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Kemetic Holiday: She Is Led Back

Due to illness and sudden out of town guests, my celebration of the return of the Eyes of Ra was a bit more subdued than I had planned. Here’s a picture of the altar following their unveiling, however, with an offering of chocolate, and clear water. I also gave them a plate of the dinner we made that night, but it didn’t fit neatly in the picture, as it encroached into the space allocated for Athena Columbia. (I expect that a larger shrine, and perhaps even one that closes, is the next thing on their wishlist for Wep Ronpet.)

Next year, I think I’m going to try and write a specific prayer or song for the second half of this holiday, and offer that and some food each night as they come back, as a sort of extended feast.

Next Bright Moon is on January 21st!

Kemetic Holiday: The Eye Wanders

This month’s Bright Moon coincided with the beginning of a two-part holiday, called “The Eye Wanders” and “She is Led Back”. The first takes place I Peret 19-21, which for me here is December 23-25. The second part is I Peret 28-II Peret 4, which for me here is Jan 1-7. Between that, I’ll shroud my statues to represent the Eyes being “gone”. This is taking the place of the Sailing Holiday I’ve done in previous years, and follows the same general format, with votive offerings before they leave and celebration when they return. I’ll post some photos of that below, but first, the short message from Bast and Sekhmet for this month’s Bright Moon:

“We are leaving soon, but when we return we will bring good things back with us. Celebrate and rejoice, life is meant to be enjoyed!”

The first day, I offered the white cloths I’ll be using to wrap the statues, alongside my usual Bright Moon offerings of food, drink, incense, and candlelight.

The second day, I added the boat, and gave another food/drink offering, hot cocoa, which you can see on the far right edge.

For the third day, I offered golden origami lilies, as votive offerings, and I placed them in the boat.

The statues I wrapped gently and placed them in small boxes, where they will stay until the next part of the holiday, She is Led Back.

Kemetic Bright Moon and Sailing Holiday

As I have been doing since the Kemetic New Year in August (Wep Ronpet), I did oracular work for the community on the occasion of the full moon.  This past full moon just so happened to also be the first day of 2018!  I have been sharing the messages I receive on tumblr, and I have decided to start sharing them here as well.    Here is the message I received from Bast and Sekhmet at the beginning of this month:

Now is the time for waiting, gathering your resources, and planning. As the coiled snake waits for the proper time to strike, so must you wait for the proper moment to take action. As the year spins on, you will find your perfect opportunity and if you take action then, you will reap abundant rewards.

This message, unlike previous ones, has implications beyond this moon cycle, into the rest of the year, and it’s hopeful – so take heart.

The other thing that happened earlier this month was my celebration of the Sailing Holiday, where I make Bast and Sekhmet an origami boat and send them “away down the river”, packing up my shrine for a time.  This year I had the privilege of sharing my Sailing Holiday celebration with new friends in a pagan/polytheist/earth religions study group at my local Unitarian Universalist church!  I gave a brief presentation on Kemetic religion, both ancient and modern, and then I opened my traveling shrine, to introduce Bast and Sekhmet to the group.  We then offered them food and drink, and ate it, reverting their blessing to ourselves.  It’s always a good feeling to share your practice with friends!