I am overly ambitious in the realm of my religion. I think a part of this is due to the fact that I grew up in a Catholic church. Everything was rich and gold and in-your-face and exuberant and huge. It was all completely over-the-top so that, I think, is what I assume all religious practices to be. I’m not sure if this is honestly the case. This is merely a simple, possible explanation for my constant “I need this and this and this and OMG WHERE IS THE MONEY THAT DOESN’T EXIST FOR ALL OF THIS GOING TO COME FROM?”
I found a website via Kemetic Orthodoxy that sells natron and kapet incense and bath oils/salts/something and everything. However, the products are entirely affiliated with the Kemetic Orthodox movement and this makes me leery. All descriptions say something about how the Nisut has blessed such-and-such a product or hand-crafted it herself and then blessed it. I bite my lip in temptation, but I also have to wonder if I should go ahead and seriously think about buying these things. I mean, after all, I am not a person of that specific faith and I hold no serious belief that the Nisut blessing is necessary for such things. I think most reconstructionists of my ilk would agree.
(Note: I’m not saying that the KO path is the wrong one or that I think it’s silly or anything. I just don’t hold with it, is all.)
I think I may have found a handy solution for a kar-shrine however. I was doing random searches for kar-shrines and happened to notice that the images of such were usually of cabinetry. So, I thought maybe I should get a TV armoire, like those you would find in a bedroom, for my shrine. However, after a serious problem with my son trying to play with my altar, I realized that I need to have the shrine out of his way so that he can’t open it. Voila! The idea hit me: How about a wall cabinet that like those found in bathrooms? And I think I found one. I want to paint it, although I don’t know if I should paint it in gold since it will be in my bedroom and, one day, my bedroom will be of an ancient Egyptian bend or if I should paint it blue and cover it in stars like images of Nut are shown…
So many ideas! And they are all so grandiose. I have big dreams, baby, but I don’t know how to see them come about.
I think the answer to kapet and natron is simply that I should make my own. I finally bought the loudly-touted book by Lise Manniche that everyone who is anyone in the KR path talks about. I had to buy a used copy because the re-produced current version is fifty dollars on its own. That just doesn’t fly with me because, if it only costs me twenty at a used price, that means that I can buy a few more books before I hit my magic mark! So, I bought a couple of other highly recommended books.
On that note, I should thank The Sister because it was her perseverance in buying her books that made me realize I need more for my personal edification. I knew that I needed the books, but I put it off for this and for that. I was thinking of big, personal changes when really, I should have been eyeballing her and realizing that, yes a new wardrobe would be nice, but really, I need to change the inside before the outside can follow suit. (And you know, diet again.)
So, personal learning comes before everything else.
And even though my ideas and thoughts on the whole thing are big and in-your-face and grandiose and I want to do them all RIGHT NOW. I realize that I have to wait. Everything takes time. My biggest sin is that I am greatly impatient. I will try to remember that impatience leads to many things and never any of it any good.
Mystical Bewilderment 
The funny thing is, I was looking at you and seeing all of the books YOU have read and was like, “I need to read more too!”
I like the idea of the cabinet especially with Rowan about. Have you thought about giving him his own altar that he can muck about with? It doesn’t need to be anything grandiose or anything, just a little plastic table and some child friendly stuff that he can use too. Maybe that will help him keep away from your stuff. It’s just a thought.
I wish I had boatloads of money too to buy everything that I need to have. But like you said, over the top just ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. That is okay. I would like to believe that the Gods look down on us and see that we are trying and that counts for a lot. After all, it is the thought and intent behind things that is really important.
Ha, ha, ha. We’re inspiring each other.
I think the cabinet is an excellent idea and I plan on buying one (seriously) next week. I think I should have enough money from my paycheck to buy it and still get everything else I need. I’ll have to look into it (or find one that I like for cheaper). I also plan on painting it but I still don’t know what to do with that. Thoughts?
I do plan on making Rowan an altar. I think I’m going to find a cheap table and throw that in his room. I’ll explain to him the reasoning behind the table and see what he decides to put on it. I also plan on getting him a little plastic bowl and cup so that he can have his own offerings on said table. We’ll see where this goes off to. It should be interesting!
The spirit of the law as opposed to the letter.
If you want to buy Kapet, you don’t have to support HoN.
http://www.alchemy-works.com/incense_index.html
It’s expensive but less so than making it, IMHO. Of course, most kyphi recipes end up giving you a ton of kyphi. That will save you money in the long run.
http://www.somaluna.com has good ingredients. I believe there is a good Kapet recipe in “eye of the Sun”.
Wow. That really is some expensive stuff. But you say that it’s more expensive to make it? I suppose that would be the case because of all the various ingredients needed… Hm. Thank you for the website. I have it book marked while I figure out exactly which road I wish to take.
I have Eye of the Sun now so I’ll look for it. Thanks.
About the painting thing, after looking at the one you want to buy, I think you would be better off with a white one. That will take the midnight blue much better, and for stars you can go to Michael’s and buy a paint stamp. Those work wonderfully.
You could also prime the dark coloured one, but that would be an awful lot of work.
I’m going to go with the dark one because she really liked the fact that it had a window that she could see out of. The only other one that would look even remotely all right on a similar vein is more expensive by ten dollars. I’ll look around though.
I spent about $30.00 when I made kapet. That might be a modest estimate. If you order each ingredient individually from an herbal or occult supplier, it adds up in a hurry.
I made Kapet over a year ago, though, and I still have more than half of it left. I consider it a good investment. Also, good quality incense doesn’t go bad. It actually improves with age, like wine. So, I’m not sure there’s such a thing as making “too much kapet”.
I’m looking various recipes that I have, from “Eye of the Sun”, “The Ancient Egyptian Prayerbook” and “Circle of Isis.” You will see that many of the ingredients are the same but the proportions are radically different. I have one that calls for no more or less than three (3) raisins. I have one that calls for three cups of ’em.
I think I used the recipe in “Circle of Isis”, but I added Asphalatus (red bush tea) and calamus (sweet flag). I must have added more liquid to compensate for the increase in dried ingredients. It smells heavenly. You’d think I would have had the good sense to write down my recipe. I tried to shape it into little cones so they could self-burn but it didn’t work. Too resinous. So, I use charcoal.
Charcoal is scary stuff if you drop it. That’s why I only burn kapet for “special occasions”, when I have a lot of time for ritual and minimal distractions. I use Shoyeido Japanese stick incense for simple daily rites.
Another good standby is plain ol’ frankincense. You can’t go wrong with it. You could also try olibanum, which is said to come from the tears of the eye of Heru (see Dimitri Meeks, “Daily life of the Egyptian Gods.”) I’ve been thinking of getting some and giving it a try.
http://www.alchemy-works.com/incense_olibanum.html
http://www.somaluna.com/category_frankincense.asp
Word of caution on Soma Luna: Those “Egyptian gods” blends of incenses are pretty crappy. They pretty much all smell like the same thing, which is general smoky “meh”. I’ve been very happy with everything else I have purchased from them SL.
Thank you so much. You are wonderful!
If the other one is more expensive then go for the cheaper one and just get primer for it. If it isn’t too big you won’t need a lot of it. It is just basically white paint anyway, you can pick that up at any paint store. You can also get the paint that has primer in it already, but I am sure that is going to be pricey.
She isn’t bothering me so much right now about it. So… it’s going to have to wait.