Spiritual pedigree Around the about-section, I've scattered comments about "spiritual pedigree" - I thought I'd explain what I mean by that. :) If you're not kemetic orthodox, you might be confused otherwise! Parent(s) In kemetic orthodoxy, we believe that every individual has a special link to a certain Name of Netjer - this is their Parent (aka Patron or Matron). Through divination performed by the Nisut (AUS), that parentage is established. Most people only have one Parent, but some are dual-Parented - combinations can be male-female, male-male or female-female (if one can truly speak of the netjeru in gender terms). Parents, if I recall correctly, create your ba upon birth. They follow you through-out your life, even if you're not aware of it (some of us have quiet Parents). Some people say they've always known Who they belong to, others don't have a clue. Others thought they belonged to Someone and then turned out so be Someone else's. It's different in every case, and the ritual can be both upsetting and exciting. Just as in our physical lives, we cannot choose our spiritual Parent(s) - They choose us. Beloved(s) The divination rite also confirms Who we have as Beloved(s). It's hard for me to describe what role They play in our lives, because it's not one that is very clear to me. They're more like divine aunts or uncles, Who look after us, takes a special interest in us and teach us things, but Their influence is not the same as the Parental one. They help shape our personalities, and aid us in life. The Beloveds that show up in the divination are not final, unlike the Parent(s) - we can earn Beloveds through life, and maybe even lose Them. The number of Beloveds varies greatly - some have one, some have four or five! Beloveds create our ka upon birth, and as someone at the House said: "If our Parents are what we do, our Beloveds are how we do it." What about other Names? It's important to point out that you're not forced to worship only your Parent and/or Beloveds. You can still maintain and build new relationships with any Names you wish. Just because ol' Djehuty wasn't your Dad, you don't have to ditch Him (in fact, I think He'd be rather upset about that). I see surprises in your divination as an opportunity to evolve and broaden your horizons, not as a dead end as far as your relations with other Names go. Personal thoughts I think, that those who come to the House of Netjer, do have kemetic Names as Parent(s) and Beloved(s), though perhaps not exclusively. But what about everyone else? To me, it feels horribly wrong to think that only the kemetic netjeru are capable of being Parents or Beloveds, for all the people of the world - after all, a very small amount of the world population worships Them to begin with! However, since I'm of the opinion that ALL gods and goddesses are part of the Divine energy (Netjer), I find a convenient way around that dilemma - everyone does have a Parent/Beloveds, but not necessarily kemetic ones. In my eyes, a devout Christian may very well be a child of Yahweh, and beloved of Yeshua. A Wiccan may very well be a child of his or her Lord and Lady, so on and so forth. So, I do believe we all have Someone, just with so much more variety. ^^