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.")

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

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?

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

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

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

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