Since I can’t figure out how to add these new posts to the old KRT site, I’m just going to make a tumblr post that I can pin to this blog and edit every now and again. (Remaining topics and KRT revival rules under the cut) There’s also a WP version.
If you wrote one and I missed it, or if you didn’t want yours posted here let me know and I’ll add/delete it!!
FAQ
What are the remaining topics?
The remaining topics from the original KRT, as well as some new topics added, are as follows: :
Adapting Problematic Practices: How do we adapt problematic practices and myths from antiquity when they rub up against our morals and values? What about how that coincides with controversial topics within the larger Kemetic community, such as godspousing, eclectic Kemeticism, and the priesthood?
Living Kemeticism: What does living your faith mean to you? How can others bring their religion into their day to day life or live their religion?
Kingship and practice: One of the first thing that many new Kemetics hear about and learn about is the concept of kingship within the community. For this round of KRT, we discuss whether kingship plays a role in your practice or not.Does the concept of Kingship/Pharaoh impact your practice, and if so, how?
Differences in practices: How do you deal with them? How do we overlook our differences in practice and UPG? What do we do if our experiences don’t line up with others?
Negotiating Holidays: How do we negotiate Western secular and/or popular religious holidays? Do we ignore them? Do we co-opt them? Do we have celebrations with our non-Kemetic friends/family and then hold our own celebrations, if we have any Kemetic festivals around that particular time?
Kemetic Calendars and Holidays: One of the first questions anyone will ask about a new religion is- what are your holidays? For this round we discuss the trials of setting up a Kemetic calendar.What about holidays? Do we need them? How do I figure out when holidays occur? How do I celebrate holidays? Can I make up my own holidays?
Underground Kemeticism: How public are you about your beliefs and practices? How has it (or not) impacted your work life, your familial and friendly ties? What advice would you give to uncertain Kemetics about how to approach either telling or not telling others about their beliefs?
Epithets: What use do epithets have in modern kemeticism? How do you use epithets in your Kemetic practice? Why?
Feminist Kemeticism: How does being a feminist affect a kemetic? What is your position on feminism in kemeticism? Why?
Queering Kemeticism: How does being queer or LGBT affect a kemetic? What is your position on “queering” kemeticism? Why?
Leftist Kemeticism: How does being on the political Left affect a kemetic? What is your position on leftism in kemeticism? Why?
Kemeticism in Diaspora: How do we practice our religion without a unified homeland? What does it mean to be a solitary practitioner? In what ways has the area you live in affected how you adapt your faith? Why?
Offering Basics: Offerings are a staple in any Kemetic practice. For this round we discuss some offering basics. Offerings 101: What do I offer the gods? How do I determine what to offer? Can I offer without a patron? Do I need to revert my offerings? How do I do that? What if I can’t?
Living in a Religious World: What is Kemeticism's place in the world of religions? How should Kemeticism deal with other religions, pagan or not? What about atheists?
Terminology and Language: how necessary is it? Is there a right or wrong way to use terminology and language in your practice?
Working With Heka: How do you work with heka? How can you utilize heka more in your day to day life? Any tips for people trying to get started in using heka?
Highlights of Kemeticism: What parts of Kemeticism do you enjoy the most? How has Kemeticism enriched your life?
Kemeticism is a Journey: how has your practice changed since you started out? How did you find your place within the Kemetic sphere? What have you learned through trial and error that newbs may find helpful or useful?
Altar and Shrine Basics: A shrine is a place of devotion to a particular deity, and is central in a lot of Kemetic’s practices. For this Round, we’ll be discussing the specifics about setting up your first shrine, and any rules regarding shrine creation.
Offering Basics: Offerings are a staple in any Kemetic practice. For this round we discuss some offering basics.
Differences in Practice: Everyone has a different way of doing things. This round we discuss how we handle our differences.
Daily Ritual Basics: One of the first questions that every new Kemetic asks is “how do you develop a daily practice?” This round, we discuss some of the basics of setting up your own daily practice.
The Ethics of Curses and Execrations: Many religious traditions have a history of performing curses and the like, and Kemeticism is no exception. For this round, we discuss if there are any ethics attached to these practices and the nuances of performing such acts.
Bribing and Threatening Gods: There are times when every practitioner is at the end of their rope and may consider bribing or threatening their deities. For this round, we discuss whether it is permissible to do either in Kemeticism.
Mythology and You: There is a lot of discussion regarding mythology and ancient Egypt. For this round, we discuss what role that mythology may play in a Kemetic’s practice.
Multiple Paths Sometimes you will start on the path of Kemeticism, only to find that other paths call your name or interest you. This week, we discuss how to handle situations like this, and whether it is okay to mix or practice multiple paths at once.
How did you get started? Every Kemetic has to start somewhere. For this topic, we’re discussing how each of us got started in Kemeticism, and sharing any tips or stories that we might find helpful.
UPG and You: The Basics UPG, or Unverified Personal Gnosis, is a large part of many modern Kemetic practices. For this round, we discuss the nuances of UPG. Are there rules regarding these terms? How important is UPG in your practice, and how important should others’ UPG be in my practice?
The Egyptian Gods and You: Figuring out what role the gods play in your religious practice can be tricky! This round, we discuss the following topics related to gods:
How do you survive fallow time?: Everyone has dry spells in their religious practices. How do you handle the fallow times in your religious practice?
Ritual purity: what does that mean for my practice? Before doing a Kemetic ritual, it’s common to do something special to prepare yourself. What do modern Kemetics to do prepare themselves for ritual?
What are the rules?
We’re running this revival democratically. If you want to vote on which topics we do and when, let me know and I can add you to our discord where we discuss and vote on stuff :>
If you want to add your take on one of these topics (or one of the KRT topics we haven’t gone over as a group yet!) just let me know and I’ll add it for you.
I will add ANY post anyone asks me to to this post so long as it is both a) about the topics listed on the KRT site/listed on this post and b) not bigoted or drama-mongering by my metrics. If you think I’m censoring you for not adding everything automatically, make your own post.
You do not have to be in our discord, or on tumblr, or even a kemetic to add to this. You do not have to be “as good a writer” or “as knowledgeable” as the rest of us (by anyone’s metric) to participate! All we want is MORE participants!! :D
KRT: Pragmatic Kemeticism - How does kemeticism Affect you personally?
I dont think I understand the word the way its supposed to be understood for the current task, so this can be Very Wrong. But I have always understand the word Pragmatic to mean Practical, therefore, this post is about that, maybe, you know I write these in 1 sitting and dont plan it beforehand nor do I proofread this before hitting the post button.
As a person, Kemeticism improves my understanding of the self, of the soul, and my place in existence.
In kemeticism, there are 9 parts to the human soul - Khat, Ba, Ren, Ka, Shuyet, Ib, Akh, Sahu, Sekhem - while it has yet to cause my Ascension or Out-Of-Body experiences, thinking about the soul parts did lead to many realizations that was integral to how I think the Soul functions, which affects my magical practices and my relationship with the Netjeru.
But even more than these Soul Theories, the religion helps me with Routines and Consistency. There is an established formula for offerings, for worship, for approaching the gods, and I have created a ritual that fits my personality and lifestyle, budget included.
It is how I always give offerings before I do Divinations, Sigils or Rituals, it is how I actually spend my money for shrine supplies (candles, incense, etc), its how I called for my Lords when I am in trouble Over There, or when I need some extra boost when doing magic.
Being a Kemetic, being a part of this religion, definitely affects how I see the world and interact with the world, it may not be grand, and it may not be far reaching, but it still does, and it does so in a way that is usually beneficial to others, more often than not.
My Free Readings I do at ArcReads2 (and its predecessors) and the sigils I make for free at ArcSigils2 (and its predecessors) are very direct results of me perpetuating Maat in the world because it is both a charity for people in need but also an offering to the Netjeru. Acts of Kindness Towards Others now have a stronger appeal because it has a very direct result to the Netjeru who receives them as an offering. I was already (for most parts) kind before, but I like to think I am less of an ass now compared to who I am before I work with Ptah.
I am a very How Does This Benefit Me kind of person. Its at the forefront of my thinking, always. Before I do anything, I must know why its something worth doing, and working with the Netjeru has proven to me, time and time again, that they are, most of the time, cannot prove to me that they are worth it, at all.
All the rituals done, the spells written, the magic devised, accordingly to instructions of the Netjeru, they work well enough when you deal with Souls, and Energy Work, and Protection.
But Money?
MONEY?
ACTUAL CASH DOLLARS MONEY?
oh honey
The unlearning process that had to happened here, caused my biggest (to date) argument with Ptah, me leaving the Kemetic Fandom Discord for a year, cutting off my ties with both Religion and Magic for the whole of that duration, and made me ask Very Important Questions to myself.
what CAN they do?
like what can they bring to the table that makes it worth me spending time, money, and effort for them?
Well, I found out that they actually CAN do a few things, and they do affect my Skill Set. My proficiency and potency with magic, my abilities to do shit Over There, my accuracy when working Over Here, the Netjeru actually and regularly do affect them.
And that is the best that they can do, at least for me.
Maybe because I am out here in South East Asia, so very far from their ancestral homeland (and just a few devotees in the whole region to boot) that their powers are greatly diminished, and even then my skills and expertise in magic do came from my own hard work, and an insane amount of trials and testing, but the Netjeru do give a great boost to my magic, seen usually by others (diviners, healers, mages) as a golden hue in my energy and a very obvious Egyptian feeling.
But because of that 1 year break, I pretty much has dropped all my expectations in the Netjeru. And when I say drop I do mean drop.
Its a very similar sentiment.
I believe in the Netjeru, but I dont trust them, at the very least, I dont trust that they can actually uphold their promises, 9 out of 10 times.
But this post was supposed to be about Pragmatic Kemeticism, so lets see if I can connect these two dots.
(did you seriously think I will actually get out of my way and plan this post properly good lord no)
I was looking for a different gif, but I couldnt find it, but I found something else that made me think, hey, thats right, that did happen.
I cannot even begin to tell you how much not having any expectations in the Netjeru is such a Freeing and Liberating feeling and experience.
Not having expectations means not having any demands towards the outcome of the relationship, that means I dont expect anything out of the Netjeru, out of Ptah, and if they do anything, anything at all, its a bonus, because I do not demand for my needs and expectations to be met.
what a concept
In Buddhism there is this thing called the Four Noble Truths
One of the things talked about by it is that one suffers when one's expectations are not met.
and bitch did I suffer.
But thats the Growth.
That's is IT.
My path and experiences with Kemeticism has reach this point in time in which I have learned that when I place no expectations on Kemeticism, the religion, the gods, the system, the ideals, it actually enriches my life even more.
Hows that for connecting the dots.
I went into this post with no expectations at all that it would be coherent and I came out with even less expectations that it would make sense.
Despite being tardy, this was one of the most fun and meaningful KRT posts to date in my opinion. Although the prompt for Modern Mythology t
Despite being tardy, this was one of the most fun and meaningful KRT posts to date in my opinion. Although the prompt for Modern Mythology technically asked us to write about the topic of modern day Kemetic practitioners writing their own myths, many of us (myself included) chose to simply write these myths themselves rather than a persuasive piece, and I find that both telling and inspiring; when you put human beings in a sandbox, and tell them to talk about sandcastles, mostly they choose to build sandcastles instead. For my piece, I wrote a short myth explaining the origins and the function of my rituals for propitiating the Outlaw Dead. I consider it both a first draft, and an invitation to others who practice this type of ancestor veneration to extrapolate upon it -or indeed, to create your own mythology as it suits you.
Religion and devotion is usually framed as a sacrificial act, purely in terms of what services we as human beings are supplying to the gods and spirits. While this is certainly a valuable approach,…
KRT Revival: Pragmatic Kemeticism. How does kemeticism help you personally? How can it help your community, personally? What resources do you need/use to do YOUR version of kemeticism?
