Egypt

Community Announcement

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Hey all,

Several years ago I ventured out into the pagan community searching for fellow Kemetic practitioners or re-constructionists.

Luckily, I found a few scattered around the UK and further afield, though depressingly searching for a larger pool I thought there could be groups or organisations that might offer a better chance. Unfortunately apart from some short lived groups (perhaps failing because of the low Kemetic population) there doesn’t appear to be any that offer what I am after. Sure, there are some overseas ones that have UK extensions but they don’t appeal to me due to how they’ve approached Kemetic practice.

Of course there have been plenty of general pagan groups and while I’ve really enjoyed those opportunities, the practice of ancient Egyptian magic and it’s approach to deity does not quite align with how much of the pagan community do theirs. This has resulted in some disappointment which is a real shame.

All is not lost though. From those who appear to be in a similar situation I’ve been thinking about creating a corner for us local Kemetics to hang out. Now, I may have no success, it may fail like all of the other past groups. On the other hand it might work – we won’t know if we don’t try.

If any Kemetics out there – doesn’t matter if you are UK or not I suppose – are interested keep in touch and I will announce things once I’ve sorted out the basics.

Thanks

Kev

 

 

2016: Midwinter, Yule, or whatever…

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Well, that time is almost upon us again isn’t it? I’m often told I’m miserable this time of year, and yes, I am. I have absolutely no idea what this time is about. Though I’m pagan, or more accurately Kemetic, in previous years I’ve felt no connection with this time of the year, in fact I loath it. Why? I don’t mind the dark or the cold as such, but the short days seem to wear me down quite a bit and I long for the sun’s return.

My year (in a complicated way) starts at mid-summer, and for me this is the half way and lowest point for me. I mourn its loss and hope for the return of longer days and to see that glowing ball in the sky. Every morning on my way to work the past few months I’ve seen less and less of the sun and that makes me sad.

I don’t understand the pagan festival of Yule and this year, for the second year, I will mark it with friends in a our groups, but the festival as such means little to me. I care only about the companionship. That means more to me than any season change.

My family of course will celebrate Christmas as my wife is Christian and that is fair enough, I don’t get it so I will tag along and as a way to include my path such as it is we will have a Yule meal to mark it. Again I will have little feelings for the festival and only for the family connection.

That has been my annual routine for more than two decades: I hide and hope the sun comes back.

This year though there will be something different which is due to significant changes in my Kemetic practices. Tomorrow (Friday 16th) I begin a Kemetic festival period which I think ends around Boxing Day.  The festival is something I found in the last few months and is called ‘Festival of The Ten Dead Deities of Dendera’. A right mouthful and not as depressing as it sounds actually.

More to come as that one unfolds as this is the first go, and at least I have a number of days to work out what I need to do – mostly its just offerings of food and water to them. Those deities are connected with the creation stories and sit quite deeply at the early aspects of my Kemetic path.

Time will tell if it works out and get me more ‘in the festive mood’ like everyone else, now that I have something to look forward to! 🙂

So the rest of you have a happy whatever, I’m off to toast some dead deities. TTFN.

Kev

Witchfest 2016 – The Joys Of Kemetic Reconstructionism

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Here are my notes from my RL Witchfest 2016 talk on Kemetic reconstrunctionism and practice as well as an audio recording from a repeat the following day on Second Life.

Any questions please do ask!

witchfest2016 witchfest2016

Audio recording: https://temple.houseofkiya.co.uk/podcasts/wf-2016-kemetic.mp3

BB K

Samhain 2016

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It has certainly been a strange year apart from the tragic deaths of a couple of friends. My own path has been through the wrangler and in a way has contributed to the talk I will be giving at Witchfest 2016 next month on the highs and lows of Kemetic reconstructionism.

Being a time of change, remembrance and general focus on one’s craft, all of which as a Kemetic I’m not really that attached to, however I still recognise the value in this. In fact throughout my many years I’ve always found a closeness to my goddess at this time and had attached the ‘thinning of the veil’ to that feeling. As it turns out I have been wrong all these years and this time stands in the middle of a two possible dates to festivals to my goddess that I was unaware of. Intuition can be valuable even if we have no idea why.

Other such path shattering discoveries have surfaced and I will take the opportunity to regroup and move forward with reawakened energy and focus, feeling that this time of year is now extra special to me as never before.

However you mark this time of year have a good one and learn from it.

BB K

 

A Twisted Year

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Been a while since I last did a proper post so here goes. Perhaps one of the reasons of my lack of real activity here has been that I sort of lost my way during the summer of 2015. I had spent much of that year helping others that I had neglected my own path and needs and by the time summer had come I felt little of the spark inside.

This of course upset me, I have been at that point before a number of times in my path, and while I have no problem helping others as I know its the right thing to do, I still should have put some time aside for the special connection I have with my dear goddess. I didn’t though.

Mounting pressures then continued through the winter of 2015 followed by the deaths of some friends in the early part of 2016. While so many events and community activities continued to draw my attention I had recognised the gap in my commitment to Selket and picked up on a few small and what seemed interesting leads.

Those leads however turned out to pull my entire spiritual world apart, so much so that in many ways the ignorant bliss I’ve had for the past 30 years on many aspects of my path I wish I could recover. Alas that won’t be possible now. In a way the vast array of new material that has shaken my understanding of my goddess caused deep doubt within my practices, over the past few months that I’ve had to let the dust settle and deal with the after-mouth has now, spurned me on to greater eagerness of discovery. Yes, the changes I’ve had to make in how I relate to her and the Kemetic path in general is now different, but I’m happier for knowing that I’m more ‘right’ than I was before.

I’ve never been one for sticking within a narrow band of experience, the pagan path of course encourages (and often necessitates) the need to plough into vast amounts of information and challenge ones views. I’m certainly quite thankful to my chaos magic principles too for the pragmatic approach and acceptance that things change, which is in particular a frequent thing within Egyptology anyway. I should be prepared to change things as new discoveries come to light.

With new understanding of areas of Egyptology I had never explored before, I can slowly rebuild the   connection I have with my goddess and those other deities that I have with a deeper knowledge. How long this will take I have no idea but I’m sure it will be an interesting journey as the past has shown before!

BB K