Um, commenting praise isn't the same as bumping up a post and to be perfectly fair, the post is still relatively new as it was recently moved into this section so everyone can actually find it.
Kebs and I both enjoy reading about Egyptian deities, so it is not a surprise that I responded to this post. Kebs, when will another post be up? Any ideas? Thanks again.
It might be a bit longer sadly. Of late, I've been splitting my time between work, studying ancient Kemet (the beliefs, practices, etc), and studying and working with the Kemetic Orthodoxy.
I do intend to work hash out a informational on the different ways to heal in traditional practices of Kemet. I want to give a good amount of information so that it can be understood and used.
Re: Kemetic(Egyptian) Healing By: Artindark Moderator / Adept
Post # 14 Mar 28, 2013
This is very lovely thread !Thank you for posting it ,Kebs .
I have few questions .
How you would go about to threaten ,let say, the major netjer ?
I got the idea that you can command the lesser ones mentioning the name of their Father . What would work to do so ,when it comes to the Father itself ,according your tradition ?
Would you add a bit more information on muuet ,please .
Commanding the "lesser" netjeru is somewhat like that. For instance, you could call on Atem, Amun, or Re to threaten Shu into doing something for you. Shu is sometimes the son, and other times the created son of the Creator, who appears as Atem, Amun, or Re. Shu was actually forced by his father to split apart his (Shu's) children; Nut and Geb. Nut and Geb had to be separated as they were sky and earth (respectively), and their passionate love for one another caused creation to come to a halt. Another myth says that the Creator got jealous of their love because he would never love like that, and so he separated them. Regardless, the idea of a child having to obey and honor their parent is very present in Ancient Kemetic literature, beliefs, and virtues. I would easily compare it to the traditional Asian ideas of honoring the mother and father. So if you went to dad or mom netjer, and either invoked them or convinced them to your side of things, there is a good possibility of their child listening to you.
However, other "lesser" netjeru will follow different rules. Such as you can threaten them with someone generally bigger and more powerful, but not necessarily mom or dad. For instance, working with Aset (Isis) to get say Set to listen to you. Mythologically speaking, Set and Aset are, at best, frienemies. They are siblings, thus the friend part, but Set killed her husband, kept her son from the throne, and hit on her. However, because Aset is a lady of Werethekau (Mistress of Heka or Mistress of Magic), she could force Set to obey her, because she has all the powers of Re as Creator (this is due to a story in which she learned his true name). Re, because of this, is actually a "lesser" netjer in reference to Aset as Werethekau.
The netjeru are not lesser in reference to how major they factored in the religious aspect of Kemetic practices, but rather in reference to their relationships to each other. Each netjer has a relationship to at least one other netjer, whether as parents, children, siblings, creators, or through simple myths. (There is even a story when Yinepu has a brother, but it could be simply a man by the same name, only the happenings in it lead to believe otherwise.)The power that a netjer has over another is due to their relationship with each other, even if it is just in the powers they possess, such as Ma'ahes and Sekhmet who can be said to be male and female forms of each other.
Essentially to threaten a netjer, you would invoke the higher deity or invoke their name, and use it to threaten the netjer whose help you need. Other threats include things such as destruction of their icons, dishonoring them, and not giving offerings to them. The netjeru quite enjoy offerings, and some texts even go as far to say that they need them in order to continue their existence. Threatening them in this way can be quite effective, as you can also say you'll give them the offerings they deserve if they do as you ask, or even give them extra than you do normally or something special.
Threatening the netjeru was rarely used only within the powers of the hekau themselves, because we are not as "high" or rather as powerful as they are. Threatening a muuet or netjeri, however, was something a hekau could do themselves easily, as a muuet is a human soul, and netjeri are, more or less, lesser beings which are simply classified as non-human and non-gods. Netjeru could also be used in conjunction with threatening netjeri as they are often connected to each other, and the netjeru are something of a "higher" form.
None of the netjeru are without someone to knock them over; they all balance each other out. However, the Creator is beyond that, though the forms he shows up in aren't always that infallible. The true idea of Creator is similar to the Great Spirit, as it is a being which exists, but isn't in the forefront. The Creator is so beyond human understanding, that it has to aspect itself to be understood on any level; kind of like how we feel the need to label and categorize things due to our own lack of understanding.
Now then, on to the muuet.
Muuet (or mut sometimes), are spirits which are human which refused or are unable to enter the afterlife fully. Essentially, those spirits which cannot move on, either due to unfinished business or being trapped here by their mode of death or by interference by man or other beings. Yes, a person can trap another person's soul, at least, in my tradition they can. It's not something I've heard mention of often, and I'm fairly sure the reason why is that something like this is really that serious. You are messing with someone else's afterlife, preventing them from moving on and becoming one with Wesir (Osiris) and the netjeru. To do something like that is so cruel, so heinous, so wrong. It's just not done often, but it was done. I've even heard of the human spirit becoming trapped and turning into a muuet because they are not given offerings at their tombs or any sorts of offerings, and because of this, go after their lackadaisical descendants. Because of their trapped state, whether due to inside or outside influences, they went a bit mad, and became highly violent and rather nasty beings.
If they attach themselves to a person, it can be very, very bad for them, causing bad luck, and even deaths. At times, a muuet could be attached to a tomb and used to destroy any tomb raiders that came. A muuet requires someone knowledgeable in the removal of the muuet, otherwise the beings will become more violent and more dangerous, much like poking a sleeping tiger. They aren't to be messed with unless you know what you are doing and what you are capable of. Those who would deal with muuet are often priests who serve as hekau, or those few laymen hekau who knew how to handle them.
There are fewer records on working with muuet than removing them, simply due to their dangerous natures. Most of what is known of heka is in the more well-known records of heka, rather than those contained within Peru-Ankh, or Houses of Life. Sadly, we have yet to find a fully stocked Per-Ankh. /:
