We have come into the part of the Kemetic spiritual year where there are not a great deal of festivals being held, but instead, we are encouraged to work - it is the end of Peret (Emergence) and the beginning of Shomu (Harvest), the seasons when the ancients would have been hard at work gathering up the last of the harvest before the dry season set in, and buckling down for the first month of Akhet (Inundation) with its major festivals and events following each other, to the point of several a day for a number of weeks. Now are the days when we're not thinking so much about play but about work, about our goals for this year and whether or not we met them, and about what we intend to put forth as our harvest next year. It is a serious time.

This past weekend, a number of House members and friends got together for dinner to celebrate shared successes, an upcoming wedding, career and academic changes, and other milestone events. Before dinner we were sitting around the living room talking about what we're doing, where we're going and other such things. I had commented that this week I had been having trouble coming up with a compelling topic for the Wehem column, and one of the members promptly handed me one in two words:

"Why Egypt?"

Why indeed? Why ARE we doing this? The question has certainly crossed my mind, and I'm certain it has crossed the minds of the 50 or so persons across five continents that call this House home, and those who are currently contemplating joining us as well. Why Egypt? Why now? Why this way? I could be rhetorical and answer my own question with another question:

"Why not?"

Of course, that is the only answer I can give - but at the same time it appears shallow, so I do need to explain. While I cannot speak for any other House members, I can say that at least for me, Egypt has always been a part of my life. From my earliest memories I was fascinated with two things: astronomy and Egypt. Being born on the day (well, 13 minutes prior) that humans first walked on the moon has had a tremendous impact on my life - while obviously I am not able to remember the event, through my family I have heard numerous stories, all intertwined. Nobody speaks of the day of my birth without mentioning Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, and the Eagle That Landed. I spent my childhood examining the moon and stars, thinking about space, and thinking about earth as a part of that space. I thought big. Egypt came up fairly often in my reading about astronomy as well - the ancients had also been lovers of Nut's starry underside, and had spent countless decades recording, reporting, and investigating that same heaven under which we all find ourselves. I soaked up Egypt right alongside the Big Bang, solar systems, and galaxies. As I grew older, I never lost interest in the starry sky, but my love for Egypt grew larger - maybe because at heart I am people-oriented rather than abstract mathematics-oriented - and so now I focus on the astronomers, not the astronomy.

At some point while I was studying Egypt, simply for my own interest and enjoyment, I decided to learn to read her language. It takes time - four to seven years, if one of my professors' estimates is to be believed - and eventually, the strange but beautiful pictures started telling me a story, as did the books upon books of English translations I found. What I found was beautiful beyond words. I was interested in all of it: history, geography, poetry, philosophy, science - and the religion, which surprised me by being both more profound and as simple as I had thought it would be. It took until college for me to get up the courage to say, "if this worked for these obviously intelligent people, for this many thousand years, why wouldn't it work now?" It was as if Djehuty had dropped His pen on the desk in front of me and written in huge block letters the last words my grandfather (may he shine in Nut's heaven as an imperishable star forever) spoke to me before he departed for the Beautiful West: "So, Tam, what are you going to do with your life?"

Whether or not that was my own thought or the will of Netjer is irrelevant, but it leads us to where we are now. The religion is valid, and the success of Kemetic Orthodoxy proves it. We have been welcomed and accepted by clergy in other faiths, we are joining them to work toward the goals of respect, brotherhood and love that all humans share, and while the work is far from done, what is being done is good and grows. Our kas, and the kas of Netjer Itself, are fed by this work, just like the harvest in ancient Egypt fed everyone, year after year.

Why not Egypt? Or why not anything else? Religion is in the eye of the beholder. This beholder happens to see in hieroglyphs. That's great. So now what am I going to do with my life?

I think I'm going to get back to work....