Category: Musings

Aset, Auset, Isis, Heru-sa-Aset, Horus son of Isis, Musings, Myths, Wesir, Asar, Ausar, Osiris, Work-in-Progress, Writing

Why I came to Kemetic Religion

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Shrine of Aset.  Photo by Monica H.

The question  was asked:  What drew you to Kemetic religion?

This is my answer.  It just kind of came out more stream of consciousness.

As for what drew me to it, Aset (Isis) did.  I’ve been fascinated by her since I was nine.  She was fierce, compassionate, strong, smart, loyal and clever.  She was magical and had all knowledge in earth and heaven.

I love the mythology and that the cosmos is renewed everyday.  The evil in the world can be fought: as the gods themselves destroy the demon serpent every day, as the gods gave humans magic to ward off events and as we humans can choose to do good or evil based on our own hearts, our own choices.

Everyday is a new dawn.  And every dawn is a victory.  So there is hope.  Aset mourned and lost her husband Wesir (Osiris).  Wesir became the King of the Ancestors and thus the dead have a home.  And we are connected to our dead through our ancestral lineages.  And we honor them at ancestor shrines and the ancestors help us.

Aset gained a son, Heru-sa-Aset (Horus, son of Isis).  Heru stands for us.  He is god of Kingship, the linchpin between the worlds so that the gods and men can co-exist;  Heru stands for everyone who is ill as his mother said she will help heal her son Heru and anyone who suffers likewise (in a papyrus).  Heru stands for the community, justice and strength and perseverance over adversity as he had to win the throne of Egypt through trials.

The Eye of Ra goddess (who can be many goddesses including Aset) is angry and leaves.  But she is always called back and  she comes back.  She turns from a raging lioness into another more pacified form (like a human or a cat).  She is welcomed back.  This teaches us appropriate action in rage and also forgiveness.  For Ra forgives her and welcomes her home.  For she forgives herself and returns.

There is hope in despair.  There is strength and fortitude in adversity.  There is compassion in the middle of pain.  And there  is joy once rage is appeased.  There is determination, fierce love and fortitude in hardship.  And there is love.  So much love.

The gods fight for us everyday as the serpent is destroyed every dawn.  Aset destroys it with Her magic; Set with His spear.  In tandem, entropy is destroyed.

And  hope shines anew.

Each day is a blessing.

And each day is hard won.

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Aset, Auset, Isis, Musings, Oracles, Poems, Poetry,, Writing

A Thought about Prosperity and Beauty

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Power coming from beauty is confidence and being seated upon your own seat, upon your own throne.  This is the power of the Goddess of Beauty.  Not sex.  Yes, it can be included, but it doesn’t have to be.

Aset is a Goddess of Beauty and sex is not Her perview.  She is the Lady of the Throne.  She sits on Her seat as the Queen of Herself and Her nation.  Like Her, you must be filled with confidence and self-possession.  Like Her, you must be filled with pride and prosperity.

Prosperity is not just money.  Wealth is not just money.  Wealth is the power of the self.  To attract abundance, you must know where you want to go and how you will get there.  You must know your goals and how you can achieve them.  Once you ask from this spot, the worlds collide and align and weave your own power into the energy of the Universe.

And through your clear intention, plans and hard work, then and only then–

Then and only then, will you gain what you desire.

 

 

Articles, Aset Neferset, Auset Neferset, Isis Nepherses, Aset of Pharos Lighthouse, Auset of Pharos Lighthouse, Isis Pharia, Aset, Auset, Isis, Aset-Serqet, Auset-Serqet, Isis-Selkis, Musings

A note about my Aset research

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A note about my Aset research:

1) I take from all time periods this includes Pre-dynastic, Old, Middle and New Kingdoms, the Intermediate Periods and the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods.

2) I try to take things that are in Egypt and in the ancient Egyptian languages from hieroglyphs to demotic. (Holidays are the only exception to this rule as I have some Greek and Roman dates and festivals on my calendar. Most of them are based on Egyptian myths so…the more holidays the merrier!).

3) Additions to Her attributes are fine as long as they have an ancient Egyptian precedent. So, Aset is called a Leopard in a hymn from the Temple of Philae and this is due to her aspect as an Eye of Ra. Leopards may not be Egyptian, but the Eye of Ra associated with Big Cats such as Lionesses is very much an Ancient Egyptian concept. So Aset is a Lioness and a Leopard to me. (And it is from the Temple of Philae, in Egypt and in hieroglyphs which helps).

4) My research leads me to Egyptology, archaeology and religious studies books and works by modern Kemetic and Tameran Pagan practitioners. And I cite as such.

And that’s all I can think of for now.

Goddesses, Musings

Sage Advice from Ariadne’s Axe

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Do not choose a god according to their might. Might is vain, transient, and does not lead to rightness.

Nor should you choose them according to which of them seems most likely to exist. Simply existing is no assurance of goodness.

Rather, ask of your heart, “What is your unreasonable wish?”

Ask the same of the hearts of gods. When you find that god whose wish is your wish, then your hearts will be like one heart, and your mission will be one mission.

Serve none unless this is true.

— Ariadne’s Axe: How to Choose a Patron

Blessings, Goddesses, Gods, Magic, Musings, Mysteries, Mystery, Shrine

Musings on Cycles and Creation

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Offerings are given so that the Gods’ Kau (vital essence) are fed and ours are fed when we partake of the physical offering after ritual. Eating, breathing, laughing, doing what we enjoy, sex, and creativity, beauty feed our Kau.

Replenishing creation with ritual and food is a sacred act. It is reciprocal creation with the Gods and people. It is an exchange of energy and the axiom “we give so You may give” applies here.

The world is made of cycles. Duality and complimentary opposites working together are one of the main themes in Egyptian myth. And so are cycles.

And cycles are important because anything that stagnates, dies. The solar cycle, the lunar cycle, the Nile cycle, the stellar cycle, the daily cycle and nightly cycle all renew creation and the Gods and humans and the dead.

All renewal brings back the emerging power of the First Time–all magic, all possibility, all power and all potential are in this moment. And this is what ritual does for us and what cleansing the ka does for us.

It brings us back to this moment where anything is possible. Our True Selves emerge here True-of-Voice. Our Star-Souls are held here and we behold creation with the Gods.

The sun emerges from the waters. Light penetrates the darkness. Daybreak fills creation with life.

Aset, Auset, Isis, Devotional Practice, Musings, Mysteries, Ra

Netjeru in Nature

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Someone asked on a forum about honoring the Netjeru in nature. Here is my response.

Any of the Netjeru can be honored in nature. Ra especially since He is the sun. I tell Him hi sometimes when I go outside.

Nature and animals are the manifestations (ba or pl. bau) of the Gods Themselves. It is perfectly fine to honor the Gods within the natural forces. Set is the thunderstorm, Ra is the sun and it’s Rays, Sun Goddesses are the sunbeams, Tefnut is the moisture of the clouds, Geb is the ground, Shu is the air and many Gods are the rivers. Aset is the rain, the river and the solar rays.

The Gods are not just in Their shrines. They are everywhere. They permeate all existence. This is Their creation and They live and breathe as we do.

Breathe and you are worshiping God. Ra’s first breath is the air that we breathe, Ra’s first light is in every sunrise and Ra’s first emergence is from the first waters. Ra’s first tear is humankind.

Aset, Auset, Isis, Musings, Writing

What to Build, What to Take Away

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So I’ve been doing a lot of execrations and cleansing myself of past mistakes and darkness. It was suggested to me to add healing to that and to build something from it too. I’ve done some healing as well. Maybe not enough. I should do more of that too.

So I’m going to ask Aset and Khnum and Ptah and possibly Heqat for help.

I mentioned to Aset what I wanted to build and She said that was a lot to build in a short amount of time.

So maybe I should focus on one or two of them at a time.

Here is my list so far of what I (eventually) wanted to build:

*design a better shrine room
*a small library (read: bookshelf) for Aset and Egypt (I have this. I need a few more books)
*design a ritual for Aset for nighttime
*finish and publish Lady of Praise, Lady of Power (Aset Hymnal)
*finish and publish Aset’s Oracle book
*finish and publish Aset’s Essay book
*Finish and publish Aset’s Festival/Ritual book (I’ll make this an anthology, since I can’t do this on my own)

Fiction Writing
*write the wolf demon/sorceress story
*write female shonen-type magical story
*write magical girl warrior story

I agree that this is too much to do. I’m more of a sprinter than a marathon runner when it comes to working. I work intensely for a short time and then I stop. I also get overwhelmed very easily.

Things I need to work on or learn to work within the boundaries of myself. I also need to learn to say: this is who I am and these are my boundaries and don’t apologize for it.

I can apologize for inappropriate behavior, but not for being myself.

What do I need? What do I want? What do I desire?

These are the questions I have to answer before I can go too far forward.

Aset, Auset, Isis, Musings, Mysteries, Nebet Het, Nephthys, Nut, Nuit

Aset, Lady of the West

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As I was sitting in shrine tonight, I was staring at all the shrines with their candles lit and their offerings laid out.

I thought of Aset as She is my Spiritual Mother. The specific Aset I get is as Aset Amenti or Aset as Lady of the West. And I’m finding a few things out about this Goddess that I didn’t know before. Lady of the West is a title of many Goddesses: Nut, Hethert, Nebet Het and Aset, Herself. As I thought about this I thought about separate experiences with Aset-Hethert, Aset-Nut, and Aset-Nebet Het.

It is strange because I have been told by a friend that Aset Amenti sounds like Aset as Nebet Het as She speaks.

The Lady of the West here encompasses more than just the Dead for Me.
I am the Queen of Heaven.
I am the Goddess of the Stars at night.
I am the Star shining a light through darkness.
I guide and lead the Dead.
I counsel and care for the Living.
I am Hethert. I am Nut.
I am with My Sister, here.
I am Aset Amenti.
I am Aset as Nebet Het who is Aset.
This is who I am, child.
I am Aset all the time and yet,
I encompass more than you can imagine.
Yes, Nebet Het is My sister.
Yet, I am Her and She is Me.
This is a Mystery.
Let it unfold.