Ancient Egyptian Funerary Text: Utterance 553

Resurrection, Meal, and Ascension of the Deceased King,

Utterance 553.

1353a. To say: Geb has raised thee up; this thy spirit has been guarded for thee.

1353b. Thy mns-jar remains; thy mns-jar is caused to remain.

1353c. Thou art more exalted than Shu and Tefnut in the house of Ḥtmw.t (the destroyer), N.,

1354a. for thou art verily a spirit who wast nursed by Nephthys with her left breast.

1354b. Osiris has given to thee the spirits; take the eye of Horus to thee.

1355a. These thy four ways which are before the grave of Horus

1355b. are those whereon one goes (lit. goes a going) to the god

p. 220

as soon as the sun sets (or, as far as the setting of the sun).

1356a. He takes hold of thine arm, after Seker, chief of Pdw-š purified thee,

1356b. (and he conducted thee) to thy throne which is in ḳbḥ.w.

1357a. Raise thyself up, spirit of N.; sit, eat thou;

1357b. let thy ka be seated, that he may eat bread and beer with thee without ceasing for ever and ever.

1358a. Thy going is as a representative of Osiris;

1358b. thy feet hit thine arms;

1358c. they bring thee to thy feasts,

1358d. to thy white teeth, (to) thy fingernails, (to) the Dw.f-nome.

1359a. Thou ferriest over as the great bull to the green fields,

1359b. to the pure places of Rē‘.

1360a. Raise thyself up, spirit of N.; thy water belongs to thee, thine abundance belongs to thee;

1360b. thine efflux belongs to thee, which issued from the secretion of Osiris.

1361a. The double doors of heaven are open for thee; the double doors of ḳbḥ.w are undone for thee;

1361b. the double doors of the tomb are open for thee; the double doors of Nut are unfastened for thee.

1362a. "Greeting," says Isis; "ferry on in peace," says Nephthys,

1362b. after she had seen thy father, Osiris, on the day of the mm.t-feast (or, of feasting him who is in need ?).

1362c. Elevated is the ddb.t-chapel of the double ’itr.t-palace of the North, thy Grg.w-bȝ.

1363a. Raise thyself up; shake off thy dust;

1363b. remove the dirt which is on thy face; loose thy bandages.

1363c. They are indeed not bandages; they are the locks of Nephthys.

13 64a. Travel over the southern regions; travel over the northern regions;

1364b. be seated on thy firm throne.

1364c. Anubis, who is chief of the sḥ-ntr, commands that thy spirit be behind thee, that thy might be in thy body,

1364d. that thou remain Chief of the mighty ones (or, spirits).

1365a. Thou purifiest thyself with these thy four nmś.t-jars,

1365b. (with) the špn.t and ‘ȝt-jar, which come from the sḥ-ntr for thee, that thou mayest become divine.

p. 221

1365c. The sky weeps for thee; the earth trembles for thee;

1366a. the śmnt.t-woman laments for thee; the great min.t mourns for thee;

1366b. the feet agitate for thee; the hands wave for thee,

1366c. when thou ascendest to heaven as a star, as the morning star.

1367a. N. is come to thee, his father; he is come to thee, Geb;

1367b. he is united with your dead, O gods.

1367c. Let him sit on the great throne, on the lap of his father Mḫnti-'irti;

1368a. let him purify his mouth with incense and natron; let him purify his nails upper and lower.

1368b. Let one do for him what was done for his father, Osiris, on the day of assembling the bones,

1368c. of making firm (or, adjusting) the sandals, of crossing the feet (i.e. when ferrying over).

1369a. To thee come the wise and the understanding;

1369b. to thee comes the southern ’itr.t-palace,

1369c. to thee comes the northern ’itr.t-palace, with a salutation,

1369d. (thou) who endurest eternally at the head of the mighty ones.

Excerpted from:
The Pyramid Texts
Translation by Samuel A. B. Mercer
[1952, copyright not renewed]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/pyt/pyt33.htm

Divination: A Definition

According to the Temple of Kemetic Wicca, "divination" is the act of divining or discovering of what is obscure, hidden, or unseen from an esoteric mystickal framework; the foretelling or prognostication of future events or outcomes by way of occult, supernatural, augurium (augury), and/or other spiritual means, including—prophecy, instinctive pre-vision, conjecture, and conjuration; a spiritual / mystickal / magickal methodology, rite, ceremony, or keen observation of a diviner or augur; e.g. (exempli gratia), auspicium.

"Auspicium Melioris Ævi"
(An Omen of a Better Age or Augury of a Better Age)

Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah

Merry Meet,

To my fellow Santeros (Babalawos and Padrinos), Santeras (Iyanifas and Madrinas), et al:

With the recent upheaval and in light of Santerian Priest Rafael Giral ["Animal Cruelty Case Goes to Court" - 30 Oct 2008 - Source: http://www.rootsandrooted.org/?p=719], across the United States, concerning religious / devotional animal sacrificing--I must urge everyone to know your Constitutional rights (and the local ordinances for the geographic location where you reside, preside, and practice your freedom of religion and religious choice). Below is the synopsis of the landmark 1993 Supreme Court decision concerning "Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah". And do not forget about Wicca becoming recognized as a religion, in 1986, via the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit case "Dettmer v. Landon":

[1] http://altlaw.org/v1/cases/533250
[2] http://www.tylwythteg.com/landon.html
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dettmer_v._Landon

If ever has a time arrived, we must show our support of and for our religio-spiritual calling! We all should have become quite weary and very tiresome of the religious intolerance and ignorance perpetrated upon us by certain factions within the United States of America and abroad! We should never bow down to supidity!

Merry Part,
Summum Bonum,
Reverend Dr. K.A. Sahure VIº, DD, MscD (DMet)

Elder Arch High Priest & Arch Heirophant

Temple of Kemetic Wicca

U.S. Supreme Court

CHURCH OF LUKUMI BABALU AYE v. CITY OF HIALEAH, 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
508 U.S. 520
CHURCH OF LUKUMI BABALU AYE, INC. v. CITY OF HIALEAH
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
No. 91-948
Argued November 4, 1992
Decided June 11, 1993

Petitioner church and its congregants practice the Santeria religion, which employs animal sacrifice as one of its principal forms of devotion. The animals are killed by cutting their carotid arteries, and are cooked and eaten following all Santeria rituals except healing and death rites. After the church leased land in respondent city and announced plans to establish a house of worship and other facilities there, the city council held an emergency public session and passed, among other enactments Resolution 87-66, which noted city residents' "concern" over religious practices inconsistent with public morals, peace, or safety, and declared the city's "commitment" to prohibiting such practices; Ordinance 87-40, which incorporates the Florida animal cruelty laws and broadly punishes "[w]hoever . . . unnecessarily or cruelly . . . kills any animal," and has been interpreted to reach killings for religious reasons; Ordinance 87-52, which defines "sacrifice" as "to unnecessarily kill . . . an animal in a . . . ritual . . . not for the primary purpose of food consumption," and prohibits the "possess[ion], sacrifice, or slaughter" of an animal if it is killed in "any type of ritual" and there is an intent to use it for food, but exempts "any licensed [food] establishment" if the killing is otherwise permitted by law; Ordinance 87-71, which prohibits the sacrifice of animals, and defines "sacrifice" in the same manner as Ordinance 87-52; and Ordinance 87-72 which defines "slaughter" as "the killing of animals for food" and prohibits slaughter outside of areas zoned for slaughterhouses, but includes an exemption for "small numbers of hogs and/or cattle" when exempted by state law. Petitioners filed this suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging violations of their rights under, inter alia, the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Although acknowledging that the foregoing ordinances are not religiously neutral, the District Court ruled for the city, concluding, among other things, that compelling governmental interests in preventing public health risks and cruelty to animals fully justified the absolute prohibition on ritual sacrifice accomplished by the ordinances, and that an exception to that prohibition for religious conduct would unduly interfere with fulfillment of the governmental interest, because any more narrow restrictions would [508 U.S. 520, 521] be unenforceable as a result of the Santeria religion's secret nature. The Court of Appeals affirmed.

Held:
The judgment is reversed.
936 F.2d 586, (CA 11 1991) reversed.

Source: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=508&page=520

Musing: Hoodoo, Voodoo...

"Hoodoo, or Voodoo, is burning with a flame in America, with all intensity of a suppressed religion. It has its thousands of secret adherents."
~ Zora Neale Hurston

Musing: Corporate America Bailouts

It would be absolutely wonderful if the average financially struggling American citizen could just as easily visit with the U.S. Congress and demand to be financially rescued...just another pork barrel.

It is a perceived notion that the citizenry of the United States of America has a say so in preventing the Congressional Insanity, concerning Corporate America Bailouts, from continuing to spread any further.

Wake up, America!

Musing: Moral Sense

". . . a man's moral sense suffers loss just as trees suffer under the axe."
~ Mencius

A Candle Chant

"CANDLE CHANT"
© Wystira Moonsinger

Before lighting your candle(s), you could chant the following:

Candle of power, candle of might,
Bring me my desires on this special night,
May Power flow from this candle's fire.
Bring to me what I desire
My words have strength and power.
So Mote It Be!

Hail! To The New Chief

Many congratulations to President Elect Senator Barack Obama!

The Priests & Priestesses of the Temple of Kemetic Wicca send much positive energies, our blessings and prayers, to the First Afrikan American Presidential Family of the United States of America.

Em hetep,
Blessed Be!

From "The Doctrine of the Mean"

As the natural cycle of our New Year is upon us, let us all reflect upon the following words from Confucius:

"While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, the
mind may be said to be in the state of Equilibrium. When those
feelings have been stirred, and they act in their due degree, there
ensues what may be called the state of Harmony. This Equilibrium is
the great root from which grow all the human actings in the world, and
this Harmony is the universal path which they all should pursue.

Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection, and a
happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth, and all things
will be nourished and flourish."

Excerpted from -
The Doctrine of the Mean
(circa 450 –500 BCE)
By Confucius
Translated by James Legge [1893]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cfu/conf3.htm
http://classics.mit.edu/Confucius/doctmean.html