The African Origin of Christmas & Seshat

7 Days Before The New Year (Christmas Eve) in Africa & Seshat and the Origin of Christmas Celebrations
Every year 7 days before the New Year the Ancient Egyptians would pay homage to the goddess of the tree of life (paut neteru­ ­), Seshat. These 7 days would culminate with a great festival on the New Year.

There would be theatrical reenactments such as the script written in what was published as The Book of Thoth, The Opening of the Mouth Ceremony, and the Stretching of the Cord Ceremony. Theatrical reenactments were accompanied by music, food, and just a general festive atmosphere. The celebratory day was preceded by gift giving. It is the origin of these rituals that interest me in their connection with Seshat.
There are two themes I will explore in this blog that I found striking connecting Seshat to the rituals still practiced today:

1. Ancient rituals (Old Kingdom) associated with current holidays (holy days): There are obvious connections with the Bible and Jesus published thousands of years after the origin of these ceremonies, festivals, and books. The Book of Thoth has script that is also found in the Holy Bible. The integration of these concepts in theater through plays were central both in ancient Egypt and in Germany, where the Christmas tree tradition was first recognized by Europeans. 
2. Linguistic, architectural, and artistic similarities: The symbol for Seshat has been correlated in ancient times among the Hebrew as parallel with the symbol used for Jesus as evidenced in this Urn.

The goddess of the New Year was Seshat, the goddess and the symbolism in which her figure embodied is so old she was nameless for millenniums that followed. The priest were not to utter her name. To know her name and to be able to call her name was of great significance. To call her name at the hour of the New Year, which was tied to astronomy, was said to be the most powerful time to do so, because a portal was to be open at that moment where the voice could be "heard" so to speak. This Hr of the start of the NY was marked by great celebration among the Egyptians, as we do today with the drop of the apple in NY, another symbol of education and wisdom. The first of Thouth/Thuthi/Thoth, 9/11, was a name attributed to this day in later Dynasties. However the New Years Festival predates Djehudi, it predates the 4th Dynasty of Ra, and is mentioned in text prior to the 1st Dynasty. It is associated with the heliacal rising of Sirius (Sopdet/Sothis) and Pleiades prominence in the sky. This season was also dedicated to Hapi/Hapy/Happy

Seshat means "she who scrivens", meaning the women who writes, the author. Among the early literate she was identified as the original author. What her symbol embodied was the beginning of hieroglyphic writing, the knowledge contained in those books and taught in the schools of ancient Egypt to scholars. With subjects ranging, but intricately connected, to Astronomy, Alchemy, Chemistry, Architecture, Herbology, Medicine (Farmacopia), and Anatomy. 

1. The architecture included site selection and orientation, which later became ritualized into the Stretching of the Cord Ceremony and reenacted at the New Years festival. This is the same ceremony found in the Book of Solomon. Solomon (reigned c.970-c.930 BCE) was very learned from the books of Seshat. In the Testament of Solomon (700-300 AD) he was called upon by the Hebrew to help construct the First Temple of Jerusalem. The science of Seshat embued in architecture legitimized the churches because its orientations were directed by her knowledge and tools for its astrological proper alignment. Seshat was the great architect among the ancient Egyptians. The "sanctuary contained the seven branched candlestick, the table of showbread and the Incense Altar." and "an Ezrat Nashim (Women's Court) to the east and main area to the west". The table of shewbread or table of Presence was made of acacia wood overlaid in pure gold. I may try this for my holiday party for the 12 days of Christmas as we come into the New Year of 2012. Maybe with a pyramid shaped meat filled sambusas.

Symbols of the Christmas Tree

Nhaha (flail) & Heka (Crook)

Candy Cane from my tree 2011

This month at a Christmas party I talked about my coming book on Seshat and showed the picture at the top of this blog to my friends and family. I had already noticed similarities between the dates of Christmas, the Christmas Tree, and Seshat, who was also correlated with Christ in early Hebrew artifacts that have been found. But when I walked by my Christmas tree it all began to come together clearer. The first thing I noticed was the candy cane hanging on the tree. The Crook, Crozier or Heka, is symbolic of the shepherd among the Egyptians and others of African culture as is the candy cane among early Americans. The Crooks in the above photos are striped. The popular colors of Christmas are also represented in the red, white, green, and gold of the ancient Egyptian art.

Angel Tree Topper holding Stars

I will write more in another blog about the Tree of Knowledge and the apple of the Bible and how it relates to Seshat. However, the topper of the evergreen tree of life is undeniably related not just to Egypt but to Seshat herself. At the top of most Christmas trees you will find an Angel, not a Shepherd or anything else, but a Women or a Star as shown atop Seshat's head as her tool and symbol which was said to connect constellations, such as Orion and Sirius, to determine the proper alignment for the foundation of the temples. The heliacal rising of Sirius marked the New Year. Recordings were to be done on the everlasting papyrus/paper which transcended time and imparted the knowledge and science of early writers for us to view today, 7,000 years later. The people of ancient KMT gave gifts each year beginning 7 days before the New Year.

Portal of the House of the Blackheads

One link to all this is the Brotherhood of the Blackhead, founded as a military organization. Members included foreign (to Estonia & Latvia) ship owners, merchants, goldsmiths, chemist, scholars, and school teachers...(sound familiar?). According to Wiki:

 Patron saint of the 

Brotherhood of Blackheads,

 Moorish Saint Mauritius.

(indigenous African in full armour, 

bearing a standard and a palm; 

knight in armour with a 

red cross on his breast, 

which is the badge of the

 Sardinian Order of Saint Maurice) 

born 3rd century. Thebes, Egypt.

in the Cathedral of Madgeburn, 

1250 A.D. Germany

(oldest Gothic cathedral

 in Germany (9/21/937)

"Blackheads commit themselves to decorating and lighting the altar of St. Mary"....Twice a year the Brotherhood celebrated major holidays: at the end of the navigation season during between December 24 and January 10 Christmas and New Year, and from Easter to the beginning of the navigation season. Both celebrations commenced with an official session where organizational matters were settled, and continued with feasts, dancing, and festivities that sometimes included the whole town. The custom of erecting a Christmas Tree can be historically traced to such activities in the 15th and 16th centuries. According to the first documented uses of a Christmas tree in Estonia, in 1441, 1442, and 1514 the Brotherhood erected a tree for the holidays in their brotherhood house in Tallinn. At the last night of the celebrations leading up to the holidays, the tree was taken to the Town Hall Square where the members of the brotherhood danced around it.[4] In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square in Tallinn where the young men “went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame”.[5] The first description of a Christmas tree used the Brotherhood in Riga in 1510 resembles the descriptions from Tallinn. Also as this church is held a baptismal font dated several thousand years old brought from Gebel Abu Dokhan near Hurghada, Egypt. It is made of red porphyry from a single quarry in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, from 600 million year old andesite of the Arabian-Nubian Shield, an area known for its watering wells and marked by hydreumata. Porphyry was extensively used in Byzantine monuments such as in the Hagia Sophia or Holy Wisdom. Sophia comes from "Wisdom" in Latin. The Church of the Holy Wisdom, 360AD, was said to have "changed the history of architecture". It was designed by scientist and a mathematician. Justinian proclaimed at its completion, "Solomon, I have outdone thee!". Its dedication feast takes place on 25 December, when the church was dedicated to the Logos, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Logos, originally meaning "word" it became a technical term (ca 535BC-475BS) in philosophy for a principle of order and knowledge. Wisdom is a central topic in the "sapiential" books, i.e. Proverbs, Psalms, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Book of Wisdom, and Wisdom of Sirach. See also 1 Corinthians 1:20 "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe?". "n the liturgy of the Orthodox Church, the exclamation Sophia! or in English Wisdom! will be proclaimed by the deacon or priest at certain moments, especially before the reading of scripture, to draw the congregation's attention to sacred teaching."

The church also houses a statue of Jesus nailed to a tree, Lebensbaumkruzifix (literally: Tree of life cross) 1986. In 1510, according to the National Christmas Tree Association, the merchants decorated the tree with artificial roses, danced around it in the marketplace and then set fire to it. This practice reminds me of the burning bush mentioned in the bible and references to the tree of life. The rose was considered a symbol for the Virgin Mary. By the 17th century it became common in Germany to decorate the tree with apples. An object noted in the bible to represent knowledge and wisdom.

One educational site says this about the origin of the first Christmas tree,

"The origin of the first Christmas tree dates back to the Middle Ages in Western Germany. The people during this time period participated in and watched dramatic plays called miracle and mystery plays. These plays were performed to teach the common people about religious truths that were contained in the bible. There were no printed books available, and pictures were scarce during this period of time. "As laymen joined with the clergy, the individual plays were arranged in a lengthy series or cycle throughout the church year" (Foley, pg. 39). In this way, peasants were taught about the Old and New Testaments of the bible.During the Christmas season, the Paradise play was presented. This play depicted Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. On stage was an evergreen tree, covered in apples, which showed Adam and Eve's sin and later banishment from the garden. The tree received particular attention because it was the only prop on the stage. This symbol remained firmly planted in the minds of spectators and actors. Later, after the plays "ceased to be performed in Germany" ( Foley, pg. 41), people began putting their own trees in their homes."....."Candles were also important symbols to the Germans. The candle was their main source of light, and it represented Christ being the Light of the World. The candles were placed on a wooden pyramid structure with shelves called the lightstock or Christmas pyramid. This pyramid stood next to the Paradise tree. This candle holder was also decorated with tinsel, paper or cloth roses, and a star was usually placed on top."

"The Moravians made more of Christmas than any other religious denomination in this country from Colonial times. On Moravian.org, "Moravian stars are connected to math lessons in school where students learned to draw and make geometrical shapes. One of the shapes was a pyramid. At the Moravian boarding school in Niesky, Germany, pupils practiced by making shapes from paper.....The first account of a star made specifically for Christmas dates from 1867 when Hermann Bourquin, a former pupil at Niesky, made a paper star for his parents in Herrnhut.....The Moravian star is distinguished by its well-proportioned shape. The length of the points corresponds proportionally to the diameter of the body."Such a rich consistent history...

During the 1800s, according to Christmas in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia was known for its Carnival of Horns, the marching bands, young men costumed in mock military equipment, with fireworks and parading in the streets. This book makes notes of the Bishop of Worms, who in the 11th century cautioned his priests against the people's custom of wearing animal skins and masks on the calends of January (i.e. January 1). Shoemaker notes this is the earliest reference to a practice that found expression in the Belsnickel custom of the Pennsylvania Dutch culture. This is also linked to the medieval Shrove Tuesday Fastnacht. Looking back at the Brotherhood of the Blackheads, the military tones of Christmas parades now make sense to me. The New Years Eve type festival/parade connection is brought together. Considering the early starters of this tradition were largely merchants and teachers I know hold a deeper understanding of store and school closings during this time period across the nation in preparation for and to celebrate these two holidays.

For more on my finding of the connections between America, Europe, and Africa around the winter solstice see my Happy New Year blog I published 1/1/11.

Foley, Daniel J. (1960). The Christmas Tree. Philadelphia: Chilton Company.
Bodum, Herman (1836). The Stranger's Gift. Boston.

Saving African Libraries: Egyptian Library Burned December 19, 2011

Today I saw a post on Facebook about The Scientific Institute's Library in Egypt that had been burned. I immediately cringed as I have been yearning to increase my knowledge base on early books in Egypt and have even contemplated returning to graduate school to learn more for my studies on the vast body of knowledge and books that have gone untapped and analyzed from my perspective. The Scientific Institute was built in 1798 on the order of Napoleon Bonaparte. I have been writing about Napoleon yesterday in my journal which at the top reads Napoleon-Africa-St Maurice-New Orleans.

You can read details about the this incident here: The Egyptian Scientific Institute in Cairo, and watch the video below.

Here is a YouTube video of the fire. I am no museum curator but I hardly think that the proper way to care for the books after a burning is the step on them in a large truck and allow so many to handle then in this way. Caring for our national treasures takes a community. We have to share our knowledge and resources with countries that are not equip with the proper tools to ensure that these treasures are around for future generations. This incident is testimony to the fact that we most make a concerted effort to properly preserve our ancient libraries. What is a city without its libraries? What are a people without knowledge of where they come come? It is imperative that we maintain all books for we never know what new insights future generations may gain from them that we do not see.

The Ancient Egyptian Theater -- Early History Plays?

The papyri which are described as the Book of Thoth are written in a manner that looks like the pages of a script book. Stage directions and who says what are clear. Having been involved in theater myself, when I read the papyri I see a script. A script for a play to be performed.

Who were they performing for? The temples in Egypt are grand indeed. The festivals were grand, or can I say celebrations? Seshat was honored in the New Years celebrations. Were these "scripts" recorded and protected for thousands of years the best plays to be performed at these highly attended and much anticipated events?

While reading the Book of the Dead, or shall I say Living, I noticed that the term "spells" were used. When I looked up the meaning of spells in the hieroglyphic term it connotates "words to be spoken". To me this means the words that follow are to be said out loud, not read. That the "spells" were "lines".

Why have scholars not studied in depth the possibilities of theater in ancient Egypt, before Greece existed. Why is there no serious discussion of the ancient scripts as plays to be performed, whether in the temples, festivals, or shows of other forms.

Animals and their representations in these scripts that were meant to be spoken are prominent. Children today love to be entertained by animals. Schools today teach the alphabet, learning concepts, and reading through the usage of animals. Is it fair to say that the Africans in Egypt did the same thing thousands of years ago?

Izapa Stela 5 Seshat and Early Egyptian Writing

There are several studies that address the early writings of Africa and how they have shown up in the Americas. I will begin to touch on them here. There are also more concrete correlations between Thoth/Seshat and these gods/goddesses represented in the language and script of the early writers in South America. I will go into detail about this aspect in another post.

Izapa Stela 5

"Some researchers claim that the Mesoamerican writing systems are related to African scripts. In the early 19th century, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque proposed that the Mayan inscriptions were probably related to the Libyco-Berber writing of Africa.^[7] Leo Wiener^[8] and others claim that various Olmec and Epi-Olmec symbols are similar to those found in the Vai script, in particular, the symbols on the Tuxtla Statuette, Tao Mask, Cascajal Block, and the celts in Offering 4 at La Venta. These assertions have found no support among Mesoamerican researchers. While mainstream scholars have made significant progress translating the Maya script, researchers have yet to translate Olmec glyphs."

Also, there is an online document called Ancient Mariners in America that is noteworthy that has also addressed the writing that the Libyan women practiced, Tifnag, and its occurrence in the United States.

"Tifinag lettering originated in Mauretania, where it is still in use among the Berbers in the Atlas Mountains. Examples of these lettering forms are scratched on cave shelters and rock outcrops throughout the United States and Canada, and in North Africa. Universities in present- day Algeria, Morocco and Libya, having worked with Dr. Fell, can verify and translate the ancestral scripts housed in the archives and libraries."

Holy Honey Poetic Mead: The Drink of Seshat "Lady Wisdom" from Ethiopia to Europe

They say whenever one learns something the senses become enlightened to that knowledge and you began to notice it more often. Well just last week I was reading about the Norse online as well as the Book of Thoth or more specifically, The Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth: A Demotic Discourse on Knowledge and Pendant to the Classical Hermeticabefore returning it to Vanderbilt's Divinity Library after having it checked out for over a year. Both spoke of this drink of Seshats. I saw a connection between the two and became intrigued by this honey alcoholic drink. Among the Norse it was called Poetic Mead skáldskapar mjaðar or Mead of Suttungr (for some reason rap music comes to mind).

It was a mythical beverage and it was believed that whoever drank it became a skald or scholar. They believed they would be able to recite any information and solve any question. In a similar fashion in the book of Thoth, the-one-who-seeks-knowledge, calls to Seshat to impart her wisdom and knowledge. However, the primary drink of choice is the analogous breast milk. Thoughts of the "Golden Age" and the "Land of Milk & Honey", a reference used in the Hebrew Bible used to signify abundance, swirled through my head. Seshat is known as the nurse who nurtures language. There are many statues in Egypt of the young sucking the breast milk of a woman as a symbol of the imparting of knowledge. In the book of Thoth, the-one-who-loves-knowledge is told to call Seshat on the New Year and she will "make her place at your mouth, you being thirsty" (Column 4 B02, papyri from the Graeco Roman period, 332 BC -395 AD, of Egypt) Speaking of thirst for knowledge, I just love it when connections are made across cultures that help piece history together. Mead is ancient and found among many cultures. It was this topic of the honey mead and honeymoon following the "tying of the knot" that led to the title of my previous post. The Greek used the symbolism of the beehive in its architecture of tombs called the Beehive or Tholos tomb.
  

Black Demeter with scepter

 In another Greek story, "THE FABLE OF TIRYNS," there was a king, Laertes (1700BC) the gardener of Homer's Odyssey, who built a shrine for E.L.AY.A (Black Demeter, goddess of agriculture, Melaina, "The Black One", Avenger) with 2 genii. In this picture there were Olive groves that saved the town from hunger and genii holding libation jubs filled with Mead where they were shown flanking a Tree of Life, Seshat's symbol. The knowledge of embodied by the figure Demeter became known as the Eleusinian Mysteries, which links Greece with ancient Egypt and which according to Cicero, brought them out of their "barbarious and savage life and educated and refined to a state of civilization".

  

Olive tree on Ithaca, Greece, that is claimed
to be over 1500 years old.


It was in these Olive groves that many learned about agriculture and it was said that it was the wise women who told them to plant the olive groves in the Argolis. These tiryns with the Ss, olives, tree of life, masonry, and wise women also introduced to this Greek culture the Eye of Argos and the 12 month calendar (time keeping).  This also happened to be a high time of the scribal art including letters and pictographs among this culture. "He ordered his scribes to invent a sign for every sound produced by the lips and tongue, and thus they invented an alphabet. Sseyr (Zeus) was written as follows: a rosette plus a bald head plus an ear of emmer. The rosette was another reminder of the former Circular Building. The phonetic value of this sign was an emphatic Ss" Thus goes the story of the origin of their alphabet. In the Norse Yggdrasi mythology on line 15 of the skaldec poem Ragnorsdrapa uses seior as the term cord, string. Another linguistic correlation between the ancient culture and teachings passed down fromt he books of the scribes from Egypt to other cultures that learned the scribal art.

Now back to Africa..

In Lost Kingdoms of Africa he shows a church in Ethiopia and their connection with the honey mead and its relationship to the temple. Dr Gus Hayford was seeking a connection between the current church and King Solomon. Their honey mead is also their communion wine. It is believed to also have healing powers. In Ethiopia "The traditional vessel for drinking tej is a rounded vase-shaped container called a berele" according to this website on mead history.

In the Old Kingdom bee keeping (2500-2350BCE) is found in the Aba Ghorab Sun Temple of Neuserre which is now in the Egyptian Museum. There were also bowls 1.18 meters in diameter found. In 2004 Cairo and Brown University found at Giza a basin for liquids dating the 2nd half of the 5th Dynasty. There was a rectangular pool with the "standard invocation for funerary offerings" in Tureh limestone Renpetreferet which reads "An offering which the King gives that gives, that invocation offering should belong to her on the Wag festival, the Thoth festival, the Festival of the New Year, Festival of the 1st of the Year, the Great Festival, and everyday". On the top line it reads "It was her son, the one who did for her this by now, the burial in the necropolis the carpenter, perherneferet". The rectangular book, particularly in the New Kingdom is connected with the tree goddess. This basin was for "mitrt" possibly from the root mtr- the famous lady, to be famous or renowned. Madea, mother figure.

Honey mead has a rich history in Africa and is even found as far south as South Africa. There is more than one Ethiopian version, one recipe can be found here.

My aim is not to show how Norse and Greek mythology relates to Egypt, but to show that Lady Wisdom and those practices connected to her can be found in other cultures with similar connections whose origins researchers have been unsure of.  

The Surveyors Craft and the Knotted Cord

America was built on the knotted cord. Surveyors of early American history who determined the metes and bounds were using techniques originally taught thousands of years ago in KMT. This video How the States Got Their Shape details the important role the surveyor's craft held in shaping the map of America.

This show has been removed from YouTube and is no longer available for viewing. 

Seshat was recognized by the ancient Egyptians as the source of the wisdom and knowledge of measuring land and buildings. Particularly temples in which the measurements were considered divinely inspired and sacred.

The knotted cord (ht)was also retold by other cultures, including King James who included the story of King Solomon and the stretching of the cord in the Bible.

When you look at the etymology of the word height there is no recorded history of its linking to the egyptian word cord or rods (ha3t). But it begs for questioning.

At least by 2600 BC Egyptians were using tools still used by surveyors today.  Modern surveyors recognize their technology coming from KMT, such as the plumb bob, the A-Level, T-Level and plumb square used unchanged for over 4400 years. The knowledge of land surveying was shared among many cultures throughout subsequent thousands of years. However, the imagry of Seshat at Temple Edfu and other locations shows how the knotted cord, stretching of the cord ceremony, the field of surveying, land ownership, and mathematics have been handed down for thousands of years and can be seen in current day "rituals" as well as science.

References to Lady Wisdom, Seshat in the Bible

She [is] a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy [is every one] that retaineth her.

Revelation 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

 

She is a tree of life to all who take her in their hands, and happy is everyone who keeps her.

Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold her tightly.

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Genesis 2:9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

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Proverbs 4:13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.

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Proverbs 8:34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.

---

Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.

---

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

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Proverbs 15:4 The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.

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Ecclesiastes 7:12 Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.

Seshat, The Tree of Life, & Operation Odyssey

In March of this year Libya, the land of the ancient women who ruled, was attacked in a war that has been coined Operation Odyssey. My interest in Libya began with my research of Seshat and women who were ancient writers in Africa in 2011 because of an ancient script called Tifinag. Tifinag was used among the Libyan women and was intricately tied to matrilineal societies and the early women of Egypt who were scribes for the tracking of property, lineage, etc.. 

The history of early writing, women, agriculture, and land ownership in North Africa was tied to this early writing and the heiroglyphs that developed in Egypt. The early forms of writing, knowledge, and wisdom were represented by "she who scrivens" which was related, in my opinion, to matrilineal society. According to wiki, "Matrilineality is a system in which lineage is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors. Matrilineality also is a societal system in which one belongs to one's matriline or mother's lineage, which can involve the inheritance of property and/or titles."

In my research of the early history of writing in Egypt I saw a correlation to the culture of the women in Libya who were writers and the symbol Seshat "she who scrivens". Gadhafi, the leader of modern Libya, had a desire to display women today as they were in the ancient days also known as "Amazon Women" warriors.

The timing of the war against Libya seemed strategic so I took note of its name and saved this bit for future reference. According to Wired, "The U.S. military’s nickname for the no-fly zone in Libya sounds like the beginning of a long adventure. But Defense Department officials insist that there’s no hidden meaning behind 'Operation Odyssey Dawn.' It’s just the product of the Pentagon’s semi-random name-generating system." So here we have the women of Libya in the news, at a location I consider to be the hub of early writing systems represented by gardens, trees, and papyrus (paper) to the anceints.

Fast forward to June and The Tree of Life, written by Terrence Malick, is about to hit the theaters. It comes out 7/1/11, the day of a solar eclipse. Of course its reference to the Tree of Life caught my attention when I saw it advertised with Thor, so I googled it. The film opens with a quotation from the Book of Job, when God asks, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation...while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" Then a waving light like a flame emerges. As you know from my previous post Seshat was the Mistress of the House of Architects and instructed in the laying of the foundations through her wand and headress which was connected to the stars. I think of tools such as an astrolobe and books about geometry when I conceptualize the need of early architechs and surveyors to honor Seshat to legitamize their work, her "school" was their branding.

Sean Penn is an architect in the movie. It is the moment of a planting of a tree that the central reminiscence of the film begins. Now a movie titled the Tree of Life with a central character as an architect that uses imagery of astronomy, tree of life, number 7 and 11, laying of foundations, etc., all central themes of Seshat obviously is using her symbolism but why?

This is a brief synopsis of how the Tree of Life (symbol of Seshat) and Libya (Operation Odyssey) have integrated in the past. How it integrates in the present and future is yet to be seen as this drama unfolds. I will post more after I see the movie.

Night at the Movies, my review of The Adjustment Bureau and Thor

Thursday evening, May 5, 2011, my husband and I went to the movies. I had non idea what movies we were going to see, I was just happy to get out and go somewhere. The first movie was called "The Adjustment Bureau" which started at 9:40pm. I am going to provide a review on this blog because I am now beginning to see more things through a lens filter of "Seshat". I find I notice more correlations with these ancient teachings as I learn more about its history.

Overall my impression of the movie was that it was a great love story. Its not often you find a man that intent on having a women, and a man of stature who one would think could have any women at his beckon call. One of the key characters who aided in the seeking of the truth and the correction of the plans that were in error happened to be an African-American male. Which I thought may have been strategic after noticing there were hardly any other people of color in the movie at all. It is my view that whoever wrote this has some knowledge of ancient Egyptian teachings, but I do not consider it to be a true representation of the teaching, just influenced by. I noticed that the man did not admit to being an angel or disclose the name of who was in charge.

So why does this movie remind me of Seshat and this blog? It is full of similarities. In true transfiguration style, they are able to use a vortex to enter doors that lead to other areas which allows them to travel faster.

The door in this scene leads to "Lady Liberty" whose relationship to Seshat I posted previously. This scene at Lady Liberty also marks an important turning point in the movie. It is at this moment that Elise chooses him and also the one door that leads to the "House of Records" is at this location. The movie deals with fate, which Seshat is often seen as etching the time of the politicians of Egypt. Their plans and longevity in office were determined and recorded by her. How long they would rule was indicated by notches placed on the palm leaf stalk. The divine measurer of time. She kept a recording of the lives and deeds of men on the sacred persea (ished) tree at Heliopolis, "City of the Sun". In this scene of the Adjustment Bureau the filter shifts from the color blue to green. The characters are on grass, by the ocean, and the sun begins to shine. The main character, Matt Damon, was a politician who was to win 4 more elections and was to go very far politically, but the plans were rewritten because it was thought that the women he loved would keep him from going far politically and he would keep her from achievement in her art. Their love was only good in small doses. At the end of this part of the movie when the error made in 2005 is corrected and the story is rewritten in the book, they are able to love each other, the rain stop and the sun comes out and shines over the city of New York. Light concurs darkness. But sometimes you must go through the rain to reach truth.

The Adjustment Bureau is about fate, destiny, and  free will. One website explains Seshat relationship to fate

In Egyptian thought the concept of fate (shaï) is always imagined in connection with writing, and hence Seshat is a Goddess of fate as well, which in Egyptian theology paradigmatically involves reckoning the lifespan. The divine command is written down, not as a mere record, but to render it concrete, and the writing of it is inseparable from its enforcement.

This concept of fate was tipified in the movie at the turning point scene at the statue of liberty when they entered the door to the hall of records where they sought to change what was written. In the book of life.
The book that came from the hall of records looked very much architectural in nature. The plans, measures, and blueprints were very Seshatish to me.  The plans were written by "a man....or a women" but were mysteriously changed in 2005. The number 7 came up a few times in the movie. 7 is the symbol of Seshat. She was also called the "Mistress of the House of Books". As I have been thinking about the relationship between Seshat and Thoth and El one thing rings true is that the later associations are male. No too much mention of the women. At the end of the movie the person who presided over this book that wrote the story of these people's lives the sex is not clearly stated. It is left to wonder. But it is clearly hinted that it may not be what you think. He says, "a man" takes a pause, then says",...or a women". I was about to jump out my seat. The main point to the movie was that we have the power to change what is written. However, in the end, it was just noted that in 2005 someone made an error that had to be corrected, so what was written originally actually did occur.

The next movie we watched was Thor, which started at 12:01 am. I am sure someone can comment as to why. I was sure I had seen Thor recently while researching Thoth and Seshat among the Europeans. So I did a quick search on my cell phone for Thor and Thoth and sure enough there was a connection between the two. I began to feel like my evening was planned, or I had better provide more content on my blog so here goes. There is not much I have to say about Thor, other then going into the research behind the Greek gods and their relationships with early Egypt. In the movie Thor there was the concept of transmutation, traversing through wormholes, timelessness, and fate. They did touch on magic and science.  Which for me in the study of Seshat is important because there is a lot of writing that talks about magic as it pertains to medicine and such. However, when I go back and read much of it such as in Medea when she describes it to Creon, it is not magic, but science the ignorant do not understand. It is their way of explaining what they see and do not comprehend. In the movie Thor is found an astrophysicist.

Sealed with a Kiss seemed an important theme to both movies. I do not know if this has any relationship with Seshat but thought it noteworthy because it probably does and I just don't know it yet. Yesterday my daughter brough home a book from school called "Sealed with a Kiss" about a seal, the animal. I imagine the Kiss in the movies has to do with Kundalini concepts and the gateways dealing with sexual chemistry and birth.

My Night At The Movies, A Review of "The Adustment Bureau" and "Thor"

Thursday evening, May 5, 2011, my husband and I went to the movies. I had no idea what movies we were going to see, so it was quite a surprise. The first movie was called "The Adjustment Bureau" which started at 9:40pm at the discount theater, the second was "Thor" which started at 12:01 am at a regular theater. I am going to provide a review on this blog because I am now beginning to see more things through a lens filter of "Seshat". I find I notice more correlations with the ancient goddess and what she represented as I learn more about its history. I am writing my review of these movies as I see how they are modern displays in art of ancient concepts and symbolism. My trip to Hollywood in February, a true city of stars, left me more interested in Hollywood's relationship with the star goddess.

Back to the movie...Overall my impression of the first movie was that it was a great love story. Its not often you find a man that intent on having a women, and a man of stature at that, who, one would think, could have any women at his beckon call. One of the key characters who aided in the seeking of the truth and the correction of the plans that were in error happened to be an African-American male. Which I thought may have been strategic after noticing there were hardly any other people of color in the movie at all. It is my view that whoever wrote this has some knowledge of ancient Egyptian teachings, but I do not consider it to be a true representation of the teaching, just influenced by. I noticed that this character did not admit to being an angel or disclose the name of who was in charge of these writings. He did make it clear in the movie that we  have the power to change things, free-will.

So why does this movie remind me of Seshat and this blog? It is full of similarities, primarily "the Hall of Records", the fate of rulers being written (not everyone), the Statue of Liberty, and magical abilities that transcend time. In true transfiguration style, they are able to use a vortex to enter doors that lead to other areas which allows them to travel faster. The door in this scene leads to "Lady Liberty" whose relationship to Seshat I posted previously. This scene at Lady Liberty also marks an important turning point in the movie. It is at this moment that Elise, the main female character, chooses him. Also, the one door that leads to the "House of Records" is at this location.

The movie deals with fate, which Seshat is often seen as etching the time of the politicians of Egypt. Their plans and longevity in office were determined and recorded by her. How long they would rule was indicated by notches placed on the palm leaf stalk. The divine measurer of time. She kept a recording of the lives and deeds of men on the sacred persea (ished) tree at Heliopolis, "City of the Sun". These plants may have been used to make their paper, which was used to record such things. The paper of the Egyptians was designed for longevity and has lasted for thousands of years intact.

In this scene the film filter shifts from the color blue to green and they are on grass, by the ocean, and the sun begins to shine. The main character, Matt Damon, was a politician who was to win 4 more elections and was to go very far politically, but the plans were rewritten mysteriously. It was thought that she would keep him from going far politically and he would keep her from achievement in dance. Their love was only good in small doses. At the end of the this part of the movie when the error made in 2005 is corrected and the story is rewritten in the book, they are able to love each other, the rain stop and the sun comes out and shines over the city of New York. Light concurs darkness. But sometimes you must go through the rain to reach truth, as was case in this movie.

The Adjustment Bureau is about fate, destiny, and  free will. One website explains Seshat relationship to fate

In Egyptian thought the concept of fate (shaï) is always imagined in connection with writing, and hence Seshat is a Goddess of fate as well, which in Egyptian theology paradigmatically involves reckoning the lifespan. The divine command is written down, not as a mere record, but to render it concrete, and the writing of it is inseparable from its enforcement.

This concept of fate was typified in the movie at the turning point scene at the statue of liberty when they entered the door to the Hall of Records where they sought to change what was written in the book of life.
The book that came from the Hall of Records looked very much architectural in nature. The plans, measures, and blueprints were very Seshatish to me. The number 7 came up a few times in the movie. 7 is the symbol of Seshat. She was also called the "Mistress of the House of Books". The main point to the movie was that we have the power to change what is written. However, in the end, it was just noted that in 2005 someone made an error that had to be corrected, so what was written originally actually did occur in the end.

The next movie we watched was Thor, which started at 12:01 am. I am sure someone can comment as to why. I was sure I had seen Thor recently while researching Thoth and Seshat among the Europeans. So I did a quick search on my cell phone for Thor and Thoth and sure enough there was a connection between the two. I began to feel like my evening was planned, or I had better provide more content on my blog so here goes. There is not much I have to say about Thor, other then going into the research behind the Greek gods and their relationships with early Egypt, which is an entire post in itself. In the movie Thor there was the concept of transmutation, traversing through wormholes, timelessness, and fate. They did touch on magic and science.  Which for me in the study of Seshat is important because there is a lot of writing that talks about magic as it pertains to medicine and such. However, when I go back and read much of it such as in Medea when she describes it to Creon, "it is not magic, but science the ignorant do not understand". It is their way of explaining what they see and do not comprehend. In the movie Thor is found an astrophysicist. The next movie put on in this sequence will be 11/11/11, the Avengers.

Sealed with a Kiss seemed an important theme to both movies. I do not know if this has any relationship with Seshat but thought it noteworthy because it probably does and I just don't know it yet. Yesterday my daughter brought home a book from school called "Sealed with a Kiss" about a seal, the animal. I imagine the Kiss in the movies has to do with Kundalini concepts and the gateways dealing with sexual chemistry and birth.

Both movies were entertaining to watch with relevant messages to be conveyed. Fighting for what you believe in till the bitter end. Never giving up, and staying true to your true love can have otherworldly implications.

The Tying of The Knot

I stumbled upon a noteworthy website while looking for information about the New Year's Festival and Seshat. My interest was peaked in the knot-tying ritual recently after reading about the mathematics behind it from a surveyor's website, as well as recalling its mention in the Book of Solomon, King Solomon's Knot, as a symbol of wisdom.

Dispite the connotations derived from the url, I read on to see what this "spell" on the website was all about. Now, considering in my view that spells, which the Romans and Europeans among others ritualized, were originally in Egyptian language the spoken word, which was sometimes poetic. Or more aptly, as in the Book Of Life and Book of Thoth "words to be spoken" as though the intended reader were an actor reading a written script (lets just say for a festival).

As millenia progressed and the art of writing flourished worldwide, various cultures continued to use the symbols from the teachings of Seshat (she who scrivens) without maintaining the authentic science or reason behind what the objects were originally intended. However, today, through archaeology, we are able to get a glympse of this ancient african history as it was and see its progression and alterations through time. For instance, several thousand years ago a surveyor's tool (I will post more about this) used to build temples was later used only ritualistically as the ages passed. Its demonstrations of use repeated at festivals and during church services, see the stretching of the cord ceremony in the Holy Bible. I share this not to endorse the usage of magic or spells but to show how humans have integrated Old Kingdom science from the "Mistress of the Books" ('ss3t in Egypt or 'srt among the Hebrew) into ritual.

New Year’s Day Magick

    New Year’s Day Magick: A spell requesting Seshat grant your wish for the new year. Tie four knots equal distance into a piece of red hemp twine less than one meter (or one yard) long. Red represents life force. The hemp twine represents time. Tie the knots from left to right and concentrate on your wish for the year being tied into the fabric of time. Open your front door. Tie the knotted hemp twine into a circle. On the first knot tell Seshat your hope. On the second knot tell Seshat your wish. On the third knot tell Seshat your belief. On the fourth knot receive Seshat’s blessings. Place the knotted red hemp twine on your altar to remind yourself of your request of Goddess. Note that this spell involves breathing on knots and therefore carries the death penalty in Islamic nations.

"Begin With the Children of Your Teachings"

How many times have you heard it said, "Its better to start teaching them while they are young!" These words can go down as written in the hall of fame, or "House of Fame" if translated by Egyptologist into English from heiroglyphs. In fragment B02, 7,2 translated in the Book of Thoth on page 15 the script directs "the-one-who-loves-knowledge" to say

"O may your prophecy be eternally young! O foremost one of (or before) the House of Documents! Begin with the children of your teaching!"

There are many instances in Egyptian records that show the importance of learning the hieroglyphs and to scribe as a child. House of Documents, Hall of Records, or House of Books are all what I would consider to be a modern day Library. In my blog I will refer to the place where those in KMT stored writings as libraries, instead of the translations provided. Libraries have been found dating as far back to the time of Narmers palate and King Scorpio, who carried on the teachings of Ssh around 3200BC during the Naqada III period (pre-Dynastic). We will discuss him more later.

Children figure prominately in the art of writing. Teaching our children this gift that has been passed down to us by our intelligent ancestors is most beneficial when they are young. And that, my friends, is just ancient Kemetic wisdom!

Chicago's Oriental Institute on the Scribal Art

The amazing craft of writing practiced early on by women and embodied by the icon Seshat in North Africa is explained by Foy Scalf, Ph.D. candidate in Egyptology at the University of Chicago and Head of the Oriental Institute Research Archives

European LIbrary shows interest in Seshat

Today I came across a news article about a library potentially closing down in Europe.  I thought it odd that the library would make a sort of religious stance and about the closing by calling it sacrilege. However, I did think that it was interesting that there are people out there who still hold value to the Seshat in a religious context.

In a statement the Trustees for the Library of Avalon said it regarded "all libraries as temples of the divine Djehuti...and believe that the destruction, desuetude or disestablishment of any library is on this basis tantamount to sacrilege." They added, the closure would also be sacrilegious to "the divine Maat, goddess of righteousness, correctness and order, and the divine Seshat, goddess of documentation; the Recording Angel."

This unusual library also displays collections from the Research into Lost Knowledge Organisation RILKO describes itself as: "An organisation providing a platform for the dissemination of hidden knowledge incorporated in myth and legend, number and geometry, art and music, architectural proportion, megalithic structures and the geomantic layout of cities and landscape".

Recognizing the Ancestors: African Culture Represented through Seshat

Those that are familiar with deified ancestors among the Afrocentric worldview will understand the concept of a real women who becomes titled as goddess as time goes on. Some call this early representation of Seshat as practice of ancestor worship. I view it as recognizing with high esteem those who have made great accomplishments. Honoring those that have come before us. Those who have left such an impression on life that their influence lives on and remains relevant. Similar to the recognition of dead presidents and military generals we see often in  art, murals, statues, text, etc.today in the United States and worldwide.

One primary difference I see that I think earlier Egyptian scholars considered to be "worship"among the ancient Egyptians is that Africans, and many indigenous cultures for that matter, would pray to these great people for assistance in the areas they were masters in. I will discuss this later in greater detail as I show examples of students asking Seshat for assistance in learning, as recorded in the Book of Thoth and the Book of Proverbs in the Holy Bible. Praying, calling out, invoking, or any other term one would use to describe bringing up an image or thought of something not here physically. This "action" of recalling those from the past who were great in a craft was used as a tool to bring that energy here to this realm, if one were lucky enough to get their attention. Kind of like a child's hope that their letter and nighttime prayers really makes it to Santa. The act of getting Seshat's attention for wisdom vs gifts became a ritual over time.

I live in a world of tooth fairies that are thought of when a child looses a tooth. And Santa Claus who comes to make sure the children have gifts under the tree. Both understood to be images that represent themes, not real, and certainly not Gods. So we must be careful not to think that because someone used the term God or Goddess in translation that it carries the same concept of "God" in its treatment as displayed in our culture. They are more aptly described as deified ancestors; someone who may have existed at some point but has taken on other more grandiose characteristics over time. With the American Santa we are talking a period of centuries with attributes taken on from similar icons before him along with myth, in Egypt we are talking a period of seven thousand years or more. When we practice the ritual of Christmas I would hardly think of us as invoking the God St. Nik with spells of "have you been naughty or nice", or chants (chorals). Or are we?

While I am not equating Seshat with the Fairy God Mother or Santa, I think this topic should be raised for discussion as we delve into research of an ancient culture rich in images and writing, but only translated with our limited worldview and understanding of their language. Moreover the possibility of errors in the thought processes of later writers who attempted to describe what the ancients were conveying.

The story of Seshat is told by people who recognized her. People who called to her image, theme, and energy to enhance their abilities to master the art of writing so that they too could learn and read the great books of mathematics, architecture, medicine, and history. This behavior of calling on ancestors represented over 5,000 years ago in Egyptian hieroglyphs is still practiced today among Africans.

Happy New Year! From the East Coast of Africa to the East Coast of America Seshat 7

Happy New Year!!

Hapy Nwy Anu Hr

(latin Hr)(Latin Annus)

The goddess Seshat, personification of Writing, shown in the act of inscribing the palm leaf rib which denotes the word renpet, "year" in the hieroglyphic script. Egypt, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, c.1250 BCE.
Location :Luxor, Thebes, Egypt

Today is New Years in which people across the world celebrate in the middle of the evening and the term "Happy New Year!" is commonly heard.  However, today is looked at with a new lens for me with my understanding of  Seshat in Predynastic Egypt. A friend, Ramomar, mentioned on a blog last night how the the sounds of the terms we use for the current two holidays correlate with terms that represent concepts used in Egyptian hieroglyphs. For instance, he explained the ancient Egyptian Hapi was the bringer of things, he brought water to the city. Ramomar also correlated the tear of Isis bringing forth fertility to the city and the Ball Drop in New York. I have also found further correlations when looking at the etymology of key terms associated with Christmas and New Years that go back through the Greek and Romans usages of the terms and the Egyptian usages of the terms. All which eventually coincide with teaching so ancient they go back to the early representations of Seshat. In the ancient Egyptian New Year the day was celebrated to the Sun God. and offerings were given to Hapy and Amun or can I get a, I mean should I say, Amen or Imen or Amon.

The talk show sparked my curiosity to begin looking for variations of NU or NW, considering that the vowels were omitted in ancient script, easy for foreigners to pick up a word and pronounce it with various vowels through keeping the consonants. So I googled NWY in Egypt, which meant Nile and there was a picture of Sol Invectus wearing a grown with 7 points. Immediately I thought, he is wearing Seshat's crown, why? Is it because she was the time keeper? Why is he sporting her gear? Who is he? and what does he have to do with the New Year?  And wait, he looks like the statue of Liberty, which is in the New York Harbor...So I wondered is her crown the same? Yes, her star, I mean headdress is also shown with 7 points. Seems there were cultures recognizing Seshat 2,000 years ago outside of Egypt.

Well that was quite interesting but where was the more recent connection to Egypt? When  the person who spearheaded the Liberty construction for the US, Bartholdi, started the project around 1867 he approached Ismail Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, to build the lighthouse (pharos) in the form of an ancient Egyptian female fellah for the Suez Canal. The statue at the Suez Canal was to be called "Egypt (or Progress) carrying the light to Asia". This design  was modified and used for the Statue of Liberty, keeping the main aspects of symbolism that relate to the ancient teachings of the women scribes (Seshat). While there is no mention of Seshat specifically by Bartholdi or Pasha, it is clear there indeed exist a direct connection between an Egyptian influenced architect to the design of statues in Rome and the statue of Liberty.

This design of a statue with a raised arm and headdress of 7 points was also used for the Colossus of Rhodes to Helios (305BC), one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, at the harbor entrance with a light to guide the ships. Wait, Helio, that sounds quite familiar to the city in which Seshat was most known in, Heliopolis.  Heliopolis (Annu before the Greeks changed its name, (wait annu for the Greeks meant year)),  is an ancient city in Egypt that houses Seshat's main sanctuary and is also considered the Sun City. 

The ished tree was grown in Heliopolis during the Old Kingdom and is also associated with Seshat in drawings.  The ished tree, while not an evergreen, like the Christmas tree, was considered by the Egyptians to be unique and was regarded as the tree of life. What does the tree of life have to do with New Years, the number 7,  and America? In early Egypt Seshat, sporting her headdress with 7 pin points, holding the time stick by the tree of life was the reason for whom the New Year was celebrated.  Thousands of years later around the change of AD to BC Christmas was placed on December 25, 7 days prior to the New Year Festival. Perhaps there is more to this connection then coincidence, pagan ritual, or religious births.

Hecate (about 4 BC or prior), another Greek Goddess, also wore the headdress of 7 points. Hecate, during the time of the Greeks was known to have some connection with Egypt and Isis. The exact connection today we have not uncovered, but all the signs are there.


Those in Rome and Greece obviously recognized the connection of where the ancestors they recognized came from and continued to institute the time keeping systems from the teachings of the women who scribed (Seshat) in their calendar of 365 days. Continuing to celebrate on the first day in the evening, Hapy being the god of the evening, and starting 7 days prior with celebrating and gift giving. 

The architects of America and Europe did not stop with the Colossal or Hecate or others of ancient days. To add to the symbolism and connection with the Egyptian Seshat. Seshat was the goddess of the 11th month on the Egyptian calendar and stood guard over the last gate before entering heaven. Lady Liberty was placed on a structure that is shaped in the form of an 11 pointed star, the 11 pointed walls of Fort Wood (completed in 1811, 200 years ago), inscribed "The New Colossus"). Having found the perfect 11 pointed star on the harbor of New York, Lady Liberty was then constructed on a pedestal that is a truncated pyramid. Moreover, Seshat was synonymous with wisdom and knowledge the Lady Liberty in NY was erected to enlighten the world. Why is the usage of ancient symbols in American history important? I await your comments.