I am sick and migraining, and have been sick all week, so I cannot sit in open shrine or do Senut. However, it’s the first of the month, and as suggested, I will write a prayer to my Akhu and my Parents, my Mothers.

dear akhu:

Come in and share my bread;
come in and share my tea and water.
I give thanks for my roots-who-are-people
and offer you all good and pure things
a thousand times over and again.
May this month see us
begin a lovely, respectful relationship.
Known and unknown, old or ancient,
you are welcome in my home.
Blessed dead, I honor you.

to my Mothers:

Thank You for bearing me
before I knew I was born.
Thank You for helping me sleep
and for helping me dream.
May this month see us
become closer and fonder,
as I learn more about You
and spend more time in Your presence.
I wish to sit with You
and listen, and feel.
You have my love
and forever my gratitude.

From Reading Egyptian Art by Wilkinson, around p. 201:

In the Late Period, the tyet was associated with the goddesses Nut, Hethert and Nebthet.

HELLO ALL MY MOTHERS

… which is apparently the primary resource on Hethert-Nut. So I’ve ordered a book by Erik Hornung which should have a solid chunk of information about it.

For now, I get, from here (which I do not claim to be correct; I am doing preliminary research here):

“It is my mother the Great Wild Cow, long of plumes, bright of head-cloth, pendulous of breasts, who has lifted me up to the sky, not having left me on Earth, among the gods who have power.”

Part 3 : The Heavenly Cow:

This spell is to be recited over the (picture of) a cow, with “the Infinite Ones who are” (inscribed) on her chest, and over whose back is (inscribed) “the Infinite Ones who are”. Whose four hoofs are filled out in paint and upon whose belly are nine stars, issuing from its hindquarters in front of its hind legs, while beneath its belly stands Shu, painted in yellow ocher, his arms support these stars, and inscribed with his name between them, which says “Shu is himself”.

A barque, on which are a steering-oar and a shrine with a Solar disk over it and Re in it, is in front of Shu, close to his hand, while another version (of a barque) is behind him, close to his (other) hand. Her two udders are placed in the middle of her left leg, one half of them being drawn in paint in the middle of this hind leg with the following words outside in retrograde : “I am who I am. I will not let them take action.” What is (written) beneath the barque that is in front is : “You shall not grow weary, my son.” – in retrograde, and as follows : “Your condition is like that of one who lives forever.” and as follows : “Your son is in me. Life, prosperity and health be for your nose!”

What is (written) behind Shu, close to his arm, is as follows: “Guard them !” What is behind him at his flank is (written) in retrograde as follows : “It is right that they should enter when I retire each day.” What is (written) under the arm of the figure below the left hind leg and behind it is as follows : “Everything is sealed.” What is (written) above his head, below the hindquarters of the cow and what is between its hind legs is as follows: “May he come out.” What is (written) behind the two figures that are between its hind legs and above their heads: “The aged one is in the realm of the dead. Praise is given to him when he enters.” What is (written) over the heads of the two figures that are between its forelegs: “He who procreates, he who adores, support of the sky.”

Third Spell: Hymn to Nut

A magician, his head being purified, should make a female figure, standing to his South, and draw a goddess upon her, and in the middle of her, a snake standing erect upon its tail, with her hand upon its body and its tail upon the ground.

(He should say):
“O You, to whom Thoth gives praise, while the dignity of heaven is upon You and toward whom Shu extends his arms, may You save me from those two great and mighty gods who dwell in the East of the sky, who guard heaven, who guard Earth, and who are with enduring mysteries.”

Then they must say:
“How great he is when he goes forth to see Nun!”

Unrelated to Hethert-Nut, but of interest to me, Ra speaking to Geb:

“Take heed of your snakes which are in You! Behold, they feared me as long as I was there, but You know their magical power. Go then to the place where my father Nun is and tell him to keep watch over terrestrial and aquatic snakes. You are to write down each mound belonging to the snakes there, saying: ‘Beware of spoiling anything!’ They should know that I am here, for I am shining for them too. Now as for their habitation, it will exist in this land forever.”

edit to add:

Oh oh, actual translations here!

Just about everyone seems to have dry spells, periods where they have trouble being as immersed in their spirituality as they’d like. Whether it comes about from major life changes, a hectic day-to-day routine, a bout of depression or anxiety or other emotional crash, or just entirely randomly, I’ve heard so many people refer to it happening that I can’t say I feel alone when it hits me.

I lit a candle for Nebt-het today and poured Her Her favorite-so-far drink, and I sat before my shrine and played guitar for Her. I wanted– really, intensely wanted– to feel Her presence as I had before, a tall slender woman in violet-grey with long, cool fingers.

But my head was cloudy, and while I felt strangely certain She was around, I couldn’t for the life of me actually pick up on Her presence with my senses as I normally could. It was hard for me to focus, though I tried.

Instead, I wrote in my prayerbook and prayed over it, sending my words and hopes to Netjer on behalf of other people.

And I want to find other ways I can serve– serve Her, my Mother, serve Netjer, uphold ma’at. I will donate money to causes where I can, I will spread the word when I can, but that feels like the very least I can do, not something that’s really done out of service to Netjer. I want to think about what else I can do, in terms of a short-notice not-formal-volunteering thing. Putting in time at the local shelter or soup kitchen is a wonderful thing, but not something that can be done spontaneously at 11h30 at night, you know?

Is posting on the forums and welcoming my siblings in Kemetic Orthodoxy a service to Netjer? Is praying for the sick, the injured, the passed a service in my Mother’s name, She who is guide to the newly dead and comfort to those grieving? Does it really matter and have an impact when I do these tiny, intangible things? Am I really making the world better, even in the smallest possible way, or am I taking a token action only to make myself feel like I am?

I don’t know the answer. I might never know. But I want to find concretely Good Things to do when I feel the need to offer some part of my time and energy to the world in gratitude for being alive in it.

Oh oh oh. Oh, my friends. November 21st shall forevermore be a day of celebration.

Yesterday, I was divined a child of Nebthet-Nit-Seshat and Hethert-Nut, and a beloved of Ma’ahes and Serqet. Nekhtet!

(An explanation of the divination for those unfamiliar can be found here!)

I’m not sure if I can write about this coherently, but I’m going to try very hard. :) The opening message from my Akhu, my ancestors, was an overwhelmingly positive one, all blessings, all encouragement that I’m doing well, all reassurances that I can do and have what I work hard to achieve. I am so very grateful for that, and I will buy them flowers in thanks, and I will start work on the little Akhu shrine that I planned out over the weekend. I hope to pick up a shelf tonight for that very thing.

I am immeasurably delighted and surprised by my Mothers. I mean, yes, I’ve had some very pleasant interactions with Nebt-het before, and I had been intrigued by Nit (a very old hunter-goddess with associations with the primordial waters of the Nun) and Seshat (librarian goddess!), but for Her (yes, singular, as They are One) to be my Mother… I am awed. (And of course, Djeri and my sister were all “I never would have guessed but it makes perfect sense!” when they found out. XD)

Hethert-Nut is Hethert as the night sky. She came outta nowhere; She’s the only one I had never had relations with before yesterday. However, while in a teaching chat with Hemet (the leader and founder of Kemetic Orthodoxy) a while ago, Her name came up and immediately had a color association with it– this rich, deep, beautiful royal purple, like silks. It’s not exactly common for me to get a color-vibe before even encountering a Netjeru, so I asked about Her, intrigued, and was given a little more information, but that was all until yesterday, when She was pronounced my Mother along with Nebthet-Nit-Seshat. And I was just… instantly enveleoped in Her color, and it was joyful and smiling and felt like a hug from a warm spring night with fireflies and stars and night-blooming flowers. ♥

Ma’ahes… oh, Ma’ahes. I have become very close with Him over these past couple months, and I regret that I haven’t written more about Him on here, but I will make a separate post that explains our short but rich history soon. He is a male Eye of Ra, a lion-god, colored like the sun and usually seen as a warrior and/or executioner of enemies. I see Him as human-animal, with a lion’s head and tail, paw-like hands and feet, and a muscular man’s body. Sometimes He has tawny-golden fur, but more often, I see His skin like magma, blaze-orange shining past patches of blackened char; to me, He is the setting sun, the transition between the golden glory of day and the encompassing darkness of night. I was so hopeful that He would show up in my divination, and so happy, so relieved, when He did. To me, He is also a god of storms, and it was thundering all yesterday evening, a soothing and grounding background to the RPD itself and my bubbling-over excitement.

And Serqet! Serqet, the Netjeru I have written about most in here, for all my work with Her in prayers to help me heal from poisons and guard me against new ones. Until recently, when I felt Her presence– to accept the offerings a few weeks ago, to choose the colors for Her painting, and all of yesterday, when I wasn’t wearing my scorpion necklace, yet felt Her dull-amber energy drape around me like the collar of a cloak, like an embrace, and She felt happy– I would not have guessed She would show up. My sister and my partner both placed their bets on Her being here, and well, they win. :D I am grateful and happy that She is here.

I will stop here, and leave essence o’ joy scattered in my wake, and come back as soon as I can to write a little bit more, especially about Ma’ahes, as I have been amiss in talking about Him.

So very happy and so very grateful, to my gods, to my community, to my Akhu, to Hemet. Nekhtet!

I said I would, and so I did: I got a shelf, got frames that suited my mom’s mom and dad’s dad, found pictures that fit, and put it all together. The flowers you see were picked from my own yard (and I apologized profusely as I snipped them). The bird is symbolic of bau, which were often shown as human-headed birds, and Akhu, who are often compared to stars in the night sky. The only thing missing is my grama’s doodle of my dog, which will go under her photo when I find it.

Hail Akhu, known and unknown, who shine as stars upon us; from you have I come. May the shrine, the flowers, and the water please you. Thank you for being a light around me, even when my eyes are closed.

So, a while ago, I did a painting for Ma’ahes. It is extremely colorful. And yes, I am silver with a blue mohawk. What.

The story is thus: One of the first times I met Him at sunset, I invited Him in by… um… essentially turning my local (inner and energetic) space to ocean and stormy skies. In response, He met me with vivid orange sand, a setting sun, and a bright sky. While I was painting this, I was trying to encapsulate that first meeting of two very different people and our respective worlds. It was Ma’ahes’ idea to have us both with one foot in each side. :)

And then tonight! Tonight I painted a scorpion, and it actually looks like a scorpion! (I had a childhood where no one knew what I was drawing, so being able to create something recognizable is amazing to me. To be fair, most of my drawings were my own inventions, but I got tired of the endless conversations that went like this: “Is it… a dog?” “No.” “A horse?” “No.” “A… dragon?” “Closer.” “What is it?” “It’s a [name of species I had invented].” “…oh. What’s that?” “It’s this.” *points at sketch*)

This is, as you may have guessed, in honor of Serqet. She chose the color of the scorpion and the pale yellow aura surrounding it, as well as the striking background; I was surprised and pleased when the colors went together as well as they did.

Dua Ma’ahes! Dua Serqet!

On both Kemetic Orthodoxy and KIN forums, there are places for people to request prayers. Until now, I have avoided those forums, being far too susceptible to news of others’ pain and misfortune. I would love to lend a voice, but keeping a strong and positive spirit while praying for terrible things is frequently beyond my capacity, let alone doing that for several different things in a row.

However, I figured out a way that I can give my prayers to those who need them without dropping myself into a state of reflection upon all the terrible things in the world. I bought a blank book, wrote on the inside cover a book blessing and caveats for safety (such as “for the highest good for all concerned” and “with harm to none”), and wrote the dates, names, and prayers inside for those who had posted recently.

The key, however, is that I haven’t written anything in English. It’s all in Kalash, a conalph of mine (visual example). I can write fluently in Kalash, but I can’t read it just by skimming like I can English, so I can write something down without being distracted and weighed down by all the prayers I’d written previously.

Thus, I can pray for those prayers written within to be heard and answered, focus on the book as a whole, and stay steady and positive.

It’s a similar to the idea of a sigil or other symbol, created to represent a goal/desire in other forms of magic (chaos magic, I’m lookin’ at you) – you create the sigil in full consciousness, then focus on just the sigil, so that your subconscious mind gets the work done and your intellect doesn’t get in the way. That’s an oversimplified explanation, but you get the idea. So, rather than my intellect lingering on sadness, I can funnel positive energy into the book itself and give the prayers within a boost.

I’ve filled two pages so far. It feels good to be doing this.

I have been praying to Serqet for protection against poison, and healing from old poisons, since we got to Texas and I made this necklace as a focal point/talisman. I have never felt Her presence, but I have continued to thank Her for Her help. I’ve had a handful of not-so-random dreams with Her touch on them, so I don’t feel like I’m praying into silence.

Last night, a situation was defused that had the potential to be particularly venomous. (That’d be why you saw my thank-you prayer yesterday.) Because of the enormity of what could have been and wasn’t, I wanted to give Her offerings– and, for the first time, I felt Her choose what She wanted among the options I laid out.

I lit a candle and incense at shrine, knelt, and presented the drink and food that She wanted. I thanked Her again and again. And, to my surprise, I felt Her presence as She consumed the offerings, and when She was done, I reverted them gratefully.

I tend to have strong color associations with Netjeru, to the point where the color I’m picking up indicates Who’s around, to the point where I can distinguish even similar shades, like Wesret-orange and Ma’ahes-orange. I would have expect Serqet to be the yellow of the deathstalker scorpion, but She wasn’t– Hers was more of an old, dusty amber color. It’s the first time I’ve gotten enough of a sense of Her to perceive any color at all, and I’m honored that She stepped in and accepted Her offerings.

Dua Serqet for all Her help, past, present, and future.

Image source: Flickr.

Dua Serqet!
She who stings the unjust
and who heals the unjustly stung,
She who upholds ma’at
with Her venom and Her protection.

Dua Serqet
that I and mine were spared the poison,
that the inevitable blow was as gentle as could be,
that our bated breath may be released
as a sigh and not a shudder.

Dua Serqet
that my tears are of relief
and not further pain,
that we may come together
instead of come apart.

Dua Serqet!

I will make the Nile swell for you,
without there being a year of lack and exhaustion in the whole land,
so the plants will flourish, bending under their fruit.
The land of Egypt is beginning to stir again,
the shores are shining wonderfully,
and wealth and well-being dwell with them,
as it had been before.

[source]

Day of Renenutet and Nit

From the Pyramid Texts, Utterance 340:

“I have come to You, Old One; may You turn back to me as the east wind is turned back behind the west wind; may You come to me as the north wind comes after the south wind.”

I performed the ritual of senut today. (Non-Kemetic people: It’s the main formal-personal ritual of the religion, involves purifying oneself, making offerings, and spending time in the presence of Netjer/God/specific deities.)

In the middle of it, when I had settled cross-legged in front of my altar and started to zen out, Deathcat climbed into my lap. Purring audibly and intermittently, she curled up, groomed herself, and went to sleep.

Obeying the almighty rule of The Cat Bed Does Not Move, I stayed in ritual about twice as long as I would’ve otherwise, until she woke up and decided that me slowly moving my leg was enough impetus to abandon lap.

♥