Dear Sebai MAA
What is the importance of the postures and why have you said previously that in Neterian Religion the practitioner, the initiate is supposed to discover the powers of the gods and goddesses?
Hotep
Udja,
How shall we explain the nature of tjef neteru, through academic erudition, philosophical complexity, extemporaneous prose, or with lyrical rhyme? All of these may be needed to do the teaching justice and thus, as the neteru (gods and goddesses) may lead to the transcendental Neter (the supreme Divinity), we may, through these literary formats, also lead to understanding of the grandeur of the fullness of their higher meaning. In the practice of Neterian mysticism (mysticism here refers to spiritual practice beyond religion) the study and shems (following) of the neteru (gods and goddesses) really means discovering their essential nature that already exists in the universe and within ourselves. What does this truly mean though? Their iconographies and amulets help us to perceive their teaching. Their myths help us to understand their philosophies. But emulating their actions helps us to learn to discern and feel their power, thereby perceiving their Shetau Akhet – the essence behind the hidden properties which sustain matter, the nature of manifest being.
This is the cosmic force aspect of the neteru. We are to discover their power but not simply as objects that exist in the universe or forces that operate independently from our own existence but rather as preexisting features of our nature which have been forgotten due to distraction and ignorance; forces that exist throughout the expanse of time and space and also interpenetrate matter, including our bodies and minds.
However, most people use air to breathe even though not thinking of it. One uses sunlight for life even though one does not acknowledge it. If one were to use air marginally one would gain needed oxygen to survive but if one were to use air dynamically, with metaphysical wisdom and sagely emulation, one could amass great subtle energy, sekhem. Likewise the cosmic forces, the neteru, are being used but not in an advanced manner by most people.
The lower practice involves physical health and alignment with the mythic history of the neteru. In an advanced ideal the practice of the postures of the gods and goddesses should lead to, not possession by those forces of one’s personality, but rather a discovery of their essential nature leading to the access of their nature in oneself, thereby adding to one’s knowledge of self. In the Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts this is referred to as “consumption of the gods and goddesses”.
Like when consuming food, which upon its consumption becomes assimilated and literally becomes part of the body, so too when a neteru is consumed, truly assimilated, that principle becomes effectively discovered and manifest in the personality. To discover is to experience, (in this advanced meaning of the term) and to experience is to know.
If a sufficient number of such assimilations (gaining the knowledge of certain neteru and a sufficient number of neteru) were effective, such a personality would discover their Neberdjer nature; that is, their all-encompassing higher consciousness state.
And that is the higher perspective of the practice of Tjef Neteru, the practice of emulating the movements of the gods and goddesses; to be like them is to move as they move, to look as they look, to sound as they sound and to think and feel as they do. Then, having discovered the neteru, the divine parts of the personality, there is nothing left to be achieved, nothing unsaid, nothing to feel sorrow about and nothing to feel happy about; for, discovering these ways, is to discover essential being beyond the mortal self. Rather, it is something to feel peaceful about and that is a joy that happiness cannot bring nor abide. This is the long sought after wellspring of joy that humanity truly desires but which eludes it at every turn, via worldly enjoyments and or accomplishments that by definition cannot abide, for death washes the world away.
For to discover htp, peace, is beyond acting like the mortal self, for the mortal self will always be miserable, for in the state of mortal self there is always the little voice that whispers, like the song of the Harper, “you cannot linger upon earth forever….” Thus not being able to linger in physical existence, and eventually facing death, nor understanding nor knowing the mystery beyond or the ways of the postures or the feeling, sound, look nor feel of that which is ever-present and yet ever veiled, the soul cries and suffers and drowning in the pit, it torments the Ka (mind), the Ka torments the Khat (body) and the Khat is a torment to the Ren (name-identity) such is the source of misery, identification with the personality; for the mind controls the body and body is the bane of name, the personality, when one knows oneself as the personality of worldly name. Thus, know your name is not whatever you are called! Know it as each neteru. Then know your name as the whole of neteru, which is greater than the sum of its parts, i.e. Nbrdjr.
And this grand achievement is the denial of death, the triumph over life and the achievement of the throne. Oh, Heru they call such a one, master of above and below, that one it is!
This is the legacy of the priesthood, the gift of the neteru, the wisdom of Khepri, the giver of shetitu (Neterian philosophy).
Take it, use it, live it, in Ankh, Udja, Senab. Life, Vitality and Health!!!
To find books, tapes and videos by Muata Ashby on this subgect go here:
http://www.egyptianyoga.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=postu&x=0&y=0