Warning: Heavy UPG Incoming
Feel free to debate the finer points on this, as I am a newbie to Kemeticism (not a recon?) and, well, Set.
Set definitely gets a bad rap that is undeserved. As the remover of isfet, it’s conqueror, he often mistakenly gets treated as the source of it. This comes from both the Greeks politically equating him with their Typhon to symbolically remove his ability to cast off invaders (as Typhon is defeated by Zeus, who is chief of the Greek pantheon, so they hoped that Zeus could defeat Set— also the syncretism was something frequently discounted by less hellenized Egyptians, as with the Theban Devotee, who scoffed at it and was quite proud to be Set’s standard bearer), and an epithet of his- “Lord of Isfet”. This is statement of pwnage to the worm and its corrupted creatures— not a statement that he is one of them. It is a statement that he is Master and they will depart at his command or they will be destroyed.
His chaos is khenenu, which is perfectly within Ma’at, divine uproar– and he is Shed and Shed-Kheru— the Savior and the maker of Khenenu. Divine uproar does not seek to harm anything but the wicked. Set can also be very gentle– he has a myth cycle with Horit and Djehuty involving the Tale of the Far Goddess with a beautiful mystery attached to it. In ancient times the Prophet of Set in the temple of Amun was consulted by the medjayu, the police, and in that he was considered a force of great good. He is frequently the defender of the wretched and the wronged, those that must confront their fears and fight isfet in the small scale directly- soldiers, the police, etc.
Don’t be afraid of him. He is not a God you need to fear. His heart is very big and very soft. He cries when Anat loses her temper with him and slaps him, so pitiful she drags him off to Anpu to look at his face. In his Northern heaven is the tree on which the Bas of the gods sit and sing. He’s half of the ladder of heaven. And I could probably go on singing his praises forever lol…
If you want to speak more about Set, I have oodles to say and things to show you- just message me.
This comment, I like it. Therefore, I’m going to reblog it.
And to the OP, as far as I can tell, Sutekh showed up in my life to help me deal with my anxiety issues. I’m not even sure if he’ll stick around once he deems I’m coping sufficiently well. And honestly, IDK what he gets out of this deal.
It’s pure speculation, but, well, I think of my anxiety as pretty isfetful, so battling it, and doing things despite anxiety is, therefore, ma’atful. And I kind of wonder if it’s a particular sort of ma’atfulness that Sutekh especially can benefit from, given his role battling and defeating the most isfetful thing there is, A/pep. Like I don’t even know if ma’at can work that way, like if ma’atful acts can benefit one Deity more than others because of the type of action it is, but it offers me some kind of explanation why Sutekh would show up just to help with my anxiety.
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Goldnwulf 