Category Archives: Uncategorized

Slacker Gods

Posted by veggiewolf on

Things worth thinking about. Seriously.

The Twisted Rope

It is said that a lot of Kemeticism is based on reciprocity. For those of you who don’t know what reciprocity is, it’s commonly defined as “the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit, especially privileges granted by one country or organization to another.” Or in other words, I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine. I have worded this before in other posts as “we help keep the NTRW full and focused by giving offerings, and in return, they help keep our existence running smoothly”. We help the gods by fulfilling ma’at so that they can survive, and in return, they help make our lives a bit easier (in whatever fashion that that might entail).

Reciprocity is a really interesting concept, and it’s one of my favorite parts of Kemeticism. I love that it’s less about humans prostrating before gods (though you can do that if that’s…

View original post 3,082 more words

Reconstruction is a Lie

Posted by veggiewolf on

All truth, all ma’at.

Peaceful Awakenings: Reflections of Egypt

I’ve been going around and around again on whether or not I can call myself a “reconstructionist”. Whether my standards of truth allow for the sort of truthiness that is required to use that concept at all.

The illusion of reconstruction is that the process results in something that is “what the ancients/the ancestors practiced”. That’s the inner mythology. And that’s the lie. The big one. The imaginary comfortable place that lets people believe that they’re digging in to finding something secretly More True than what they had before.

It’s comforting. It’s comfortable. It’s complacent.

And it’s wrong.

I started out early on sort of acknowledging this, the fact that all I’ve got is my own research, my own interpretation, and what I pick up from other people.

And I write about the problems. I’ve written about knowing the mortar that is used to line the broken blocks that are…

View original post 1,173 more words

Calendric Rhythms

Posted by veggiewolf on

If you’re not already following Peaceful Awakenings, you should.

Peaceful Awakenings: Reflections of Egypt

The basic problem I had with how I was approaching calendar work originally was its literalism. I was compiling lists of festivals and suggestions of festivals, figuring out which ones coincided and how, trying to track down practices for each one, individually, when they hit my threshhold of reaching more thoroughly.

The effect of this was kind of like sticking thumbtacks into very precise points on a piece of plain cardboard and wondering why I didn’t have any sense of the landscape that I was trying to map.

For my new approach, I want to paint the map.

The Egyptian map of the year was divided into three parts plus the Days Upon The Year. Akhet (flood), Peret (planting, literally “emergence”), Shomu (harvest). And these parts were not only a seasonal cycle, but a life-cycle, something likely familiar from many forms of project, the shape of things being done in…

View original post 697 more words

Peace, War and My Druidry

Posted by veggiewolf on

A beautiful post, worth reading.

Treasure in Barren Places

I’m currently having a hiatus from Facebook and other social media (though this post will no doubt automatically end up posted in some of those places), as a result of debates – if you can call them that – on Palestine and Israel.

At the same time, Cadno of the Druid Network has got me thinking about honourable debate. I do not think that honourable debate is actually happening on social media in response to this particular topic, at the moment. Nor do I think it’s happening much in person, although it may be slightly better face-to-face. But just barely.

I say this, writing on the verge of tears, because yesterday my wife SJ (who uses the pronoun ‘they’) and I were sitting in a cafe. SJ had a fancy coffee, I had a very nice cup of tea. SJ, who rarely gets emotional, was upset and trying to explain…

View original post 1,107 more words

In which I rant about cultural misappropriation, cultural differences, and extreme self-sufficiency…

Posted by veggiewolf on

Another post definitely worth reading.

Treasure in Barren Places

I’m not going to post about St Patrick’s Day again this year. My thoughts on that subject are much the same as they were last year (well, maybe a little more pro-Patrick – apparently ignorant Pagans villanising an Irish hero make me like him more!) And if you want to read something thoughtful on that subject, try this year’s Patheos Pagan post on St Paddy’s Day – I don’t agree with every word there, but it’s a good attempt at dispelling myths. Just don’t talk about this ‘All Snakes’ Day’ nonsense in my presence, OK? I’m celebrating my ancestors today, not a fiction that’s been created to make people feel better because they don’t like Christians and are in denial about the strong Catholic presence in the actual real Ireland (not the fairytale one you made up)…

But this post is not about thoughtless people around the world – but…

View original post 1,244 more words

Forgotten

Posted by veggiewolf on

Amazing.

Treasure in Barren Places

PBP2014c

You are forgotten people of forgotten gods.
You live between the dawn and the first ray of the sunrise,
Between the breath of wind and the briefest movement of a leaf,
Deep between the planting and the first glimpse of the shoot.

You are forgotten people of forgotten gods.
You are the ruined temple in which we wish to dwell,
We have a use for every scarred and fractured part of you.
What need have we of perfect shrines and shining golden statues
When the mountains and the meadows and the rivers are our playground?
But there is not a sanctuary like you in all the world.

You are forgotten people of forgotten gods.
You are our hands and feet in the hidden, buried places.
You are our priests to people abandoned to the darkness,
To the displaced and the destitute, the lost and the forgotten,
In the shopfronts under…

View original post 77 more words

Feast of Aset

Posted by veggiewolf on

Today is one of several Feasts of Aset.  According to some of the papyri available, this is the day that Aset first recognized her pregnancy with Heru.

I do not worship Aset specifically, but I did celebrate with self-care and offerings to the goddess.

Dua Aset!

It’s a Major Award!

Posted by veggiewolf on

So, Pixie was kind enough to give me an Inspiring Blogger Award.  As someone that squees every time a new comment is posted on my blog, I am beyond flattered.  Seriously, I am stammering like a ninny over here.  Thank you very much!

In kind, I’m responding as per the guidelines:

1. Display the award certificate on your website.  CHECK.

2. Announce your win with a post and include a link to whomever presented your award.  CHECK.

3. Present seven awards to deserving bloggers.  Create a post linking to them and drop them a comment to tip them off.

I read a number of blogs each week, so this was not easy.  I hereby present Inspiring Blogger Awards to:

4. Post seven interesting facts about yourself.

I don’t think there are seven interesting facts about me, but here goes nothing:

  1. My favorite animal is the Komodo dragon.
  2. I was offered a voice scholarship to Westminster Choir College but didn’t take it.
  3. When I grow up I’d either like to be a farmer raising dairy sheep and goats or run a retirement home for senior cats (ages 10+).
  4. I love horror movies, but am terrified of the Hallowe’en movies and any movie that combines Texas, chainsaws, and massacres (in that order).
  5. I don’t really like people as a species.
  6. My favorite book is An American Tragedy.
  7. I can change a tire, change my oil, and replace a bad fan belt but prefer to take my car to the dealership for maintenance.