuleius of Madaurus: The Isis-Book: (Metamorphoses, Book XI) (Brill, 1975), pp 159–161.
[3] Capron, Laurent. “Déclarations fiscales du Temple de Soknopaiou Nêsos: éléments nouveaux,” in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. Bd. 165, Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany). (2008), pp. 142. 13 days.
Perpillou-Thomas, Francoise. Fêtes d’Egypte ptolémaïque et romaine, d’après la documentation papyrologique grecque. (Studia Hellenistica Series 31). (Peeters Publishers, 1993),127. From the Papyrus of Oxyrhynchos LII 3694. 12 day festival.
[4]Capron, Laurent. “Déclarations fiscales du Temple de Soknopaiou Nêsos: éléments nouveaux,” in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. Bd. 165, Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany). (2008), pp. 142. 13 days.
Perpillou-Thomas, Francoise. Fêtes d’Egypte ptolémaïque et romaine, d’après la documentation papyrologique grecque. (Studia Hellenistica Series 31). (Peeters Publishers, 1993),127. From the Papyrus of Oxyrhynchos LII 3694. 12 day festival. Hekster, Olivier. Rome and its Empire, AD 193-284. (Edinburgh University Press, 2008), 128. From the Feridale Duranum Calendar from the reign of Severus Alexander.
The next book I’ll hopefully finish is either Solar Lioness: Ancient Hymns for Sekhmet or Solar Flares and Sunbeams: An Anthology for Ra.
Creation Mother: Ancient Hymns for Mut (working title) is going to take longer as I’m hoping to be able to include some if not all of the Crossword Hymn to Mut in it.
