twojackals - Tumblr blog

[twojackals]

Eclipse

[twojackals]

Fig. 112. “Principal types of pottery in Ancient Egypt.” The Encyclopaedia Britannica. v.9. 1922. 

Internet Archive

[twojackals]

The Joy of Teaching

In recent weeks I had some opportunity to advise younger individuals interested in Kemetic practice, and I have to admit I was shocked at just how... good it felt to do that, and I couldn't figure out why I had never felt so good about teaching other people the thing I've done for over half my life.

But I think I've figured it out.

It's been several months since I left the 'organized religion' style Kemeticism I was part of for so long, and became an independent Kemetic practitioner. What I've found out is that there is a massive difference in communicating within an 'organized' religion vs. not. Namely, in the latter, when I speak from a position of experience in the general Kemetic world, people listen.

But in the former, when I spoke from a position of experience in the organized-religion world... people argued.

There was always this bizarre level of 'competition' that occurred between members of that organization which I don't find to exist outside of it between independent Kemetics. And despite the fact that they never claimed to be the 'one true Kemetic path' (and the person responsible for birthing it into being never wanted it to be), it didn't stop congregants from taking on the mantle of "one true way" at various turns. It definitely didn't stop them from applying their own opinions to the masses in terms of the way people 'should' and 'should not' practice being Kemetic. 

Sure, you can pass judgment I suppose on someone practicing that specific organized path incorrectly, though even then the idea of passing judgment on someone else’s practices was not condoned by its founder in the slightest. But I suppose if you were literally teaching, verbatim, something completely incorrect about that specific organized path, there is obviously an opportunity to say “hold on, that’s not how we do things, here are the resources / contacts who can explain how we do practice instead.”

That’s not how it went, of course. It was not unusual to have members side-eyeing each other over their personal, subjective interactions with the Divine, and in particular there were a select number of individuals who were even so bold as to tell other people their very experiences with the Netjeru (Kemetic Gods) were outright wrong – a position so brazen and ignorant to take when it comes to what is essentially an entirely subjective experience, particularly among a Pagan or Pagan-adjacent practice in relative terms of world religion. 

But aside from what I would term ‘extremists’ (there are always two extremes to every spectrum), there was also just an ongoing sense within the community of regular day-to-day one-upmanship in spirit that could be subtly if not overtly identified, and it did negatively impact morale, community cohesiveness, mood, and spirit which is certainly not the vibe you want from an organized group. And this vibe was consistently tolerated as simply... the norm. 

As a result, it's now extremely freeing to be able to give a piece of advice to others and candidly have a listening, attentive ear tune in to what I have to say based on years of personal practice and intricate experience, vs. a situation where one or more members of a group are pretty much always trying to formulate an attack, or defense, or argument designed primarily to bolster their own personal (equally subjective) experiences over that those of others.

I’ll just be blunt: a number of people considered themselves better than everyone else, and even though that was the minority, it affected the majority on a regular basis.

As a teacher of others, I've had to struggle against a serious feeling of imposter-syndrome that is underwritten by these experiences. There's a level of gaslighting, bullying, and even aggression which I've lived through in organized Kemetic religion that utterly need not have existed. Of course I won't deny to some degree there is a spectrum of what makes the most sense to what makes less sense -- or maybe even no sense at all. I'm not saying there is no right and wrong, nor am I going to suggest it is invariably inappropriate to ask people to meditate on discernment and critically examine their experiences. 

But that's not what I'm addressing here. Because by the Gods, if people would just take a moment from time to time to actually and carefully read the room. It may shock you, but your opinion isn't always needed, wanted, or invited, and the manner in which you communicate your opinions to others often matters far more than the opinion itself. After all: If you knew everything about Divinity, if you had every truth in-hand.... well, I guess all of our searches would be completely over. 

You don't, and I don't, and so we search on. But it sure would be nice if we could do this searching together, while respecting each other's answers and journeys.

In the meantime, I suppose I will simply enjoy the enjoyment of others when I have something meaningful to say, and try to remember that my experiences matter more than people from my past have sometimes led me to believe. 

[twojackals]

Perfection. It's the small things that really add up, too. I think a lot of times we get caught up in how formal we need to be with the Divine, and we forget the act of simply saying "Hi".

Casual ways to connect with your deities

-Pray to them or just just talk with them and tell them about your day

-Light a candle and say your thanks

-Offer your meal/snack to them or bake/cook with them or for them

-Watch a movie in their honor

-Offer your morning drink to them or make a cup for them

-Assign them a plant and take care of it as a devotion to them

-Listen to music that reminds you of them

-Say good morning/good night

-Thank them for the things you see that you consider beautiful

[twojackals]

Sistrum Conundrum

So when I was doing rites to Ra the day before the Eclipse, I was using my sistrum, and I was reminded that my sistrum that I have is very pretty, but entirely impractical: it's heavy, it's poorly designed in terms of producing a sound, the sound it does make is not appealing to my sensory issues, and it is more or less a display piece with everything considered.

I don't use a sistrum very often but I'm planning to incorporate it more often into practice, so this was posing a challenge.

… so I 3D printed myself one! I had to commandeer the somewhat-crappy symbols from my original one (I will get better ones later) and added beads and tiny bells, and now it makes an appropriate mix of rattling + jingling while not being too loud or too abrasive.

I'd still like to get maybe a simple one made out of metal metal, and I need to replace these symbols on the one I made ideally with something a bit thinner / lighter. The fact that this is a plastic sistrum still leaves stability a bit in the air, but for now it works.

If anyone has Sistrum Suggestions, I'm all ears.

[twojackals]

Return of the Sun

Part of me is glad we'll be getting our news media back from the wretched grasp of all-things-eclipse. There was something that bothered me about the CNN homepage plastered with pictures of people staring directly into the biggest star in the sky with little paper glasses on their face, but I can't put my finger on it. I guess in a lot of ways it just felt like everyone lost their minds for a hot second, all together, at the same time.

Just a feeling, not a reality.

I think.

Anyway, I wore my Ra beads today, after doing a wee bit of ritual with them and Ra last night. So I thought I would introduce the Ra beads to everyone else again, I've shown them before, but it's been awhile now. I specifically made them for Wep Ronpet so I felt they came in very handy for doing a small ritual and observance for the Eclipse situation.

The beads involve a gradient around, with the top orange-yellow-gold gradient representing the sky, and the bottom representing the sea. There are two beads which separate the sky, from the sea. They are double-faced sun/moon beads, and when I photograph them I like to put the sun facing up on one side, and the moon on the other, according to the colored beads surrounding them (gold for sun, blue for moon).

The bottom of the necklace ("sea") has fish! And a light-blue to dark-blue gradient. This darker color also represents the Duat, but I decided to focus on the surface-based water aspect instead of delving too much into the Duat which I felt was a bit too much for this piece. This is very much a seen-world-focused piece.

The gold beats at the very top represent the Sun at its highest point in the sky, as well as Ra's Solar Barque.

I don't have a large statue of Ra at the moment, but I do have 100 tiny statues of the Netjeru, so I'm never entirely out of imagery thankfully :) Nothing too fancy going on here, but I gave him a lantern last night, and a latern again today, which I let burn until it self-extinguishes.

And finally... for everyone's enjoyment, let's give a hand for Pascu y Rodri and their fantastic Ra-focused song below.

I played this at the office once, a lot of my co-workers speak Spanish even if they aren't super Egyptology-heads like I am, and they were all highly amused.

[twojackals]

Some ideas for Kemetics looking to mark the Eclipse if this is of interest:

Eclipses may have been seen as bad omens as it was potentially representative of Ra being defeated by a/p/e/p. Each year at Wep Ronpet (the New Year) Ra's process of triumph over a/p/e/p and evil is celebrated, so the disappearance of the sun in the middle of the year would certainly be of some concern. The concepts which we use for the New Year could also be helpful during an Eclipse:

Light candles where possible, electric candles will also work

Images, Statues, representations of Ra brought out

Imagery of Ma'at who is both a Netjeru / Goddess and the concept of truth, justice, and balance is also appropriate

Offerings, as simple as cool water, in specific to Ra and/or Ma'at

Prayers / Devotion / Poems to Ra and Ma'at

Loud noises! Scare away the evil -- sistrum / rattles / drums or percussion / music / etc.

Depictions of the smiting of is/fet and/or a/p/e/p

Various ideas for smiting of a/p/e/p that are used in New Year traditions include images of snakes that are in some way destroyed, the destruction of clay pots with images or words written on them, or similar concepts. The most common way to depict a/p/e/p is as a snake having been cut or stabbed with a knife or multiple knives, spears, etc.

You should avoid depicting a/p/e/p as a whole entity or representative entity (eg: whole snake) that has not in some way been shown as sliced-and-diced / destroyed / defeated / etc. Words and images have serious power in Kemetic practice, and we take away the power of a/p/e/p through depiction of its destruction right from the beginning.

Written down or drawn depictions can be destroyed additionally by tearing, burning, crushing, breaking, etc. the medium on which they were depicted (safety first, ideally try not to burn paper indoors, use a fire-proof vessel, and when in doubt avoid burning entirely unless you know you can do it safely).

Dispose of whatever remains ideally in an outside trash area if you can (to remove it completely from your home). If you can't get it outside right away, at least contain it within its own trash bag which you tie up securely, and then put in the household trashcan.

Light, prayer, noise, and smiting of evil: The perfect recipe for those who are interested in fending off darkness.

A/p/e/p's depiction as being stabbed 5 times - Temple of Edfu

[twojackals]

The current state of our House Shrine shared by my partner system and me!

[twojackals]

Sharing some Root Beer + Vodka with Wepwawet this evening.

[twojackals]

Spring-ified

The shrine has officially been spring-ified.

Took me awhile to scrape off the autumn/winter decor because, well, I am not a Spring/Summer person.

Counting down the days til Fall...

[twojackals]

Working on my Moon Shelves. 3D printed, there are more versions to print and hang but these are what I have so far!

[twojackals]

He is risen

[twojackals]

The Custody of March 31

March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility.

The date of Easter changes every year. It's a lunar holiday, there's really no getting around this.

The date of Transgender Day of Visibility never changes. It's March 31, period. It's that day this year, it was this day last year, it will be this day next year.

It's OK to be Christian, it's OK to be transgender, and it's OK to be both. There's enough hours in the day to do both.

I have no interest in Easter, but if you do, I don't presume you are trying to co-opt the day away from Transgender individuals such as myself. So when I see people throwing fits and conspiracy theories about people 'assigning Easter to be Trans-Day', I find it a bit hard to swallow. Are you not able to comprehend how two things can coincide on the same day, particularly when one is persistently changing its date every year?

Please don't celebrate the return of your Lord and Savior by being a bigot. Please do not shut off your logic and your brain for the duration of Sunday, as is so often the case with mainstream religion.

[twojackals]

Israel would literally accuse Palestinians of having guns in their shoes to make this work out in the end.

[twojackals]

Popular.

We should all pay close attention to how the statement "There would be no more terrorists if we just killed them all as children!" changes in reception when it is said by one side of a conflict, vs. the other. Both sides could say they would regain the dead had we just exterminated the opposition, but only one side is ever accused of being a bigot over it.

Only one side is "allowed" to say it, even though the hideous transcript and overt meaning is exactly the same.

Of course both sides would be dead wrong to make such a suggestion in every single case (and if you don't believe so, you lack humanity to the simplest degree). The terrorists of today are the children of yesterday, that's true... because that's how linear fucking time works.

But killing those children would only make war from the parents, the witnesses, the survivors, and hopefully the rest of the world.

Except... here we are. The rest of the world, I mean. Watching a new kind of terrorism: one that is sometimes silent, sometimes suave, sometimes outspoken, sometimes political, but sadly all too often: 'popular'.

Today, we bow down to a mainstream new age of terrorism, and we apologize for being humans.

[twojackals]

Stela of King’s Scribe and General Kasa, adoring Anubis

From tomb of Kasa at Saqqara. New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1290-1279 BC. Mediterranean Archaeology Museum, Marseille. N. 243

[twojackals]

I love deer so much

look at these beautiful reindeers!

top: target

bottom: walmart