#Polytheistic Chaos Theorist

[serendipitykismet-moving]

Do you ever think about the fact that Atem had to go to the afterlife a second time with the knowledge that conspiracy theorists demonize his gods and are convinced his people spoke to giant lizards or is that just me?

Anyway... Fun facts about ancient Egypt I learned from studying Egyptian art in school. (Believe me, Yugioh is not accurate at all to how magic is viewed in ancient Egypt so far as we know.) Also probably debunking some racist beliefs about Egypt as a whole. Keep in mind that I'm by no means an expert, so don't take my word as the absolute final word on ancient egyptian culture.

First, There were not good and evil gods-- they were very similar to greek and roman gods in that they were not examples of perfection. Set was a god of chaos, essentially, but he wasn't really evil. Actually, a lot of the demonization of Egyptian gods came from when monotheistic religions started framing polytheistic religions as being occult and actively punishing members of "occult" religions. Other gods who get villianized a lot are Anubis and Horus-- neither of which are considered "evil" in any art of ancient Egypt I've ever seen.

Second, the ancient Egyptian spoken language is not a proto-arabic, and in fact Arabic wasn't adopted as the language of Egypt until after the dissolution of the HRE. The only real reason we have any idea what Egyptian language means is because of the rosetta stone-- and had the library of alexandria not burned then we would likely have a much more detailed record of what ancient egypt and the language was like.

Third, pyramids were actually, at one point, coated in (i believe) marble, and would have actually been stark white in appearance. These marble slabs were reclaimed by later egyptian dynasties to be used in buildings for contemporary pharaohs.

Fourth, Egypt had several dynasties, and was around for thousands of years. Its easy to think of it as a brief period of time, but the kingdom spanned several dynasties and thousands of years.

Fifth, the reason we don't have much information on some pharaohs of Egypt is because of contemporary grave robbing. Part of the reason we have so much information on king tut is because he was actually a pretty minor pharaoh, and while his tomb was broken into, its one of the most complete tombs to ever be found as well as the items held within. Tut was likely still a teenager at the time of his death, and may have been assassinated.

Sixth, the art of ancient egypt that is extremely characteristic is, in fact, a stylistic choice, and was what was generally preferred by pharaohs at the time. If you want to search for it, there are many, many paintings of Egyptian wildlife which don't match this style.

This is the geese of Meidum, a painted plaster peice found in the mastaba tomb of Nefermaat I (son of Pharaoh sneferu). While you can see the posing of the figures is similar to other Egyptian tomb paintings, this exemplifies that the egyptian style was a stylistic choice.

This is another example, the statue of Ka'aper, or Sheik el-Beled, exemplifying the stylization of 3d mediums.

Finally, Cleopatra was FAR from the only queen of Egypt. Egyptian women were considered to be highly important, and there were many Egyptian Pharaoh queens who took the throne and ruled for a long life. They were not forced to be "manly" as seems to be a common mistake in viewing sculptures of female pharaohs-- the beard that they wear is decorative and you will also see many male pharaohs wearing this decorative beard. It was merely an indication of their power as Pharaoh, much as with the red and white crowns.

[wizardsgirl25]

Religion at Work

Oncoming Rant Is Free To Ignore Have A Nice Day/Night

So four different people at work today tried to get me to come to their churches. Four different people to four different churches. And every time I said no they'd be like "But you'd like the (Insert religion) church!" And I'm just like "I never said I wouldn't. Just that I don't want to go."

"You're an atheist, aren't you?"

"No"

“Agnostic?”

“No.” “What religion are you then?”

“Polytheistic Chaos Theorist.”

“What?”

And then I would explain. I believe that all G/god(s) exist. I also believe that, outside of personal or prophetic gain, they have absolutely no shits to give about us. Every choice we make has a result, whether immediate or otherwise. There are paths we would never had walked on if not for a choice made by us or others in our lives, just as there are paths we would ALWAYS have walked on, no matter what. God or gods or both or neither, believing in them or not is a choice we all make. Whether that excludes any of us from their actions doesn’t matter either, because we’re mortal and not meant to contemplate them anyways. Mortals and Higher Beings do not mix, and the attempts most religions make in “Understanding” the G/god(s) is both baffling and vexing and terrifying for me.

You Do Not Control Them

They are Higher Beings, and Their Choices, Their Beliefs, Their Wants and Desires and Mandates, they just aren’t for us to decide.

“But the Bible says-!” Fuck the Bible. I HATE that line and the constant debate about it. It is literally a book WRITTEN BY MAN. It is no Word of God, because MAN MADE IT. MAN WROTE IT. MAN EDITED IT. Do NOT try and base you religious and moral High ground on a glorified Fables Book.

“That’s not true!” Most people say, and sure it isn’t. Sure.

But take this into consideration:

In 1631, King Charles I and Archbishop George Abbot ordered the burning/destruction of over a thousand “Wicked” Bibles. Not that they actually WERE Wicked, but they ordered them burnt because his OWN ROYAL PRINTERS had fucked up THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and put “Thou Shalt Commit Adultery” instead if “Thou Shalt NOT” in their Reprint of the King James Bible. A TYPO in the TEN COMMANDMENTS. What ELSE was changed or thrown away or decided too “Sinful” that was explained away by whichever King or Church decided to rename/rewrite the Bible?

The Bible is a TRANSLATED WORK. And EVERYONE knows that Translations almost NEVER come out right. There’s usually a misuse of grammar or sentence structure, or the translator doesn’t know WHICH version of whatever word is being used so they Pick Which On SEEMS best.

There is a single quote that is often used that I’ll use now as example.

“Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Witch To Live” (’A Witch’ has also been seen as ‘a sorceress’, ‘a seductress’, ‘a/the devil’, and a few other variations, all of which usually pertain toe Woman Who Does Something You Don’t Like/Agree With And So Should Die. -_-)

Now, many of you will probably recognize this due to some for of fiction using it in reference to someone using magic. Well, here’s a bit of fact: the original, non-translated version of the Bible didn’t say Witch. King James himself, (Who wrote the King James version) was extremely afraid of witches and pagans, and CHANGED the original text to serve his own purposes.The original line was “Thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live.” Which means murderer. Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Murderer To Live.

In the original Hebrew manuscript, the author used the word m’khashepah to describe the person who should be killed. The word means: a woman who uses spoken spells to harm others – e.g. causing their death or loss of property. Clearly “evil sorceress” or “woman who does evil magic” would be the most accurate phrases in today’s English usage for this verse.

(Because according to the Bible (Almost All versions of it, Even!) Women are the Root of All Evil. Curse you vagina, how dare you not be a penis and therefore holy! -_-)

Don’t even get me STARTED on the various studies and multiple translations that happened BEFORE we managed to get one in English and sum up Murder as Woman.

Also, don’t get me started in that stupid as fuck “Adam and Eve, Not Adam and Steve!” Bullshit, b/c I will point out it was technically Adam and Lilith first, and that the Bible also says anyone under 7 is exempt of Judgement and all Liars go to Hell. It also says that wearing two different kinds of plant fibers is sinful (Sorry clothes, you’re evil, to the Nudist colony, away~!), that eating certain kinds of meat on certain days or at all is sinful, that it’s perfectly okay (According to the bible) To have more than one wife and that you can beat them to death and it’s legal. It’s also perfectly fine to murder people in cold blood as long as you can say that they were the devil or were trying to coax you to the devil.

Oh, and let’s not forget the Crusades, while we’re at it!

“I will slaughter hundreds of thousands civillian men, women, and children, rape whatever I want, steal whatever I want, Do whatever I want, because I am here in the name of God, huzzah!” Yeah, that was a thing.

“But most of that is based around Christian/Catholic religions! I’m not that!” Do you put more faith in the words on paper than in your own mind or even bother to wonder exactly what has been changed in that book?

Yes, most of this pertains to only a specific edge of Religion, and that’s because they are all teh Pushiest mother fuckers I have EVER had to deal with. I have seen and met Good Christians and Good Catholics but HEAVEN AND HELL FORBID you do something they don’t like.

My grandmother, for example, is Catholic. She was Excommunicated from the Church for getting a Divorce because her husband beat her unconscious and broke several bones, IN FRONT OF THEIR THREE YOUNG CHILDREN and she is no longer welcomed in the Catholic Church. Yet, she STILL Clings to her bible and her prayers and I just look at her and can’t stop my disbelief because, I don’t care that she believes in God, good for her, but that she still believes in The Catholic Church after being so wronged.

I have seen the Protesters who declare God Hates a certain kind of people for something, and then turn around and say “Stop the Hate! God loves ALL of us! Love Thy Neighbor!” because someone does something towards a church or someone they approve of.

I just.

I am overly cynical and jaded when it comes to conformed Religion, I suppose.

I Believe in the Higher Beings, and I believe that I don’t want to do a Damn Thing to gain Their Attention. No Churches, no Bibles, no Rituals or Prayers. I will live my life following the tumble of my choices, and every parrallel universe where I exist, I hope the other Me’s are doing the same thing.

Pray and Worship however you like, just, pleas STOP trying to get me to join you. Chaos is unfettered for a reason, and Organized Religion just pisses me off now a-days.

Sorry for the rant, but also not sorry.

(Also, Work is for Professionalism, NOT Religion, unless Religion IS YOUR WORK, please stop trying to convert people on the clock)