30 Days of Sobek: Day 23 – My Own Composition about Sobek

Okay, so this took a while, because I wanted to write something new, rather than post something I’d already written, and I couldn’t think of anything until Sobek suggested SPACE GOD COWBOYS IN SPACE or something like that, so. This is silly and occaisonally serious, and has more Heru in it than I intended, but there you go. That’s Sobek for you.

This is nearly 1600 words of mostly unedited stuff I wrote over the past three hours or so, so don’t expect a brilliantly detailed plot. Sobek, I think, just wanted something fun, and I didn’t want to rewrite the myths again. Because I’ve done that already. So this is a little gem of Sobek’s sense of humour. Enjoy. 😀

30 Days of Sobek: Day 17 – How Sobek Relates To Other Gods and Pantheons

Well, Sobek did foster me off to Hekate for a year, so…

Which turned into five years and counting and oh, look, you’re Hekate’s witch now, so this is fine. But I digress.

Foreign Gods

Sobek’s connections to other pantheons are mostly through the Roman pantheon, iirc. Oh, and the Greek. He was seen as Helios by the Greeks, and I believe the Romans equated Him with Mars, but don’t quote me on that. Those are the connections I’m most aware of right now.

As for modern times, He seems to get on well with other gods. Mars, I can attest to, and Hekate. Sobek and Mars tend to have a similar sort of energy, and to be honest, that historical connection makes more sense to me than Sobek=Helios, but perhaps those who know Sobek-Ra can see Sobek=Helios more easily than I can.

Sobek’s a very laid-back sort of god, and I’d argue He’d get on well with many gods, though I haven’t tried this to find out. I get the impression that if it’s a god who’s going to help you, He’ll go along with it. This is basically why He gave me to Hekate, there were things only She could teach me.

Egyptian Gods

This feels like a repeat of the gods they’re related to question, but honestly, I’ve not yet had any experiences with Him and other Egyptian gods that didn’t go well. If anything, my aversion to Hethert is on me, not Him, so that’s something I need to work on. But yeah, even with Set, things seem to be fine. He’s a pretty chill god, so He tends to get on with other gods pretty well. But this is just my limited experience, so others might have a different experience of Him and other gods that I don’t have.

But anyway. I think that’s about it for this one. I’d be interested to know what other devotees have experienced in terms of His relationships with other gods.

30 Days of Sobek: Day 9 – Common Mistakes about Sobek

I have to admit, I had a lot of trouble with this one, because I … don’t think there are that many of them? I think Sobek’s obscurity has stopped a lot of common mistakes or misunderstandings. There are a few, but I think most of them come down to misidentification, and the assumption that any crocodile in the old texts is Sobek, when sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes, it’s Maga*. Or Set. Or it’s just a fkn crocodile. Or a crocodile demon.

If we’re talking modern depictions and His appearances in movies, books, and TV, then, well. That tends to be much more OC. Most academic and historical texts I’ve come across tend to be much more consistent than non-historical texts. In fiction, He is often depicted as evil, or as a purely voracious god, ignoring completely the reasons why He was beloved by Egyptians and prayed to for protection and strength. I don’t think I’ve ever come across Him depicted as a god of kingship, either. It’s usually just evil crocodile god. Which is not only incorrect, but only a fraction of what the history actually says about Him.

But I think that’s probably about it? Obscurity has sort of saved Him from a lot of bullshit, but He still mostly just gets ‘evil crocodile god’ when they decide not to bring Set in for once. If anyone knows of any others, let me know. I really don’t pay much attention to Egyptian-themed/set media, so I’m not sure if I’ve missed anything more egregious here.

* I can only find scraps of references about Maga and whether Maga is just a form of Set or a ‘son of Set’ or just some dickhead crocodile demongodthing, so. YMMV.

30 Days of Sobek: Day 6 – Other Related Deities

This is possibly a bit shorter than I’d have liked, but it’ll do. I’m going to post tomorrow’s now as well, because from next week, my Wednesdays are gonna get busy, so I might as well get Tues and Wed done at the same time. Then that’s one less thing to worry about.

I might actually expand this post at a later date, when I have more brain space to research this with more depth. I really don’t feel like I’ve done this bit justice, but hopefully, it’ll give you some idea of the gods associated with Sobek that aren’t family.

Di Wep Ronpet Nofret!

IDK, I was going to do my State of the Shrines update post today, because I finally redid the shrines yesterday, but I have made three drafts now, and changed the shrines up just as many times since then, so. I am taking this as a sign that I need to let things sit a while before I can show them off properly.

I will say, though, that the one thing I am doing is that I am stripping the shrines back to nothing. No tools, no candles, no incense, nothing. Just the gods. I’ve had this feeling lately that my shrines are just too full. There’s just too much stuff on them, and there’s stuff there I never use. The energy was just not right.

I always redo the shrines after Wep Ronpet anyway, so that wasn’t a problem. It did take me until yesterday to actually do that. This Wep Ronpet has had a weird energy. The Epagomenal days were weird, but I expect that. They are outside time, they’re meant to be weird. I also accidentally decided to just do my rituals for the gods on each of their birthdays, and not bother with my regular rituals. My rituals were ad-libbed, for the most part. I loosely – and lazily – followed the structure of my morning ritual, but only so far as anointing myself with oil, then offering a hymn, then water libations and finally anointing their faces with oil. Then there was meditation. I set my timer for 15 minutes, and started with two rounds of chanting using the lapis mala I made for Isis. The chants varied: Dua Wesir, Dua Heru, Dua Setekh; Ama Aset; Neh-beh-tet (slowly).

Wep Ronpet Eve

Another year comes to a close, and to be honest, I’m looking forward to it. I’ve done my epagomenal days a bit different to how I normally do them. I have improv’d rituals, and then spent time in meditation, beginning with chanting twice around my mala, before going to meet Them.

It seemed to work very well for the most part, and I’m surprised about that, because Heru-Wer and Nebethet aren’t gods I am very familiar with, but both seemed to work out well. It’s nice to get to know Them, and Nebethet told me tonight that She liked the ritual I used, and that I should do it next year. So that’s promising.

Wesir, Aset, and Nebethet all gave me things this time round. Wesir gave me a long roll of papyrus and a pallet; while I was with Aset, I was given three snake wands; Nebethet gave me one of Her falcons (apparently She has falcons? IDK, I’ve never spoken to Her before) as a guide and companion. Heru-Wer and Set didn’t give me things, but we did talk a lot about the Contendings. Set also kept things short with me, and went off to do Night Boat duty. I watched it fly off into the horizon above me as the sunset grew deeper.

I’m not sure what I’ll do for Wep Ronpet tomorrow. I’m tempted to set the statues in the windowsill to greet the dawn, but as I’ll be off to work, and won’t have time to reset them until I get home, I think I’ll just leave them as they are and use the resetting the shrine as part of my celebrations. That, and I want to record my setup for this year before I take it down.

So, yeah, that’s how things are going for now. I might do something more detailed on the meditations when it’s not so late, and I don’t have to type on this crappy keyboard. Di Wep Ronpet Nofret for tomorrow! ❤

New: Pagan Prayer Beads – Egyptian Goddess Nut and Her Children – Lapis Lazuli, Moonstone, Goldstone

Set of beads for Nut and Her Children, Wesir, Set, Heru, Aset, and Nebethet. Made with lapis lazuli, moonstone, and goldstone.

This set came to be because of the blue tassel. I ordered a mixed bag of little tassels from eBay, and once it finally arrived, there was just one of these dark blue tassels amongst all the other coloured tassels. Nut wanted it, and asked for some beads. So I made this set for Her, and Her children. It seemed the right time, since I’m coming up to Wep Ronpet, and the Days Upon The Year, which honour the Children of Nut and Geb.

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This is a set of prayer beads for the Egyptian goddess Nut, the goddess of the starry heavens, and Her five children. It is made with lapis lazuli, moonstone, and goldstone 6mm beads, with a dark blue tassel to finish it off.

The lapis beads are a deep blue, echoing the dark starry sky that is the vault of Nut. The five sets of goldstone and moonstone beads represent the five children of Nut and Geb: Wesir/Orisis, Set, Heru/Horus, Aset/Isis, and Nebethet/Nepthys.

This is a perfect set of beads for any Kemetic devotee of Nut and any of Her children, and will make a beautiful addition to any shrine.

It measures approximately 25cm long, and the final knot is glued for added strength.

If you are interested in purchasing this set, you can see the listing on etsy here. Any questions, convo me on etsy, or comment here.

A thousand of every good thing

Bowie surrounded by immortals. Represented (beginning left and circling right): Hekate, Nit/Neith, Masrai and Bast, Set, Anubis, Antinous, Kernunnos, Artemis, Dionysis, and Hermes. The plate at the front with the bi pride band has pennies for the dead. Because I am that sort of traditional when it comes to ancestor shrines. There must be pennies for the dead.

It hardly feels enough. Sometimes, I worry about my shrine-building propensity. But once I thought about adding one queer and/or liminal god, gods of margins and boundaries, to a theoretical shrine, They all wanted to get involved. Set thinks this is more important than Wep Ronpet, hence He is here, and not on top of the naos with His siblings. Wep Ronpet happens every year; this happens only once. Or so He says.

I guess this is staying up for the next 68 days. At least my heart is a little calmer. I’ve done something, even if it feels inadequate. It feels like the sort of thing only gods can handle. But perhaps even a little something is better than nothing.

A black candle in a starry cradle to light the way, a blue bird to rise to the heavens, and a bed of sweet incense that you may be surrounded by the sweet perfume of the gods. May cool water aid your flight. May you never thirst.

The Lamentations of Set and Nit for the Transgender Dead

I think I meant to have this done for last year’s rite, but it somehow never quite got done. So. I finished it. Actually quite a while ago, but apparently I never posted it because why would I do that ahahahaha.

Anyway. Have some Lamentations before the Rite of Elevation begins tomorrow. Use, or not, as you desire. I might do another, longer post about this later, as I have to rush off for work, but I wanted to get this posted now, before I forget, in case anyone wants to use it in their own rites.

Trans* Rite – Day 6

Altar after five days of elevation. Today’s rite hasn’t been done yet.

 

I haven’t done today’s prayers yet, but I’ll do them later tonight when, hopefully, the epic. pain. from my uterus will cease enough for me to get through it without feeling like my guts are being stabbed. (The joys of menstruation. -_-) The rite itself has been, well, it’s been going. It’s certainly not ‘fun’ by any stretch of the imagination. It’s pour the water, read the prayers, raise the altar, pray for the dead, even if you’re tired, even if you don’t feel like it, like I did last night. I’ve had no real contact from the ancestors themselves, but I didn’t expect it, since I’m pretty headblind to them like I am with the gods. I can only assume the state of calm that comes over me when I do the rite is a good sign, and keep going. Do the work. Raise the ancestors. That’s the whole point of it. It’s never been about me, anyway.

I’m also postponing today’s rite because I realised last night that I’m going to have to rethink how I’m doing this so I can keep lifting the altar without potentially setting everything alight if I raise it too high. I think the simplest solution might be to just shift the central candle off the main altar and either to the centre or to the side, so I can keep lifting the altar with books without worrying about fire hazards, since the elevation is the most important part of the rite. I might put the snake representing Antinous there instead, so all the god images are together in the middle, and the candle can be off to the left side. Hmm. That might be the best option so I can keep things relatively safe, and still keep raising the altar. The joys of altars in confined spaces, kids! 😀

I also have this solidified idea for a Lamentations of Nit and Set for the Transgendered Dead that I am going to have to write at some point because otherwise I will be Nagged To Death by the gods about it, so. I might aim to have it ready for the last day of the rite, so I have some time to write and edit it and whatnot, so it’s not a rush job. Look for it on/after the 22nd, which will be the ninth day of the trans* rite for me.

Also, to come, long rambly post about gender and Sobek and Hekate and other rambly nonsense, unless, by the time I’ve written it, it feels more suited to my Dreamwidth journal, in which case, it’ll be over there (though probably access-locked, so if you have an account there and want to read it, lemme know). But if this rite, and the past two weeks have done anything, it’s given me many Thinky Thoughts about gender, and transitioning, and the gods (there is a connection here, I promise), and I am going to need to tl;dr it all over the internet at some point, whether it’s here or there, so. That’s a Thing.