anyone familiar with Jane Roberts‘s Seth Material?

She seems to be the mother of the other modern New Age channelling authors like Darryll Anka (Bashar) or Esther Hicks (Abraham)

I actually mostly sympathize with Christianity but also look into New Age and Occultism out of curiosity.

The fear of the devil is of course very prominent in Christianity.

New Age (and it’s self divination through manifestation) is seen satanic in Christianity, eventhough Jesus tought about the supernatural fulfilling of wishes but through God not through man himself.

And the funny thing to me is that Jane Roberts material was dictated by Seth and that the devil claimed to be Set to Michael Aquino.

My closing question: Was Seth the devil figure in Egyptian mythology?

Thank you :)

Can someone please explain to me where the hell Michael Aquino got the idea that Set represents individual consciousness? What Egyptian text/book would he have got this idea from?

¿ Any Rituals I could enact daily in honour of Set ?

I am willing to get closer and more in sync by any means.

Also I am sure something improvised could work well, since it is Chao7ic, but any pointers would help.

Cheers ! ♤

Just saying hello and hi :) I'm on my way to making Set an travel altar pouch first and then get him a nice altar set up soon. I'm so, ready to welcome Set in my life and getting ready to surf the Chaos. I know, Set can help me grow so much.

By the way, Set's Shai Snout is attractive by the way :)

Oh Sutekh, god of the storms and of change, where your storms know no bounds, where your storms come and go very quickly, where change is your power, your blade, if you weren't there life would be meaningless and i would be stuck in the stillness of nothing without anything happening, i thank you so much for your love and your interest in me and wanting to take me under your strong arms, thank you for your strong and warm hugs, thank you for bringing me sadness, thank you for bringing me joy with the sadness that came, thank you for your support, thank you for your teachings, thank you for giving me a good laugh and thank you for giving me hope.

I thank you for all.

Merer.ē tu Sutekh.

—————— You are free to use this hymn and shape it however you like since change is his thing, so do as you please with this hymn!

Hello everyone, I came across this reddit and subsequently this religion while diving deeper and learning about Egyptian mythology. I have always been open to all beliefs and religions but never really got behind any of them. After listening to a few episodes of the Wandering Darkness Podcast and researching a little more I am very intrigued by Setianism.

Being the nerd that I am I was first introduced to the idea of the Egyptian gods from of all thing Stargate. As I looked more and more into the real ideas of these deities and questioned the idea of monotheistic cultures I gravitated towards Set. Even as a kid I was infatuated with storms and such so I saw the connection as a sign I guess you could say that this is my path.

I would like to get to know more about the core ideas of setianism and I am still going through all the resources that are linked in this reddit.

Hey guys ! I’m so happy I found this page. I am new to the temple of set still have an immense amount to learn but so far I feel at home. However, I’ve looked all over online and I had a question … Did set start of as a man? Then rise to Divinity? Or was he always a god. I know his parents were Geb and Nut, so that makes me wonder was he born a man and rose to god status? Or was he always a god and he just came from other gods .

Edit: I think this post has been misunderstood by some, especially on other sites. I need to clarify some things.

1. Like most people, I believe some of my views are true and others are false. I have not become a relativist or postmodernist or whatever you wish to call it. I simply don't want to care so much about the topic unless it has some practical relevance, don't want to waste energy in groups whose methods, goals, values, etc. differ so greatly from mine. For example, I do think new ageism is false and even somewhat silly, but also generally harmless, and if it makes people happy, why should it bother me as much? But I'm still going to talk about these things in my own spaces, such as this blog.

2. I never meant to suggest I am going radio silent. I simply have stepped down from my role as lector of Setesh. My work “redeeming the egyptian god of darkness” is my ultimate offering on his behalf, and now it is back to being lector of and for nobody but myself.

Hello everyone! For several years I have rather (in)famously considered myself a lector/priest of my patron, Setesh. This is a role I carried with great honor, but perhaps also to great detriment. You see, one piece of ancient wisdom I chose to ignore was that priesthood was not a 24/7, lifelong role played by individuals. Indeed back then one would only be a priest for a few weeks or months before the off season. With so few people willing to take such roles in modern society, staying in it for several years makes some semblance of sense, but I think to continue would benefit neither others nor, more importantly, myself.

You see, I have noticed, and have had pointed out by people I truly respect and trust, several problems in myself that were either created or (more often) worsened by priesthood, without my own realization until now. For instance one thing which was called out is the responsibility I feel to “correct” others when their views/understanding/etc do not match my own, like pushing the differentiations between historical Egyptian religion as opposed to new ageism (I originally wrote “new age nonsense” which proves my point that this role has led me against pluralism). Or feeling the need to write and read constantly about topics beyond the point of exhaustion when, at best, maybe 5 people even care for that level of information and effort. Or simply an overinflated sense of worth for my own path and knowledge, which directly opposes my more recent attempts at pluralism, such as portraying Kemeticism as good and new ageism as bad, when I know deep down and full well that this is an ignorant and arrogant misunderstanding of the situation, and one is simply good/bad for myself, not for all.

When I reached out to r/Kemetic last year to clear my name after being mistaken for a Satanist/ToS member, my main argument was that I feel compelled and driven to share knowledge of Setesh and Kemeticism, to correct what I see as ignorance and take at least partial responsibility for the spiritual development of others. That… doesn't fit with my philosophy or metaphysics at all though. I was reminded as recently as yesterday that this is literally not my responsibility, that I’ve basically taken my social work background and applied it to Kemeticism or even the LHP. I hated social work and left for all these same reasons: systems in place limit how much you can help, people don’t even actually want help, and why am I responsible for the lives of others? Perhaps most importantly, is my way even actually better or just working for me and I am causing more harm than good pushing it on others? I cannot help but feel it is almost part of a subconscious masochism those who also have mental illness are likely familiar with, an unconscious drive to put yourself in situations that will only frustrate you and make you sad. And I have to say, I HATE the subconscious for reasons just like this.

Hell, my original goal was to synthesize our knowledge of Setesh into one place in a digestible form, and that project has been completed a few times over, most completely an entire year ago now, my goal is completed and my job is done. I could have spent all this time focusing on the dozens of problems I still have to take care of in my own life and practices, like priesthood was almost a type of deflection and procrastination. I am glad I held the role and helped those who have reached out to let me know, but when we bring it back to my own authentic metaphysical perspective, these are the tiniest drops in a vast, endless ocean. I am glad for and proud of these one-offs, but to chase such one-offs has taken me in the completely wrong direction than intended. And worse it’s had me reading books about priesthood and the like, seeking out dogma of how I “should” or am “suppose to” act as a priest, what duties are required, etc., when this is the type of acceptance of and reliance upon external dogma I abhor and caution against.

My gut reaction was what I used to always do, just leave with my tail between my legs. But upon further reflection I realized I needed to internalize and look inwards in these situations for once, and to practice proper action rather than simply ponder it. To not act like some priest who is initiated into higher mysteries or something, but as just another random person trying to do my best and what I think is right in communities I value. Honestly this is who I would rather be. I will always be Kemetic AND Left Hand Path, always be a child of Setesh, and therefore always be an outsider. Playing the role of a priest (which I will not regret for it led to some of my most useful work and best connections imo) outright contradicts this in so many ways I am honestly a bit embarrassed.

I have quit a lot of things: addictions, websites that were bad for my mental health, negatively reinforcing practices and thoughts, and my new focus is quitting both the social work drive to “fix” things (that often are not even truly “broken”), as well as the arrogance that always crops back up in me to believe that since my way is right for me and has brought me meaning and success, it is not necessarily right for all, maybe even a detriment to them as their path may be to me. My test, as I see it, is not to run away in either anger nor embarrassment, but to face my flaws and actively seek to correct them, such as continuing to engage in forums but as just a guy doing his thing, not the voice of a god, or Kemeticism, or academia, or any such thing.

And to those who helped bring this to my attention again, I thank you. I’ve been told both in friendly and not so friendly ways when dealing with these problems in the past, this most recent being generally friendly. In the past I have been much better about owning my nature as a child of Setesh, and priesthood as I have understood and practiced it is a direct contradiction of that nature. I don’t want to feel this drive to make people think or practice the way I do, nor do I want this drive to act or portray myself a certain way on behalf of others, even my own patron. I mean, one of my greatest magical recommendations is apathy, and I've practiced anything but that.

So today it is in optimism, humility, and hope, not anger, defeat, and arrogance that I step away from the Lector role I've taken, and once again seek to be priest of nothing more than myself and my own way.

Hello, long time no post. Hoping to contribute to the future discussions here.

Today I took some time to list Set's epithets, and there's one that I like particularly because it fits his devil may care attitude to his triumphs, reveling in his victories and gloating. As cool as I think that epithet is, I can't seem to find where it comes from, I found it on a blog but again skepticism is a tool that needs to be used, can anyone attest to this epithet in any scholarly article? I promise I won't make it a habit to just ask here, but I would definitely appreciate the help. Thank you.

side note - I think a post that shows how to find credible resources would be amazing for people of any level.

I found this on a website called Henadology. I don’t know exactly what source they used for this story, but there is a list of them at the end of the article. Anyway:

https://henadology.wordpress.com/theology/netjeru/seth/
“An interesting spell (no. 102 in Borghouts) treats of an episode in which Seth has apparently been bitten or stung by something and requires the assistance of Horus, who is travelling with him. Echoing the famous myth involving Isis and Re (no. 84 in Borghouts), Horus states that Seth must tell him his (true) name in order to be healed. Seth offers a series of names to Horus, each of which Horus rejects as being not his true name. The names Seth offers for himself and which are rejected by Horus are: ‘yesterday, today, and tomorrow which has not yet come’; ‘a quiver full of arrows, a pot full of unrest’; ‘a man of an infinite number of cubits whose appearance is not known’; ‘a threshing floor as strong as bronze, which no cow has ever trodden’; ‘a jug of milk milked from the udder of Bastet’. The final name Seth offers, which is accepted and brings about his healing, is “a man of an infinite number of cubits, whose name is ‘Evil Day’. As for the day of giving birth and becoming pregnant—there is no giving of birth and sycamores will not bear figs.” This latter remark sounds very much like the entry for an unlucky day from a typical Egyptian calendar. According to this spell, therefore, while each of the other names Seth volunteers undoubtedly reflect valid aspects of his nature, the most adequate description of Seth is as an unlimited being who is a source of bad luck, specifically lack of fruitfulness.”

So basically, Set is infinitely powerful, but unlucky. I think I follow Him because He’s relatable. He has a human aspect. I was never fond of Gods with hyperbolic claims of total omnipotence, that can be disproven just by looking at the world around us.

I and many others have tried to address the baffling connection made between Setesh and Yahweh, in sometimes quite esoteric ways. To anyone even vaguely familiar with these gods, the idea they are the same being is beyond reason, there's just no possible way.

Well as it turns out, the solution may be rather simple. Setesh became associated with Yahweh long after his demonization, after the Set-animal had vanished and he became more associated with donkeys, after he'd become equated to Apep and seen as evil. To late period Egyptians, Yahweh was simply a foreign god they didn't really like, so he became associated with the god of foreigners they also didn't like. It is likely the connection is as simple and meaningless as that, and like calling polytheistic beings “demons and devils,” the connection is just as meaningless and inaccurate.

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42yKCnUBa0

Jean Baudrillard, a famous writer on the topic of “postmodernism,” explained postmodernism by means of four stages that symbols and objects have progressed through.

Stage 1: “Basic reflection of reality.” Here, symbols and objects attempt to create an objective reflection of reality. For example a chair is made to be sat on and is valuable if it fulfills its purpose, and a shirt is valuable if it covers your skin. The symbols, stories, myths, etc. of our ancestors were an attempt to describe reality as best they could (agree with the results or not). A symbol or image of a god was meant to represent an objectively existent force in reality. Here I see a comparison to very early Polytheism and the Stellar Tradition, where we accepted the objective, dualistic and spiritual nature of reality, the existence of the gods, and so on, with very complex systems that understood reality itself is complex. Inherently this can only ever be, at best, an attempt at metaphysical knowledge about reality, but it is an honest attempt.

Stage 2: "Perversion of reality.” Here the relationship between value and objective reality begins to shift, for example a chair may still serve its primary function, but be more valuable if made with a rare material, by someone of note, and/or for someone of great importance. There may be no practical difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 chairs, and yet the stage 2 chair is given more value. Symbols (perhaps most famously the serpent) are also twisted, for example as a means to control people, or even by demonizing all gods and saying there is only One True God. The complexity of reality is ignored, in favor of a simple “good vs. evil” breakdown, where everything is either Godly or Demonic. The comparison here is the Solar/Agricultural tradition and, especially, Monotheism. There is an acceptance of some sort of reality, but that reality is twisted intentionally, whether that be to control people, confuse them, or anything of the sort.

Stage 3: “Pretense of reality.” Here we have the appearance of reality, but much more of a detachment from it. The idea that gods are "just archetypes," or that magic is “just psychology,” illustrate this, along with Physicalism at large. People pretend these are the totality of reality, of which they consider themselves to be the "true seekers," but in the end they outright ignore the most important aspects of our reality. Christian Nationalism is another illustration, where leaders outright lie and fabricate history under the pretense of truth, such as the U.S. being founded as a Christian nation. Objects mainly have value thanks to Materialism and Consumerism, not to mention advertising, and the rejection of higher reality makes such things easier to fall for.

Stage 4: "Bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." This is what may be called "postmodernism," total detachment from reality. An very worrying illustration is the democratization of science, where politics and public opinion now hold as much (or more) sway as empirical evidence (with strict empiricism or “scientism” already falling under "stage 3,” since there are so many other forms of knowledge than empirical knowledge.). Here, a shirt or chair like from stage 1 may be significantly less valuable than an identical shirt or chair endorsed by a famous celebrity. We all know politicians lie when they make promises and yet cheer any time they make one anyways. Our symbols only represent our made up realities: watered-down Christianized ideology such as we see running rampant in polytheistic revival, or modern pop-cultural fictions and multiverses, for example.

Baudrillard gives the example of Main Street at Disney Parks. Not only do we spend more time and money on these fabrications than reality (e.g. replacing the gods on our altars with Disney stuff), but our very differentiation between the "real world" and "Disney world" is a delusion. Disneyland is part of the “real world”. There is no inner child to most adults which is in hiding and in need of release, rather they are very outwardly children yet still wield great power. The world is childish and run by mental and spiritual children. The "perfect world" of Disney is still draining your so-called "real" money (which itself belongs to stage 3, as paper money has no objective value).How often do we obsess over the lives and stories of fictional people, such as families in TV shows, meant purely as consumer content? Even I am guilty of this. Our biggest "influencers" are literal morons on terrible platforms, platforms which encourage us to pretend our true selves are only the best moments we choose to share online.

Stage 5: To these 4 stages I propose adding a 5th in the 21st century: “replacement of reality.” Artificial intelligence, virtual and alternate realities, one of the most recent symbols of status at the time of writing this is the new Apple headset, costing thousands of dollars, people just walking around and existing in a totally manufactured reality, one which will inevitably be shaped by those in positions of power and wealth. The popularity of fake news also may deserve ranking in this new, 5th stage, perhaps even something like plastic surgery.

It is important to note that I do not believe we necessarily pass linearly through these stages. For example there are currently people whose beliefs and practices conform to any one of these 4+ stages, or they fit different stages depending on the context.

Morality is another way to look at the stages, and for this I will use the modern example of the debate on abortion. In stage 1, morality is a quest for objective truth, so for instance with abortion we would realize that the issue is objectively complicated.

In stage 2, morality is twisted to fit the reality promoted by those in power, so for us this would be that abortion is always wrong. They still believe in an objective morality in theory, but twist and simplify that morality.

Stage 3 brings us Moral Relativism, whether abortion is right or wrong depends on who you ask, what culture you were raised in, etc. There is no objective morality, but this itself is an objective truth in a way. This is opposed to the second stage Monotheists who believe abortion is objectively wrong all together, or first stage folks who know the topic can be more complicated than black and white. Basically whatever the culture says is moral, is. Whatever morals the Relativist has, they do not believe them to be more correct than any other morals.

Finally in stage 4+, morality is completely dependent on what those in power (politicians, corporations, influencers, etc.) say is moral. It's a warped form of Moral Relativism, really. This individual believes that morals are relative, but not to culture or anything of the sort. Instead, morals are relative to whatever suits them best at the time, and whatever they are told by "authorities" of high symbol/object value. They do not believe the values and morals of others are equally valid to theirs (stage 3), nor do their actions suggest any belief in a consistent objective morality, warped or otherwise (stage 1 and 2). Instead, their morals are relative to whatever their own pseudo-reality is, whatever is to their benefit, and this itself mainly stems from the aforementioned authorities. And note that someone may be, say, a stage 2 monotheist when it comes to religion, but a stage 4 on morality, and so on.

"Whataboutism" is another illustration of moral Postmodern manipulation. Say a person is telling you how evil the current president of the U.S. is because they do X. You ask, "what about the fact that your favorite president did X too, were they also evil?" The Postmodernist will then say you are engaging in "whataboutism." To one who accepts Moral Realism it is immediately clear why the question is valid though: the answer determines if the person is truly opposed to X or simply using it against those they don’t like, special pleading. Postmodernists simply believe whatever they need or want to at the time to support their own biases, not that X is actually immoral.

Our paper money is another example of stage 3, “pretense of reality.” The paper money system is entirely theoretical, in reality the paper is worth very, very little. It's just tied to this conceptual system that, were it to be cast aside, would make all cash meaningless paper. Stage 1 would be things like services, sustenance, shelter, useful things, symbols that were thought to impact reality, etc., objective things all people need. Stage 2 is illustrated by gold, we give it meaning beyond what it has, but it's a real thing with a limited amount of it in the world, you cannot get trillions in debt just printing new gold into existence as with stage 3 cash. And for stage 4+, what better example than NFTs and Bitcoin, or views, likes, and upvotes?

Social media gives us insight into the world of stage 4 / Postmodernism. All the big-name forums or social media platforms, as well as many smaller ones, are oversaturated with advertisements, these new religious symbols and their new valuable objects, to the point where advertisers choose which platforms or outlets survive and which crash and burn. Whole sites wield the power to silence dissenters of whichever ideologies they find unappealing. In many cases people are extremely limited in the number of characters they can use at once, making true discourse impossible. People live entirely fake lives to instill jealousy in others, who go on to lie to themselves and others as well, and groupthink is encouraged through voting systems which create hiveminds and drive out any independent thought. All these fit with Baudrillard’s fourth stage - none of this is reality. Consumerism is objectively less valuable than individuation and freedom, it is not a valid way to live life, it only wastes life, time, and resources. Human thought is not limited by a character count, this does not describe reality in any way, instead creating a new "reality" where any idea longer than a few sentences is a "word salad" and cannot hold one's attention. There are fewer and fewer "great thinkers," and they are not the ones being heard and viewed. The endless, manufactured, touched up selfies, vacations wasted taking pictures instead of living, time lost in the imagery rather than the real event - this is not objective reality. It not only rejects reality but twists and perverts it, replacing it with a manufactured (simulated) one.

Cancel culture is another unfortunate offspring of Postmodernist thought. Due to the power held and used by the creators and maintainers of all these stage 4 images and objects, "reality" is now defined by such entities. A famous actor was fired from all his roles including a massive franchise on mere accusations of abuse, before the crimes were even brought to court (where it turned out things were not so clear cut). If it can happen to a rich, beloved movie star, imagine what could happen to you. I am not suggesting you feel bad for a billionaire who helps fabricate reality, nor do I believe we have a great and trustworthy justice system in place. All I want to illustrate is how a mere accusation led to guilt and punishment because corporations and the more popular political party said they were guilty, and culture followed blindly, before it even reached the justice system at all. Even in cases where someone ends up being guilty, they cannot be found guilty before investigation and judgment. But this does not matter in a world where reality is whatever is most popular at the time.

All forms of media contribute to this, there is no longer any reality in culture outside of the images and realities created for us, created to distract us from this disturbing rejection of reality. Games, shows, movies, children’s content, fiction and non-fiction works, governments, news outlets… not every single individual instance of these may be wholly negative, but the positive ones are becoming more and more rare. I’ve found an interesting source of philosophy on this matter in the poetry of Jim Morrison, famously known as the singer of The Doors, whose father was all too familiar with the fabrication of reality. Morrison wrote about how the powers that be use content from films to museums (where we simulate history) and everything in between to blind citizens to their power over us, our values, even our own meanings regarding life. He feared that humans had become simple spectators, staring blankly into the screen, letting it write their reality for them. He even predicted the "meta" nature of our modern culture, where everything has become self-referential, filled with cameos and easter eggs, dead actors resurrected and old ones de-aged, because media-created reality is now the only reality. All it can reference is itself, lest it shatter the illusion or acknowledge reality. Just look at how our culture cannot even create new content, just remakes, sequels, shared universes, etc.

"There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all the books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed, all the arts of vicarious existence… We are content with the “given” in sensation’s quest. We have been metamorphosized from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark." - Jim Morrison

Another great example of postmodernism is the idea of secularism, that we can separate the public from the religious, or that there are actually people who have no religion whatsoever. This rejects the reality that religion applies to many aspects of life, that someone who is non-theistic or simply “spiritual” still is often religious. For example we can look to sports, where all sorts of weird rituals and ceremonies take place that have nothing to do with the layman understanding of religion, gods, the divine, etc, but are studied as such by religious scholars nonetheless. It can even tie back to the Disneyland example, such as how we pretend America is a secular country, or delude ourselves into thinking the hateful Atheism of France (or places like the USSR before it) is somehow not its own form of religion. In stage 1 we recognized there was no separating the spiritual and religious from daily life. Stage 2 keeps this mostly in place but twists it to fit monotheism. It's not until stage 3 that this really changes to keeping religion “private,” and stage 4 flips the whole thing on its head to where the state and corporations have become god, and the gods have become fantasy.

Postmodernism has even seeped into the WLHP to a great extent. For example, with the identification of the Christian entity Satan with all sorts of beings that have no correlation to him. The Satanist who says that The Devil is Setesh, the Serpent, Prometheus, or any other such deity is placing objective reality on the backburner in favor of a popular cultural meme - that all these beings are Satan, despite their histories, characteristics, mythologies, etc. It is Postmodernism which allows certain groups from the late 1900s to claim absurd things like being the first and only Satanists with no regard for objective reality, or which allows organizations to claim the title of Romantic Satanists when their values and acts fly in the face of that literary movement. It's why people who think they are on the WLHP can still fall for things like Physicalism against all evidence and reason. It's how occultists can create completely made up identities for themselves that, even after being exposed as fraudulent, are still parroted blindly by their followers. And in a wider sense it applies to modern polytheism overall, where new age, fluff bunny occultists come in changing polytheism to monotheism, or saying all male and female goddesses are just a manifestation of duo-theism. There is no escaping Postmodern irrationality.

Our symbols of the divine, of deeper spiritual meanings and truths, of a reality beyond this one, have all been replaced with corporate logos, meme templates, and easter eggs. Like me, many others also have altars in every room of the house, their altars are simply shrines to brands, consumer content, companies, political parties, famous actors, etc. The utility of an object no longer defines it, but instead it is the fabricated social status a thing is supposed to create, such as an uncomfortable designer chair being ten times the cost of a more comfortable and practical one. If your car can reliably get you place to place, but isn’t sporting the right hood ornament, or a fresh coat of paint, all the fancy add ons and a high floor price, then the object simply is not as valuable as if it had these entirely unnecessary things, and therefore the individual themselves is judged as less valuable. Two identical shirts can vary in price by hundreds of dollars based solely on the name printed on the tag inside. All of these values are entirely manufactured and completely detached from objective reality.

Perhaps worst of all is that people and objects have become harder to tell apart, as best exemplified with celebrities. They are fake people with false personalities who we are supposed to see as the ideal human beings. All of their flaws are edited and filtered out, and then we are condemned for not being on par. To postmodern companies, the individual is literally just an object to be used as a means to an end, a cog in a machine rather than an individual with needs, goals, drives, etc. Politicians are themselves celebrities now, and I do not only mean literal actors running for office, but rather that people cheer for them like they do a rock star, consume their media like it is a drug, defend them as if they were their favorite comic character… What gives these politicians and celebrities their power? An association with the new system of symbols and objects of value, the system which disregards reality all together in order to encourage things like Consumerism and obedience.

Postmodernism has an influence over almost every aspect of our lives. It encourages people to believe any fleeting thing they want, or more often are told to want, is of foremost importance or value. It allows constant advertising to empty us of any "inconvenient" meaning or value and fill the void with Consumerism and material things, or to fill it with work lives that are ultimately pointless and amount to nothing more than some conceptual material wage (money itself not even being "real"). The value of objects defines and overtakes the value of the individual. A disregard for objectivity means a disregard for the scientific method itself, allowing science to become a process of authoritarianism at worst and democracy at best, a process of media propaganda rather than a quest for truth. Whatever facts benefit the high-object-value people and the symbols they associate with are true, and facts which do not are false, being able to change at the drop of a hat as needed.

Postmodernism is clearly the natural outcome of our move from profound reality to a fabricated simulation of reality created to control, stifle, and subdue human beings… an immoral and dangerous metaphysics too blind to see that without any objective reality nobody can ever be correct, including themselves.

I hope this will even format right.

Forshaw, Roger. The Role of the Lector in Ancient Egyptian Society. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2015.

These are just main takeaways from the awesome text listed above. Everything will have page numbers when it is information from the book. This is a summary and paraphrase unless otherwise quoted. This is what I subjectively valued and took from the book, and only the generalities, the book is filled with specifics to dive deeper into. I recommend giving it a read. I think the biggest thing is that the “lector” role is not at all well-defined, and in some cases can be much more casual and less official than we'd probably think. Forshaw argues that “Lector Priest” isn't a good term, but rather simply “Lector,” and I agree. While they could get up to even high ranking priests, they could also be as random as a person who performs household rituals. Mainly the term is associated with the keeper, carrier, reader, and sometimes writer of magical scrolls, and they were deemed capable of great magical acts. They were more public facing than, say, a high priest who was mostly in the temple, and they even could serve more “secular” roles. Indeed, it seems the role was rather non-exclusive.

Roles

“The title [Lector] could be honorary, merely appended to a number of other titles, but it could also signify a working professional. His status in society could therefore vary greatly and monuments subsequently left by the lector range from a short statement on a collective stela at Abydos to a large tomb such as that of Pediamenopet on the Assasif at Thebes.” p139

Carries and recites the ritual texts p10

Associated closely with Djehuty p19

“...the lector would have had to possess ritual knowledge, speaker competence, be endowed with the power to do what was required and be in a state of purity.” p51

Private funeral services p1

Main role is transfiguration: transformation of the dead into a divine being

• Transfiguration rites = “sakh” p104

• Causative form of becoming an “akh” p104

The lector seems to be present throughout the whole process, often seen reading from or carrying his sacred texts. Sometimes they would be practically involved in the actions as well.

• Brings offerings to the dead p8

• Represents Djehuty p84

• Washes feet of the dead and embraces them, welcoming them to the afterlife p85

• Oversees and aids with transport and embalming p85-88

• Leads vigil p88

• Offering ritual (p90 shows all the movements)

• Presentation of the foreleg p93

• Sweeping away the footprints after ceremony p91

Opening of the Mouth

Representations come from New Kingdom p109

Blades of meteoric iron, a chisel, adze, pesesh-kef knife, and other implements p110

The lector mainly narrates the events of the ritual, though sometimes has a more hands-on role

• Helps give life to the statue and guide the ritual p110-111

• Presents foreleg p111

• A central performer in the Opening of the Mouth p114

Healing magic p4

The relationship between lectors and healing magic appears well attested

Medical treatment p2

Can both heal and cause illness p116

Associated with the House of Life and Temple p116-119

Worked together with physicians p120

“Hands on approach” p121

Acts of magical wonder p135-136

Studying and working with the gods p119

Stretching of the cord at temple inaugurations p4

Embodied Djehuty p55

Consecration of temple p56

Sometimes secular roles p2

State expeditions to foreign lands p5

Mostly on mining operations into foreign lands p123

Numbers and role unknown p126

Possibly included caring for statues p126

My guess would be protection and healing when necessary. For instance encircling rituals before crossing the desert, or addressing a gash or broken bone.

Other

Daily temple ritual, specifically the end where the god’s statue is given life, and the doors to the shrine sealed until the next ritual with the footsteps swept away p54

Keeper of the “house of books” p57

Readers of/actors in Sacred Dramas p57

Feast of Sokar - invokes Sokar, and praises Osiris in later periods p59-62

“...the non-exclusive nature of the occupation of the lector in the Old Kingdom, and this is a feature that can also be recognised throughout Egyptian history” p1

Not always priests p2

“The title could be honorary, merely appended to a number of other titles, but it could also signify a working professional. His status in society could therefore vary greatly and monuments subsequently left by the lector range from a short statement on a collective stela at Abydos to a large tomb such as that of Pediamenopet on the Assasif at Thebes.” p139

Sometimes involved with legal activities

Such as on knbt councils, which were responsible for the organization and administration of the temple p130

May have also sometimes acted as judges p131-132

“The evidence for the direct involvement of the lector in the legal system in ancient Egypt is not strong…” p134

Rituals/Acts

Execration ritual (eliminating foes/opposing forces) p21

Breaking of the red pots p22. Good link on this here: https://www.worldhistory.biz/ancient-history/56814-breaking-the-red-pots-and-associated-rituals.html

Rites of Encircling, where a sacred person/group/area is ceremonially circled by the lector in magical favor of the subject. Could also be done with hostile intent p24

Protection rituals p25

Overthrowing Apep p25

Spitting, licking, and swallowing could be positive or negative p26

Magical consumption, such as writing a word of power on papyrus and then eating it p137 (if someone wants to do this, write it on food, I implore you)

Relationship to Royalty

Lector of [King] p15

Sometimes proclaims the king’s royal name for the first time p65

Royal purification p65

Active role in Sed-festivals p4

• A principal officiant p66

• Announcer, reads from text p68

• “Illumination of the thrones” p70

• Precedes the king p80

• Related to Wepwawet and the Was Scepter p80

• Master of ceremonies p81

Possible Equipment

Chest which the equipment was carried in p27

Tyet knots p27

Protective statues and amulets p32-33

Protective wands p33-34, good images here: https://www.joanlansberry.com/setfind/knf-mid.html

Figurines of women carrying snakes, wearing the mask of a lioness p34-35, possibly first Asherah figurines?

Bronze serpent wand, first known of its kind p35-36

Fertility figures p36-37

Ivory dwarfs p38-39

Model offerings p 39-40

Clappers p40-41

Beads p41-42

Djed column p42

Burnisher p42-43

Papyrus p43-44

Identification

Broad fabric sash worn across chest p7

Chief lector can have panther skin, a menat necklace, headband with ostrich plume, a cape, a scepter p7

Generally they carried a papyrus roll p7

Most frequent gestures: invocation (Gardiner’s A26) and hnw-gesture (Gardiner’s A8) p7-8

“This image that is evoked is a representation of the lector that is repeatedly depicted on tomb and temple wall scenes, a lector consulting and reading from an unrolled papyrus scroll.” p119

Titles

Hieroglyphs p13-17

Greatest of Chief Lectors p13

Senior/Elder Lector p13

Senior Lector of the Robing-Room p13

Lector of the House of Embalming p14

Lector of the Funerary Estate p15

(Chief) Lector of his Father p15

Lector of [King] p15

Lector of [God] p15-17

Lector of [Locality] p15-17

Lector who is in his year p15

Lector p15

Origins

Shamanism into sem-priesthood, then division of sem-priests into two separate categories p9

At least according to Dr Sledge they are…

https://youtu.be/mTnQ__VSQzc?si=Fgl1Z-nZR0ddR59u

I had a beautiful view of the night sky from AZ last night. About 9pm the Dipper was taking its prime position as Cepheus* (Horus imo) dipped out of sight. To the east you could see Arcturus and Spica rising (the hippo and croc imo), and in the west, the setting of Orion (Osiris). Pretty much the most sacred position of the sky for those dedicated to Setesh. My previous data taken from Thebes in 3000 BCE had it taking this position in March, but now it seems to align rather well with May Eve (due to the precession of the equinox).

Make sure to get out there this month and look up!

I applied 3 weeks ago to the temple of set via snail mail but still haven’t received a response… Is the temple still active?