By
Pet-sekhmet Ankh-Djehuti
Aleister
Crowley called The Gods of Egypt, “The most complete in their nature, so
perfectly spiritual and yet so perfectly material…”[i],
but already in his time, Budge had begun writing his books and The Hermetic
Order of The Golden Dawn had utilized them not only as Symbols of the Temple
Officers, but in their Rituals and within their Enochian System. But the modern
love of Egypt goes back even further, at least to Napoleon if not to the
Cleopatra of the Bard. And since then it has spawned hours of Egyptology
Television, Mummy movies, even Young
Sherlock Holmes and The Stargate stories and conspiracy.
An odd and rather confusing collection of impressions from Egypt:
from Re’s flying pyramid starship, and the reincarnated princesses of Sherlock
Holmes and the present Mummy movies, to Moses, and The Alexandria of Queen
Cleopatra. But much like the ruins of the Temples along the Nile, they show us
much of this great and misunderstood ancient culture. Today- despite
literature, art and governmental perfection, we still focus on the mystery and
grandeur of Egypt.
This could be our cultural
inheritance from Greece and Rome, as well as the Celtic Nations. They all
respected the religion and culture of the Two Lands. They all traveled to the
Scholar’s Paradise of Hellenistic Alexandria, and much of what we do know of
Egypt up until very recently came from classical sources. Even after The Rosetta Stone and our
discovery of Hieroglyphic, much of the same tone is still expressed.
The most common attempt to
rationalize away our wonder of Egypt is to say that The Pyramids, Temples and
Monuments they constructed are so impossible for us to believe that we are left
dumb-founded. Even in the USA they have been copied into such things as The
Washington Monument, The Luxor Casino, and MOMA’s Isis Temple. Somehow they do
remain pale imitations, perhaps because we can be certain how they were constructed
or because it comforts modern man to believe he could recreate those structures
either permanently or for Hollywood.
The other common modern belief,
often heard even in Archeological circles, is that the Egyptian love of The
Afterlife in its elaborateness is what fascinates our jaded minds. Admittedly in
Monotheistic and Western Visions of the Great By & By even Dante and Touched by An Angel are not quite as
involved as The Egyptian Afterlife. Small boys still play with Mummy toys,
pop-up books, cartoons, and even led to Reading
Rainbow detailing the Egyptian Burial- perhaps it is the grotesque-ness of
the brain-hook rending the gray matter out through the nose, or tales of The
Carter Curse. More likely it is The Treasures, and Majick that Egyptians accept
with Death: from Heart-scarabs, to the multiple coffins and canopic jars,
preserved pets and wine, to armies of Ushabi figures awaiting the Dead’s
command for any duty. Separately they are curiosities, but together they are
wonderful and remind us of a people that so loved each other that they left
food drops and looking holes in The Pyramid of Dzoser.
These reasons all seem good
enough for historians and screenwriters, but why are you reading this? It may
have begun with Mummies and Liz Taylor but grew into something greater, at
first ominous, spooky and nearly obsessive, then curious and wonderful. Call it
past-life attraction, as the movies and books of fiction nearly always do, but
some how everything I’ve mentioned wasn’t terrible for you, just friendly and
familiar.
Animal-headed Gods, a Judgement
based not on Sin and The Cross or Attachment but on The Heart, and a simple yet
profound comprehension of the Cosmos in the Philosophy of Ma’at. These you are
discovering, once more, and every day, because when self-righteous
Religious-types confront you about your Ankh, or collection of deities, these
are what you cannot explain. Nor should you, anymore than you would wish to
hear about Stigmata, or The Ever-fecund Great Goddess, thus the Power of
Mystery and Faith.
This Ancient Faith does seem
unusual to Modern Westerners both like Hinduism and Judaism, but as personal
and ever changing as Native American or Buddhist Traditions. All relevant
religions should be endlessly growing traditions of Faith, Ritual and Symbol
only the recent religious monopoly in the West made that seem alien. Today in
such a broad market place of faith the organic and flexible nature of the
Egyptian Religion may serve the need in the West for a system of belief both
diverse and traditional, both pagan and monotheist, given open enough minds and
modern understandings of those ancient ways. Remembering much of our faith was
left incomprehensible to even the Philosophers of Athens.
The lack of Dogma, and even uniformity
that even in most Neo-pagan Circles is seen as unusual, not quite being an
Organized Religion but eclectic in an authentic way, unlike so many new pagan
ideas. This again comes from the sheer volume of historical Egyptian History
and Tradition, as well as the variety of forms and symbols of worship. Today many draw very broadly in the
rediscovery of The Egyptian Faith, some from Hindu Tantra, others from Tibet,
some from Lakota occasionally even from Hermeticism or Judaism because they see
preserved Egyptian ideas in these other cultures, not wish-washy eclecticism.
It is better than the reconstruction of ancient rituals dependent upon the
tides of current scholarship. History cannot be ignored merely for convenience
of some guru, but it is as against Ma’at as pretending we are ancient Egyptians
in ritual and behavior, and then blithely returning to our computers,
televisions and coffee.
Egyptian Priests
and Religion were both Intuitive and Intellectual while permitting the
diversity necessary for a Theocratic Civil Service but it was a system of
religion akin to Buddhism, not mere archaic philosophy. This intellectual
challenge is seen in the purest Egyptian Priests today: that every myth has
multiple interpretations, the major Nedjer were worshipped and seen differently
in the course of history, and the mysteries of each were personal and ever
growing. This is the beauty and the wonder of The Egyptian Faith expressed so
profoundly in depictions of the balance of the heart, the gods and Ma’at.
Really, that is the Egyptian path and Faith- the rest is personal and
historical context, at least in a living religion.
That is our Faith’s central
Mystery, and to those drawn to it becomes the guideline for every action and
desire. It is the challenge of bearing an ankh and serving The Nedjer, as
shaman seek equality with the Natural World, Buddhists seek Enlightenment and
an end to Suffering, and Xian’s embrace suffering to become Sanctified. Living
through the heart at all times while seeking beauty and balance in everything
in the service of The Egyptian Gods is leaving the night behind. But beyond
this common understanding of the path is your personal devotion and commitment
to these principles and love of the Nedjer: the journey within each Ankh.