Category: quote

Your biggest challenge in life is to accept every single one of your flaws so that they cannot be used against you.
And, fuck, it’s probably one of the hardest things to do.
Because to accept your flaws is to love yourself completely.

It is to be independent enough to not need another soul to tell you how lovely every inch of you is because you do not need to hear those words to feel good about yourself.
It is being confident enough to accept when another soul has something negative to say about an inch of you, because you know it will not change the fact that you love your every inch and that their opinion is just that.
An opinion. 
It is feeling happy enough to dance around in the streets without a care in the world and ignore the dozen people staring at you, wearing all kinds of expressions, because what they think of you does not matter and will not change how you feel about yourself.
It doesn’t matter if you have their approval or not, because the world will continue on spinning and the sun will continue to rise and you will continue on living.

So start now. 
Start loving that every inch and embrase those beautiful imperfections.
Embrace those blemishes and those scars that hold memories.

But more importantly: Show the world that their opinion does not matter and that they will not shatter that unbreakable bond between you and your body.
Show them that your skin is as thick as your heart is big and that their words – however positive or negative – will not get through because you have no desire to hear them nor do you need them.
And show them that you will not give them the satisfaction of breaking you apart.

Love yourself in this world of peril (via infinite-shades-of-ocean-blue)

Praise Set, Bringer of Storms, He Who Enjoys Riot, may He always be present in my life.

Blessed Set, He of the Red Hair, King of the Desert, Son of Geb and Father of Anup, may He guide me and protect me, teaching how to See for others who cannot.

I praise thee, O mighty and ever-lasting God, and thank You for my life. I have equipped myself like You, great in strength, Defeater of Darkness.

Praise Set, I thank You, God in my Heart, who taught me how to preserve the force of mind.

He has taught me perseverance and strength, and alongside Him nothing shall prevail that works against me, nothing ceases that I put in motion.

Praise our Lord of the Heavens and Earth! Praise the Lord of the Oasis, the beautiful child of Ra! Praise Set, He who disregards the law!

Mighty Set, Lord of Storms,
Who slays Apep,
No evil may stand before You.
(via childofthedesertstorm)

At the end of the day it’s important to remember that offerings are not meant to be a status symbol. They are meant to perpetuate ma’at, and to nourish the gods and yourself. Whatever you can do that embodies that is a good offering.

(via thetwistedrope)

Seth is most famous for the fratricide of his brother Osiris and the attempted murder of his brother’s son, Horus. Horus survived though and avenged his father’s death by ruling all of Egypt and exiling Seth to the desert for all time. The decision to banish Seth came from a counsel of the gods, ruled by Re. While most of the gods agreed with Horus and his mother Isis that Osiris’ son was the rightful heir to the throne of Egypt, Re disagreed. He believed that Horus was too young to hold such a powerful position. Thus, the trial was stalemated for many years. Only the cunning of Isis could bring the case to an end.

Using her magic, Isis transformed herself into a beautiful young woman. Seth saw her with tears streaming down her face and asked what the matter was. Isis told a story not unlike the situation of herself and Horus, where an evil man had killed her husband and was trying to steal her family’s flocks. Seth became angry at her plight and insisted that the evil man be destroyed and that the young woman’s son should inherit the family’s estate. By his own words, Seth condemned himself, and lost the throne of Egypt.

http://egyptianmyths.net/seth.htm

The concept of reciprocity is also found in the royal texts, showing its acceptance as a central moral concept throughout Kemetic society. Thus, Thutmose 111 says: “The recompense of him who does excellent things is a reward for him of things more excellent than they”. This is an interesting assertion for it goes beyond simple equal return and suggests God gives more good than the good that is done. Such an assertion posits a concept of God as both merciful and generous in his reciprocity. Hatshepsut speaks of her devotion to and deeds for Amen Ra and then says, “He made me rule the Black Land and the Red Land as a reward … I am his daughter in truth who serves him and knows what he has ordained.

Ma’at, the Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt by Karenga
(via smarmychristopagan)

“
it goes beyond simple equal return and suggests God gives more
good than the good that is done. Such an assertion posits a concept of
God as both merciful and generous in his reciprocity”

sometimes i think they missed that memo

The royal rituals tended to be directed toward three basic goals: I) to give God that which he wills, wishes, loves and that by which he lives; 2) to reciprocate the good, especially life, that is given; and 3) through these and the ethical practice that undergirds them, establish and reaffirm legitimacy of rule. As noted above, it is in the Coffin Texts in the Middle Kingdom that Maat is linked to life. It is in the conversation of Nun and the Creator in his name of Atum. In this dialog, Nun says to the Creator that he should kiss and nourish himself with Maat and “put her to your nose that your heart may live”. This concept of breathing Maat or of Maat being the breath of life is reaffirmed in Khunanpu’s classic statement that “doing Maat is breath to the nose”.

Ma’at, the Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt by Karenga
(via into-strange-skies)

Anup takes his coffee black, almost to the point of boiling.
he exhales steam and straightens his tie, as dark as the crypts he once tended to. judgement begs formalities.
so gold dust settles on his eyelids, shimmering under the delicate touch of a make-up brush, contrasting charcoal irises.

(how does your heart weigh?)

in a modern age, even the gods must adapt,
and the local cemetery remains a sanctuary for the blessed dead.
he ghosts through existence, cleaning off headstones, just a shadow at the edge of the peripheral. he likes it that way.
balanced between life and death, he smiles divine, teeth skeleton-white,
holding your fate cupped in his hands.

(your heart is heavy, isn’t it?)

(we’ll find out)

a.r. – “Undertaker” (via blackcatwalking)

There are gods, who if they catch you groveling at you will scoff in your face. There are gods who abhor worship. There are gods who don’t even require offerings to fulfill requests. There are gods who will tell you to save your food offerings for a starving mortal. There are gods with flaws that give them depth. There are gods who want their authority to be challenged. There are gods who want you to catch them in a lie to prove how discerning you are. There are tricksters and thieves and warriors and oath-takers and deal-makers, and all kinds of gods who prefer getting down in the mud with humans, getting their hands dirty. Gods who require no intercession.

Me, in “Unlearning Western Religion” April 17, 2016  (via bodaciousbanshee)

This is exactly why I love the deities that I do, and why I respect them. I am not interested in gods that are perfect, for I cannot relate to perfection. Show me your flaws and the ways you’ve overcome them, show me you understand the human condition.

(via felis-praecantrix)

Together with this aspect Seth seems to have represented to the Egyptians a trickster, who knows his importance, plays with it (walks on the edge), threatens, and makes fun of the common law and judiciary system, both deceitful and lustful with his flawed ambition and all too human desires. On this level, one might consider regarding Seth as a symbol of the flawed human being, the feeling illogical. In fact, Lawrence E. Sullivan asserts that the trickster is a symbol of the human condition (1987: 45). The appeal of the unruly deity Seth might be in the fact that he justifies the negativity in human nature. Everybody secretly wants to be like Seth and wreak some occasional havoc. Furthermore, thinking of the opposites good and evil, which, in Egyptian mythology is personified either by Osiris and Seth, or Horus and Seth, are aspects that merge in the king … The pharaoh is the one in whom both lords are at peace. Only the divine king is capable of using both aspects appropriately.

– Rikala, M. 2007, Once More with Feeling: Seth the Divine Trickster, p. 235

Original article: http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/set.html#.WBAjefkrJdg#ixzz4O9w18O3m
© Caroline Seawright

(via the-typhonian)