Kemet Online: Followers of The Religion of Ancient Egypt: From Rev Sedgwick Heskett, Heri Tep Hem Netjer

Em hotep, friends! <bow>

I am humbled by the call to the role of Heri Tep in Per Ankh, a call I never expected and of which I stand in awe. But I am also joyful about this call and about my ability to make a contribution to our Temple and community. As I said during our priests’ and candidates’ retreat in February, it feels that everything in my life—all my experiences and training—have been a dead-straight path leading me here. Considering that at the time it felt as though that path was winding and uncertain, this is a wonderful understanding for me now.

Part of the wonderfulness of it is the quality and strength of the community into which I have stepped. I have founded and been part of many organisations, both religious and secular; and the beauty and unity and supportiveness of Per Ankh is unprecedented in my experience. I am struck with the way people here can talk with one another: have differences of opinion without name-calling or nastiness; ask any and all questions without worrying that anyone will think we’re stupid; share our lives knowing that our Kemetic community will include us and our loved ones in their prayers when we need help and rejoice with us when our lives are going well. Again—this is the first community of which I’ve been a part that has this kind of wholesome, intelligent, flexible environment. It is rich, deep soil to grow the roots of our Kemetic Traditional Religion.

Although Per Ankh is a very young Temple, around three years old, it is also a mature and well-established Temple. I am grateful to Rev Renee Levant who, as founder and Wehemu, has provided the theological, scholarly, and organisational leadership that has brought Per Ankh into being. The Temple and community will continue to rely on her for this leadership, and also for the development of other leaders to serve our expanding membership and mission.

We have some members who have been with us for a very long time. I’m thinking of Nebra, who creates the beautiful icons of the Netjer we all appreciate so much. And our Wabs, Wab Sandie and Wab Jen, who have been with Per Ankh from the beginning. And so many more—so many I can’t remember everyone’s name, although you all live in the bright warmth of my heart. You all are the lotus-topped pillars of the Temple we are building.

What we are about doing here is something very beautiful. We are not simply recreating what our ancient Egyptian ancestors did. Even if we knew precisely what they did, we couldn’t copy them precisely. If there had been an unbroken continuity between them and us, their beliefs and practices would have evolved through the press of history and increased knowledge. To do exactly as they did would therefore be untrue to the spirit and life of the ancient Kemetic faith. Neither are we creating contemporary religious practices with a Kemetic flavor. This also would be untrue to the living faith of our ancestors.

No, we are doing something much more delicate and much more powerful than either of these. We are discerning, step by step, the meaning and value our ancestors’ beliefs and practices had for them, to the best of our ability. And then we are bringing that meaning and that value into our contemporary world—sometimes by doing exactly as they did, other times preserving the meaning of their actions in ways that are at once more appropriate to our time and circumstances, and congruent with the faith we have inherited from them and the continued and living presence and guidance of our ancestors and the Netjeru.

Netjer reveals Itself in many ways, through many cultures. We are called to serve Netjer in this particular way, by creating the Kemetic Traditional Religion. And part of what is so exciting about this is that we are living our way into understanding and articulating our faith. You could say that we are building the road we’re traveling together, at the same time that we’re walking along it. I’m proud to be part of this project, and to be engaged in it with this community of people who love and serve Netjer.

What do I bring to this community? I bring many years’ experience of the religious life, enriched with systematic learning and reflection on the dimensions and meaning of that life. I bring education: I’m completing my doctorate in Religious Studies and Anthropology of Religion, with an emphasis on Christian mysticism and ancient Egyptian and African religions. (Previously I did five years’ doctoral work in Buddhism and Ancient Near Eastern Religions.) I am a writer and look forward to writing essays and books about our evolving faith; this is work Rev Renee and I are excited to be doing together. I am a teacher—I currently teach college fulltime online and have taught for over 30 years—and I offer that skill to the Temple and to its seminary, Sekhem College of Religion. I have extensive training and experience in trance work and in other transformational work, as both participant and teacher/trainer, and I put that at the service of Per Ankh and our community. I bring a lifetime of following Netjer’s guidance and direction, as best I could discern and obey it, through whatever turns and branches they have led me.

And who am I with respect to the role of Heri Tep? I simply fill that role. The Heri Tep holds the center of the community, providing the stability and energy containment the Temple needs in order to thrive. The Temple needs a Heri Tep and will always have one. My combination of skills, experience, love of Netjer and Its people, and maturity is what Netjer has said Per Ankh needs now. I am honored and grateful for this charge. But the role of Heri Tep and the person occupying that position are not the same. Heri Tep will continue, while the persons serving that function will change over time. The center will hold, even as the holding of that center will pass from one person to another, as Netjer requires. Like the role of priest, the role of Heri Tep is simultaneously a deeply, intimately personal one—Netjer has called me—and an entirely impersonal one—Netjer calls whoever is needed at the time. My task in this role is to worship and serve Netjer through honoring and serving the Temple community Netjer has called into being. No one could ask for a more dynamic and beautiful community than the one I have the honor of serving.

There are many new developments in the works for Per Ankh and Kemet Online. Rev Renee is chomping at the bit to send out the letter explaining them. We have experienced a time of Set energy, necessary although sometimes painful and confusing destruction; and now, as the waters of the inundation recede and new planting begins, Per Ankh and KOL are experiencing new growth and development. Heru has successfully contended with Set and has established the living community on the earth.

May our Temple and our community honor Netjer, maintain Ma'at, and re-enact Zep Tepi, the first time, the time of beginnings, the time of all potential.

May all of us carry Netjer in our heart/minds, reveal Netjer in our lives, and bloom like the blue Nile lotus in our relationships with one another.

May our community manifest and honor Heru, Aset, and Sekhmet, in Whose service Per Ankh and its first temple Per Sekhmet have been established to serve Netjer in all Its forms.

May we bring the energy of the Netjer Whom we love into our midst and, by using that energy, make our unique contribution to the Temple, the Kemetic Traditional Religion, and the life of Netjer in the world.

May we give honor and continuing life to our Akhu, the beloved dead, who have laid out the path before our feet, whose task we carry forward in our turn.

And may we let Ma'at ascend, on the fragrance of our incense and the love in our prayers and our actions for justice and right relations.

I ask for your prayers that I can be the Heri Tep Per Ankh deserves; and I will keep all of you in my prayers too.

Kheperu!

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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