Kemet Online: Followers of The Religion of Ancient Egypt: The Per Ankh Calendar!!

Hotep

To address your specific questions on the upcoming newsletter

Yes to the Awakening of Aset.

On the VERY VERY great Festival (also called the Great Brand Festival) Although it is listed on temples calendars in all my references and specified as a major festival I have not been able to find any in discussions of it's meaning or with details of its celebration.

Therefore it won't be talked about in the upcoming newsletter-- sorry.

We will have a lot to say about the Victory of Heru

We don't try to cover all the festivals listed. We highlight those celebrated throughout Egypt for the greatest stretches of time . along with those which focus most on Aset, Sekhmet and Heru...and then those other Netjeru which seem important to understanding the month as a whole.

That way rather than a trillion different feasts you get a focus for your monthly devotions and specific instructions for a few otrher celebrations

Eventually after we as a temple grow a bit more and we have a better sense of the egyptian festivals AS celebrated in Ancient times there will be different calendars for different temples depending on those temples primary Netjer and other Netjeru present.... As in Ancient times while there were national festivals...MOST of the festivals were either

1. selected from earlier fesstivals which had meaning to that particular temple and its particular service to a particular set of Netjeru....

2. .Created in and by the priesthood in the temples schools to meat it's current needs

As we mature as a religion, we will want our various temples to develop their own personality not just all mimic the mother ship with a list of tons of celebrations at all sorts of temples.

To begin that way now would risk the accuracy of our practices to ancient ways by virtue of adding in so much as to change the character of the religion.

On the other hand...to maintain a standardized calendar for all our temples.and to have it be as inclusive as possible..in the long term would be rather dangerous to our project of truly preserving the ancient ways. Ancient Egyptian religion had a lot more flexibility and differences temple to temple existed and where allowed to flourish. To regulate the calendar in the future would be also to loose our way .

Thus we are taking the middle road. For now while we are still in a formative time for our faith...we follow the practice of other Kemetic temples of being as inclusive as possible in our calendars. Yet we publish the newsletter to reflect the unique call and demands of the Netjeru who asked Rev Jade and myself to found Per Ankh. Meanwhile as we learn more about the traditional feasts and festivals and as more and more folks go through our training program...we can think tabout HOW to have different Per Ankh temples develop their own calendars and their own style and focus .

Best
Rev Renee

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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 Renee (12/29/02 06:07 AM)