Year 31 Letter - This Website is now an Archive

As of July 31, 2023, I am no longer acting as the Nisut of Kemetic Orthodoxy. I sent an official letter privately to our temple membership explaining this change, but there is no reason why it cannot also be shared publicly, and I will do so here. From August 1, 2023 this website will enter archives mode so that Oracles and other things can continue to be read; no new posts will be made here. Its ultimate destiny now lies with the House of Netjer Kemetic Orthodox Temple Board and their decisions around what will become of our historical internet presence(s) as we shift into a new phase of existence together.

My Year 31 letter is long and follows.

Find me at Polytheist.com!

This morning, a new website for interreligious education and community, Polytheist.com , went live.

I am honored to report that I am among the first ten contributors to this new venture, and that Kemet Today will be hosted at Polytheist.com from now on. As a result of the community encouragement (read: outside pressure to meet posting deadlines), I also expect that I'll be posting on a much more regular basis than I have managed here. This is an excellent thing and I'm very excited for it.

I encourage you to check out the entire website, but if you want to link directly to my personal page, you can do so via this link:

http://polytheist.com/kemet-today/

Hoping that this is a Zep Tepi and a new beginning for cooperation and understanding between the various polytheists online, and continues to spread to offline and real world interaction as it already started to do this summer. It's about time we began such a journey.

Organized Modern Polytheism (Keynote Speech, PLC 2014)

This past weekend, I had the honor to appear as the keynote speaker (and a guest on several panel discussions) at the first Polytheist Leadership Conference, held in New York state. It was an excellent opportunity to meet with the existing and the rising young leaders in the polytheist world, and the entire experience left me humbled, surprised in some ways, and hopeful for the future of our religious organizations and our people. It was the first religious conference I have ever attended in my adult life where people were genuinely civil to each other, even in cases where there were distinct and sometimes absolutely opposed world views. There was no drama. It was a good indication that polytheists are ready to take their game to an entirely new level, and I'm delighted to have been able to contribute to that process.

I have more to say on the subject but I need to get over jet lag and really think about it before I can post more. In the meantime, though, I wanted to share some important links for those who were not able to be present, or who might like to see what I did when I was there.

You can read the keynote speech I gave here (note: it's long), and you can look at a copy of the slides that I projected while I was talking alongside it, here. I hope that we continue to dialogue and have many more opportunities not only to learn what different groups are doing, but learn more about how we can support each other in that work, and take it to the larger world.

M'ap rele pou Ayiti (Calling out for Haiti)

I made my first trip to Haiti in July 2001, and I've been back twice since (2002 and 2006). The country and its people have always remained with me, and at least since 2006 I have been part of a family, an adopted child of a Vodou house in Port-au-Prince. While Egypt always has the best part of my heart, Haiti probably has the most earnest part, as it is a place equal in its beauty and its terror: the most bittersweet place I have ever loved.

Yesterday as you all already know a major earthquake hit just outside of the city, on the side where my Haitian family is. I'm using my Facebook fan page to distribute news from the family and the extended family as fast as I can since it's set to also send that information directly from Twitter. For the most part we still can't get through to anyone but we're scared. The lakou (compound) where most of them are living is a block from the palace...that palace that is completely broken now.

I'll update as I get news. Right now - Haitians need help.