As Polytheist.com is on hiatus and "Kemet Today" is not being updated there, I'll post the Kemetic Orthodox Year 26 Oracle of the goddess Aset (Isis) on this website.
Following is the transcript of the Oracle of the Year delivered to us by the goddess Aset on Her holiday called "Aset Luminous" (occurring on July 2 in Gregorian 2018). Each year, we receive such an oracle to provide wisdom about the Kemetic Orthodox year to come. This year's Wep Ronpet (Kemetic Orthodox New Year, the modern celebration of the ancient Egyptian New Year) occurs on August 5, and this oracle is to cover the next Kemetic year through August 2019. Ra is the protective/guardian deity of this year. The color of the year (to be used in decorating altars or shrines, or for heka purposes to bless and protect) is red.
Dua Ra! Dua Aset!
Aset Oracle delivered at Aset Luminous, Regnal Year 25 (2 July 2018), for Kemetic Orthodox Year 26 (5 August 2018 - 30 July 2019)
Greetings to you in the time of the renewal of the year, from the Mother of God, Aset the Great, I Who am luminous and strong in the prow of the Boat of Millions, the possessor of that great and terrible secret Ren of Ra that makes Ma’at to be exalted in all Her places. Blessings to those who hear with their ears, and who listen with their hearts, to the words that I address to the people of Ma’at, and the children of the Netjeru everywhere, My children:
The year is renewed in Sekhmet and Ma’at, in power and truth, in red and white, in blood and light. The year that has passed in djet is truly passed, and is no more. This year is for the judging of what came to pass in the year previous. What have you done? What have you promised? What have you carried out? What were your words and your actions before the Red and the White? Are they justified? Have you passed before the Two Truths, or are you standing shivering and naked in the hall, afraid to face your own consequences to the events of your own making?
Come before Me, as I am one of the Two Ma’ati, the voice of the voiceless in that hall where all are judged before the Pure One in His Field. Come before Me, and say your words, earn your censure and your praises, and make your amends. Judge yourself and be free. Stop putting your guilty hands on the scales of Ma’at and punishing yourselves. That is not yours to do but Ours. We will dispense Ma’at in its time.
Ma’at cannot come, because Ma’at is already among you. What remains is for you to assist Her in Her work, to take up your own responsibility and your own power and to carry out Her sentence. Start it in your own life, then move outward. Create a chain of Ma’at so strong that it holds all, and cannot be broken. Do not allow the weakness of any part of the chain to undo the work. Reach out your hands, and seal the breach. If your hands do not join, there can be no joining. If you cannot strive together, you cannot be victorious.
In this year I send you the Secret Name and the light and the blessing of My Father, Ra, Who calls this year His. You shall shine in His brilliance and be unified in His love, all the created beings under the sun of His divine barques in joy and in interminable blessing, but only if you also join together with His crew to pull the chains of the barque through the hours of the night and past the uncreated. Every hand, every eye, every bit of strength is needed to rise up and support the King of all creation, to hold up His throne as well as the one Who is seated there.
United you shall not be separated, nor will you suffer. We ask again that you set aside your differences and unite in Ma’at and power before Him. Those who pledge themselves to the Sun cannot be harmed in this year. He rises in Wep Ronpet as Zep Tepi incarnate to illuminate the way. He rises for each of you, in glorious love. He rises, and you live.
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
August 2, 2018
August 8, 2017
Aset Oracle, Year 25
As Polytheist.com is currently on hiatus and thus "Kemet Today" is not being updated there at the moment, we need somewhere to post the Oracle of the goddess Aset (Isis) for the Kemetic Orthodox Year 25. Thankfully this original blog of mine is still functional and available, so here we are. Em hotep (in peace) to all of you once again!
Following is the transcript of the Oracle of the Year delivered to us by the goddess Aset on Her holiday called "Aset Luminous" about a month ago. Each year, we receive such an oracle to provide information about the Kemetic Orthodox year to come. This year's Wep Ronpet (Kemetic Orthodox New Year, or the ancient Egyptian New Year) was on August 5, and this oracle is in force until next July. The deities Who are considered to be protecting the year are two goddesses: Sekhmet and Ma'at. The colors of the year (to be used in decoration for Their shrines, or for heka purposes to bless and protect this year) are red and white.
Dua Sekhmet! Dua Ma'at! Dua Aset!
Aset Oracle delivered at Aset Luminous, Regnal Year 24 (2 July 2017CE), for Kemetic Orthodox Year 25 (5 August 2017CE - 30 July 2018CE)
Hear the words of the Luminous, Mother of the God and the Great King, She Who is Present in the life of the world as magic, Aset the Very Great. I am She, and I say to you in the year of the Two Princes that the message of this year (editor's note: see the Year 24 Oracle here for more details) is still valid. It is still true. It still calls out for you to heed it. Have I spoken in vain? Will you not accept this gift of love that I have provided, that all of the Netjeru have given to you as your gift and your birthright? Will you allow your fear and your shame to cause you to deny that which is best and most bright in your secret hearts?
No more.
There must be no more thinking of the things that you will do one day. There is no one day for you. There is today, this day. There is what you are, where you are, and when you are, Now. Right now. Cease chasing after an impossible moment because it has not yet come. Now, your present moment in time, the gift of mortal lives, is yours. Until you know immortality, you have no need to chase it. You may as well chase the boat of Ra. You have love, and you have Now. Cease thinking, cease chasing. Be. Be now. Be in Ma’at at the moment of Zep Tepi, your moment of Zep Tepi, your moment of creation. Take this creation into your hands, and take it up. Be it. Live. Love. Be now.
She is coming and She has come, Mistress of the Blood-Red Garment, Powerful One, the Drinker of the beer-mash in the night. She is coming and She has come, in Ma’at, to destroy destruction, to cease chasing, to end those who defy Ma’at in Her time. The Powerful One has come. Will you rage and rend and split and slaughter? Or will you slake your thirst for vengeance as She did, will you end your quest for vindication and return in glory and beauty, as She-of-Love returned to Her Father once She had wiped the blood from Her maw and the anger from Her hair?
Appropriate action is not simple, but it is Ma’at. Even this great Sekhmet, She must do Ma’at and She must be Ma’at, in Her time. If even this goddess is subject to Ma’at, how can you think you are above it? How do you think you will escape responsibility?
Ma’at comes, is coming, has come. This year that opens after Me, I tell you Now, it begins in Sekhmet, and it ends in Ma’at. You will begin in Sekhmet, and you will end in Ma’at. Together Sekhmet and Ma’at make the right, They open the way, They bring things to the balance of judgment. They challenge and build.
Will you? Will you take up what you love, your lovers, and your Ma’at, and join Them? Or will you be lost in slaughtering? The King Who speaks for the Two Lands, Who sits on My Throne because I will it, has taken Ma’at and given it to the Netjeru, so it can be returned to you. United with the heart of Ma’at, beloved of the Netjeru, the one helpful to people must also be helped, as Ma’at is given and then returned upon the royal altars on behalf of all.
Do not chase. Do not wander. Do not slaughter without reason. Do not pass your responsibility to another. Do not fail to keep your word. She comes, She is coming, She has come. You are given Now. What you make of Now, is in your hands to make. Make it, then, fully and with all the love that you possess.
Following is the transcript of the Oracle of the Year delivered to us by the goddess Aset on Her holiday called "Aset Luminous" about a month ago. Each year, we receive such an oracle to provide information about the Kemetic Orthodox year to come. This year's Wep Ronpet (Kemetic Orthodox New Year, or the ancient Egyptian New Year) was on August 5, and this oracle is in force until next July. The deities Who are considered to be protecting the year are two goddesses: Sekhmet and Ma'at. The colors of the year (to be used in decoration for Their shrines, or for heka purposes to bless and protect this year) are red and white.
Dua Sekhmet! Dua Ma'at! Dua Aset!
Aset Oracle delivered at Aset Luminous, Regnal Year 24 (2 July 2017CE), for Kemetic Orthodox Year 25 (5 August 2017CE - 30 July 2018CE)
Hear the words of the Luminous, Mother of the God and the Great King, She Who is Present in the life of the world as magic, Aset the Very Great. I am She, and I say to you in the year of the Two Princes that the message of this year (editor's note: see the Year 24 Oracle here for more details) is still valid. It is still true. It still calls out for you to heed it. Have I spoken in vain? Will you not accept this gift of love that I have provided, that all of the Netjeru have given to you as your gift and your birthright? Will you allow your fear and your shame to cause you to deny that which is best and most bright in your secret hearts?
No more.
There must be no more thinking of the things that you will do one day. There is no one day for you. There is today, this day. There is what you are, where you are, and when you are, Now. Right now. Cease chasing after an impossible moment because it has not yet come. Now, your present moment in time, the gift of mortal lives, is yours. Until you know immortality, you have no need to chase it. You may as well chase the boat of Ra. You have love, and you have Now. Cease thinking, cease chasing. Be. Be now. Be in Ma’at at the moment of Zep Tepi, your moment of Zep Tepi, your moment of creation. Take this creation into your hands, and take it up. Be it. Live. Love. Be now.
She is coming and She has come, Mistress of the Blood-Red Garment, Powerful One, the Drinker of the beer-mash in the night. She is coming and She has come, in Ma’at, to destroy destruction, to cease chasing, to end those who defy Ma’at in Her time. The Powerful One has come. Will you rage and rend and split and slaughter? Or will you slake your thirst for vengeance as She did, will you end your quest for vindication and return in glory and beauty, as She-of-Love returned to Her Father once She had wiped the blood from Her maw and the anger from Her hair?
Appropriate action is not simple, but it is Ma’at. Even this great Sekhmet, She must do Ma’at and She must be Ma’at, in Her time. If even this goddess is subject to Ma’at, how can you think you are above it? How do you think you will escape responsibility?
Ma’at comes, is coming, has come. This year that opens after Me, I tell you Now, it begins in Sekhmet, and it ends in Ma’at. You will begin in Sekhmet, and you will end in Ma’at. Together Sekhmet and Ma’at make the right, They open the way, They bring things to the balance of judgment. They challenge and build.
Will you? Will you take up what you love, your lovers, and your Ma’at, and join Them? Or will you be lost in slaughtering? The King Who speaks for the Two Lands, Who sits on My Throne because I will it, has taken Ma’at and given it to the Netjeru, so it can be returned to you. United with the heart of Ma’at, beloved of the Netjeru, the one helpful to people must also be helped, as Ma’at is given and then returned upon the royal altars on behalf of all.
Do not chase. Do not wander. Do not slaughter without reason. Do not pass your responsibility to another. Do not fail to keep your word. She comes, She is coming, She has come. You are given Now. What you make of Now, is in your hands to make. Make it, then, fully and with all the love that you possess.
August 16, 2013
There are no words.
A month ago, I posted to say a little something about current events in Egypt. I sincerely hoped that the intervening month of Ramadan would cool tempers and promote more discussion amongst various factions.
The events of the last several days have proven me very, very wrong. I don't even know what to say, beyond that I've heard from almost all of our family and friends in Egypt, and they are all right, but the whole situation is discouraging, depressing, and scary.
I will try to gather my thoughts. In the meantime, I can only hope for something better than violence and chaos for Egypt and every Egyptian. Our new Kemetic year of Heru-sa-Aset promises that everyone will get what they put into this year, whether it is good or bad.
We need so much more good to be going on right now.
The events of the last several days have proven me very, very wrong. I don't even know what to say, beyond that I've heard from almost all of our family and friends in Egypt, and they are all right, but the whole situation is discouraging, depressing, and scary.
I will try to gather my thoughts. In the meantime, I can only hope for something better than violence and chaos for Egypt and every Egyptian. Our new Kemetic year of Heru-sa-Aset promises that everyone will get what they put into this year, whether it is good or bad.
We need so much more good to be going on right now.
July 10, 2013
About Egypt
I've been asked more than once in the last several days about why I haven't made some sort of official statement about current events in Egypt, where the first elected president, Mohammed Morsi, was removed from office by the military.
Was it a coup? Is it bad for democracy? Will things get better? Will El Baradei end up being President? Will Mubarak-style Egypt somehow come back? What happens to Egyptian tourism? What about the Copts? Is the Muslim Brotherhood going to turn into (or go back to being, depending on who you ask) a terrorist organization?
Don't you care what's going on in Egypt? Aren't you going to say something?
Was it a coup? Is it bad for democracy? Will things get better? Will El Baradei end up being President? Will Mubarak-style Egypt somehow come back? What happens to Egyptian tourism? What about the Copts? Is the Muslim Brotherhood going to turn into (or go back to being, depending on who you ask) a terrorist organization?
Don't you care what's going on in Egypt? Aren't you going to say something?
February 3, 2011
On "Departure Friday" : An Open Letter
It has been suggested that I have not said enough about my personal opinion about what is going on in Egypt, particularly as pertains not so much to my background as a professional Egyptologist, but as the spiritual head of the Kemetic Orthodox Faith.
While I consider myself strictly a religious leader, and do not concern myself with the politics of Egypt or any country as a rule, the position that I hold sacerdotally once also belonged to the men and women who ruled the country now ruled by Hosni Mubarak. There are those who, embarrassingly enough, would refer to me as a "pharaoh," and others have referred to President Mubarak with the same term. (Semantically that is correct but direct comparison of either of us to, say, Ramses II is more than a bit absurd in my case and only vaguely accurate on Mr. Mubarak's).
It is probably completely ridiculous of me to write this. He will never see it, and even if somehow he did, he probably wouldn't care. But I will write it anyway, because it needs to be said, whether from one "pharaoh" to another, or one human being to another.
An Open Letter to Hosni Mubarak, Current President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Salaam, Mr. President, or as your ancestors would say it, em hotep: in peace.
There have been many discussions in the media worldwide and on the streets of the country you have had the honor to lead for the past three decades about today being "Departure Friday." While you are no more obligated to listen to me than you are to anyone else who is giving you advice, and I am certain there are people who know you and have better advice for you than I do, I must repeat what is being said. It's time. Please go.
Back in ancient times, if an Egyptian monarch made it to Year 30, there was a special celebration called a Heb Sed, the "festival of the tail," where that king was blessed and consecrated and renewed for another three decades of rule. At the beginning of that ceremony he or she was tested for fitness and had to prove his or her worth to be renewed. Nobody got to be king without passing that test, and one assumes that in addition to the ritual and to the ceremonial "running of the boundaries" held in a semi-public place, the king thought about the past and contemplated the future.
I don't think it's any coincidence that the same word in ancient Egyptian that is used to name a king "your Majesty" also means "slave" or "servant." Additionally it can be interpreted as meaning "person of character." Real kings, real rulers, know that they rule only at the will of their people, and their entire lives are structured to make sure that they are serving those people - as their servant not their overlord. They do what is necessary to serve the people because it is only with the people that they will continue to exist. They rule only as long as it is appropriate to do so, in Ma'at which is truth, Ma'at which is so holy it is also considered a form of God.
If you love your country, and I would like to believe that you do, listen to her. Stop sending forces to quiet her voice and still her limbs. You may believe you have been wronged and perhaps that will come out in the future. You have taken steps to make changes and appointed a new government and opened the table for negotiations. These are all good things. I urge you to add to them now by using today as Departure Day. Go and let them make their decisions. Show that you love your country enough by letting it make its decisions and by removing the obstacles to its repression. Show your fitness to rule by recognizing the will and the heart and the passion and the capability of your countrymen. Be Egypt's servant and not her master. It has never mattered more and by doing so you have an opportunity to show your worth to your people in a concrete way that cannot be misinterpreted.
Thirty years has passed. Whether or not you will be acclaimed by your God and your people lies in what you choose to do in the next few days and hours. With all sincerity and prayerfully I ask that you do the right thing and allow for a peaceful transition of power. Recall your police force and signal that you do love Egypt more than you love your position. Be a pharaoh that people want to remember, and not one who will forever be equated with repression and fear.
May Ma'at be with you today, and may Allah grant you wisdom in this time.
Rev. Tamara L. Siuda
Nisut of the Kemetic Orthodox Faith
While I consider myself strictly a religious leader, and do not concern myself with the politics of Egypt or any country as a rule, the position that I hold sacerdotally once also belonged to the men and women who ruled the country now ruled by Hosni Mubarak. There are those who, embarrassingly enough, would refer to me as a "pharaoh," and others have referred to President Mubarak with the same term. (Semantically that is correct but direct comparison of either of us to, say, Ramses II is more than a bit absurd in my case and only vaguely accurate on Mr. Mubarak's).
It is probably completely ridiculous of me to write this. He will never see it, and even if somehow he did, he probably wouldn't care. But I will write it anyway, because it needs to be said, whether from one "pharaoh" to another, or one human being to another.
An Open Letter to Hosni Mubarak, Current President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Salaam, Mr. President, or as your ancestors would say it, em hotep: in peace.
There have been many discussions in the media worldwide and on the streets of the country you have had the honor to lead for the past three decades about today being "Departure Friday." While you are no more obligated to listen to me than you are to anyone else who is giving you advice, and I am certain there are people who know you and have better advice for you than I do, I must repeat what is being said. It's time. Please go.
Back in ancient times, if an Egyptian monarch made it to Year 30, there was a special celebration called a Heb Sed, the "festival of the tail," where that king was blessed and consecrated and renewed for another three decades of rule. At the beginning of that ceremony he or she was tested for fitness and had to prove his or her worth to be renewed. Nobody got to be king without passing that test, and one assumes that in addition to the ritual and to the ceremonial "running of the boundaries" held in a semi-public place, the king thought about the past and contemplated the future.
I don't think it's any coincidence that the same word in ancient Egyptian that is used to name a king "your Majesty" also means "slave" or "servant." Additionally it can be interpreted as meaning "person of character." Real kings, real rulers, know that they rule only at the will of their people, and their entire lives are structured to make sure that they are serving those people - as their servant not their overlord. They do what is necessary to serve the people because it is only with the people that they will continue to exist. They rule only as long as it is appropriate to do so, in Ma'at which is truth, Ma'at which is so holy it is also considered a form of God.
If you love your country, and I would like to believe that you do, listen to her. Stop sending forces to quiet her voice and still her limbs. You may believe you have been wronged and perhaps that will come out in the future. You have taken steps to make changes and appointed a new government and opened the table for negotiations. These are all good things. I urge you to add to them now by using today as Departure Day. Go and let them make their decisions. Show that you love your country enough by letting it make its decisions and by removing the obstacles to its repression. Show your fitness to rule by recognizing the will and the heart and the passion and the capability of your countrymen. Be Egypt's servant and not her master. It has never mattered more and by doing so you have an opportunity to show your worth to your people in a concrete way that cannot be misinterpreted.
Thirty years has passed. Whether or not you will be acclaimed by your God and your people lies in what you choose to do in the next few days and hours. With all sincerity and prayerfully I ask that you do the right thing and allow for a peaceful transition of power. Recall your police force and signal that you do love Egypt more than you love your position. Be a pharaoh that people want to remember, and not one who will forever be equated with repression and fear.
May Ma'at be with you today, and may Allah grant you wisdom in this time.
Rev. Tamara L. Siuda
Nisut of the Kemetic Orthodox Faith
January 30, 2011
Egypt Links and Various News, 30 Jan 2011 UPDATED 31 Jan 2011
So much is happening. Please forgive the information dump but I hope it will be of use. Note: January 31's updates are all in BOLDFACE. If you have any information you'd like me to post please feel free to send it along to nisut at kemet dot org or hit the reply/comment button at the bottom of this post and link it up.
There are some excellent websites out there collecting and distributing the news from Egypt. I'm watching everything I can and also collecting material and putting it out via my Twitter feed, which will also pick up anything I post on Facebook as it's set to do that. In the meantime, here are some updates along with links so you can follow yourself.
For news inside Egypt live: Al Jazeera is still broadcasting as it can, despite being shut down by the Mubarak government. You can follow a live stream in English here: http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/ UPDATE 31 Jan 2011, 8:30pm Chicago time: Al Jazeera has been banned and shut down inside Egypt and a media blackout is happening sporadically; you may not be able to view this but keep trying.
Some excellent blogging by my colleagues, some of whom are in Egypt right now and are telephoning outside the Internet blockade to get the news out:
Ancient Egypt Online - news out of Egypt. Sunday, a map of damaged Museum areas: http://ancientegyptonline.org/egyptnews/
UPDATE: Now there is a listing of sites and their known conditions: http://ancientegyptonline.org/egyptnews/p/mapofantiquitiestheft
Egyptology News (Andie, Kat and Kate) http://egyptology.blogspot.com/
UPDATE: Kate now has a special update site especially to gather and confirm/deny looting reports: http://egyptopaedia.com/2011/
Jane Akhshar's Luxor News http://luxor-news.blogspot.com/
The Eloquent Peasant (Margaret Maitland) - many photos of damaged Cairo Museum items:
http://www.eloquentpeasant.com/
News from the Valley of the Kings (Kate Phizackerley): http://www.kv64.info/
Sarah Carr's excellent blog about conditions in Egypt, which may be disabled sporadically: http://www.inanities.org (note strong language and photos).
An excellent website (again, note strong language) about how NOT to talk about Egypt, discussing racist, political and other tropes that are really NOT helpful:
http://sarthanapalos.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/a-guide-how-not-to-say-stupid-stuff-about-egypt/
The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America has declared the next three days to be days of fasting and prayers for the people of Egypt. For those of you who feel compelled to join them in solidarity I encourage you to do so. Many protests have occurred and continue to occur in larger cities in the USA; I have observed footage from events in New York, Toronto, Chicago and LA so far. There are a number of Facebook "groups" that have been created to get news out of Egypt and the #Jan25 hashtag on Twitter as well as the #Egypt hashtag will also supply much news and real-time information.
In other news I can substantiate as being first-hand and/or confirmed by experts in the field:
There are some excellent websites out there collecting and distributing the news from Egypt. I'm watching everything I can and also collecting material and putting it out via my Twitter feed, which will also pick up anything I post on Facebook as it's set to do that. In the meantime, here are some updates along with links so you can follow yourself.
For news inside Egypt live: Al Jazeera is still broadcasting as it can, despite being shut down by the Mubarak government. You can follow a live stream in English here: http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/ UPDATE 31 Jan 2011, 8:30pm Chicago time: Al Jazeera has been banned and shut down inside Egypt and a media blackout is happening sporadically; you may not be able to view this but keep trying.
Some excellent blogging by my colleagues, some of whom are in Egypt right now and are telephoning outside the Internet blockade to get the news out:
Ancient Egypt Online - news out of Egypt. Sunday, a map of damaged Museum areas: http://ancientegyptonline.org/egyptnews/
UPDATE: Now there is a listing of sites and their known conditions: http://ancientegyptonline.org/egyptnews/p/mapofantiquitiestheft
Egyptology News (Andie, Kat and Kate) http://egyptology.blogspot.com/
UPDATE: Kate now has a special update site especially to gather and confirm/deny looting reports: http://egyptopaedia.com/2011/
Jane Akhshar's Luxor News http://luxor-news.blogspot.com/
The Eloquent Peasant (Margaret Maitland) - many photos of damaged Cairo Museum items:
http://www.eloquentpeasant.com/
News from the Valley of the Kings (Kate Phizackerley): http://www.kv64.info/
Sarah Carr's excellent blog about conditions in Egypt, which may be disabled sporadically: http://www.inanities.org (note strong language and photos).
An excellent website (again, note strong language) about how NOT to talk about Egypt, discussing racist, political and other tropes that are really NOT helpful:
http://sarthanapalos.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/a-guide-how-not-to-say-stupid-stuff-about-egypt/
The Coptic Orthodox Church in North America has declared the next three days to be days of fasting and prayers for the people of Egypt. For those of you who feel compelled to join them in solidarity I encourage you to do so. Many protests have occurred and continue to occur in larger cities in the USA; I have observed footage from events in New York, Toronto, Chicago and LA so far. There are a number of Facebook "groups" that have been created to get news out of Egypt and the #Jan25 hashtag on Twitter as well as the #Egypt hashtag will also supply much news and real-time information.
In other news I can substantiate as being first-hand and/or confirmed by experts in the field:
January 25 and Beyond: Egypt Today
It's been quite the roller-coaster the last few days with events in Egypt, the homeland of our gods and faith and a place that is very dear to me as the home of friends and people I call family.
I can't get in touch with any of those people, haven't been able to since Monday, and that along with the video and photographs we are managing to get from various news sources has left me more than a little bit worried about all this.
Yet, at the same time, I have a lot of hope for Masr. No matter what the last gasps of the regime bring, the people are united to overcome, and at least for now, the army seems inclined to help. This makes sense, since the army was built for so many years out of and by the same people it protects. What is happening in Egypt is the natural reaction of people who have had enough. It is not some random act of terrorism or even some outside group pushing its will on the nation - I wish I could make this clearer to those I've been talking to over the last few days who want to believe it's "Islamists" or Al-Qaeda or Iran or some other shadowy group trying to make the Egyptian people unhappy. They simply reached the end of their patience with a Father-knows-best government where Father is completely dysfunctional, and so they are doing what they were unable to do within the government or at the ballot box.
Please pray for Egypt, for Masr. Please pray for all the wonderful people of this incredible country, that they continue to be heard, and safe, over the next hours and days and months as she transitions into something new. If you are not the praying type, think good thoughts, inform yourself as what happens in Egypt will have great impact on her neighbors and allies, and accept my gratitude for your concern.
I'm posting news as I get it on anything I can get from Egypt on my Twitter feed and on my Facebook fan page, both of which are linked to the right of this entry. Please feel free to watch them or send me any information you might have. I appreciate all of the help and news and goodwill that has been extended to that effort so far, and the Egyptian people also appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers. The people of our gods, even if they do not worship Them, need us to stand with them now, and thus we will.
I can't get in touch with any of those people, haven't been able to since Monday, and that along with the video and photographs we are managing to get from various news sources has left me more than a little bit worried about all this.
Yet, at the same time, I have a lot of hope for Masr. No matter what the last gasps of the regime bring, the people are united to overcome, and at least for now, the army seems inclined to help. This makes sense, since the army was built for so many years out of and by the same people it protects. What is happening in Egypt is the natural reaction of people who have had enough. It is not some random act of terrorism or even some outside group pushing its will on the nation - I wish I could make this clearer to those I've been talking to over the last few days who want to believe it's "Islamists" or Al-Qaeda or Iran or some other shadowy group trying to make the Egyptian people unhappy. They simply reached the end of their patience with a Father-knows-best government where Father is completely dysfunctional, and so they are doing what they were unable to do within the government or at the ballot box.
Please pray for Egypt, for Masr. Please pray for all the wonderful people of this incredible country, that they continue to be heard, and safe, over the next hours and days and months as she transitions into something new. If you are not the praying type, think good thoughts, inform yourself as what happens in Egypt will have great impact on her neighbors and allies, and accept my gratitude for your concern.
I'm posting news as I get it on anything I can get from Egypt on my Twitter feed and on my Facebook fan page, both of which are linked to the right of this entry. Please feel free to watch them or send me any information you might have. I appreciate all of the help and news and goodwill that has been extended to that effort so far, and the Egyptian people also appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers. The people of our gods, even if they do not worship Them, need us to stand with them now, and thus we will.
December 16, 2008
Luxor, Abydos, Dendera
We are finishing our final evening in Luxor. There would have been more intervening posts in the blog, but Internet was not as easy to come by as I had hoped it would be and we had some logistical and scheduling issues so that I didn't have the time to sit and write the way I might have liked to. In any case, I am checking in now to share some thoughts about our time in and around Luxor and north of it toward the temples of Abydos and Dendera which we visited this afternoon.
During our time here we have visited many temples and tombs. We have honored Amun-Ra and His holy family at the great temples of Karnak and Luxor and poured ritual water for royalty in Their tombs beneath the Peak of the West. We have sailed the Nile, after having visited Kom Ombo, Edfu and Esna temples along our way downstream, northward, from Aswan to Luxor. We have been into the Duat to see Nut give birth to Ra on the great ceiling of Ramses' tomb, and climbed into the face of Meretseger to read the rituals of Menkheperra Djehutymose. In the Luxor Museum we paid our respects to the king Ahmose, founder of the New Kingdom empire, and a second mummy widely believed to be that of Menpehtyra Ramses (I), and Tem found a Sekhmet statue that made the usual ones seem pocket-sized.
Today we managed to be the very first group inside the great terraced temple of Wesir built by Menma'atra Seti and Userma'atra Ramses at Abydos. It was only as we were finishing our time there that another group, a group of schoolchildren, managed to come inside, filling the ancient, silent halls with laughter and activity. Somehow it seemed appropriate that those who should break the stillness of that place be children, and that they be the descendants of those who had once only sung in its great chambers. The sweet smell of lotus perfume greeted us at Nefertem's chapel, causing all of us to ask each other if we could all smell it as we thought it a hallucination. The waters captive in the Osirion behind the Wesir chapel were green as usual, reflecting upward and drawing the eye backward, westward, toward the break in the mountains where the door to the Duat beckons, above Umm el-Qaab the greatest of all Kemetic cemeteries. For us, as I explained earlier to our guide Ali, who had been asking about the significance of the various temples to our religion, Abydos is Mecca, the place we and all the ancients wished to visit at least once in our lifetimes. I whispered the names of our dead as I walked Seti's halls, knowing as we passed each carved false door their kau would hear and understand. We were alone in the temple, and yet we were not.
The ride to Dendera was quiet, as we contemplated our earlier experience, then suddenly there seemed to be a lot of joking and laughter. The fields gave way to flowers. It really does seem rather cliche but as we entered Qena and then headed toward Dendera the land simply becomes more joyful. Again, we were the first to enter the temple, and spent nearly the entire time there alone except for a handful of guards. Some of us went down into the crypts below the main sanctuary to view the images carved there; others, including myself, opted instead to climb upward into the high vestibule where the images of Hethert were kept, to say prayers asking for joy and prosperity and love for everyone from the Lady of Joy Whose smiling face gazes down from all the column tops. We climbed the ritual stairs to the roof, said prayers in the Sokar chapels, climbed down singing and laughing. We visited both the mammisi chapels and the Coptic church standing outside the temple, and walked its perimeter. In the first screen court I found a small boy sitting on a carpet, watching people coming in and out of the temple; he was the son of a guard. As I was taking photographs of the restoration work being done on the court's ceiling he grinned at me and then beckoned me over to take his picture. When I showed him the photo (it is a digital camera), he laughed, and the laughing echoed through the huge hall.
There is so much more I could write about, and I will, once I've gathered all my thoughts. For today though my ka is full, and tomorrow morning we make another set of pilgrimages: back to Karnak at sunrise, then out to Medinet Habu and the tombs of the nobles and the workmen, before we go back to the airport and return to Cairo for our last two days in Kemet. You will hear from me again very soon.
During our time here we have visited many temples and tombs. We have honored Amun-Ra and His holy family at the great temples of Karnak and Luxor and poured ritual water for royalty in Their tombs beneath the Peak of the West. We have sailed the Nile, after having visited Kom Ombo, Edfu and Esna temples along our way downstream, northward, from Aswan to Luxor. We have been into the Duat to see Nut give birth to Ra on the great ceiling of Ramses' tomb, and climbed into the face of Meretseger to read the rituals of Menkheperra Djehutymose. In the Luxor Museum we paid our respects to the king Ahmose, founder of the New Kingdom empire, and a second mummy widely believed to be that of Menpehtyra Ramses (I), and Tem found a Sekhmet statue that made the usual ones seem pocket-sized.
Today we managed to be the very first group inside the great terraced temple of Wesir built by Menma'atra Seti and Userma'atra Ramses at Abydos. It was only as we were finishing our time there that another group, a group of schoolchildren, managed to come inside, filling the ancient, silent halls with laughter and activity. Somehow it seemed appropriate that those who should break the stillness of that place be children, and that they be the descendants of those who had once only sung in its great chambers. The sweet smell of lotus perfume greeted us at Nefertem's chapel, causing all of us to ask each other if we could all smell it as we thought it a hallucination. The waters captive in the Osirion behind the Wesir chapel were green as usual, reflecting upward and drawing the eye backward, westward, toward the break in the mountains where the door to the Duat beckons, above Umm el-Qaab the greatest of all Kemetic cemeteries. For us, as I explained earlier to our guide Ali, who had been asking about the significance of the various temples to our religion, Abydos is Mecca, the place we and all the ancients wished to visit at least once in our lifetimes. I whispered the names of our dead as I walked Seti's halls, knowing as we passed each carved false door their kau would hear and understand. We were alone in the temple, and yet we were not.
The ride to Dendera was quiet, as we contemplated our earlier experience, then suddenly there seemed to be a lot of joking and laughter. The fields gave way to flowers. It really does seem rather cliche but as we entered Qena and then headed toward Dendera the land simply becomes more joyful. Again, we were the first to enter the temple, and spent nearly the entire time there alone except for a handful of guards. Some of us went down into the crypts below the main sanctuary to view the images carved there; others, including myself, opted instead to climb upward into the high vestibule where the images of Hethert were kept, to say prayers asking for joy and prosperity and love for everyone from the Lady of Joy Whose smiling face gazes down from all the column tops. We climbed the ritual stairs to the roof, said prayers in the Sokar chapels, climbed down singing and laughing. We visited both the mammisi chapels and the Coptic church standing outside the temple, and walked its perimeter. In the first screen court I found a small boy sitting on a carpet, watching people coming in and out of the temple; he was the son of a guard. As I was taking photographs of the restoration work being done on the court's ceiling he grinned at me and then beckoned me over to take his picture. When I showed him the photo (it is a digital camera), he laughed, and the laughing echoed through the huge hall.
There is so much more I could write about, and I will, once I've gathered all my thoughts. For today though my ka is full, and tomorrow morning we make another set of pilgrimages: back to Karnak at sunrise, then out to Medinet Habu and the tombs of the nobles and the workmen, before we go back to the airport and return to Cairo for our last two days in Kemet. You will hear from me again very soon.
December 12, 2008
Hapi days
For the last day we have been in Aswan, the modern name of the area of the First Cataract of the Nile and the island of Abu (Elephantine), believed to be the source of Khnum's giving life to the Two Lands via the inundation waters.
As it has been every time I have been here, Aswan is a desert paradise. Water that is literally the color of lapis waves softly northward, carrying thousands of tiny sailboats called felucca as well as loud, noisy water taxis and the giant hulls of cruise ships readying to take the flotilla north to the city of Luxor and its Pharaonic Disneyland of monuments and tourist amusements.
Before we came here we spent a day and a night at Abu Simbel, the area about 300km south of Aswan where the great temples of Userma'atra Ramses and his wife Nefertari shine above the impossible blue of Lake Nasser. Because we spent the night we had a time in the larger temple more or less alone. Tek got to hold the great golden key carved like an ankh that locks the temple up at night, and we spent time wandering the halls, saying prayers, marveling at the beauty of the gods carved into its walls and making offering to the gods there. The second temple had a few more tourists in it but it was wonderful to be able to see Hethert's smiling face up close once again and think of all the joy I know that those who are with me on this trip are yet to experience as we continue to visit the sites and take them in.
In our time in Aswan we have been twice to Philae, once at night and once in the daytime. Imti and Tek got to visit a closed area of a Hethert temple up close and personal and have quite a story to tell about Nubians and the seeds of a sycamore tree but I will let them tell it. We have been to several Nubian houses and the village of Western Sehel, and will be visiting more tomorrow. We have sung and danced in the Nile and even gone wading in its cold and clear waters. We've gone riding through the town and visited the holy places of other religions as well in the form of the large mosque on the hill in the center of town and the great Coptic Cathedral near the Ferial Park and the Old Cataract Hotel. Khnum and Ra, the gods of this Kemetic year, appear again and again on the monuments, in the signs and advertisements we see, and today we saw them both up close and personal in the tiny temple of Beit-el-Wali on the Kalabsha island.
The guards upon learning why we were in the temple (we do not pretend to be tourists on our trips as I do not believe there is anything to be ashamed of in our religion; and the reaction we get when people learn we are neither uncaring tourists or crystal-wielding New Agers is generally very positive) allowed us to climb Kalabsha roof and gaze out over the Nile. While I was there I thought of all of you and wished you could be there with us.
Insh'allah (Netjer willing), one of these days, you will be.
Tomorrow we sail for Luxor. For tonight, we will embrace the city of creation once again, and take in its peace under the full moon over moving waters.
As it has been every time I have been here, Aswan is a desert paradise. Water that is literally the color of lapis waves softly northward, carrying thousands of tiny sailboats called felucca as well as loud, noisy water taxis and the giant hulls of cruise ships readying to take the flotilla north to the city of Luxor and its Pharaonic Disneyland of monuments and tourist amusements.
Before we came here we spent a day and a night at Abu Simbel, the area about 300km south of Aswan where the great temples of Userma'atra Ramses and his wife Nefertari shine above the impossible blue of Lake Nasser. Because we spent the night we had a time in the larger temple more or less alone. Tek got to hold the great golden key carved like an ankh that locks the temple up at night, and we spent time wandering the halls, saying prayers, marveling at the beauty of the gods carved into its walls and making offering to the gods there. The second temple had a few more tourists in it but it was wonderful to be able to see Hethert's smiling face up close once again and think of all the joy I know that those who are with me on this trip are yet to experience as we continue to visit the sites and take them in.
In our time in Aswan we have been twice to Philae, once at night and once in the daytime. Imti and Tek got to visit a closed area of a Hethert temple up close and personal and have quite a story to tell about Nubians and the seeds of a sycamore tree but I will let them tell it. We have been to several Nubian houses and the village of Western Sehel, and will be visiting more tomorrow. We have sung and danced in the Nile and even gone wading in its cold and clear waters. We've gone riding through the town and visited the holy places of other religions as well in the form of the large mosque on the hill in the center of town and the great Coptic Cathedral near the Ferial Park and the Old Cataract Hotel. Khnum and Ra, the gods of this Kemetic year, appear again and again on the monuments, in the signs and advertisements we see, and today we saw them both up close and personal in the tiny temple of Beit-el-Wali on the Kalabsha island.
The guards upon learning why we were in the temple (we do not pretend to be tourists on our trips as I do not believe there is anything to be ashamed of in our religion; and the reaction we get when people learn we are neither uncaring tourists or crystal-wielding New Agers is generally very positive) allowed us to climb Kalabsha roof and gaze out over the Nile. While I was there I thought of all of you and wished you could be there with us.
Insh'allah (Netjer willing), one of these days, you will be.
Tomorrow we sail for Luxor. For tonight, we will embrace the city of creation once again, and take in its peace under the full moon over moving waters.
December 8, 2008
In Search of Cool Triangular Shapes
The pilgrimage is off to an interesting start. Currently I am posting on our final evening in Giza, looking out the window toward the place where the Great Pyramid watches the traffic go by. We have spent two days in and around the Cairo area, taking in the city as we adjust to the new time zone and the preponderance of antiquity to be seen nearly everywhere one looks.
Last year the group started a long-running joke about the Pyramids based on the odd English wording on a bag of Doritos brand chips someone purchased during a break. The bag stated that one of the reasons to enjoy the snack was because of its "cool triangular shape." As the bus was driving up to the Giza Plateau about the time that this slogan was discovered, the name stuck -- and a quest to find "cool triangular shapes" began.
You'd be surprised how many triangles appear when you least expect them. Yesterday the obvious ones appeared on the plateau in the form of the pyramids of Khufu, Khaefra and Menkaura. This morning, Menekh found some lurking in the inside of the courtyard washbasins of the Muhammad Ali mosque at the Citadel. Tek and Imti had fun picking them out on Giza's street signs, painted on buildings and trucks for no apparent reason, and even worked into the iron work of gates and fences. Cool triangular shapes make up bus stops, packaging, even items of food and the "free pyramids" thrown in when Kai-Imakhu Sedjemes purchased some clothing at a shop near the hotel.
...And to think some people think that modern Egypt retains no memory or pride for its pharaonic past. Clearly, they aren't noticing the cool triangular shapes lurking all around.
Tomorrow morning we're off to the other end of the country. I'll check in from Abu Simbel if there is internet that far south. If not, you'll hear from me next in the beautiful city of Aswan in a couple of days. Senebty!
Last year the group started a long-running joke about the Pyramids based on the odd English wording on a bag of Doritos brand chips someone purchased during a break. The bag stated that one of the reasons to enjoy the snack was because of its "cool triangular shape." As the bus was driving up to the Giza Plateau about the time that this slogan was discovered, the name stuck -- and a quest to find "cool triangular shapes" began.
You'd be surprised how many triangles appear when you least expect them. Yesterday the obvious ones appeared on the plateau in the form of the pyramids of Khufu, Khaefra and Menkaura. This morning, Menekh found some lurking in the inside of the courtyard washbasins of the Muhammad Ali mosque at the Citadel. Tek and Imti had fun picking them out on Giza's street signs, painted on buildings and trucks for no apparent reason, and even worked into the iron work of gates and fences. Cool triangular shapes make up bus stops, packaging, even items of food and the "free pyramids" thrown in when Kai-Imakhu Sedjemes purchased some clothing at a shop near the hotel.
...And to think some people think that modern Egypt retains no memory or pride for its pharaonic past. Clearly, they aren't noticing the cool triangular shapes lurking all around.
Tomorrow morning we're off to the other end of the country. I'll check in from Abu Simbel if there is internet that far south. If not, you'll hear from me next in the beautiful city of Aswan in a couple of days. Senebty!
December 5, 2008
Back to Kemet we go!
I'm about to pack up the laptop and head out the door toward our waiting airport adventure. Naturally that part of the trip isn't the part you look forward to; it's what comes after the Homeland Security lines and ticket counters and baggage claims.
At this time tomorrow we'll be readying to land in the Two Lands, and five of my students and priests will be experiencing Kemet first-hand in the form of modern Egypt. Several of them have been to Egypt before; others haven't gone at all, and at least one has never traveled outside of North America, so I'm thinking that we're about to have an experience worth remembering that will be quite different for each of us. This will be my fifth visit to the holy land of our gods and goddesses, and I am filled with a mixture of excitement and wonder at having the chance to go, and wishing that each one of you who reads these words could come along with me.
I'll do my best to try and capture the experience for you as we can. But for now, the airport taxi awaits....
At this time tomorrow we'll be readying to land in the Two Lands, and five of my students and priests will be experiencing Kemet first-hand in the form of modern Egypt. Several of them have been to Egypt before; others haven't gone at all, and at least one has never traveled outside of North America, so I'm thinking that we're about to have an experience worth remembering that will be quite different for each of us. This will be my fifth visit to the holy land of our gods and goddesses, and I am filled with a mixture of excitement and wonder at having the chance to go, and wishing that each one of you who reads these words could come along with me.
I'll do my best to try and capture the experience for you as we can. But for now, the airport taxi awaits....
November 20, 2008
The future of Luxor
Dr. Ray Johnson's update on the city of Luxor's continuing effort to modernize its tourism facilities without destroying what makes people want to go to Luxor in the first place can be read here.
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