Category Archives: Shrine

Happy Rhodophoria!

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Rhodophoria/Rosalia Festival

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Here is Aset’s shrine after the ritual.

This festival for Aset comes from the Ptolemaic period.  It is obviously Greek in origin, but was adapted to ancient Egyptian religion.   Aset is honored here as a Goddess of Beauty, the spring season and the Lady of the Rose.

Roses were the flowers which were left on graves.  Aset is honored here as the Lady of Beauty, Queen of the Dead and the Mourner of Wesir.

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Here is the image of the shrine after the offerings were mostly cleared.

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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.

Offerings and Symbols of Ra

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Offerings to Ra

Some of these are attested in ancient sources while others come from my own (or other people’s) personal experience giving offerings to the God.

Liquid Offerings
Water
Beer
Pomegranate-Wine
Wine
Orange Juice
Coffee
Tea

Food Offerings
Bread and Barley
Fruits and Vegetables
Oranges, Apples
Figs
Dates
Fig Newtons
Pastries; cookies and cakes
chocolate

Meat Offerings
chicken or duck
beef

Non-Food Offerings
Scents: myrrh, frankincense, sandalwood
Flowers: Yellow, Orange or Red Roses, Sunflowers, Yellow or Red flowers, Water lilies, lotus
Light: yellow, red, gold or orange candles; beeswax candles; lanterns
Colors: Red, Orange and Yellow; White
Jewelry: Gold, solar colors

Taboos
pork
fish; any seafood
ram

Disposal of Offerings
1) Eat them
2) With wine or water, you can leave it to evaporate on the Shrine or pour it out as a libation when done.

Sacred Animals
Falcon
Hawk
White Heron/Bennu Bird
Cat
Bull
Ram (as Ra-Atum or Ra-Wesir)

Sacred Symbols
Sun
His Barque
Pyramids
Obelisks
The Bennu Bird (White Heron; Phoenix)

Syncretisms
Amun-Ra
Atum-Ra
Khepera-Ra
Khepera-Ra-Atum (Dawn, Noon, Dusk)
Khnum-Ra
Nefertem-Ra
Ra-Atum
Ra-Heruakhety (Ra Horakhty; Ra and Horus of the Two Horizons)
Ra-Wesir
Sobek-Ra
Wesir-Ra

Sources

Quirke, Stephen. The Cult of Ra: Sun-Worship in Ancient Egypt. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2001.

This Website: Wepwawet Wiki: Ra

Site Update

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Hello, everyone!

I have updated my website! I have added to each of these sections:

Aset: Aset FAQ, Offerings, Shrine and Family.

Nebet Het: Shrine, Syncretic Forms and Offerings.

Athene: Orphic Hymn to Athene trans. by Thomas Taylor and Books.

And I have added a new sections for Sekhmet-Mut!

Sekhmet-Mut’s section has: About Sekhmet-Mut, Epithets, Offerings, Festivals, Shrine, Syncretic Forms and Books.

Aset Shrine Pictures

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Here are some shrine pictures of Aset’s shrine during the Awakening of Aset by the Majesty of Ra Festival in January (I think it is the 16 of Mechir on the Ancient Egyptian calendar). Some friends and I got together and honored Her. I think this was in 2011 though I’m not sure.

Anyway, here are the pictures.

Aset Shrine

Awakening of Aset by the Majesty of Ra Shrine





aset statues

Close up of Aset Statues





offerings to aset

Offerings to the Goddess Aset





aset statue close two

Another Aset statue close up.