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Kemetic Orthodoxy Rite of Parent Divination
Kemetic Orthodoxy:
The Kemetic Orthodoxy is a particular religious organization which is recognized by the state of Illinois, and holds a main temple in Joliet, IL. There are several smaller temples in the homes of the w'ab priests (both females and males), some of which are open to Shemsu and above, but the majority of which are closed and all of which are closed to the public. The Kemetic Orthodoxy is a revivalist religion, based upon the religion of Ancient Egypt (called Kemet by its people). This is to give you a bit of background information.
Ancient Egypt:
In Ancient Egypt, people had patron deities from birth due to the family and location they were born into, as well as what date they were born on. Each family had their own main netjeru of honoring, and would place them into a specific corner of the room reserved for deity worship. Each town of any real size had a shrine which acted as a sort of mini-temple where people could celebrate, petition, gain dreams, etc, and which was overseen by a priest (usually these priests would be on their vacation time) or by the chieftain or his family. Ancient Egypt was a large expanse of land, and was split up into 10 nomes (somewhat like states), and each of these nomes had their own patron deity. On top of this, each day had a netjer or several netjeru watching over it and doing particular actions on it. What netjeru did what at which time of the year mattered on where you were at; much like the Druids, each religious following had their own beliefs which could easily contradict the beliefs of the others.
Oftentimes people would be found calling these patrons a member of their family, or calling themselves beloved of the god, etc. People were named as children based on their patrons, usually in a form of calling on the protection of the particular god in order to also protect the child. Once puberty was reached, a person's child name was usually put to the side and an adult name was formed for them.
Kemeticism:
In modern day Kemeticism, this idea of patron gods is often brought forth by individuals interested in or involved in a Kemetic path, whether it be Wiccan based or what have you. Some people take on Kemetic names for themselves, similar to how one takes on a craft name when performing magic or when joining a coven. However, these names are often self-chosen, and as such can be less than accurate regarding whom their patron deities are.
As the modern world is vastly different from that of Ancient Egypt, the system of nome patrons is unable to occur as many Kemetic practitioners have no known family out of Egypt (ancient or modern), and the nomes themselves are long disestablished. Going based on a system of family patrons is also very impossible for many, due to the above reasons as well as due to there being few family groups which practice Kemeticism (many of those family groups that are known to me are newly established with only two generations).
Rite of Parent Divination:
For the Kemetic Orthodoxy, this is where the Rite of Parent Divination comes in. The Rite was built by Hemet Hekatawy I (aus) (Tamara L. Suida) according to what she had been told by the netjeru. It was built in an attempt to identify what netjer or netjeru were the person's Parents and whether the person had Beloveds and if so who these Beloveds are. The Rite is only taken from a Kemetic Orthodox point of view, so no gods such as Thor or Hera will show up in the Rite. The Rite is also done only once, one divination per one khat (physical body), so those who are therians are not given a separate divination for their therian side.
There is also not a you-got-my-first-divination-wrong divination. Your Parents are your Parents, and nothing you attempt to do within the Kemetic Orthodoxy will change that. However, there is a divination which attempts to identify additional Beloveds that you either believe were missed, or whom have come into your life since the original divination. However, these additional Beloved divinations are extremely rare, and I have only heard of around 4 cases where the person did indeed have additional Beloveds. This additional divination is usually done more than a year after the original divination and is only done after speaking to Hemet (aus) about it in depth.
Before one is eligible for the Rite, you must first become a part of the Beginners Class, complete the class, and at the end of the class request to become a Remetj (this is a friend of the faith). The Beginners Class takes approximately 4 months to complete, and can take up to 4 months for you to join one (you start at the same time as all the other beginners in your class do). Becoming a Remetj takes a few weeks at the most, and after that you can take as long as you like to become divined. It takes approximately 3 months for Hemet (aus) to send out the information about the Rite, however it can take longer if she has particular plans which would prevent her from doing the Rite for you.
After you get the information on it, you send her back an application for the Rite (this is to ensure that you understand what you are getting into by undertaking it as well as to give you an overview of your beliefs). You also send a small fee which pays for the offerings that Hemet (aus) gives to your Akhu (deceased family, friends, dead people who are interested in you, etc) and the netjeru during the Rite.
The Rite itself takes a set up of 24 hours before you and Hemet (aus) come together to discuss the results of it. During these 24 hours, she makes several offerings to your Akhu and asks them to come forward to give you a divination. The Akhu give you a general guidance divination, revealing to you things which may be within your heart or without, things which are challenging you or things you need to do or decide for yourself. This divination also determines if anyone is angry at you for ignoring them, or if anyone wishes to make peace with you. This part of the Rite also asks them to come forwards into your life and be a greater part of it; so by undergoing the Rite of Parent Divination, you not only get a closer working relationship with Parent(s) and Beloved(s), but also with your Akhu. The netjeru are also given several offerings during this time, and your Parent(s) and Beloved(s) are asked to come forward and make themselves known.
The netjeru part of the Rite will reveal if you have one or two Parents, and as few as zero or as many as five Beloveds. There has yet to be more than two Parents in the use of this rite and indications have been given that no more than two will ever appear. It is thought by some that this is due to the biological condition of not having more than two parents, while it is also possible to grow up in a single parent household. The number of Beloveds has never reached over five, and there have been instances of no Beloveds showing up. The terms Parents and Beloveds are used to show the relationship of the netjer(u) to the person, as Parents are closer than Beloveds. In a saq, Sekhmet has stated that the Parent(s) create the ba (soul) of the person, while Beloveds create the ka (spirit) of the person, however this is not official Kemetic Orthodox doctrine.
To determine your Parent(s) and Beloveds, Hemet (aus) uses a geomantic divination system with cowrie shells. She throws these shells into a tray that has patterns on it. The way the shells fall and if they do anything particularly odd is observed (such as Yinepu tending to knock one of his shells off the tray), and then Hemet (aus) consults her divination booklet. She keeps within this booklet how the shells fall for particular results, so that no mistakes can/will be made based on forgetting a particular pattern.
Usually, these divinations start out wide, then slowly she works them towards a very specific netjeru; such as the divination stating bird, then hawk, then Heru, then her throwing again to determine which Heru. Sometimes, such as in Yinepu's case, it is made obvious from the beginning, however she continues to throw until she is sure.
She then goes through this process a second time to ensure the results are correct, then moves on to one's other Parent and Beloveds and repeats this process for them. After going through this checking system, she gets with the person she is divining for (if online she brings the altar she built specifically for this person into the room), and she throws once more before she tells the person their results (this is more of a wide spread throw asking if anything additional is needed or if anything has been missed).
After telling the person their results, she asks if they have any questions regarding these results and then asks if the person wishes to become a Shemsu. While it is not required that one become a Shemsu right away, it is something that is to be carefully thought of, as the Rite is truly only for those who have intentions to become a Shemsu eventually. This is because the Rite is the first half of the Shemsu initiation. There are some who are not ready to take that step for many years, and some who are never ready.
