FAQ

I NEED HELP WITH X DEITY/ GETTING STARTED

If you are working, or looking to, follow a new deity you should try to find information on him.
You can of course, look in communities for such help. This section also applies to newcomers to
the religion as well.
Communities
Tumblr kemetic tag
Kemetic Orthodoxy Forums (take forever to accept you though)
Perakhet
Pagan Reddit
Youll find that a lot of the more useful information will come from books, however. Complete
List of Ancient Gods and Goddeses by Wilkinson is incredibly useful. For some deities, like
Osiris and Isis you can find specific books about them.
Book Suggestions (Beginner)
Complete List of Ancient Gods and goddess Richard Wilkinson
Complete List of Ancient Egyptian Temples Richard Wilkinson
Magic in Ancient Egypt Geraldine Pich
Red Land Black Land Barbara Mertz
Handbook of Egyptian Mythology - Geraldine Pich
Magic in Ancient Egypt Geraldine Pich
Following the Sun Sharaon Labode (Kemetic Author)
Circle of the Sun - Sharon LaBode (Kemetic Author)
Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice - Byron Shafer
The Priests of Ancient Egypt -Serge Sauneron
Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many - Erik Hornung
The Search for God in Ancient Egypt -Jan Assmann
Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom -Jan Assmann
Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt - Jan Assmann
 Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt - John Taylor

Website Suggestions
(online texts, sites to search for books, god (netjer) information, ect)
Hendalogy
Wepwawet.org
seshkemet
House of Sobek
Sacred-texts.com
The keep
Pyramid texts online
reshafirm
issu
per-sabu (Jackal Deities)
If you cant buy books try using jstor or scribd (might not have specific books on a deity) and
issu to find some papers. You may get lucky and find something incredibly useful, I know I
have.
If you are a student you can use your universitys library to try and request an interlibrary loan.
Generic Questions
Typhonian has a 101 tag on my blog. If nothing on here helps try reading through it, though a
lot of this section will be from that tag.
Ways to bond with your deity:
Some suggestions
Drawing Them
Reading about them
Doing an activity associated with them
Ptah is the god of craftsmen, so you could create crafts to honor him.
What is Maat?
 Jan Assman, Mind of Egypt.
Maat was Res daughter, and was the embodiment of Truth and Justice. Often she was
the social order and it was, and still is, vital that Maat be upheld.
Pharaohs are often depicted as offering Maat to the gods.
So, what are some of maats laws? Well, theres no set definition. Theres the negative
42 confessions which will help suggest some of Maats principles.
Theres also the Teachings of Ptahhotep, an ancient Egyptian who wrote on the subject.
I also suggest picking up a newer copy of the Book of the Dead. (Its more expensive, but
youre just pissing off money if you buy Wallace Bulges stuff.)
I have a Maat tag, but I dont treat her as a philosophical aspect, but as a goddess. So
when you look at my tag youll see both philosophy and god devotion.
How do kemetics do offerings?
Well, first off. You should probably purify yourself.
Ritual Purity
The Ancient Egyptians were pretty big on puritythe priests would often bath
multiple times a day. Theres even evidence that they would remove all their
body hair, including what was on their head. While modern worshippers arent
expected to bath that often, or shave their heads and wear wigs, it does mean that
cleanliness and good hygiene is important for ritual. The exact level that you
want to practice is really up to you, but heres kind of the bare minimum before
you start that ritual:
--wash your face and hands
--put on clean clothes, ideally linen or cotton
--avoid wearing animal products, i.e. no wool, leather, alpaca, etc, etc
Obviously, you can wash more than just your face and handssome people like
to take a full bath with oils and whatnot. Its also worth noting that the ancients
used natron to cleanse themselves with. Natron was a naturally occurring salt in
AE, and recipes to make your own abound. You can easily mix it with water to
scrub down with or to rinse your mouth with if you really want to go the extra
mile.
Finally, because it always comes up, in Ancient Egypt, a menstruating woman
would have been considered impure. That said, weve come a long way with
sanitary napkins and tampons, so its not quite as messy as it may have been back
then. Its best to consult with the Netjeru on that one and see what they prefer,
but if youre practicing good hygiene, youll probably be okay.
Offering Formula:
Once you are pure and ready to give them an offering, you can do an offering
formula. Explain in your offering:
Which Netjer it is for, and why you are giving it to him.
Example: Take this offering of fine bread and cool water, lord Sutekh, the divine
lanceman who protects Re on his daily journey. Let it please you my lord.
You can be positioned anyway you like, I personally kneel before the shrine to
show my submission to the gods, while some will stand and do the offering
gesture.
Sharon LaBode has a different way of doing offerings, based on the pyramid
texts. Heres a link to it. (Her channel is very useful, if you need more help. )
Here is a simplified offering formula you can use as well.
After you offer it you give time for the Gods to enjoy it, and then revert it. (eat it)
Do Kemetics Have Holidays?
Yes, we do. We actually have a great many holidays, so many you probably cant
celebrate them all.
The big ones are:
Wep Ronpet:
Wep Ronpet is the celebration of the birth of the gods, Heru-Wer the elder, Osiris,
Isis, Seth, and Nephtys. The day after is the new year for kemetics.
Here is a useful post talking about Wep Ronpet and how you can calculate it.
Here is a web archive link in case the OP deletes their post or changes their
username.
You dont have to celebrate this holiday, mind you. But its often the big one
kemetics celebrate. You could also choose to celebrate it according to the day it
arrives in Egypt, if you fancy that instead. (Should be in the summer, June-July
perhaps?)
Chewing Onions of Bastet:
???
Other Holidays
As mentioned before theres quite a lot. We know what a great deal were due to
ancient texts, but the problem is calculating it when it occurs for our modern
 times. Some of these holidays could be based on star positions (such as wep
ronpet) or were ROAMING holidays, meaning they didnt occur every year.
I suggest following Amntenofre. They have a tumblr, and a facebook. But more
importantly they create a book every kemetic year (new one comes out around
December) and they sell it on Amazon. This will give you the dates ahead of time.
I really recommend it.

Godphones, Divination, and Communicating with the Gods

One term youll see tossed around a lot here on tumblr is godphone. This is a simple
term referring to someones ability to hear the gods and talk to them. The exact strength
of this ability varies wildly, and it can often be inexact and confusing. Sometimes its
closer to a radio (and you may occasionally see godradio used), where the stations are
often staticky and unclear. Its also worth noting that those who hear the gods rarely hear
them physicallyusually its more like a voice in your head thats not your own.
Even the strongest godphone can be staticky and unclear, especially during times of
stress or anxiety, so its important to be cautious about what you hearsometimes your
own voice may be louder, and sometimes you may tune into something thats not a god.
Be discerning, and it something sounds off, it probably is. Never be afraid to ask
questions if you have a godphone.
That said, not everyone has a godphone, and thats totally okay. Actually, quite a few
people dont have a godphone, and they usually use a form of divination to
communication with the gods. Divination can honestly be helpful even if you have a
godphone, because you can use it to clarify what youve heard. There are many types of
divination, and many books on it have been written, so Im not going to go into too much
detail. Cards are probably the most popular choice, either tarot cards or an oracle deck
(the latter is like a tarot deck, but the cards are differenttarot decks will have particular
cards in them, just with different art).
You can even use a regular playing card deck if youre a stealth pagan. Cards are
probably also the most versatile, as you can do a wide variety of spreads and get more
than just a simple yes or no. Another form youll see often is divination using a
pendulum, which is basically a balanced weight on a string or chain. This is typically
used along with a board or cloth with marked sections. Ive seen some complicated ones,
but usually theyre marked for simple yes or no questions.
Next up would be runes, which are usually marked stones that you can throw, and then
interpret how they land. There are plenty of variations on this concept, and one can also
throw bones or other items with meaning. Other methods of divination include scrying, I
Ching, reading tea leaves, geomancy, and, well, pretty much anything ending in mancy.
Generally you just need a random element and an idea of what the possible outcomes
 mean. One of my favorite modern forms is shufflemancy, where you put your music
player on shuffle, pick a number, and skip that many tracks.
Once youve decided on the type of divination that most appeals/works best for you, then
you simply ask your god/gods your question, and perform a reading. If you have trouble
with it, you can also have someone else perform the reading for you, but be advised that
not everyone offering readings is good at itbe picky, and, of course, watch out for con
artists (especially if youre paying for it).
Why there are different versions of Egyptian gods names?
Pronunciations:
Please read this article.
Spellings:
Why its difficult to work out how the Ancient Egyptians pronounced things.
For a start the languages the Ancient Egyptians spoke is dead, no one natively
speaks it anymore. While it can pretty much be learned to be written and read like
any modern foreign language, there is still a lot of debate over how it was spoken.
Experts in linguistics can try to work out how it was pronounced using modern
Coptic. It was once described to me as being like trying to work out how Latin
was spoken only with access to modern Dutch.
Secondly, the Ancient Egyptians very helpfully didnt write down vowels, there
is some exceptions with the as but, typically try to image a sentence without the
vowels, or even just your name without vowels? Most of the time you can work it
out, but sometimes you get mad things like;
aAh, aAh, aAh, aAh, which means behold this glorious donkey.
Also bear in mind that Egyptian history lasted over 3000 years, there were
multiple dialects, regional accents and changes to spoken language over that
period. And its sometimes, but not always reflected in the written language. For
example during the early New Kingdom (up until Amarna) the written language
was called Middle Egyptian, which reflected what was being spoken in the
Middle Kingdom. It is like us all speaking like we do now, but writing in
Shakespearean English.
So we all know the Egyptian language uses hieroglyphs, but there are actually
three types within that;
ones that denote words
ones that denote characters
and determinatives or basically a picture of what the word is for clarity
So for example, Sekhmet

The first hieroglyph means Skhm and means power, its a picture of a mace.
The second is a letter indicator meaning kh as is used to help pronounce the
first.
The third is a t ending, which is called the feminine ending. It baiscaly means
who you are talking about is female. Which means that it becomes Skhm.
The last is a determinative of a goddess meaning that the word youve just read is
the name of a goddess.
So how do we get from Skhm.t to Sekhmet?
One answer is looking at how the Greeks wrote her name, they wrote Sekhmet as
Sachmis. So from this we know there was a vowel between the S and KH. But
where do the es come from? Mostly, I think that its simply
convention/tradition. Using es to fill in the vowel gaps is pretty common,
because its easy to read in modern English.

Another example is Hathor, is only Hathor in Greek, but has multiple

transliterations, for example Het-Heru, Hat-Hor, Hethert the only real
difference is the vowels. And this can be put down to how it is usually spelt in
Egyptian;
One symbol, which is a pun of sorts, her name means the enclosure/house of
Horus so the picture shows a Hawk inside an Enclosure. The Ancient Egyptians
reading this would have understood the subtly and symbolism without needing
her name to be spelt out literally. In the same was as everyone immediately
understands what the eggplant emoji means without it having to be spelt out
Other names can be much more complicated, because the Ancient Egyptians
didnt have standardised spellings, and sometimes names and words were
 changed so that they looked more beautiful, even though it didnt make as much
sense.
Syncretism
The formulae Amon-Re does not signify that Amun is subsumed in Re, nor Re in Amun.
Nor does it establish that they are identical. It observed that Re is in Amun in such a way
that he is not lost in Amun, but remains himself just as much as Amun does, so that both
gods may be manifest separately or in other combinations.
I love this quote, I think it explains syncretism in a succinct way. I always like to image it
visually using colours. Imagine that one god is red, and another is blue, they syncretise to
create purple, but purple was never really created. It was always just red and blue. I dont
think that syncretisms are new deities, but more the aspects and qualities of their
individual counterparts emphasised for a specific reason.
How did deities syncretise? One of the only examples of a myth where one deity
becomes another is the Destruction of Mankind from the Book of the Celestial Cow. In
this myth, Ra is king, but growing old. Worried by mankinds rebellious nature, Ra
commands his daughter to transform into the lioness-headed Eye of Ra to smite his
enemies.
But even this myth, that is referenced across temples inside and outside of Egypt, dont
always agree who Ras daughter was and which deity she turned into.
Who was syncretised? Many gods became syncretised throughout Egyptian history, these
deities tended to be of the same gender, as relationships between gods of differing
genders tended to appear as consort relationships rather than as a syncretism. The deities
that became syncretised tended to fall into one of two categories; same but different, and
opposing.
Same but different. These deities tend to be grouped together either because they share
similar visual representation, share similar epithets, take part in the same duties or share
job titles. In the first category, we have examples like Amun-Ra, Anubis-Wepwawet,
Sekhmet-Bast. These deities already share characteristics before being syncretised.
Anubis and Wepwawet both share epithets are roles like Opener of the Way, both have
canid representations, and are both called upon during burial.
Sekhmet and Bast are both lioness deities of war and destruction, but Sekhmet and Bast
are from Upper and Lower Egypt respectively, placing them together can be seen as an
act of unifying Egypt.
Amun and Ra, can both be seen to be supreme state gods, and so their combination
further enhancing the state and the pharaoh.
Usually these types of deities, either share an animal representation, epithets or duties.
On the other side we have opposing deities, like Set-Horus, Hathor-Tefnut and Amun-Ra.
 Set-Horus, are defiantly opposing deities, for further information please see the
Contendings of Seth and Horus. But they join together to strengthen Egypt, and
respective gods of the black land and red land, they unite to create well Egypt.
Hathor and Tefnut, on the others hand are not very similar, but can be combined to unite
the myth of the Destruction of Mankind and the myth of the Distant Goddess. This was
done so that one could share the others myth.
As already mentioned above, Amun and Ra, can be seen to be similar, but they are also
widely different in the realms that they inhabit. Amun is a hidden deity that is present in
the dark, while Ra is the sun, sailing each day on his sun barque. The combination of the
two, creates an almost omnipresent deity.
Across pantheons? Some syncretisms can be seen to have taken place across pantheons.
This is most obvious with Greek deities merging with Egyptian deities during the
Ptolemaic period. This happen as an influx of Greek people came to equate their deities
with the Egyptians ones, and as such the deities and rituals merged. Good examples are
Djehuty-Hermes, Hathor-Isis-Aphrodite and Serapis.
So what does this mean practically to the modern kemetic?
Worship of syncretised deities in my experience is not the same as just worshiping two
deities. They appear as one, but seem to flow from one to the other. One of the best
descriptions Ive seen floating around is squishy.
For the worship of same yet different syncretisms, it appears as if the aspects that they
share are the most prominent, and the differences are more hidden. For example, Hathor-
Nut, is mostly connected with the night sky, to me she has more of a distant, dancing,
celestial-ness, than either Hathor or Nut on their own.
Opposing and cross-pantheon syncretisms in my experience are much more volatile.
Particularly with opposing syncretisms, in this case it is their differences that are
highlighted, and a balancing act should be sort between the two. Likewise, with cross-
pantheon syncretisms, it is a balancing act between two cultures, two rituals, two ways
of offerings.
How can I worship syncretisms?
The same way you do any other deity.
Can I create my own syncretisms?
Difficult question, it depends on how soft-hard a polytheist. I tend to stick with only
historically attested syncretisms.
Quote from p.239, Bonnet, 1952 referenced in p.91 Hornung, 1982, Concepts of God in
Ancient Egypt, The One and the Many.
I keep seeing this Im a child of.
That is a Kemetic-Orthodoxy tradition, or KO for short. It is a form of kemetism started
by Tamara Siuda.
You can go on their website to learn more, specifically this page about divine parents, but
it is a rite where they divine who your spiritual parents are.
If you want to learn more about KO I would suggest browsing their forums and website
pages for information.
How do I know if this is the gods or my cocktail of anxieties and mental illnesses?
That is a really good question, and one to be aware of whenever dealing with gods, the
supernatural, magic, or anything else dealing with the occult. Anxiety and mental illness
can make just regular life confusing and difficult, but spiritual life? The combination can
create a minefield. That said, you can learn to tell the difference with some practice. The
first thing to keep in mind is that the gods are not out to harm youso if you hear that
small voice in your head and its saying nasty things or encouraging you to do something
wrong or unhealthy, its probably your mental illness. If its telling you to do something
that will encourage your personal growth and well being, thats much more promising,
although it could still just be you. Often, you can verify whatever messages youve
received with divination or some research, and with enough practice youll slowly be able
to tell the difference between the gods and your own voice(s). Dont worry if it takes a
long timedepending on your own individual cocktail, it may be harder or easier. Be
patient, and take everything with a very large grain of salt until you get the hang of it.
What are the contendings?
The contendings is the name given to the Horus-Seth myth, where after Seth had
murdered Osiris, the king of Egypt, Isis fled from Seth to give birth to their (Osiris and
Isis) son, Horus. Horus grew up and started to fight for his throne. In an 80 year battle
(both bloodshed and court battles) it was eventually divined that Horus would be the king
of Egypt. There are variations of the myth, earlier interpretations have Horus and Seth
ruling over their respective parts of Egypt, and uniting together to protect the Pharaoh. In
later dynasties, when Seth was demonized, he would not gain anything from the
contendings and Horus was the sole ruler.
If you want to read more about the contendings, try:
Websites
Reshafirm
Tour Egypt
Amentetneferetwordpress.com
TLDR version of the contendings
 Books / PDFS
Sacred and obscene laughter in The Contendings of Horus and Seth, in Egyptian
inversions of everyday life, and in the context of cultic competition.
The Conflict of Horus and Seth. A Study in Ancient Mythology from Egyptian and
Classical Sources
What offerings are appropriate?
In Ancient Egypt, the common offerings to the gods were as follows: fowl (apd), ox (kA),
alabaster (shs), bread (t), clothing / linen (mnht), incense (snTr), beer (hnqt) and oil
(mrHt).
However, he likelihood that youd have Ox to offer to the gods is quite slim. I cant really
think of any offerings that are necessarily taboo aside from blood offerings.
Many pagans arent a fan of junk food offerings, while its not something I grit my
teeth at its something I try not to make a regular habit. No ones to stop you from doing
it though, really, if you find the gods enjoy it, by all means keep at it.
Personally, while I dont often have beer or oil to give, I usually give the gods a meal or a
specific item that is hinting to an epithet or myth of them in some way. For example,
followers of Horus could offer pig to symbolize Horus victory over Seth.
Water is also a great offering. This is usually the thing I offer the most, and its one I
think anyone can do. Remember, you revert the offerings after so you can drink the water
after the gods have enjoyed it.