Kemet From the Wehem

...is a difficult matter... (sorry, T.S. Eliot).

Really it isn't all that difficult, and from time to time, the Kemetic Orthodox community engages in a ritual to name those who have newly converted to the faith.

( Read more... )

Rev. Craig (or Kai-Imakhu Sepedher Antybast, if you're reading in Kemetic) recently said some pretty awesome things about Naming and Names. I invite you to listen to him on the relevant podcast.

Just in time for the end of the Kemetic year, our ongoing process to update the Kemet.org and Netjer.org forums is in full swing. Watch our website over the next few days for changes to come including a totally new subject revamp and more podcasts from Kemet This Week.

In addition to those changes, a more substantive change is happening here at my personal website. ( Read more... )

Kemet This Week, the weekly podcast of the Kemetic Orthodox faith, is being updated again! Please check our website for four new installments, episodes Four through Seven.

We welcome your questions and comments!

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

I'm delighted to welcome Kemetic Orthodoxy's 29 newest Remetj, who have recently completed their Beginners' Classes with us.

Welcome from all of us to:

Anita B. of Australia
Kristal B. of Colorado
Brandi B. of Connecticut
Belinda C. of Illinois
John C. of New York
Angela F. of Maryland
Venus G. of New York
Jehanne "Blue" G. of Nevada
Zoey G. of the UK
Danika H. of Australia
Cheryl H. of Australia
Melodie H. of Kentucky
Keith H. of California
Ellen H. of the UK
Sierra M. of Wisconsin
Charlotte M. of Illinois
Robert M. of Ohio
Ashley M. of Kansas
Ashley "Specktren" R. of California
Rodrigo R. of Argentina
Lauren R. of North Carolina
Cheryl S. of Nevada
Anakin S. of Arizona
Jeremy S. of Virginia
Robin "Saoirse" S. of New Jersey
Stephanie S. of Australia
Kari T. of Illinois
Amy T. of California
Leesha W. of Idaho

Kemet This Week, has been updated with a podcast for this week (Episode 3)!

Episode 2 of Kemet This Week, our new Kemetic Orthodox podcast, is now available!

We welcome your comments and questions.

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

This week a new step in technology for our faith has been achieved. Please bookmark the Kemet This Week Podcast page for a link to our weekly discussion of events and topics of interest to the Kemetic Orthodox community.

Transcripts of the podcasts as well as more information, along with a resumption of the Devotions, will be following here very soon.

Beautiful youth, come to Your house now;
we cannot see You.
Hail beautiful boy, come to Your house,
come close after Your separation.
Hail beautiful youth, Who rides through time,
Who grows except at this hour.
Holy image of His father Tatenen,
mysterious One proceeding from Tem.

With these words we begin the ceremonies of the Mysteries of Wesir, second greatest holiday in the Kemetic year. The story of the great God Wesir's death and rebirth into the land of the dead is manifest in prayers and ritual, two candle-lit vigils and a great celebratory feast.

Join us in celebrating the quiet, holy days of Wesir. Make offerings to Him and His Holy family, the goddess Aset and Their son Heru. Give food and charity to those who need it. Make creative plans and challenges for yourself in the coming year and praise life and the giver of life, the Great One of the Terrace, Foremost of the Westerners, Judge and King of the Blessed Dead.

I wish all of you a wonderful holiday. May it bring you peace and all good things.

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

The Feast of Sekhmet and Bast Before Ra begins today and we celebrate two of the Eyes of Ra within it with special offerings and re-dedicating our lives to protecting and serving all of Ra's creations.

What will you tell these two powerful goddesses in prayer today?

Who will you protect?

How far will you go to serve?

Offer yourself and your sincere intentions up before Ra.


* * * * *


Speaking of service...

I want to congratulate Rev. Marie Parsons, (Imakhu Khenmetaset Sedjemes) on her consecration as a Kai-Imakhu priest this past weekend during a work-study here at Tawy House.

For my readers who are not of the faith, a Kai-Imakhu is a very special person in Kemetic Orthodoxy. The term is not ancient, as in antiquity there was no direct correlation to the modern conception of an ordained minister as opposed to a liturgical priest.

I coined the phrase in 1996 when it was bestowed upon Rev. Craig Schaefer, the faith's current Chief Priest, who is known as Kai-Imakhu Antybast. Kai-Imakhu as a Kemetic Orthodox title derives from the Kemetic words for revered one (corresponding to modern reverend, the word imakhu) and the adjective kai, meaning to be set above.

The title is bestowed on a Kemetic Orthodox ordained minister who has served in that position a minimum of three years through a formal ritual consecration done in person in front of witnesses, and the difference between an Imakhu priest and a Kai-Imakhu priest, besides the consecration ritual I must perform, is literal years of dedication, experience and tangible service to the gods and the faith.

Our Kai-Imakhiu serve as our elder clergy, and Kai-Imakhu Sedjemes joins the other senior clergy of the faith in her dedication to the goddess Aset-Serqet and the nation of Kemetic Orthodoxy and its people.

Dua Netjer! Nekhtet!

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

The quiet, holy season of Sokar-Wesir is upon us. We celebrate the Procession of Sokar for a few more days, complete the festivals of Heru-wer (namely, the Feasts of the Winged Disk and Soaring Falcon) and today add three more holidays in honor of the Creator in Its Names of Wesir, Khnum and Min.

It is the time of preparation for winter in the northern hemisphere. The days have become shorter and we know the Eye of Ra will soon be departing for places south of us, leaving the land quiet and resting in Her absence. At this time, we remember the myth of Wesir, who as Sokar rose from death to become the King of the Unseen World, and we reaffirm that while the land may sleep or die, when She returns to us come springtime it will burst forth again with greenness to fulfill Wesir's promise and His Mysteries.

If you can, spend some of the next week or so in contemplation of the land itself. If you live in the northern hemisphere, think about the coming winter and what seeds you can sow now, literally or figuratively, that will bear fruit in the springtime soon to come. If you live in the southern hemisphere, and Wesir's promise is already blooming around you, give thanks and spare a prayer for those of us who are bidding the Eye farewell for another turn of the year.

May the Greatly Green One remind you that there is never death, only transformation.

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

I've emerged from a day of prayers and ritual to write a message to you.

Today was a very special day for me. Eleven years ago this morning, I completed the rituals of coronation and went from being a priest in a fledgling religious movement to the ruler of a spiritual nation. From the moment I stepped into the sands at Saqqara's coronation dais, I knew that my life was never going to be the same, and truly it has not been.

Over the years, I really have been blessed. I've had the opportunity to get to know, and serve, so many wonderful people. The teachings of the gods and goddesses of Kemet are now known to people in more than two dozen countries in addition to Their homeland. From eighteen years ago, when I met with three friends in a college dorm; to seven years ago when we acquired a retreat house and two acres of land; and then, four years ago last week, when we took over a building half the length of the city block, I've been able to witness the growth of the worship of our gods in the modern world.

From Egypt to the United States and back out into the whole world I'm watching something amazing occur, and I am deeply honored to be a part of the Kemetic Orthodox movement and proud to stand alongside every single person who helps it grow.

I've served as a teacher, sponsor, student, elder, friend and fellow journeyer on the road of life. It has been challenging and uplifting, but I wouln't trade the experiences I have had for anything. If They asked me to do it again, I would -- and I did say yes again, today, quietly in the shrine. I asked for another ten years of successful work in the hopes that a decade from now I'll be able to look back on it as I do upon the previous decade today.

Let's continue to make history together. I'm excited about the possibilities. Are you?

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

Please join me in welcoming our 14 newest Remetj members of the faith!

Frances C. of Australia
Maximira C. of Brazil
Kayla May D. of California
Kevin D. of California
Juana F. of Peru
William F. of California
Crystal K. of Canada
Michaelle K. of Pennsylvania
Harold M. of Michigan
Richard M. of Illinois
Hallie S. of West Virginia
Jason S. of Ohio
Peter T. of Hungary
Brandon W. of Maryland

Juana and Peter are the first members from their respective countries. We're delighted to get to know people in two more places. (I believe that this makes Kemetic Orthodoxy present in 28 countries including the USA.) Nekhtet!

Much love, and welcome!
(Hekatawy)|

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

We are halfway through the Ten Days of Joy now -- what sorts of joyous things are you experiencing and celebrating? Please share -- whether offline with your friends and family, or online at our netjer.org forums. Joy is contagious and it grows by sharing.

Today marks the start of the annual festival of Heru Welcoming the Nile. For me it is an indication that we're entering the anniversary time of my transition from priest to Nisut: I began my journey to Egypt during this festival and was coronated at its culmination on 6 November, 1996. This week also marks another anniversary: today is the beginning of Kai-Imakhu Antybast (Rev. Craig)'s fourteenth year as an ordained priest of Bast and his tenure as the chief priest of the Kemetic Orthodox religion I founded. Many congratulations to my son, friend and colleague. May you have many more years at Her feet.

Don't postpone joy. Make it a holy day in Bast's name. I know it will be here!

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

Four years ago this morning, something very special happened in the life of the Kemetic Orthodox Faith.

On 27 October, 2003, I stood in a conference room at a title company and received the keys to our new home, an 18-room, three-story building in Joliet, Illinois. With the presentation of that tiny flower-patterned box, our faith acquired a place for its permanent temple, retreat center and administrative offices. And Tawy House Joliet was born.

Four is a very special number in the Kemetic philosophy. It represents harmony, balance and completion. As we enter Year Four of our sojourn in Joliet, we continue to be, as the film that immortalized our city once implied, "on a mission from God," and if you ever find yourself at the corner of Elwood and Landau...you can visit our mission headquarters for yourself.

I'll never forget how exciting that time was, nor will I ever stop thanking every person who helped to make that dream our reality. I continue to thank everyone who supports us here in Joliet and via Internet to the larger world. Each of you has a special place in this House of Netjer, and I hope you are as joyful as I am today to celebrate such a special anniversary.

Dua-Netjer enten: thank you all.

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

This afternoon as I was preparing for the Dua in honor of Bast's festival I got an idea, and I'd like to believe She inspired it. Instead of one day for Bast, we're going to put together a little experiment over the next ten days (or Kemetic Week).

For the next ten days we're going to focus on Joy, one of Bast's primary manifestations. So we will begin the "Ten Days of Joy" with Her festival tomorrow, and continue ten more days. And you're all welcome to join in the fun even if you weren't at our Dua this evening.

What you should do:

1. The Ten Days of Joy officially begin at sunrise tomorrow (a little after 7am Chicago time). You may begin them the next time you awaken after sleeping upon reading this post -- so that those who aren't in the same timezones as me can also have ten full days -- just celebrate ten sunrises, ten full days of Joy with Bast.

2. Every morning (or whenever you awake for the day for the first time) for the next ten days, I want the first two words out of your mouth to be "thank you" (or Dua-Netjer, if you are so inclined). Follow this with a prayer to Bast in thanks for whatever you're thankful for. It doesn't mean you can't pray for other things -- just BEGIN with "thank you."

3. SHARE. Joy is meant to be shared, not hoarded. Do things that express gratitude to others. Make others happy. Share the joy! Make Bast proud.

Have a wonderful week!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071001/ap_en_ot/art_anubis

Just for fun, a news story about a giant statue of Yinepu in London....

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

We have reached the last day of the first month of our new Kemetic year. Review the goals and challenges you set for yourself. What will you aim for in our second month?

It is a special day for the gods Ra and Heru as well as a feast for Wesir and the gods in His family. May each of these powerful creators grant you continued access to Their power, and may it be a productive and happy day.

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

We celebrate a festival to Khnum, the great Creator Whose worship was originally centered at the southern oasis of Abu, modern-day Elephantine Island near the city of Aswan.

As part of our festival we do something interesting in shrine: rather than lighting our usual candle and incense, we have a "dark shrine" where no flame is kindled. This represents the original darkness, the latent creative power of Nun which Khnum drew upon to model the world itself.

May you touch His creative power today and may it spark creativity in you and all you interact with.

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

Welcome to Kemetic Orthodox Year 15, the Year of the Bawy (a special form of Heru-wer and Set as one god). I trust that you have had a good month and apologize for the delay in getting our devotions started up for this new Kemetic year. Many things are happening around the faith online and offline and I was not in for a great part of the month after our largest Wep Ronpet (Kemetic New Year) retreat ever here in Joliet in the first few days of August.

As we settle into the first season of our new year it's natural for things to be busy and even a bit hectic. This week starts a quieter time for me personally, as September marks some special holidays for me as a person and as a Nisut. Fourteen years ago today I took my first vows as a priest to the gods and goddesses of Kemet. In a week, we'll begin the celebration of the Opet, and I will renew my vows as a Nisut to the people of Kemet. So much has changed in 14 years; yet, each September, I begin again.

May the gods and goddesses of this month, and particularly the Holy Trinity of Uaset (Thebes), Amun-Ra, Mut and Khonsu, look favorably upon our efforts and answer our prayers this month. Give Them offerings and enjoy the peace They bring in Their satisfaction.

Em hotep to the children of Netjer!

Last evening, more than 40 came together to witness the Shemsu vows of a new group of Shemsu, as they received their Kemetic Names in the faith.

We also had the opportunity to rootname a child of the faith, who is lucky to have very many godparents!

Nekhtet and congratulations to our four newest Shemsu and our newest Child of the Faith:

Shemsut Uditbast of Argentina
Shemsut A'abatdjehuty of Georgia
Shemsu Hehiaset of the Canary Islands
Shemsut Tutisenu of New York
Rootnamed child Iahemheb-ka, nephew of Shemsut Munefmontu of Florida