Temwa Well, I'm Temwa. That's actually just a short form of Temwaenbast (pronounced TEM-wah-en-BAST), an ancient egyptian (or rather, kemetic) name meaning "Never far from Bast". I didn't choose that name, but I find it highly fitting - it was given to me, as a gift if you will. Given? By whom? Well, it was spoken by my Mother (Bast), and written down by my Nisut (AUS) - look in the about section if you don't know who that is. :) It was then given to me in a naming ceremony, once I'd become a proper Shemsu. That's the story of my name, anyway. My spiritual path I'm still quite young, born in early 1987, and my spiritual life is even shorter than that. I've been an atheist for most of my life, though I think that it is much more appropriate to say that I simply rejected the concept of God that people tried to push me into believing in - the Judeo-Christian form of God. I was an atheist because I had found no path that suited me. I'd tried Christianity, but I never felt any relationship to Yeshua, which made me feel bad. I felt guilty that I did not fit in the religion that so many told me was the "right" one - and nor could I understand how a Jew's beliefs were more off than a Christian's. The concept of ultimate truth and scripture was not one that appealed to me, personally - and so I abandoned religion. I went through many phases of disbelief. Sometimes I was agnostic. Sometimes I was a soft atheist, not believing in God. Sometimes I was a hardcore atheist, thinking no God existed at all. Then I stumbled across Paganism, and I became fascinated with all brands of religion. To this day, I still study every path I can find, big or small. In Paganism, I found little things that truly did appeal to me, and I was amazed at that. It was so different from anything else I'd seen! But it was still not quite right. Something was missing. My way to the House of Netjer After stumbling across Paganism, I was fascinated with all the varieties that could be found - reconstructionism especially caught my eye. I have always had a keen interest in mythology and ancient history, especially that of Egypt - imagine how thrilled I was to find kemetic recon! I searched through several temples, but I was always put off for one reason or another - either they sounded too "out there", they were not up to date, or they required shameless amounts money to let you in (and as a broke student, that's a no-no). It was then that I found the House of Netjer - it seemed fairly down to earth, and the beginner's class was entirely free. I was however a bit intimidated, because it all seemed very strict and serious - but once I got into it, I realized that it is a thriving and vibrant community, to which I haven't seen the likes yet. And so I graduated the class, became a Remetj, and decided I wanted to dedicate myself further. I went through a ritual of divination, and became a Shemsu. And here I am. :) My beliefs My own thoughts and views are scattered across this site, so I will not repeat them here. But I can say that I don't consider myself a "pure-bred" Kemetic Orthodox - if anything, I'm an unholy mix of all sorts of things. I'm a hybrid of Kemetic Orthodox, ecclectic Pagan, Unitarian Universalist and semi-Agnostic. I'm my very own brand, and I enjoy it! And finally, a fitting quote about my view of god, by Anne Lamott: "Mine was a patchwork God, sewn together from bits of rag and ribbon, Eastern and Western, pagan and Hebrew, everything but the kitchen sink and Jesus." In the words of the wonderfyl Chel: I will keep exploring all the rag and ribbon. ^^