I could call this post many things. For instance, the above, or perhaps “The prelude.” “The opening act.” Or better yet, “The overture.”

Once upon a time, early in the history of this blog, one poster said that Isis didn’t exist. And he was quite adamant that She didn’t exist and that I was being misled. Well, how would he know? If he wasn’t open to Her presence, maybe She wouldn’t choose to reveal Herself to just anyone. I know I don’t.

So this is the story of how my mind was opened.

 

Twelve years and two days ago, my husband and I went to a museum — specifically, the Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science in Tallahassee, which, sadly, doesn’t exist anymore. My husband had mentioned that this museum was having an Egyptian exhibit, and he knows I love Egypt stuff, so he asked me if I wanted to go. And I said yes (probably it was more like, “Oh yeah, definitely!”). And so we went.

And if that had been all there were to it, it would still have been quite a memorable and lovely time. The exhibit, mind you, featured replicas, not the originals, and there was a very good reason for that. The originals circulated the country in the 1960s (and possibly later) — I know because my mother saw them in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that go-round. (She was also very interested in ancient Egypt; I think I get it from her.) Sadly, the artifacts were much abused when they traveled the country back then (mind you, I don’t think my mother had anything to do with that part of it); hence, the replicas this time. And I knew they were replicas — at least I knew it in my head. On some other level, however, something else was going on.

So there I was, and unfortunately, if you and I were ever to go on a museum trip, you would soon learn that I am the SLOWEST reader in existence, and of course I HAD TO  read each placard, very carefully, ponder the object, maybe read the placard again…My husband probably finished the entire exhibit in the time it took me to go through the first room. And at some point I became conscious of the time I was taking, so I quickly scanned the rest of the exhibit, trying to determine how much I had left to explore.

And BOOM. There it was, sticking out maybe two feet above everything else, possibly the most majestic, awe-inspiring thing I had ever seen: the outer mummiform coffin of Tutankhamun. It was rather conspicuous, because it was covered in shining gold (perhaps gold leaf or maybe even gold paint; my husband is the artist and could have told me which, had I asked him at the time). And I stared.

And stared.

And I kept on staring. I just couldn’t take my eyes off it. I was overwhelmed with awe. Eventually my feelings shifted, and I was highly motivated to make quick work of the rest of the room so I could get to that coffin, which lay beyond. My diary entry for the day has this sentence in it:

A strong emotional feeling washed over me, again awe, and I actually found my eyes tearing up.

I’m not sure if that was at the coffin or just in general, but something was going on in me, a feeling I couldn’t explain (“awe” was the closest feeling I could think of at the time, but if I had been deadly honest at the time, it was only the closest, not the exact thing).

Again, I spent the day periodically reminding myself that THESE WERE JUST REPLICAS. But that part of my brain that had been gobsmacked just wouldn’t stop.

A few days later, I was on Ask.com, posing the question, “Does anyone still believe in the religion of ancient Egypt?” And that’s how I found the Kemetics. And the rest is history.

So I guess, three months later, when Aset, Hathor and Nephthys visited me, They found a receptive mind. I was still blown away when They showed up — don’t let me fool you; reading that deities are believed in and experiencing Their presence for oneself are two very different things.

Or maybe that’s what was going on at the museum; maybe, just maybe, I was experiencing Their presence for the very first time. Maybe there was an open statue on the premises; I didn’t think so (my priestess asked me), but how would I have known for sure? (An open statue is one which has had The Opening of the Mouth Ceremony performed on it. This invokes the direct presence of the Deity involved and, I’m told, should be done only with particular care and knowledge of what you’re getting into, because the statue then becomes an obligation that must be tended to every day.)

(Also, why would you open a fake? Again, I have no idea; I’m just throwing out possibilities.)

So in case you were wondering how exactly does one become open to the idea of the Egyptian gods really existing, that’s how it happened for me.

Have you had any similar experiences that you couldn’t explain? If so, please feel free to share them in the comments.