Myths – Fiercely Bright One

Resized_20180421_203720_5899_4 — 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.

There is a myth from the Papyrus Jumilhac, where Set cut out both Eyes of Heru and hid them in a mountain. Yinepu found them and buried them. Aset demanded that Ra, the Lord of All, allow Heru to be healed. He agrees. Aset waters the buried Eyes of Heru and a vineyard sprouts up, thus creating the first grapevine. Heru’s eyes are then healed (1).

Geraldine Pinch says that this myth represents Heru-sa-Aset regaining his royal regalia and power from Aset the Goddess of the throne. Plants growing from something buried is reminiscent of the growth of grain from Wesir. The use of water in making the vineyard is analogous to Aset’s tears renewing Wesir via the Nile flood and plants flourishing because of this. The Eye of Heru in a ritual context represents all offerings especially wine (2).

The Eyes of Heru here are both the sun and the moon. Like other myths where the Eyes are injured and restored, this myth is closely associated with the cycle of the moon and this case, also the sun.

Aset here is a goddess of royal power, sacred waters of renewal, the vineyard and the healer of the Eye of Heru and thus the moon. Aset is also the Lady of Wine.

You could incorporate this myth into the lunar festivals of each month when you honor Heru-sa-Aset Her or Wesir too as He is also Lord of Wine.

Sources

(1) Dimitri Meeks, and Christine Farvard-Meeks, Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods, trans. G. M. Goshgarian (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996), 75.

Pinch, Geraldine. Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 132. From the Papyrus Jumilhac.

(2) Pinch, Geraldine. Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 132

Category: Myths

Why I came to Kemetic Religion

Aset and the Vineyard