Night of Lamentations

Tonight is day 2 of the Wesir (Osiris) mysteries, and this is my first encounter with them as a festival. Right now, it's mostly academic, since purity issues are keeping me from shrine. I still read over the lamentations sent out by our Nisut (AUS).

I am doing my best to connect more with male deities, but I have to confess, I connect far more easily to the feminine. Whether the reason for this is my messed up experiences with christianity or not, I can't say, but it's something I acknowledged a while back, and am still working on. Wesir is also, well, quiet, so it's hard for me to know Him. So as far as the Lord of Silence is concerned, I'll let Raheriwesir speak for me.

I have to admit, I have little experience with Aset, but I find Her easier to comprehend right now. She and Her sister, Nebt-het, are mourning the loss of Wesir, who has gone to be king of the Duat. Most of us know what it means to lose someone to death.

And being a child of Hethert, I seem to create soundtracks for everything. This song struck me as appropriate for tonight.

New Year's Eve

Tomorrow is Wep Ronpet. Today is the last on the "days upon the year." This day belongs to Nebt-het (Gr. Nephthys), and honestly, I've never understood Her much. But being in the Kemetic community, even if it's only online, I'm learning more about this vague goddess who seems to always be in Aset's shadow.

She's wife to Set, who is one of my beloveds. She is associated with death, and her hair is often described to be like mummy wrappings. She's necessarily associated with vultures, which, in the ancient Egyptian mind, were always female, and simply created out of thin air (literally).

While containing all these aspects that make her "spooky", and great fodder for a Halloween costume, She is identified by two hieroglyphs on her head - "basket" and "house." She's a household goddess. It seems that the ancient Egyptians honored death in their own home, next to fearsome protective deities like Bes and Taweret.

Of course, Nebt-het is also depicted and called upon in tombs, with Her sister Aset, since they both were the ones who found the cut-up body of Wesir and put him back together again, making the first mummy. Her wings protect the mummies of kings alongside those of Aset. She also was nurse-maid to Heru-sa-Aset (young Horus), which put Her at odds with her own husband. Set wanted the throne that Heru got.

I don't know if I will ever understand this Lady of Mourning, but I just might visit a cemetery today.