The Path of an Egyptian Polytheist

[Underworld Priestess]

Hello everyone, I thought it would be a nice idea to post my path on here to give insight to someone else's way of thinking. I consider myself to be an Egyptian polytheist. I am not a fan of the term Kemetism and even though I don't follow the Ancient path exactly I don't like the whole neo-pagan theology of it. I do my best to study the ancient practices but have in my own personal way tried to transfer them into the modern world. Yes, some things have been lost forever through time but sometimes I don't feel as though neo-paganism holds on to all the values that are available. I prefer the term polytheist because it describes my religious view with not as much negativity as the term pagan. Yes, in the broad scheme of things I am a Pagan but in a more defined sense I follow the Egyptian path.
It took me awhile to find this path. I have tried going to several churches under the Christian faith, I went to Sunday school, I took classes in religion, married an ordained minister and student of psychology and religion and read books on several paganistic paths: Wicca, Celtic, Greek and Egyptian. I studied the paths of my ancestors: Native American and Celtic. In the end I found that Egypt is what called to me. I devote my free time to reading the ancient text: The Pyramid Text, the Book of the Dead and other such works. I worship, pray to and give offerings to the Egyptian gods and I wear the symbols in my jewelry. Now that the introduction is out of the way lets review what I plan on going over.

1. A Brief History of Ancient Egypt (as brief as is possible)
2. The General Beliefs
3. A Breakdown as to how the religion changed throughout the Ancient history.
3. Deities
4. The Temples
5. Core myths and my favorite myths
6. Symbols
7. The Principles of Maat
8. The Afterlife
9. The Holidays
10. My Rituals
11. Meditations
12. Misc.

 

[Underworld Priestess]

A Brief History of Ancient Egypt and it's Society

The time periods of Ancient Egypt are broken into several different kindgdoms.

"Major Divisions of Ancient Egyptian History
•Late Predynastic Period
3100-2950 B.C.
First hieroglyphs
•Early Dynastic
2950-2575
Step pyramid built at Saqqara
•Old Kingdom
2575-2150
•Great Pyramid at Giza
•Great Sphinx
•Step Pyramid
•Saqqara
•Imhotep
•Abu Ghurab
•Dahshur
•Pyramid Texts of Saqqara
•
•Ras Burdran
•
•Step Pyramid of Djoser
•
•Pyramids of Giza
•First Intermediate Period
2125-1975 (alternately: 2160-2055)
Memphis rules Egypt in the north and Thebes in the south
•Middle Kingdom
2055 or 1975-1640
Egypt reunited and conquers Lower Nubia.
•Abydos
•
•Karnak
•
•Thebes
•
•Serabit el-Khadem
•
•Tell el Dab'a
•Second Intermediate Period
1630-1520
The Hyksos
•New Kingdom
1539-1075
Empire in the Near East, Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Tutankhamen and Ramessid Period
•Abu Simbel
•Amarna
•King Tut
•Mysteries of the Amarna Pharaohs
•Nefertiti
•Tombos
•Piramesses
•Deir el Bahri
•Kush Kingdom
•Deir el Medina
•Tutankhamun's Tomb
•Third Intermediate Period
1075-715
Nubians conquer Egypt
•Late Period
715-332
Assyrians, Persians conquer Egypt
•Ptolemaic
332-30
Greeks conquer Egypt, Rosetta Stone, Cleopatra
•Roman
30 B.C.- A.D. 395
•Byzantine "
~ Timeline from http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/pharaohs/a/DynastiesEgypt.htm

Each kingdom had it's different set of dynasty's, Pharoahs, and myths. Throughout the history the god's were interchanged depending on the time period. For instance, at one point in time Ra was the chief sun diety but in later years it was Horus. Horus even replaced Ra in the creation myths. In the old kingdom Anubis was king of the Underworld but by the middle kingdom Osiris was king of the Underworld. At the completion of the New Kingdom, the Greeks began to play a large part in the culture and the two societies intermingled their deities. There was even temples for Egyptain gods in Greece.

In the Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh was the king and also considered to be partly divine. In early myths gods such as Ra, Osiris, Isis and Set had human forms and spent time on earth. It is said in some stories that Ra and Osiris both ruled as Pharaoh's for a time, Ra being the first and then replaced by Osiris.

In the society, women were, for the most part, equal to men. They could rule, own property, testify in court, have a job and enter the Priesthood. A couple only had to move in together to be considered married and divorce was not considered a sinful practice. There was set standards for the Egyptians to live by and the community frowned on the people who broke those standards. For instance, adultery was frowned upon, unless the person the Pharaoh.

~ This is a collection of information based on classes I took in school and
The website Mediteranean Women

]http://www.mediterraneas.org/article.php3?id_article=61