|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 10:43 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 11:05 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 11:14 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:13 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:44 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 7:37 pm
|
|
|
|
It was a very strange journey in my case, and frankly I still don't know quite what set it all off. For me, ancient Egypt has a very practical significance; I am a Kemetic Reconstructionist. Basically, that means that I apply my understanding of ancient Egyptian culture and philosophy to my perception of modern life, and I place an emphasis on reliable academic sources... as opposed to New Age hype about "pyramid power" or pharoahs from Mars, for example. wink I encounter the gods on a daily basis, so I have a vested interest in knowing Whom I'm dealing with, what They will expect from me, and not embarassing myself with crazy conspiracy theories. 3nodding
I don't know for sure what prompted me to start looking for Bast. One day, however, I was finally put in a position where I had to start thinking about religion and I began searching for my own spiritual path. For some reason it just seemed obvious to me that She was my goddess, but I didn't know how to go about putting that into practice. I didn't even like Egypt at the time, frankly I thought they were a creepy death-cult of a culture, and it wasn't until much later that I found out how deeply they were involved in life.
Of course, at the time I knew nothing about Bast- aside from Her association with cats. I tried Wicca for a few years, but their concept of deity- like many Western concepts of deity- totally clashed with the ancient Egyptian one, and for several years I tried to fit Bast into the profile of an Earthy Ocean/Moon goddess. She wouldn't even speak to me, lol. You know how some cats will walk right in front of you, and then pointedly sit down with their backs to you just to make sure you know that they're ignoring you? Yeah, that's pretty much what She did.
She introduced me to Djhwty (Thoth), in a round-about way so that I didn't immediately try swedging Him into a Wiccan construct of a god. She basically showed me an ibis, and told me to go look. What I found was a god Who- rather than being all Solar/Fiery in nature- was associated with the Moon and with all things academic (among other things). Shocked, I decided to do a bit of a background check on Bast and found out that She was the Solar/Fiery one! About that time, I decided that the ancient Egyptians must have been a pretty twisted, backward people... and that I was really starting to like them.^_^ Up until that point my pantheon had been primarily a mixture of Egyptian and Hellenic (Greek) deities, but as time went on more Egyptians showed up and the Greeks started packing Their bags and fading out of the picture. At some point I got the novel idea that, since my pantheon was becoming more culturally focused, my rites of worship probably ought to follow suit. I started looking online for sources on ancient Egyptian concepts of religious practice... and ran into a thriving community of people, from all over the world, who were doing just that- and several steps ahead of me.
Since then I have been accepted into the following of other Egyptian gods- notably Skhmt (Sekhmet), due to Her patronage over the medical field and my work as a veterinary technician, but also Yinepu (Anubis), Amn (Amun), Hrw (Horus), Stkh (Set), and of course Ma'at Herself (She's kind of essential, and I'm a big fan wink ). Other gods and goddesses have been known to show Their hand in my personal life from time to time, but usually put in an appearance and then leave. I've devoted myself to learning about the gods and the ways which They have taught and are teaching to Their people- then and now- and how those concepts manifest themselves in the modern world. That has led me to pursue interests in all aspects of the ancient culture- including religion/magic, art, dance, philosophy, language, medicine, and concepts of ma'at, family ties, and community. And quite a few things besides- there is something to be learned in pretty much any aspect of life.
In this guild, I intend to stick to egyptology as a cultural, historical science. But that's how I got here. 3nodding
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2006 1:05 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:09 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 3:31 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 10:26 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 12:45 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:05 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 2:13 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:26 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 3:55 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|