#Kemetic paganism

[thrashkink-coven]

me, every single day: I’m really feeling like shit today i wonder what’s wrong with me

Ra: maybe you should stand outside and let me blast you right in the face with pure sunlight for 10 minutes

me: I know everyone says “i need more sun” but seriously, 😒 what’s going to make me feel better?

Ra: my son…😐 please… just try it

Me, finally going outside: WOW! LOOK AT THE SUN! ITS ONLY BEEN 10 MINUTES AND I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!

Ra: Yes! We should try this again tomorrow too!

[that-ikea-alien-plush]

finally rearranged their altars now they don't need to share one space :3

[bear-facets]

thoth knows the answer (digital, 2024)

[prints]

[taking-thyme]

The Structure of a Pagan Prayer

When appealing to a deity or making an offering, it’s wise to know how this was traditionally done in the past so you can be as respectful as possible and build a true reciprocity with the gods. This type of prayer structure is found in all manner of pagan religions from Norse paganism, Hellenic (Greek) polytheism, Kemetic (Egyptian) prayer and so on. I got the inspiration and much of the information here from @Ocean Keltoi on Youtube who is a fantastic scholar and Norse heathen who actively stands against prejudice and is all around a wonderful resource. 

Now, there are three main elements of a pagan prayer, which should be done in this order:

1. The Invocation. This is where you call upon the specific god you’re hoping to connect with. Think of it as writing the name and address on your letter to the Gods - it lets the deity know that this prayer is directed at them, which is important in a polytheistic religion with many gods. To start your invocation, address the deity directly by name, or use an epithet or kenning that they're known by. It's especially wise to choose an epithet that relates to what you're praying for, like using one of Apollo's healer epithets while addressing him in a prayer about a loved one's sickness,  for instance. It’s also a good idea to praise them highly and with a certain air of reverence. These are ancient deities after all. 

2. The Argument. Here you give your reasons for why a deity should fulfill your request and favor you. If you’ve brought offerings, cite them here. You can also include reasons for why you’re reaching out, such as love in a prayer for Aphrodite or matters of justice with the god Tyr. This is where you make your case to them. And if you’re reaching out to a deity you don’t have a working relationship with, which let’s be honest will be the case many more times than we’d like, then you can tell them this here also. A good example might be “Oh Tyr, one-handed war god and son of Odin, though we have not met before I have heard your name and been called to it…”

3. The Request. Finally you ask the gods to look kindly on your request and to grant you their blessing. Again, be as respectful and reverent as possible towards them. 

Prayer Example: “Grey-eyed Athena, daughter of thundering Zeus, if ever I have poured out sweet wine for you, look kindly on me and grant me your wisdom.”

How to stand when making the prayer

This depends on which God you’re reaching out to and, of course, your own personal comfort. The most common ways of praying are to stand and perform some gesture of reverence, kneel while praying and even prostrate, kneeling fully on the ground with your head down as you appeal to the gods. Some might also choose to wear veils when performing prayers or rituals for deities, though this is naturally up to the individual. 

In Hellenic tradition, if you’re praying to an Ouranic god (deities of the heavens) you would traditionally wear your hair up and stand with your arms raised to the heavens while reciting your prayer. Meanwhile, if you are praying to a Chthonic god (deities of the underworld), you would kneel and face downwards towards the Earth with your hair flowing freely. 

Some Norse sources tell of ancient pagans prostrating before the gods, and yet this is still not entirely necessary. Pray however you see fit and what is most comfortable for you at the moment. 

^ This is what prostrating looks like

Sources:

Ocean Keltoi's video on pagan prayers

Hearth and Fire Work's blog post on Hellenic prayer structure

[eclectic-misfit]

your faith and path are completely valid no matter the amount of time that passed since you chose to pursue them. you don't need 14+ years of research and knowledge to consider yourself pagan.

you do not need to have had “pagan signs” since you were a kid to become pagan; you do not need to have always known paganism's existence in modern times to call yourself pagan; you do not need to look for things you did in your childhood to “justify” your path.

you can be pagan even if you spent the past years without thinking about paganism, even if your religious (or non-religious) background was so different than what you believe in now.

if you feel at home and comfortable with this path, you are pagan — no matter if you discovered it a week ago or more than four years ago.

i see you and i support you; your beliefs are valid and they cannot be taken away from you by someone else.

[divine-crows]

10 Ways to End a Prayer Aside from Saying Amen

Note: these are just ideas based on something I struggled with when I was a newbie pagan. I by no means am saying you can't use the word "amen", I'm just trying to help those who may not want to! If something works-- then it works!

Being raised in a very hard-core Christian household I was always taught to end my prayers with the phrase "Amen", but when I realized the faith didn't really fit me... I found that using that phrase didn't really fit me either! So, what could you say in place of it? Here are some ideas! Some I came up with, some I scoured the internet to find!

"THE END"

I have two younger siblings and they both used to say 'the end' all of the time because they thought when we said 'amen' we were actually saying that. It's very direct, but I suppose it works!

"AS IT IS REQUIRED" / "AS YOU REQUIRE"

I also use this phrasing in place of "so mote it be" when I do spellwork, not because it's a bad phrase, but mainly because I'm the type of person who has to vibe with the words I utilize. (I'm sorry I'm insufferable lol). I've used it at the end of prayers and it's nice and to the point without being too crass sounding.

"AND SO IT IS"

This one always reminds me of manifestation. Kind of a "I will obtain xyz" mindset. Sometimes I use it if I'm praying for help when I'm working towards a goal.

" DONE "

The first couple of times I tried praying without using the word "amen" I got lost on what to say, so I very awkwardly just said done and went about my day. It might work for you, but it definitely felt weird for me!

"AND SO IT IS, AND IT ALWAYS WILL BE"

I've used this phrase quite a bit and I currently like it a lot. I mainly use it when I'm doing prayers to show my admiration for my deities, or when I'm doing prayers for special occasions. I came up with it while writing some poems this Beltane and it kinda just stuck!

" LET IT BE SO " / "SO BE IT" / "VERILY" / "TRULY"

According to wikipedia, these are all translations of the word amen? So I suppose you could find a way to use them!

"BLESSED BE"

I'm gonna be honest, I lurked on some reddit forums for ideas and this one came up A LOT. I've only ever really thought of this phrase as being a form of "goodbye", and I didn't realize you could end a prayer with this!

"THANK YOU"

Sometimes the best way to end something is just a simple "thanks for listening".

UTILIZING ANOTHER LANGUAGE

If you feel so inclined, finding a language that suits you and your practice and looking for a similar meaning to 'amen' might be helpful to you!

POP CULTURE / LITERATURE

This may sound weird, but I saw a few people talking about using "This is the way" from the Mandelorian, and I even saw someone who recommended using "as you wish" from the princess bride! I also saw a suggestion where someone took a phrase from an Old English text and utilized it! The world is your oyster!

So there's a teeny list to get you started! As always I'd love if people would reblog with their own ideas and alternatives!

Online sources I looked at:

[hewashalfofmysoul3]

Lady Sekhmet, Lord Maahes, I pray to you to end this slaughter of Palestine's children, to let them safely pass into Egypt

Lord Zeus, Lord Tyr, I pray to you to bring justice to those killed and who's homes were stripped from them

Lord Ares, Lord Thor, I pray to you to give strength to those protesting bravely against this corrupt government funding this genocide

Lord Njordr, Lady Hathor, Lady Aphrodite, Lady Demeter, I pray to you to bring abundance and love and comfort to Palestine's children, for mercy upon the land that has been destroyed, for life to be salvaged and to flourish

I pray to all the gods for this genocide to end and for the corrupt system that feeds this genocide gets the justice they deserve.

From the river to the sea

Free Palestine

[thewitchywitch]

Dua Bast! Dua Bastet!

[morselmint]

Paganism poll!

If you call your believes "a pagan religion", please vote down below! I'm making a little research for myself, results of which I will post on this blog.

I've made a similar Greek polytheism post!

To clarify, we're are not choosing just one option here! It is implied that nature worship is within the religion or practice regardless. It is the question of mindset of what you put first in your day-to-day worship, what do your festivals/holidays revolve around and such.

If you answer on the poll, please comment/tag your answer and the religion you follow/attribute yourself to!

Although it is not necessarily required for the research I'm doing, that will allow me to do more specific attributions of what religions do people call pagan and what's their actual central part of worship!

Huge thanks to anyone who votes!

Please reblog for a bigger sample size!

[wanderingskemetic]

[thrashkink-coven]

When I approached Ra I was apprehensive. I don’t like the idea of supremacy. I don’t jive with the concept of kingship, and my past relationship with Christianity has made me shy away from all things “Father God”. I like the freedom of choice and self discovery that I’ve found in entities like Lucifer.

But Ra is helping me heal, and in him I’m starting to find that the divine masculine isn’t so scary after all. I thought because of his nobility and position as a king, he would be harsh and picky, but he’s starting to help me understand what it really means to be a God of kings. It doesn’t mean being served and obeyed just because you should, it means being such a great and supportive leader that people want to follow you. And as a father, a good father, Ra never raises his voice at his children. He gives them the best advice because he wants them to succeed. I didn’t feel like I “owed” him respect. I just wanted to, I wanted to be around him and learn from him. I wanted to trust in his leadership and I wanted to make him proud. That’s very new for me. Having grown up without a father, I’ve never understood what that feels like.

Ra reminds me of the beauty and strength of powerful men. Men who protect and lead and encourage, men who nurture. Men who use their strength to create rather than destroy. Men who are honest and know how to love.

Ra is warm (of course) and incredibly, indescribably powerful, but also so soft. So gentle. And lively, cheerful. A smiling God. He doesn’t need to be stern and cold to summon those feelings of immense respect and honour of being in his presence. He laughs and he accepts offerings with such appreciation.

Today I gave him an offering of bread with some peanut butter and water. It’s the first one I’ve ever given. And I was overwhelmed with this feeling of him being pleasantly surprised by the peanut butter. As if he was saying “oh! Bread AND peanut butter! This is a treat!”

And something about that made me feel particularly softened. You’re the king of the Gods, the blazing burning Sun that gives all life to Earth, and yet you’re pleasantly surprised by a little peanut butter. Lol.

Today was the first time I called upon Ra for protection. I did a modified banishment of the Hexagram and called to him in his many faces, along with Horus cleanse my space and aura. I’ve never felt so confident in a protection ritual. The pure blazing energy of the sun sanitizes everything it touches. As I hummed each syllable of his holy names I felt him smiling on me. He seems to like singing and humming a lot. It was the first time I’ve ever felt right ending a prayer with “Amen”.

I could feel Mother Isis looking on us too, she seemed relieved that I’ve finally found them. Something about all this feels like coming home.

☀️

[kemetickowboy]

Im hotep witchblr and kemeticblr,

I came across this reddit post and wanted to know y'alls thoughts on it:

Sauce: https://www.reddit.com/r/pagan/s/PzgfHuHNmc

[bear-facets]

set burns it down (digital, 2024)

[prints]

[actiwitch]

pop-culture tags to block as a pagan

(not that anything is inherently wrong with these fandoms!!!! this is just to avoid seeing these fandom's content under searches and tags about your gods if you so choose)

HELLENIC:

#lore olympus / #rachel smyth / #lo / #lo hades / #lo persephone / #lo apollo / #lo artemis / #lo demeter / #hadestown / #hadestown fanart / #hadestown the musical / #the sandman / #the sandman netflix / #dc / #morpheus x reader / #stray gods / #percy jackson / #pjo

NORSE:

#mcu / #marvel / #marvel cinematic universe / #marvel studios / #mcu loki / #loki mcu / #mcu thor / #thor mcu / #loki x reader / #thor x reader / #loki x thor / #thorki / #lokius / #loki series / #tom hiddleston / #god of war / #gow

EGYPTIAN:

#ennead manhwa / #seth ennead / #ennead seth / #ennead fanart / #seven seas entertainment

GENERAL/MISC/OTHER:

#record of ragnarok / #ror / #snv / #shuumatsu no valkyrie / #yaoi / #bl / #boy love

let me know any additions below! this is certainly not comprehensive.

[eclectic-misfit]

a friendly reminder to pagans & witches:

it is okay if you weren't productive today.

it is okay if you didn't do any spellwork.

it is okay if you didn't pray.

it is okay if you didn't offer something to your deities.

it is okay if you didn't learn anything new.

it is okay if you didn't feel like doing something related to your craft.

it is okay if you didn't have any motivation to do anything.

it is okay.

your path is yours and it should make you comfortable.

perhaps you had planned many things to do, perhaps you wanted to learn more, perhaps you wished for some time alone with your deities; or perhaps you were looking forward to something else.

it is okay if you couldn't do it — whether you weren't feeling well, you had other things to do or you just didn't want to.

your practice should be something that is useful and helpful, something which you should benefit from. take this into account when you are in your spiritual space <3

[divine-crows]

I had a dream where I met a God with moving tattoos all over his body. The tattoos were of various animals, forever prancing around in circles. An infinite hunt.

I just can't get that image out of my head. It was so breath taking. It's so humbling to 'see' such a thing.

It reminds me how the gods are so much more than what we just perceive them as, y'know?