Monday, September 3, 2012

Pagan Insights Project Version 2

Well eheheheh ^.^;
Yeah I kinda forgot about this for a while. Not just PIP but my blog in general. I forget what all was going on between now and the last time I posted but school started last week. I've been on and off writing letters to my sister. And have been elder sitting couple days a week. I think I would have preferred the job at Michaels. I think it was because I was going back to school that I didn't get that one and they were looking for more full time people. Or that my classes leaked into all the shifts. I knew I should have just made it so I had my classes spread out over the week. But nope. I just had to listen to everyone else and try to compact them all into two days. Tried. One of my classes was only available three days a week. Ok but now that the update's all said and done on to the PIP stuff!

* In Your Own Words
All I have to say is that I feel like I have been slacking. Its like I have some kind of block that's hard to climb over right now. I had started a guild on Gaiaonline back in January with the thought in mind that I can help others learn and use it as kind of that extra driving force to keep me studying. But so was the PBP when I was still doing that. While I lost interest in PBP I still kinda had the guild to help me a bit. But even now I'm kinda only half assing it, it feels. I get through answering half the questions I've gotten and then lose all motivation for it again (sorry guys). I still have sites open for when I finally get the motivation to go back and answer the rest of the questions. And that was before classes started up again. Now that classes started I don't know how I'm going to feel about putting any energy toward anything dealing with my path. There were quite a few things I was going to do for Set and Nebt Het's birthdays and Wep Ronpet but never got around to it. I still want to be useful to Them but I'm at a point where I feel like I slipped into a hole and don't know how to get myself out of it. I used to try to talk to at least Djehuty before going to bed and I haven't done that in so long. So that's kinda where I'm at right now.

Post A Pic
Well I would if I could. The image that sticks out in my mind right now is one that I've been meaning to draw for a while now but would start, doubt my abilities, and then give up. So I'll just explain the image. :P
The image I want to try to put on paper is me laying in bed with Djehuty leaning over me. I keep getting reminded of the image every time I hear that "Never forget" from Him. I want to try to get it out to show my devotion that while I might not be doing anything productive, in one of my dark places, or something else that it may not seem like I believe in Them, that I do remember that They're still there. Waiting.

* Musical Musings
I'm pretty sure I've said somewhere that I have nothing against Christian music. Either way I've found interviews where Lifehouse won't classify their music as Christian Rock anywho. But right now this song sticks out to me. Its kinda like "Hey dumb ass get your ass in gear if you want to feel this way again."

*Action, Action
Well I finally got around to cleaning up my shrine. I was going to do that for Wep Ronpet. And I moved things around a bit on it too. I'll try to post pictures of it some time.

Eureka!
Um... Well... I'll have to get back to you guys on this one. As I've said I've hit a block. I haven't really been reading much Pagan wise. Well I should say that I haven't learned anything new from what I've been reading. I've started reading What Thou Wilt by Jon Hanna but haven't gotten that far yet. So hopefully I actually have something next time around for this.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Eheheheh ^.^;

Sorry for not posting in little over a month. I just never really had the motivation to post anything. Well ok I had thought about making a post about Wep Ronpet since it is that time of the year. I had started gathering information for it and then I just lost all motivation. But quick update for those who are wondering, I have a car again! Woot! My sister's plane left at 6pm July 23rd. Mom cried. My sister's boyfriend looked like he wanted to. Some people ask me how I'm doing since she left. All that would go through my mind was "It was like she left even before that." She had basically moved out after she graduated. And with already conflicting schedules before that we wouldn't really see each other much. Doesn't mean I don't miss her. I do miss her. I will admit that I had cried at the airport. But that was only when I gave her a hug right before she boarded her plane. But yeah. We got a letter from her Friday. Mom did a happy dance. Then got all emotional reading it because of some of the things that were said.

I got all my classes scheduled for the fall semester. It tired to get all my classes to be Mondays and Wednesdays so I wouldn't have to worry about missing class for when we fly down to see my sister in October. But my one class was only Mondays, Wednesdays, AND Fridays. I was like "WTF? What is this?" I'm still on the hunt for a job. I didn't really want to have to work at a fast food place. But it seems to be the only places hiring. I'm hoping Michael's or Pat Catan's is hiring. But based on the look I got when I turned in the application at one Pat Catan's they're not hiring and the other Pat Catan's I went to flat out told me they weren't. I have no idea on Michael's because all I got told was "Just apply online." Its like "O...k...?" It doesn't even list if anything's open or not. It just sends you straight to the application. Eh. C'est la vie. Not much I can do about that but hope I find something.

Oh speaking of Wep Ronpet. WHY DID IT HAVE TO SNEAK UP ON ME?! I was all on top of that shit before my sister left. Also tomorrow is Set's birthday. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Oh well. I'll figure something out.

Happy Birthday Heru-Ur! And Happy Belated Brithday Asar!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Holy Ra!

Wow. I guess that's what I get for not checking my blog in a couple days. 11 views back on the first? (Wow I must sound pathetic) Now I feel bad for not posting anything since June 21st. But I haven't really had anything interesting to talk about. Things have been getting rough with my grandpa being moved to the Alzheimer's unit at the nursing home he was at and Mom being under the delusion that he should still be in the independent living. And on top of that my sister leaving for basic training in now 20 days. Yeah I was informed yesterday after dropping my grandpa off after lawn bowling that I will be going to church on the 22nd so we can pray for her. >.> Its like you can pray without me there. You don't even need her there either (I was told she had to go too). I can do my own praying thank you. I have nice conversations when I do it too. Plus with the way my sister is I don't think she would be quite happy with people praying for her anyway. Either that or she really doesn't care. She just kinda blows off topics I want to talk about but I have to engage her in her topics and listen to her rant about every little thing that pissed her off. Eh. Like it really matters. Can't really stop my mom and her friends from doing it anyway. So do I want to see if I can stay up for almost 48 hours that weekend? I probably won't sleep at all that Saturday night. And with my sleeping habits I'm up all night Sunday night for no reason. >.< Yeah, I know. That's not good.

But in other news, I'm hopefully going to be starting a video series. I won't post much about it on here if I do get it started since its going to be video game related. I'll make a tumblr for it or something if I do want to blog it or not. But I say hopefully because I was going to start last night. I had gotten it all set up. Ran a test run to adjust the audio on it. Was about to go live since I was using Livestream. And then I backed out. v.v I'm gonna try again tonight and hope I don't back out this time. I might do a quick run through first since my first set of videos is going to be Nuzlocke Pokemon SoulSilver. And I've never played with Nuzlocke rules before. Or I might read. I haven't read in a while. I tried to earlier today but it was when we were up at the lake and one of the couples brought their granddaughter. And for some reason kids won't leave me alone.

Ya know. Reading sounds like a wonderful idea right now. It'll help me get my mind off the stressful things and hopefully get me back on track. I know I'm starting to fold under the emotional stress coming from my sister leaving and what's going on with my grandpa and Mom not liking either of them. Most days anymore when I go to sleep I never want to wake up. Then I get At a Glance running through my head. Anyway. I'm gonna read for a bit. Then go to bed. Since I haven't slept yet.

So for your listening pleasure:
Senebty

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Little Free Libraries

I swear. Every year after going to the Duck Tape Festival I want to make stuff out of duct tape. I almost have a project finished. I just need to add a strap to it. And I might try adding pockets if I have enough tape left over. Its all purple because my mom stole my silver. But I've been thinking about making different things and hoping to be able to sell them. My next project after I get more tape is to try to make a Pokemon messenger bag or notebooks where instead of card board its tape and then sewing it all together. So I randomly wandered onto Etsy to see what kind of Duck brand duct tape stuff was being listed and ran across this. I saw the word library and I had to stop and read it. The more I read the more I wanted to do it. So I went over to the Little Free Library website. But as I was reading, I stopped and realized I wouldn't have many books to put in it. I do have to admit that I am a bit of a book hoarder. Looking at my bookcase I'd have one book that I would be willing to put in my Little Free Library if I actually do build one. Yeah I know people can order from the website but I'd rather build my own. But maybe I'll do something like this later on in life. Or see if any of the other tenets would be willing to participate.

In other news
So yesterday was the Summer Solstice. Did I do anything like I wanted to? Nope. What was going to happen was my aunt came up so I was going to drive Mom to work, do whatever, pick up Mom, and then we were going to go see her. As I'm driving Mom to work we get a flat. As after we took care of that I just went back to bed. Then while I was asleep Mom somehow got a second flat. So yeah. It wasn't exactly a fun day. And to top that all off there's a shit storm coming because of what's going on with my grandpa. All I have to say is Mom's delusional and won't believe anyone when they say that Grandpa's memory's shot. Well getting there. I knew he was forgetting things but it wasn't until the last message that I got from my uncle that found out how bad it actually was. I didn't want to believe my uncle when he said that it would make me cry. Yeah that's something I hate doing. I hate crying. I see it as weakness within myself. While I don't care if others cry. I hate doing it myself. When others cry I want to help them. But if I'm the one crying I hate myself for it. Ok but back to what I was saying.
I felt sad last week when I was looking out the window with <Name Removed> toward the Marketing Office and VP apartments and he didn’t know what either of those buildings were and asked me about them. He told me he is having a hard time trying to remember his name let alone other people’s names and places. He did remind me he has ice cream in his freezer from the melon festival, not in those words but I completely understood what he was saying.
That's part of the message. I was supposed to pass it on to my mom but I haven't been able to bring myself to show it to her. She probably would try to deny it even if I did. I know it hurts her. My grandpa was so intelligent. So involved in the community. And I don't even know if my mom fully recovered from when we lost Grandma. So I can see why she would try to deny that anything's wrong with Grandpa. She doesn't want to loose the last person in her immediate family that she still has real contact with. Her sisters don't really talk to her much. I almost wonder if she kinda feels like my one aunt that dropped contact with everyone in the family.

But in other other news
I CAN'T GET THIS SONG OUT OF MY HEAD!!!


Mwahahaha getting it stuck in your head now too. And yes I'm a Yu-gi-oh! fangirl. I had to do something so this wouldn't end on a sad note. So I chose to let that out. When it first came out I thought it was going to be stupid because it was a show about a card game. I only started watching because they mentioned Egypt. >.<; But anywho I need to get to bed. I think I have to take the car to go get the tire replaced later today.

Oh and I might be getting around to doing Round 2 of the Pagan Insights Project sometime soon to keep me posting.

Senetby

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Update and Other Random Things

So for those wondering, my grandpa is doing better. I think he's out of the hospital. I say think because he was supposed to leave the other day and Mom hasn't said anything about him having to stay longer. Plus she was talking about the nursing home he's at and so on. They still haven't told me what it was. So I'm guessing my uncle was probably right when he said that Grandpa was just dehydrated. And then more drama with the extended family. Surprised my one aunt hasn't come up yet to find out what's going on.

On a different note though, I don't get why people have such a problem with Jehovah's Witnesses. I mean yes it'd be annoying them coming by all the time. But they're just doing what they have to do. Though I have heard some horror stories about encounters with Jehovah's Witnesses. But maybe I got a bit lucky with the two that stopped by yesterday. It was interesting to say the least. I've never actually talked to Jehovah's Witnesses before. We've been needing to fix our doorbell. Haven't exactly gotten around to it since when someone stops by they text the person saying they're outside or in the case of our landlady just knocks on the inside door. I live in a small apartment building where we keep the outside doors locked. So I had just gotten through the initial check everything on sites I go on and was about to start looking up stuff when the doorbell went off. I thought maybe our doorbell finally did get fixed and it was the landlady. She would ring the doorbell and then come knock on the door so we would know it was her. We had issues with ex-tenants "drunkingly" ringing our doorbell. Now where was I? Oh yeah. The doorbell going off. So I go out the door expecting to see the landlady. Nope. So I go to the outside door and see these two women. I'm all confused like "Did they want someone that lives upstairs? I don't know these people." Which has happened before. But talking to them they were nice. And I think I ended up catching them off guard. >.< They asked if I believed in God. And before I could even think or stop myself I said "Not your god." Which sparked an interesting conversation of them asking different questions about what I believed. I explained that I left Christianity because it didn't fit. I didn't feel like I was at home in it. And that I began searching for something that did give me that feeling. I think in the back of their minds might have been the "We must save this child!" Only because before leaving they said that they hoped that I would keep searching and find something better. Though I don't know. I could just be reading too far into it. They seemed a bit interested in the concept of ma'at. And it did seem like they were interested in learning. Maybe its because I told them that I was interested in learning. I want to know what I can before making some judgement about someone or something. Even though that doesn't always happen ^.^; I am human after all. I am looking forward to them coming back though. It would be interesting to sit down and talk to them.

But on the learning tangent, my mom. I swear. The other day we were driving past the college I attend. I ended up mentioning that the summer semester had just started Monday. And she got all sarcastic on me. Saying "Oh so I guess you lucked out on taking summer classes this year. How many months have you been a full time student?"
So my reply was "The full 16 weeks"
"How many months is that?"
"4, Mom."
"When did the semester end?"
"The end of April." (Technically the first week of May. I wasn't thinking about finals week since I only had one final after Shinboku Con. But it was still 4 months. 16/4=4)
"And when did it start?"
"January. That makes 4 months."
"You need to be a full time student for 5 months out of the year so I can claim you on my taxes."
"That's what the fall semester's for."
The thoughts running through my head were to not take any classes in the fall just to spite her. But then I'd lose my officer position in the club I'm in. That and Financial Aid is a pain when you miss a semester. Financial Aid is a pain to begin with in the first place.
/endMomrant

Trying to think of something so I'm not ending on a rant. I want to end on a positive note. Well I could say how me and a group of friends are going to Colossal Con later today. Body woke me up a little after 5 this morning. I had my alarm set for 8. OTZ Anywho. Colossal Con aside. I really don't know. TT.TT I haven't been reading as much as I want to. Though I am starting to fall back into it. Even if it is just to clean out a few of my bookmarks. I have a few pages marked just so I could copy stuff down after reading it. Which reminds me, I need to go through my flash drive sometime. I've got stuff on there I haven't read yet either. OTZ Random note, it would be hilarious if I could make some of these random musings into little videos. I would love to try to show you guys the little images flashing through my head as I type some of this stuff. Hmm... I might try that now. Find stuff to put a mock video together. But that'll have to wait until later. I have to get ready soon and I'm gonna be busy all day.

Senetby

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Yes I'm Still Alive

*Warning* This blog post will probably be depressing. Just my thoughts on shit that's going on. Sorry if you were looking for something more formal? Is that the word I'm looking for? Either way. Probably nothing completely interesting.

Obviously I'm still alive. I did get better. Haven't really been able to just sit down and type something out. I did find some interesting stuff. Just didn't think about blogging about it. I half don't want to post about what's going through my head right now but I need to get it out. I have a bad habit of keeping shit in and letting it eat me up.

So yesterday when I got up my sister told me that I needed to tell Mom if I was going to go to lawn bowling or not. I hadn't gone the last couple times because I was sick or just didn't feel up to it. Yesterday I still wasn't feeling up to it so I texted Mom telling her that I wasn't going to go so she didn't have to drive by and pick me up after picking up Grandpa. I just did my normal thing of sitting on Gaia and looking up random stuff. I forget what I was reading yesterday. Oh yeah I was in a friend chat yesterday and playing on Sims Social. Yesterday was a slack off day. But I had noticed that Mom hadn't come home at the time we usually would have after dropping Grandpa off. So I thought that she stopped over at one of her friends' houses like we had done the last time I had gone with them. I finally get a text from her after midnight that she was on her way home and was going to explain. I was thinking "Ok? Explain what? That you went over to a friend's house after? Why would you need to explain that to me?" So she finally gets home and does her usual thing and then walks into my room. She was all "What? No why are you home after lawn bowling so late?" I was thinking she was joking around, giving me a hard time because I didn't go to lawn bowling. I told her that she said she was going to explain so why did I need to ask. Then she just looked at me. I'm still thinking she's playing around so I half mockingly asked why she was home so late. That's when she told me that Grandpa had been taken to the hospital. I still don't know exactly when. All I know was that it was sometime before Mom went to go get him for lawn bowling because she had gone to go get him and he wasn't there. I'm still not sure if I even have the full story of what's going on with him. What I have is that he was having bathroom issues and at the hospital they took a CT and found lesions on his brain. I only found out a couple hours ago that "cancer" had been mentioned. And my mom wasn't even talking to me when she had said that. Today she dragged me to the hospital to go see him. I didn't want to go because hospitals make me antsy and dizzy and that whole avoidance thing. I didn't want anything to do with what was going on. But I ended up going anyway. Afterwards, Mom wanted to go over to one of her friends' house. So we stopped so she could talk to him. It was when she was talking to the adults that were there (the one women has two younger boys) that she mentioned that cancer had been thrown out there. My thoughts were "What? Couldn't just give it to me straight? Or do you think I'm only good for ranting about other shit to?" My mom had gone on a ranting tirade about some of the stuff my aunt was saying while they were all at the hospital yesterday instead of telling me everything that had gone on with Grandpa. So yeah. We're still waiting to figure out what's going on. The doctors lost the CT results.

Well now that I've got that all out I'm just going to crank up the music and find something to distract me. Maybe I'll play some Pokemon. Or paint my nails. I've been wanting to paint my nails for a few days now. I think I'll do that.

Well if you did read through this whole post, I'm not looking for sympathy. I just needed to get it out. Like I said back in my O.O Why Haven't I Posted Anything? post I try to avoid things. I also try to keep things in so I don't feel like I'm just being a burden to others. I'm trying to get things out instead of keeping them bottled and eating me from the inside.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

And Now Back to Our "Regularly" Scheduled Posts

While now that I've got all the Insight Posts done for now, we can go back to my usual ramblings. Yay! I'm sure everyone's excited for that! *cricket cricket*

So anywho. I was going to post a couple days ago but I got sick and didn't really have anything interesting to blog about. The most I could think of was "Damn sore throat." But while I'm still a bit sick, I did find something that got my attention. Totally unrelated to Paganism but would still affect me since I do like to play video games from time to time. I wanna play Rock Band so bad. But my PS2 is a meanie head. But I could play Guitar Hero all I want. The eff PS2? Anywho, back to the original thought. Browsing the Gaiaonline guilds I'm in someone posted this article. Really? Ban the Xbox 360? While there weren't many posts in the thread that it was posted on because of the fact that its 3 in the morning (at least for the people in my timezone) on a weekday, one already thinks its actually going to happen and one doesn't. I'm kinda on the fence on this one. While I'll be sad that I'm gonna lose being able to play BlazBlue (TAO!), depending on how they do things, I'm not really going to lose much. I haven't really played with my 360. It ended up becoming my DVD player. But even then I can watch stuff on my laptop. Plus by the time they get things straightened out on what they're going to do I'll have my Wii again. I miss my shiny black Wii. And if you got any dirty thoughts because of that sentence shame on you. 'Cause that's not what ran through my head. What actually ran through my head was "Damn that sneeze hurt." But anywho, I could go on about my shiny Wii and how much fun I'll have with my mini purple controllers again. But 360. That's where we were. I actually kinda wonder what will happen with this. Will the 360 get banned? What will happen to the 360 only games if it does?

I'll return to my Pagan ramblings again. I wanted to post something to let people know I'm still alive.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Pagan Insights Project - Eureka!

Eureka! - post about something new that you have learned, or discovered recently, that is related to your path or Paganism in general.

I've actually been learning a lot since I've been able to get my hands on books and have actually been able to read. One I found in Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Pinch. It was the Egyptologists argue over the origin of the conflict between Set and Heru myth. Though I've been finding out by reading Red Land, Black Land that they argue about other things as well. But some Egyptologists argue that the origin of the myth stemmed from the conflict between Ombos and Hierakonpolis where Set and a falcon god, respectively, was the local god. Though it was noted in the footnotes that even if that origin was true the function of the myth was purely religious in nature.

Finding out this information taught me more than what was on the surface. It opened my eyes. It showed me that we really don't know these myths or culture like I thought we did. While I knew that there were still pieces missing I had thought that we knew everything about what we did have. In school, it seemed like they were teaching us absolute truths. That what they taught us couldn't change (I still say Pluto is a planet damn it. I want My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. Not My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles). That we just build upon it to advance. So it was only natural that what I was able to find in doing research wasn't completely shrouded in mysteries still. That everything there was to know about that particular subject was already known.

If any of this makes any sense at all. I hope it does. If not leave me a comment and I'll try to explain better.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Pagan Insights Project - Action, Action

*Action, Action - post about a ritual, working or other experiential moment related to your path that has occurred recently, or that you are planning to do.

Learning. Learning, learning, learning. That's what I've been doing. But while its no fun just to say that, I could talk about what I want to try to do for the summer solstice. I could. But that's a month away and I don't know if I would actually be doing or able to do anything for the solstice. Its a Wednesday so probably not. The most I'd do is probably walk down to Subway. Oh well. Like I said. Month away.

People are probably thinking "A Kemetic celebrating the solstice?" My response to that is that that is something I've thought about doing when I was back in elementary school. My thoughts were "Hey its always marked on the calendar. Why can't we do something for it?" Those feelings never left. Though I always forget what day it is until its too late >.<;

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Pagan Insights Project - Musical Musings

* Musical Musings - post a song, chant or poem related to your path, or one that invokes a feeling/emotion related to your spirituality (or craft). Can be in word form, but videos would definitely be awesome as well. On a spiritual level, what is your music of the moment? Is this a song stuck in your head, or one you played before your last ritual?



This song is actually a bit of a weird one. Though I do have to say before I move on to explaining this song, I tend to stick to songs that I already know because I want to be able to listen and just sing if I'm in the mood. I like the feeling I get when I sing.

The reason I chose this song for this prompt is because this song for some reason or another is the only one I've listened to that reminds me of any deity. While yes if you looked at my iPod I do have a handful Christian songs on it >.< they don't make me think of the Christian God. But this song makes me think of Aset. I still haven't figured out exactly why at all. I've actually been putting off figuring that one out. ^.^;

Friday, May 18, 2012

Pagan Insights Project - Post A Pic

Post A Pic - post an image related to your path, or one that invokes a feeling/emotion related to your spirituality (or craft… if one is a non-religious Witch), along with a sentence or two describing the image.


This was the first image that came to my mind when I thought about this prompt. Well not this one exactly but one of the moon. I always get a sense of peace and calmness when I look up at the moon. I also get a good chunk of reading done at night. Nighttime is the time that I get to sit back and relax. I don't feel like I'm rushing around. I don't want to feel rushed when I'm learning.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Pagan Insights Project - In Your Own Words

Well I'm "starting a little late" with this. It was posted on TIP at the beginning of the month. And I'm just now getting around to saying and doing something about it. What a good little pagan I am. But hey. I'm getting around to it. And what I like about the Pagan Insights Project is that it'll give me a bit more of a direction to blog about than my random little musings about this, that, and the other thing. Unless you guys actually like my random musing about this, that, and the other thing. But I still feel like I need something to pull the people in. I don't feel like I'm finding the topics people want to read about. Or even approaching them the right way that its pulling people in. But eventually I want to get around to doing the 30 Days of Paganism prompt. But that might be a bit. When I feel like I've started posting on a more regular basis. Or when I feel like I'm going to have a slow month. Oh hey look! I think that might be December. Or something like that.

But anywho on to the PIP ( >.< ) post!

* In Your Own Words - your thoughts and feelings – maybe a full blog post on a topic of your choice related to your path (or Paganism in general) or just a few sentences on where you are right now. What are you studying? What are you thinking? Who are you, and where are you going on your Pagan path? What’s right and what’s wrong in Paganism at the moment?

 In my own words. There's a number of ways I could take that. To start I'll probably just answer the example questions. In later posts if/when I get back and re-answer these prompts I might do it differently. But for now you're getting this:

I am who I am. Right now my name isn't really of importance. Even in my path. Even though its been almost a year since I started following the Kemetic path I know I'm still young in it. Even though it would be nice to have the gods name me I'm no where near that yet. Some times I wonder if I'll even be. I may be an insecure person and I doubt that I'm getting anywhere but I know that this is what I want. I want to learn from the Kemetic gods. People may look at me and say "But you're only 21. That'll change in a few years." While I hope that I'll be able to continue to grow and change, I hope that this desire doesn't go away. I want something that can actually be stable in my life. So I know that I can try to make better and stabilize the rest of my life. Right now I'm reading Red Land, Black Land by Barbara Mertz for my "Kemetic studies". I'm only a few pages into it but its a bit interesting so far. Interesting in the fact that Mertz's writing is so casual. Kinda like we're sitting down and talking about it. Unlike other books where its "here's the facts" and that's it.

I'd type more but I'm tired. Should have already been in bed. But I wanted to get something posted for this. I might redo the Pagan Insights Project every so often. Just to keep track of how much I've progressed. But we'll just have to see.

Monday, May 14, 2012

O.O Why Haven't I Posted Anything?

Well the answer to that is simple. Haven't felt like it. And right now I have nothing better to do. Ok I actually do. I've actually been picking up my books again. Woot! I started re-reading the first couple pages of Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Pinch so I could continue on and hopefully finish this time. Which probably won't happen anytime soon. Reason being: I am Derpy Hooves!

Well as I've mentioned  back in my Oh Lookie Here post, I have no job and that I want to start going back to the library on a weekly basis. Well I was going through the long list of books I have on Egyptian mythology and Kemeticism and stuff like that and decided to check the library's online catalog. Well I started to put books on hold. ^.^; Hey I stopped myself at 2 this time. Unlike last year where I put everything I could on hold and then never got through it all. But I still can't get all the books that other Kemetics have said that are staple reads and I don't know if the only way I'm going to end up getting my hands on them is to have to buy them. Reason being the library I go to already has like a built in inter-library loan system. Isn't it beautiful? I could go to any of those libraries listed and return those books to any other one. But out of 38 libraries I haven't been able to find like a good 3/4 of the books on my to read list. Probably more. I haven't counted. And with me I want to be able to read the book and know I'll like it before I buy it.

So where was I? Oh yeah. Trying to start going to the library and reading more. I also mentioned the job thing. Well after I went through the library catalog, I went over to the library website. I forget why exactly. Oh right. I was looking up the time that my library branch was actually open. I wanted to go yesterday. But when I was looking on Thursday/Friday (I forget which) I found out that they're closed on Sundays from May through September. I was bummed. Why would a library be closed on Sundays during the summer? Why? I just don't get it. But oh well. As I was looking for the times on the site I saw the tab at the bottom for Employment. Randomly clicking on it I saw that they had an opening at one of the branches. My thoughts were "Yay! I want it!" "Which branch do I turn it in to?" "Oh crap I don't have a printer." "I'll take care of it on Sunday since I'm busy Saturday." "Effing a! They're not open on Sundays!! TT.TT Now what?" Well I had gotten the application printed out yesterday. But like I said: I am Derpy Hooves. I left it at my boyfriend's. ^.^; And I'm gonna be heading to the library after my mom comes home from work. And then we're headed up to the lake. Yay lawn bowling!

Starting a little late but I don't think the people up at the lake mind. Lawn bowling actually started in April. But last year they let me start like half way through the season. I enjoy lawn bowling for multiple reasons. How I got started was there were a couple times my mom couldn't go pick up my grandpa for some reason or another and drive him up to the lake for lawn bowling. He's been lawn bowling with that group for years. (Found out he's been doing it for 20+ years. Longer than I've been around.) Then one day they needed an extra person to complete one of the teams. So I got roped into it. I don't mind. I think its fun. And it gives me something to do with my grandpa. I hadn't exactly seen my grandpa as much as I used to since my grandma had gotten diagnosed with cancer how ever many years ago. Then I had just stopped trying all together after she died. I even tried avoiding going to see him when I could. I still try to get out of it when I'd be going to see him on my own. My grandma's death was hard on all of us and I know full well that my coping mechanism is avoidance. I was trying to avoid it in the early stages. I didn't want anything to do with them anymore. But its not like I could do anything to escape it all. We would go bake cookies with her every year around Christmas time. So I think of her when I bake. She taught me and my sister how to knit and crochet. She'd always have a new project she was working on when we would go visit her on the weekends. So naturally I would think of her when I would start crocheting something.

But enough down in the dumps stuff. This post wasn't going to be a downer one. Plus with having to stop and start again because my mom finally came and got me I forgot where I was headed with the rest of this. I was able to pick up the books. I got Red Land, Black Land and Temples, Tombs, & Hieroglyphs both by Barbara Mertz. I might start putting up some book reviews when I finally sit down and actually finish reading a book. Speaking of I want to start reading now so I'll end this here. Senebty.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Rain, Rain, Go Away... Wait What?

So I was totally going to blog about this last night when I was typing up my other blog post. I stayed up long enough that I could have since I went to bed a little before 5. ^.^; But I didn't think about it until I laid down and was like "Well damn... Guess I'll do that when I get up." Well I'm finally getting around to it. I woke up an hour before my Stats final and this that and the other thing. But enough about that. On to what this post is about.

Its just kind of a random thought in my head. So yesterday it was thundering and raining. And it was actually warm enough for me to open my window so I could listen to it. Even though I was still a bit cold it wasn't like "OMG why am I doing this?" But I sat there listening to it and I kept thinking Tefnut's back. I actually laughed a bit when I thought that because a couple months ago I kept wondering since Tefnut is the goddess of moisture if that made Her snow too. Or if because Egypt was warm She would move on for a while and then come back when the weather started becoming warmer again. Now if it is the second one I wouldn't think that it would be because She's completely abandoning us. Just that the weather would turn Her into something that She isn't. Or that there is a different deity that would take over from there and Tefnut willing hands it over because snow is not what She is. I'm curious as to what others think about this. And not just about Tefnut or the Kemetic gods. But others too that would be similar to this.

(P.S. If you were wondering about the title the kids next door were playing outside yesterday and I heard them singing Rain, Rain, Go Away. And I was sitting in my room thinking "No don't go.")

Many Random Things

I've seen the topic of making fun of your religion come up many times. I see nothing wrong with it. As long as its not to the point where its insulting. If it does hit that point then why do you follow that religion? Didn't think to make a blog post about it until I read this. I was doing a quick search to see when there were festivals for Bes and Tefnut. I came across this blog and quickly glanced over it. The person thought it was funny but as I was reading it I found myself thinking "What the hell am I reading? Isn't this supposed to be funny?" If anything it kinda made my head hurt trying to figure out what the hell they were saying. And looking over others they've posted it doesn't get much better. I kinda want that time I spent reading that stuff back.

But for now for the good stuff. The con went well. I got a cute set of kitty ears. I might try to start making my own. But I just have to try to find a better way to make them stay. The one was trying to slide down off my head. But before I can start trying to experiment with that I have to get my Umbreon cosplay, that I didn't finish, done. I might try to make Zorua and/or Zoroark sometime too. But I'm becoming more known as being an Umbreon. >.< My one little buddy wasn't there this year I don't think. I semi-did my Pokemon panel for them.

International Pagan Coming Out Day. First things first. WHY THE HELL DO ALL THESE TYPES OF THINGS HAPPEN ON DAYS I'M STUCK AT HOME?! That was more of my thought when I found out when the Day of Silence was. It was totally on a day I was stuck at home and wouldn't have been talking to anyone anyway. But back to the IPCOD. I like the idea of it but it shouldn't have to be like this. It shouldn't matter what religion someone follows. Says the little Kemetic who's only partially out of the reeds. Few people know. And it depends on the person on if I would tell them or not. I would still hide it from my family. Even though I think my mom has some idea that I don't believe what she believes anymore. She was in my room over the weekend looking for my stash of Duck Tape. Its kinda hard to miss my altar. Though I guess it would kinda matter depending on the religion. Like if it was some religion that would break laws and whatnot. I'm probably not going to really do anything for IPCOD. I see no need really. But I'm not going to stop people from doing stuff if that's their choice. I just hope that they think about the possible repercussions that could happen. Not everyone's going to except people for being Pagan. We all know that. Especially if people are being annoying about it. Eh. Can't really stop people from doing what they want to do anyway.

But either way. I need to try to get my sleep schedule back in line. Even though it'll probably go out of whack again since my last final's tomorrow and I still have no job. Either way bed time. Since its getting close to 4 in the morning.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Serving Ma'at and Other Random Thoughts

"The ethical conceptions of 'truth,' 'order,' and 'cosmic balance' are encompassed in the Egyptian term ma'at, and the personification of those principles is the goddess Ma'at. The goddess represented the divine harmony and balance of the universe, including the unending cycles of the rising and setting sun, the inundation of the Nile River, the resulting fertility of the land, and the enduring office of kingship; she considered to be the force that kept chaos(isfet), the antithesis of order, from overwhelming the world. Hence ma'at was a complex, intertwined, and interdependent sense of ethics that tied personal behavior-such as speaking truthfully, dealing fairly in the market place, and especially sustaining obedience to parents, the king, and his agents-to maintenance of universal order. To transgress one aspect of ma'at threatened to encourage chaos and overwhelm order. To live according to ma'at was also fundamental to personal existence."

Source: The Ancient Gods Speak: A Guide to Egyptian Religion edited by Donald B. Redford

I was thinking over that as I was sitting on campus after I had gotten out of Accounting while I was trying to ignore the mass of emails flying into my inbox about what's going on with Z. Budapest. And it crossed my mind that serving ma'at should be something that people should do whether or not they actually follow the Kemetic gods. Now before you jump me for saying that let me explain. To others serving ma'at would just be living their day to day lives doing good. Like volunteering or even that random act of kindness toward a stranger. For example, today I was helping a friend take the food her club collected in a food drive down to the Second Harvest food bank truck. I don't think any of the people that were helping out serve ma'at. Or most, if not all, of the people that even donated food do either. But does that stop them from doing something that could be considered serving ma'at? No because I think the concept of ma'at is something that is seen in other religions and irreligious morals and ethics but under different names. Or even another one. My mother's Christian. After she picked me up from college and went to go get her phone card we pulled a double drive thru. We went to Burger King to get sandwiches and then over to Wendy's for fries and frosties. While we were standing at the register at Wendy's waiting for someone to take our order we ended up overhearing the two behind us. I'm guessing it was a mother and son. But the son said that he wanted something, I was guessing that he wanted a frosty instead of his drink or something like that but my mom said she didn't hear exactly what it was but we both did catch that she said no because she didn't have the money. As we were standing there I was thinking about turning to them and giving them the coupon I was going to use to get my frosty since that's what I thought I heard them talking about. But after we had gotten our food and before they ordered theirs my mom went up to the women and gave her the couple dollars that was left over from our order. We didn't stick around long enough to find out if the guy did actually get what he wanted. We actually left the women with a confused look on her face. >.<; But its things like this that I see as doing ma'at. I know my mom knows nothing about the concept of ma'at or any of the mythology that goes with it. Does that stop her from doing for others? Nope.

And I lost my train of thought. >.<; Damn emails about Z. Budapest. Can you spell drama? Seriously. If you've written a chant that you didn't want getting changed from Goddess to God then why didn't you do something when it first happened? 30-some-odd years ago(or something like that)? Why all of a sudden start hexing people now over it? And seriously. What's so wrong about a dick? We kinda need that to reproduce. Women can't asexually reproduce last time I checked.

Though it does bring up something I've been pondering the last couple days. In creation how many myths say it was a male deity and how many say its a female one? While creation is something I don't completely dive into and believe one myth over the other its still an interesting thought. All the creation myths I can remember say it was a male deity that created everything. Well ok. I should say there there has to be at least one creation myth out there that it was a female. Because I don't think Dianics acknowledge a god. Though I could be wrong. All I know is that they're goddess worship. Beyond that I know nothing. I might look into years from now as a passing interest. I have no interest in worshiping solely female deities. I love the gods that I've been able to interact with and I want to meet more. Does that make me such a terrible person for wanting to get a long with every human and deity regardless of gender? If anything I've been more like one of the guys. I always got along more guys than girls. It never bothered me. I never really saw a person one way just because of their gender or skin color or even as their orientation. People were people. To me it didn't matter what they looked like. It was all about how they acted. If someone acted like a racist piece of shit then why should I bother with them? But if someone was kind and someone I could relate to easily then great.

I think I went off on a random tangent again. That might get me in trouble one of these days. >.<; Ah well. I think I may end that here for tonight then.

Dua Ma'at!
Senebty

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Oh Lookie Here

Oh hey! Look! I'm posting another blog post. And it hasn't been over a month! *throws confetti*

What inspired this blog post was I randomly went onto the TIP tumblr and found a post about the recent news that was posted on The Wild Hunt. Article for those who haven't seen it. While most of the comment that was posted when TIP shared the article was about what Z. Budapest had said about her song I was more excited about the news about the library. Its an interesting idea. And it kinda makes me excited. It makes me want to travel to DC just to see it. Though it does disappoint me that the only copy of the Book of the Dead is the one translated by Budge. But hey, its a new library that ran on volunteer work to get it to where it is now. And should I be surprised that just searching Wicca I get 5 pages? While searching Egyptian and Norse gets me one each and Greek gets me two pages? I wish we had something like that closer to where I live. I'd totally go there when I could. Well depending. I'd actually probably be a bit concerned depending on who ran it. I'm still not completely sure on the Pagan community in my area. Mostly because I haven't really met any. But I'm hoping that I've run into the only bad apples in the area. But I severely doubt that. One can hope right?

Looks like if I was to take the trip out to that library it would take about 7.5-8 hours according to Google Maps to get there from my house depending on traffic. Overnight trip? Do some sight seeing? Probably. But that'd require me to have a job first. ^.^; I'll be getting my sister's car once she leaves for basic training so that'll be one obstacle out of the way that's holding me back right now. Job? Yes please. I miss having a bi-weekly income. Right now its like once a semester. Oh yay.

Speaking of libraries I wanna try to become reacquainted to the one by my house. I miss my weekly trips to the library. Hmm... I wonder if they're hiring. Or if there's a library in the area that is. That's what I wanna do until I can open my own shop. I wanna work at a library or bookstore. Been that way since I was 16. I love books. I love the smell of them. Though I wouldn't try smelling library books. I don't know where they've been. But that's a quirk of mine. When I get a new book I just open it and sniff the pages. I don't care if any of you think I'm weird for doing that. I'm proud that I'm different. The world wouldn't be fun if everyone was the same.

Totally off topic. But Marines. The hell. Why is it every time I take my sister to PT because I wanna borrow her car to get food they ask me multiple times if I want to join? Do I look interested? Ok it is a possibility since I did actually go there with her. But to try to seriously find some reason for me to actually join? What is seriously going through their heads? Like today I ended up dropping my sister off and then leaving so I could go get air in her tire and pick her up a case of water since she was down to her last bottle. I get back and yeah I can see why they would think I was interested. I showed up out of no where on my own and only a few of them had seen me once before. I told them I was there waiting on my sister since I drove her. They got back to what they were doing. I think they had stopped to take a small break since they weren't doing anything when I got there. They did a set of exercises and then they were trying to get me to join them. Then after a couple more sets they tried again. I told them I'm the kinda of person that just wants to bury her nose in books. Which I was actually going to do but there was no room in the office for me to sit and read since they had to move everything so they could do their ab work. The one guy that I'm guessing had already gone through training (that wasn't the Staff Sargent) piped up saying that there were positions that all I could do was read. And that I could read in different languages. I just kinda shrugged it off. Then we had to drive over to the park where they go run. They went on their run and I sat in the car and read. They stood around chatting for a while once they had gotten back. I ended up catching part of their conversation. My sister was complaining a bit on how she was the last female left since the other female had left for basic on Monday. Their response was basically "Well why don't you recruit someone?" They all turned and looked at me. Its like what part of "I will not join the armed forces" doesn't get through their heads?

Now before anyone says anything, its not that I'm against the armed forces. Its that I have a bit of an Imagine mentality and I'm not fit for the armed forces. Physically or mentally. So yeah. That and I'm not going to up and leave my friends. Not again. And long distance relationships? Hell no. I'm not going through that again. Though my ex keeps thinking that I will. >.> That's a rant for a different time.

Other than what ramblings I typed out not sure there's much else. I'll try to get to the PBP posts that I owe. I'm still trying to get the motivation to work on them. Though posting stuff here's a step in the right direction right?

Monday, April 16, 2012

Blog Post of Blogginess

Sorry guys. I know its been like a month and a half, or something like that, since I've posted. I do still keep the Pagan Blog Project in mind but I've still been having next to none motivation. Way back for D I've been wanting to do Djehuty and Duat. For E I want to do Eye and Egyptian Paganism. F was going to be Flooding and Fertility. G was going to be Geb and Geraldine Pinch. But for H I'm still trying to pick out of three different ones. I want try to either Heru, Heka, and/or Het Hert.

Though it might be a sad thing to say that after this I probably won't be posting for a bit either. ^.^; Its that time of year again where me and a group of my friends get little to no sleep as we host Shinboku Con! *cue random anime music* And now I'm getting random flashes of Fallen as I'm trying to get my thoughts back in line.

Right blog stuff. Oh hey I can at least give you guys content rather than me just babble on about how I'm so far behind (which is obvious) and advertise an anime and roleplaying convention. Yay storytime! So I bought this necklace. Beautiful necklace. Its got an obsidian pendant. Then came the "Well who will I offer it to?" When it came down to it I ended up leaving it as an open offering. If I remember right what came out was basically whoever wants it can have it with the thought of one of the deities I've talked to could claim it. Yeah I left myself open on that one. Let's see. I offered it... I think it was last Wednesday. I didn't wear it until Saturday (Thursday I had classes so that was my ibis necklace and Friday I didn't go anywhere. Yay having no car!). Saturday started off normal. And it might have just been normal. I haven't completely looked into if my suspicion is right yet or not. But I noticed that I was a bit more clumsy than I naturally am. I didn't think anything of it until later when I went to grab the necklace hanging from my neck and realized that it was my new one. I started thinking "Does it have something to do with this?" It may have been a bit premature to jump to that but hey. That's how my mind works. Then yesterday I was at my boyfriend's. I forget what was on TV. I wasn't paying attention to it. I was letting my mind wander as I was messing around with the seeds I had gathered from the yard (for no particular reason). Then my mind went back to what had happened the previous day. The major event that my friends thought I ran into the wall and it knocked me down (I turned and walked into a cubicle wall and because I was laughing so hard I sat down). As my mind finished replaying that, one word came to mind. Bes. Now I'm gonna be looking farther into it because all I have is that obsidian is a protective stone and Bes is a protective god and He has a sense of humor. The two I've talked to think it could possibly be Him. But there's only one way to figure it out. Ask. I'm gonna be doing that tonight after I do a bit of reading. After my homework. I'd actually laugh if I'm right. Why? Because I would. Brain's still a bit scattered.

Well I've got a meeting with my group for our class project. I tried to keep it coherent. If it isn't... I blame my lack of sleep! Let's hope that this time I actually start posting again instead of posting once every couple of months.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

So Behind...

I'm sorry guys. I fell behind posting in the blog project. I was on an emotional rollercoaster and when I was at my high points and would try to type something the words didn't want to come out. I think also part of it was the weekly email that gets sent out for it. It's supposed to give the Pagan ideas for topics. But how is someone supposed to blog on a topic that doesn't relate to their path? Besides the gods and goddesses the topics are more for basic Wicca-flavored ENP. Last I looked I'm not a Wicca-flavored ENP. It's nothing against Wicca. It just doesn't fit. I mean yeah it'd be hard to send out an email with something from every single path. But why act like everyone's the same? I know a number of Pagans that get annoyed at being clumped together with Christians. But it seems like some of those Pagans are grouping all Pagans into Wicca-flavored ENP. Plus I think I'd get yelled at if I tired to place Djehuty and Nebet Het in a Wiccan ritual. I think Set would be a little mad too. And I'm trying to get on His good side. Not piss Him off. Plus there are other reasons why it wouldn't work even when I form a better relationship with Set and try to place Set and Nebet Het in the rituals. I might get into that in a different blog. "Kemetic Couples and Why They Won't Work in Wiccan Rituals" I think that would actually be interesting. What about you guys?

Friday, February 10, 2012

C is for Cosmogony

This blog will be a bit easier this week. I decided to do a post on some of the Kemetic creation myths. There are different versions of the creation myth depending on the city and who the pharaoh was. Some of the more well known Kemetic creation myths are from Heliopolis, Memphis, Hermopolis, and Thebes.

[i]The System of Heliopolis[/i]
Atum(some say it was Ra) appeared from nun and with his hand took his seed into his mouth and then spit out Shu and Tefnut. Then from Shu and Tefnut came Geb and Nut.

Now I have read in a couple places that Nut and Geb made Ra and that Nut was supposedly "married" to Ra after She had Him but still loved Geb. That caused Ra to become angry and forbid Nut from having children during any day of the year. After hearing that Djehuty(some said it was Nut Herself) played draughts with the moon to win 70 seconds from each day to create 5 new days so Nut could give birth to Asar, Aset, Set, Nebet Het, and Heru Ur.

Then the story of Set murdering Asar takes place and Aset gives birth to Heru.

There are two different versions of the Ennead of Heliopolis:
Atum/Ra-Atum
Shu - Tefnut
Geb - Nut
Asar, Aset, Set, Nebet Het, Heru Ur

Other versions replace Heru Ur with Heru, sa Aset.

[i]The Gods of Memphis[/i]
Ptah - Creator and supreme lord
Nefertem - the Primeval Lotus
Sekhmet - the Terrible Lioness
Sokar - the God of the Dead

[i]The Gods of Hermopolis[/i]
There are actually several variations of the creation myth in Hermopolis. One version says that the four divine couples-Nun and Naunet, Amun and Amaunet, Huh and Hauhet, Kuk and Kauket(the Ogdoad of Hermopolis) that represented the basic negative characteristics of the primeval waters, came together to create the world but eventually died off. But from the duat they still make the world run.

Another version is that the "Great Cackler", the celestial goose, laid the Cosmic Egg that the world was hatched from.
A different version of this said the Cosmic Egg was laid by an ibis which lead people to believe Djehuty created the world since one of His forms is the ibis-headed God and He also had been connected to the Ogdoad(some myths said the Ogdoad were the offspring of either Amun, Shu, or Djehuty).

[i]The Gods of Thebes[/i]
Amun - "the Invisible One" - created by the spirits of Hermopolis and the sun God Ra at the same time
Mut - Amun's consort
Khonsu - the moon child of Amun and Mut

Source: Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt by R.T. Rundle Clark
Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction by Geraldine Pinch

Thursday, February 9, 2012

C is for Communication

Hey look! I'm all caught up! Well sort of. Computer issues have made it so I couldn't post on Friday.

Today's blog is about communication. Communication is important to everyone. Regardless of path. And also regardless of who you're communitcating with. The everyday person communicates in some way to everyone they interact with. Whether it be through actual speech or through their actions.

Communication through the Internet is a little harder though. You don't know what the persons' tone of voice is or see what their body language is. Wording can help try to get across what a person is saying. Also how you type can be taken into account of how you come across to others. But the underlying problem with all forms of communication is interpretation. A person can say one thing while the other person thinks they mean something completely different by it. I mostly deal with it online. Go figure. A lot of it will be that someone will say something and the other person will take it as an attack. I started a guild on Gaiaonline. I figured it might be a great place for people to get together and learn about Egyptian mythology and the modern religions that come from it. While I was setting it up I was completely forgetting about Tameran "Wicca" until I had a user submit a request saying that she was one. Knowing it would cause an arguement if I just let it go, I tried to lay down was is and isn't Wiccan in one thread and start a discussion on Tameran Witchcraft in another. The user took this as an attack on her religion, like I was saying it was completely bogus. In reality, I was trying to only point out that while its still a valid path, the name is inaccurate. I'll save the discussion on what is and isn't Wiccan for another time. This is about communication. Not Wicca.

Then you have communication in your path. Its still very, very, VERY important. And one has to remember that its a two way street. You have to listen and be open. But not too open to where you'll believe anything and everything. The phrase "If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything." comes to mind when I think about that (leading to me thinking about Sucker Punch and then House every time I say it like that). I actually have a bit of a somewhat perfect example. I had some stuff going on in my personal life. I would ask Djehuty and Nebet Het to help and guide me. One night, when I was talking to Djehuty and He told me to talk to Set. I didn't exactly listen. Then for a while after that I wouldn't hear from Nebet Het at all. I'm still working on patching things up with Her. So we'll see how that goes.

Senebty

Thursday, February 2, 2012

B is for Benu

Day 4 of playing catch up. I've decided to do this blog on the benu.

People have equated the benu to the Greek phoenix. They were both linked to the sun and rebirth, but those were the only things they had in common. In the Old Kingdom the benu symbolized the sun god Atum, but then in the Middle Kingdom it was called the Ba of Ra. Then in the New Kingdom, it became associated with the heron and ressurection leading to its association with Asar.

Sorry for it being so short guys. I might post a better one later on.

Source: Philae.nu

B is for Bast

Day 3 of playing catch up. I'm kinda doing these in alphabetical order. I had first had the idea to make this post about the benu bird, but then my other B blog post was going to obviously be Bast. Well Bast would come first in the alphabet so I guess this goddess will come first.

Bast, one of the number of feline deities in Egypt, has been around since at least the Second Dynasty. Most people know Her as being depicted as a house cat or being the goddess of domesticated cats. But that didn't come around until thousands of years after the Egyptians started worshipping Her. Her earlier depictions are that of a women with either a lion or desert cat head.

Because of the foreign influance during the New Kingdom, people started leaving off the "-t" at the end of words when they talked. So to try to stop that from happening scribes started adding an extra "-t" on the end of words. This is where the name Bastet comes from. It was the scribes trying to tell the people that its "Bast" and not "Bas".

Bast started out as a protector of the king and was one of the goddesses that held the title of "Eye of Ra". Later her image started softening and she became known as the protector of children and pregnant women and She became associated with Het Hert, Mut, and Aset. She also started becoming invoked to bestow fertility making Her even more associated with Het Hert. Because of Her close relationship with Her, Bast started picking up some of Het Hert's associations, such as music and art. Another one of Bast's associations was with perfume.

Now notice how I didn't say she was a lunar goddess? That's because that association came about after the Greeks came to Egypt and associated Bast with Artemis. When the Greeks started associating Egyptian deities with their own many of the deities it started giving the Egyptian deities relations that They didn't have before. As such, Bast became Aset's daughter and Heru's twin sister.

I think there was more I wanted to say. But system files got corrupted on my computer. Thats the reason I'm getting this after midnight. I'll post Day 4 of catch up between classes when I have my friend's laptop.

Source: Per Bast

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A is for Anpu

Day 2 of playing catchup. I decided my second A should be about the god Anpu. While I don't have a relationship with Him, yet (if it will ever happen), I figured I'd share some information about this wonderful god. Plus I talk to a women that has a direct interest in Him and another that had an interest in mummies. So I figured what's the harm in getting information that they might not have on Him.

Anpu, more commonly known as Anubis, is the guardian and protector of the dead. Before Asar started gaining popularity, Anpu had also been god of the underworld but then was limited to the embalming process and funeral rites. When the Ogdoad of Hermopolis and the Ennead of Heliopolis merged, Asar had more popularity and was stronger than Anpu which resulted in Asar being the king of the underworld. It was said however, for Anpu to save face that He willing stepped down when Asar died out of respect for the dead king. Some myths said that Anpu was the son of Asar and Nebet Het (who was also involved with funeral rites) so He was still associated with the Weighting of the Heart but as a guardian instead of a ruler.

Eventually, Anpu also became the patron of lost souls and funeral rites. In this aspect, He overlapped Wepwawet, who was another jackal god. After that, Anpu absorbed Wepwawet and people started seeing Them as one in the same.

Anpu had a few different sets of parents throughout the history of Egypt. The first was thought to be Ra and Hesat. Then later, some myths would say that Asar and Nebet Het, Set and Nebet Het, and even Asar and Aset. Some even said that Anpu was Bast's son because of her association with the perfumed used in the mummification process.
In the Seventeenth Nome of Upper Egypt, there was mention of a wife named Anput. She and Anpu were said to be the parents of Kebechet, goddess of purification.

Source: Kemet.org
Ancient Egypt Online

Monday, January 30, 2012

A is for Altar

So one of the women I talk to online shared a link to this blog project, called Pagan Blog Project 2012. Reading it over I figured why not. It'll give me ideas for blogs to post and make me a bit more active, seeing as I haven't posted anything in 2 months. Normally these are supposed to be posted on Friday, but I figured why not play catch up? I mean this is week 5. So why not use today through Thursday to post the blogs I would have posted if I had signed up for this when it started? Plus I'd feel a bit weird just jumping in at C or starting at A and not being able to finish the alphabet without it leaking into 2013.

So I'll begin with my altar. Not a very exciting one. I'll try to have a better one for you tomorrow. I had some personal things go down between me picking the topic and me ending up changing it. I was going to do a blog on the afterlife, how the ancients viewed it and how I personally view it. But that'll be a blog for another day.
Since I'm having issues with getting pictures off of my iPod and onto my computer and I have no pictures of my altar since I moved it, you'll have to use your imagination as I describe it to you. So to start off my altar is set up on my book case. I thought it was a bit fitting since Djehuty is one of the gods I have a relationship with. Nebet Het didn't seem to mind either. I think She was actually kind of glad that I was able to make some space to move my altar so it wasn't so cramped.
Starting from the back I have the glass bottle that I use to offer drinks sitting in the middle. Then on my right is my Djehuty statue. When the flash drive I dedicated and offered to Djehuty isn't in my computer or I'm taking it to school it sits on the base of the statue at His feet. On my left of the bottle is the decorative candle holder that I offered to Nebet Het to represent Her. Its purple wax cylinder with a bit of flower patterns around it. Its hollow inside with metal along the base so a person could set a tea light candle inside without it melting the outside of it. Since I can't burn candles in the house, my mom doesn't trust me with them for some reason, I use battery candles. I haven't gotten any complaints yet so I'm taking that as a good sign that They don't mind me using them. In the back corners I placed pine cones that I picked up one day when my mom, sister, and I were out for a walk. I feel it kind of connects it to where I live.
All the way to my left in the front is a set of gold silverware to use when I finally get my hands on a dish that's suitable for food offerings. Next to the silverware, in front of Nebet Het's candle, are the gold bracelets that I offered to Her. Well more like I found them when I was going through some of my stuff and She told me She wanted them. Usually what's next to the bracelets is my Egyptian mythology book, but right now its with me since I was going to read a bit. Then on top the book, would be my gold ankh and the silver ibis necklace I offered to Djehuty. Next to the book rests a black beaded necklace that has a black and silver heart. I wear that necklace when I'm going somewhere that isn't school. When I go to school, I wear the ibis necklace. Next to that necklace is a pen and pencil that I offered to Djehuty and haven't needed for school yet. The ones I offered and are using stay with my school stuff.

And that's all that I have on my altar so far. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a more exciting blog for you guys.
Senebty