Daily Devotions from Her Holiness
Nisut Hekatawy I (ankh udja seneb)
June 30, 2000

Bless all the children of Netjer, known and unknown!
May your coming be peaceful.

On the last day of our Kemetic month (which incidentally this month corresponds with the last day of the Gregorian month), we honor the Names of Ra, Heru and Wesir by bringing offering to their Houses (in antiquity, the temples where They lived; today Their shrines at the House of Netjer and the personal shrines of Their Children). Dua Ra, Dua Heru, Dua Wesir!

This month I get to bring an offering for the most wonderful people I've ever had the honor of knowing.

Last night, I spent part of my evening with a little more than a dozen of the Children of Netjer, who decided to throw me a little party in honor of the Heb-sed Festival the two days before. While I knew I had been invited to a gathering as we generally get together weekly for prayer and fellowship, and last night's biweekly online services had to be cancelled due to our Kemet.org server crashing, I was not at all prepared for two hours of hymns, prayers and thank-yous aimed directly at me.

It's enough to make your Nisut cry...and it did.

For all of you, and for all of you who sent wonderful Heb-sed letters, flowers and cards, I thank Netjer for you. I love you all so much and am so happy to know you. It makes me very happy and honored to be able to love you and to love Netjer with you and in you. I thank Netjer for that every day.

Today I give offering to the three Kings: Ra, Heru and Wesir, in all of your names.

May we continue to bring honor to Netjer and peace and love to Its Children.

Dua Nisut Ra, Dua Nisut Heru, Dua Nisut Wesir! Nekhtet!

Thought for the Day:
"To be loved for what one is, is the greatest exception."
Goethe

Email our Nisut (AUS) with a private prayer!

Daily Devotions from Her Holiness
Nisut Hekatawy I (ankh udja seneb)
June 29, 2000

Bless all the children of Netjer, known and unknown!
May your coming be peaceful.

Honor your mother today. Honor your Mother, too.

Both words, mut in Kemetic, describe the Mother Mut: wife of Amun, "mistress of sweetness in the palace," Who is the protectress of children and princes. She is the Lady of Ipet-sut, the great temple of Karnak in Uaset (Thebes). Amun and Mut's marriage festival is the most lavish festival of southern Egyptian history, and parts of it are still practiced today within Egypt, even though most people have long forgotten what it is they celebrate when carrying boats filled with children and flowers up and down the streets of Luxor.

In Her role of Mistress of Cities, greatest of all, Mut is sometimes likened to Sekhmet, the raging Hethert; in Her role of Protectress of Princes She is sometimes likened to Bast, Devouring Lady, and carries Her shield. Wife of the Hidden, Mother of the Wanderer, wearer of the Two Crowns of Kemet, we honor Mut as we honor our physical mothers, today and always.

Hail Mut, Mistress of Heaven, in all Your Names, today and always. Nekhtet!

Thought for the Day:
Today is Imakhu meryBast Sekhauesmutes' birthday. In addition to a rousing heru em meses nefer enes, I would like to put her on the spot and share something she shared with me. Last week, meryBast wrote some very powerful words that you might like to ponder. Happy day, Imakhu. It is an honor to know you.

Email our Nisut (AUS) with a private prayer!

Daily Devotions from Her Holiness
Nisut Hekatawy I (ankh udja seneb)
June 28, 2000

Bless all the children of Netjer, known and unknown!
May your coming be peaceful.

I read a terrifying article today with my morning news, which ruined any chance of my writing a "nice" devotion today.

Be warned.

I don't need to repeat this if you read it for yourself, nor, frankly, do I think I want to.

13 million orphans. Two thousand people a week . Entire generations uprooted by a sickness that is largely ignored by the industrialized world. What is my world doing about this, besides sitting with its collective hands in its lap looking the other way?

What am I doing about this?

I went to Kashi Ashram a month ago to learn about how to promote serving the poor, the sick, children and adults, AIDS and otherwise afflicted, sometimes simply from a disease called lack of love. I met some incredible people, fueling a Wehem I am putting together for one of my monthly discussions, and I came home determined that my faith will not sit idly by and pat itself on the back for being spiritually advanced while people die alone, unloved and unjustly discarded. I started to talk to the people of Kemet about service.

Talking's over. It is time for doing.

As of today, I would like to announce a program within the House of Netjer called Random Acts of Service. I would like to ask also that our webteam put up a related message board, for people in and outside of the faith to share what they are called to do for their service, to publicize opportunities, and the like. I am aware of some Shemsu and Remetj and even Beginners engaging in things as diverse as caring for AIDS orphaned babies, to rebuilding and cleaning up cemeteries. I am aware that many give time and/or money to worthwhile charities and patronize businesses supporting such charities. This is great -- but it is not enough.

Get together. Find something that helps -- and honor Netjer by doing it. Then share with fellow children of Netjer, so that others may learn from your example and Ma'at may be multiplied many, many times over. Love and the world will love you back. Serve everyone. Start now.

Thought for the Day:
"A wise man quietly makes service his job."

From The Eleventh Instruction of Papyrus Insinger (Ptolemaic Period)

Email our Nisut (AUS) with a private prayer!

Daily Devotions from Her Holiness
Nisut Hekatawy I (ankh udja seneb)
June 27, 2000

Bless all the children of Netjer, known and unknown!
May your coming be peaceful.

Our sacred calendar notes that today begins the two-day festival called the "Heb-Sed" or Sed Festival. The Sed, named for the "secret name" of Wepwawet-Yinepu (not too secret if it's in the name of the festival, now is it?) is the Jubilee or Rededication festival for each Nisut, held traditionally upon 30 years of service. Some Nisuts celebrated it as often as yearly; others came up with other odd intervals such as 3, 7, or 20 years.

Heb-Sed according to Kemetic tradition is the ritual whereby the Nisut dies as a human and is reborn as the kingly ka, or repository of the ka of Heru the Ruler. It is the festival of the Nisut's renewal of the responsibility toward being the bridge between Netjer and humans and proves his (or her) ability to carry out that responsibility on the physical, mental and spiritual levels.

It's rather difficult to put into words what this festival means to me. It is two days each year when I give serious thought to what it is Netjer has asked me to do, what it is that the faithful require of me, and how I am performing in that position. While I will not be buried alive or have to run a race around B-shaped monuments tomorrow morning, I will be in my shrine asking for Netjer's guidance. While we will not be hosting a feast for thousands, I will be sharing meals with family and friends. For me it will not be a public festival but a very, very private one.

The results, however, you will all see. Those of you who are Remetj or Shemsu within the House of Netjer are aware that within the last month, I made the decision not to return to graduate school in the fall, nor to take on another secular job on the side. From this month forward I am your Nisut, full time. Additionally, we as a faith have been taking steps to invite more people to join by permitting membership levels with less responsibility than full conversion, public offerings such as these devotions, and more things to come in the future. At New Year, as at each New Year since the inception of Kemetic Orthodoxy, I will undergo the ordeals of coronation to see if Netjer has declared I shall have another year to serve you. In the meantime, I am honored to do so and I ask that you pray for me during these two days of dedication, that I am able to serve you as well as you require and to the best of my ability.

Dua-Netjer to each of you for that prayer.

Thought for the Day:
"Kingship is a goodly office; it has no son and no brother who will make its monuments endure, yet it is the one who ennobles the other. A king works for his predecessor, through the desire that that which he has done may be embellished by another who shall come after him."

From The Teaching for King Merikare

Email our Nisut (AUS) with a private prayer!

Daily Devotions from Her Holiness
Nisut Hekatawy I (ankh udja seneb)
June 26, 2000

Blessing on all the children of Netjer, known and unknown!
May your coming be peaceful.

Today, we mark the Procession of Sepa. A Name of Netjer represented by the centipede, Sepa is honored as a strong protector against unexpected catastrophes. Burn incense today as an offering and ask for Sepa's protection in those small and dangerous places you cannot detect.

Should you be experiencing a literal infestation of insects, blowing incense smoke into the areas of infestation will also bring Sepa's destruction there. An ancient "spell for defending against cockroaches" is also a useful thing to know (and is much less toxic than chemical spray)!

"Begone from me, Crooked-Lips!
For I am Khnum, Lord of Peshenu,
who delivers the words of the Netjeru to Ra;
and I report affairs to Their Master."
(from the Peret-em-Hru, Chapter 36)

Thought for the Day:
Anger is only one letter short of danger.

Email our Nisut (AUS) with a private prayer!

Daily Devotions from Her Holiness
Nisut Hekatawy I (ankh udja seneb)
June 25, 2000

Em hotep!

No special practices, but some big changes coming your way! These devotions will be going public on the website within the next day or so....
....and a whole new group of beginners will be joining Netjer-L and our private Remetj/Shemsu boards as new Remetj and some potential Shemsu as well! Congratulations to them and we look forward to their joining our family.

Pray today:
No special prayers today. Just enjoy your conversation with Netjer!

Thought for the Day:
"An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it."
-- O. A. Battista

Email our Nisut (AUS) with a private prayer!