kemetic rituals would often set the scene like this. it establishes the ritual in mythic time and provides some insurance by magically, authoritatively stating that it works and comes from a reliable source. in this case, that's me. i've been doing this near-daily for three months at time of writing, despite being a spoonie and having gone through some pretty challenging life changes in that time. i'm pretty happy with it, and my gods seem pretty happy with it. i hope that speaks to its efficacy.

mezekh is the middle egyptian word for crocodile. it's a personal form of a ritual name that was gifted to me by my patrons, Sobek and Set, the Two Crocodiles Who are mentioned in the rubric. the Vagabond Sun is an epithet of the unrecorded spirit of Whom i am an emanation. using my ritual name and associating myself with these powerful beings is just another way of emphasizing the ritual's potency.

the ka is one of the parts of the soul in kemetic thought. it's sometimes personified and treated as a semi-separate entity like a higher self, guardian angel or daemon. consulting your ka for advice is a commonly employed trope in kemetic fiction and magical texts both.

all of these are strictly speaking optional. i got by without any sort of icon for years. i've spent a lot of time in places where i couldn't burn candles or incense. i've always had reliable access to clean drinking water, but you might not. that's fine. options for alternatives can be found in the individual steps using the items, or you can eliminate any that are really giving you grief.

i do strongly encourage an icon or other ritual focus, even if it's just a napkin doodle of your gods or a mysterious rock that makes you feel some kinda way. i have a permanent shrine with statues of my patrons where i do this because i wrote this ritual for Them in the first place. however, i've done it for other entities and used playdoh figurines, keychain charms, and drawings as focii. the setup is pretty flexible.

each of the four other things has ritual significance, and the fact that there are four things (asides from the focus) is also significant. four is the number of completion and stability in kemetic practise, and while i didn't intend this, this list also gives you a representation of the four classical elements. but the effectiveness of the ritual doesn't depend on them all being there.

henu is a specific praise posture in kemeticism. it's the kneeling, raised arms thing you think of when i say the phrase "we're not worthy!". realistically, this is not comfortable for many of us. i raise my arms, but i usually do this whole ritual either sitting on a zafu (a type of cushion used for zen meditation) or my regular ass desk chair. please do make whatever adjustments you need for your mobility, up to and including not doing anything at all. you can also use other postures if henu doesn't feel right for you conceptually. i have performed this ritual for kami, in which case i've done the series of bows and claps typical of shinto.

when it says to center and clear your mind, do your best and no more. if you can just consciously acknowledge that you're moving into ritual space now for a second, that's great. if your mind is racing, you're dissociating, and you keep getting distracted, so be it. it's like that for me many days too. your spirits are just glad that you're here.

open flames and things which produce smoke can be troublesome for a lot of people for a lot of reasons. alternatives include LED candles, small lamps, and having a candle but just not lighting it. actually producing light is preferred, because this is supposed to be evocative of sunrise, or the moment where kemetic priests of old would open the doors to the god's shrine and let the morning light in.

Zep Tepi is kemetic mythology's mythical First Time, which happened at the beginning of creation, but is also happening any time anything new begins, which is always. Ra is the god of the sun Who commands it like a boat, sailing across the sky by day and through the underworld at night. if you saw the sun rise, you knew He had successfully fended off the agents of evil for another day, and that creation could begin anew. these two concepts are very important to me. they're a reminder: you made it another 24 hours. as long as you keep doing that, you've got a chance to make things better than they were before. may you experience many more beautiful sunrises, reader, in the form of this ritual or otherwise.

before anything existed, there was only the primordial ocean, the Nun. i think this is one of the only things kemetic creation myths all agree on. this undifferentiated chaos is the creative potential that all the things of the world arise from. water is essential to life in a very material way too - you probably knew that. and this knowledge was even more acutely felt in a desert nation. for this reason, i believe water to be the single best offering you can give. it's quintessential.

in my heart i feel that the water should be potable even if you're not drinking it, for the above magic-symbolic reasons. i am saying this, though, from the perspective of someone who has never had to worry about what comes out of the faucet. having to buy clean water or filter it in preparation for this may make it substantially less easy and convenient for you. it's outside of my area of expertise to advise on this, so use your best judgement if that's your situation.

natron is a sodium compound that was harvested from dry lake beds in antiquity. it was used in ritual purification, and also regular cleaning, because those were basically the same thing. it makes an effective basis for homemade laundry soap even today. it's also like, just a kind of salt. it's not difficult to make but it is time consuming, so if you're not a super dedicated kemetic, regular old salt will do. i specify rock salt because the presence of microplastics is a real concern with sea salt these days. this is one of the few things i will explicitly proscribe: don't use sea salt.

Ma'at is a kemetic philosophical concept that is variously translated into english as justice, truth, and balance. Ma'at can also be personified as a goddess. i have... an idiosyncratic interpretation of Ma'at compared to some kemetics, but we all agree that it's a good thing to want. the gods were said to live on it as well as or instead of food.

the gods of kemet were said to have very distinct and pleasing scents. if you smelled incense out of nowhere, it was a sign They could be nearby. so, if you light incense, you're deliberately invoking them. it might sound odd to offer the gods something which came from Their own bodies, but... that's everything at the end of the day, isn't it? besides, They are stated to enjoy it too.

incense can be problematic for many of the same reasons candles are. if smoke is a concern: japanese incense brands which use bamboo cores produce none or very little, and nippon kodo in particular is cheap as chips. if it's still out of the question, things that produce pleasing scents like perfume, flowers, or even coffee and baked goods are also appropriate.

this part was inspired after i read thich nhat hanh's the energy of prayer, and lifts a little bit of the wording from his visualization gatha. his opinions on the purpose and efficacy of prayer are, obviously, very informed by the buddhist doctrine of nonduality. i don't relate to that the same way he does, but the idea that in propriating your gods you're propriating yourself, and that there is no distance between you and the object of your prayer, felt like they pointed to some mysterious truth i was grappling with at the time.

this bit assumes a parent/child and creator/creature dynamic that is reflective of my relationship with my gods but maybe not of yours. i can forsee this being the bit that most people feel the need to adapt for various reasons.

that's a little vague, isn't it? this is free time. i do something different here every day. here are some options:

• offerings - ephemeral things like food, flowers and alcohol go here. food offerings are 'reverted' in kemeticism - you eat the things you give to the gods once they've had their fill. this is unthinkable in some other traditions! reader, you dispose of it however and whenever seems right to you.
• prayer - under this category i count requests for intercession, thanksgiving and praise, and also just talking about your hopes, worries and plans. i usually do my daily prayer elsewhere, but sometimes i want something specific from a specific guy.
• hymns, poetry and prose - i have a handful of prayer books from different traditions and a couple of poetry collections. i have a lot of them earmarked by theme and will choose some according to how i'm feeling, what energy i want to bring to the day, or what the weather's like outside. eventually this site will have a compliation that you can use too.
• divination and spells - this is a nice little clear space to work some magic. it can be extra helpful if the entities you're venerating are involved in your workings.
• meditation - a lot of spiritual sorts like to throw the word around like it means anything on its own. there are lots of different types, and for now you'll need to do your own research to find a good fit if you're interested. for me, it's classic zazen - "just sitting" meditation with a side of breathwork.
• yoga, exercise or dance - all of this can be very spiritual, and many entities delight in these things being dedicated to them. sometimes, this is just a spot for me to get my perscribed physiotherapy exercises in, but looking after yourself is heka too.
• personal organization - sometimes this is the only place i can find the focus to check my calendar and write my to do lists. my gods don't mind.
• holiday observations - i may do some or all of the above to the theme of a sabbat, feast day or other spiritual observance of the day. if i can, i like to give the holidays their own dedicated ritual, but sometimes that's a big if.

and finally, you can do nothing at all. sometimes you just don't have the time or energy to make it a whole thing! that's fine. the address and the following closing speech are designed to sound fine read one after the other, as if they were one invocation.

this part is loosely adapted from the basic ritual in the Sekhmet's Servent Daily Devotional. right now it's kind of in here because i felt like it Needed a closing part, but i don't think it's locked in yet. this page might change when i think of something that feels more right.

'removing the foot' is the ritual method of leaving the shrine. in ancient kemet, it meant that the priest would walk backwards out of the room, because they didn't want to turn their back on the gods. this is quite inconvenient for many people, so modern kemetics make do with stepping in place four times - four being the number of completion.