Di Nofret Wep Ronpet! Happy Kemetic New Year!

Depending on which day you celebrate the Helical Rising of Sirius – it is what we Kemetics note as Wep Ronpet, or our New Year.  Admittedly, I have waited a couple of days to write this, not because I needed to recover from a wild bout of celebrations but to contemplate what I want this new year to be.

Each of our years has a god of the year. For us, this god or Name of Netjer is Nefertem or Nefertum. Nefertum’s Name literally means The Perfected One.  After the trials and tribulations that we have been through in the last several years, we could use some of what Nefertum stands for in our lives!  Perhaps the idea of Nefertum being the ‘Perfected One’ is because of His parentage. He is born of Sekhmet and Ptah.  He represents the first sunlight or the First Time and is depicted of having risen from the lotus flower or blue water lily known as Nymphaea caerulea. This particular flower also referred to as seshen, was central to ancient Egyptian beliefs and held great cultural significance. The scent of a true lotus flower is said to be rejuvenating and restorative to the senses and sexuality. Sometimes Nefertum is shown in leonine form.

One myth involving Nefertum is that when the Great God Ra was growing older, it was Nefertum who would bring him a lotus flower to cheer Him and to ease His suffering.  Because of His connection to the Goddess Bast, Who is sometimes depicted as His mother, Nevertum is often referred to as the God of Perfume. As the Son of Sekhmet, Nefertum is considered a god of healing, and as the Son of Ptah, who is one of the Creator deities, He is connected to each new day.

May Nefertum help us to see the beauty of each day. Dua Nefertum! Di nofret wep ronpet! Nekhtet!

 

 

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The Fifth Epagomenal Day of Wep Ronpet: Nebt-Het’s Day

We have now come to the last of the Epigomenal Days of Wep Ronpet and the celebration of the birth of the youngest child born of Nut and Geb – Nebt-Het or Nephthys . Her Name literally means ‘Lady of the House’, and She, like Her sister, Aset, is a Lady of Great Magic. Since about the Fifth Dynasty, Nebt-Het was called the Helpful Lady or Most Excellent Goddess. In some cosmologies, Nebtj-Het was paired with Set, while in others She was the wife of Yinepu (Anpu)  or Anubis. Nebt-Het and Aset are perhaps best known for proceeding over funerary rite, such as when Wasir (Osiris) died and became the Lord of the Field of Reeds.. Because of this association, this Goddess is known to be of particular comfort to the deceased and those who survive them.

Let us celebrate Great Nebt-Het on this Her Birthday! Dua Nebt-Het! Nekhtet!

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The Fourth Epigomenal Day of Wep Ronpet: Aset’s Day

Today marks the day that we celebrate the birth of the Goddess Aset (Isis, Ast, or Iset). Of all the Egyptian gods and goddesses, Aset, the Mistress of Magic, or She of the 10,000  Names, is probably the best known throughout the world. Although Her worship began in ancient Egypt, it spread throughout the Greek and Roman world and traveled throughout the empire. Aspects of Aset’s worship can be seen even in Christianity.

May the magic and protection of Aset be with us on this Her birthday. Dua Aset! Nekhtet!

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The Third Epigomenal Day of Wep Ronpet: Set’s Day

We have now entered the third Epigomenal Day of the Kemetic calendar leading up to Wep Ronpet, or Egyptian New Year. Also known as Seth or Sutekh, Set is the god of Storms and of the Red Lands or desert regions of Egypt.

Set is often erroneously confused with the Christian ‘Devil’ and the Greek god, Typhon. Both of these notions sell Him quite short in terms of His importance to the continuation of the protection and security of Kemet and its kingship.

Make no mistake, Set is one of the most powerful of the Netjeru; in fact, He is credited with being the only Name of Netjer strong enough to stand in the prow of the Barque of Ra and slay the Uncreated One with His spear so that Ra may continue to rise and Creation can continue.  Some Kemetics, like myself, will pause seeing the red in a sunrise, appearing like blood upon the watery Nun and thank him for slaying the Apep serpent.

May Set ever lend us His strength and protection in the coming year! Dua Set! Nekhtet!

 

 

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The Second of the Epagomenal Days of Wep Ronpet: Heru-Wer

Today marks the Second Epagomenal Day in the Kemetic Calendar, the birthday of the Egyptian deity known as Heru-Wer,, Horus the Elder or Horus the Great. (Not to be confused with Heru Sa Aset, otherwise known as Horus the son of Isis, or Horus the younger.)

There are several different Herus or Horuses, because the Egyptian word for ‘falcon’ is literally Hrw. The Ptolemaic Greeks later transformed His name into Haroeris, which later evolved into the current name of Horus, whenever they see a falcon-headed god.  Suffice it to say there are many, many falcon gods in Kemetic belief; however, we celebrate the birthday of Heru-Wer every year at this time.

So without further ado, we say, Dua Heru-Wer (Horus the Elder) on this His Birthday!

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First of the Epagomenal Days of Wep Ronpet: Wasir’s Day

We are now entering Wep Ronpet (Kemetic New Year) celebrations with the first of the epagomenal days. Today marks the first day leading up to what we Kemetics call Wep Ronpet or the Ancient Egyptian New Year. This is the day, according to the Egyptian faith, that is the birthday of the first of the Netjeru, Wasir, or Osiris.

What is Wep Ronpet?

It’s the time of the year we often refer to as the Epagomenal or Non-Days, when the people anxiously await each god to be born of Nut. There are five days altogether that mark the helical rising of Sirius, which is referred to as Sopdet in Egyptian.

Osiris, who is mostly known as the Lord of the Dead,  is also believed to have lived among mankind. After Wasir is killed by His Brother, Set, He descended into the Underworld.  When we pass from this realm of existence into the Duat, the Field of Reeds, Aaru, otherwise known as the Underworld, we hope that we will be reunited with Wasir and our akhu or ancestors in the Beautiful West.

In the meantime, during this path we tread in order to get to Wep Ronpet, we offer grateful praise on this day that belongs to Him!

Dua Wasir! Nekhtet!!

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Renovations and Record High Temps

This is the kind of post that I would normally put on RealWorldHomesteading.com, but I decided to crosspost it here.

2023 has turned out to be one of the hottest and driest here in Eastern Iowa. In what we refer to as The Enchanted Forest, everything looks healthy, but I can tell by what’s going on in my garden that this year has not been normal. Admittedly, I was late getting my garden in this year, and things are more slow and steady as a result.

Before the latest heat wave that took us into the 90s, this past week, I moved a 10-foot-tall cabinet in my garage from one corner to the other corner diagonal to it so we could install an extension to our garage entry door stoop. Demolition of the cabinet took me a couple of days, and I had to label each piece and its position so it could be reassembled later.

Once the cabinet and its frame were out of there, with the help of our friend Mark, we built the extension. It really is all about having the right materials and tools; we were able to do that portion of the renovation in about two hours. The results so far have been amazing.

I think we are going to lie low for the next few days. The temperatures are set to go even higher, and there will be humidity to boot. The next project will be to tile the kitchen table in Mexican Talavera tile. We already did that to our counters, and really love the feel of the tile. It was altogether fun to do.

In the spring, we stripped off the Formica on our kitchen countertops and replaced them with Mexican Talavera tile. Admittedly, I had bought a huge box of Mexican Talavera Tile from Direct From Mexico via Amazon during the winter months and I can tell you, my spouse and I were chomping at the bit to get started on it!

Initially, I had wanted to do wood countertops, using some beautiful old 12″ wide boards that were 15 feet long and came out of an old hardware store built in the 1860s. The patina on those boards is absolutely beautiful; there is no doubt about that!  Unfortunately, however, after doing a whole lot of research, I found that wood countertops are not easy to execute, nor are they easy to keep clean, sanitary, or in shape because of their constant exposure to the rigors of kitchen use. It would have been a whole lot of work, so when I saw the Talavera tile on offer, I knew that was the way to go. Needless to say, my spouse enthusiastically agreed.

We had stripped off Formica before in our two bathrooms so we could tile those as well.  That process was much easier because the glue on those counters was not nearly as heavy.  For the kitchen counter, we needed not only a hammer and a chisel but also a heat gun to soften up the glue beneath the Formica.  The kitchen counters took a couple of days to strip off entirely.

After the Formica was gone, the counter was sanded, and we added a sealant to the top we spent DAYS  belaboring  potential tile arrangements.  After we decided on a pattern, we applied the thin-set mortar and carefully arranged the tiles according to the reference numbers we taped on each one.

The first section was the small two-foot-wide cabinet on the right side of the stove and against the wall. It was a way to test the strength of the countertop under the weight of the tile, grout, and the bullnose tile that served as the outer edge of the counters.  We were pleasantly surprised at how well it looked. There was no buckling, and it had an energy to it that almost begged to be fondled!

The next two phases were a little trickier. One was a length of counter space that ran from the refrigerator to one corner along the west wall. It was wider than the short piece by the stove and the length along the north wall to and around the sink. We pretty much had it mapped out as to what tiles were going to go where. The blue bullnose tile that serves as the edging around the countertop was a given, as was the single row of assorted tiles that served as a backsplash. How to finish the back edge we hadn’t figured out yet.

In the end, we went with a rounded 2″ x 4″ tile and put them in place. It still didn’t look quite right until we found some color-matched caulk and ran it along the upper edge of the backsplash and edging.

It looked so gorgeous; it was almost excruciating to have to wait to start using the kitchen as a kitchen again!  We had been relying on takeout sushi, burgers, and whatever we could put in the microwave or air fryer for our meals. Thankfully, we have a second sink in the basement that serves as the apothecary, which we can wash dishes in.

Once it was completely set and dry, we were able to move the regular fixtures in the kitchen back in place. We now had so much more work space because we really just did not want to clutter up our new counter! Anytime there is a spill or even a water spot, there is an intense desire to wipe it down immediately so you can see all that beauty. Admittedly, the solid tiles, especially the cobalt blue, show spots the most. The patterned tiles are less likely to show them.

The Table / Kitchen Island

About 10 years ago, I purchased a counter-height table for our kitchen for around $100. Even then, that was definitely a steal. It was made of blonde wood and had a pull-out leaf on either side. I did it for a few reasons. When making bread or prepping meals, nothing beats having a surface that is the same height as a kitchen counter rather than having to lean over a conventional height kitchen table. Trust me, the latter can be a real killer for your back. One of the other reasons is that we have had a series of dogs, some of which are rambunxious enough to have climbed on past tables that were of traditional height. I really was not fond of having to order our canine family members to get off the table! The counter height table, along with no chairs around it, seemed to have solved that issue.

Above is an initial layout pattern and by no means final. We still have to attach a sheet of concrete backer board to protect it from moisture and to better adhere the tile. That will add a bit of weight, but it is steel-reinforced underneath, so I think it can take it.

We don’t have AC or central air in our house, so we are just waiting on the current heat wave to break so we can start up working on it again.

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New Host, Renewed Blogging

Thanks to the help of my dear friend and web developer, Shayne at CatchThis! I have moved my blog from WordPress dot com to a new place on the interwebs that lets me avoid the dreaded block editor that they have inflicted on everyone. If you don’t want to do the same, you can, of course, go back to the Classic editor that we all know and love for just $321 per year.

Not being one of the wealthy “business” bloggers out there who have successfully monetized all of their content, I decided to spend a little bit less, get the classic editor back, and regain my sense of sanity.

I used the block editor with a local metaphysical store that I was blogging for when they were hosted on Wix. Needless to say, I hated it, and it gave me fits.  The good part is that Shayne also helped the metaphysical shop and my own business website,  and no one has to deal with crappy, dumbed-down website editors anymore. It has been a win all the way around.

I had several reasons for dusting off this blog. One of those reasons is that I am going to be publishing a book that a certain metaphysical publisher had expressed initial interest in, but they have been sitting on the chapters and proposal for more than a year now. In all honesty,  I just don’t have the time to play the publisher’s waiting game.  I have published enough stuff on my own for clients for the past ten years that I am going to give it a go without being strung along.  Many have done it before me. I am not so vain as to think I need an advance and a big publisher behind me. The world has changed quite a bit over the last few years.

As with anything, I am still working the kinks out and tweaking the site for the best performance.  Would you believe that I have had to delete 70+ spam comments from my ‘About’ section already? Thankfully I manually moderate all comments, but that much spam in 24 hours seems a bit over the top.

There will be more coming as I get back on the blogging horse once again.

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Imbolc Thoughts On Wandering

Part of the Sekhmet mythos is that she is known as a Wandering Goddess. After her near-complete destruction of mankind, Sekhmet decided to wander away from Kemet, particularly her home in Heliopolis, her father, wanted to entice her to come home and so he sent Djehuty (Thoth) to bring her back. When she did return home, there was much rejoicing.  Welcome Beautiful One! Welcome in Peace!

Interestingly, this particular mythos coincides with the time of year when days become shorter and when they go back toward becoming longer.  Here in the Wapsipinicon River Valley, it coincides almost perfectly to the day with the time that the vultures leave our skies to when they return once more in the early spring.  I always found it interesting that Mut, who is sometimes represented as a lioness and sometimes as a vulture, has close ties with Sekhmet.  No matter what place or what rhythms of the year we find ourselves, it is interesting that there are beliefs, myths, festivals and traditions that link closely to those events.

Over the years, I have come to identify with that particular myth because my occult life was a bit like wandering.  Not knowing exactly where I belonged, but when I was old enough, experienced enough, and mature enough to see who I was and what my core beliefs were, the wandering ceases and at last, I felt that I could come “home”.  It began as a very young girl, feeling a deep affinity to the Virgin Mary. Even to my child’s mind, of course, she was worthy of veneration and worship! Was she not the mother that brought the Divine into the world?

I was also raised with an awareness of Indigenous beliefs. There was the Spider Woman who wove the world, the White Buffalo Calf Woman, and so many other stories that underscored the role of the feminine in All that Is and yet did not deny the masculine either. According to the beliefs of my father’s people, the Crow and the Cherokee, a balance was and is important. Later as I became a teenager, I saw this feminine aspect of Creation as Aset and the male as Wasir – or something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on.  Even when I became a Wiccan dedicant, I always viewed the Mother as Aset or Hathor, or a combination of both and the Father was somewhere between Tankashila and Amun, the Hidden One.  Diversity of belief is a beautiful thing – until someone with an axe to grind or a point to try and “prove” tries to force you into their way of thinking while vilifying any kind of understanding you have that isn’t identical to theirs.  Others, as I have experienced, would have you disavow any skills or magical abilities that you developed, sometimes over years of time, if it doesn’t fall into rigid beliefs. 

Let me say, speaking from experience – never do that. If anyone says or actually infers that you should – tell them to go straight to hell, then leave and never look back.

Eventually, I found my way to an actual Kemetic Temple. It had been my goal – or so I believed. It has been a wonderful experience for the most part. Even after being ordained as a Priestess of Sekhmet in 1998,and I met the most amazing people and had experiences that I would not have had otherwise.  After giving several years of service to the organization, as with anything, it and life changes. I found myself returning to school, dealing with and recovering from breast cancer.  The temple that I knew and loved went from the place I could drive to on an afternoon to one where it was in a large metropolitan area on the West Coast. Going to gatherings, particularly during a global pandemic, has become less viable; at least for me.

Though not connected to the temple, I moderate several Egyptian / Kemetic groups on social media. Some I created. Others got pretty much dumped in my lap. Given the volatility in our overall civilization, with more attention rightfully being cast on issues of race, ancestry, and everything else in between, they aren’t feeling much like “home” either lately.   Currently, I am in the process of backing away from those Kemetic groups that got foisted on me and keeping only a few.  I have a few reasons for this.  My path has changed to where my focus is mainly on my herbal work and magic. I also have found that I have other Sekhmet siblings that are doing deeper, more intense work with Her that is worthy of note. Namely, my friend, Aubs, who writes Mystical Bewilderment. Aubs has shown the level of detail and dedication that I wish I had done a long time ago. If you have not checked out her blog, I strongly encourage you to do so.

Finding and Coming Home

Of course, my life will always be tied to Sekhmet in some way.   That much will never change.  However, I have also learned that we live on land that once belonged to the Oceti Sakowin Oyate – the People of the Seven Council Fires, otherwise known as the Great Sioux Nation. There are people buried here, and I am told they likely wintered here, particularly by the creek which cuts through the center of a limestone canyon on the property.  In deference to those who were here long before we landed here, every day I go outside and offer a prayer:

Good morning beautiful land, good morning beautiful land spirits and ancestors that have gone before. Thank you for allowing me/us to be here. I am grateful.

It’s been very interesting that ever since I made that a habit I have found the land and the wildlife that we share it with – eagles, owls, deer, coyotes, raccoons, possums, badgers, birds, the trees – all of them seem to respond. I believe that they, like any other living being, seem to sense when they are respected and valued. Working with the genius loci has been a revelation and a relief. There is direct communication going on here that cannot be found in musty tomes or within the notes or scribblings of another.

That sort of thing isn’t found on social media, in discussion groups, or at the gatherings of a congregation or formal group. The insights come directly without formal ritual or the seeking of permission via a hierarchy. It’s something much deeper.  It can sometimes force you to remember experiences that happened perhaps decades earlier which caused you to be in the place where you find you’re standing at a precise moment. Those kinds of realizations may serve the purpose of making us realize just how connected we all are; of how what we do affects everything else. As far as I am concerned, this land IS my home. I love it like no other place on the entire planet. No matter what organizations I choose to be a part of or ally myself with, nothing will ever change that.

 

 

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Changes in the New Year

2020 was a hell of a year for a lot of reasons.  In addition to the things that most of us are dealing with in terms of the pandemic, employment, etc., I was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, which essentially can be translated as non-invasive breast cancer.  Because of genetic realities, I decided on a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction.  While it was no picnic, I will say that there was no invasive component and I am now cancer-free. Such things take several months to work through and so the long absence has been focused on getting over that as well as putting together other ways to keep myself healthy and busy.  I have manged to get quite a few things accomplished in spite of having weeks of restrictions on how high I could raise my arms, how much weight I could lift, and other things that we so often take for granted.

As a colossal close to the year and just before Christmas, my agency let me know that my writing tasks as I knew them would be changing. I would no longer be writing what we call ITNs or In the News articles, but I would continue on the herb and tea articles since I am a bit of an expert. That news suited me fine, in all honesty. I have written here before about writing things for clients about topics that I didn’t know or care about or from points of view that were completely opposite my own. On one hand, such exercises hone your skills as a writer. On the other hand, they help you to understand other points of view for a number of things, even if some of what I was asked to write was a bit silly or even disagreeable at times. I do know that that time spent has let me keep a very close eye on current events that we all have been pretty much forced to pay attention to as of late.

Now that I have less work to do for others I can focus on the things that matter to me.  This has freed me up for my herbal business and teaching at the local metaphysical store. Alchemia Magic has become a reality. I got my ISN for my business, changed the name of the business officially with the state. Since all of those things, it’s like the floodgates have opened up. I can barely keep up on orders for some herbs like mugwort, lavender, red and pink rose buds and petals, and my Lucid Dreaming Formula loose herb tea.

The Sekhmet book is off to the publishers as of October.   I have been told by my editor, that no news is good news. I don’t want to jinx it, so I won’t say too much more about that.

In the next few weeks, we will be trying to figure out how to teach classes online via Zoom so that anyone anywhere in the world can attend at the time that they want and we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Class materials can be sent out via email and lesson lectures could be recorded and uploaded to an access area.

I am still learning the ropes, of course, but finally I will be able to do the things I have been setting up to be able to do for my whole life. Over the years I have been obtaining the skillsets, the equipment, and the experiences to move toward my goals. I have to be honest, it feels good to finally see some things go in the right direction.

So with that in mind, I am going to be narrowing down the active blogs and be doing more of that on this space.  So I will have Alchemia Magic and this blog that will be updating regularly.  Alchemia will be my company webpage which while I work out the kinks on how to do things like shopping carts, online classes, etc. that will take a bit more time. This blog will have more Sekhmet-centric posts, but as my own practices are evolving, it will probably be a little less Kemetic oriented.

 

 

 

 

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