How is Kemetic Orthodoxy practiced?
Kemetic Orthodox devotion is divided into three main categories. First is the formal worship service, or the "state" ritual all members share in a formal fashion, with a trained and dedicated priesthood. These practices are best known from antiquity, due to their preservation in source material and on the walls of ancient temples. Changed only slightly over the millennia, these conservative rites are preserved by the Kemetic Orthodox priesthood as closely to original practice as possible. Illustrative of such formal rites is the Rite of the House of the Morning, a daily greeting of the sunrise, along with invocations and praise to the god and/or goddess of a particular temple or shrine, by a formally-trained priest in a formal state shrine or temple.
The second category of Kemetic Orthodox worship is "personal piety": the devotional practice of all followers, both priests and laity. The foundation of the Kemetic Orthodox Religion is a universal rite called the Senut (Shrine): every devotee, whether congregant, priest, or the Nisut, performs a daily set of prayers in an established household shrine, to communicate with and worship the gods and goddesses. While this ritual is simple in comparison to the pomp and fanfare of state rites, it is the backbone of Kemetic Orthodoxy's ritual practice, and represents its most important liturgy.
The third category of Kemetic Orthodox worship involves ancestral devotion. Akhu, or the blessed dead, are one step closer to the gods and goddesses than mortal beings. In revering and remembering our ancestors and loved ones who have passed on, they live forever. We leave offerings to our ancestors, and venerate them so that they, in turn, will protect and look kindly upon us.
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