State of the Shrines 2019

Okay, so before I start, I do want to say that this is the first time I’ve taken down shrines for this for privacy/oathbound reasons. I took down my Sau shrines, and I’ve removed some things from Hermes’ shrine bc they are sekrit and I don’t want to share them. So the bedroom overviews you’ll see are not quite how they are irl bc some shrines are gone, but that’s the basic plan of it. I feel like I’ve really focused down on only having shrines up that I’m actually using, so it’s a lot less now than what I used to have, but I’m happy with it. My focus this year is really just about magical practice and Quan Yin practice, so it does make it easier to maintain my shrines that way when I don’t need so many of them.

Wep Ronpet this year though was a bit of a wipe out. I had menstruation to deal with, which meant my statue washing and preparations were thrown off schedule, and I had a migraine that also delayed me doing anything in terms of ritual, so nothing really happened. But I did get my statues washed, which was good. I usually do all of them if I have time, but this time, I just did my Sobek shrine statues, and gave them all a good wash, as well as cleaning all the shrines.

But that’s life, really, so. I’ll give you the bedroom overview pics first, then we’ll dive into the shrine tours. ❤

Hekate’s Deipnon, January 2019

First proper ritual in a long time, but a good one. I was a little underprepared, if only because I’d been beset by a migraine the day before, but I eventually remembered where I keep all my usual deipnon offerings and it went well. Had a lovely little meditation with Hekate, and I wasn’t sure if I’d get through to Her, but She was there with me on the beach, and we’re all ready to do witchcraft together this year. I think I’m ready in a way I wasn’t ready for a long time, so. That’s good.

I’m going to be doing a moon of devotion for Her until next deipnon in February, just to kick off my year with Her in a gentle way. I felt like it was a good way to ease myself into Wep Ronpet preparations, too, to help clear the air and work with Her on anything that needs to be gone. I’m not going to go too much more into the rite tonight, but it was a good one, and I’m glad I made time for it. I’ll give you a short little taster of my Hekate altar below and my deipnon offerings. Everything’s moved around, and it’ll be a big State of the Shrines post coming up after Wep Ronpet so you can see how I’ve changed my room.

Bedroom Shrines Update #2

Since my last State of the Shrines post has been making the rounds on tumblr recently, I thought I’d post some more photos of what I’ve done in my room now. I’ve got most of the work done, bar one Ivar shelf in the corner, and the bookshelves over the bed, and hanging a few final pieces (like picture frames etc), and then it’ll be done. So this isn’t an official State of the Shrines for 2018 yet, but it’s progress. I’ll do a proper one once everything’s done, bc there are a few shrines I’m planning for the bookshelves so it’s not done until they’re up there.

Be aware that everything is still a work in progress, and I’m still figuring out how I want everything to be, so things may not stay this way as I finish everything off, but it’s working for now. I may still decide to redo things, or change things around, and I’m still sorting out how I want the altar by the window to function, since both Mary and Aphrodite’s shrines are going to be on the bookshelves. So we’ll see how that one settles in. So yeah, there are a few odd statues that are just hanging around, not quite in the right place yet, but for the most part, it’s working for me.

I have a lot of photos, so bear with me, but see under the cut for what I’ve got so far. ❤

Progress on the new room

So I’ve been redoing my bedroom for the past idk how long. It’s been a slower process this time than the last time I did this, mostly bc I am broke and it takes a long time to save when you are broke. But it is closer to being done now. All the painting is done, and now we just need to finish the new desk, work out the wall shelves, and finish up modding the Ivar, and then it’ll be done.

So I thought I’d share some photos of what I’ve got so far, so you can get an idea of what it’s going to look like when it’s finally completed. I’ll do a proper State of the Shrines post then, but for now, have some photos. ❤

Here, have an entry that’s not about the Sobek Devotional

Gods, it’s been a good, but crazy year. A lot’s happened. Like A LOT. I guess this is what I get for picking ‘courage’ as my word of the year. I can’t remember the last thing I talked about, but it’s been a relatively quiet end of the year, in terms of spiritual stuff. There’s a lot of ongoing internal work, and a lot of plans and other things that are taking time to develop and grow.

Things I have been focusing on lately are self-love and self-care. I don’t know if this would’ve come up had I not been shifting into a femme mood all year, but perhaps. Perhaps this is just the mindset I need to really dig into this work and make it happen. See, the problem with being a well-adjusted and functioning human being is that you don’t think you need self-care because what the hell, you just get by. I’m resilient. I can handle this. And yeah, most of the time, I can. But this is something that goes deeper, and in a lot of ways, it’s hard to express. But it’s part of that thing, you can’t love others if you don’t love yourself, yeah? It’s to do with that.

PSA: Last few days to get your Sobek Devotional submissions in!

That’s right, we’re down to the last four days! If you’ve got anything at all you want to submit to the devotional, SEND IT IN NOW –> sobekdevotional@gmail.com

DO IT.

Submissions close on Dec 31st, that’s your last chance to get your work included in the anthology! Spread this far and wide, and get your submissions in now!

Sobek Devotional PSA: Send your submissions in!

We’re closing in on the last six weeks-ish or so of the submission period, so if you’ve been working on submissions, or been thinking about it, now’s the time to send them in! Submissions will close on Dec 31st!

I’ve had a few more submissions in over the last month, including one short story, but I need more! Send in your art, your stories, your essays, your rituals, whatever you want, as long as it’s a devotional piece about Sobek.

If you need ideas, or are looking for inspiration, feel free to browse the 30 Days of Sobek posts, or the blog here in general, and see if anything takes your fancy. ❤

Remember: This anthology can’t happen without your submissions! So send me what you’ve got, and let’s make this anthology happen! 😀

Check out the Call for Submissions page for more information, and spread the word!

ART: Ithyphallic mummiform Nit/Neith

Based on a conversation over at The Cauldron, and our ponderings of ithyphallic and mummiform gods, and pondering also why no goddesses are portrayed as mummiform. Sekhmet-Min is a handwavey syncretic case idk but that’s the only example I can find, except for that one picture of ithyphallic Nit that I’m not sure is Nit, but I can’t find anything else.

Anyway. I made some Artz. And Nit made me do it properly because of course She did. I traced the basic outline from an image of Wesir I found in a book and modded up the rest. Coloured with watercolours, and yes I forgot to erase the pencil lines, that is how long it has been since I have watercoloured. >_>

Big picture is big and also has Cock so. I will muse on it under the cut.

PSA: Send me things for the Sobek Devotional!

We’re a month in and I’ve had some submissions so far, but I would love to have more. If anyone’s thinking of submitting something, please send it in! This devotional can’t happen without your submissions, so please get in touch.

sobekdevotionalATgmail.com <— SEND ME THINGS

If anyone has any rituals, prayers, artwork, fiction, essays, or other ideas they want to run past me, get in touch! They don’t need to be perfect, I can help you edit them, but please, send me your work! I’d love to see as many of us Sobek devotees represented in this anthology as possible. 😀

Do it for Sobek. Send me things to make this happen. Do it!

sobekdevotionalATgmail.com <– SEND ME THINGS

Reblog, pass it on to all the Sobek kids you know, send it around the interwebs. Let’s make this happen. 😀

Ohhai, I made you some Kemetic Household Rituals

When the gods inspire, the gods inspire. While they’re very simple rituals, that’s what I intended them to be. My style when I create rituals is to write them in such a way that they can be reduced to a bottle of water, a bowl, and some images you’ve printed from the Internet, so you don’t need a lot of kit or space to do them. And, honestly, that feels like the right sort of approach for household rituals.

I have four rituals done:

• 1st Day of the Month: House of Nut, House of Aset, House of Renenutet
• 6th Day Festival for Wesir and the Ancestors
• Festival of the Half Month: House of Khonsu, House of Bast*, House of Djehuty (* or any other Eye goddess)
• Last Day of the Month: House of Ra, House of Heru, House of Wesir

It’s not meant to be the be-all and end-all of household practices, more like a place to start, so that there’s something to build on. In particular, I feel like Bes and Taweret need … something for Themselves. But I don’t know what or how often. If anyone has any ideas, please share them.

And if you’re just here for the rituals, you can skip the cut and click the links above. Do let me know how you get on with them, I’d love to know how you end up using them.

For everyone else, have some rambling about gods and why I wrote the rituals the way I did, in case anyone wants to see my working out.