2003 NOTE: Kemetic Orthodoxy is a living religion, and the definitions of terms and practices mentioned in this document and their applications in our faith may have changed or evolved since this document's original writing in 1999. Please refer to more recent documents for clarification on any information that is unclear. This letter will be updated to reflect changes in our practice as soon as possible.

We are in the midst of celebrating the Mysteries of Wesir, the annual remembrance of Wesir's death and ascent as the Lord of the Dead. Still, this feast in honor of the Foremost of Westerners is not a celebration of death itself; Wesir's nature is not stagnancy, but a subtle, quiet strength rooted in growth, in life itself.

The dead are placed in the ground. Inundation comes, the rains kiss the rich Nile soil, and soon enough, new life is poking up from the earth: fresh shoots, bearing food to sustain the lives of those that live above ground, until the time when they, too, shall rejoin the earth.

What is often mistaken by an outsider to be a sense of morbidity or a preoccupation with death is actually the Kemetic eye towards process: there are no real beginnings or endings, only significant occasions or moments of dramatic change. Life, and death, are parts of a natural cycle.

To honor Wesir and His own transformation, His passage into death, is to acknowledge the importance of process: to recognize that we, too, are a part of the cycle, and that we will in time find ourselves to be citizens of His kingdom. It isn't a question of eagerness, or celebration, but rather simple acknowledgement of who we are, and the place we occupy in the universe. It is an acknowledgement of cycles.

One could regard the life cycle of the Kemetic faith in much the same manner; once vibrant and alive, it spent the last few millennia undergoing quiet change. It wasn't dead, any more than a seed planted under the earth, transforming beneath the attentions of soil and water and sun is dead. In time, fresh shoots rise up again, not so much a new life but a continuation, a transformation, of the old.

As I write this, the Nisut (AUS) and Her entourage are on their way to South Africa, to participate in the 1999 Parliament of World Religions. She will be making a presentation, to share our faith with the world, and they will make new acquaintances (and renew old ones) in the global religious community. This is acknowledgment of process, in its own way: a formal milestone on a journey of reconstruction and revival that began so many years ago.

I offer thanks to those who are celebrating this hallmark with us: those who were with us from the start, and those who joined the movement along the way, adding their numbers and their voices, their spirits, to the cause. And I offer thanks to the Akhu, who make the road safe and clear for us, and of course to Netjer, without Whom this would all be a fleeting dream. There is a long, long journey ahead, with much to be done and overcome, but we have shown that together, there is nothing that cannot be achieved. This is our process.

Rev. Craig Schaefer
Kai-Imakhu Antybast ("Bast's Claw(s)")