Per Bastemhet

I just noticed that one of my favorite songs ever actually has some religious symbolism to it.  Makes sense, since the album it’s from is called “Songs of Faith and Devotion.”  Here’s what I was thinking at the time that I heard it.   My comments will be in italics, lyrics in normal bold.  Praise be to Bast, who gave me the inspiration.  She is truly Great!

In your room

In Kemetic temples, the netjer had hir own room dedicated to housing their statue. 
Where time stands still

The temple was set up so that Zep Tepi, the first time, is replicated.
Or moves at your will

Time began only when the creator deity made their first creative act of separating Nut from Geb.  This is when time and space were accomplished.
Will you let the morning come soon

The rising of the sun is Ra.  He travels across the sky, and fights Apep in order to come back again. 
Or will you leave me lying here
In your favorite darkness

Before the first act of creation, everything was dark within the positive uncreation of Nun.
Your favorite half-light

The dawn is where the Duat resides.  It is toward the dawn that the kas of the dead travel, hence, “Book of Coming Forth by Day."
Your favorite consciousness

This makes me think of the religio-consciousness that people’s minds would slip into when going through training of the mysteries, or using the false door.  I feel this when I do ritual.
Your favorite slave

One of the names for the priests of Kemet was hm ntjr, which literally means servant of god.

In your room
Where souls disappear
Only you exist here

The sole receiver of praise, worship, and offerings, is the netjer of the temple, and only after that, do other lesser deities and akhu be given offerings.
Will you lead me to your armchair

Could be another name for the throne.  Each person was able to become an Ausir-NN, which means the sole aim of a person in the afterlife is to be pure enough to achieve godhood, and thus dwell with the gods.
Or leave me lying here
Your favorite innocence

The time in Zep Tepi when humans lived with the netjeru, before those who did Isfet and plotted against Ra.
Your favorite prize
Your favorite smile
Your favorite slave

I’m hanging on your words

This references the creation mythology of Memphis, in which Ptah created the world with his heart and tongue (words).
living on your breath

This references the creation mythology of Thebes, Amun’s invisibility carrying connotations of the wind and breeze. 
feeling with your skin
This interpretation will be a bit of a stretch, but in one myth, we are made from Ra’s tears.  Of course the other netjeru are made from other expulsions of his body as well.

Will I always be here

In your room
Your burning eyes
Cause flames to arise
Will you let the fire die down soon
References to the solar eyes of Ra, and perhaps the story of Sekhmet and her wrath.

Or will I always be here

Your favorite passion
Your favorite game
Your favorite mirror

We seek to achieve godhood through living purely and living in Maat, just as the netjeru do.
Your favorite slave
I’m hanging on your words
living on your breath
feeling with your skin
Will I always be here

Here’s the song.

Can you find religious meaning in the songs that you listen to?

For an explanation of this series, read the introduction here.

Hail Swallower of Blood, coming forth from the chopping-block, I do not commit usury with grain.

Rev. Siuda said it’s tempting to translate “Swallower of Blood” as an epithet to Sekhmet, but it’s not certain.  Besides Sekhmet, it might be possible that this be one of the epithets for some netjeru in the Duat.

Mentioning grain here is relevant because it was one of the items used as payment in the barter system, along with bread, beer, meat, and cloth rations. *  The modern day equivalent would then be paper/coin money.

Usury is lending money at an exorbitant interest rate.  This would entail that those who lend are greedy and only do it for self gain.  The people who are willing to get a loan are people who do not have the means to make sufficient money for something that is important for them, and are willing to bet on their future in order to take care of necessities right now.  Usury is taking advantage of these people.  Ptahhotep also warns us against the evil of greed:

If you wish your conduct to be good
and to save yourself from all evil,
resist the opportunity of greed.
It is a sore disease of the worm,
no advance can come of it.
It embroils fathers and mothers,
with mother’s brothers.
It entangles the wife and the man,
it is a levy of all evils,
a bundle of all hatefulness.
The man endures whose guideline is Right,
who proceeds according to his paces.
He can draw up a will by it.
There is no tomb for the greedy hearted.

Take note of the last line.  To not have a tomb is to be denied an afterlife which is very serious indeed.  Not only will we not continue to live on, but we will be denied being in the presence of the netjeru, and in the presence of our ancestors.  We would also be denied the opportunity to help our own that come after us.

With this purification I will guard against greed, and be mindful of my own generosity.

For an explanation of this series, read the introduction here.

Hail Bright-Flame, coming forth from Ptah’s temple in Mennefer (Hwt-ka-Ptah in Memphis), I do not dislike myself.

This purification addresses Sekhmet by her epithet Bright-Flame.  Rev. Siuda says that the verb keni-i can be translated not only as self-dislike but also as self-pity or being too hard on one’s self.

Personally one of the things that makes me hard on myself right now is that I feel somewhat inadequate in the worship that I do.  I constantly want to do more, but I also think that devotion to study of how to do things properly is very important to honor the netjeru in the right way.  My compromise is to do the best with the information that I have right now, and realize that everyone begins somewhere, and sometimes our goals are not always attainable.  I trust that Bast will bring me not just to what I want, but to what I need.

In this purification I will remember that I am making good time on my path and that things will come to me “in their time.”