The Capacity of a Kemetic Scribe – Part 2

 

Life moves faster than I can blog! Occasionally, the pace of life affects my ability to write in the capacity of a Kemetic scribe. Some of these are stressful events, like uni, and others are happy events, like getting married!

But first, let’s start with a little disclaimer:

The last time I provided a personal update on Kemetic Blog, it resulted in a personal attack from an anonymous reader who told me, as a Caucasian homosexual, I should “throw the entire blog away along with [my] entire existence.” Well, I’m not going to do that. Sorry, not sorry! Instead, I’m taking inspiration from Brené Brown’s philosophy on criticism and advising that unless you’re in the creative arena, slugging it out, making yourself vulnerable to the public and getting your ass kicked at times, like I am, then I’m simply not interested in your feedback. If you’re a sincere Kemetic and / or pagan with a respectful point to make, I’m all ears. My knowledge and experience are not without gaps and limitations. I’m not as widely read as I wish (all circuits are busy at the moment), so I’m open to constructive dialogue — but constructive dialogue only. All Kemetics should respect one another, and we should all support our Kemetic scribes, who record our experiences. Now that we have those boundaries established, let’s move forward with positivity!

 

 

The wedding was beautiful. There were friends and co-workers and rose petals splashed everywhere. Because Aerohne is Filipino and Catholic, one of his friends read the Love is Patient, Love is Kind passage from Corinthians. Then we had one of my friends read an adaptation of an ancient Egyptian love poem entitled, Your Love, Dear Man:

 

Your love, dear man, is as lovely to me as sweet soothing oil to the limbs of the restless,

As clean ritual robes to the flesh of gods,

As fragrance of incense to one coming home

 Like wine to the palate when taken with white bread.

While unhurried days come and go,

Let us turn to each other in quiet affection and walk in peace to the edge of old age.

And I shall be with you each unhurried day, a man given his one wish: to see for a lifetime the face of his beloved.

– Translated by John L. Foster in his 1974 book, Love Songs of the New Kingdom (Charles Scribner’s Sons – New York)

 

 

I wanted ancient Egypt to have a voice, to have some form of representation or acknowledgement at my wedding. The netjeru and AE guardians and guides have done so much for me as a Kemetic pagan, this small tribute was the least I could do. For this, I wanted to turn to an ancient Kemetic scribe. I use the phrase, Kemetic scribe out of term, as ancient Egyptian scribes were more-so official record keepers. A modern Kemetic scribe is a very different calling, indeed. It is one of a metaphysical nature; it is one that not everyone gets.

Anyway, with so many details to plan and coordinate (not to mention pay for) there wasn’t a lot of time to research wedding customs in ancient Egypt as thoroughly as I would have liked. From what I could gather, weddings didn’t appear to be as big of a deal in ancient Egypt as they are in Western society today. It simply involved a woman who agreed to move in with a man and become his wife. Although as we can see from above, ancient Egypt was not without its great love stories. And I must say, living a real life fairy-tale is definitely the way to go, and worth all the heartbreak it takes to get there.

 

 

:: Acknowledgement of African Origin The author of Kemetic Blog acknowledges and respects the African ancestral origins of ancient Egypt and recognises the practice of Kemetic paganism as a modern reflection of Traditional African Religion. ::

 

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