Exploring spirituality somewhere between the Emerald Isle and the Black Land....

Monday, December 26, 2011

Bjorn

Call me a grinch, but my favourite part of Christmas is when it's over. Whether or not any of you feel the same way, I thought I'd share something a little lighthearted today. While the following short film is not Celtic or Kemetic, it is Pagan enough, and super-duper enjoyable.  So... enjoy!


 



Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Welcome, Sun of the Season

I've always enjoyed the dark, cold beauty of winter, and as such, I think I fare these short days better than most. All the same, I, like everyone else, look forward to the winter solstice this time of year. It feels like ages since the sun began setting before 5 p.m., even though I know it has only been a month or so. (Thanks for nothing, daylight savings!) The constant short nights make me feel tired and lazy, like a fat, hibernating bear. And while I can cope well enough with the frigid temperatures, they can begin to wear on anyone after a while.

I also know that the winter has only just begun, and that despite the sun's waxing light, there is much more of it left. But I'm a native to this land; the winter is in my blood. I'll continue through the season by enjoying the serene beauty of each snowfall, by drinking gallons of hot chocolate, and by bundling up at night under half a dozen blankets with my kitty. The winter can be unforgiving, and you have to find it's joys wherever you can.

This winter solstice, I will wake up bright and early, sing a song to the sun, and thank it for it's gradual return. I'll take comfort in the fact that the cycle goes on, that in a few months it will be spring.


Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Netjer

At the start of KO's beginner's course, we were advised to take a temporary hiatus from the worship of individual gods to focus on the concept of Netjer, the One and the Many. I have to admit, I didn't really like the idea. But I joined the class to learn something new, to expand my horizons, blah blah blah. So I told myself to get over it and give this Netjer thing a chance.

At first, praying to Netjer only reminded me of why I'm a polytheist. Gods I understand. I can talk to them, they can talk to me. They have strong and distinct personalities, things they like and things they don't. When I pray or make offerings, I connect with them. We have ourselves a moment, and it's all very touching.  Netjer on the other hand....

How do you connect with something that vast? How do you know that it's out there, that it cares? Or that it is even aware of us? Giving offerings to Netjer was very disheartening. I felt like I was just throwing words out there; that they just floated off into the ether until they disappeared from my plane of awareness, forever lost and forgotten.

I think a person's natural inclination is to humanize something that they don't understand.  If you give it a face, a personality, you can begin to understand it. But I couldn't give Netjer a face.  That would make It too akin to the Christian's god, and my inability to accept such a concept is one of the many reasons I left the Catholic faith. Needless to say, I was frustrated. Why even bother with Netjer? We have the Names, the gods, after all.  They seem like more than enough for me.

I believe that everyone and everything is made out of the same stuff spiritually.  It's not an original idea, I know, but it is a very beautiful one nonetheless. It reflects the interconnectedness and significance of all things. Considering this, I have often played with the idea of a sort of "divine source," for lack of a better word. I see it as the roots of some grand divine family tree, or the sum of all things, or any number of random concepts. It was never important for me to define this thing. In fact, I've always liked the mystery of it... it's like a philosophical toy that I get to play with whenever I want.

I mention this because in the course of my "communications" with Netjer, this is how I have at last, on some level, been able to understand and ultimately connect with It. It is too big to be personified, to be defined, or packed into a tidy parcel. It just Is. And I am perfectly content with that.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Holiday Season

Happy Halloween!  Run amok and eat candy until you puke!

And happy Samhain, Pomonalia, and Día de los Muertos to boot!

Celebrate life and death, remember where we came from and where we are going.  Honor those who came before, and keep in mind that we all end up taking that final journey....





Monday, October 24, 2011

Where I Fit In

In the Kemetic community, I often hear people talk about a longstanding fascination with Ancient Egypt.  Their interest in the art, culture, mythology, gods, etc., is often what inspires such individuals to seek out Kemetic faith.  I love hearing these stories because they are often told with a feeling that they have come home.  Or at the very least, with the humor that comes with realizing something ridiculously obvious, like when someone spends 15 minutes looking for their keys, only to find that they were in their hands the whole time.

But those stories also make me feel lost.  I’m sure I cannot be the only budding Kemetic for whom this is true, but I had about as little interest in AE as a person could possibly have.  Even the gods I wasn’t terribly interested in, other than one or two specific Names.  Being a Polytheist, my relationship with Bast wasn't too surprising.  The big surprise was that, as I mentioned in my first post, it was she who nudged me towards Kemetic Orthodoxy, despite the fact that I was very hesitant about it at many points along the way.  The nerd in me loves learning, so there was some allure there in learning about Kemetic religion, and specifically KO... but other than that sort of curiosity that I feel for most things, there was nothing special I felt about Ancient Egypt.  No fascination, no insightful childhood story, no lightening bolt moment.

Conversely, I’ve always had a deep interest in Celtic culture and deities.  I had that "coming home" feeling when I joined my (now former) temple and began learning Seancreideamh, the Old Belief.  The most important part of my personal beliefs as a whole are the virtues I've gleaned from Irish myth; ideals to achieve honor, such as loyalty, honesty, hospitality, seeking justice (and more importantly, seeking the right action to achieve justice), and treating others with kindness.  These are principles that I’ve always felt, and finding a culture and religion that fit these sentiments was very important for my walk upon that spiritual path.

A few weeks ago, while I was on one of my nightly walks, I was pondering for the millionth time where exactly I fit into Kemetic belief, or how it fit me.  I don’t remember exactly how I came to the conclusion, but it must have been my lightening bolt at last: Ma’at.  Balance, truth, justice, and much more, I’m sure.  These very virtues are mirrored in Celtic belief, and in the ideals that have shaped me more than anything else as I’ve tried to live by them.

So what was I saying about ridiculously obvious things?

Anyway, that seems to have been the turning point for me.  I had finally found where I fit into this spiritual path, and I’m happy to say that I feel like I am beginning to understand and appreciate who the Netjeru are any what the Egyptian myths are really about.  My interest in the life and culture is even growing to match.  I wouldn’t say I’ll be ready to join in any discussions of the Umpteenth Dynasty and Pharaoh Fantabulous anytime soon, but at least I’ve got a place to start.

Monday, October 3, 2011

The Start of Something New

I've never been very good at introductions.  Actually, there are a lot of things that I've never been very good at, but right now, introductions are the ones that count.  So I'll just jump right in....

Right now, I'm at an interesting place spiritually.  For six years I've identified as a Celtic Polytheist (though some just called me "druid"), yet for the last year or so I've wanted to expand my spiritual horizons, or something corny like that.  And then came Bast.  I've never had more than a passing interest in Ancient Egyptian religion, yet I found Bast to be very accessible.  She's well-known even today, and in my experience is all around very likable.  Also, she has an undeniable sort of appeal to someone who loves cats and is the proud momma of one.  Anyway, my own personal devotion to the goddess led to a desire to find a more culturally specific way to do so, which I have been searching for over the last couple of months.  All of that searching eventually led me to Kemetic Orthodoxy, whose beginner's classes I will be starting later this month.

At first it was very difficult to even picture the two paths being practiced side by side, much less together, and for a while I even resisted doing so.  I think I just didn't know how to reconcile the two, since they come from very different parts of the world, and on the outside they seem so different.  Also... I was kind of afraid.  It sounds silly to admit to myself now, but I was afraid that my new found devotion for the Kemetic gods would somehow get in the way of or diminish the relationship that I have with my beloved Celtic gods.  I was afraid that the differences ran so deep that they wouldn't get along or want to share.

Happily, I have since found that that is not the case.  (Gods tend to be a bit more mature than that!)  But there are a lot of  strange and interesting things about following two religious paths.  So to bring this all around to the point, that's what this blog is about.  It's going to be my place to muse and speculate, to try to figure out all the things that have to do with being a newly claimed Celtic/Kemetic Polytheist, Kemetic Druid, or Chick Who Has No Idea What She's Doing.