I recently had the pleasure of conversing with someone who follows a Kemetic path.
Here are a few of the questions I asked them.
Q. What is your path. How would you define it?
A. Kemetic reconstructionism which is the recreation of the ancient Egyptian religion and magic practices.
Q. What festivals are celebrated as part of Kemeticism?
A. There are many festivals depending on the deity, temple schedule, as well as localised variations. Effectively every day there could be numerous festivals or rites that could be performed to a deity. Some people choose only the major celebrations such as the new year or popular deity festival while others may focus solely on those connected with the deities important to them.
Q. Are there any other celebrations or rituals?
A. Popular ones are around the new year which in modern times and depending on where you live, could be anytime between the start of August to mid September. Other rituals could include daily rites such as purification and the dressing of the temple statues. Other festivals may be rites of passage, fertility, deity birth/death days.
Q. Could you possibly give an example of a Kemetic ritual?
A. If a Kemetic practitioner is focusing on temple rituals they may perform daily rites to purify their temple space where they open up the temple space so that they can cleanse their deity statues, clothe them in some way and perform offerings to them with food, drink, incense or any other applicable items. The dressing tends to be a morning routine. At night the reveals is usually performed with preparing the statue for sleeping by undressing or change of clothing, clearing the temple space of ritual offerings and closing the temple space.
Q. Is Kemeticism a magical path?
A. Magic can play a part; it does not have to.
Q. Do you work with deity?
A. Deity is pretty fundamental to Kemeticism. How you relate to deity depends partly on the reconstruction you are attempting. The general populace wouldn’t have had direct connection with deity, it was only the priesthood and royalty that did. If you are looking at the general public, you would perhaps be a step removed from talking to the the main state level deities and instead communicate with household deities. Choice can be varied, and the vast array of deity provides subtlety in practices. There of course the popular ones at state level and most associated with Egypt such as Isis, Osiris and Ra right down household deities like Bes and Taweret. Deity in ancient Egypt is complicated.
Q. Are there any resources for people who would like to know more?
Lots of good resources noted here: https://kemetictemple.uk/t/web-link-recommendations/60/5
Hannah Semple
Intrafaith Manager