After I gave my service on August 20, a few people asked me how I became a Kemetic. This is part two of that story.

Stage Two: The Brogan Museum (Continued)

So none of you have ever been to a museum with me, and let me tell you, you’re probably glad for that. I am fastidious and I am also a slow reader. You put those together and you get someone who has to read every single plaque on every single item, contemplate the item…Meanwhile, my husband has seen the entire exhibit and is waiting for me to finish. So I quickly scanned the room to see how much I had left to see, and boom. I saw it.

At least a foot over everything else towered the outer mummiform coffin of Tutankhamen. It was covered in gold, and it would have made an impression one way or another, but for me there was something more. I had an overwhelming emotional reaction and actually started tearing up. A few days later, I got online and asked, “Does anyone still believe in the religion of ancient Egypt?” The answer was yes, and one of the sites listed was for Per Ankh, which would eventually become my temple. But I wasn’t ready to join yet – in fact, the news that the temple conducted ordination classes freaked me out. But the seeds were being planted.

Stage Three: My Long, Dark Night of the Soul

I have OCD. For some people, this means they have the compulsion to count things and so forth. For me, I get obsessive thoughts and images in my head. One night in January 2006, I had a really bad episode, one that sent me back to religion. Suddenly, in desperation, I was praying to “whichever entities wanted to help me.” Talk about a potential Pandora’s box. Thankfully, benevolent beings answered my call: Isis and two more who I later learned were Hathor and Nephthys. They stayed with me and comforted me.

And that’s how I became a Kemetic.