An Acknowledgement of African Origin in Kemetic Practice

 

The author of Kemetic Blog acknowledges and respects the African ancestral origin of ancient Egypt, and recognises the practice of Kemetic paganism as a modern reflection of Traditional African Religion.

The above acknowledgement of African origin is inspired by Australia’s Acknowledgement of Country which honours Aboriginal Australians as the traditional owners of the land upon which all Australians live, work and learn. We declare this acknowledgement at the commencement of important events in Australia as a show of respect. It’s also displayed by universities and government agencies to role model a conscientious and inclusive society. While we cannot change the past, nor change the historical injustices which have occurred, such as the stolen generations, it can change the present and future by creating a safe space to prevent further injustices from ever happening again.

After a great deal of personal reflection and receiving reader input across a diverse range of perspectives on Kemetic practice, I’ve come to the conclusion that we need a similar statement, and a similar safe space in the Kemetic community. We need to create a space which honours the Africanness of ancient Egyptian religion, including the modern Kemetic movement. The deities — or netjeru — we work with, the philosophy — or Ma’at — we follow and the magic — or heka — we believe in, are all of African origin.

The circumstances that led me to write the post, Addressing Hate Mail at Kemetic Blog were a wake-up call that took me some time to process. I had to look beyond the fact that I was attacked; to look beyond my own individual perspective and put myself as best I could, in the shoes of ‘the other’. I cannot change the past. I cannot right the historical wrongs of my ancestors. What I can do, is accept a personal responsibility for doing no further harm in the present and future. Ways to achieve this include voluntarily deprivileging myself wherever inequality exists, and acknowledging the African origin of the faith I practice.

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