RevRenee
Founder-Wehemu
Reged: 06/12/01
Posts: 2727
Loc: Racine Wisconsin
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Em hotep friends
<bow>
Purification is a word many hear before coming to the Kemetic Faith. Some conservative Catholics teach that one should not receive the sacred Eucharist in a state of impurity. There is much reference to "purity of heart"
Judaism and Islam share this concept but also add to it the idea of physical purity of ones body, offerings and all that enters ritual space.
We are all familiar with how some have used purity requirements in a manner that discriminates against a people
(the barring of female priests in Catholicism because they lack the physical requirements of purity)
And many of us have used the idea of purity of heart to engage in unhealthy processes of self-flagellation.
For this thread I ask you to put those experiences to the side as we explore purification ideas and ritual in Ancient Egypt and contemporary Kemetic faith
Let's begin...
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Rev Renee Levant, Hemet Sekhmet & Aset
Founder & Wehemu & Educational Director
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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RevRenee
Founder-Wehemu
Reged: 06/12/01
Posts: 2727
Loc: Racine Wisconsin
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Em hotep all
<bow>
So what is "purity"? What did it mean to the Ancient Egyptians and in the Kemetic Traditional Religion today?
In Kemetic Tradional religion to be pure is to let ones "heart to descend to It's shrine".
Notice the word used in this expression is 'to let" or "to allow" ones heart to descend to its shrine.
Let's reflect a bit on this expression.
First: Notice that the heart or the "ib" in ancient language.here has broader meaning than it does in modern culture.
One of my favorite expressions in Kemetic prayer and Ancient Egyptian Religion is the request "Open the ears of my heart".
Yes this is about being disposed to listen on the level of feelings and emotion..but it is also to be so disposed on the level of intelligence or what we call "mind" or "consciousness".
Our feelings and our thoughts are simply different modes of the hearts expression. Powerful modes affecting our perceptions, our actions and our impact on other people and all of creation.
Why then would we need to pray to "Open the Ears of our heart?"-
In hearing we are the receivers Hearing opens us to a reality outside of ourselves.
In praying:
"Open the ears of my Heart" we ask to be more fully responsive to LIFE.
The Ancient Egyptians believed that Ma'at or goodness was learned and that everyone was capable of learning and thereby living and acting in accordance to Ma'at. Much like Plato in this one respect..for the Ancient Egyptians there is no real separation of knowing and doing. One who really KNOWS what is right..will Do the right thing.
One who does not do the right thing then is lacking in education. They need to receive and hear and thereby
respond appropriately
Yet one might ask if it is that simple..why is it that not everyone does the right thing and live completely in Ma'at?
Ra suggests "He did not set our hearts to rebel against Him"
Yet sometimes, our hearts do rebel. From a kemetic perspective-that could only be because they are not paying attention, are not listening and hearing.
It seems we sometimes have problems with ear wax..and sometimes even have a raging ear infection!
When the wax is removed and the infection cured ..and our ears are allowed to do what they are meant to do--to open us to and to connect us with that which is beyond ourself ..they do a fine job of it.
And when they do..our heart does its job..it descends to it's Shrine.
Hmmm Shrine? The place the primordial mound, the BenBen of the Ancient Egyptian creation myth--the first time or Zep Tepi..when all was new and pure and in perfect order of Ma'at.
This is the shrine to which our heart must descend..so as to allow Ma'at to Ascend each day with each sunrise!
There is a Rilke Poem called Beginnings that goes to the "heart" of this discussion of purity:
"Realize that the least we can do is to make coming into existence no more difficult for Ma'at than the earth does for spring when it wants to come. "
In modern parlance to be pure is to get out of our own way..
and out of the way of others...and simply BE Who we ARE and allow Netjer to BE Netjer and Ma'at to BE MA'AT
Ma'at IS. Our Job is simply to remove the blocks..to be pure is to Let Ma'at Ascend.
May Ra Open the Ears of our Heart
May I be among the pure ones
Those whose hearts descend gracefully to their shrines.
May Ma'at Ascend
May Ma'at Ascend!
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Rev Renee Levant, Hemet Sekhmet & Aset
Founder & Wehemu & Educational Director
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
Edited by RevRenee (04/18/04 08:44 PM)
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Isian
KOL
Reged: 03/15/04
Posts: 481
Loc: NSW, Australia
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Hotep
Rev Renee, would you mind explaining the significance of the heart 'decending' to it's shrine rather than 'ascending'?
Thankyou! 
Jen
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WabAndy
Wab Priest
Reged: 12/31/02
Posts: 453
Loc: New Hampshire
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I love this prayer to open the ears of my heart -
what a wonderfull way of thinking and feeling into how we live in Ma'at.....
it makes something that had been very neblious to me, much clearer....
I have - for some time before coming to Per Ankh believed that our tendency is torwards that which is right - unless somehting within us stops us going in that direction - which is something we all do much more often then we like....
I practice a form of bodywork that's about letting go and allowing the devide spark within and without to move you. you simply stand untill you are moved by this devine impluse. It's not you moving, but allowing the movement to happen. (btw - saying it that way it sounds quite simple - and in fact it is - but it also can be very subtle and quite dificult - I was fortunate to work with a terficic facilitator in this work for a number of years).
It seems to me that this is much like that work - that if we can give oursleves the space for the ears of our heart to be open then we hear, and very naturaly respond to Netjer's call - and everything we do that comes out of that allows Ma'at to assend....
I'm not sure what my point is here - but I wanted to respond to what Rev Renee wrote... I think this is tremendousley important! Let's discuss!!
Senebty
Andy
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Andy Dolph, Wab Priest Aset-Hethert
Per Ankh The Traditional Reigion of Ancient Egypt
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RevRenee
Founder-Wehemu
Reged: 06/12/01
Posts: 2727
Loc: Racine Wisconsin
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Em hotep Jen
<bow>
Interesting question.
This expression comes from the Prologue to Amenemope. The Prologue describes the purpose of the instructions...
Which is basically all about encouraging a life of purity and Ma'at and eliminating obstacles to a good and successful life.
John Foster translates the sentences this way:
To help your mind withdraw into its chapel-
which can provide an oar to steer through evil
(Page 207 Ancient Egyptian Literature An Anthology)
Miriam Lichtheim in Volume ii of Ancient Egyptian Literature suggests:
To let his heart enter its shrine steering clear of evil.
Karenga uses to withdraw to his heart
James Black's deliberately more literal translation used "to descend"
The meaning then hieroglyphics must be interpreted in light of the role of the heart and of the Naos Shrine (there are other types of shrines but the hieroglyphics here are very clear). The heart is often called "the god in man"....
And the Naos is not only the place where The Purity of the First Time is renewed each day..but also the House of Netjer..The House of The God--where the God is cared for properly in all ways.
While we in our culture think of a large heart as a good thing..a large heart for the Ancient Egyptians was a problem..in some text I have seen the expression used in much the same way we speak of someone head swelling and getting way too big:)
Whether the glyphs for "descend" here have a meaning of going down or not..the importance is that the heart BELONGS in its Shrine just as the proper place for the God or Netjer is It's shrine.
Purity is all about preventing obstacles to being fully in alignment with who we truely are and our place in the larger whole.
Side note for language buffs:
I had to check the hierogylphs on this phrase along with a few translationsof the text it is from Amenemope to see if "descend" was even the necessary meaning of the word used by the ancients.
Translators use different terms. However all do agree that the verb's primary meaning is "to descend" however it can sometimes be used to say "head" or with a particular additional sign "head for"
In any case, I am not at all sure of what the significance of the heart DESCENDING (rather than rising, or heading for or going to etc) its Naos was for the Ancients.
If there is a significance I am missing please let me know ..I am not a linguist:)
Best
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Rev Renee Levant, Hemet Sekhmet & Aset
Founder & Wehemu & Educational Director
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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Isian
KOL
Reged: 03/15/04
Posts: 481
Loc: NSW, Australia
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Oops, so there's possibly no significance~LOL~ Sorry, Rev Renee
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Shepenmut
KOL
Reged: 10/17/02
Posts: 753
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Em Hotep, Rev Renee!
*bow*
Thank you I will use the prayer on a regular basis. I have not let my heart descend for the reason that of negative perceptions of myself. 
Senebty!
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RevSedgwick
Heri Tep Hem Netjer
Reged: 04/12/02
Posts: 361
Loc: Racine, WI
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Em hotep, everyone! <bow>
MerytMaihes said, Quote:
I have not let my heart descend for the reason that of negative perceptions of myself.
You know, this is such a common problem for so many of us! And that word "purity" can certainly feed right into that negative perception. I've talked with some of candidates for priesthood here, who are confused about what this means. And, based on the kind of black or white thinking we are far too often trained into somehow, we assume that we are either perfectly pure, or we are too impure to approach Netjer.
But this understanding of "purity" challenges and opens up that way of thinking and gives us an entirely new way of looking at this question. For instance, we purify before we do the Daily Rite. We put natron into clean water and say, "It is pure, it is pure, it is pure, it is pure." We use that water to purify ourselves--sometimes in the shower, sometimes just rinsing out our mouths and washing our hands. What is the purpose of this action? Is it to make sure that somehow we are physically "clean enough" to do the Rite?
Well, it's certainly true that washing your mouth with natron makes it very clean and . . . er, salty, as our candidates can attest.  But the point of this action is much less about physical cleanliness and much more about turning our hearts toward the Rite, letting our hearts descend to our shrine. We put on white clothes, we take the time and make the effort to put natron in water, say the words, wash our hands--and our heart has "descended to its shrine." We are ready to stand before Netjer, pour cool water, and open our hearts to our relationship with Netjer.
Rev Sedgwick
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Rev Sedgwick Heskett, Hemet NebetHet-Nit and Amun
Heri Tep Hem Netjer Per Ankh
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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RevRenee
Founder-Wehemu
Reged: 06/12/01
Posts: 2727
Loc: Racine Wisconsin
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Em hotep Reverand Sedgwick, Meryt, Jen and all
<bow>
So following up on this line of thought...self-loathing, being over critical of oneself is actually a sort of IMPURITY
(as is the desire for perfection  )
Negative self talk like "I am not good enough" prevents us from living fully in our lives and our relationships...including our relationship to Netjer!!!
Jan Assmann has a way of understanding Ma'at that helps make this really clear. He suggests that Ma'at is about "connective justice" and communication. That which holds us back from being the person we were create to be...having proper connection to ourselves and to others creates a break in the cycle of relationship and communication that is Ma'at.
If ones heart cannot be directed towards its naos..towards the House in which one belongs because of negative perceptions of oneself...
Then those perceptions are a sort of impurity
An impurity just a tangible and harmful as approaching Netjer without physical cleanliness and purity.
In fact physical purity requirements before rites are all about removing potential impediments to relationship --to,connective justice.
Just as Apep and its forces attempt to block the night Barque of Ra in it's journey --those voices in our heads which block us from fully living and serving present impediments which can block us in our journey.
So when we say "It is pure" four times..and attribute our purity to that of four Netjeru (who represent the four cardinal points (see discussion in Per Ankh's new members class) .
What we are doing is allowing our hearts to descend to their Shrines by directing our attention, our thoughts and our physical experience towards Netjer and towards Ma'at.
Best
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Rev Renee Levant, Hemet Sekhmet & Aset
Founder & Wehemu & Educational Director
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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WabJenSoko
Wab Priest / KOL Newsletter Editor / Central Regio
Reged: 08/22/01
Posts: 850
Loc: Lost in Middle America
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Quote:
Oops, so there's possibly no significance~LOL~ Sorry, Rev Renee
Hotep Jen *bow*
Perhaps there might not be a strictly lingual significance, and the focus might not be on the "descending" part...but a significant difference between the kemetic worldview and the modern western one is the *letting* part.
Even if you weren't raised within a Judeo-Christian tradition, there is a pervading sense in western culture that people are inherently evil, and that without the moral compass of religion, men tend towards the evil and selfish. Even if it's not expressly stated outright, we find all sorts of evidence of the negative mindset. To give you one example--insurance. Insurance exists because we're preparing for the worst. The "just in case." Part of us expects the worst, and that expectation opens up the potentiality. This is not to say you should dump your State Farm or anything  but the fact that our culture expects the worst does draw our attention to it. That leads us to believe that we need to actively work to fight a world that wants to go towards chaos. We fight against evil and guard against sin. Sounds kinda tiring, doesn't it?
But the Kemetic worldview says that the world is (and we are) predisposed towards Ma'at. So that when Ma'at is not present, it is because we are impeding it somehow. When all we really have to do is get out of our own way and *let* Ma'at ascend.
This is not easy to wrap your brain around at first, especially if your life is giving you fits. It's hard to look up at the universe and say, "how am I impeding ma'at?"
But Ma'at begets Ma'at. And the rites and rituals we do were designed by the ancients (and adapted for modern use) to get us into a space where we can recognize the Ma'at in our lives.
When your worldview says, "the world goes towards the right and good," you start to notice more the things that *are* right and good with you, and you can see the patterns of correctness that run through life...that helps you become familiar to them and pretty soon, you find yourself aware of where your life diverges from that correctness.
I hope I'm making sense here. For me, the path of right and good right now means getting sleep and eating frequently, but that's a story for another thread.
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senebty,
Jen Sokoloski, Wab Priest of Ptah
Per AnkhThe Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
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Isian
KOL
Reged: 03/15/04
Posts: 481
Loc: NSW, Australia
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Ooh. Thanks, Wab Jen ::
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Skye
KOL
Reged: 01/29/02
Posts: 597
Loc: Somewhere
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hotep,
as i just got inked, i was wondering am i now ritually impure?
hmm, i don't think it prevents me from doing the Daily Rite, but...just asking.
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Nailed to the Sky - my journal
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RevRenee
Founder-Wehemu
Reged: 06/12/01
Posts: 2727
Loc: Racine Wisconsin
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:bow: Hotep
Only a problem if you are bleeding or have a still open wound from the process.
Best
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Rev Renee Levant, Hemet Sekhmet & Aset
Founder & Wehemu & Educational Director
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
http://www.per-ankh.org
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Skye
KOL
Reged: 01/29/02
Posts: 597
Loc: Somewhere
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Quote:
Only a problem if you are bleeding or have a still open wound from the process.
i don't bleed (as tattoos DON'T do that) and open wounds...hmm, i wouldn't use that term...
well the needle and the ink go under the skin...
*shrug* i guess everything's ok.
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Nailed to the Sky - my journal
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WabSandie
Senior Wab Priest /Ritual Coordinator
Reged: 04/11/02
Posts: 898
Loc: Austin, TX, USA
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Oooooh...when do we get to see a picture of the new art?
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Senior Wab Priest of HetHert-Sekhmet --|<>]
Per Ankh: The Traditional Religion of Ancient Egypt
www.per-ankh.org
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Skye
KOL
Reged: 01/29/02
Posts: 597
Loc: Somewhere
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Quote:
Oooooh...when do we get to see a picture of the new art?
LOL! when i dare to remove my shirt and pose to somebody. *g*
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Nailed to the Sky - my journal
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ChildofSelket
KOL
Reged: 11/28/04
Posts: 4
Loc: Colorado
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Em Hotep
Well I'm getting a tattoo in august for my birthday. I was thinking about Egyptian scripture, but I'm not sure where to find what I'm looking for.Hmmm has anyone seen Anjelina Jolie's tat on the shoulder blade. I want it to be like that but in heiroglyphs. I don't trust any english-egyptain translators on the web.....I'm lost.
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Nebra
KOL
Reged: 08/01/02
Posts: 2383
Loc: Left kansas withToto
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Locate a Middle Egyptian dictionary if you can..... there are two that I know of...... one is by Raymond O Faulkner the other is by Budge...... they should steer you correctly
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Icon Photo Gallery
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HeruSwnAmun
KOL
Reged: 11/02/04
Posts: 64
Loc: Atlanta, Georgia
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Here is a pic of my latest.
http://www.netconstructions.com/jeepboy/oddstuff/myneweye2.jpg
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KheperaAkasha
shemsu
Reged: 08/21/02
Posts: 576
Loc: Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
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Hotep!
*bows*
Very nice work
Senebty
Michelle
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"We must be the change we wish to see in the world."
- Gandhi
"Pain and foolishness lead to great bliss and complete knowledge, for Eternal Wisdom created nothing under the sun in vain."
-Kahlil Gibran, "The Voice of the Poet"
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Nebra
KOL
Reged: 08/01/02
Posts: 2383
Loc: Left kansas withToto
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Looks great........ how many Tattoos do you have?
Quote:
Here is a pic of my latest.
http://www.netconstructions.com/jeepboy/oddstuff/myneweye2.jpg
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Icon Photo Gallery
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Raka
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