Wep Ronpet 2012.

This is the first year that I have actually celebrated a Kemetic event, in any way. This wasn’t because, in previous years, I didn’t want to but because I often felt like I was too far-reaching in my desires. I believe it was last year or the year before that I had large, innovative ideas about execrating Apep in the form of a cake. I never got on that. Things like that are too big and too much for a little solitary practitioner like me. I’m not saying that they’re not possible for anyone else, either solitary practitioner or otherwise, but for me, it was too much and much too soon. I think, too, another reason why I never bothered doing much more than, “Oh, hey. All of my Kemetic friends are celebrating X festival right now. That’s neat. I wish I was doing that, too,” was because I didn’t feel like their practices were my practices. I’ve gone on long rambles about everyone’s path being their own and I think the first step I needed to really own my practice was in making the calendar, and from there, I could move forward with practices like festivals and rites and rituals and just fun all around.

And so, here I am.

Celebrating Wep Ronpet was something I have been looking forward to since I pretty much discovered when it was for me. I still had grandiose ideas, but this time, I knew that I was overreaching with what I was looking into before I even began planning things. And occasionally, when it comes to pulling rites out of your butt, things work out much more smoothly. I hate to break that to anyone, but that’s usually how it works for me. If I plan big things, like I have in the past, things end up getting in the way and I end up in a depressed slump because nothing worked out the way that I wanted them to. I wasn’t going to allow myself to get in that place today. I had things to do; I had minor plans to enact; and besides, that’s pretty much the antithesis to the whole Wep Ronpet celebration.

Kissed the Sun.
My first mini-ritual was going out to greet the new day. I found the descriptor, “kiss the sun,” from WW Wiki and liked it. Now, I’ve done this on occasion, prior to this celebration, but it never had more meaning to me than it did yesterday.

I actually end up outside almost immediately every morning to let out my oldest dog who cannot hold her water past the second she knows that I am awake. However, this time, it was all about me. I stepped from my makeshift bed on the couch and went into the daylight in a matter of seconds. I stood beneath the rays and felt his touch upon my face. And truly, it felt as though he were stroking my face, kissing my brow. I could feel the warm energy of the strong, summertime sun upon my face. And I knew that I was doing things correctly at that moment in time. I knew that no matter what happened to me or to anything else during my little rituals and festivities… I just knew that in that one moment that I had spent with Re upon waking, I was doing things properly. Dua Re, indeed.

I will say this. On the WW Wiki, it does say that you should do this around sunrise. And this is something that I feel like I should address before I move on. The when doesn’t matter inasmuch as the intent behind the action. Sure. I bet Re would have been tickled pink to find me outside so early to watch the sun rise. And sure, I bet he would have really appreciated the effort I put into getting up early and all of that jazz. But, really, when the gods request or desire things from us or we desire or request things of ourselves to do on behalf of the gods, the thing that matters most is the fact that you have a good intent.

Crystal Grid.
This was actually something that I hadn’t planned on. I knew that I wanted to have a relaxing day, but that was pretty much the extent of non-ritually based ideas for my day. I started talking with a few fellow friends about crystals and whatnot. (I had dared K to post a picture of some of her rocks the other night to see if I could guess them – and no, I couldn’t.) It dawned on me that all of this chatter could be put to better use, in other words, I could actually create a grid and sit in it for a half hour or so. I knew that my intent was towards healing and a better outlook to the future, so I went to my meager collection and The Crystal Bible to see what would come up. I honestly wasn’t really sure what I wanted besides quartz points at the edges and moonstone along two of the sides. I also had a vague feeling that I should invite carnelian and tiger’s eye into the circle – both healing stones, but also two stones I associate with my lady.

The last stone I grabbed was the big blue lace agate in the front of my grid. I hung out there for a while and felt pain crawling from my shoulder blades up my neck. This is something I felt the last time I sat in a crystal grid, so I assumed it was either the posture I was adopting while sitting in the grid, or the moonstones/quartz were impacting me in some way since they were the only stones that were the same from my last grid. After a few talks with my friends about it, we’ve decided that I probably have unknown blockages, which lead to the pain and the headaches afterwards. I’ve been ordered to sit with hematite in the center of the pain to see how that works. I was also told, “It’s going to hurt; let it.” So, this should be a fun experiment to share with you guys in future!

Purifying Shower.
After all was said and done, I really wasn’t going to climb out of my pajamas all day. It wasn’t so much because I hate to shower and get dressed, though I do because it really is a lot of work with a four-year-old and your head always not shutting about shit you could be doing that’s not “selfish,” but because I wanted to relax. My mom has a new-ish thing that she does on Mondays, which is PJ Monday. She doesn’t get dressed. It’s her one day a week where she just lazes around and does whatever she wants, when she wants to. Albeit, I had rituals and things to do, I’ve never actually seen the point in doing the purification via showering and the wearing ritual clothing. But, I was hot. I was sweaty. And I was going to be sitting in the noon sun with my statues. It didn’t seem prudent to wear all black capri pants and a bulky black T-shirt while I got shit going.

I’m not usually a brand name whore about my bathing paraphernalia. I swear. Okay. Wait. Yeah, I am.

So, I stepped into the shower with the intention of it being a purifying shower. With each implement I picked up, I said to myself, “This item is an item of the gods and with it, I am purified.” I used this with my soap, with my shampoo, with the face cloth I used, with my face wash, when I brushed my teeth, when I put on deodorant, and when I cleaned out my ears with Q-tips. Everything I utilized was something that the gods had come down and created to make pure and to help purify me by using those items. At the end of this ritual, I said quite clearly, “I am pure. I am pure.” Now, to me, this entire ritual was a sort of practice of heka. I said it was so and therefore, according to heka, it was so. Afterwards, I put on a plain white, girly dress that made me feel decadent. White is a common color for purification and ritual clothing in ancient Egypt, so it just happened to work out magnificently.

Statues Recharge in the Sun.
I own two statues at the moment (and one day, I probably will own more). I knew that I wanted to give them a little recharge and I figured, well… They’re both Eyes of Re. And why wouldn’t the sun be an adequate recharge for the two of them? On top of recharging my ladies, I also figured I would bring the god-juju’d jewelry that they’ve been charging for me all week. I decided I would anoint them with my Egyptian Musk oil. Whenever I want to feel powerfully connected to my gods, I wear this oil. I also brought out a cone of frankincense and myrrh incense to light between them and let the breeze blow the smoke over the two of them.

Hetharu holds my birthstone ring while Sekhmet has my ankh necklace.

I anointed both statues at the third eye and the heart with my oil. Then, I set them down on my white towel, lit the cone of incense, and watched cheerfully as the thing burned down pretty quickly. I said no words. I made no comments. I merely watched as the sun did its work along with the incense cone as it blew smoke at first one statue and then the other. I also sat in the sun and allowed it to recharge my batteries, as well. It was a peaceful moment, with my son running back and forth across the yard, and just cheerful in the extreme. I felt as one with the gods and I felt as one with myself. I felt like everything had a purpose and that the upcoming year was truly going to be a good one. I felt like everything that I had been doing up to this point was leading me in the proper direction and I couldn’t help but think, with joy, at the upcoming festivals I hope to celebrate.

Execration Rites.
Before taking part in the only concrete planned ritual I had in mind for Wep Ronpet, I figured that on top of having the sun recharge my batteries, I also needed to go through a good, old-fashioned nap to recharge my batteries. My son and I rested and relaxed for a few hours. I knew I wanted to do the execration rites around sunset. I actually chose that time of day with symbolism in mind. While the sun was setting and ending its cycle, so too would I execrate the things that have held power over me in this last year and end their cycle.

I’m sorry, but I didn’t feel comfortable letting you-all see the names of the two people I execrated in this rite.

I know that a lot of people use red pots for their execration rites, but I can’t see myself breaking good pottery that I bought for the express purpose (although I bet I could find some things at the Good Will that would have been sufficient for this task). I ended up going with a piece of red construction paper that I bought for the express purpose of using it in the rite as seen in Eternal Egypt on page 178. The things that I execrated were laziness, uncertainty, letting people walk all over me, nit-picking, unhealthy eating habits, and a myriad of other personal traits that I could do without. I also execrated the ex-husband, the Void Boy, and Apep on my red piece of paper. I followed the rite in the book, to the letter. I said the words and I followed the instructions in said book, as well. That means that I stepped on the piece of paper with my left foot (way more than just four times, by the way), that I ripped their heads off with my scissors – and in the cases of the people in question, I actually cut them in half – and then set fire to the whole thing in my cauldron.

The intent of this ritual was so powerful, I feel, that the ashes were nearly gone by the time the fire went out.

I was not safety conscience here and I did not do this outside. Everything was done at my kitchen table. The reason being because the finale had a certain special addition to it, which meant I needed to be inside. Also, this was a private ceremony and there were people running around outside. I didn’t want to get into an explanation of what was going on, if the need arose. I chose a white tea light and lit it, placing it at the bottom of my little cauldron. I then took the pieces of red paper and slowly set them to burn. The ashes scattered a few times, but all in all, the thing burned hot and fast. I think, all said and done, the burning took about ten minutes. Let me just say this, that has never happened to me when I burn paper with spell work on them. I’m lucky if they burn, at all, much less with a white-hot magnificence. I was proud of myself and felt like everything was working in my favor. Afterwards, I did a certain special addition to the spell as recommended by Devo.

Cleansing.
To cleanse my home, I was supremely grateful for Devo’s awesome cleansing guide. I know the basics of how to do a spiritual cleanse of the home and I’ve done bits and pieces before. However, I really liked her commentary on layers, which I never thought to do before. So, I read it through a good six or seven times before deciding what I wanted to use to cleanse my house. I didn’t have a lot of what she recommended or felt comfortable enough with some of the items she recommended, but I did have a sage smudge stick, salt on Hekate’s altar, and Florida water. I chose Hekate’s salt for this particular fun rite because it’s been sitting on her altar for almost a full moon cycle now, so it was chock full of her awesomeness. I chose the smudge stick because I don’t have a lot of plain white sage left. And I went with Florida water to get my lwa buddies in on this as well.

H’s salt, my smudge, L’s Florida water.

I followed what Devo said down to the letter. The only deviations that I made were in regards to my front and back doors. I started at my back door, as it is the only entrance that is used to enter my home. I poured a shit ton of salt at the edge of the doorway, just outside, which I then covered with my doormat. Then, I went around my house and stopped at the front door, following the exact same motions as I did for the back door. When I came back around, I picked up the Florida water for my next round. I opened my front door and flicked FL water at the doormat in question before moving around my house. I was distinctly amused by my actions: I felt like a priest or something. All I needed was that water rattle thing they use to bless a house. And in effect, that was what I was doing. I went to every room and made sure to flick drops on furniture as well as walls and the floor. When I was finished with that round, I used my smudge stick, getting up and down and all around. I even smudged my two dogs who were lying around.

I will say this. I’ve rarely had good times with my smudge sticks. I’ve always had a hard time getting them to stay lit. Since I tend to use them for minor things, it doesn’t normally end up causing me issues, but I did worry it would go out in the middle of my cleansing run. NOT A PROBLEM. It remained lit up to about twenty minutes after the rite.

Basic Warding.
I have never, in my existence, warded my house. If you want to know why, the exact answer is because I’ve never thought of doing that before, much less figure out how to go about doing it. I was hoping that Devo would have put out her warding entry but she hasn’t yet. I think that was actually a good thing. I think, in part, it was the gods’ way of telling me that I can’t rely on others to get things going and that sometimes, I just have to teach myself what the hell it is I need to do. So, with this particular warding occasion, I chose my Egyptian musk oil from earlier and I went to every door and every window. I anointed each door and window with the image of the crook and flail, saying, “Good spirits in; bad spirits out.” It’s very basic but you know, I’m confident in this. I’m confident that things will be going smoother.

Hell, my whole house feels lighter somehow. Yeah, we still have the bug issues and whatnot, but you know… everything feels a lot lighter in here. And that, above all else, tells me that I did very good with my celebrations this year.