Shezep's Perch

Pray For It.

Invoke it.

Harness The Power Of Love.

Sandstone stela to the the god Osiris.

Photo by Kenneth Garrett 

This stela depicts the tomb/coffin of Osiris with a willow tree growing on top of it. 

Kemetic Lenormand Card (2) Clover

Bes was an instant fit with The Clover card! 

 Luck, Lightheartedness, Small Happinesses, Opportunity, Being Untroubled, Comedy 

Did you know Bes is a patron of children? It was said that if a baby smiled and laughed for no reason or without prompting, it was Bes making faces at them. Though He may not have the same popularity today as He did in antiquity, He’s not one to overlook.

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PATREON

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ETSY

Senebty,

Iseqi

Daughter of Amun-ra and Set

Researching Kyphi ingredients of the time is a wonderful puzzle, that will at times lead to informative details: the ancients associated minerals, resins and plants to the divine sphere - not only frankincense and myrrh, but also coniferous resins, which were considered to originate in the blood of Geb (Papyrus Salt 825 II).

Lebanon cedars jump immediately to mind, because their wood is so present in ancient objects, because their oil was important in funerary context - although taking a closer look at the way in which they did associate products, the species of a tree or the botanical origin of a resin are usually secondary in importance. The primary way of sorting them in a theological way corresponds to trees with similar attributes and resins that behave/smell in a similar way. This is the reason for the use of few names concerning incense (nenib, ‘ntw, sntr) - they are group names for products with shared properties, although different ones from each other in the detail.

Thus, not only cedar can be meant, but also resins from pine trees, spruce trees or fir trees - they fall under the category of ‘ntw and appear in the Edfu temple list of resins described as being of a similar red like Asian lands, of soft consistence and appealing scent. When pressing a pouch full of it one quarter will flow out.

So I decided to check. I had during the summer access to a spruce tree that exuded enough resin for me to harvest it. I harvested liquid resin and some that had already solidified a bit on its cones.  The liquid resin took weeks to reach enough solidity to be scraped off and added to the drier one. It was a mess of a sticky job which I would not repeat anytime soon.

I hoped it would dry in the same way frankincense and myrrh dry and waited for 2 months.

Well, all the resin is now dry enough to handle it, but the bigger chunks are still very soft. Even the small droplets can still be squished a bit. So I put them into a glass pot, closed it and thought I had the perfect storage.

Well - no. The next day sticky and very soft contents greeted me. I had to take it out and place it again on the earthernware dishes I had used for drying. A few days later it was “solid” again. So now I will store it in an porous earthernware open jar as I will with all further fresh resins I may harvest.

Odd God Squad - Sopedu 

Sobek: what do you have.

me: ....starts eating faster

Sobek:

The Heliopolis Obelisk, 1878 

The oldest standing ancient Egyptian obelisk in existence, this example dates from the reign of the 12th Dynasty king Senusret I, who ruled from 1971 to 1926 BC. It was one of a pair erected to commemorate the Heb Sed (30th Jubilee) of Senusret I.

Diadem of Princess Sithathoriunet

The diadem was made to be worn above the princess wig. It is made from gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian and glass paste. Princess Sithathoriunet was daughter of Senusret II. This diadem was discovered in the Tomb of Sithathoriunet, Funerary Complex of Senusret II at El-Lahun.