hermopolitan reconstruction

though some may be more accustomed to the term "ennead" only being applied to the heliopolitan Great Ennead, the term itself is only a greek translation of psḏt, a word meaning "nine" or "nineness". the idea of plurality in the written egyptian language was represented with 3 of something (in this case, 3 nṯr signs, 𓊹𓊹𓊹), and so the "nineness" can be broken down into 3 groups of 3, indicating a triple-plurality, or a plurality of pluralities. it may very well stand in for the concept of an uncountable number. because of all this, in my opinion, an "ennead" or indeed a "pesdjet" can refer to any plurality or family of Netjeru. my own ennead starts with a triad. while there are no historical attestations of a great triad in hermopolis, i have developed my own through personal interpretations and finding the Netjeru i connect with best. my own triad consists of Nebt-hut (frequently in Her name of Seshat), Djehuty, and Hathor-Nehmetawai (occasionally in Her name of Unut). beyond this, i include Suty for His often positive connection to Nebt-hut and so that He plays a role as Geb-Suty in the Distant Goddess myth; i also include Renenutet for reasons mostly unrelated to primary sources.

while i do not maintain a reciprocal practice with the Ogdoad of hermopolis, i do honour Them as the primordial forces of the pre-creation. the exact membership of the Ogdoad fluctuated overtime, but unlike an ennead, there are always eight of Them, in four pairs of masculine and feminine. we know certain things about Them, such as that Amun and Amunet were early members, that the lunisolar God Shepsy seems to be either their father or son, and that Nehmetawai has a special relationship with Them, particularly with Naunet.

padiusir ankhefenkhons, known in greek as petosiris, high priest of Djehuty after the persian invasion in the third intermediate period, is someone i consider an especially important ancestor. so much of what i do, and indeed some of what many non-hermopolitan kemetics do, is informed by his example. the man's tomb contains a rich autobiography of his deeds in restoring hermopolitan temples, making special mention of Nehmetawai among other Netjeru. the text in translation can be found in volume 3 of miriam lichtheim's ancient egyptian literature. "In a stark illustration of the collapse of traditional Egyptian kingship, Padiusir even carried out a temple foundation ceremony usually reserved for the pharaoh: 'I stretched the cord, released the line, to found the temple of Ra in the park.'" (p. 247, lives of the ancient egyptians, toby wilkinson) padiusir proves many things to me. we need not make a king to perform the ancient rites when we can rely on each other to share and democratize the sacred duties. he also provided me with the first mention of Nehmetawai i ever came across, and inspired me to revive Her worship, just as he rebuilt Her temple all those centuries ago. he is my saint of hermopolis, so to speak.

in mythological structures and interpretative techniques in the tebtunis mythological manual, the manual of the delta and related texts, written by jens blach jørgensen, i've found deeply valuable cross-analysis of the tebtunis mythological manual and other pieces of myth from around egypt. it contains some transliterated and translated sections of text which i have not been able to find elsewhere. i find this paper to be an essential document for hermopolitan reconstruction. as for the contents of the tebtunis mythological manual, it is there that a localized version of the Distant Goddess myth involving Nehmetawai is recorded. in taking Nehmetawai as a member of my triad, i have adapted this specific variant of that myth.

in the top register of the stela of neferrenpet and huyneferet, Iah-Djehuty sits in the barque of millions of years, bearing a lunar disc. a baboon, also identified as Djehuty, offers Him an Eye of Horus. it's a very simple looking scene at a glance, merely part of a penitentiary and funerary stela, but the theological implications are, to me, significant. beginning with the Eye of Horus, we know that in ritual, offerings are metaphorically-euphemistically referred to as Eyes of Horus, gifts of reciprocity to heal and sustain the kas of the Netjeru. depicting Djehuty, high priest of the Netjeru, making an offering of the sacred Eye, is no unusual thing. what sticks out to me is that He offers it to Himself in another form. as one sees in richard reidy's many variations on the utterance for offering Ma'at, Djehuty is the one Who the priest represents in this part of a ritual, operating in His Name in a minor sort of transformation. while reidy changes Djehuty to Amun-Ra in the offering of Ma'at portion of his Djehuty ritual in everlasting egypt, i believe this was not a necessary change. Djehuty offers to Himself in a stela, so i believe that a priest taking Djehuty's Name ought to be able to offer to Djehuty in the same way.