THE ANCIENT

EGYPTIAN PRAYERBOOK

By Tamara L. Siuda
The 2009 edition of The Ancient Egyptian Prayerbook was published by
Stargazer Design. Its text, excepting corrections to typos and resizing the layout
to fit a new larger format, is otherwise identical to the first edition published in
2005 by Azrael Press of Canada.

Copyright 2005-2009 by Tamara L. Siuda.

All rights reserved.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, or to

inquire about review copies, write to the author in care of Stargazer Design,
2328 E. Lincoln Highway, Suite 108, New Lenox, IL 60451.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-0-578-03071-5

Printed in the United States of America

 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction/How to Use This Book
Addendum for the 2009 Edition

1. The Why (and How) of Praying

What is Prayer?
Why Pray?
How to Pray
A Special Note about Translations in this Book

2. The Center of Our Faith: The Kemetic Orthodox Ritual of the Senut
Meeting God: Shrines
Setting up a Personal Shrine
Opening the Personal Shrine
Purifying and Dedicating a Personal Shrine
The Kemetic Orthodox Ritual of the Senut
Notes to the Ritual of the Senut
Senut Questions and Answers
Recipes: Natron and Kapet

3. Prayers and Hymns for Specific Gods (Netjeru)

Amun: The Hidden Lord
Aten: Splendid Disk of the Sun
Atum (Temu): The Complete
Djehuty, Ever Wise
Heru: Soaring Hawk(s)
Min: Fertility Personified
Ptah, the Creator
Ra: Everything Under the Sun
 Set, Before Whom the Sky Shakes
Sobek: Shining Crocodile
Sokar: The Falcon King of the Night
Wepwawet, Opener of the Ways
Wesir, King of the Ancestors
Yinepu: The Royal Child, Companion and Guide

4. Prayers and Hymns for Specific Goddesses (Netjerut)

Aset, Mistress of Magic
Bast, the Invisible Paw
Hethert: Gold of the Gods
Ma’at, the Way of Life
Mertseger: Peak of the West
Mut, the Mother
Nebt-het: Friend of the Dead
Nut, Starry Vault of Heaven
Sekhmet, Lady of the Red Garment
Tauret, Great One of Birth

5. Prayers & Rituals for the Ancestors/Blessed Dead (Akhu)

Standard Funerary Formula
Prayer to Geb for the Akhu
Akhu Prayer to Nut under the nighttime sky
Blessing for the dead
Libation Chant to the Akhu and/or Wesir
Bread Offering prayer for the Akhu
A Hotep-di-Nisut
Another Hotep-di-Nisut
To free a ghost

6. Family Prayers
Short Traditional Grace
 Longer Traditional Grace
Prayer to Amun for a sister and her family
Prayer for one’s spouse and children
Prayer for protection in pregnancy
Fertility prayer to Khnum
Heka to end arguing
To protect the family

7. Children’s Prayers and Rituals

Prayer to be said for a child at sunrise
Simple light prayer for a child’s shrine
Children’s Protection Heka
Protection against darkness

8. Blessing Prayers
Full Moon Healing Prayer to Djehuty
Prayer to Set for a good life
Prayer to Amun for successful healing
Four Winds prayer
Prayer to Hethert for love
Prayer to Djehuty for wisdom
Writer’s Prayer to Djehuty
Heka against the “Evil Eye”
Blessing Prayer to Amun-Ra
Prayer to Ra for prosperity
Heka to Heru-sa-Aset for good business
Prayer to Imhotep for a cure in a dream
Heka to Khnum to restrain anger
Chant for truth
Spell for confidence
9. Protection Prayers
Prayer for protection of an enclosed space
Prayer to Set to avert evil
Prayer to Amun for deliverance from danger
Prayer to Amun for a good trial
Prayer to Shu and Hethert for safe flight
Double Truths Heka
Heka against “evil sleep”
Prayer to Djehuty for vindication
Invocation of the Set-beast for protection
Heka to Nit for protection
Prayer to Serqet for freedom from poison or chemical addiction(s)

10. Rituals and Magical Utterances (Hekau)

Offering Song for Hethert
Lighting fire prayer
Lighting incense prayer for Heruakhety
Traditional incense prayer
Offering prayer to Shu
Nisut’s Hymn to the Rising Sun
Request for a Dream Oracle from Heru
Request for Dream Oracle from Aset, Nebt-het and Wesir
Purification Prayer
Censing Prayer

11. Daily and Holiday Prayers

Prayer for the New Crescent (Pesdjentiu)
Morning Litany to Khnum-Amun
Kheruef’s Prayer to the Rising Sun
Kheruef’s Prayer to the Setting Sun
Horemheb’s Prayer to the Rising Sun
The Lamentations of Aset and Nebt-het
 Hymn to Sunrise
Dawn prayer to Nebt-het
Prayer to Atum at Night
Prayer for the Akhu at the New Moon Festival (Pesdjentiu)
Prayer to Sokar-Wesir and an Akh at the Full Moon Festival (Tepy-Semdet)
The 42 Purifications (Declarations of Innocence)

Appendix I: The Names of Netjer (Classical and English-Egyptian

correspondences)

Appendix II: Concordance (sources for prayers)

Appendix III: The Kemetic Orthodox Festival Calendar

Appendix IV: For Further Study/Bibliography

 INTRODUCTION/
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
“Sleep came to Wagadu for the first time through vanity, for the second time
through falsehood, for the third time through greed, and for the fourth time
through dissension. Should Wagadu ever be found again, She shall live so
forcefully that vanity, falsehood, greed and dissension will never be able to harm
Her.”

—From a Soninke myth of the goddess Wagadu, retold by Clyde Ford in The
Hero with an African Face

This book you hold in your hands is very special. It is not just a collection of
words in translation, of vowels and consonants strung together to sing an ancient
song left silent far too long.

It is not just the work of a person fascinated by the history of a people thousands
of miles—and thousands of years—away from her, nor just a labor of love by the
founder of one particular modern re-manifestation of their religion, the Kemetic
Orthodox Faith.

It is a gift to God, specifically God in Its many forms as known to the people of
northeast Africa now called Egyptians, long before the Religions of the Book.
The religion of the Egyptians, as in the tale told by their southeastern neighbors
the Soninke, was also lost through vanity, falsehood, greed and dissension:
through Roman Pagans and Byzantine Christians, Asiatic and African Muslims
and “enlightened” Europeans, and through a so-called Renaissance in thinking
that brought atheism to many places where previously people had walked hand
in hand with the Divine. This most ancient Egyptian religion, either in parts or
the whole, has been found again, despite and perhaps even through these
barriers, by many people all over the globe, and not only the physical
descendants of its original devotees.
Some of the ancient Egyptian religion was never lost, and survives today both
inside its beloved country of origin and outside it as part of continuing practice
and influence in other religious traditions. Other parts went into stasis, like a
caterpillar in a cocoon, waiting for those who could unlock its mysteries through
reading its texts, using the ancient heka, the magic of words, to bring it back to
life. Those people have arrived and, as the ancient litanies state, “the bolts have
been thrown back and the doors of Heaven are opened.”

This book was designed to be used. Don’t read it once and put it away – read it
again and again, share it, modify it. Make it yours. Whether you seek simply to
understand something of ancient Egyptian spirituality, or you practice the service
of the Netjeru, the ancient Egyptian religion’s gods and goddesses, and wish to
bring authenticity and the voice of tradition into your spiritual life, this book is
for you.

Carry lightly in your heart what you find within. Use it, either as a worshipper or
as a respectful observer, and let this faith live again, as it once did for thousands
of years beside a river in a land not so far away after all.

Tawy House, Joliet, Illinois

Regnal Year 11, II Shomu
(May 2004 CE)

Addendum for the 2009 Edition

I am deeply indebted to the special efforts of those who helped make this new
version of the Prayerbook possible. Dua-Netjer for Jordan at Azrael Press, who
granted permission for his excellent design to be adapted and without whom the
Prayerbook never would’ve happened at all. I am also very grateful to Adrian for
his ideas and imposing sanity breaks during the revision process; to Antybast for
final proofing; to all the Shemsu and Remetj who made suggestions, sent
corrections, or helped fund the revision project; and for Yamen and Shefyt who
went above the call of duty by supplying me with last-minute indexing and
editing. Your help made this dream Become.
 CHAPTER 1:
THE WHY (AND HOW) OF PRAYING
What Is Prayer?

The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary gives the word prayer the

following definitions:

1 a (1): an address (as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought (2): a set
order of words used in praying

1 b : an earnest request or wish.

2 : the act or practice of praying to God or a god.

3 : a religious service consisting chiefly of prayers, often used in plural.

4 : something prayed for.

While all four of these definitions are easily met by the contents of this book, for
our purposes, let’s define prayer as “any communication made between a human
being and a divine being.”

Why Pray?
Human beings across all times and cultures have felt a need to communicate
with the unseen world and the Divine for many reasons. Ancient Egyptians, or
Rem(etj)-en-kemet, the people of Kemet as they called themselves, were very
conscious of this need to communicate and evidently did so with enough
frequency and fervor that they earned the title of “most religious society in the
world” from the ancient Greeks. Modern devotees of the ancient Egyptian gods
and goddesses also engage in acts of prayer for many purposes. An excellent
book by a modern Egyptian scholar, Ashraf Sadek’s Popular Religion in Egypt
During the New Kingdom, suggests that prayers form a formal verbal contract of
a transactional exchange process between gods and men, and postulates four
types of exchanges made in ancient Egyptian prayers that are still applicable to
modern usage:
1. Reward: “I give You this, so You will give me that.”
2. Conditional offering (human-made conditions): “Give me that, and I’ll give
 You this.”
3. Conditional offering (god-made conditions): “You must give Me this if I give
you that.”
4. Thanksgiving: “I am giving You this, because You gave me that.”

The four types of exchanges can be added together in a prayer, so a litany to a

particular god, for example, might include both a conditional offering and a
reward, or a thanksgiving and a reward, or any combination of types.
Throughout this text you will encounter prayers of all four types, combinations
of the types, and prayers that can be adapted to different uses depending on the
intention and needs of the person who is praying. What is important to remember
is that prayer works, and that it is a central practice of Egyptian faith both in
antiquity and in its modern derivations (called Kemetic for the ancient name of
Egypt).

How to Pray
In a piece of wisdom literature attributed to Any, a man who served as a scribe in
Queen Nefertari’s palace, we are told: “Don’t raise your voice in the temple, as
the gods dislike shouting. Pray alone with love in your heart, keeping every
word silent. The gods will grant your wishes, hear your words and accept your
offerings.”

Prayer can be formal or informal, constructed with fancy rituals with flashy
gestures or a simple thank You whispered on the wind. What matters is not so
much how one prays...but that one does pray. The gods and goddesses are only a
prayer away. What are you waiting for?

A Special Note about Translations in this Book

Unless specifically noted, all translations of source material in this book,
including the Kemetic Orthodox Ritual of the Senut, are my own. My
translations were made from original Egyptian artifacts (papyri, monuments and
other documentation) wherever possible, or from photographs or reproductions
of such artifacts when necessary, and were checked against multiple sources if
available and all other existing translations in several languages where possible
to assure their meaning has not been altered or lost.
In the following pages, the words Kemet and Kemetic are used rather than Egypt
and Egyptian to distinguish between the original culture of the Nile Valley
(called Kemet in its own language) and the modern nation in that northeastern
portion of the Valley called the Arab Republic of Egypt, Masr in Arabic.
Kemetic (ancient Egyptian, or hieroglyphic) terms are italicized on their first
usage, then are given without italics. Gods’ names are transliterated directly from
the Kemetic rather than using their Greek or Classical spellings, but names of
ancient cities are given in both Kemetic and Classical spellings (e.g.,
Mennefer/Memphis). A list of correspondences between Kemetic and Classical
renderings of divine names is given in Appendix I.
It should be understood that in some of the following prayers, in order to
preserve the poetic cadence of the originals or to render them useful for
memorization or chants, my final translations may not be absolute word-for-
word renderings of the original, and paraphrase or phrase reordering may be
utilized to conform the prayers into English scansion. Appendix II lists
correspondences to the source material, for those interested in further research of
the original ancient documents.
 CHAPTER 2:
THE CENTER OF OUR FAITH: THE KEMETIC
ORTHODOX RITUAL OF THE SENUT
The central ritual focus of the ancient Egyptian religion and its modern
derivative the Kemetic Orthodox Faith, and the foundation upon which both the
ancient and modern Kemetic religious philosophies are mutually formed, is
Ma’at, the concept (and the goddess) of truth, order, and what is right. Our
purpose as the creations of the Self-Created One and its many individual
manifestations, the gods and goddesses, is to further the influence and purpose of
Ma’at in the universe to the best of our ability. One of the most important ways
we can establish a personal relationship with Ma’at and with the gods She
emanates from is by engaging in the act of prayer, a communication between us
and the spirits of the Unseen World as well as the Divine.

Meeting God: Shrines

From ancient times, shrines were kept as sacred meeting grounds between the
Seen and Unseen. Shrines were created in natural alcoves such as caves and
oases, and in manmade structures ranging from small thatched huts to the
engineering marvel of the ancient religious world of Kemet: the nearly mile-long
temple complex at Karnak. A shrine is the seat, or house, of the divinity to
Whom it is dedicated. In the same way that people go to each other’s houses to
share news and have fellowship, one goes to a shrine to make personal contact
with its inhabitant: to praise, to offer, and sometimes, even just to talk. A shrine
is a very special and holy place within Kemetic faith, and every devotee benefits
from being able to visit a shrine as often as possible.

Given, however, that modern Kemetics do not (yet) have the benefit of a state-
sponsored shrine network in every one of their home towns, how can the shrine
experience be achieved today, for those who do not have the ability or means to
travel to those few places inside and outside of Egypt where formal state shrines
now exist?
This was the question I began to grapple with in 1993, as I had recently founded
my own temple to the ancient gods and wished to teach my congregants how to
worship in the traditional ways.
From my Egyptological studies, I knew that while most temple work in antiquity
was formally sanctioned by the state and performed by a trained, career
priesthood on the everyday citizen’s behalf, there was also ample evidence of
something we could call personal piety: worship ceremonies and personal
devotions carried out in an informal manner, on an individual basis, alongside
the group-oriented state temple organization. At that time, I was unable to find
enough information on ancient personal piety to adapt complete individual
rituals to our use, though over the intervening years, I have uncovered more
material that is added constantly to our Kemetic Orthodox canon as it is
researched. However, I was also aware that ancient priests often served on a
rotating basis; and would therefore have formal state training at their fingertips
when they went about setting up divine and ancestor shrines in their own homes.

It then followed that it might not be so difficult, or even improper, to suggest that
these same part-time priests, who made up a significant segment of Kemet’s
population, might use the same rituals they used in the temples at home, albeit in
a scaled-down fashion. Just as modern-day Catholics speak portions of the Mass
in their personal practices outside of the Church, the ancient priesthood provided
us with a model to create a modern, at-home version of temple rituals—rituals
that, according to ancient inscriptions, had been passed down through time as
part of sacred temple tradition.

What I then created in late 1993, with input, encouragement, and approval from
the god Djehuty via an oracle which I had solicited for this purpose, was a shrine
ritual for the use of literate, modern individuals: not an official, traditional state
ritual, but a form that could be performed by any person in the religion, at any
time and in a sacred space of their own making, creating a continuity in our
otherwise free-form personal practices. It was not intended to be a dumbed-down
version of temple ritual or a way for non-trained individuals to “make believe”
they were ancient priests in a state temple, but a fully functional ritual for
individual use, containing all the necessary elements of all Kemetic ritual,
whether practiced by one or a thousand.
The result was the creation of household shrines by each Kemetic Orthodox
devotee and a once-daily ritual to go along with them, which I named the Ritual
of the Senut after the Kemetic word for “personal shrine.”

Setting up a Personal Shrine

As their first hands-on experience in Kemetic Orthodoxy, new members are
taught to set up a personal shrine and perform the Ritual of the Senut. Each
member is given the full ritual at the beginning of his or her faith journey, and
while it may seem very simple, those of my students who practice Senut in their
personal shrines find that its depth and complexity are far deeper than its simple
form might suggest.

Before one may perform Senut, one must have a shrine where it can be
performed. A personal shrine does not have to be an elaborate affair; in fact, a
person does not even have to spend money to create one unless (s)he chooses to.
The household shrine is the least formal of Kemetic Orthodox shrines (and was
for the ancients as well) and can contain anything a devotee wishes to put inside
it. However, there are a few ground rules for establishing a household shrine:

1. A shrine is the seat of Divinity. Therefore, it should not be placed out in the
open, in a high-traffic area, nor should it attract too much attention. A personal
shrine is not intended to put the gods and goddesses on display; rather, it exists
to set aside a special place in a devotee’s home where They may visit whenever
They wish. As a devotee will probably spend time before (or “in”) the shrine,
praying, meditating, and the like, it should be placed in a comfortable area.
Bedroom shrines, if there is no other room to place them in as an alternative,
should be placed as far away from the sleeping area as possible; additionally,
other inappropriate places for a shrine include bathrooms or other places where
germs, dust or dirt accumulate. Consider that the shrine is created for a god or
goddess to actually live on and in – this will clarify which spaces are optimal
and which are not good rather quickly.
The personal shrine, once established, remains in this location permanently,
unless a devotee cannot set aside a permanent space and sets up a portable shrine
(objects placed in a permanent container such as a chest or basket) for this
purpose.

2. A shrine should be enclosed; that is, it should have doors, or, if it is box-like, a
lid that can be closed when Senut is finished. This is mandatory for Kemetic
Orthodox priests, who have icons in their shrines that must be shielded from both
light and everyday eyes.
3. Kemetic Orthodox devotees who are not priests do not have to have images of
gods or goddesses in their shrines. If a devotee takes vows to the service of a
particular god or goddess in the faith, it is often desirable to have an image or
object pertaining to that god(dess) in his or her shrine, and at that time, (s)he
would be instructed on how to acquire and use one. However, it is more effective
to begin the practice of Senut without using specific images or accoutrements of
any particular divinities, as this permits an unbiased ritual mindset and helps to
establish a relationship with the divine powers as an abstract whole
(“God”/Creator) as well as individualized parts (the gods and goddesses). I
generally encourage new members to try Senut without any deity-specific items
in the shrine for a period of one to four months for this reason.

4. A shrine requires the following items, which can be purchased, taken from
items already owned, or created by hand. Note that once they are given to the
shrine, they will no longer be available for any other purpose:

a. A white cloth for the floor/bottom of the shrine. This can be of any material
except wool, but should be pure white in color. Linen is typical, and was used
extensively in antiquity. Flammable, synthetic, or stain-prone fabrics are not
recommended.

b. A food-safe, waterproof bowl for liquid offerings. The material the bowl is
made from (and the chemical composition of any glazes if it is glazed pottery)
matters. Bowls made of bronze, pewter, brass or lead crystal cannot be used for
alcoholic offerings, as these materials leach lead and other heavy metals into the
liquid.

In antiquity, ceramic, stone and glass bowls, as well as metal bowls of silver and
gold were used for this purpose. A warning: “Egyptian alabaster” (a form of
calcite) is not waterproof and should be used for dry offerings only!

c. A food-safe bowl for dry offerings. In antiquity a bowl with little feet on the
bottom (a three-dimensional rendering of the hieroglyph for “to bring”) was
often used for this purpose. Bowls painted with lotus images, or bowls modeled
like lotus flowers (found commonly in Asian markets) are particularly
appropriate for dry or liquid offerings.

d. A light source: a candle (traditionally white or red) or an oil lamp will suffice.
Beeswax candles are more pure and also more traditional than modern paraffin
ones. Replicas of ancient oil lamps can be obtained. I do not advise the use of
actual ancient oil lamps, even though they may be inexpensive from some art
dealers; not only do many come from robbed tombs, but they may no longer be
fireproof due to age and fragility.
e. A bowl with charcoal for resin incense, some other form of incense in a
fireproof holder, or an oil diffuser for those allergic to smoke, are all appropriate
for incense/scent delivery in the shrine. In antiquity, frankincense and myrrh
were used most often, as was a spicy-sweet native incense, kapet, called kyphi by
the Greeks. A recipe for kapet is given at the end of this chapter.

Opening the Personal Shrine

“...priests in all temples dedicated to His Name carry out the service of these
images three times daily, and place the sacred tools before them, accomplishing
all the rites appropriate to their offices, as one does for the gods of the nomes in
the temple festivals and on the procession days and the epagomenal days.”

—From the Rosetta Stone

A Kemetic Orthodox devotee spends time each day in a personal shrine as part
of his or her commitment to the gods and goddesses and the faith. In antiquity,
state priests prayed before the temple shrines three times daily: at sunrise, at
lunchtime, and before sunset. Today’s Kemetic Orthodox devotees are requested
to spend at least 15 minutes in their personal shrines to perform the Ritual of the
Senut at approximately the same time each day, once per day. Kemetic Orthodox
w’abu, or purification priests, practice a state shrine ritual once per day in
addition to their daily Senut for a total of two rituals per day, and state temple
rituals are performed three times daily by the king on behalf of the entire faith
(in addition to Senut, for a total of four rituals per day). Devotees are welcome to
practice Senut at the same time formal Kemetic Orthodox state rituals are held
for maximum effect: at sunrise, noon, sunset and midnight during the festival
year.
While this may seem like a heavy time commitment to those unaccustomed to
formal prayer, we find that the discipline gives our lives special meaning, and
assists us in connecting with the gods and goddesses, the ancestors, and
ourselves. Exceptions to daily Senut are made in three cases: when a person is
physically ill, when (s)he is traveling away from home, or when otherwise
blocked or prohibited from regular Senut by an unavoidable emergency or
circumstance. Netjer understands that we may not always be able to keep our
daily commitment to the Senut, but we try to be as consistent as we can in its
practice.
Now that you understand the principles behind and ingredients required to create
a shrine, if you have decided to take up this discipline and create a personal
shrine for the Ritual of the Senut, the first thing you will need to do is purify it
and yourself, and then you will need to dedicate the purified shrine for use.

Purifying and Dedicating a Personal Shrine

Acquire two bowls for purifications; these can be the same bowls you will use
for dry and wet offerings in your shrine. Fill one bowl with clean, cool water and
the second bowl with natron. Natron is a sodium salt used both as a washing
powder and as a drying agent in the process of mummification in Kemet, and has
a long history associated with cleanliness and purity. Its Kemetic name is
netjeryt, or “that which makes things holy.” You will find a recipe to make your
own natron at the end of this chapter. Sadly, exporting natron in its naturally
occurring form from the Wadi Natrun of the Egyptian Delta, the only place it can
be found, is not permitted, so modern devotees must make our own. Some of our
more talented members have offered to make natron for public use and it can be
purchased from their websites (see Appendix IV).

If you are unable to make or otherwise acquire natron, you may use non-iodized
rock salt in the natron bowl. Rock salt is generally available in two varieties: sea
salt and kosher salt. Be aware that sea salt may not be safe for consumption (that
is, don’t drink the water such salt is placed into, or let a pet do so), because it is
made by evaporating natural seawater and may contain bacteria or other
pollutants. Because of sea salt’s potential impurity, we prefer kosher rock salt as
a natron substitute. While traveling or in an emergency, you may use table salt,
but this is not recommended as table salt generally contains iodine and other
chemicals.
Bless the water and natron in their separate bowls, using the blessings included
with the Ritual of the Senut. Then, you will need to purify yourself before
purifying the shrine. Take a bath in warm, clean water and pour 10 grains of
natron into the bath along with your usual soap. While cleansing, concentrate on
the nature of purity and cleanliness and how it relates to the universal purity we
know as ma’at. As you leave the bath, dress in clean clothing (traditionally pure
white in color and dedicated only to shrine use).
If you cannot perform a ritual bath or the clean clothing steps of the Senut, you
must at very least perform a purification of the mouth, the final step of the
standard pre-Senut purification process. To do this, put some water into your
water bowl, say the blessing of water and natron, add 10 grains of natron to the
bowl of water and stir it with the little finger of your dominant hand four times.
Take a sip of the water and natron mixture into your mouth and swish it around,
visualizing the removal of impurity. Spit the water and natron onto the ground or
into the sink.

You are now ritually purified and prepared to begin the dedication of your
personal shrine.
Set up the shrine with the candle or lamp at its center and set the incense burner
or oil diffuser in front of the candle or lamp. Say the blessing of the incense
included in the Ritual of the Senut. Light the incense or diffuser, and let the scent
fill your senses.

Raise the bowl of water and natron over your head. If there is a patch of sunlight
nearby, hold the bowl in the sunlight; if not, hold it within the stream of
incense/oil smoke and imagine golden sunlight, the gift of Ra, or the hands of
the Aten, shining down in brilliance upon it and making it glow with its own
inner, pure light.

Stir your fingers in the blessed water. Think of the Nile River, the great god
Hapi, without Whom Kemet would never have existed. Thank Hapi for His gift
of water.

Touch your wetted fingertips (wet them again in the bowl as necessary) to each
of the objects in the shrine and lastly to the container (shelf, table, box, etc.) the
shrine is placed within. Repeat until you feel each object has been properly
introduced and purified before Ma’at as an ast-Netjer, a Divine Seat.

The Kemetic Orthodox Ritual of the Senut

RUBRIC (note 1)
Her Majesty took council with her ka on how she might expel evil and suppress
lying in the land. The plans of Her Majesty were an excellent refuge, repelling
violence behind and delivering the people from the oppressions that were among
them. Behold, Her Majesty spent the whole time seeking the welfare of Kemet
and searching out instances of oppression in the land.... She seized palette and
roll; She put it into writing according to all that her ka had said. She spoke as
follows, directing them to the way of life and leading them to Ma’at:

CHAPTER OF RITUAL WASHING BEFORE THE SENUT (note 2)

Words to be spoken over a bowl of water:

Homage to Tayet, Sovereign of the Gods, Who purifies all gods.
Purify us, adorn us, as You purify and adorn the gods.
Remove all evil and free us from terror as Ptah does.
O water, may you remove all impurity!
O Hapi, wash away the seeds of illness.
You Who wash the face of Heru, You Who wash the face of Set,
You Who wash the face of Nit, You Who wash the face of Her flesh,
May You wash my face, Yourself.

My fetters are untied by Heru, my bonds are undone by Set.

I am pure, my Netjer is pure, and I will not succumb to evil.

Words to be said over ten grains of natron:

It is pure, it is pure, it is pure, it is pure.
My natron belongs to Heru,
My natron belongs to Geb,
My natron belongs to Djehuty,
And my natron belongs to Heru-Dunanwy.
My mouth is the mouth of a milking calf between the thighs of my mother Aset
on the day She gave birth to me.
Mix the natron into the water, pour the bowl into the bath, wash the body and all
its orifices and rinse.

CHAPTER OF BEGINNING THE SENUT with incense burning (note 3)

Words to be spoken while lighting a lamp and incense:

Incense burns and fire shines.
Fire burns and incense shines.
The breath of Netjer lifts me up.
May the incense please You,
May the flame please You,
May you love me, as I love You.

CHAPTER OF PERFORMING THE SENUT (note 4)

Make a libation of cool water, four times. The words to be said while making
these libations are:
The first libation
I offer cool water to the Akhu. [name your ancestors here]
May they be cooled.

The second libation

I offer cool water to Wepwawet, Who Opens the Way.
May He be cooled.

The third libation

I offer cool water to my Sebau. [name your teachers here]
May they be cooled.

The fourth libation

I offer cool water to Ma’at. May She be cooled.

PERFORM HENU BEFORE THE SHRINE (note 5) and present your

offering(s).
Words to be said while making the offering to Netjer:
O Netjer, may You satisfy Yourself with the repast to the right and to the left.
Make private prayer to Netjer in your own words. Spend time in Netjer’s
presence. (note 6) When you are finished perform henu before the shrine and
thank Netjer for Its presence. Remove the foot (note 7) as you leave.
Perform the Ritual of the Senut in the custom of every day. It is a ritual a
thousand times effective, established by Nisut-Bityt Sekhenetma’at-ra Sotep-en-
ra Sotep-en-amun User-ib Hekatawy, given life, stability and dominion like Ra,
for the People.

It is come to an end, as shown in writing.

Notes to the Ritual of the Senut

1. A rubric is an introductory paragraph, often contained in Kemetic religious

documents, and written in red ink. It was provided to explain what a ritual was
about or to set out instructions, rather than words to be spoken. The rubric of the
Ritual of the Senut draws its inspiration from the rubric of the Laws of
Horemheb, the last Nisut (king) of Dynasty 18, who penned a new body of laws
to re-establish ma’at in the land after the Amarna Period. “Her Majesty took
council with her ka” means that the current Nisut consulted the Kingly Ka (a ka
is that part of the human soul most like the modern conception of personality),
that part of herself mystically associated with all Nisutiu since the time of
creation, to discern how best to re-establish this basic ritual form for the people.
“Evil,” “lying” and “oppression” (isfet, gereg and binet) are Kemetic terms used
to refer to the doings of the Uncreated (the opposite of ma’at in the world, or
ultimate evil) and how they are expressed in the world, through isfet-related
speech (gereg) and isfet-related actions (binet).

2. Before one presents oneself in Netjer’s house, one must be ritually pure. In
antiquity as well as today this is accomplished through washing of the physical
body in a ritual manner while contemplating and praying to cleanse the spiritual
body. A ritual washing involves purifying a bowl of water, then purifying 10
grains of natron, combining the two and pouring the mixture into the bath or
shower before washing. The words of the purification are taken from the same
words spoken in temples by purification priests. Tayet is a goddess associated
with linen and purity in general, an aspect of the goddess Aset; here She is called
“sovereign of all gods” as purity is ma’at and that which the gods live upon.
Hapi is the name of the god of the Nile River, source of water. Heru, Set and Nit
are mentioned in the water blessing to represent the cornerstones of the universe:
the Two Lands personified and the personified Nun as Creatrix. Ptah is
mentioned both as a protector and as a form of the Self-Created One. The natron
blessing mentions the gods associated with kingship and therefore the
establishment of universal order: Heru, god of kings; Geb, first king and Father
Earth; Djehuty, lord of wisdom and prime minister to the gods; and Heru-
Dunanwy (“Heru of the shredding claws”), a form of Heru associated with
protection. The person is compared to Heru son of Aset (Heru-sa-Aset) in the
last line: the “pure mouth of the milking calf.”

3. The fire should be lit first and incense (or oil diffuser) lit from this fire. Use a
match instead of a lighter if at all possible, but be aware of flammability and be
careful. Do not allow your shrine light to burn unattended, and try not to have
flammable items in your shrine or too close to the light while it burns. The words
of this blessing are taken from the Pyramid Texts, some of the oldest known
Kemetic ritual documents.

4. A fourfold libation before making offerings is known from state temple

rituals. However, the wording of surviving ritual texts is incomplete and
contradictory in places, so an adaptation of the libation concept for use in the
Ritual of the Senut needed to be made. The words included in our Kemetic
Orthodox fourfold libation were modified and adapted after approval by Netjer
via divination and oracle from the format used in an analogous African tradition:
the mojuba, a similar libation made at the same chronological point in rituals by
the Yoruba nation of West Africa. Interestingly, according to their own tradition,
the Yoruba believe this and other rituals they perform were taught to their
ancestors by visiting Kemetic priests. The Akhu, literally “shining ones,” are the
ancestors; you may name your Akhu as you pour this libation. Wepwawet is a
god of journeys and Opener of the Ways, Whose standard is carried in front of
ritual processions as well as armies. Sebau means “teachers,” those responsible
for your secular or spiritual instruction, and you may name your Sebau as you
pour this libation. Ma’at is the foundation and center of our faith and therefore
holds pride of place in our libations. Cooling is performed in order to pacify and
please these entities, and make them more inclined toward our protection and
help.
5. Henu gestures are the ritual body postures used in both ancient and Kemetic
Orthodox ritual. For Senut, devotees may perform one or both of two common
henu, called dua (above left) and sahu (above right). Dua, which is made by
raising both arms palms forward, is a gesture of praise and greeting, and is so
commonly used that it is often referred to generically as “henu” by devotees.
Sahu, made by striking the chest with a fist while raising the other arm in dua
posture, can be done standing as shown above, but is traditionally made kneeling
on one knee. It is a strong gesture, designed to demonstrate obedience and
submission before a god. The words of the offering ritual accompanying the
henu given in the Senut are taken from formal Kemetic state ritual.

6. The bulk of the Senut, the thing that makes it truly personal, is the next
section: its private prayers. This is your time to talk one on one with the gods
and goddesses. Say all that you wish. There are no official or unofficial, right or
wrong things to say. No more than 15-20 minutes in shrine is necessary for most
purposes, but if you want to stay longer, stay as long as you need to.

7. Remember to perform a last henu to thank Netjer for speaking with you, and
then back away from the shrine four steps, without turning your eyes or body
away. Then the ritual is finished. You may walk forward, put out the light, and
put away the shrine implements. This entire set of movements, called “removing
the foot,” is done out of respect for Netjer, on the principle that one should never
turn one’s back on the Divine. Be sure your shrine space permits you to do this
safely!

Senut Questions and Answers

1. When should I do Senut?
Kemetic Orthodox devotees, including new members and priests, are asked to
perform the Ritual of the Senut once per day. Try to perform Senut at the same
time each day, to establish spiritual discipline. Senut should not be performed
more than once daily, nor should a single session last more than 20 minutes
except in special circumstances. Living your life is as much a prayer as the
Senut, and it must not take precedence over the life for which you are giving
thanks in shrine. Once a week, include a special Akhu veneration in your Senut.
This consists of reading the names of your ancestors aloud and providing special
offerings for them during the personal prayer portion of the ritual. You will also
want to leave your Akhu special offerings on their birthdays, anniversaries,
family holidays and special Kemetic festivals throughout the year in their honor.

2. When should I avoid doing Senut?

Do not perform Senut when you are sick or injured enough to be in pain or
otherwise physically or mentally impaired; when traveling far from home or
staying in a place where performance would be difficult or impossible; or if you
are bleeding, whether because of female menstruation or from an open bleeding
wound or sore for males or females. If you cannot do Senut on a given day or
even for an extended period of time, don’t worry. The gods and goddesses
understand that sometimes things happen that keep us from our responsibilities,
and sometimes taking care of ourselves is top priority. There is no penalty or
punishment, human or divine, for not being able to perform Senut. Go back to
shrine as soon as you feel well enough to do so, and even if you cannot perform
the Senut, do not neglect to pray. One can (and should) pray anytime one feels
the need, not just during Senut!

3. Do I have to take a full bath before Senut? What if I can’t?

While a ritual bath as outlined in the ritual is the preferred form of purification,
you can make ablution in a shower if necessary.

If you are traveling, or if you absolutely cannot do either a shower or a bath, you
can wash the orifices with the natron and water mixture applied to a clean cloth,
and rinse the mouth out with natron and water, for a bare minimum of
purification.
4. What do I wear in Senut?
If possible, set aside “pure raiment”: clean, unstained clothing, preferably
undyed (white or a natural color) that you wear only when performing Senut. If
you cannot do this, whatever you are wearing must still be physically clean; and
you should put it on after the ritual bath (ritual nudity is not a practice in
Kemetic Orthodoxy, nor was it an ancient practice). The color of your clothing is
not as important as its cleanliness and the cleanliness of your body underneath;
in some parts of antiquity priests were permitted to wear street clothes in
temples, but they were always required to wash body and clothes beforehand. If
you wear shoes in shrine, make sure they are clean (perhaps shoes set aside just
for Senut) and do not have track outside dirt through the ritual area. Bare feet are
acceptable, and white sandals made from natural materials are traditional.

5. What if I find something I want to use as a shrine tool after my original setup
(like a new bowl or lamp)? What do I do with the old one? You may
decommission a piece from your shrine by washing it in water and natron and
then placing it in sunshine for four days. You may also choose not to return an
object to general use, but instead recycle it by giving it as a gift to another
Kemetic devotee for use in his or her own shrine.

6. What kinds of incense can I use? What if I’m allergic to incense? Whatever
type or brand of incense you decide to use, be sure you know that all of its
ingredients are acceptable. A common component of inexpensive incense sticks
and cones made in India for example, is cow dung: sacred to Hindus, but ritually
impure for us. Many common incenses and some essential oils include the
chemical urea, a derivative of animal urine and thus also considered ritually
impure. Because of allergic reactions, some devotees find that an essential oil
diffuser works better than incense, providing aroma without setting off allergies.
Others simply do not light the incense in their shrines, or use freshly cut flowers
or aromatic plants for scent instead.

7. What if I can’t stand or kneel to perform a henu?

Netjer understands medical and physical limitations. Consider dedicating a chair
to Senut use and sit, use a kneeling pillow, or bow your head reverently. (The
practice of bowing from the waist before shrines or persons, made famous in
“sword and sandals” films of the early 20th century, is not regularly attested in
Kemet; bowing is a cultural practice in countries further east and was featured in
such films as part of an exotic, homogeneous “orientalism.”) Find something
that balances your physical limitations with a desire to be sincere in your Senut.
The object of henu is to offer one’s body as a token of thanks, not to put yourself
through agony.

8.Should I share my Senut with others?

The Ritual of the Senut is intensely personal; it is intended to be an intimate time
for you to meet with Netjer. As such, Senut is not a performance, and is not
meant to be put on display for those who do not or cannot understand its
meaning. However, as Kemetic Orthodoxy and its ancient counterpart are family
oriented, and we do not wish secret rituals to be a source of contention or
difficulty, if your family wishes to know what you are doing and why, you are
more than welcome to show them the Senut or have them participate if they wish
to. It is important, however, to avoid giving the impression of spiritual play
acting, which the Ritual of the Senut most certainly is not. Some Kemetic
Orthodox do perform Senut together at special holidays and on a personal basis;
this is acceptable but not necessary as the Senut is intended for individual use
and other group-oriented rituals are available for group formats.

Recipes: Natron and Kapet

Various natron and kapet recipes have been used by the Kemetic Orthodox since
the opening of our first temple. Here are two simple ones, from a number of
different recipes collated by Stephanie Cass, one of our senior members:

Natron
Note: use kosher salt for best results. Sea salt will give the natron a fishy scent
and is not guaranteed safe for drinking.

1 part salt
1 part baking soda (sodium bicarbonate: do not use baking powder!)

Mix the dry ingredients. Pour into a deep saucepan and cover with water to
about one-quarter of the saucepan’s depth. (The deeper the saucepan, the less
likely the mixture is to bubble over).

Heat the salt/soda/water mixture to a light boil, stirring constantly. You may
notice a harmless, natural chlorine smell as the mixture heats; if you are sensitive
to this smell, open a window or otherwise ventilate the area. Add water if it gets
too dry. Stir and heat until the mixture is thick enough to spread on a flat baking
pan or cookie sheet without running.

Remove from heat and spread the mixture across the pan with a large clean
spoon or spatula. Set your oven to 225 degrees F and heat the natron for 2-5
hours, keeping an eye on the process to avoid browning or burning. When the
mixture has dried, a hard, crystalline substance will remain. Remove the pan
from the oven and break mixture into small chunks (Stephanie suggests “corn-
kernel size”), or use a mortar and pestle to powder the natron into very fine
grains, and store in an airtight container. One cup of salt and one cup of baking
soda usually will create enough natron for six months of Senut use.
Kapet (Kyphi) Incense
¾ cup honey
3 cups raisins, finely ground
¼ cup myrrh powder
¼ cup mint leaves, finely ground
½ cup cinnamon, finely ground
½ cup cardamom, finely ground
½ cup frankincense, finely ground
½ cup juniper berries, finely ground (substitute: ¼ cup gin)
benzoin powder for rolling
sweet red wine to moisten the mixture

Mix all dry ingredients together except frankincense resin. Add wet ingredients
except honey (including wine and gin if used) to moisten the mixture, then
permit the entire mixture to marinate overnight.

The next day, mix the frankincense resin and honey and bring to a boil, then add
the previously marinated ingredients and allow all ingredients to cool. Roll the
combined mixture (which should have the consistency of bread dough) into
small balls. Spread benzoin on a flat surface and roll the balls in the benzoin.
Store in an airtight container for three weeks, and the kapet is ready for use.
Frankincense resin hardens to a consistency that is nearly impossible to remove
if allowed to stick to cooking utensils; either do not use a pot you use for
cooking food to boil the honey and frankincense, or wash any surfaces the
frankincense touches immediately. Benzoin is not food-safe; consider this when
choosing where you will roll the incense balls in the powder.
 CHAPTER 3:
PRAYERS AND HYMNS FOR SPECIFIC GODS
(NETJERU)
In Kemetic Orthodoxy, devotees can undergo a special rite of passage to learn
the identity of the god and/or goddess Who is their spiritual Parent: the architect
of their very existence and the manifestation of Divinity their lives belong to. As
part of serving one’s Parent god(s) (usually one, but in some cases, two), all
Kemetic Orthodox devotees, from postulant to priest to king, perform a daily
ritual called the Senut within personal shrines erected in their houses in honor of
those Parent(s). The Kemetic Orthodox Ritual of the Senut is outlined in Chapter
2 of this book.

The prayers in this chapter and the next are designed to assist in personalizing
the Ritual of the Senut for Kemetic Orthodox readers, and to provide prayer
sources for those readers not of the faith. Prayers for many gods and goddesses
are given, along with commentary on offerings and other special ways to honor
these particular manifestations of the Divine (Netjer in the ancient tongue).

If you do not find a particular god listed here (or a goddess listed in chapter 4),
be sure to check in later sections of the book, where more specific prayers to
many divinities are included under other subject headings.

Appendix I provides some background on the particular names and spellings

used for the gods and goddesses included in these chapters, and also why the
Kemetic Orthodox often refer to Them as Names (of the Self-Created One).

Amun: The Hidden Lord

Amun is the King of the Gods, the Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, a
major Name of Netjer in Uaset (Thebes) of Upper Kemet, known today as the
city of al-Uqsur (Luxor). As the Lord to the Limit who created all things, this
god represented in the hidden wind and intangible sunlight eventually
syncretized with the royal cult of Ra to emerge as Amun-Ra in the Middle
Kingdom. Successions of Uaset’s rulers propelled Amun’s fame to national and
eventually international status. Even Alexander the Great sought Amun’s
blessing before becoming Kemet’s ruler.

It is possible that conceptions of Amun and Amun-Ra influenced conceptions of

the Hebrew/Jewish (and later Christian) God. We do know that He influenced
concepts of Greek Zeus and Roman Jupiter, as both the Greeks and the Romans
considered “Ammon” to be a form of the same divinity.
Amun (as well as the Amun-Ra syncretism) is generally depicted as a man
bearing a long, curved sword called a khopesh, wearing a tall crown with two
feathered plumes and a red and white pleated kilt. Less frequently, He is shown
as a ram with downturned horns (not to be confused with the ram with wavy,
outstretched horns representing the god Khnum), as a ram-headed man, or as a
criosphinx, a ram-headed seated lion. Often, His skin is colored blue,
symbolizing lapis lazuli, an expensive imported gemstone said to be a substance
the gods chose to embody Themselves in.

As offerings, Amun is very much enamored of scents and incense. He is known

from a very early age as “Lord of Myrrh” and this remains one of the best
offerings to Amun a person can give. It has been reported by His children and
other worshippers, in antique and modern references, that when Amun comes to
bless a person the sweet, pleasant smell of myrrh or other incense fills the air.
Amun is often referred to in relation to Zep Tepi, or “the first occasion,” a
Kemetic reference to the beginning of time or the moment of creation, as in the
following hymn where He is not only the first god, but a god Who created
Himself:

1. Hymn to Amun as the Self-Created One

Amun, Atum, Khepera, Ra,
One Who made Himself millions,
Ptah-tatenen of Zep Tepi.
You made Yourself with Your own hands,
by Your own will.

2. Praise Song for Amun-Ra

He is Amun-Ra, first to be king,
God of Zep Tepi, vizier to the helpless.
He does not take bribes from those who do wrong,
He does not speak of what He has not witnessed,
and does not regard the man who boasts.
Amun judges the land with His fingers,
And His words are inside our hearts.
He judges the wrongdoer and sends him to the fire;
He sends the doer of ma’at to the West.

Aten: Splendid Disk of the Sun

Aten is the physically visible sun, the yellow sphere in Earth’s sky that can
fructify or scorch. The Aten-disk was venerated as a form of Shu, Ra, or Heru
from the late Middle Kingdom onward and was not, as is often mistakenly
believed, invented by the New Kingdom ruler Amunhotep IV/Akhenaten.

However, in the New Kingdom and particularly during the rule of Akhenaten’s
father Amunhotep III, the Aten disk did enjoy a higher level of worship. During
Akhenaten’s reign, for reasons not entirely clear in the historic record,
Akhenaten declared other gods invalid and Their priests useless, and ordered all
of Kemet to worship Akhenaten himself as “Sole One of Aten,” who would then
take the people’s prayers to his Father. He did not actually order them to worship
the Aten; texts state that only Akhenaten was qualified to do so, as the Disk’s
personal intermediary.

It is important to realize that Akhenaten’s religious reforms did not represent a

shift toward monotheism, another common but incorrect assumption. Akhenaten,
like all other kings before and after him, offers an image of the goddess Ma’at in
friezes, and his own hymns refer to the sun-disk by the full name of Ra-
Heruakhety in His Name of Shu Who is in the Aten, indicating Akhenaten’s
“destruction” of other gods was selective, and that his intent seems more to have
been to create a cult of personality than to negate other religious cults. The
people were not ordered to worship the Aten, but to worship Akhenaten and his
family as the embodiments of Aten and His family upon earth.
A number of ancient images and artifacts confirm Akhenaten’s true heresy:
replacing the religious traditions with himself as the focal point of worship and
limiting the personal interaction between everyone else and their own god(s). He
deifies himself as Shu and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti as Tefnut, the twin
children of the Self-Created One in traditional Kemetic mythology. In an
obvious example of this deification, Nefertiti’s unusual blue crown is actually
the crown of the goddess Tefnut, and was not worn by human women, not even
queens, before or after the Amarna period. Akhenaten’s so-called “new religion”
sought to remove the gods from the unseen world and force them firmly into the
seen, transplanted to a utopian new capital city, Akhet-aten the Horizon of the
Aten, carved out of a desolate area of Middle Kemet where no city had ever been
placed before.

This new religion did not long outlast its creator. Strong backlash against the
Atenist movement after Akhenaten’s death resulted in the loss of much of Aten’s
prestige, and Aten was never restored to His level of worship prior to the
Amarna period. The Kemetic Orthodox do permit Aten’s worship; we agree that
Aten is a form of Ra-Heruakhety, just as ancient hymns praise Him. We do not,
however, embrace Akhenaten’s form of Aten worship, where only one person is
permitted to speak to the Divine and all others must then worship that person.

Offerings to Aten are similar to those given to Ra, Heru (particularly as

Heruakhety), and Amun. He prefers citrus fruits, sweet cakes and vegetables,
and seems not to respond as well to animal meats or alcoholic beverages other
than beer or wine. Aten should be worshipped outdoors and in full sunlight
whenever possible.

The properties of Aten as a symbol of the life-giving powers of the divine lend
themselves well to the poetry of this hymn:

3. Hymn to Aten as All Gods

Hail Aten, daytime sun Who forms all living creation,
Great Falcon with multicolored feathers,
Scarab Who created Himself,
Who came into being alone and was not born.
Heru-wer in the sky,
Who hears men shout praises at His rise and set,
Who created earth and its forms;
Khnum Who formed mankind, united the Two Lands;
Mut, highly praised by gods and men;
Gentle craftsman, great one Who tires Himself endlessly creating,
Brave one Who protects and shelters His herd and makes them live.
Hapi running His course, noble Khepera,
Rising perfect over Nut, shining in the disk over the Two Lands.
Nun Who created Itself, standing alone over creation,
Who goes to the world’s end each day while all watch,

Shining from heaven in his Name of Sun, making seasons;

Hot or cool as He pleases,
making bodies weak or watching them flourish.
Every land rejoices in praise at His rising.

Atum: The Complete

Atum (also spelled Tem or Temu) represents Netjer, the Kemetic concept of
Godhead in its most abstract form. In the mythology of the city of Iunu
(Heliopolis), Atum is the god from Whom all other gods and goddesses emanate.
Atum begins creation alone in the Nun, the deep void, the waters of potentiality.
By one of two methods Atum is said to have created all the Names of Netjer and
all creation; either through masturbation and self-impregnation, as “that Great
He-She”; or through His tears, mucus or other fluids. Atum’s first creations, the
god Shu and the goddess Tefnut (sometimes interpreted as elemental air and
moisture), in turn create the god Geb (earth), the goddess Nut (sky), and the god
Ra (sun). Geb and Nut have five children Who are the five final Names of the
Great Nine (Pesdjet in Kemetic, Ennead in Greek): the gods Wesir, Heru-wer,
and Set; and the goddesses Aset and Nebt-het. In later times, Atum assumes the
symbolism of the setting sun, receiving Ra’s boat as it descends to the western
horizon, and can be depicted in a trinitarian form with the gods Khepera (as the
rising sun) and Ra (as the sun at noontime).
In Kemetic Orthodoxy, offerings are not generally made to the Self-Created One
but to His Emanations, the gods and goddesses each devotee recognizes as
Parent(s). Offerings for Atum would be the same as those made to one’s
Parent(s), as well as cool, clear water.
Atum is offered to and worshipped when in His trinitarian form, as in the
following hymn where He is equated with the god Ra:

4. Hymn to Atum
Praise Ra-Atum, Lord of All,
Creator of All That Is,
Rising in heaven,
lighting earth with Your rays.
The West’s hidden people turn their faces to You,
rejoicing at Your beautiful sight.

Djehuty, Ever Wise

The ibis-headed Lord of Time, Writing and Wisdom, Djehuty is said to have
invented the hieroglyphic script and negotiated five extra days from the moon to
perfect the 365-day Kemetic year that Julius Caesar later made the basis of our
modern calendar. As a result of these mythological connections, Djehuty can be
considered the patron god of writers, teachers, accountants and all persons
involved in the dissemination of knowledge, writing and/or calculation. His
consorts are alternately Ma’at, goddess of Truth and Order; or Seshat, patroness
of recordkeeping, libraries and building construction.

Djehuty is head of a group of creator-gods called the Great Eight (Khmunu in

Kemetic, Ogdoad in Greek) honored at the city of Khmun (literally “Town of the
Eight,” Hermopolis Magna). The Great Eight are four pairs of natural syzygies
(god-and-goddess pairs) in that city’s theological construct: Eternity (Heh and
Hehet), Darkness (Kek and Keket), Water/Potentiality (Nun and Nunet) and
Wind/Hiddenness (Amun and Amunet).

Along with the ibis, Djehuty is associated with baboons of the genus
Cynocephalis, which the ancients observed raising their hands and singing to the
rising sun. Djehuty stands at the side of the scales in the Hall of Two Truths to
record the verdict which Yinepu delivers after weighing the deceased’s heart
against the feather of Ma’at.
Djehuty’s name, spelled Thoth and pronounced ta-ho-teh-heh by ancient Greeks,
becomes difficult to pronounce in modern languages that contain diphthongs;
alternatively the Greeks referred to Him as Trismegistus, “three times great,” an
ancient title of Djehuty from Kemetic sources (where it is translated “most
great,” three being the designation of the superlative in hieroglyphs).
Scribes in Kemet routinely offered their first few drops of ink as a daily libation
to Djehuty. In modern times, this would still be an appropriate offering as would
computers, writing instruments, paper, books, and communications projects.
This first hymn to Djehuty invokes His theophany in the form of the baboon:

5. Hymn to Djehuty
Hail Djehuty, Lord of Huwt, holy baboon with shiny fur,
Attractive, kind and clever, Whom everyone loves,
Djehuty, Lord of peace, pleasing everyone with His beauty!
Jasper-faced and carnelian-sexed,
Whose eyes drip with love while His mouth speaks with life.
I’ve had a happy home since Djehuty came in,
I’ve been healthy and wealthy since my Lord arrived.
Be happy for me, neighbors! Rejoice!
Behold my Lord who owns my heart, who made me all I am.
Djehuty, if You protect me, I will never fear You.

A more generic hymn to Djehuty is given in the Middle Kingdom’s Coffin Texts:

6. Prayer to Djehuty
Hail Djehuty,
Lord of the Morning.
I own ma’at and reject isfet.
May Your light open the darkness.

Heru: Soaring Falcon(s)

Heru (meaning “high” or “who is above”) is a collective title given to not just
one god, but two. Each has a number of localized sub-forms, but both symbolize
leadership of all sorts and especially the leadership demonstrated in the position
of Nisut, the king of the Two Lands. Heru is also a name for a Nisut’s throne and
of a Nisut him- or herself; the identification of kings and the institution of
kingship with the Heru-gods is very close in all periods, even into classical and
modern times.
Both the Heru-gods, designated as the Elder (the brother of the god Wesir) and
the Younger (the son of the god Wesir, called Heru-sa-Aset or “Heru, son of
Aset” after His Mother), are associated with leadership, justice, strength and
other positive masculine traits, and have many similarities. Within a monolatrous
theology, They and all of Their individual aspects can also be considered aspects
of the same divinity, and thus Their inclusion in the same entry in this book.

Forms of Heru are known even before the advent of writing, in depictions on
Predynastic pottery and monuments, where we observe hawks and standards
with a hawk sitting atop them: Predynastic and early Dynastic kings wrote their
names within a serekh, a drawing of a palace with a hawk sitting upon its roof.
The Kemetic people observed in the hawk theophany the quickness, intelligence,
alertness and staying power of a just ruler; nothing escaped a Heru’s watchful
eye, and no wrongdoer ever escaped His claws.
The older, both chronologically and mythologically earlier forms of Heru,
including Heru-wer (“Great Heru,” brother to rather than son of Wesir) and
Heruakhety (“Heru of Two Horizons,” sometimes considered an aspect of Ra)
depict Him as an abstract sky god, with the sun and moon as His two eyes. Heru
in His Elder form is sometimes equated with the gods Shu, Heka, or Ra, is the
twin of Set and the brother of Wesir, and is given the symbol of a sun-disk with
two hawk’s wings appended. The winged disk would later be placed as an
artistic element above temple doorways and at the top of monuments and stelae
as a sign of divine victory over the forces of evil; Heru-wer and all His forms are
invoked as very masculine, strong gods of magic, healing and protection.

The later forms of Heru depict Him in a younger position as the son (rather than
the brother) of Wesir, nephew (rather than twin) of the god Set, Who
mythologically contends with his uncle Set for kingship of the Two Lands when
Wesir becomes the lord of the dead. Heru-sa-Aset, in addition to being a
victorious, martial king like the elder Heru, is a powerful magician and healer.
Heru-pa-Khered, or “Horus the Child,” the most popular aspect of the younger
Heru in later periods, influenced early Christian conceptions of Jesus and Saint
George through the Kemetic Copts. The Younger Heru has a myriad of aspects
including Heru-pa-Khered (Greek Harpokrates), Heru-nedj-it-ef (Greek
Harendotes, “Heru, Savior of His Father”) and Heru-sema-tawy (Greek
Harsomtus, “Heru, Uniter of the Two Lands.”)
The following portion of a New Kingdom incantation explains how Heru-sa-
Aset’s words can be used to bring about desired results:

7. Heru-sa-Aset’s Words
Heru’s words keep death away,
restoring life to those whose throats are closed.
Heru’s words renew life,
making years long for the one who invokes Him.
Heru’s words put out fires. His heka heals disease.
Heru’s words can save a man, even from his fate.

Once a year, a festival is made for the Elder Heru’s victory over the forces of
evil outside His holy city of Behdet (Hierakonpolis, modern Tell Edfu), by His
transformation into a winged disk by the power of Ra. In Kemetic Orthodoxy we
honor the Feast of the Winged Disk, and a few years ago I wrote and recited this
epic poem in honor of this festival, during a related worship service:
8. The Legend of the Winged Disk
The forces of Isfet gathered at the edge of the desert and began to plot,
against the Speckled Hawk, the Judge, the Great Soldier of Behdet. They lusted
after His authority and wished to overthrow Him from the throne of Ma’at.
In darkness they plotted, behind sand, behind stone, plotted for the very life
of the Lord of the Two Lands, the Great Hawk, the holder of iron and the keeper
of Laws....
But He knew their plans, considered in the night how best to meet them, to
defeat them, before they reached the walls of His holy city. From His temple He
flew as a hawk over darkness, higher and higher, to the very Throne of Ra
Himself, beyond the star-studded vault of Nut.

“My brother, my father,” He said, “It has happened.

The forces of isfet breathe hate on my town.
They shall reach us at dawn. Do You care? Would You help us?
Would You send me an army to turn back these villains?
Would You cause that the sun burn them all back to hell?”

“My brother, my son,” said Ra, “It is decided,

since you are of earth and I am of heaven,
that this is your fight and while you have My blessing,
no help shall I give you, lest they judge you weak.”
Ra waved off the Hawk who returned to His palace and gathered His soldiers as
darkness knew dawn.
With sunrise the forces of isfet ceased sleeping and rose and with one mind
descended on Behdet.
The soldiers of Heru rose up with a great shout and fought them with strength, in
the desert near town.
For a day and a night they clashed forces unflinching with no side victorious,
with no rest in sight.

The third day, the Great Hawk knew isfet was winning,
and He called upon Ra in the midst of the fight:
“My brother, my father, look down on Your children,
Who fight for You helpless from cheating and lies.
Send armies, send help, even send us Your blessing.
Without You, we cannot be winners tonight.”

And blazing from Heaven Ra’s glory descended,

on Heru the Speckled Hawk, Hero of Netjer.
It gave Him the form of the Sun Disk, the Aten,
with a set of two hawk-wings appended in flight.
Heru rose to the sky as the Winged Disk grew larger,
blazed forward, shone fire on the sons of the night,
and burned them and killed them wherever they stood with the glory of Ra,
joined to Heru’s own might.

On one day each year, we join hands and shout nekhtet!

for the Speckled Hawk, Judge, of the Winged Disk’s deeds.
On this day we give praise that Ra joined with His brother,
His son, Heru Elder, and that isfet bleeds.

Min: Fertility Personified

Originally a fertility god worshipped at Qubt (Coptos), even in Pre-dynastic and
perhaps even going back into pre-historic times, Min eventually became
associated with nearby Amun of Uaset and was sometimes depicted as an
alternate form of the King of the Gods in all manner of temples and monuments.
Min’s image caused consternation both among early Coptic Christians (who
routinely defaced His monuments in temples they shared with and later co-opted
from Kemetic priests) and much later, among Victorian Egyptologists who made
waist-up photographs or otherwise tried to find ways to cover Min’s protruding
manhood. (Min is always depicted ithyphallic; that is, with a naked and erect
penis).

Min’s cult honored the fertility of the land in special festivals held particularly
during the Kemetic growing seasons. The long-leaf lettuce that is Min’s favorite
offering was considered a powerful aphrodisiac in antiquity as a result of its
association with Min. As this same lettuce is also said to be the favorite food of
the god Set, there may be a relationship between the two divinities, perhaps
related to Their dual patronage of virility and masculinity. Min is also associated
with Heru-sa-Aset as the principle of rebirth through one’s children, as in the
prayer given below:
9. Prayer to Min
Adoring Min, praising Heru of the Upright Arm!
Praise to You, Min, as You appear!
You of tall plumes, son of Wesir, born of Aset.
Great one in the Senut temple,
mighty in Ipu, You of Qubt!
Heru Lifting His Arm,
Lord of worship Who makes power silent.
King of the Gods, rich in perfume,
coming from Medjay-land.

Ptah, the Creator

Ptah, the Great God of Mennefer (Memphis), capital of the dual Kemetic state
for much of its history, is generally depicted as a mummified man wearing a
skullcap and bearing the symbols of life, power and stability (ankh, was, and
djed scepters) in His unfettered arms, standing on a symbol that is both part of
Ma’at’s hieroglyphic name as well an image of the straightedge used by
stonemasons and architects.

Ptah is sometimes understood as a less abstract form of Atum, the Self-Created

One, Who effected creation through the actions of His heart (itself identified
with the god Heru-wer) and His tongue (itself identified with the god Djehuty),
and Who “set all the gods in their places and gave all things the breath of life.”
As a creator, and one more directly involved with physical acts of creation than
either Ra or Atum, Ptah is intimately connected with the plastic arts and
especially architecture and stonemasonry. He is the patron of sculptors, painters,
builders and carpenters, as well as anyone who creates things with his or her
hands. The transit that served as the stock tool of masons, and the title of Ptah’s
highest priest, “Master Builder,” would centuries later be picked up as symbols
by a pseudo-Egyptian Western fraternal organization known to the world as
Freemasonry.

Offerings to Ptah include anything created, and particularly things built by one’s
own hands as well as the tools used for such crafts-manship. Ptah is particularly
fond of architecture and masonry, carpentry and sculpture, as well as carving,
and especially artistic work with the hands like beading or work with precious
metals, gems, or glasswork.
The prayer to Ptah as All Gods given below uses many plays on words to equate
Ptah with other emanations of the Self-Created One. The gods represented by the
puns in the hymn are given in brackets immediately following the words being
punned.

The second prayer honors Ptah along with His consort in Mennefer, the goddess
Sekhmet, understood here as the destroying aspect of the Eye of Ra (a title of
Hethert as the protective goddess Who is Ra’s daughter).

10. Prayer to Ptah as All Gods

Come in peace, Great One, Ptah-tatenen, Father of Gods,
Eldest One of Zep Tepi, Who created gods and men, [Atum] Who became
[Khepera] the first god and all Who came after;
Who made the sky [Nut] by His Heart’s [Heru] wish,
raised it high like a feather [Shu];
Who made the earth [Geb] His own,
circling it with ocean [Mehet-weret],
greatly green [Wadjet].
Who made the unseen world [Duat],
provided Ra to sail to the dead to warm them,
as King of Eternity, Lord of Forever [Wesir].
Lord of Life Who makes throats breathe [Serqet],
Who gives noses air, Whose grace lets us live,
Time, fate and fortune [Nit, Nebt-het, Seshat] are His to command,
and we live by the words [Heka] of His mouth [Djehuty].
He creates all offerings in His Name of Nun, Primeval Waters.
Lord of eternity, protector of forever, breathing life into all.
11. Prayer to Ptah and Sekhmet
Ptah the Great, South of His Wall,
Tatenen living in Mennefer,
Great God of Zep Tepi,
Who built men and birthed gods,
Primordial One Who made humans live.
What He spoke in His heart He brought to life,
He, Who speaks what has not yet become,
renews that which already is.
Nothing exists without Him.
All that is, exists by His command.
Kemet is stable through His command, since Zep Tepi.

Unending praise to Your beautiful Face,

Great Goddess of the House of Ptah,
Sekhmet the Great, Lady of Heaven,
Crown of Ra, Sacred Eye in the palace,
Crown of Ra, Sacred Eye in the temple,
His Wadjet in the palace,
His crown in the night boat,
His companion in the day boat.
She throws back the rebels He thwarts
And goes against them, taking up a javelin;
Great Sekhmet, Ptah’s Beloved,
Lady of Heaven, Mistress of the Two Lands!
Grant me a long, perfect life without suffering,
a body without isfet, clear vision,
listening ears and a long, long life,
That I might be glorified as a great Akh, true of voice.

Ra: Everything under the Sun

Embodied in the golden sun that is His symbol as well as the meaning of His
name, Ra is the Netjer of light, life, and heat, and the power inherent in the sun
that warms our planet. In a number of forms, Ra has been venerated as the
central Name of Netjer of the Kemetic faith through its entire history, considered
both the Father and King of all the gods, the greatest of divinities Who both
creates and destroys. (See the entries for the gods Amun, Aten and Atum, as well
as Heru, Ptah and Sobek in this chapter, and Bast and Sekhmet in the goddesses
chapter, for information on ways that Ra can be understood to be the primary or
secondary/syncretistic form of those particular deities).
Ra rose to national prominence in Kemet as the rulers of the Old Kingdom, who
venerated Him as a family patron, began to call themselves “sons of Ra” in their
official titularies and created sun temples and pyramids in His honor. Sun
temples and pyramids, as well as monumental obelisks, are a special symbol of
Ra via their similar shape to the Ben-ben, the mythological pyramid-shaped
stone from which Ra as a bennu (a sacred white heron, called a “phoenix” by the
Greeks) was able to rise from the primor-dial void of the waters of Nun and sing
the song of creation.

Ra’s popularity, as immanent as sunlight itself, continued throughout Kemetic

history; even great Names such as Amun and Ptah had to share the spotlight with
Ra, and in Amun’s case, a composite (syncretic) god, Amun-Ra, King of the
Gods, was created to avoid slighting either cult, which by New Kingdom times
both had power and wealth to rival even the state government. Ra lives within
the Aten, or the actual physical disk of the sun, mythologically described as the
“Boat of Millions of Years” that rises and sets each day, riding from horizon to
horizon on the back (or belly) of Nut, and traversing the netherworlds where the
enemies of Ma’at as well as the blessed dead reside during the hours between
sunset and sunrise. Even in modern Egypt, the sun is often referred to as Ra,
especially on bright summer days, and Ra’s images, symbols and worship are
everywhere under the sun.
12. Protection Prayer to Ra-Heruakhety
Come to me, Ra-Heruakhety, and give me wisdom.
You are the one Who acts.
No man acts without Your knowledge;
truly, You act together with him.
Come to me, Atum, every day,
You, the noblest of gods.
Hear my prayers: my pleadings each day,
And my praises each night.
My requests are firm in my mouth, as they are heard today!
One, alone, Ra-Heruakhety,
There is no one else like Him!
The shepherd of millions, He saves hundreds of thousands.
He is the protector of the one who calls Him.

Set: Before Whom the Sky Shakes

In the oldest mythologies, Set is “He Before Whom the Sky Shakes,” a sky
Netjer like Heru. Set is specifically associated with storms, bearing lightning and
thunder as His heralds. Eventually, because of His natural opposition to His
nephew Heru-sa-Aset, and also because during the Second Intermediate Period,
invading Hyksos forces identified their own chief god (the Canaanite/Levantine
god Baal) with Him, Set’s reputation changed.

Into the New Kingdom with its rise of the cult of Wesir, where Set was depicted
as lord of the desert that creeps into the cultivation at the end of every year
(mythologically, the “murderer” of the Black Land embodied by Wesir), Set was
demonized, and in later periods He became identified with both the Kemetic
spirit Apep as a symbol of evil and with later religions’ concepts of embodied
evil, including both the Greek Typhon and the Hebraic Satan.
However, in the ancient Kemetic mind and in modern Kemetic Orthodox
teachings, Set at all times, while not necessarily a “nice” divinity, performs a
necessary service in the universe—that of the very masculine and sometimes
violent force of change. In Kemetic myth, Ra acknowledges Set’s positive
qualities as a destroyer of unnecessary things and isfet (the Kemetic concept of
mindless, unforgivable evil) by appointing Set as the guardian of the Boat of
Millions of Years. The reason given for Ra’s favor? Set is “the only one strong
enough to do it.”
Offerings for Set include strong drink, strong or spicy foods (particularly animal
products), and weaponry. He is also fond of acts of courage, strength or stamina
performed in His honor, much in the same manner as the Heru-gods are also
fond of such things, as well as acts of justice or extraordinary valor.

Set is symbolized by the ass, hippopotamus and pig, and sometimes the jackal
(and at least theoretically the hyena); however, His main theophany is an
unknown canid with square ears and a forked tail, often called simply the Set-
animal. Whether this animal symbolized a real creature or a composite being is
debated. In 1996, a large mammal with square ears and a forked tail was caught
and killed near Luxor in Upper Egypt. Called salawa in Arabic, this animal was
theorized to be related to the African/Cape Hunting Dog; its extreme size and
appearance lend credence to folktales surrounding this newly-discovered
mammal as “Set.”

The Pert-em-Heru, or “Chapters of Coming Forth in the Daytime,” better known

by their modern name the Book of the Dead, contain a very few lines honoring
Set, including this hymn:

13. Hymn to Set

Storm Lord,
Pilot Who sails over evil Apep’s back,
Captain of the secret Boat!
You Who bind Apep, bring me a boat,
Make me a strong rope so I can sail forth.

In inscriptions detailing some of Ramses II’s forays into the Levant and
Mesopotamia, his interest in and worship of Set, god of his family’s hometown
at Per-Ramses (Tanis) in the Delta, is noted, such as in the following prayer
attributed to this mighty king:

14. Ramses II’s Hymn to Set

Hail Set, son of Nut,
great of strength in the Boat of Millions of Years;
Nut is above You,
Geb under Your feet.
What You command comes to pass.
Overthrower in the Boat of Millions of Years, great in terror,
Grant me a happy life following Your ka.

Even after Classical society had relegated Set to the position of the Divine
Adversary of Wesir and the Loyal Opposition of Heru-sa-Aset, His traits of
anger and strength were praised in hekau such as this one from the Greek
Magical Papyri:

15. Hymn to Set

I praise You Who controlled Your anger,
You Whose scepter sits above Nut with the Akhu.
I praise You, great Set.
King of terror over heaven,
Terrifying, awesome, threatening,
Hidden but irresistible.
Hater of isfet, it is You that I praise.

Sobek: Shining Crocodile

Son of Nit and also, according to some myths, Set, Sobek is either depicted as a
full crocodile, or, less often, as a crocodile-headed man. He is often given the
same epithets of Heru-sa-Aset as a god of protection, healing and vengeance
upon wrongdoers. In some mythologies Sobek is a powerful and awe-inspiring
denizen of the underworld, and was invoked to do away with annoyances and
negative situations, by the phrase “to Sobek with it (him),” much as in the same
manner that modern-day slang consigns bothersome things and persons “to
Hell.”

During the Middle Kingdom, Sobek enjoyed particular favor with kings who
took His name as part of their coronation names, and was equated in the Faiyum
lake region with a special form of the god Ra, much as Heruakhety also became
a strong protective form of Ra. Sobek-Ra is depicted as a crocodile with two tall
plumes like those worn by Amun, and is a god of light, healing and solace.
Offerings to Sobek are similar to those for Heru or Ra, depending on which
aspect is being invoked; for Sobek, clear alcohols or meats and spices, and for
Sobek-Ra cool water, citrus fruits and incenses are well-received.

At the temple of Kom Ombo, originally dedicated to the twin gods Heru-wer and
Set, Sobek took Set’s place in much later periods when Set was considered to be
a less desirable presence in a healing temple, and the temple standing at the site
today is a dual temple dedicated to Heru-wer the Healer and Sobek, as well as a
goddess called Tasenetnofret, or “the Good Sister,” a form of either Hethert or
Nebt-het. Sobek was invoked for aggressive types of healing, as in the following
prayer:

16. Healing Prayer to Sobek

Misfortune at night, misery by day,
And complaining every hour!
Judge me swiftly, do not delay;
Drive sickness from my bones and disease from my limbs By night and by day.

Sokar: The Falcon King of the Night

An obscure Name in ways that make sense once you realize Who He is, Sokar is
most often depicted as a hawk-headed mummified man. He was originally
worshipped as lord both of darkness and death (in the sense of inertia/inaction)
in the region of Mennefer, especially Ankh-tawy (“Life of the Two Lands,” the
huge necropolis known today as Saqqara, which may or may not be derived from
His name). Sokar eventually came to be known as a mysterious form of the
creator/shadow gods Ptah and/or Wesir, and can be triply syncretized as Ptah-
Sokar-Wesir, penultimate lord of death, judgment and burial. The sacred boat on
which Sokar’s icons were carried in ritual processions (called henu), is one of
the earliest-mentioned boats in Kemetic religious texts, and may have served as
a model for later sacred barques. Sokar’s offerings mirror those given to His
alter-ego in the god Wesir, and His litanies and holidays are shared with Wesir,
as in the following hymn. This hymn bears strong resemblance to the
Lamentations of Aset and Nebt-het sung on Wesir’s behalf as part of the Sokar-
Wesir mysteries (see chapter 11):
17. Litany of Sokar
Hail, prince coming forth from the womb, Nun’s eldest son.
Hail, Lord of many aspects and forms.
Hail, golden temple disk, Lord of Time, Granter of Years.
Hail, everlasting Lord of Life, king of millions.
Hail as You shine in Your rising and setting,
making men joyful.
Hail, fearful Lord of Terror.
Hail, You Who wear the White Crown and master the Great Crown.
Hail, holy son of Heru, may You be praised!
Hail, son of Ra, sitting in His Boat of Millions of Years, resting,
come to Your sanctuary.
Hail, Lord of Terror, self-created, still-hearted, come to Your town.
Hail, Beloved of the gods, Who purifies Himself,
come to Your temple.
Hail, Duat-Dweller, come to Your offering table.
Hail, Protective one, come to Your house.
Hail, Growing one, Moon Who shines in the Disk,
holy flower of the great temple.
Hail, Bringer of the night-boat’s holy rope.
Hail, Lord of the Henu boat, growing young in Your secret place.
Hail, Perfect soul dwelling in the Duat.
Hail, Holy Traveler of north and south;
hidden one, whom men cannot know.
Hail, You Who give light to those who live in the Duat,
that they might see the Disk.

Wepwawet, Opener of the Ways

Originally a divinity of his own provenance, Wepwawet was depicted even in
predynastic times as a jackal-headed god associated with “opening the ways,”
and Wepwawet’s standard-bearers led processions for both religious and military
purposes (an example of the latter can be found on the famous Narmer Palette).
Over time, most of Wepwawet’s form and functions were mirrored by and
eventually became equated with those of another jackal-god, Yinepu, who
became the new Opener of the Ways when His own titles including Khenty-
Amentiu (“Foremost of Westerners”) passed to the god Wesir as premier patron
of the deceased.
Wepwawet can be interpreted as a hypostasis, or representative of the essential
nature, of Yinepu; in Kemetic Orthodoxy, we understand Wepwawet and Yinepu
to be alternate forms, or aspects, of the same god.

Other than their different names, Wepwawet can sometimes be distinguished

from Yinepu by coloring: Yinepu’s jackal-head is always black, whereas
Wepwawet can occasionally appear as gray or brown. A Greek historian states
that Wepwawet was associated with a wolf rather than a jackal; no definitive
corroboration for this assertion is found in Kemetic sources. Offerings to
Wepwawet include animal meats, strong liquor, and interestingly enough, items
pertaining to chance, such as puzzles and games, as well as offerings appropriate
to Yinepu.

In the following prayer Wepwawet is syncretized with Ra and with Herishaef, a

form of Heru Himself often syncretized with Ra, Wesir, and sometimes the ram-
headed god Khnum.

18. Hymn to Wepwawet

Greetings, Wepwawet, Foremost of Iunu’s Souls,
Bringer and creator of ma’at!
Bring the ma’at You have made for me!
Greetings, Ra, Lord of the Great Nine,
Wepwawet, beautiful one; Herishaef, living in Abdju!
Life is Yours, its control is Yours,
The Great Crown is Yours!
Your control is given by the owners of control,
Wepwawet-Herishaef, living in Abdju!
Greetings, Wepwawet, given the heka of the One!
Your ka lives, Your heka is God’s heka, You, sweet in joy!
The flood’s power is given to You,
The water is purified by Your passing.
Wepwawet, lord of myrrh, bull of incense,
Hethert purifies You today!
I go in to Wepwawet as Heru, Lord of ma’at;
I come out as Heru, Lord of the Great Crown,
After I receive Wepwawet’s favor.
I put my fear on the ground;
I steady my trembling.
Shu blocks and confuses the plans
of any spirit in Wepwawet’s way,
Since He heard my beautiful hymn today!
May He protect me from all isfet this year, tonight, today,
And protect me from anyone who would attack me.

Wesir: King of the Ancestors

A Name of obscure origin Who, along with His sister/wife Aset, rose to
prominence over antiquity to become one of the most lasting gods of all time,
Wesir is first noted in the Pyramid Texts as a shadowy figure to Whom a
deceased ruler is promised not to be abandoned (where a rather undesirable state
is attributed to Wesir and His spirits in a dark, airless underworld).

In later times, Wesir absorbed the forms and functions of nearly all other gods
associated with death and the afterlife including Wepwawet, Yinepu, Sokar and
Sobek to become Foremost of Westerners, Judge of the Dead and overseer of the
blessed spirits (those who had died and been judged favorably in the Hall of
Double Truth). Eventually, Wesir would embody the religion of the people as
final arbiter of destiny after death.

The story of Wesir’s death, from which life nonetheless came (note that it was
not His own life or resurrection, as Wesir is the Lord of the Dead; He is not a god
of resurrection, a “green man” or a Christ figure contrary to some modern
misinterpretations) was borrowed and retold in the Greek mysteries and other
ancient mystery cults of the Mediterranean.

In addition to His associations with death and afterlife, Wesir is the firstborn son
of Geb and Nut (alternately Ra and Nut) and embodies the Black Land of the
Two Lands itself, the fertile soil that is destroyed each year by the encroachment
of the Red Land (Set’s desert), yet returns to growth at the inundation coinciding
with the rising of Sirius (Sopdet in Kemetic), the star of Aset.
“Corn mummies” of seeded dirt formed in the shape of Wesir’s profile were
placed in tombs to germinate in the darkness, demonstrating His power. Such a
corn mummy in Tutankhamun’s tomb was carried into the light by Carter and
Carnarvon’s team to reveal sprouts of barley and emmer. Offerings of such corn
mummies as well as the traditional funerary offerings of bread, beer and grains
are welcomed by Wesir; Kemetic Orthodox devotees also report He likes to
receive potted plants and trees (still growing rather than cut), honey and graham-
style crackers; He does not, for obvious reasons, ever like to receive the
perfumed sand that other gods and goddesses like to receive from time to time.

The following prayer is given to accompany a libation (liquid offering), either of

water or preferably, dark beer. Once one has said the prayer, the libation can be
made.

19. Libation Prayer to Wesir

This libation is Yours, Wesir,
For You, coming forth from Your son,
Coming forth before Heru.
I come to bring You Heru’s Eye to refresh Your heart.
I have brought it to You, under Your sandals;
This liquid, which comes forth from You.

A late litany of Wesir lists many of Wesir’s attributes and titles:

20. Litany of Wesir
O my Lord, passing through eternity,
One Who is there, forever;
Wesir, Foremost of Westerners,
Unnefer, god Who was judged,
Lord of Forever, Ruler of Eternity,
Eldest son, protected by Geb,
Firstborn of Nut’s children;
Lord of Djedu; Ruler of Abdju;
King overseeing the land of the dead.
Lord to the Limit, great in terror,
Holy Ram of Na’ret.

Yinepu: The Royal Child, Companion and Guide

A god of predynastic origins, depicted either as a full jackal or a jackal-headed
man, Yinepu originally, as Khenty-Amentiu (“Foremost of Westerners”), was
both embalmer and caretaker of the deceased, and the guardian of tombs and the
overall necropolis. Over time Wesir’s popularity would absorb some of Yinepu’s
epithets and relationship with the dead, causing Him to be written into new
myths as Wesir’s son by Nebt-het (or Set’s son by Nebt-het, and/or Aset’s
adopted son).

Yinepu masks were worn by the setem, a type of priest who officiated at
funerals, and by other embalming priests at different ritual points throughout the
70-day mummification process. Images of Yinepu wrapping bandages, pouring
oils or embracing a coffin are generally not images of the god Himself, but can
be understood as representative of one of His servants doing His work.

In later times Yinepu was syncretized with the Greek Hermes and celebrated in
His role as psychopompos or messenger/guide of the deceased soul; in Kemetic
iconography, Yinepu is the gentle guide who leads a deceased person into the
Hall of Double Truth, where He then weighs the deceased’s heart against the
feather of Ma’at.

Offerings to Yinepu include strong liquors and sweet drinks, spicy foods, and
items one might normally associate with children, such as candy and toys.
Yinepu is a strong protector of living children and animals, as well as all beings
that are innocent and sincere.

The following piece of heka is part of an ancient ritual for scrying, or seeing
distant or future events remotely, in this case within a bowl of water mixed with
oil and/or ink. This ritual has been observed in parts of rural Egypt within the
last century; modern anthropologists recorded a session where a boy accurately
described past events unknown to him but known to the anthropologists, and
spoke to the observers of people long dead, passing on information to the living
from these dead persons via the mechanism of an “Anubis bowl.” These words
are to be said by a magician as his apprentice, typically a pre-pubescent boy
(mirroring Yinepu’s innocence) gazes into the bowl:

21. Scrying Hymn to Yinepu

Hail Yinepu, come to me High and Mighty One,
Over the secrets of the Akhu,
King of the Westerners,
Chief Healer, beautiful son of Wesir,
Strong-faced among the gods;
You appear in the Duat before Wesir’s hand.
Come to earth, show Yourself to me today.
 CHAPTER 4:
PRAYERS AND HYMNS FOR SPECIFIC
GODDESSES (NETJERUT)
This chapter includes prayers for feminine manifestations of Kemetic divinity,
the Netjerut or goddesses. If you do not find a particular goddess listed here (or a
god listed in Chapter 3), be sure to check in later sections of the book, where
more specific prayers to many divinities are included under other subject
headings.

You will notice a continuation of prayers listing different names for divinities
that also happen to be the names of other Kemetic gods and goddesses. This is
not coincidental; the ancients understood the Divine, which they called Netjer in
the abstract or collective sense, to be both one being and many beings at once. In
a principle sometimes called monolatry or henotheism (both terms indicating a
type of polytheism: belief in many gods, none denying the existence of others,
yet worshipping each god one at a time), the people of Kemet were able to
understand Divinity as having both one and many manifestations at one and the
same time.

Therefore, one god or goddess could easily also be identified with another god or
goddess, as each was a manifestation of a separate Totality of godhead. This
principle differs significantly from the monotheism of the Abrahamic religions
(Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Baha’i and their derivatives), where one god
manifests in only one form; or the simple polytheisms of other ancient religions
such as those of Greece or Rome, where there are many gods but no god is ever
considered to be the same god as any other, even mystically (e.g., Amun-Ra
exists, but Zeus-Hephaistos does not, by the theological conceptions of each
particular religion).

Aset, Mistress of Magic

“The Throne,” Aset (known to the Classical world as Isis) is the power that
makes kings; a goddess appearing in texts beginning in approximately Dynasty 4
as wife and sister to Wesir and daughter of Nut and Geb. In earliest times, Aset
is depicted as Weret-hekau, the “Great One of Magic” Who learns Ra’s true
name and thus the secrets of the universe.

As part of the cult of Wesir, Aset is honored for having prepared Him for burial
and conceiving a son by taking semen from His dead body (in early Kemetic
texts, Wesir’s death is attributed to drowning; the dismemberment myth well-
known from the histories of Plutarch does not appear until millennia later and
may not even be Kemetic in origin.). In later periods and particularly after the
New Kingdom, Aset was syncretized with a number of other goddesses, Hethert
in particular, and took on mother goddess characteristics. During this period,
Aset’s importance as mother of Heru-sa-Aset (a Name intimately connected with
kingship and therefore within Aset’s purview as kingmaker) became paramount,
in ways strongly suggestive of (and very likely influencing) the later Christian
cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Romans declared all goddesses to be forms
of Aset, dubbing Her “Isis, Goddess of Ten Thousand Names,” though Kemetic
mythology does not exhibit this specific archetype, and as Isis, She was
worshipped without interruption in nearly every country of the Western world
until well into the Middle Ages.

Aset seems to be very accepting of any sincere offering, although She tends to
prefer luxury items or items that She knows Her devotees put more than average
effort into obtaining. She adores jewelry, especially silver and lapis ,and enjoys
refined, elegant (and expensive) foods and drink.
The following litany is in the traditional form of call and response. Each line
mentioning Heru is sung by a lector priest, followed by a chorus singing praise
for Aset, Heru’s mother:
22. Praise Litany for Aset

Chorus response after each call line:

Hail Aset, Hethert, Mother of God, Pure Jewel,
Queen of Heaven and Gods.

Lector-priest call:
Mother of Heru, mighty bull saving His Father, making rebels fall.
Mother of Heru, Min-Heru, smiting King Who slaughters.
Mother of Heru, Victorious Khonsu of Neni-nisut,
Lord of Nubia and all foreign lands.
Mother of Heru, mighty bull making temples for the Great Nine,
creating them all.

Mother of Heru, mighty bull,

Whose body and soul protect Kemet forever.
Songs abound for this goddess, including some that are accompanied by
percussion instruments such as drums and sistra (ritual rattles):

23. Sistrum Song for Aset

I come and bring Aset an offering,
for all life and strength are from Her.
I shake sistra to Her beautiful face
forever and ever.

Gods are not the only Kemetic deities to be honored in manifold attributes or
“Names.” Here, Aset too can be equated with other deities, female or male:
24. Hymn to Aset in All Her Names
Hail, Great One of honored names,
through Whom all gods are pleased.
O You from Whom all gods came forth in this Your Name of Mut.
Ra is born on Your arms in this Your Name of Aset.
O Serqet, Daughter of Ra, spat from His mouth in this Your Name of Tefnut.
Nit, Who appears in His bark, in this Your Name of Nut.
Great Mother Who crushes Her enemies in this Your Name of Nekhbet.
Finder of Hearts, triumphing over Her enemies in this Your Name of Sekhmet,
May You turn Your favored face toward me.

Bast, The Invisible Paw

The ‘Devouring Lady’ (from bas, to devour, with a feminine ending), Bast is one
of Kemet’s earliest-documented goddesses, with Her first-known appearance
during Dynasty 2. Bast is first and foremost a protectress; specifically of the
royal house and the Two Lands. During Dynasty 4, She was a patroness of
Lower Kemet, paired with Hethert as patroness of Upper Kemet, as Wadjet and
Nekhbet are often depicted in later times. The Valley Temple of the Pyramid of
Khafra, at modern-day Giza next to the Sphinx, contains a Portal of Bast that
once displayed statues of Bast alongside the king. Bast’s earliest depictions are
as a desert cat with tufted, pointed ears or as a lioness-headed woman.

Over time, Bast’s image metamorphosed to become more similar to Hethert’s,

and Her visage changed from that of the lioness to that of a domesticated feline;
eventually, into the Classical period, Bast would be equated with the Greek
virgin huntress Artemis and considered a protectress of children and pregnant
mothers, musicians and a goddess of all types of excess, especially sexual
excess.

However, Bast’s original visage did not include a cat-as-sex-symbol archetype,

and Her syncretisms with the goddess Sekhmet and the god Ra (as Sekhmet-
Bast-Ra or simply Bast-Ra), as well as Her syncretisms with the goddesses Mut
and Pakhet, bear this out and show a very fierce, violent side to this sensual
goddess.
Incidentally, it is also from the Greeks that an erroneous belief in Bast as
daughter of Aset and Wesir derives; as Artemis had a twin brother, Apollo, and
the Greeks believed Apollo to be the same as the Kemetic Heru-sa-Aset, they
then decided Bast must then be Heru-sa-Aset’s twin. A play on words in Bast’s
name also resulted in Her equation in later times with the “soul of Isis” (ba-
Aset); this was also probably in keeping with Aset’s gradual syncretism into the
Roman Isis of Ten Thousand Names.

Bast, like Aset, appreciates luxurious offerings, and particularly sensual offering.
One of Her titles is Lady of Perfume, and so scent is always a welcome offering
as is jewelry, fine foods and succulent fruits. Of all the Kemetic deities, Bast
truly enjoys the modern decadence of fine chocolates and cordial liqueurs,
something She could not have been offered in antiquity.

An ancient myth portrays Bast and/or Ra as the Great Cat, Whose knife and
claws rend the evil serpent Apep, as in this hymn:
25. Hymn to Bast-Ra as the Great Cat
Praise the Great Cat, kissing the ground before Ra the Great God!
O peaceful one Who turns to peace,
You have shown me darkness for that which I have done.
Make light for me so I can see Your beauty.
Turn to me, Peace-loving one Who knows forgiveness.
May You give me life, prosperity and health.

Hethert, Gold of the Gods

Another goddess known from predynastic times, Hethert, meaning “the house of
Heru,” represents the feminine principle, and is symbolized by the cow, the
mirror, the percussive ritual rattle called a sistrum, and a sacred ritual necklace
called a menat. Hethert is patroness of women, and professions attested for Her
ancient priesthood include dancers, singers, actors and acrobats; even into
Classical times the arts were under Hethert’s dominion. She is also a goddess of
happiness, joy and love in all of its forms, particularly uninhibited sexual love;
one of her most common titles is “Lady of the Vulva,” and a mythological story
relates Her flashing Her sexual organs to make a god laugh, perhaps the only
instance of divine “mooning” known in any mythology.

Hethert’s temples, especially the complex at Ta-Netjer (Arabic Dendera), near

modern Qena, were centers for both healing (with a hospital/sanatorium on-site)
and midwifery. Priests in the temple complex of Ta-Netjer conducted oracles of
Hethert in trance rituals held in subterranean crypts located underneath the
sanctuary, and any person could sleep on the temple roof and hope for a dream,
which would then be interpreted the next morning by the priests. Even today, one
can find graffiti and game boards left behind by those pilgrims, carved into the
flagstones of Ta-Netjer’s roof.

Hethert’s association with both cows and the sistrum probably results from Her
very early assimilation of a Predynastic cow-goddess named Bat; the sistrum-
shaped capitals atop pillars throughout Kemetic temples and shrines often show
Hethert’s full face with cow’s ears beneath a particular type of sistrum shaped
like a shrine.
Hethert was closely associated with Heru-Behdety of Edfu, likely influencing
the fact that She was a patroness of Egypt’s queens (as Heru is to the king, so
Hethert is to the queen). Some royal wives are referred to by Hethert’s titles of
Mistress of Heaven and Lady of Gold. Nefertari’s spectacular temple at Abu
Simbel in Lower Nubia depicts the Great Royal Wife in a deified form as
Hethert in many scenes; her husband Ramses II is depicted in its sanctuary,
suckling the udder of Hethert as the divine cow.

Offerings for Hethert include flowers and fruits, milk, honey, dates and figs,
tangible offerings of artistic crafts like paintings or drawings, and intangible
offerings like music, dancing or poetry. As the Mistress of Love and Joy Hethert
is often invoked to grant or increase love, sexual fertility, romance, or general
happiness and contentment. Hethert has an alter-ego or alternate aspect in the
fierce goddess Sekhmet; see the Sekhmet section of this chapter for more
information on Her manifestation as Sekhmet.

The following prayer was inscribed in a temple by one of Hethert’s musician-

priestesses:

26. Musician’s Prayer to Hethert

Hethert, Who hears the prayers of all women who cry to Her:
Bring perfume to my head and beer to my mouth,
The bread and beer You offer to Your servants.
As I offer cakes before You,
I shall sing of Hethert Who hears prayers.

Like the litany for the goddess Aset listed earlier in this chapter, this temple
chant also has a call and response pattern:

27. Blessing Chant for Hethert

Refrain after each line:
I greet You with respect! Make me live!

O Perfect, Shining, Honored One!

Great Magician!
Mistress of Light!
Gold of the gods!

Hethert, too, enjoys mother goddess traits, equating with many other goddesses
and gods through Their shared form as the Eye(s) of Ra:
28. Hymn to Hethert in All Her Names
Praise Hethert, Lady of Dendera,
Whose secret place is in Nubia.
Terrible Lady of the Peak, Lady of Utenet,
Lady of Flames Who burns Nubia like Atum did,
in Your Name of “Nubian.”
Lady of the baboon under the sycamores,
in Your Name of Wadjet.
Power in Kenset, killing for Her Father Ra,
in Your Name of Sekhmet.

The temple kiosk at Medamud preserves a beautiful song describing what a

celebration or festival of Hethert would have been like in ancient times:

29. Celebration Song for Hethert, Goddess of Joy

Come, Golden One, nourished with song!
Dance is food to Your ka,
You Who shine joyfully at the moment of strength,
You, pleased with dancing in the night.
Come, walk in the place of drunkenness, the halls of pleasure;
Your rites are established, Your ceremonies fixed,
In them, no desire is lacking.
Princesses appease You with all You wish,
Princes renew Your libations,
Chantresses exalt You with glorious chants,
Lector-priests recite Your rituals.
Glorifiers pay homage with drums,
Rhythm-carriers take up tambourines,
The virginal bless You with garlands of joy,
and little girls carry Your crowns.
Exalted ones play drums for You in the crisp night,
And Your ornament-makers adorn You.
Libyans leap for You with their ribbons,
And Asiatics with their sticks.
Nubians greet You and turn to Your temple,
Bedouins return Your honors.
Two kinds of monkeys wave sweet carob for You.
For You, griffins stretch their wings,
Jackals lower their faces,
Hippos make homage with open mouths.
Their legs bow in worship before Your face.

Ma’at, the Way of Life

Ma’at represents both the concept and the goddess associated with truth, justice,
order, and “that which is right.” Kemetic society hinged completely upon the
furtherance of Ma’at, Who was considered to be the first emanation of the Self-
Created One, and depicted as a woman with wings or alternately a woman with
Her symbol, a single white ostrich feather, bound to Her head.

Ma’at in antiquity was patroness of judges, magistrates and all court officials;
the phrase “priest of Ma’at” in inscriptions can generally be understood as a
euphemism for a judge or magistrate. Ma’at’s feather symbol is weighed against
the heart of the deceased in the Hall of Judgment after death, a place also known
as the Hall of Ma’ati, Double Truth (double in Kemetic implying something
more serious or intense than a single something, much as we use the terms
“extra” or “advanced” in English).
Ma’at is actually more often given as an offering, than a goddess to Whom
offerings are made. The “offering of Ma’at” is a ritual dating from very ancient
times, where Ma’at as principle is presented to the gods, Who then in turn return
it to the Universe as order. As an ideal each devotee strives to achieve in his or
her life, the doing of Ma’at can be considered a perpetual offering, and all
created, sentient beings are considered to be Her children and responsibility.

When Ma’at is invoked as goddess rather than concept, Her place as first
daughter of the Creator (here, the god Ra) is emphasized:

30. Prayer to Ma’at

Praise Ma’at,
Lady of the North Wind,
Who makes the living breathe
And gives air to Ra in His Boat.
Ma’at can also be syncretized with the goddess Hethert and particularly
Hethert’s more aggressive aspect Sekhmet, as the Eye of Ra, as in this temple
hymn:
31. Hymn to Ma’at, the Eye of Ra
Hail Ma’at, Daughter of Ra,
God’s Wife Whom Ptah loves,
She Who decorates Djehuty’s breast,
Who created Herself,
Foremost of ka in Iunu;
Who pleases the Two Falcons with Her good character,
And fills the Southern Shrine with life and power.
Skilled one, Who created all gods from Herself and brings Her enemies’ heads
low;
Who provisions Amun’s temple Herself,
and supplies daily offerings to its priests.
Her throne is mighty before the judges as She eats Atum’s enemies.

In a hidden desert temple to the goddess Pakhet, the female king Hatshepsut
wrote of great Ma’at:

32. Hatshepsut’s Hymn to Ma’at

I have brightened Ma’at which Amun loves;
for I know He lives by it.
It is my bread, and I drink of its water.

A beautiful, longer litany to Ma’at, equating Her with many gods and goddesses,
is inscribed in the Valley of the Kings tomb of Ramses VI:

33. Litany to Ma’at in All Her Names

Hail Eye of Ra, by which He lives!
Those behind Him fear Her, the shining one,
emerging from the head of the One Who made Her.
Uraeus Who comes before Him!
Shining, guiding Eye, You are the judgment of Amun,
Victorious before the Great Nine,
Lady of fear, great of respect,
Ma’at through Whom Ra is glorified.
She pleases the Two Lands for Him by Her decree;
She speaks to the gods, chases isfet away,
She pleases the hearts of the gods who hate sin.
Ma’at, balance of the Lord of the Two Banks,
Beautiful of face when Ra comes, made glorious by Her.
Djedu praises Him through Her; great gods sing litanies to Him
As She adores the gods of the Two Chapels.
He is glorious (akh) through Her, more than any god,
in this Her Name of Akhu.
Djehuty established (min) Her, Min-Akhu the reckoned (opet) one in this Her
Name of Opet.
He made her live as the uraeus, in this Her Name of Wepwawet,
She Who leads Him on the roads of the Horizon,
in this Her name of Leader.
He placed Her on His head in this Her name of Great Crown.

Mertseger: Peak of the West

Mertseger, “She Who Loves Silence,” is the goddess said to inhabit the peak of
the highest mountain behind the Great Place at Uaset, today known as Biban el-
Muluk, the Valley of the Kings, at Luxor. This mountain is naturally pyramid-
shaped, and perhaps reminded New Kingdom rulers of the great monuments the
Old Kingdom rulers had erected far to their north at Giza and other locations.
Mertseger was depicted either as a lioness or a lion-headed woman, like
Sekhmet and forms of Mut and Hethert, all three being goddesses She is
sometimes syncretized with. Hymns warning men to “Beware the Peak of the
West,” along with prayers and appeals for Mertseger’s mercy, have been found
in the royal workmen’s village at Deir-el-Medina, just beyond the shadow of the
Peak on the other side of the mountain from the Valley.

Offerings to Mertseger are similar to those for the goddess Hethert-Sekhmet, of

Whom She can be said to be a localized or particular aspect associated with the
Gurna peak of western Luxor. A number of hymns to placate Mertseger were
penned by the inhabitants of Deir-el-Medina, such as Amunnakht’s below:
34. Hymn to Mertseger
Praise Your ka, Mertseger,
Mistress of the West, in peace!
May I glorify You to others.
Be gracious and have mercy on me!

Mut, the Mother

Wife of Amun-King-of-the-Gods of Uaset, the goddess Mut is depicted as a
woman wearing the double crown of Kemet’s rulers. She was also sometimes
given the head of a lioness and associated with Sekhmet, Bast, and Mertseger.
The sacred icons and boats of Amun and Mut rested together several times a
year in Their festivals within the temples of Karnak and Luxor, including the
Opet Festival and the Feast of the Beautiful Valley. Mut’s name can also mean
“death” or “vulture,” and so She was also given some of the attributes of
Mertseger (the lion goddess/guardian of the Valley of the Kings) and of Nekhbet
(the vulture-protectress of Upper Kemet, of which Uaset was the capital).

Beyond Her associations with Amun, Mut is not very well-known but is given
similar attributes to Hethert as patroness of women (especially mothers, as Her
name implies), or of Sekhmet and/or Bast as protectress of the innocent and
righter of wrongs. Offerings to Mut include meats and vegetables, milk, honey,
and beer.
A hymn to Mut at Karnak Temple praises Her twice, in an acrostic which reads
the same way either across or down in its original hieroglyphic form:

35. Hymn to Mut

Hail, Lady of Two Lands, living forever,
Who makes life, and spits out the Inundation,
Great and perfect due to Her.
The sacred lake’s blossoms are Her sweetness.

At Wep Ronpet, the Opening of the Year celebration heralding a new Kemetic
year, special prayers are said to the goddess Mut in a triply syncretized form,
Sekhmet-Bast-Mut, to avert any potential difficulty or danger in the coming
year, and as part of the re-coronation rituals of the king carried out at that time.
The following excerpt can be used for informal purposes to celebrate the holiday
and provide Her blessing during the year:

36. New Year’s Hymn to Sekhmet-Bast-Mut

Good Mother, be good to me.
Mother of the victory chant,
the victory of Heru-sema-tawy the child, Great Ihy, Hethert’s son;
my life shines for You.
Foremost Mother, be foremost for me,
And I will be powerful in my shining years.
Healthy Mother, be healthy for me, make me endure.
May Your beginning be life, Your middle health,
and Your end prosperity.
Protect me against all enemies, dead or alive.
Peaceful Mother, come in peace.
Give Your favor to the Great and Lesser Nine;
Give Your favor to Akhu and men.
O Pure Mother, be pure for me,
in every difficulty and challenge this year.

Nebt-het: Friend of the Dead

Nebt-het, the Friend of the Dead Whose name means “mistress of the house,” a
Kemetic term for an eldest daughter, is first known from Old Kingdom funerary
literature, where She rides the night boat of the unseen world, meeting a
deceased king’s spirit and accompanying him into death. Her hair is
metaphorically compared to the strips of cloth shrouding the bodies of the dead.

Nebt-het was associated with death and mourning throughout Kemetic history
and today is venerated not simply as the process of death itself, but as a
companion who gives guidance to the newly deceased, and as a lady with wings
who comforts a deceased person’s remaining living relatives. Even as Her name
seems to imply great age (which makes sense when She is depicted in some
Kemetic sources as a form of the goddess Nit, Creatrix and Eldest of
Goddesses), Nebt-het is in the most popular Kemetic myths styled the youngest
daughter of Nut, sister of Aset and Wesir and Heru-wer, and the sister and
consort of Set.
Nebt-het is generally considered to be the mother of Yinepu, a primordial form
of the lord of the dead who later became secondary to Wesir in popular myth.
Adding to Her mystery, Nebt-het did not have Her own temples in Kemet until
the late New Kingdom, which may or may not have to do with Her association
with death—something that, contrary to modern conceptions of Kemet as a
death-obsessed culture, the ancients did not consider a comfortable subject.
As Nebt-het’s name is merely a title, it is the Kemetic Orthodox belief that Nebt-
het exists as a specialized form or aspect of Nit, in a similar manner to the
goddess Seshat; there are numerous hymns, litanies and images from antiquity
equating all three as forms of one goddess (see the Prayer to Ptah As All Gods in
Chapter 4 for one example, and the following for another), in a manner
foreshadowing the development of the three goddesses of “fate” in neighboring
cultures and mythologies.

Nebt-het accepts a number of offerings, including mirrors, smooth rocks, and

dark jewels, particularly garnets. In a similarity to Her other aspects She also
likes books and weapons, and is notable amongst Kemetic gods in that in visions
or dreams, She speaks only in a whisper, and Her voice is never physically heard
on the rare occasion She manifests to possess a devotee during ritual. In most of
the earliest depictions of Nebt-het, She is called by the compound name Nebt-
het-Seshat as the delineator and recorder of Time. This early prayer from the
Coffin Texts invokes Her to bless a dead person:

37. Prayer to Nebt-het-Seshat to Bless the Dead

O [name of deceased person], Heru protects you.
He causes Nebt-het to hold you together,
To create you in Her Name of Seshat, Mistress of Potters.
She is a great lady, great of life in the Night-boat,
Who raises Heru up.

Nut, Starry Vault of Heaven

Both the concept and the goddess of heaven, Nut is the personified sky and
especially the starry sky of nighttime into which all people can look and see
eternity. Nut is often depicted as a tall or long woman bending over the body of
Her husband/brother Geb; Her body is colored dark blue and spangled with
golden, five-pointed stars. Daily the sun is said to be born of Nut’s womb and
return to Her body via Her mouth at evening. Metaphorically, the earliest forms
of funerary literature speak of the deceased rising to become one with Nut in the
heavens, to be “an immortal star in Her bosom,” and Nut’s star-studded body is
often painted on the inside of coffins and sarcophagi with outstretched arms, so
that She may embrace the deceased. As Hethert is usually the goddess of the
daytime sky, Nut is goddess of the nighttime sky and the two goddesses share
many symbols and titles.
Offerings to Nut are similar to those offered to Hethert: liquids, including water,
milk and beer; fruits and flowers.

A number of very ancient hymns to Nut are included in the Pyramid Texts, such
as this one:

38. Hymn to Nut

O Great One, Sky,
You made power and strength,
and filled every place with Your beauty.
All lands belong to You.
You hold Geb and all creation in Your embrace.

Sekhmet, Lady of the Red Garment

First noted in a myth describing Ra’s vengeance upon His enemies, Sekhmet, the
“powerful female,” is an unstoppable force from Whom humankind was
delivered only by the timely intervention of a moment of levity embodied in
public drunkenness, and is an aggressive form or aspect of the goddess Hethert.
Sekhmet was not originally a goddess in and of Herself; it is more accurate to
refer to Her as Sekhmet-Hethert, or Hethert-Sekhmet, and She is thus named in
Her origination text.

Eventually, Sekhmet developed a personal cult and personality distinct from

Hethert, as an aspect of the Eye of Ra associated with divine vengeance. She
also acquired a significant purpose as a goddess Who could both cause illness
and heal it. As a healer, Sekhmet’s power to destroy things utterly is invoked
against the invisible “demons” of plague and disease; Sekhmet’s ancient priest-
hood included trained surgeons of remarkable caliber, given the standards for
medicine in the ancient world.
Thousands of statues of Sekhmet, carved from black granite and other hard
stones, were erected along the processional ways during the New Kingdom as a
way to placate the Red Lady and encourage Her to turn back plagues that came
into the country at that time. Sekhmet as destroyer is paired with Ptah the creator
as Her husband and Nefertem the healer as Her son at the city of Mennefer, and
Her destructive lioness-visage found echo in images of the goddesses of Mut and
Mertseger in Uaset. Sekhmet’s strongest attribute, like the lioness Her symbol, is
that of appropriate action, and particularly appropriate violence and/or
destruction.

Sekhmet welcomes offerings of strong, spicy meat and drink, and red beer in
particular, as the mythological pacifier of Her wrath, is especially used as an
offering to Her.

A tomb in Uaset (modern Luxor) contains a prayer to Sekhmet that connects Her
with Hethert in solar, “Eye of Ra” titles, yet still reminds us of Her wild and
unpredictable qualities:
39. Jubilation to Sekhmet
I ask that You hear, Golden One!
I beg Your heart turn to me!
Hail, Lady of Plague,
Sekhmet the Great, Lady of Ladies!
Praised by Her father, eldest of Her creator,
At the prow of Ra’s boat, roaming loose in its cabin!
Your arms make light,
Your rays brighten the Lands.
The Two Lands are under Your rule and the Remetj are Your people!

The Coffin Texts add this hymn:

40. Prayer to Sekhmet
Hail Sekhmet among the Great,
Lady of Heaven, Mistress of Two Lands,
Who does what She wishes among the gods in Their shrines.
All men are in awe of You,
Lady of Life within Wadjet.

Tauret, Great One of Birth

Thousands of smiling statues of hippopotami with pendulous breasts, long
plaited hair and Hethert’s horns-and-disk headdress bear testament to the
popularity of Tauret in ancient times as the protectress of childbearing women.
Tauret, or Ta-weret, “the Great Female,” is a powerful protectress of infants and
children, along with the god Bes. The hippopotamus that is Her theophany was
probably not venerated particularly for its mothering skills, but for brute strength
and staying power—and its ability to scare just about anything away. As a
mother goddess, Tauret accepts offerings similar to those of Kemet’s Great
Mother, the goddess Hethert.

A beautiful prayer to Tauret was found on the stela of a woman buried near the
temple of Hatshepsut at Deir-el-Bahri:

41. Woman’s Prayer to Tauret

I give praise to Tauret,
in Her beautiful Name of “One Who Comes in Perfection.”
I sing Her praises to heaven, and offer to Her ka every day.
Be gracious to me, show me Your grace,
Beautiful, gracious one!
May You give me Your hand, may You be my life’s friend,
Bring me children!
Do not reproach me for the sins I have committed,
Beautiful, gracious one!
If I lie, may I be punished by the judges.
I will tell of Your great strength
To those who do not know You and those who do;
I will say to my children and my children’s children,
“Guard yourselves before Her!”
On the day when Tauret has mercy,
My heart will be seized with happiness.
May She make my house prosper in Her blessing every day
“If only She would!” I cry.
May She let me be healthy and my belly carry children,
And my heart be happy every day,
She, Who does ma’at, Who drives out isfet,
Who knows forgiveness.
Look on Her, men, that you might live – fear Tauret!
Her anger is heavier than a mound of iron,
but Her grace is life!
 CHAPTER 5:
PRAYERS AND RITUALS FOR THE
ANCESTORS/BLESSED DEAD (AKHU)
Akhu, or “shining ones,” is the term the Kemetic people gave to the blessed
dead, those ancestors who had died, been found vindicated in a final judgment of
their lives before the court of Wesir, and been transformed into higher beings
capable of interceding on behalf of the living.

In a special category between gods and humans, the Akhu are the “saints” of
Kemetic religion; from state Akhu like Imhotep and Amunhotep son of Hapu, to
one’s own deceased blood relatives. We give offerings to our Akhu and pray to
them for help and protection—not in “ancestor worship,” as Victorian
archaeologists liked to label the practice—but in the belief that both dead and
living people inhabit our universe together, can (and do) communicate, and can
work together toward ma’at in the world as well as in our personal lives.

In antiquity, Akhu received regular offerings and prayers for their peaceful
repose and continued positive attitude toward the living. Akhu were identified
with Wesir, the archetypal first of the dead Who became their King, and are
given His name as a title: “The Wesir X” corresponds to the modern usage of the
phrase “the late X” when referring to a dead person.

A standard set of funerary prayers was used and is included here, including the
famous hotep-di-Nisut (“an offering which the King gives”). Other prayers are
also provided, including prayers to be said on special days, and prayers to assist
in encounters with dead who are not Akhu, such as ghosts or the muuet (the
unblessed dead, particularly malicious spirits of some dead people). In antiquity,
living persons observing the 70-day mourning period after someone’s death
(called the senem and mystically related to the heliacal rise and set of the star
Sopdet, a star associated with the goddess Aset and the principle of renewal) did
not attend temple festivals and sometimes also engaged in ritual fasting (called
heqer’ib) during daylight or on specific days as part of mourning.
The following prayer is a good example of the standard funerary incantation
found in earlier tombs. It was believed that even the “breath of the mouth,” or
the act of speaking words indicating the funerary offerings, had just as much
effect as supplying the real thing if actual offerings were unavailable. This breath
of the mouth is a reference to heka, the speaking with authority most often
referred to as “magic” in modern sources.
42. Standard Funerary Formula
O you living on earth, who love life and hate death,
If you pass by my tomb, offer me whatever is in your hands.
And if you have nothing, say out loud:
“A thousand of bread and beer, oxen and geese,
alabaster and linen,
and a thousand of all good and pure things for the revered one,
[deceased’s name],
child of [deceased’s mother’s name].”

The Kemetic personification of the earth is not female as in most religions, but
male. The god Geb, our Father Earth, is the physical world, His bones its
mountains, and His body the final resting place of all our ancestors:

43. Prayer to Geb for the Akhu

O Geb, may Your arms be around the Wesir [deceased’s name].
Make his face shine and his eyes open!

Geb’s partner, Nut the Sky Mother, contains the Akhu within Herself as tiny
points of starlight studding Her deep blue body:

44. Akhu Prayer to Nut under the nighttime sky

O You Who are high in the stars,
You shall never die.

Standard blessings are given to the Akhu, including the ubiquitous “bread and
beer,” “cool water,” and “every good thing upon which one might live.” Here,
blessings including offerings are given:

45. Blessing for the dead

The sky is yours, the earth is yours,
the cemetery roads are yours.
Praise to you in peace!
You will not be separated from the Lord of the West.
Aset spreads Her arms over you,
She grants you peaceful rest forever.
O gods, grant that the Wesir [deceased’s name], true of voice,
Be among You in the beautiful West!

46. Libation chant to the Akhu and/or Wesir

Pour cool water as you chant:
Here is Your cold water, Father!
Here is Your cold water, Wesir!
Refresh Your heart through it,
Refresh Your soul through it.

47. Bread offering prayer for the Akhu

O [deceased’s name], take this bread which I give as your loaf,
Which Heru, great in Upper Kemet, gives you;
Be filled with what I bring.
It is the Eye of Heru.
Eat a piece of the bread and offer the rest.

The hotep-di-Nisut prayers are a special class of prayers said on behalf of the
dead, all characterized by the use of the phrase hotepdi-Nisut, literally “an
offering which the King gives,” at their beginning, followed by the invocation of
various gods and temples, and then listing offerings to be presented to the dead.
These forms mirror an actual practice in ancient temples called the reversion of
offerings, where offerings paid for by the royal treasury or private benefactors
were presented first to the gods in their shrines, and then “reverted,” after having
been shared with and blessed by those gods, to persons celebrating the ritual,
whether Akhu, living persons, or both. Some reversions were practiced as
payment for presenting the offerings; for example, ka-priests who looked after
individual families’ tombs were permitted to take a portion of the offerings home
as payment for their efforts, after presenting them in the tomb for the prescribed
ritual time. Two versions of the hotep-di-nisut are cited here, but thousands of
variations are known.

48. A Hotep-di-Nisut
An offering which the Nisut gives to Wesir, an invocation offering of a thousand
loaves of bread and jars of beer, a thousand pieces of alabaster, oxen and fowl
upon the altar; so say Aset and Nebt-het to [deceased’s name], true of voice.
May your head be raised, may you live, may you possess a body, may you
always be a Shemsu, may you live.

49. Another Hotep-di-Nisut

An offering which the Nisut gives to Yinepu-on-His-Mountain, He Who is in the
embalming tent, Lord of the Sacred Land, in all His pure and good places: an
invocation offering of an honored one of the great god who is lord of the sky,
[deceased’s name], of a thousand of bread and beer, cattle, birds, alabaster,
clothing, the funeral offerings and a thousand of all pure and good things which
spirits love to eat, for [deceased’s name] born of [deceased’s mother’s name].
May he cross heaven, cross the sky, travel safely on the good roads of the holy
ones, and may he be helped into the neshmet-boat among Them.

Occasionally, one might encounter a less than happy spirit. These spirits may or
may not have gone through the judgment and transformation process to become
Akhu, and could be “stuck” in the sense of not having gone yet to their
judgment. The following prayer may be useful when encountering such a
trapped and unhappy spirit:

50. To free a ghost

Recite while pouring cool water:
Yinepu is at rest.
May you be an Akh, a son of Ra,
through the Sacred Eye, in peace;
May They glorify your ka and your ba,
and may you see Ra
by virtue of this my offering.
 CHAPTER 6:
FAMILY PRAYERS
The family was, and still is, an important focus of Kemetic life. From sharing
meals together to assuring the safety of children, siblings and elders, many
prayers and “magical” incantations are known for family purposes.

Following are prayers for table grace, hekau to assure fertility and safety for
family members, and even an incantation to stop arguments and restore family
peace.
The next two prayers are taken from a Ptolemaic-period temple inscription
originally intended for the blessing of dinners in the king’s palace. The “short
grace” comprises the smallest part of the entire inscription immediately
concerned with food blessing; the “long grace” copies the entire original
inscription, including its request to bless and protect the king as he partakes of
the blessed meal, and to curse the food of those who curse him. In Kemetic
Orthodoxy, either of these two graces can be used by the faithful, along with a
very abbreviated, one-line “grace” adapted from the words of blessing said over
any offering in a formal state ritual:
Hotep Netjer em shabu en imenet her iabyt
“May Netjer be satisfied with the repast
to the right and to the left.”

Table grace usually ends with waving the palms of both hands over the meal in
blessing, snapping the fingers once to attract the attention of good spirits and
repel negative ones, and then kissing the fingertips to seal the blessing.

51. Short traditional grace

Sekhmet of yesterday,
Wadjet of today,
You have come and replenished our table,
even as Heru’s table was refilled
when You arose from Ra.

52. Longer traditional grace

Sekhmet of yesterday, Wadjet of today,
You have come and replenished our table,
even as Heru’s table was refilled when You arose from Ra.
Protect the Living Falcon, our Nisut [king’s name], with the papyrus-wand of
life in Your hand in Your Name of Wadjet.
Shoot Your arrows at the food of those who speak evil against the Living Falcon.
Let them be slaughtered as You slaughtered Ra’s enemies at Zep Tepi in Your
Name of Sekhmet.
Your offerings belong to the Living Falcon.
(S)he is Ra, from Whom You spring forth.
O Bast, pull out their hearts to throw into Heru-Satjut’s brazier.
O Sekhmet, shoot Your arrow at the Living Falcon’s enemies.
May You say, “My arrow shall not miss,
for I am Sekhmet prevailing over millions.
I shoot all enemies of the Living Falcon, the Living Hawk.”
Sekhmet’s papyrus wand surrounds the Living Falcon’s flesh,
Healthy and alive!

A Kushite king, Taharqa, constructed a beautiful temple at Kawa in Nubia to the

god Amun. On this temple, he listed a number of covenants made with the god,
including this beautiful and powerful prayer for his family:

53. Prayer to Amun for a sister and her family

O great God, swift one,
Who comes to him who calls,
Watch my sister for me,
the woman born in the same womb as me.
Do for her as I have done for you,
spontaneous miracles that cannot be denied.
Elevate her children and make them prosper,
even as you did for me.

Taharqa inscribed another prayer to Amun at His main temple at Karnak on

behalf of his wife and children:
54. Prayer for one’s spouse and children
O Amun, protect my spouse. Let my children live.
Turn death away from them for me.
Preserve us from all evil deeds and words,
And turn isfet over upon itself.

A prayer for a pregnant woman to say over her womb is known from the Coffin
Texts. For extra effectiveness, this prayer can be repeated as a chant, while
bathing the pregnant woman’s abdomen in warm herbed water, perfume,
soothing oil or lotion:

55. Prayer for protection in pregnancy

Come, You Gods:
protect the one in my womb,
As You protected Heru
in His Mother Aset’s womb.

The ability to conceive was an important blessing in antiquity, particularly as the

infant mortality rate was very high and the country sparsely populated in some
areas. While we may not share these ancient concerns today, a woman might still
wish to recite this prayer to the god Khnum to help in infertility issues:

56. Fertility prayer to Khnum

O Khnum,
divine potter Who creates men upon His wheel;
Set Your wheel in this uterus;
make Your image in this womb.

Arguments and families often seem to go hand in hand. Below is a heka toward
peace, modeled on the mythological argument between Heru and Set:

57. Heka to end arguing

Leave the fight,
leave the fight like Heru left the fight.
Be far from [name]; do not approach him,
Or be judged like Set in Iunu.

A Coffin Texts prayer to the god Geb, Father Earth, assures family protections
and blessings:

58. To protect the family

Geb, King of the Gods,
give me my family, my children, my siblings, my parents,
And all my friends and dependents.
Save them from violent acts and the reckoning of justice.
Geb, King of the Gods, release my family,
save them from the wrath of any god or goddess, Akh, or muuet.
 CHAPTER 7:
CHILDREN’S PRAYERS AND RITUALS
In tandem with the concern for family welfare is a great concern for the life,
health and happiness of children. Children are Netjer’s greatest gift, as they
represent our future. Many hundreds of prayers aimed at conceiving, birthing
and protecting children are known; here, I include prayers on children’s behalf,
as well as simple prayers that children can say themselves or together with their
parents or guardians, at bedtime or shrine time.

Many Kemetic Orthodox say prayers or go into their shrines at sunrise, as this
time symbolizes the rebirth and regeneration of all life. This prayer is
particularly appropriate to say after completing sunrise prayers; I say this prayer
daily on behalf of all the children of our faith.

59. Prayer to be said for a child at sunrise

You rise, Ra, You rise!
Are there muuet who would come against her/him,
[child’s name] born of [speaker’s name],
To say words against me,
plotting to seize my daughter/son from my embrace?
“Save me, Lord Ra!” says [child’s name], born of [mother’s name].

Ra says as He rises:
“I shall not give you over to a male or female thief from the West.
My hand is upon you, My seal is your protection.”
May Ra rise forth!

If your children perform their own shrine prayers, the following may be easier to
remember than the longer ones of the Ritual of the Senut. It is also a nice prayer
to say over a night light for a child who is afraid of the dark.

60. Simple light prayer for a child’s shrine

Light grow, light come forth.
Light rise, light come up.
You Who are outside, come in.
This protection heka adapted from the Coffin Texts is an appropriate blessing for
bedtime. For very small children, this heka is easily adapted into a game where
the child and an adult point at various body parts as they are mentioned.

61. Children’s Protection Heka

Heaven protects you,
Earth protects you,
Night protects you,
Day protects you.
You are protected like gold,
You are protected like stone,
You are protected like Ra,
You are protected like the seven gods who made the world,
Or the destroyers who take hearts away.
The top of your head is Ra, healthy child,
The back of your head is Wesir,
Your forehead is Lady Satet of Abu,
Your face is Nit.
Your eyebrows are Lord of the East,
Your eyes are Lord of the People,
Your nose is Mother of all gods,
And your ears are two cobras.
Your shoulders are living hawks,
Your one arm is Heru
and your other arm is Set.
Your left side is Sopdet,
Your right side is Nut who gives birth to the gods
Like the pure shrine in Iunu where all the gods are.
Your heart is Montu,
Your chest is Atum,
Your lungs are Min,
Your breath is Nefertem.
Left of your tummy is Sobek,
Right of your tummy is Herishaef,
Your whole tummy is healthy.
Your belly button is the One Star,
Your one leg is Aset,
the other Nebt-het.
There is no part of you that does not belong to Netjer,
Every god protects your name.

Here is another prayer against the ever-present fear of the dark. This one also
makes a nice chant for children of all ages during times of uncertainty or fear:

62. Protection against darkness

I enter the dark,
I shine in the dark,
I pass through and I can see.
 CHAPTER 8:
BLESSING PRAYERS
This chapter includes various types of blessings, defined as prayers requesting
blessing from the various gods and goddesses, from healing to happiness, love,
wisdom, long life and prosperity.

Prayers for inspiration in writing as well as good business and confidence are
also included, as well as a set of hekau to request healing from an Akh, in this
case the very famous Third Dynasty architect and doctor Imhotep, equated with
Asclepius by the Greeks.

Djehuty was often associated with the visible disk of the moon (called Iah). The
moon in Kemetic philosophy is a symbol of healing, connected with the
rejuvenation and healing of the Eye of Heru after Set tore it out in one of the
myths. Healing prayers are particularly appropriate at the Full Moon, image of
the Udjat or “healthy eye.”

63. Full Moon Healing Prayer to Djehuty

I sing praises to Djehuty the Moon,
prostrate myself before the Merciful One.
I praise You in the sky and honor Your perfection.
Have mercy on me!
May I see Your mercy without ceasing,
That I might see Your great strength.
You have shown me the darkness I created.
Shine for me so I might see You,
Because health and life are in Your hands,
And one lives by Your command.

A stela from Tanis, Ramesside capital and home of Set’s worship, includes an
obscure prayer to Him for a good lifetime:

64. Prayer to Set for a good life

Hail to You, Set son of Nut,
Great of Strength in the Boat of Millions,
Who fells the enemy snake at the prow of Ra’s boat.
Great of Battle Cry,
may You give me a good lifetime.

Amun was invoked for various reasons, particularly in His home city of Uaset.
This prayer, from a Third Intermediate Period vizier, seeks His aid in healing:

65. Prayer to Amun for successful healing

Hail to You Amun, maker of men, God Who created all!
Honorable king, first in the Two Lands,
Who planned Eternity and made it.
Great in power, mighty in terror,
Whose forms are exalted over other gods,
Mighty strength Who smites rebels,
Whose horns attack evildoers,
I call Your name as my doctor,
to remove my illness.
May You drive my pain away,
with flaming horns and moving arms.

Neo-Pagans, and Wiccans in particular, may find it difficult to adapt Kemetic or

Kemetic Orthodox ritual to their ritual forms. Often this is due to our traditions
not following the standard Western ceremonial practice of “casting a circle,”
based on invocation of the guardians of four cardinal directions originally
posited by Classical philosophers. The following incantation from the Coffin
Texts actually adapts rather well to the blessing of sacred space based on a four-
direction, circle-casting model, because while we do not have four directions
(we have six), we do recognize the four winds, and they correspond to the
conceptions of north, south, east and west.

For the Kemetic Orthodox and other non-Pagan practitioners, this hekau is an
excellent protective device for persons and places:

66. Four Winds prayer

Four winds surround me.
The north wind circles islands, touches earth,
Resting as it brings my desires.
The north wind, breath of life, is given to me and I live.

Four winds surround me.

The east wind raises Nut, makes God’s path shine,
and lets me prosper like Wesir and Set.
The east wind, breath of life, is given to me and I live.

Four winds surround me.

The west wind, brother, son and image of ma’at,
alive before the Two, second of the Four.
The west wind, breath of life, is given to me and I live.

Four winds surround me.

The south wind, from the ancient, holy source,
brings water, growth and life.
The south wind, breath of life, is given to me and I live.

Be praised, four winds of heaven, bulls of sky!

I call you each by name and know your birth.

Love has always been a concern of magic; everything from spells to potions to
“voodoo dolls” (if fact originally first used in Late Period Kemet) has been
employed to achieve relationship bliss. Here’s an easier method to gain a lover,
in the form of a prayer to the goddess Hethert, Love’s Mistress:

67. Prayer to Hethert for Love

I worship the Golden One to honor Her majesty,
exalt Heaven’s lady.
I give praise to Hethert and joyful songs to my heavenly Queen!
I beg that She hear my request to send a lover now!

In addition to the moon symbol, Djehuty is sometimes hypostatized as an ibis,

associated with scholarship, studiousness and wisdom. A Ramesside papyrus
contains several prayers to this great god, including this one for wisdom:

68. Prayer to Djehuty for Wisdom

Come to me, Djehuty,
Great Holy Ibis Who loves Khmun,
Divine Scribe, exalted in Iunu:
Come to me and give good counsel,
make me wise in Your affairs.
Come to me and grant wisdom,
for I follow Your way.

In 1993, when I was working on my first book, I wrote a prayer to Djehuty for
the purpose of blessing my writing. As an offering to accompany this prayer, I
would stack the pages I had written that day on the altar and leave them there
overnight. Pens, ink, and even computers can be offered in this manner: a
modern evolution of ancient scribes’ practice of offering their pens and ink to
this great god at the start of every workday.

69. Writer’s prayer to Djehuty

Praise Djehuty;
kissing the earth before Ra’s advisor.
Thrice Greatest Lord, sacred bird,
Lord of law, of words and knowledge
Creator God Who spoke the Word
You Who spoke into existence
All that is and all shall be,
Who played a game against the moon
That gods and men might be born,
Who aided Aset in Her flight from Set,
And judged in Heru’s favor as well,
You Who are mate of History,
Consort to the Feather of Truth,
Lord of scribes, playwrights, and poets,
Grant that I communicate with Your grace.
Accept my words, Great Djehuty.
Bless me with creativity
and the will to write what I know,
To offer my words and to keep them.
Be with me in my daily work,
be it speech or script, book or bargaining,
Communicating clearly and wisely
what I wish to create.
Grant me knowledge as well,
A thirst for ever deeper understanding,
A ready word and a flowing pen.

The “evil eye,” or the concept of being jealous of another’s possessions,

successes or other things, has been the subject of protection incantations since
the beginning of written texts in all cultures. Even modern Egyptians protect
themselves against the evil eye of jealous neighbors, strangers and even the
inadvertent bringing of evil spirits against an innocent through the use of
amulets, talis-mans and incantations. This ancient incantation seeks to protect
against all forms of the evil eye, including accidentally casting it on another or
inadvertently casting it when meaning to be sincere:

70. Heka against the “Evil Eye”

Sekhmet’s arrow is in you,
Djehuty’s heka is in you.
Aset speaks against you,
Nebt-het punishes you,
And Heru’s spear is in your face!
He blinds your evil eye,
All you people: friends, enemies or strangers,
Who throw an evil eye against (name),
Born of (mother’s name),
For any reason, evil or good!
A general prayer for blessings of all kinds comes from the coronation stela of
another Kushite king, Anlamani. It is notable in mentioning Aten, the sun-disk
god made supreme by Akhenaten, at a time several hundred years later when
most scholars teach that Aten worship had been suppressed.

71. Blessing Prayer to Amun-Ra

O Amun-Ra who finds the Aten,
Swift of stride, Who comes to him who calls,
Grant me long life without illness,
Turn back any who plot against me,
Honor my mother and bless her children on earth,
Grant me prosperity, a good harvest,
an inundation without trouble,
And may the land be good in my time.

This very ancient prayer is known from the Pyramid Texts and may be even
older than its Old Kingdom appearance. It can easily be adapted to bless another
person or an Akh.

72. Prayer to Ra for Prosperity

Hail Ra in life and beauty on Your throne!
May I be given the milk of Aset,
The water of Nebt-het,
The flood of the lake and the wave of the sea,
Life, prosperity, health and happiness,
Bread, beer, clothing and food so that I might live.

When seeking good business, an incantation from the famous Greek Magical
Papyri for a statue of Heru-sa-Aset as a falcon, placed in the store, can be
extremely helpful. The rubric accompanying the following incantation indicates
that the image of Heru should be given regular offerings of red wine and candles
of any color except red.
73. Heka to Heru-sa-Aset for good business
May we have income and business,
because the Son, the Falcon, lives here.

Dreams are an exceptional resource for communicating with the unseen world
and its gods and spirits. A prayer to Imhotep, the Akh Who is a patron of
scholars and healers, is to be said before going to sleep; whatever is dreamed
about will provide information about causes of illness, either one’s own
illnesses, or, if the person is a healer, the ailments of his client(s). Burning sweet
incense while saying this prayer is recommended.

74. Prayer to Imhotep for a cure in a dream

May Imhotep the Great, son of Ptah,
born of Kheredu-ankh, come to me tonight!
May He tell me truly of a prescription for my illness,
[or my client’s illness] and how to use it!
O Imhotep the Great, son of Ptah,
born of Kheredu-ankh, speak for me [or name of client]
In the presence of Nebt-het,
saying I [or name of client] might live!

Khnum is most often invoked as a creator god. However, as the Placid One, He
can also help in situations of anger. Write the name of this god on a piece of
white paper and hold it tightly in your left hand while saying this invocation for
the god’s restraint:

75. Heka to Khnum to restrain anger

I restrain all anger,
especially that against [Name],
in the name of Khnum.

A short chant, provided here in Kemetic and English, can be used as a meditative
device or a heka for truth. It is taken from the words of an Old Kingdom priest of
the goddess Bast:

76. Chant for truth

English:
Ma’at will return to Her throne,
for isfet is driven away.

Kemetic:
Iu ma’at er iyet er setes,
isfet djarty er ruty.

This piece of heka from the Coffin Texts eventually became part of the famous
Spell 126 of the “Book of the Dead,” where one’s heart is asked not to betray a
person at the final judgment. It is a useful heka for any situation where you find
yourself faint of heart.

77. Spell for confidence

Hail to you, my heart,
seat of my personality,
do not forsake me.
 CHAPTER 9:
PROTECTION PRAYERS
Protection is a valid need in any society. For the Kemetic, words said and rituals
acted out in the seen world and the unseen world can provide protection from
both tangible and intangible dangers.

The first prayer translated here is a standard blessing for an enclosed space,
either a room or an entire building. It has been adapted from formal temple
rituals to purify sacred space, and is best spoken while in the midst of, or having
just finished, sweeping the intended space clean with a broom. In order to assure
the prayer’s success, the broom should then not be kept inside the space being
protected:

78. Prayer for protection of an enclosed space

Djehuty comes, having rescued Heru’s Eye from Its enemies.
No enemy, male or female, can enter here.

Another prayer, this one to the great god Set, provides strong protection against
evil and is often said at the Kemetic New Year:

79. Prayer to Set to avert evil

O Set,
Lord of the Living on the prow of Ra’s boat,
Save us from all evil difficulties this year.

Amun is a savior god in many respects. This prayer provides comfort and
protection in the midst of a difficult situation:

80. Prayer to Amun for deliverance from danger

O Amun the Ram,
great of strength for the innocent,
Let me reach safety!
Our modern conception of a trial by jury is often suggested to stem from the
Magna Carta; in reality its roots hearken back quite a bit further, to Kemet. Even
the ancients felt a need for a fair, speedy trial, or perhaps just deliverance from
punishment!

81. Prayer to Amun for a Good Trial

Amun, lend Your ear to a lonely one in court,
who needs You and is powerless.
May Amun transform Himself into a judge and let me go free!
Let it be found that this humble man is just!

At several points in the Coffin Texts, prayers are said for the spirits of the dead
to have a safe ‘flight’ into the sky. A few years ago, I caught myself mumbling a
variation on these words during a particularly rough airline takeoff, and have
passed them on to others for comfort with airplane phobia ever since:

82. Prayer to Shu and Hethert for safe flight

I go up to Shu,
I climb on sunbeams.
I am strong like Shu,
I am safe like Shu beneath the sky.
I rise like incense,
I climb on sunbeams,
Hethert, give me Your hand.

Like the protection prayers for children and the Four Winds heka given earlier,
the following heka is given to protect an individual. Visualizing the four
goddesses with Their arms outspread on each side of the person (Aset in front,
Nebt-het behind, Nit to the left and Serqet to the right) is very effective.

83. Double Truths Heka

Aset closes Her arms around me.
Nebt-het hugs me.
Nit encircles me.
Serqet puts Her arms on me.
I am protected.

This heka is not a prayer, but a recipe for a sort of potion to avoid nightmares, or
evil sleep as noted in the original document:

84. Heka against “evil sleep”

Mix date flour with milk and roll the dough into a ball. Drop the ball into a glass
of wine and drink the entire mixture right before bedtime.

A very famous magical papyrus includes this prayer for protection and
vindication against one’s enemies:

85. Prayer to Djehuty for vindication

Hail Djehuty, praise Him every day!
He gives breath to the weary one,
and vindicates him against his foes.
O Djehuty Who vindicated Wesir
against His enemies,
Vindicate [name] against his enemies.

Several symbols provide protection, such as the Udjat eye and the face of the
god Bes. Less often discussed is the “Set beast,” an enigmatic dog-like animal
associated with the god Set since the Predynastic period. A short prayer in the
Coffin Texts indicates that Set’s theophany is a strong protection against evil!

86. Invocation of the Set Beast for protection

Beware! Look out, isfet!
That which is over me protects me.
Set’s animal waits to catch you!
Heka can also be directed toward one of Set’s consorts, Nit, the Lady in Red, to
fight on behalf of the speaker, as below:

87. Heka to Nit for protection

Nit appears against evil words,
Nit appears against Isfet,
Nit appears against those who would smite [name],
Nit appears against those who would harm [name].

A prayer to Serqet, great of magic, the scorpion hypostasis of the great goddess
Aset, is directed toward protecting a person against poisoning. This and other
prayers to Serqet for the same purpose have modernly proven very helpful in
addiction rehabilitation; after all, many abused substances, and most drugs, also
have toxic or poisonous properties.

88. Prayer to Serqet for freedom from poison or chemical

addiction(s)
Back, evil one,
living on me in the arms of the night,
Your abomination is in my belly,
your poison in my head.
Back, evil one,
living on me in the arms of the night,
For Serqet is within me without my having asked.
 CHAPTER 10:
RITUALS AND MAGICAL UTTERANCES (HEKAU)
Hundreds and thousands of texts could be translated for celebrations, rituals
and other hymns for liturgical purposes. For this book, I have tried to include
items that may not be available from other sources in English, for use in
personal prayer and ritual observances, as well as group ceremonies.

Hethert is a great goddess of love, music and artistic expressions of love and
femininity, particularly dancing and singing. This song includes the menat
necklaces sacred to Her, beaded necklaces that double as a soft, swishing
percussion instrument; castanets in the shape of ivory hands; and lots and lots of
perfume.

89. Offering Song for Hethert

A collar for your ka, for your ka!
Menats of Hethert, Qis’s lady, for your ka!
Hethert’s menats, in your favor, for your ka!
Menats of your Mother Hethert,
may She grant life as long as you wish, for your ka!
Perfume for your ka!
Hethert’s menats, may She favor you!

Hethert, She of love, is exalted! Castanets!

She is exalted this fine day! Castanets!
Play castanets for your ka!
An offering loaf for Hethert, may She favor you!
O Gold in the pools, in the pools,
in the places of Her ka!
May You be gracious, be gracious, O Gold!
May Her spirits remain in this house!

At the beginning of the Ritual of the Senut, we light a shrine lamp or candle.
This next prayer can be said in addition to the existing Senut prayer, or at any
time when lighting a flame in honor of the gods and goddesses. The reference to
the Eye of Heru is an indication that the flame has become an offering in and of
itself.
90. Lighting fire prayer
Welcome in peace, Eye of Heru,
Shining, perfect, healed, in peace!
May You shine like Ra-Heruakhety!
Heru’s Eye is victorious!
Heru’s Eye repels the enemy!

Two prayers are given here for incense lighting. The first is specifically intended
for the god Heruakhety and is said at sunrise; the second is a Pyramid Text
incantation of far earlier date and was adapted as part of the Kemetic Orthodox
Ritual of the Senut:

91. Lighting incense prayer for Heruakhety

I give incense to the eastern Ba,
Heru of the East,
Bull of His Mother in the Aten,
He of Terror Who shines with two Udjat eyes.
Ra-Heruakhety the great god, Power with wings,
Foremost of the Southern Heaven.

92. Traditional incense prayer

Fire is made and it shines;
Incense goes on the fire and it shines.
Your perfume comes to me, Incense;
May my perfume go to you.
Your perfume comes to me, Netjer;
May my perfume go to You.
May I be with You, Netjer;
And may You be with me.
May I live with You, Netjer;
And may You live with me.
I love You, Netjer;
May You love me.
Another Pyramid Texts prayer invokes Shu, god of the wind and air, to carry
offerings up to the gods:

93. Offering prayer to Shu

I have come to You, Elder One,
May You turn toward me
as the east wind turns toward the west;
May You come toward me
as the north wind comes toward the south.

The following prayer, an adaptation of some Pyramid Texts, is an excerpt from

the prayers I say at each sunrise as part of the formal state rituals of Kemetic
Orthodoxy. I have included it here in English and in Kemetic for your own use:

94. Nisut’s Hymn to the Rising Sun

Like the dream request of Imhotep in the protection chapter, dream oracles can
also be used to ask particular gods to give advice and messages. Following are
the instructions on gaining oracles from Heru, and from Aset, Nebt-het and
Wesir, from demotic inscriptions:
95. Request for a Dream Oracle from Heru
Purify yourself before your shrine lamp and say:
Be well, lamp lighting the way to Heru, the first and last;
and to His Father, Wesir.
Please give me a dream.

Extinguish the light and go to sleep.

96. Request for Dream Oracle from Aset, Nebt-het and

Wesir
Mix myrrh powder with gin and draw a bennu-bird on a piece of paper.
Put this paper in your pillow and say four times before sleeping:
Aset, Nebt-het, noble ka of Wesir Unnefer,
come to your beloved son [daughter]!
O gods in heaven, gods on earth, gods in the Nun, gods in the south, north, west
and east,
Come to me tonight!
Teach me about [request] in a dream!

Purification is an important part of ancient and modern Kemetic practice. A

simple purification prayer involving several divinities follows, along with a
prayer specifically chanted while waving incense smoke over the person to be
purified:

97. Purification Prayer

O Ra-Atum, my purity is the purity
of the two mighty gods
Who are foremost in Upper Kemet;
My purity is the purity of the spittle
that issued from Your mouth.
I am pure,
for my purity is the purity of Heru,
Who bound His foes and was vindicated against His disputants.
My purity is the purity of Nut and Geb Who were purified by Ra,
My purity is the purity of Yinepu,
Whose body is in His flame.

98. Censing prayer

It is pure, it is pure for your ka!
You are pure for your ka.
Your head is pure with sweet incense;
the incense makes you new.
Holy fragrance is on your limbs;
Heru and Set, the Two Great Ones, cleanse you.
O [name], I cense you with this Eye of Heru.
I make you holy with this Eye of Heru,
I make you holy,
the Eye makes you holy,
Its scent washes over you,
the perfume of Heru’s Eye lies upon you.
 CHAPTER 11:
DAILY AND HOLIDAY PRAYERS
This chapter includes prayers for holidays as well as prayers for particular
times of every day. Each prayer notes when it should be said, along with other
relevant information.

Appendix III includes a copy of the Kemetic Orthodox Festival Calendar, if you
are interested in knowing what festivals we honor, when, and how we decided
upon an official calendar for modern usage.

The Pesdjentiu, or “new crescent” festival, is celebrated on the evening the

waxing (first crescent) moon first appears after its new phase. This prayer is to
be said at the sighting of the new crescent:

99. Prayer for the New Crescent (Pesdjentiu)

Open, O cloudiness!
Ra’s bleary eye is covered and Heru goes forth happy, every day.
Heru, great in stature, mighty in strike,
Who heals the Eye’s bleariness with His powerful breath.
Behold, O Ra.
I come as one of four gods at sky-side,
And I show You Him Who is there day and night.
Hold tight; none oppose You.

Litanies are a common form of Kemetic ritual. A traditional litany, sometimes

called a “call and response,” is formed by a call-line from the leader of the litany
(usually a priest in formal contexts), and a response or refrain given by all other
participants. Litanies can be chanted or sung. This litany honors Khnum as
creator and a form of the god Amun, and is to be said at sunrise:

100. Morning Litany to Khnum-Amun

Response to each line:
In peace, in peace, awake in peace!
Awake in peace, awake in peace, Khnum-Amun,
in peace, Who came forth from the Nun.

Lord of the fields, great Khnum Who lives in the meadow,

King of gods and men, strong of battle cry,
Great of plans, great one in Kemet,
Lord of Life, lover of women,
to Whom gods and men come at His wish,
Ram great in majesty, tall of plume and sharp of horn,
Great Lion Who slays rebels,
Lord of crocodiles conquering Whom He wishes,
Veiled-face Who closes His eyes on His enemies and takes up weapons,
Leader of shepherds Who holds the shaft and smites predators,
Great Crocodile Who says, “You must kill your opponents,”
Shu, strong arm, champion of His Father, Who slays rebels,
Fighting Ram Who runs down foes, shepherd of His followers,
One of many forms, Who takes any form He wants,
Khnum, Who creates men as He wishes,
Who sets each one in His place!

A third praise of sunrise can be found in Theban Tomb 192, the tomb of Kheruef,
who also supplies us with a hymn for sunset:

101. Kheruef’s Prayer to the Rising Sun

Hail to You, Ra, in Your Rising,
hidden like Amun as You rest,
Shining from Your Mother’s back,
appearing in glory as King of the Gods.
Nut greets Your appearance and Ma’at’s arms protect You night and day.
Let me worship with Your goodness in my heart,
And may my body prosper in Your power.

102. Kheruef’s Prayer to the Setting Sun

Hail to You, Atum, in Your setting,
Lord of forever and ever,
Joining with the horizon,
glorious in the West as Evening,
Complete One.
Coming in power, free from enemies,
Atum going to rest.
Let me be favored as I watch Your beauty,
And let me take up rope and sail with You each night.

A sunrise prayer from the king Horemheb of the 18th Dynasty reminds us of the
healing power of Ra’s light:

103. Horemheb’s Prayer to the Rising Sun

May I praise You with Your splendor in my eyes,
And may Your light fill my body As Your champion of ma’at, for Your Majesty,
every day.

In the last few days of the first Kemetic season, coincident with the end of
modern November, the Mysteries of Wesir are celebrated. The death, burial, and
transformation of the god from king of the living to king of the dead are honored
over many days. Special lamentation songs, chanted by priestesses dressed as the
goddesses Aset and Nebt-het, were enacted as part of the sacred drama of the
Night Vigil, kept on the second night of the Mysteries.

104. The Lamentations of Aset and Nebt-het

Aset:
Beautiful youth, come to Your house now; we cannot see You.
Hail beautiful boy, come to Your house, draw near after separation.
Hail beautiful youth, navigator of time, Who grows except now.
Holy image of His Father Tatenen, secret essence of Atum.
Nebt-het:
Lord, Lord! Much more wonderful than His Father,
Firstborn of His mother.
Come to us bodily; we will embrace You.
Do not take Your beautiful face from us, clearly beloved.
Image of Tatenen,
Master of love’s joys, come in peace,
Lord, we want to see You.
Aset:
Your two sisters reattach Your limbs,
no pain shall touch You.

We will make Your injuries as if they never happened.

Mighty One of the gods,
the road You travel cannot be described.
Little one, child at morning and evening,
except when You circle Nut and Geb,
as the Bull of the Two Sisters.

Nebt-het:
Come, little one, growing young as You set,
Lord, we want to see You.
Come in peace, great child of His Father,
You are established in Your house.
Do not fear. Your son Heru avenges You.
Neka is carried off and thrust into his cave of fire every day;
his name hacked to pieces among all gods;
Tebha has become a stinking corpse.
You are in Your house, do not fear.
Apep suffers all the evil he committed.
What Nut sent has speared him.

Aset:
Come, youth of saffron face, growing young,
Whose two eyes are beautiful.
I am Your sister Aset, dear one of Your heart.
Because I love You and yet You are gone,
I water the earth with my tears.
While You travel, we sing,
and life springs up from Your absence.
Nebt-het:
O Lord, come in peace. Let us see You.
Hail prince, come in peace,
drive away the fire in our houses.
Hail, bull of the Westerners, immovable,
how much more marvelous than the gods is the little one, the male,
the mighty heir of Geb, God among gods.
Aset:
Come to Your two widows;
the whole company of gods encircles You that They may repel Apep, cursed be
his name!
When he comes to the shrine before Your father Ra Who shoots out fire and
repels his devils.
Come, Your family waits.
Drive sorrow from our houses.
Come, Your family waits.
There is no one more stable than You, Who dwell alone.

Nebt-het:
Our Lord’s throne is in peace.
Victor, greater than his suffering,
when the fiend lands on his enemies.
O born-again Soul,
the Two Sisters attach Your limbs.
Aset:
I hid myself in bushes to hide Your son,
that He might answer for You,
for Your death was a time of distress.
Didn’t I collect your limbs?
I went alone—I crept through the fields.
A large crocodile came after Your son,
a female crocodile with a male’s face.
But I knew,
and Yinepu and I went around and retraced our steps for my brother, keeping
clear of evil.
Nebt-het:
Hail beautiful boy, come to Your exalted house,
Put your back to it.
The gods are on their thrones.
Hail, come in peace, O King,

Aset:
Come in peace. Your son Heru avenges You.
You have caused grief to Your two queens.
And we weep at Your shrines.
Little one! How lovely it is to see You.
Come, come to us, Great One, glorify our love.
Come to Your house, do not be afraid.

Both (take turns):

O you gods in heaven,
O you gods on earth,
O you gods in the Duat,
O you gods in the Abyss
O you gods in the service of Nun,
We follow the lord of love.

Aset:
I walk the roads so Your love may find me.
I fly over Geb, I do not rest seeking You.

Nebt-het:
Your love is a flame,
Your body’s scent like the perfume of Punt.
The Cow cries for You with Her voice.
She avenges You,
sets Your nose on Your face, collects Your bones.
Your mother Nut comes to You with offerings.
She builds You up with the life of Her body.
You are granted a ba and a ka. You are established.

Aset:
You are established.
Your hair is turquoise on Your body,
Your hair is lapis;
Your hair and limbs are southern alabaster.
Your bones are silver,
Your teeth are turquoise,
the ointment of Your hair is liquid myrrh.
Your skull is lapis.
Both (take turns):
O you gods in heaven,
O you gods on earth,
O you gods in the Duat,
O you gods in the Abyss
O you gods in the service of Nun,
We follow the lord of love.

The importance of dawn cannot be underestimated, whether it is in

immortalizing the eternal victory of the gods over the Uncreated, as in the
following hymn; or in honoring Nebt-het, goddess of death and change, as She
allows the sun to pass from Her realm back into the realm of day:

105. Hymn to Sunrise

Welcome in peace, father of Akhu and gods,
Many-faced, of unknown form,
Warm-limbed, shining in His Disk;
Who overthrows enemies daily.
The Great Cobra at Your forehead
Stops the evil one and cuts his spine;
The Great Flame destroys him;
The Great Heat devours him;
Aset fights him,
Nebt-het wounds him,
Set puts him to the sword and kills him.
How beautiful, how beautiful is Ra in His boat!
Apep falls before him and His Shemsu rejoice!

106. Dawn prayer to Nebt-het

I have come to You, Nebt-het,
I have come to You, night-boat,
I have come to You, True-Before-Dawn,
I have come to You, birth-brick of souls,
Remember me.
It is well with me and with You,
It is peaceful for me and for You,
Within the arms of Our Father,
Within the arms of Atum.

Nighttime is also a special time for prayer, whether on behalf of the Akhu or to
Atum, the Self-Created One, to pass the night safely in order to rebirth Himself
at dawn. New Moon and Full Moon also provide special times for nighttime
prayers:

107. Prayer to Atum at Night

O my Father, my Father in darkness!
O Atum in darkness!
Take me to Your side, so I may bring light and protect You,
Even as Nun protects the four Goddesses of the Throne:
Aset, Serqet, Nebt-het and Nit.

108. Prayer for the Akhu at the New Moon (Pesdjentiu)

How great is the new moon within Nut’s height!
Death’s fingers release you and you stop shaking,
Since you placed the plumes at the horizon,
where all of your friends are.
You nurse from Sopdet at the horizon;
Aset bends and makes you clean;
She protects you from your enemies, male or female,
and any seeking judgment against you on this holy day.

109. Prayer to Sokar-Wesir and an Akh at the Full Moon (Tepy-semdet)

Hail to You, Wesir, great father of the gods,
in Your happy day of Sokar’s feast!
Hail to You, [deceased’s name],
in this happy day of Sokar’s feast!
May many men behold you,
may all the people serve you,
and all the nobles worship you.

Utterance 125 (sometimes “Spell 125”) of the Pert-em-Heru or Book of the

Dead is one of the most famous pieces of religious literature from antiquity.
Some have likened this list of moral precepts to the Ten Commandments of
Judaism and Christianity. They are often referred to as the “Negative
Confessions,” or the “42 Laws,” yet are really not described well by either of
these names.

What each of the 42 lines consists of is a prayer and a purification, beginning

with the invocation of a local god for each of Kemet’s 42 provinces, and ending
with a recitation of a thing a person did not do (as opposed to reciting what a
person did do, an interesting declaration of innocence rather than guilt).

The 42 “laws” were actually priestly requirements, from a list of things ancient
priests were required to perform (or in this case not perform), immediately
before serving a god in a temple.
In the context of the Pert-em-Heru, as the deceased is about to enter the presence
of Wesir, it makes sense that (s)he must be purified in the same way as a priest
and be able prove it to the 42 assessors present at the final judgment, spirits and
gods who are symbolic of the entire land and people of Kemet.
For modern devotees, the 42 purifications can give some idea of what the people
of Kemet considered appropriate behavior, and even a living person who is not a
priest cannot help but benefit from such study. Even for those who are not
priests, the words of this utterance can provide a beautiful meditation on what it
means to be pure and the Kemetic ideal life lived in ma’at:

110. The 42 Purifications/Declarations of Innocence

1. Hail Strider, coming forth from Iunu, I do not do isfet.

2. Hail Hept-seshet, coming forth from Kher-aha, I do not steal.

3. Hail Beaky, coming forth from Khmun, I do not harbor enemies.

4. Hail Shadow-swallower, coming forth from Qernet, I do not commit murder.

5. Hail Terrible-Faced One, coming forth from Rosetjau, I do not disobey

requirements.
6. Hail Pair of Lions, coming forth from heaven, I do not distort my speech.

7. Hail His-Two-Eyes-Of-Fire, coming forth from Sauty, I do not steal anything

belonging to Netjer.
8. Hail Fiery One, coming forth backwards, I do not speak lies.

9. Hail Bone-Breaker, coming forth from Neni-nisut, I do not carry off the
offering-bread.

10. Hail Bright-Flame, coming forth from Ptah’s temple in Mennefer, I do not
dislike myself.

11. Hail Qererti, coming forth from the West, I do not have sex with minors.

12. Hail His-Face-Behind-Him, coming forth from his roof, I do not give the
wink.

13. Hail Bast, coming forth from the shrine, I do not eat my heart.

14. Hail Hot-feet, coming forth from the dawn, I do not damage myself with lies.

15. Hail Swallower of Blood, coming forth from the chopping-block, I do not
commit usury with grain.

16. Hail Swallower of Intestines, coming forth from the Thirteen, I do not
plunder cultivated lands.
17. Hail Lord of Ma’at, coming forth from the Hall of Double Truth, I do not
discuss secrets.
18. Hail Backwards-Walker, coming forth from Per-Bast, I do not babble.
19. Hail Goose, coming forth from Iunu, I do not argue without reason.

20. Hail Evil One, coming forth from Ity, I do not have sex with another’s
spouse.

21. Hail Blazing Snake, coming forth from the execution place, I do not have sex
with another’s spouse.

22. Hail Looking-upon-His-Offerings, coming forth from the House of Min, I do

not engage in careless sex.
23. Hail Heru-wer, coming forth from the land of Yam, I do not terrorize people.

24. Hail Overthrower, coming forth from Qis, I do not lead myself astray.
25. Hail Binder-of-Speech, coming forth from the Inundation, I do not enflame
myself with anger.

26. Hail Young One, coming forth from Wabui, I am not neglectful of Ma’at.

27. Hail Shrouded One, coming forth from the clouds, I do not cause suffering.
28. Hail Bringer-of-His-Offerings, coming forth from Sau, I am not spiteful.

29. Hail Foreteller of Speech, coming forth from Wensy, I do not cause tumult.

30. Hail Lord of Faces, coming forth from Nedjfet, I am not impatient.

31. Hail Maker-of-Plans, coming forth from Utent, I am not an eavesdropper.

32. Hail Lord-of-Two-Horns, coming forth from Sauty, I do not talk too much.

33. Hail Nefertem, coming forth from Het-ka-Ptah, I do not wrong myself; I do
not do evil.

34. Hail You-Who-Leaves-Nothing-Out, coming forth from Djedu, I do not

revile authority.
35. Hail Working-in-His-Heart, coming forth from Tjebu, I do not wade in
waters.
36. Hail Ihy, coming forth from the Nun, I do not exalt my own voice.
37. Hail Wadjet of the people, coming forth from Sau, I do not revile Netjer.

38. Hail Nehebkau, coming forth from his cavern, I do not cause grief.
39. Hail Neheb-nefret, coming forth from his cavern, I do not cancel the
offering-cakes of Netjer.

40. Hail Holy-of-head, coming forth from his shrine, I do not carry away
offering-cakes from the Akhu.

41. Hail Carrying-in-His-Portion, coming forth from Ma’ati, I do not carry off
the offering-cakes for the children; I have not tied up the god of my town.
42. Hail White-Tusks, coming forth from Lake-land, I do not slaughter herds of
divine cattle.
 Appendix I:
THE NAMES OF NETJER(CLASSICAL AND
ENGLISH-EGYPTIAN CORRESPONDENCES)
For the ancients, identity was inseparable from the name of a thing, be it a plant,
a city or a god. Unfortunately, nearly all modern books, magazines and articles
use the wrong names for the manifestations of Netjer. Egyptologists generally
use names given by the Greeks and/or Romans, who conformed the Names of
Netjer to their phonics. Wesir was never called “Osiris” by a single Kemetic
priest, yet there seems to be little interest in learning His real name. Given that
Kemetic society, as well as many of its African counterparts, understood a name
as representative of the very essence of a being, this can be a serious problem.

Why not learn the real names? From a scientific standpoint, more than 200 years
of research studies have been written using Classical names, and change would
require revision on a staggering scale. Another complication is that some of the
particulars of the Kemetic phonetic system are still debated by scholars, and later
forms of the language are better known than earlier ones. It is important to know,
though, that through research and comparison, a much more approximate
rendering of names can be made than simply using Classical forms. A language
need not be discarded merely because linguists argue about some of its elements.
The same issues and arguments arise with pronunciation and spelling in any
language using a non-Roman alphabet, ancient or modern. We do not consign
Chinese or Russian or Sanskrit mythological names to how the ancient Greeks
and Romans may have pronounced them, so why must this be done for Kemetic
ones?

For those interested in being more approximate, from a scholarly and/or spiritual
standpoint, following is a Kemetic list of the names of the major manifestations
of Netjer and some major spirits (such as Apep), along with the non-Kemetic
deities They were identified with in Classical times. Bear in mind that the
Classical syncretisms here would have been applied and understood by Greeks
and Romans and their contemporaries and antecedents, but not necessarily the
Kemetic people. There are many, many more gods and goddesses than presented
here (in total more than 2,000); I only have room to include those given different
names or syncretized into later faiths that will be familiar to the reader.
Note: Sutekh, literally “the one who makes you drunk,” is an epithet of the god
Set rather than His name, and was used in foreign lands such as Babylon and
Syro-Palestine more often than in Kemet proper.

While it requires much more than the gods’ names to practice Kemetic religion,
knowing them enables even a non-Kemetic to approach the gods and goddesses
in a more respectful manner. It may also assist worshippers to better commune
with Deity on the whole, regardless of provenance, as in our philosophy,
“Thoth” and “Djehuty” may not truly represent the same concept of a Being or
even the same being at all. For those interested in emphasizing what ceremonial
magicians might refer to as the correct “currents” in their rites, they will find the
Names of Netjer given above have a different resonance and subtlety than their
Greek and Latin counterparts: a depth which I attribute to the inherent unity of
Netjer, as well as the heka, or residual spiritual power, of the spoken words of
our ancestors, reinforced over 4,000 years and once again being spoken into
being today. Through our repeating of births by repeating these Names, our gods
and our people live again to reach out to a fascinated world.
 Appendix II:
CONCORDANCE (SOURCES FOR PRAYERS)
The following concordance is provided for those who read Kemetic or are
interested in comparing my translations with their own or others’. Each item is
listed by its number of appearance in the book, with a reference as to either its
ancient source, or a notation that is a modern prayer written by me.

Abbreviations used in this concordance:

PT Pyramid Texts (texts on the walls of Old Kingdom pyramids; numbering
system follows Sethe).

CT Coffin Texts (texts on Middle and early New Kingdom coffins; numbering
system follows DeBuck).
BoD Chapters of Coming Forth by Day (Pert em-Heru), commonly known as
the Egyptian Book of the Dead, inscribed on papyrus throughout the New
Kingdom, Late Period and Greco-Roman Period; numbering system follows
Allen).

Prayer sources, in numerical order (not page numbers):

1. Ostraca Hess D, Ptolemaic Period

2. Papyrus Bologna 1094, 19th Dynasty

3. Stela of Suti and Hor, British Museum 826, 18th Dynasty

4. Papyrus Harris, 20th Dynasty

5. Papyrus Anastasi III, 19th Dynasty

6. CT 1092

7. Ostracon Strassbourg H111, New Kingdom

8. written by Tamara L. Siuda, June 2000
9. Louvre Stela C30, Middle Kingdom

10. Papyrus Harris I, 20th Dynasty

11. Papyrus Carlsberg, Late Period
12. Papyrus Anastasi II, 19th Dynasty

13. BoD 99

14. Karnak temple inscriptions, 19th Dynasty

15. Greek Magical Papyri, Late Period

16. Papyrus Carlsberg 67, Roman Period

17. British Museum 10188, New Kingdom

18. British Museum 447, Late Period

19. PT 10

20. Leiden Papyrus, Late Period

21. Cairo Museum 10533, Late Period

22. Philae temple inscriptions, Ptolemaic Period

23. Sarcophagus of Amunhotep III, 18th Dynasty

24. Edfu temple inscriptions, Ptolemaic Period

25. Oxford Ashmolean Museum, Deir el-Bahri stela, 19th Dynasty

26. Deir el-Bahri temple inscriptions, 18th or 19th Dynasty

27. Dendera temple inscriptions, Ptolemaic Period

28. Dendera temple inscriptions, Ptolemaic Period

29. Medamud temple inscriptions, Ptolemaic Period

30. British Museum 551, 19th Dynasty

31. El-Hibeh temple inscriptions, 27th Dynasty

32. Speos Artemidos temple inscriptions, 18th Dynasty

33. Tomb of Ramses VI, 20th Dynasty

34. British Museum 7, New Kingdom

35. Karnak Mut temple inscriptions, Middle Kingdom

36. Edfu temple inscriptions, Ptolemaic Period

37. CT 778

38. PT 782

39. Theban Tomb 60 (TT60), Middle Kingdom

40. CT 651

41. Glasgow Art Gallery Museum, Stela of Penbuy, 19th Dynasty

42. Attested from thousands of Old, Middle, New Kingdom and Late Period
documents and monuments

43. Sarcophagus of Amunhotep III, 18th Dynasty

44. PT 464

45. Pert-em-Heru of Padiamun, Third Intermediate Period

46. CT 64

47. CT 70

48. CT 230
49. CT 399

50. CT 413
51. Edfu temple inscriptions, Ptolemaic Period

52. Edfu temple inscriptions, Ptolemaic Period

53. Amun temple at Kawa, Nubia, 25th Dynasty
54. Karnak temple inscriptions, 25th Dynasty

55. CT 209, 226a

56. Esna temple inscriptions, Roman Period

57. CT 14

58. CT 131
59. Papyrus Berlin 3027, 19th Dynasty

60. Leiden Papyrus, Late Period

61. Papyrus Berlin 3027, 19th Dynasty

62. Tomb of Ramses VI, 20th Dynasty

63. Turin Museum 50046, 19th Dynasty

64. Tanis Four Hundred Years Stela, 18th Dynasty

65. Cairo Museum 42237, 25th Dynasty

66. CT 162

67. Papyrus Chester Beatty I, 19th Dynasty

68. Papyrus Anastasi V, 19th Dynasty

69. written by Tamara L. Siuda, October 1993

70. Berlin Museum 23308, New Kingdom

71. Kawa, Nubia stela, 25th Dynasty

72. PT 406

73. Greek Magical Papyri, Late Period

74. Demotic Magical Papyri, Late Period

75. Greek Magical Papyri, Late Period

76. Prophecy of Neferti, Middle Kingdom

77. CT 459
78. Abydos Seti I temple inscriptions, 18th Dynasty

79. Leiden Papyrus, Late Period

80. British Museum 1632, Late Period

81. Papyrus Anastasi II, 19th Dynasty

82. CT 503, 300

83. Canopic jars of Tutankhamun, 18th Dynasty

84. Greek Magical Papyri, Late Period

85. BoD 18

86. CT 1101

87. CT 15, 510-e variant

88. BoD 32

89. Tomb of Sonebi, Meir, Middle Kingdom

90. Papyrus Berlin 3055, Third Intermediate Period

91. Papyrus Berlin 3055, Third Intermediate Period

92. PT 269

93. PT 340
94. PT 573, adaptation by Tamara L. Siuda

95. Greek Magical Papyri, Late Period

96. Demotic Magical Papyri, Late Period

97. CT 527
98. CT 530

99. BoD 135

100. Esna temple inscriptions, Roman Period

101. Theban Tomb 192 (TT192), 19th Dynasty

102. Theban Tomb 192 (TT192), 19th Dynasty

103. Tomb of Horemheb, Saqqara, 18th Dynasty

104. Berlin Museum 1425, Late Period

105. Edfu temple inscriptions, Ptolemaic Period

106. PT 216

107. PT 362

108. CT 6

109. CT 419

110. BoD 125

 Appendix III:
THE KEMETIC ORTHODOX FESTIVAL CALENDAR
“The documents are in your hands, and the instructions that the ancestors made
still exist.... Respect this temple without arrogance, and do not neglect its
rituals.”

—from calendrical inscriptions of Djehutymose (Thutmose) III at the

temple of Amun at Karnak
The Kemetic Orthodox Festival Calendar was a work in progress even before the
faith was founded. As far back as 1985, I was researching and compiling
hundreds of calendar and festival references from temples as well as inscriptions,
ritual notations and documents from all periods of Kemetic history. The material
ended up in a series of notebooks, organized by date and still consulted when I
learn of evidence for new holidays. Eventually this material coalesced into a
highly accurate formal calendar for use by the modern Kemetic Orthodox Faith,
and went from being only a labor of love and a fascinating study to a useful part
of our religious practice as well.

I extend deepest gratitude to all who assisted with research, experimentation, and
worship during the two decades I have spent refining this calendar. Specific
thanks must be made to the Kemetic Akhu who left a wealth of information to
work with, as well as the works of Bakhir, Depuydt, Parker, el-Sabban and
others; my graduate advisors Robert Ritner and Heike Behlmer and professors
Peter Dorman and Mark Lehner; my mentor and fellow Egyptologist the Wesir
Frank Joseph Yurco; colleagues and classmates including Aayko Eyma, François
Gaudard, Geoff Graham, Steve Harvey, Harold Hays, the Wesir Bill Murnane,
Peter Robinson, Randy Shonkwiler and Steve Vinson; and the many current and
former Remetj and Shemsu of the Kemetic Orthodox Faith, who provided
resources in the form of books, research assistance and performance of rituals
associated with the festival calendar over the past decade and a half.
Using this Calendar
First, the date of Wep Ronpet (“Opening the Year,” or Kemetic New Year’s Day)
must be discerned, in order to place the date for the first day of the calendar, I
Akhet 1. This date is fixed each year to the heliacal rising of the star Sothis or
Sirius (Sopdet in Kemetic) over the area of Joliet, Illinois, where the main
Kemetic Orthodox temple is located. In Gregorian year 2002, for example, Wep
Ronpet occurred on 5 August. “Leap” years in the Gregorian calendar can cause
shifts in the Kemetic calendar. With Netjer’s approval, the Kemetic Orthodox
Faith addresses this issue by inserting an extra festival into the Kemetic year
when a leap year occurs. In antiquity, recalibration was made at the order of the
Nisut; there were times when calendars slipped to such extent that texts indicate
seasons “came at the wrong times.” Modern astronomical observation should
prevent this issue from becoming unmanageable.

This calendar represents a synthesis between several types of ancient calendars:

a civil or fixed-date calendar; a Sothic calendar tied; and a lunar calendar tied to
the phases of the moon. It is fixed primarily upon celestial phenomena (Sirius
and lunar phases in the case of lunar-based festivals), and secondarily to
conformity with civil data. As such, while the Kemetic Orthodox Festival
Calendar is a synthesis of ancient calendars, it also represents a new direction in
Kemetic calendar-making; appropriate given that Kemetic Orthodoxy is a revival
of an ancient faith whose original liturgical calendars fell into disuse more than
1,600 years ago.

Once you know the Gregorian date of I Akhet 1, the days follow consecutively
(e.g., in 2002 the first day of the month of Djehuty (also called I Akhet 1) was
equivalent to 5 August; 2 Djehuty to 6 August, and so on). The calendar supplied
in this appendix does not contain Gregorian, data so as to provide a perpetual
calendar that can be revised for each new Regnal Year within the faith.

What is provided here is a simple outline. Kemetic Orthodox devotees receive

detailed information on how each holiday is honored, what rituals are performed,
and the like in monthly devotional mailings from the main temple. The
following is an abbreviated calendar and should not be considered in any way to
represent the full extent of the Kemetic Orthodox Festival Calendar project,
which currently comprises several thousand pages of information and continues
to grow with more added information and research.

THE KEMETIC ORTHODOX FESTIVAL CALENDAR

Acting as is right for the calendar festivals for which Netjer laid down offerings
anew annually on behalf of the life, prosperity and health of the Nisut of Upper
and Lower Kemet Sekhenetma’atra, Chosen of Amun and Ra, User-ib Hekatawy,
given life like Ra forever.

Each Kemetic Orthodox month is comprised of:

- a First Day (usually at or near a new or full moon)
- a “Sixth-Day Festival” honoring the Akhu on Day 6
- a Last Day on the 30th of the month (with offerings to the “houses” (temples)
of Ra, Wesir and Heru)
- Half-Month Festival on the 15th of each month (usually coinciding with a full
or new moon)

Each month also includes festivals honoring the lunar phases, and the following
festivals for gods and goddesses:

Djehuty (First Month of Inundation (I Akhet)) Sacred to Djehuty

1 Wep Ronpet (Opening the Year) and Feasts of All Gods
Birthday of Ra-Heruakhety
2 Feast of the Pacification of Sekhmet-Hethert
3 Feasts of Djehuty, Hethert, Nekhbet, Nut
4 Feasts of Heru of Behdet, Heru-wer, and Hethert
5 Feasts of Mer-wer and Yinepu
6 Welcoming the Inundation
Feast of Sobek
7 Feast of A’anty
10 Pacifying the Hearts of Those in the Horizon in Front
of Ra’s Majesty
Public Feast of Hethert
Feast of Khnum and Sobek
11 Feast of Tefnut
Processions of Nebt-het, Aset, Heru-sema-tawy and Hedjhotep
12 Feasts of Ra, Sobek, and Bawy
13 Opening the Two Lands
Feasts of Khenty-khety, Satet and Nefertem
Procession of Aset
14 Jubilation at the Year’s Beginning
Day of the Massacre of Meret-Shemet
Feasts of Nut, Khenty-khety, Heru, Nun
15 Feasts of Tutu, Khonsu-Wesir, Ptah and Meskhetiu
16 Feasts of Sepa-Wesir and Khonsu
17 Feast of Sebaka
18 Wag Festival (eve)
Feast of Sobek-Ra
19 Wag Festival
Feast of Shu and Tefnut
Feast of Wesir
20 Feasts of Djehuty and Shu
Saq (ritual appearance) of Heru.
21 Drunkenness of Hethert-Sekhmet Lady of Dendera
Feast of the Purification of Ra
22 Feast of Wesir
23 Great Procession and Festival of Wesir
Feast of Yinepu-Wepwawet
24 Feast of Yinepu
25 Feast of Wesir
26 Feast of Shemsety
Sekhmet Repels the Shemsu of Set
27 Great Feast of Amun
Feast of Heka
28 Feast of Nekhbet
29 Feast of Khendet
30 Feast of Khnum
31 Feast of Wesir and His Great Nine
Paenopet (II Akhet) Sacred to Tauret and Ptah
1 Feast of Wadjet
Jubilation of Ra and His Great Nine
Guarding the Eye of Heru
2 Saq-Heru
Procession of Sobek to see Nit
Feast of Djehuty.
3 Saq-Heru, Sobek and Djehuty Feast of Weret-hekau
4 Festival of Gem-bau-es
5 Saq-Min
Procession of Hethert
Feast of Wesir
6 Feasts of Menhyt, Aset and Nekhbet
7 Saq-Tasenetnofret, Hethert and Min
Feast of the Eye of Heru
8 Procession of Hethert
Feast of the Remen-decan
9 Saq-Behdety
Feast of Khnum
10 Procession of Bast
Feast of Bennen-Atum
11 Feast of Duamutef
12 Feast of Qebshenuef
13 Feast of Imset
14 Feast of Hapy
Procession of Khnum-Ra
Receiving the White Crown by Heru
15 Sunset Procession of Ra Feast of Aset
16 Feasts of Wesir and the Great Nine, Nit and the Eye of Heru
17 Feast of Khesa-Wesir
18 Feast of Khnum and Anuket
Feast of Meret
19 Feast of Ptah
Procession of Hethert
20 Feast of the Bawy (Heru and Set)
21 Procession of Meret
25 Feasts of Ptah and Heka
26 Feast of Sokar
27 Feast of Montu and Heru (2 days)
28 Feast of Satet and
Anuket Feast of Menhyt-Nebtu
30 Feast of Behdety
Procession of Heru-sema-tawy

Hethert (III Akhet) Sacred to Hethert

1 Saq-Heru
Feast of Sekhmet
6 Encouragement of the Gods of the Two Lands
8 Procession of Aset
9 Feast of Amun (2 days)
10 Feast of Nit and Tutu
12 Pacification of the Hearts of the Gods, Wherever They Are
16 Saq-Khmun (Great Eight/Ogdoad)
17 Lamentations of Aset and Nebt-het at Abdju and Sau
Landing of the Enneads at Abdju
18 Strife of the Children of Geb
20 Procession of Bast Before Ra
Feast of Hethert
21 Feast of Shu
Day of Renenutet and Nit
22 Feast of Heka
23 Feasts of Khonsu and Seshat
Procession of Nebtu and Khnum (4 days)
24 Procession of Aset
26 Establishing the Djed of Atum
Procession of Djehuty
27 Judgment of Heru and Set by Djehuty
28 Feast of Hethert
Saq-Heru and Hethert (5 days)
29 Processions of Nebtu and Behdety (3 days); Hethert and
Her Ennead (3 days); and Wadjet, Nekhbet and Sekhmet
(1 day)
30 Feast of
Anuket Saq-Heka

Kaherka (IV Akhet) Sacred to Sekhmet

1 Festival of Hethert
Procession of Khnum-Ra (2 days) Processions of Heru, Shu, Hethert, Nebt-
het, Menhuy, Sobek, Hemon and Amun to visit Khnum of Esna (6 days)
4 Feast of Sobek
5 Feast of the Soaring Falcon (15 days)
Feast of the Winged Disk (3 days)
Procession of Heka
9 Processions and Great Feast of Sokar (18 days)
Procession of Hethert and Her Ennead (1 day)
11 Feast of Wesir
Saq-Min Procession of Khnum
12 The Day of Transformations into Bennu
13 Procession of Hethert
14 Procession of Hedjhotep and Tayet
15 Feast of Sekhmet and Bast Before Ra (2 days)
16 Mysteries of Sokar-Wesir at Abdju (12 days)
21 Feast of Ptah-Sokar at Djeseru (10 days)
22 Feast of Hacking the Earth
27 Feast of Nit
29 Procession of Hethert and Her Ennead (2 days)
30 Feast of Khnum
Saq-Heru and Hethert (5 days)

Pahenutmut (First month of Growing/I Peret) Sacred to Mut and Min

1 Nehebkau Festival
Coronation of Heru
Festivals of Hethert and Tefnut
Processions of Menhyt, Nebtu and Heka
3 Feast of the Drunkenness of the Eye of Ra
Saq-Heru and Sobek
4 Procession of Shema-nefer
5 Placing the Flame Before the Great Ones by Sekhmet
Feast of Heru and Hethert
6 Festival of Amun
Saq-Tasenetnofret, Hethert and Min
7 Feast of Renenutet
9 Feast of Hethert
12 Answering Every Speech of Sekhmet
13 Prolonging Life and Making Ma’at Beneficent
15 Feast of Hethert
16 Procession of Shu
17 Navigation of Menhyt
Procession of Nun
18 Holiday in Rosetjau
Feast of Nit and Great Feast of Heka (4 days)
19 Navigation of Hethert
20 Procession of Bast
21 Bast Guides the Two Lands
Feast of Shu
22 Festival of Heryt
25 Establishing the Great Divine Cow
Descent of the Dove
Feasts of Behdety and Hethert
28 Navigation of Khnum-Ra (4 days)
Procession and Oaths of Djehuty
29 Erecting the Tjeryt
Djehuty, Bast and Sekhmet Guard the Two Lands
30 Feast of Hethert

Paenmekhir (II Peret) Sacred to Aset

1 Ptah Lifts Ra’s Heaven With His Hands (2 days)
Navigation of Yinepu
3 Procession of Set and His Shemsu
Navigation of Ma’at
4 Heb-wer (“Very Great Festival”)
6 Raising the Djed Pillar for Wesir
Feasts of Shu, Sekhmet, Menhyt and Hethert
7 Invocation of and Offering to the Akhu
8 Feast and
Procession of Nit
9 Djaret-Festival of Heru (5 days)
10 Procession of the Udjat for Singing
Raising of Ma’at
11 Feast of Nit Procession of Sobek
13 Procession of Sekhmet and Her Executioners
14 Day of Set’s Killing the Rebel
16 Awakening of Aset by Ra’s Majesty
17 Feast of Nit
20 Procession of Hethert
21 Feast of Victory (Mekhir-Festival)
Navigation of Hethert to Pakhet
24 Feast of Ptah Who Protects the Winged Golden Disk
26 Procession of Min
27 Feast of Sokar
28 Feast of Wesir and the Akhu

Pa-en-Amunhotep (III Peret) Sacred to Amun and Nisut Amunhotep I, true

of voice
1 Great Burning Festival
Saq-Amun and Heru
Feasts of Ptah, Herishaef and Khnum-Ra
5 Feasts of Nebtu, Heru
Nighttime Procession of Nit
6 Jubilation of Wesir in Djedu
Procession of Yinepu and His Adorers
7 The Eye of Ra Calls the Shemsu
9 Saq-Heru (4 days)
10 Processions of Djehuty and Nesert (1 day), Khnum-Ra (2 days)
12 Userhat comes from Nun
13 Procession of Djehuty and His Spirits
14 Day of Making Health and Lifetime
Procession of Khnum-Ra
15 Feast of Heru-Behdety
17 Saq-Heru
18 Feast of Nut
19 Birthday of Nut
20 Saq-Heru
22 Birthday of Apep
23 Feast of Heru
24 Saq-Heru (2 days)
Feast of Behdety (3 days)
27 Saq-Heru
28 Feast of Wesir-Unnefer Raising the Tjeryt
29 Amun’s Festival of Ra entering the Sky (3 days)

Paenrenenutet (IV Peret) Sacred to Renenutet

1 Lesser Burning Festival
Feast of Ra and the Eye of Ra
Feast of Heru and the Eye of Heru
2 Procession of Geb to see Yinepu
3 Feast of Heru son of Ra
4 Chewing Onions for Bast
Feast of Pakhet
6 Going Forth of the Bitter Red Star
7 Procession of Min
8 Feast of the Udjat (2 days)
10 Saq-Tasenetnofret, Hethert and Min
11 Saq-Min
Procession of Nit and Heka
Navigation of Nit
13 Navigation of Wesir
15 Renewing the Year
16 Procession of Khepera
17 Procession of Set
19 Procession of Ra in His Barque
20 Saq-Sobek and Min
21 Victory Festival of Senwosret III
22 Killing the Children of Bedesh
23 Offerings to the Akhu
27 Sekhmet’s Rage in Tjemehu
28 Feast of Heru-sa-Aset and Heru-Sepa son of Sekhmet
29 The Gods Adore Unnefer
30 Procession of Nebtu
Offerings to Ptah-Sokar-Wesir, Atum and all Names

Paenkhonsu (First month of Summer/I Shomu) Sacred to Khonsu

1 Festival of Renenutet
Saq-Heru with His Shemsu
Saq-Tasenetnofret, Hethert and Min
Feasts of Hethert-Iusaas, Heru-sa-Aset, Khnum, Nebtu, Heka, Djehuty, and all
Gods
Processions of Amun-Min and Khnum-Ra 3 Procession and Saq-Heka
5 Feast of Banebdjed
6 Saq-Tasenetnofret and Min
10 Day of the Festival of Clothing Yinepu
 Procession of Hethert and Her Ennead (3 days)
11 Saq-Heru
Birthday of Shu and Tefnut (festival, 10 days) 14 Crowning of Heka (12 days)
15 Saq-Amun and Min
19 Day of the Counting of Djehuty Who Heard Ma’at
Procession of Khonsu
25 Feast of Heru-Behdety

Paeninet (II Shomu) Sacred to Heru

1 Saq-Khnum, Nebtu, Nit Feast of Hethert the Eye of Ra-Heru-Atum
2 Festival of Ra’s Crew
3 Festival of the Month of Ra’s Shemsu
6 Procession of Heru to Inquire of His Father Wesir
7 Day of the Executioners of Sekhmet
8 Saq-Heru (2 days)
Holiday for Ra and His Shemsu
9 Procession of Ra to see Shu
10 Saq-Amun Procession of Heka
13 Festival of Wadjet and Her Shemsu
14 Feast of Hethert
16 Saq-Heru
Feasts of Menhyt and Bast
Purification of Sekhmet
18 Procession of Khenty-Wesir
19 Saq-Heru
The Ennead sails repeatedly
21 Day of the Living Children of Nut
23 Thanksgiving Festival of Amun
26 Feast and Procession of Nit
27 Saq-Heru, Heru’s standard, and Min
Procession of Hethert and Heru
28 Purifications and Offerings in Djedu
30 Pacifying Sekhmet
Procession of Shu to retrieve the Udjat; Djehuty Calms Her.

Ipip (III Shomu) Sacred to Wadjet

1 Saq-Heru, Heru’s standard, and Min
Feasts of Khnum-Ra and Ipet-Hemet
2 Great Festivity in the Holy Places
4 Feast of Khnum-Ra
Birth of Heka
Conception of Heru-sa-Aset
11 Anger of the Eye of Heru
12 Celebration of the Marriage Contract of Aset
Birth of Ihy
Feast and Reception of Ra
13 Feast of Nit
14 Feast of Cucumbers
15 Heru Hears Your Words in the Presence of All Gods
16 Feast of Victory for Amun
Transmitting Ma’at to the Shrine by Ra
17 Day of the Eye’s Escape
18 Secret Procession of Ma’at and Ra
19 Saq-Heru. Festival of Treading the Fishes (5 days)
Saq-Khnum-Ra (2 days)
20 Feast of Grasping the Crook
22 Day of Sepa
27 Procession of Hethert and Heru-sema-tawy (12 days)
28 Saq-Sopdet
29 Feast of Mut
30 Burning the Widow’s Flame

Mesut-Ra (IV Shomu) Sacred to Ra-Heruakhety

1 Feasts of Unnefer and Hethert
Saq-Heru, Tasenetnofret and Min
2 Procession of Aset Mother of God (Aset Luminous)
4 Procession of Sopdu and His Shemsu
5 Festival of Min
12 Jubilation in the Entire Land
13 Holiday of Defending Heru-sa-Aset (2 days)
15 Feast of Heru-Behdety
Procession of Ra to Propitiate Nun
16 Feast of Water for Those in the Duat
19 Praise of Mut (3 days)
20 Feast of Menhuy
Cleaning and Renewing the Noble Ones
22 Feast of Yinepu
24 Offerings in the Presence of Ra
27 Procession of Hethert with Her Ennead
28 Feast of Min
29 Holiday of Ptah-Sokar
30 Last Day of the Year
Feast of the Dressing/Feast of the First Seat of the First Time
(both extend to following I Akhet)
The “Days Upon the Year” (Epagomenal Days)
Five days were reserved for the birth of the Great Gods, to round out the 360-
day calendar to its full 365 days:
Day 1: Birth of Wesir

Day 2: Birth of Heru-wer

Day 3: Birth of Set

Day 4: Birth of Aset

Day 5: Birth of Nebt-het

Celestial Festivals
Dates for these festivals are set according to certain celestial events in the
Northern Hemisphere (devotees in the Southern Hemisphere celebrate these
holidays as noted for the Northern Hemisphere, even though their seasons are
opposite).

Wep Ronpet/New Year’s Day (Heliacal Rising of Sirius)

Feast of the Eye (Autumnal/Fall Equinox)
Return of the Distant Goddess (Winter Solstice)
Feast of Zep-Tepi (Vernal/Spring Equinox)
Day of the Eye’s Escape (Summer Solstice)

Lunar Festivals
Dates for these festivals are set according to lunar phases within their month of
occurrence. Contact the House of Netjer for information on exact dates for these
festivals from year to year:
I Akhet
Renewing the Year
Feast of Heru and the Birth of the Sun

II Akhet
Opet Festival
Shifting Sand Festival
 Procession of Setem-Priests
Ritual of the Feast of the Gods of the Noble Chapel

III Akhet

Lifting up the Sky/Exalting Netjer

Festival of Sokar
Taking to the River Festival
Land Festival
III or IV Akhet
Entering the Sky

IV Akhet
Anointing the Gods
Exalting the Gods
Navigation/Drawing of Sokar

II Peret
Feast of Sokar
III Peret
Entering the Temple

III or IV Peret
Lunar Festival of Sokar

IV Peret
Birthday of Heru-sa-Aset
Feast of the Birth-giving of Hethert
I Shomu
Feast of Sobek
Procession of Min
Feast of Amun-Ra (4 days)
Saq-Heru (8 days)
Purification of Hethert
 Procession of Heru Behdety
Heru’s Beautiful Feast of Proceeding to Khadi (5 days)
Feast of Hethert’s Giving Birth (25 days)

I Shomu or II Shomu
Beautiful Feast of the Valley

II Shomu
Festival of the Nisut
III Shomu
Festival of Sobek
Festival of Heru-Behdety
Feast of the Beautiful Reunion (Marriage of Heru and
Hethert) (15 days)
 Appendix IV:
FOR FURTHER STUDY/BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, T. A.
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the University of Chicago. Oriental Institute/University of Chicago Press, 1960.
The Book of the Dead or Going Forth By Day: Ideas of the Ancient Egyptians
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Alliot, M.
Le Culte d’Horus à Edfou au Temps des Ptolémées. Imprimerie de l’Institut
Français d’Archéologie Orientale, Cairo, 1949.

Assmann, J.
Ägyptische Hymnen und Gebiete. Orbus Biblicus et Orientalis X, Universitäts-
Verlag Freiburg Schweiz/Vanderhoeck und Ruprecht Göttingen, 1999.

Assmann, Conrad, Wilhelmus et al.

Texten aus Der Umwelt des Alten Testaments: Band II, Religiose Texte,
Lieferung 6, “Lieder und Gebete II.” Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn,
1991.

Baines, J.
“Egyptian Deities in Context: Multiplicity, Unity and the Problem of Change.” in
One God or Many? Concepts of Divinity in the Ancient World. Transactions of
the Casco Bay Assyriological Institute, Vol. 1, pp. 9-79, 2000.
Barucq, A. and Dumas, F.
Hymnes et Prieres de l’Égypte Ancienne. Littératures Anciennes du Proche-
Orient. Les Editions du Cerf, Paris, 1980.
Betz, H. D.
The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Volume I. University of Chicago
Press, 1992.
Blackman, A. M.
“The King of Egypt’s Grace Before Meat.” in Journal of Egyptian Archaeology
31 (1945), pp. 57-73.
Borghouts, J. F.
Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts. Religious Texts Translation Series NISABA,
Vol. 9. Brill, 1978.

Breasted, J. H.
Ancient Records of Egypt. Volumes 1-5. University of Chicago Press, 1906.

David, R.
A Guide to Religious Ritual at Abydos. Warminster, 1973.
Dorman, P.
“Creation on the Potter’s Wheel at the Eastern Horizon of Heaven.” in Gold of
Praise: Studies in honor of Ed Wente. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization
58, pp. 83-99. Oriental Institute/University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Duquesne, T.
Jackal at the Shaman’s Gate. Darengo Publications, 1991. Black and Gold God.
Darengo Publications, 1996.

Eide, Hagg, Pierce and Török, eds.

Fontes Historiae Nubiorum, Volume I. Bergen Institute, 1998.

Etienne, M.
Heka. Paris National Museum, 2000.

Fairman, H. W.
The Triumph of Horus: The Oldest Play in the World. London, 1974.

Faulkner, R. O.
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Oxford, 1969.
The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts (3 vols). Aris & Phillips, 1973.
Foster, John.
Echoes of Egyptian Voices: An Anthology of Ancient Egyptian Poetry. University
of Oklahoma Press, 1992.
Hymns, Prayers and Songs: An Anthology of Ancient Egyptian Lyric Poetry.
Society for Biblical Literature 8, 1995.
Goldwasser, O.
“Dynamic Canonicity in Late Egyptian: The Literary Letter and the Personal
Prayer.” in Lingua Ægypta: Journal of Ancient Egyptian Language Studies Vol.
I, pp. 129-141. Göttingen, 1991.
Junker, H.
Der Auszug der Hathor-Tefnut aus Nubien. Berlin, 1911.

Kakosy, L.
Zauberei im alten Ägypten. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig, 1989.

Leitz, C.
Magical and Medical Papyri of the New Kingdom. Hieratic Papyri in the British
Museum, Vol. VII. British Museum Press, 1999.
Lichtheim, M.
Ancient Egyptian Literature. (3 vols.) University of California Press, 1973.

Lloyd, A. B. (ed).
Studies in Pharaonic Religion and Society in Honour of J. Gwyn Griffiths.
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Lorton, D.
“The Invocation Hymn at the Temple of Hibis.” in Studien zur Altägyptischen
Kultur 21 (1994), pp. 159-218.

Luft, U., ed.

The Intellectual Heritage of Egypt: Studies in Honor of Laszlo Kakosy, 1992.

Merkelbach, R. and Totti, M.

Abrasax: Ausgewählte Papyri religiosen und magischen Inhalts. (3 vols).
Sonderreihe Papyrologia Conloniensia Vol XVII (1-3). Abhandlungen der
Rheinisch-Westphälischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1990.
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Mythological Papyri. Bollingen III, 1957.
The Wandering of the Soul. Bollingen VI, 1974.
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The Tomb of Ramesses VI. Bollingen I, 1954.
Poo, Mu-Chou.
Wine and Wine Offerings in the Religion of Ancient Egypt. Kegan Paul, 1995.
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further material.

Ray, J. D.
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Scharff, A.
Ägyptische Sonnenlieder. Berlin, 1922.

Siuda, T.
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One and/Or Many? The Nature and Number of God in Ancient Egyptian
Religion. Unpublished research paper, 2001, presented at American Research
Center in Egypt 2001 annual meeting, Brown University. Publication pending.
Nebt-het, Lady of the House. Imhotep Kemetic Orthodox Seminary series, 2005.
The 42 Purifications: Meditations on a translation of Chapter 125 of the Pert-
em-Heru (Egyptian Book of the Dead). Imhotep Kemetic Orthodox Seminary
series, 2005.
The Ancient Egyptian Prayerbook, first edition. Azrael Press, 2005. Let Us Sing
and Glorify: Seeking the Origins of Coptic Liturgical Music. Unpublished
master’s degree thesis, Coptic Studies Department, Macquarie University
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Divine Powers: The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. Publication pending.

Spalinger, A.
“A Religious Calendar Year in the Mut Temple at Karnak.” in Recherches
d’Égyptologie 44 (1993), pp. 161-183.

teVelde, H.
Seth, God of Confusion. Brill, 1967.
Tobin, V.
Theological Principles of Egyptian Religion. American University New York,
1989.

Zabkar, L. V.
Hymns to Isis in Her Temple at Philae. Brandeis University Press, 1988.

Other Resources
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