August 22, 2010

Rain and fire

Posted in The Wild Sky, Thoughts and Reflections at 9:40 pm by

Rain gold skyRain all day today, drenching at times, so for the most part I did indoor things: dusting and vacuuming the shrine room, making my weekly offerings, catching up on the House boards and reorganizing my email accounts. A good day, a gentle day — not the most productive ever, but peaceful. Among other things, I finally set up my shrine to the God of the season, Ra, which was long overdue.

In the late afternoon, though the rain kept on unabated, the sun came out, a transfiguring golden light washing over everything, filtered through the watery air. The photo does no justice to it, that heart-stopping luminosity like a glimpse of another, transcendent world, although you can catch a trace of the mystery: the mist, the shimmering rain drops, the sun dazzling through the curtain of trees in the west.

The candles glow in the shrine room; born from the flood, Ra burns with a soft, numinous flame; and my year of beginnings is finally ready to begin.

Dua Ra! O Shining One, hail and praise to You!

August 14, 2010

Cats, I’ll dance

Posted in Stalking Beauty at 9:13 pm by

So I was in shrine early this morning, planning out my day, recounting how I was going to do this, that, and the other thing.

…and dance, said the little voice in the back of my mind.

Mrrr, I thought, but I already have a lot to do, and it’s a long way to go to get a class, and I don’t feel like dancing by myself in my room…. As the resistance was kicking in, my eyes fell upon an object in my shrine, a six-sided die with a picture of a cat on the one-pip side, which had been given to me by one of my Bast-sisters at Retreat, along with the message “You need more Bast in your life.”

“Cats, I’ll dance,” I said, and rolled the die.

…cats.

Did I really expect any other answer?

So I went to the Saturday morning Nia class — which, it turns out, was actually just what I needed — and danced in celebration of balance to honor the Lady of Grace.

(And I’ve only just realized tonight, after the fact, that at the prayer chat on Tuesday I had prayed “that there be more dancing.”)

Dua Bast, You Who sometimes works in mysterious and whimsical ways! Nekhtet!

August 12, 2010

The Year of Zep Tepi

Posted in Festivals, Thoughts and Reflections at 8:47 pm by

Today: the smell of rain on hot pavement, a blissful breath of cooler air, the hope that this long, sweltering summer might finally be drawing to a close. The House of Netjer’s New Year celebration was last week, so we’ve just entered the season of the Inundation, the rising of the great river, when a fresh surge of energy sweeps through the world and everything is washed clean and made new. Each year the House receives an oracle from Aset that provides a sort of theme for the upcoming year and also names the God or Gods Who is over that year and receives special offerings and prayers. This year is the year of Zep Tepi, the first time — the instant of creation — which belongs to all of the Gods and none of the Gods, but to make things easier for our poor human brains each season has been declared to be under the auspices of a single divinity: Ra for the first season, Mut for the second, and Mehet Weret, the cow-goddess Who embodies the primordial waters, for the third. And so the year goes from flood to flood, a perfect circle.

May it be a good year, this year of Zep Tepi, filled with prosperity and power and love. And may it bring renewal beyond anything we’ve ever dreamed of.

Di wep ronpet nofret! Nekhtet!