Neteru Week Of 2/25/19 (And An Adventure!)

Well, it’s Wednesday…and it’s been a weird and busy week, so my timing for the draw and creating things is (with permission) a little off at the moment.

A few hours’ sleep ago I got back from a 20-hour turnaround drive to another state! Over the weekend I bought some vintage camper/cabin windows online so I can replace in one in my abode on wheels that a previous owner took apart to add an A/C and hopefully fix some minor issues with a couple others. I bought a whole set in excellent shape from someone who did a full replacement for less than I’d previously found a poor condition of the smallest one before shipping before. The catch? Pickup only in another state…although that wasn’t really a setback because it’s so expensive to ship anything that large/heavy and so risky for anything that could be bent or broken by USPS dropkicking it on the way to my house. Gas was cheaper and twenty hours less stressful to know I’d get them home safe.

Besides, I love road trips! Yay, palm trees!

And Isis told me to just get with Them when I got back and we’d keep it simple with the creative stuff this week. So this afternoon, I did that and it was indicated to draw just one name for this week. And guess who?

Anubis – Yay!! I feel like He’s been with me closely this week for multiple reasons anyway and I have some wonderful ideas for a new item or two in His honor we’d already been talking about! Not sure I can write an objective blurb for Him but: lord of the dead, former King and current Prince of the Duat (since He abdicated to Osiris), patron of embalming, psychopomp, guide of souls and the lost, protector of travelers both physical and metaphorical, lord of the Gates Between Worlds—which in my experience excludes the weird/non-realm of the Between where I have such ties and spend so much time.

Plus, He’s my Friend, my Mentor, my God, my Beloved, my oathbound Master, my Husband, and honestly a lot of other things never really named. ❤

———

And my new Isis card for the week: The Brother In Darkness.

This card very clearly refers to the stories of Set and Osiris dying and all of that. It’s one of those intense stories that has taken on different significance to me because of personal tales They’ve told me and I’m not sure which various context this is coming from. I have a lot of thoughts about it and how it relates for me right now but I’m  trying not to jump to any conclusions without some guidance.

Neteru Shinies – Nekhbet and Sekhmet

So, I did end up having someone who wanted to see my Neteru craft projects for each week, so here goes. (I’ll make these posts obvious though so if you don’t care, you can skip them. 😉)

I was so excited to draw Nekhbet because I thought I had some Egyptian vulture brass pieces I bought in a huge order of Egyptian stuff a couple years ago I’d never used…and I did! They have dark black/greenish patina also, which is perfect since those are the colors the Egyptians often associated with the relevant ideas of death and rebirth and transformation that Nekhbet and vultures generally represented to them.

I paired it with black obsidian, dark green serpentine, and lapis lazuli—the quintessential Egyptian gemstone and a personal favorite of mine—between.

For Sekhmet I went a little more abstract with these glass pendants and felt drawn to Her fiery side. I actually came up with two related designs, one more dramatic and one a bit subtler and created both.

So this one is a red glass pendant that reminds me of the sun-disk She and a lot of Others wear as a crown with carnelian, orange quartzite, and Czech red crackle glass.

And the second, both red and orange glass pendants with carnelian, red Czech crackle glass and lazis lazuli.

I was surprised how easily designs came to me and how quickly they went together—especially once I lit up some incense and turned on my Egyptian playlist (AKA “Music To Embalm By” which is what I actually call the playlist). It’s been a long while since I felt like the inspiration so much, so I’m excited anew about this new artsy weekly practice and where it’s going to go.

I’d planned to leave it there and make this post hours ago, but there’s been insane wind and it knocked out the power to my whole town so I had no internet…but fortunately my craft room gets all the afternoon sun this time of year so I made a bonus piece just for funsies: ankh with lapis and serpentine.

None of the items are up for sale quite yet, but hoping to do hi-res pics and get them up soon. You can go to the shop at mixedmythologies.etsy.com or check out my shop IG @mixedmythologies to see when they’re up. (And since I know I have some international readers…I will ship anything in the shop if we talk, even though it says I don’t do that. It takes a bit longer and I can’t guarantee times so I didn’t want to pick up bad reviews for delivery while the shop was youngish. But I’m hoping to expand soon and I’ve made exceptions before.)

I’m just really happy to be creating again. Winter is usually my off-season but I felt like this one hit me harder and lasted longer than the last few. Until now. I’m super grateful They offered me this new weekly plan that’s pushing me back into the zone. 😊

Neteru Week Of 2/18/19 – Going Deeper

I’m drawing names late again this week. Yesterday was one of those minor holidays only banks pay attention to so I had a little help on my camper restoration (it’s going well; the demolition part of the process is nearly done) so that took my focus. But it also gave me an extra day with the Neteru to plan where I’m going to take this weekly thing from here.

Over the weekend, I asked Them if we could rethink this practice. Names each week has been nice and it’s a good refresher on who They are and Their mythology stories (and I am getting a lot better at IDing Their names in hieroglyphs) but it doesn’t really feel like it’s going anywhere. I read a little about Them, light a stick of incense, draw a couple cards—it doesn’t seem like I’m offering much and the messages in return are pretty surface (or just advice on *other* parts of my life). It’s all fine, but not really helping me build or deepen any relationships, which is what this year was meant to be about.

Afterward when I was listening and staying open, They didn’t disappoint: art. Crafting, making things is a huge part of my practice and one of my favorite ways to connect with Gods or spirits (second only to listen to music). Plus, it’s my livelihood. So going forward, the plan is to draw names each week and commit to creating something—a candle, jewelry, other project—in honor of Them, asking Their guidance and inspiration, maybe even energy sharing going into it. I’ll still be doing refresher research, still light incense when I invite Them to creative time, but I’ll only draw cards if They ask. It’ll be a cool, collaborative process that’ll build relationships and help me become closer to Them.

After, I’ll list the items in my Etsy shop. My first response to that part of the plan was “isn’t that sorta self-serving?” but They assured me it isn’t. It puts things in Their honor (especially for less Big Name deities who don’t get a lot of merch) into the world. Plus, I live in this world and that’s how it works here: I need to be able to support myself.

So that’s the new plan.

———

Since it’s now a little shorter week, I asked for just two names so I could put in the time to get it right for Them.

Nekhbet – The vulture Goddess, defender of Upper Egypt and protector of the pharaoh (often depicted along with Her cobra Lower counterpart on the crown of Egypt). She’s also associated with rebirth. I read a few years ago that vultures in Egypt have almost no distinction between male and female and early Egyptians seem to have believed they were all female and that they must have magickal or divine power to eat and feed their chicks from carrion without getting sick. Thus they were thought to bring life from death.

Sekhmet – A lioness Goddess who was Eye of Ra, a protective and war Goddess. Also a healer. And a sort of patroness of beer. The myth goes that She was Hathor transformed who was sent to take vengeance upon the enemies of Ra, but bloodlust took over and She got carried away. The other Neteru feared She would destroy all the Earth so They took vats of beer, dyed them red to look like blood, and left them for Her to find. She drank them and passed out and woke up once again Hathor. Later She took on other roles as well. (My UPG is She’s Hathor’s not-twin now, separated into a distinct individual rather than just an aspect but They can still share power and magick.)

Woohoo! I’m excited; these are going to be fun projects to work on over the next few days. 😃

———

*In the past, I’ve tried to keep separation between shop/business stuff and the spiritual things I blog about here, but is anyone interested in seeing what I’m making for this practice? Unless it’s requested I’ll probably not show them here unless there’s some cool story/experience attached to it that’s relevant; I don’t want to spam y’all. 😜

———

My Isis card draws and doing the mini-rituals for each one are staying the same.

This week’s new card is: Initiation. Again. Interesting…this one came up also a few weeks ago. Hmmmm…

Daughter Of Vanaheim

I’ve figured it out, what’s been going on and what I was missing before. I only very rarely interact with the Gods as archetypes, so it just didn’t click at first. (Plus, the Neteru are notoriously difficult to fit into boxes since there are so many and Their jobs overlap so much and change over different periods in mythology…though it actually should have been pretty obvious here.) They’re passing messages.

A couple weeks ago crows (oft ridden by the Ravens of the Between since actual ravens don’t live here) and blackbirds started following me while Anubis started appearing and disappearing on a weird schedule—weirder than usual for Him anyway—which together add up to mean I’m in danger; They’ve put extra defenses around me and are keeping watch. At the same time, I started having vivid, terrifying nightmares (at first I couldn’t remember, but I started doing little workings before bed to hold onto them) and experiencing severe inexplicable pains. All contact with both the Vanir and Aesir abruptly ended, and I had been in regular contact with People on both sides before that.

But I see it now: immediately after that a Cat Goddess sent me a warning pointing to the Who. I didn’t get it so the next one was even more obvious: a Love/War Goddess and a Land God and a God who’s name literally means “to finish” that made me question what wasn’t finished. So…it seems A Certain King Of Asgard ordered silence (He can do that as king; I’ve seen it before). The Vanir went along with it but there exist “hotlines” between Gods in different pantheons who do similar Work and so are called on as archetypes or the same Person—and the Vanir sent word by those back channels. (And apparently don’t care Who knows since I have permission to write about it.)

I was in denial, then confirming by every method I have (Vixxia, your comment on the last post about similarities between Hathor and Freyja was about the tenth sign in a row that I was on the right track ❤ ), and then I had to just deal with it.

Story is, He’s getting around my restraining order by claiming it’s not personal but because I’m on the shit list of a realm He’s allied with (which I am and proud of it) but He must know details of Anubis’s contracts with them over me because He’s carefully not doing this “on their order” and while Anubis could step in because of my collar, it might start shit.

(That last paragraph pretty much sums up why bad things happen to people and the Gods can’t always defend them…Otherworld politics are a bitch. The more astral life you build, the more likely things are to get complicated. My own weird journey where folks Out There consider me still one of them denies me the protections of being human and made it more or less inevitable.)

My one remaining question…with my ties to Vanaheim, why wasn’t I protected by the treaty between the realms? And ah! There it is, I was told. He’d include me under that protection but I haven’t declared what I mean there publicly. It’s crap; it’s all over the Otherworlds, but He is including *this* world and here, I kept it a secret. He thinks I’m too scared. I exposed His secret and so He means to expose mine.

My first inclination was to think outside the box, find the loopholes, change the rules (it’s the elf in me), but my People and Allies are united—why not just do it? Sure, it scares me a little. I know what this community often does to folks who claim to not be nothing in the Otherworlds; I’ve seen the angry pagan mobs take up their pitchforks before and I have a livelihood. But, let’s be real, it’s not even the weirdest thing I’ve shared here. So just do it, and show my astral life is not a weapon to be wielded against me.

Okay. *deep breath*

My soul is something like a princess of Vanaheim (that feels absurd to even write as there is no actual corresponding word or role there). But my spirit-grandma was the natural-born daughter of the last lord of Old Vanaheim—ancient days, before Freyja and Freyr’s family ruled—but she left Vanaheim and made a life elsewhere…so when the family was destroyed, she survived and her children. The ancient magick of the family “jumped” to the last line and so was passed down to me and my twin brother. That why we ended up doing Work for Vanaheim. And there was a moment of question what we’d do with that magick or try to claim, but it was really no question: whatever was best for the realm we loved. Thus, we worked with our Lord and Lady to heal a wound in the land that had caused such pain within and a crack in defenses outlanders had exploited in the past.

So that’s it. That’s why we went on the journey, risked everything: all to do right by our family and ancestral home. Now we maintain citizenship and a place there despite our chosen exile with the Court out of recognition of our love, to see that healing through, and on the unlikely chance the day comes where our magick may help further.

And now…hopefully now the shenanigans will *really* simmer down for a bit. I’m ready to really focus on my Year of Egypt without this stuff following me. And I’ve been given assures the Vanir have a way to enforce that if I do this, my protection will be honored. So, fingers crossed…

[Edit: In just the few minutes since I hit “Publish” most of my pain suddenly slipped away, I feel my People closer again, and I hear Freyja and Freyr clearly as anything again. Hope it lasts, but signs I’ve made the right choice.]

Neteru Week Of 2/11/19

I’m combining finish-up from last week and the draw for this week together again. I actually did draw names on time last night before bed but didn’t have a chance to write until today. Last week was weird—and this week is shaping up a continuation—so I feel a little off my schedule.

I was right that Thoth was around to help me jump start my studying and I’ve started that. Since this is Year Of The Neteru, I kept it Egypt-related but something fascinating to get me back into the vibe after so much European focus. So, I’m reading a light academic book (easy to read but with endnotes) about Tutankhamun’s mummy and I have one for next about a tomb that was referenced in this one, then I’ll jump into the super academic and spiritual sides.

Bast was a bit of an enigma. One day when I was listening to music with Anubis, She showed up and just sort of…loitered? Took over the shuffle a few minutes and broke the mood (which was a bit serious at the time) and then peaced out. It felt like there was significance in the air, but I didn’t understand it—almost like back in the early days when Everyone used to do *significant glances* around me about the things I didn’t remember that I remembered and had repressed consciously. (One more bit of weirdness in a strange week.)

The cards I drew from Here were equally elusive. Since She specifically requested this Major Arcana only Egyptian deck instead of the full Nefertari one I’ve been regular using for these readings, I looked at the book for them and the main thing I noticed was a tension between the understanding I have from intuition and past experience and how this book spun the cards. And there was no set structure, just that “I would understand” after drawing.

After meditating and pendulum clarifications: I think it’s a warning. In this deck, Hierophant is inspiration and mental focus, internal quiet that lets you understand. High Priestess is one of those cards I dance with—I love it but it also scares me a little, because it’s often shown up at times when I needed to trust and let go of conditioned fears and who I think I *should* be for the real thing. I think in case being reverse is about it not being fully conscious—every day last week I had vivid, lucid dreams but as soon as I woke each day, that was all I could remember of them. Emperor…well, it’s not the first time I’ve gotten it as a negative person in the last month (I’m sure you can guess) and signs started lining up that it may not be over as I’d hoped. *sigh*

As for Isis—I took Her advice of looking to the stars and calculate Wep Ronpet (Kemetic New Year, based on the heliacal rising of Sirius) last week. And what did I find but my favorite web page an Egyptologist introduced me to in 2013 back up and running in an updated version after being down with things expired the last couple years. *happy dances* So much easier than the pages of charts and measurements and calculations and times I had to do without it. (Anyone else interested in figuring heliacal rising? Maybe I’ll do a post, especially if I can find my lecture notes from back then. Hmm…) So that means I can work from there for other Kemetic festivals which I’ve missed keeping recently.

———

Now, for this week’s Neteru. It was indicated I should draw three.

Geb – The God of the land, the earth, and brother-husband to the sky Goddess Nut. He’s the one in charge of the ground we walk upon. I’ve never honored Him before (actually I’ve built relationship with a lot more Goddesses and Gods among the Neteru, which is unusual for me as in other groups it even or skews toward the masculine).

Atum – Father of Shu and Tefnut (Who in turn were the parents of Geb and Nut), He was a Creator God and also one considered self-created. He’s often named as the spiritual father of the king and as sort of the one who keeps the world knit together. In fact, His very name is thought to be derived from the word meaning “to complete.” Yeah, haven’t hung out with Him before either.

Hathor – Her, I know. Goddess of sensuality, sexuality, war…magickal cows. I love her so much. She’s basically the worldly, sarcastic AF aunt I needed in the Otherworlds and She’s taught me so much and helped me through a lot along my way.

———

And my new Isis draw this week: The Lunar Queen.

This card is all about honoring the ebbs and flows. Listening to the mind, the body, the intuition and doing what’s right in the moment rather than forcing it. It’s also about change.

It feels like I’m on the edge of something, but I don’t know what. There’s something here I’m supposed to be understanding; I can feel it. It’s like in the beginning. I’ve regained my memories of Before, but…like all my childhood memories, I keep them on a mental shelf, less immediate, and that protects me here presently where it’s not safe to feel too much. But…sometimes that disadvantages me. There’s something here I’m supposed to figure out.

Neteru Of The Week 2/4/19 (And A Little Bit Of Catch-Up)

These new Neteru each week do come up quickly; it often feels like I barely have time to work with Them at all as the days fly by. Last week I didn’t even get the chance to write about it with holiday prep going on, so I’m adding it to the beginning of this post.

I was somewhat correct that Thoth was showing up because I’d let weeks slip by without study, but it was more dealing with the why of that. It’s something I’ve been passingly aware of for a while now, but not sure what to do with: my time management is not as good as it should be or used to be. While there are multiple factors, a big one—maybe the biggest—is that I feel lost in my commitments. I’m pulled in so many directions and feel like I don’t have time or energy for everything, and so spend time stressing over hierarchies and what to do first until I’m bogged down by the weight of everything and get even less done. And I need to stop doing that.

Kebechet and Tefnut, both Who have supported me before were here because of something I needed to let go of. The ten-year anniversary of something really painful was last week and the emotions that brought up tossed me around a bit. Kebechet reminded me (and it applies to other things in my life as well) to not go chasing after what’s been poured out and washed away long ago. Instead, move forward in action and trust there’s something else, something better, out there to find.

And Tefnut? There was this terrible thing, maybe the worst day of my life, one of my greatest defeats from the Otherworlds back at a time I didn’t fully understand the games or battles I was waging, and it’s affected my path ever since. In a case like that, it’s hard not to get lost in toxic positivity like people throw around that I’m only who I am today because of my enemies, that I should forgive and thank them for making me stronger. Nah, Tefnut calls BS…it was a catalyst, sure, but the power that woke up both from within me and outside was already there. I know that—I was hurt because of who I was, not the other way around—but I needed reminding.

Also, Isis was right—I broke out all my powerful music and yeah, it helped. 🙂

Now for this week. Two new Neteru.

Thoth – He has returned this week—perhaps to help me with that time management for study and finding balance between different projects? I’m hoping to start reading something later this evening…I just have to figure out what in my huge stack of books and articles it’s going to be.

Bast –Best known as a cat Goddess, She’s also an Eye of Ra, protector of travelers, and as Lady of Perfume has funerary associations. Despite my love of cats and close work with Cat spirits elsewhere, I’ve not spent much time with Her. Things just never clicked and She’s consistently said “not yet” for my growing a relationship with Her. She also figures into some of the personal stories Anubis has told me about Himself. Hmmm.

New card from Isis: Lady of the Stars. It’s surprised me over the years how much significance the stars have to both the Neteru and a lot of the spirits I interact with—sometimes even in similar ways. And when I’ve studied the stars in either context, the feelings and energies I got were largely the same. It feels like there’s some meaning or connection there that I just haven’t understood yet. At a more immediate, mundane level there’s some star work and calculations I’ve been meaning to do and maybe this is a good week for that.

Stirrings Of Spring

Hope everyone had a lovely Imbolc, etc. if you celebrate. It was my White Spring (maybe better known as That Holiday Where I Try Not To Set My Head On Fire While Wearing A Crown Of Lit Candles And Evergreen) for honoring the first hints of spring beneath the ground with the Free Court.

I wrote about it last year but there was one big change this year: I was also invited to Vanaheim for ritual there. Also, the Free Court has reconstructed quite a bit of ritual from Vanaheim and while some of it is Vanaheim of Old (pre-War, pre-alliance with Asgard, pre…everything, lol), some of it isn’t and there are still similarities. I’ve been keeping these traditions ritually that I’ve never seen from the outside—until now. It was really cool to witness and will help me do my own Work better. Besides, I was almost an anthropologist and understanding how rituals or traditions spread and evolve, especially in the Otherworlds where I’ve seen it in action, is fascinating to me.

Afterward, I traveled to the Between for our ritual. (And did not set myself on fire, yay me. 😛 ) We’ve called energy and magick from the stars and the ground and our people and the Winter Torch is extinguished, it’s power passed into candles we infused with creative energy to bless our gardens for the coming year.

As a part of that creative magick to call the spring, every year I do a relevant artsy project after the ritual proper is finished while the candle burns. Last year I made and dedicated a pendulum to the Court. This year I decided to finally do a project I’ve been planning for several years—a prayer bead/portable charm altar thing for all the groups of the Free Court. Little stone critters for the clans and metal charms for the seasonal associations on the ellyllon side, all around the original ouroboros ring I wore for the court before I could afford the one I wear now.

It turned out really awesome! I decided instead of stringing it like I do most things to knot it on silk mala-style so I could lock in even more the energies and magick. And it might play quite a role in the future because while I’m very excited for my impending life on the road, when my camper’s done and I drive off into the sunset almost all my altar and ritual things I’ve made or collected will go into storage (for space and weight reasons) and I’ll have to leave them behind. But if this project is any indication, maybe I’ll be able to make powerful but tiny things and be just fine.