Subtle Vengeance

Hey hey, internet. I’m blogging again because more than zero people want me to.

I will be using this site as a medium for uncensored expression. If you don’t like what I say, feel free to discuss it civilly in the comments or drop me an email at jreinsch@gmail.com and I’ll be sure to tell you what I think of you.

If you feel a burning desire to tell me my comic sucks, or that because I worship Sekhmet instead of Yahweh I’m going to hell, or that 9/11 was an inside job, then you can fuck right off. We don’t take kindly to your type round here. If you feel a burning sensation, please consult your doctor.

1. Tozetre says:

   December 8, 2009 at 21:37

   Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

   Though, in point of fact, worshipping Sekhmet instead of Yahweh _does_ mean you’re going to hell. Doesn’t Sekhment want you to rip out all your organs and stuff them in jars to get into her heaven, though? I mean, it seems like you’re sort of over the whole Judeo-Christian heaven/hell thing when you start talking about pickling bits of yourself postmortem.
2. James says:

   December 8, 2009 at 22:17

   I respect your right to your opinion because you are my friend. *twitch*
   I do plan to do a post or three about my Kemetic beliefs, which ancient ones I adhere to and which I believe are contextually inappropriate to me as a member of today’s western society.
   Actually, the Kemetic after-death process involves confessing to and releasing all the wrongs of your life, in order to pass into the presence of the Netjer… or something like that. I need to get a good copy of the Book of the Dead. (faulkner translation is best, if i recall)
   As for organs, only the very rich did full mummification to preserve the form that way. The commoners would bury them in sand or salt to dessicate the corpse. The belief was that the form had to recognize the spirit, and if a corpse was desacrated, the spirit would be likewise effected – sorta like the ghosts in beetlejuice with the tire tracks or severed heads.
   Thing is, the people of Kemet didn’t know much about the functions of internal organs; they thought for instance that the brain was just a water-storage device for a long time. So obviously these beliefs don’t hold up perfectly to modern context.
   Yeah. This is getting long. Blog post in future on this Also I’ll be posting at some point about Sekhmet and what her mythology, and what lessons and morals it holds for me.
   Also, funny pictures and rants about work!
3. Tozetre says:

   December 10, 2009 at 07:58

   Hm, I had no idea that was the purpose of mummification, though it does make perfect sense in context. So how does modern understanding of Kemetic mummification impact its understanding of that process’ value for the afterlife? Would they prefer a modern freeze-dry or taxidermic method?
4. James says:

   December 10, 2009 at 14:21

   Well, the process of mummification is alive and well – and expensive. There is info online.
   As for the kemetic view of it… time to talk out my ass! I haven’t talked to anyone else (i’ll put that on my to-do list). I imagine the kemetic orthodox people would be big on preserving the corpse by mummification or embalming. Since the idea is to preserve the outward form, I personally see nothing wrong with embalming, unless you’re a hardcore reconstructionist. Reconstructionists of any Pagan tradition are usually sticklers for detail. However, for the solitaries, eclectics, kemetic wiccans, and the like, it’s really up to the individual. modern schools of pagan thought place less value on the body and more on the spirit itself. so you might have a death rite you’d want performed over your intact body to send your spirit on its way to the trials, but after that it’s really just an empty vessel.
   I plan to be cremated, and dumped in an ocean or major river. If I’m rich when I die, maybe I’ll have myself dumped in the Nile, or surreptitiously scattered upwind of Amonhotep III’s gigantic temple. *shrug* that’s something to think about.
5. Tozetre says:

   December 11, 2009 at 07:26

   Did the Egyptians have the same gnostic/Manichaean/dualistic body/soul view that we do in the modern age? We see a distinct separation between body and soul- to the extent that many people (incorrectly) think the Christian heaven is a purely spiritual existence, leaving behind the material body, and viewing it as corrupt or unredeemable. It’s quite contrary to the premodern views expressed in the scriptures themselves. So what about the Egyptians? If the state of the body was a big deal to them, presumably they didn’t have quite the same body/soul ontology that we do today.
6. James says:

   December 11, 2009 at 20:17

   I need to do further study / ask around to get the historical definites on this. I suspect, based on the “marring the body marrs the spirit” thing, that they believed the body was very important to the afterlife. Also, their pharaohs were buried with riches and pets and servants and shit so yeah, pretty sure they believed you could take it all with you
   and of course their tombs stayed sealed to reliably that who was to say otherwise?
7. James says:

   January 4, 2010 at 21:13

   I asked someone who I trust to be knowing things! Response below:

   “basically most people no longer belief that mummification is necessary for survival in the afterlife. In fact, although it was important, even in ancient times it was not seen as the sole way to live eternally. Statues, paintings, your name, and more were all seen as ways one could live on. One scribe wrote..
   “A man is perished, his corpse is dust, all his contemporaries have gone to dust; but it is writing which causes him to be remembered in the mouth of him who utters (the prayers for the dead). More beneficial is writing than the house of a builder, or tombs in the west. It is better than an established castle, or a stela in the temple.”

   Only the more wealthy could afford to be formally mummified, given a proper tomb, a copy of any necessary funerary texts – but it seems that many people of all classes hoped and prepared for eternal life in various ways (especially evident after the old kingdom, but there are some examples before then).

   The Egyptians really had tons of ways to cover all their bases when it came to being sure they lived eternally. In these days we seem to have even more options, for those who find it necessary (photographs, etc). It doesn’t seem to be something many recons seem to worry much about these days, and I know several who do wish to be cremated.
   Personally, I certainly would not turn down mummification with a pyramid and statues and all the good stuff – but it is rather unlikely. Wink”