The Order of Denderah

[jayhenry]

So it looks like she's saying that her parents do not belong to the Order of Denderah. I figure we could use a thread in the religion section to discuss. If mods would prefer to keep this in the "Learn to Drive" vid, that's fine with me, but I think it merits its own thread here.

Denderah appears to be related to Egyptian Mysticism. Crowley states that he founded Thelema after a mystical experience in Cairo. Interestingly, Mesh Flinder's real life mother has written books on mysticism as well.

As has been observed, the picture on Bree's wall is a picture of Crowley posing as a Tarot card.

From what I can tell, the Order of Denderah doesn't appear to be an actual designation within any Thelemic or Mystical orders. This suggests to me that Bree practices a fictionalized Thelemic Mysticism.

[graverubber]

Dendera
At Dendera Aset and HetHert are both honored. There is a small temple to Aset on the precinct where her birth is consecrated and inside the main temple of HetHert is a chapel which is called the 'place of birth'. The Five Epagomenal Days are represented with depictions of the respective deites on the southeast columns of New Year´s Kiosk located on the roof of the temple at Dendera:
[the fourth] of the Epagomenal Days the beautiful day of the night of the child in the nest, great feast in all the land'.

from www.philae.nu/philae/AsetFestivals.html


ETA:

oct 12th corresponds to the end of the Opet festival

Daily Devotions from Her Holiness
Nisut Hekatawy I (ankh udja seneb)
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
(Year 13, Hethert - III Akhet 7)

Bless all the children of Netjer, known and unknown!
May your coming be peaceful.

Opet Festival, Day 10

The day before the end of Opet, we ready the gifts and the offerings of food and every other good thing to celebrate with. Opet's end is Saq-Amun-em-Opet, a procession of Amun, and a big festival. Enjoy this day and honor the King of the Gods with great rejoicing!

In the quiet of your shrine today, think about something you would like to do in your life that you could use the gods and goddesses' help on. Tell it to the Holy Family -- tell Amun-Ra, Mut and Khonsu, and ask for Their help and blessing in your endeavor. Then watch as your success is golden.

Pray in Their names for all that you need at this special time of year, and have a wonderful end of Opet.

from daily.kemet.org/archives/archive-102005.html

also, here's a picture of the temple of hathor at denderah
tinyurl.com/kwqjm

[jamfind]

I wanted to reply to Lurker15 that Crowley was the link.
I would agree with graverubber that the Dendera zodiac, Tarot and Crowley are related and significant in rituals, etc.

I would also agree with jayhenry that because of the secretive nature of Thelema, the creators may be building a religious sect for Bree with elements from O.T.O. and Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.), which is

the ecclesiastical arm of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.). The E.G.C. is a Thelemic religious environment, dedicated to the advancement of Light, Life, Love, and Liberty through alignment with the Law of Thelema.

oto-usa.org/egc.html.

Because Daniel criticized her religion, but didn't come right out and say it was evil and cult-like, I tend to go with the O.T.O./E.G.C connection, which can be mainstream and yet very strict and secretive.

[noasinger]

jayhenry said:

Denderah appears to be related to Egyptian Mysticism. Crowley states that he founded Thelema after a mystical experience in Cairo. Interestingly, Mesh Flinder's real life mother has written books on mysticism as well.

Emphasis added. This to me is another strong argument that Bree's religion perhaps shouldn't be interpreted as dark and malevolent.

[trash180]

It kinda takes the danger element out of it though doesn't it? I'm not sure why that's disappointing to me. ha.

[graverubber]

i think the whole dark malevolent interpretation is to be expected by those not in the know, but once you look into it a bit it becomes clear that THELEMA, et c. are not wicked creeds that need to be demonized and to be fearful of. mysticism is something that is at the core of all great faiths.

[jayhenry]

trash180 said:

It kinda takes the danger element out of it though doesn't it? I'm not sure why that's disappointing to me. ha.

They're going out of their way, however, to show that Daniel is still concerned about Bree. Concerned that she doesn't know what she's getting into. That, while they're friends, he's concerned about the faith, the pills she's taking, etc... It's more like DeGrassi High, PG-13 dangerous.

So I wouldn't say that the danger element is completely removed, although it's looking increasingly unlikely that she'll be a virgin sacrifice.

graverubber said:

oct 12th corresponds to the end of the Opet festival

10/12/06 is the actual date of a religious ceremony in this religion? If that's the case, it looks like the creators actually have done their research... but do they actually have the "purity bond"

Edit: It looks like this religion is actually called Kemetic Orthodoxy.

[sunshinerage]

There's also this article about an "ancient light bulb" depicted in the Temple of Denderah.

www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/Denderahlightbulb.html

Daumas has suggested that the sacred procession which was held on the eve of the first day of the New Year, began in these rooms. Thus the inscriptions represented the myth which was being celebrated. Of course, the myths have nothing to say regarding lightbulbs, and there is no evidence to substantiate their use from Egyptian remains or text. This is fairly damning as the building of huge stone monuments required the maintenance of detailed and thorough accounts, but no record of any electric devices or the movement of raw materials to create them.Some are still unwilling to entirely give up on the idea. Instead of claiming that the Egyptians used light bulbs under normal conditions, they suggest that the priests performed a ritual which created a small amount of light during the New Year celebrations. Proponents claim that the reliefs describe a three stage process; first the 'bulb' is supported by a kneeling figure making three 'waves' emanate from the serpent, then the 'bulb' is supported by a Djed pillar making four 'waves' emanate from the serpent, finally the 'bulb' is placed against a vertical Djed pillar causing five waves to emanate from the serpents body. The waves are thought to be evidence of a vibratory process increasing in frequency as the scenes progress.

This page, www.goldenageproject.org.uk/169calendar.html, also has a picture of a Calendar of Denderah with interesting connections:

Because of precession of the equinoxes this calendar refers to a date of between 10,950 and 8800 B.C., 19 and corresponds to the period in which the Sphinx was eroded by water, the pyramids of Giza were built in perfect alignment with the constellation, Orion, and the mastodons and American horse and camel disappeared. It also corresponds to the date Atlantis was submerged.

Also, apparently this temple is somehow related to the 2nd chakra (located in the back, abdomen, and sexual organs). It's all about the sex.

An intersting connection I've found is that both the Maori (of NZ) and Denderitic calendars have that whole "we're all going to die" prediction for 2012.

Also, let it be known that Hathor was the Divine Prostitute (and it wasn't considered a bad thing), so Bree's shot in the arm might have been... birth control?

There is both a baboon (although not purple ) and a frog depicted on various carvings on different walls of the temple.

Also, apparenetly Hathor "tasted the blood of men and found it sweet".

AHA!

And here we are:

"The Blood Ritual" is also a ritual created by L. Ron Hubbard that invokes the Egyptian goddess Hathor.

Old L. Ron was friends with admired... guess who? Mr.
Crowley.

After more research, I've discovered that Crowley thought Mr. Hubbard was a loon. However, there IS a nice connection here between the Crowley and a "blood ritual" (and I think the blood is important because of the iron pills) involving Hathor.

[noasinger]

sunshinerage said:

An intersting connection I've found is that both the Maori (of NZ) and Denderitic calendars have that whole "we're all going to die" prediction for 2012.

The Mayans also zeroed in on some sort of magical paradigm shift (the end of the current Cycle of Creation into the next)around this time as well. I believe the Mayan date is variously interpreted as falling on or about October 28, 2011 or December 21, 2012.


I'll also note again that while we as Americans of course, and rightfully look at the use of minors in sexual rituals as a dodgy issue, modern versions of blood rituals are usually undertaken with scrupulous care for the safety of the donor.

Dunno where they're going with this in lonelygirl15, but I also don't want to see people going off onto paranoid rants like we're seeing on the Phorum.

[curiousgeorge]

noasinger said:

but I also don't want to see people going off onto paranoid rants like we're seeing on the Phorum.

Word.

I think the Creators have shown that they will push the envelope a little without crossing "the line". The whole "she who will not be named" fiasco alerted them to the potential liability of going over the line. They stepped up to the plate, albeit belatedly, like they should have. With an attorney on staff as a major partner, I doubt they will do anything to shoot themselves in the foot...

I think a lot can be done to keep the story edgy and still stay in bounds, as it were. A shout out to Vanilla: Look what DL did on network TV!

[whatver]

graverubber said:

oct 12th corresponds to the end of the Opet festival

Daily Devotions from Her Holiness
Nisut Hekatawy I (ankh udja seneb)
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
(Year 13, Hethert - III Akhet 7)

Bless all the children of Netjer, known and unknown!
May your coming be peaceful.

Opet Festival, Day 10

The day before the end of Opet, we ready the gifts and the offerings of food and every other good thing to celebrate with. Opet's end is Saq-Amun-em-Opet, a procession of Amun, and a big festival. Enjoy this day and honor the King of the Gods with great rejoicing!

(snip)

from daily.kemet.org/archives/archive-102005.html

Just to clarify, the 12th of October, 2005 was the next to last day of the Opet festival. Not the last day. That would have been the 13th. It's a little confusing in the cite, but if you read it carefully you'll see that the 12th is the day they prepare stuff, not the day of the big festival. Also, because the ancient egyptian calendar doesn't map quite precisely to ours the dates may not be the same this year. Plus, what is the Opet festival, how are the dates determined? Wiki helps with the "what" part: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opet_Festival

Ah (or perhaps I should say AHA!), today's Daily Devotion (front page of daily.kemet.org/) mentions this year's Opet festival but it's a little unclear what it's actually saying: "Many gods are about today and tomorrow at the New Moon preceding the Equinox on Saturday we also begin the great festival of Opet, marriage feast of Amun-Ra and Mut and the birthday of the kingly ka." It suggests that this year's Opet is about to begin and if that's the case, and it's 11 days long, it won't be ending on 10/12/06.

I don't think there's any useful info here re: LG15, but that is one heck of a kooky website you found! And I mean kooky in the most loving of ways, being a bit of a kook myself.

[dharmabum420]

sunshinerage said:

Also, let it be known that Hathor was the Divine Prostitute (and it wasn't considered a bad thing), so Bree's shot in the arm might have been... birth control?

Unlikely, if they've done their research; Depo-Provera, the injectable birth control method, is only a monthly shot, and Bree seems to be getting them on at least a weekly basis.

[jayhenry]

dharmabum420 said:

Unlikely, if they've done their research; Depo-Provera, the injectable birth control method, is only a monthly shot, and Bree seems to be getting them on at least a weekly basis.

I'm fairly sure Bree only got a shot once so far.

[hyemew]

Well why would she get a birth control shot before their first kiss? I mean come on people don't even consider it...

[Tempestarii]

Sun, I find I disagree with some points in your comment,

"After more research, I've discovered that Crowley thought Mr. Hubbard was a loon. However, there IS a nice connection here between the Crowley and a "blood ritual"

In Liber 777 Crowley creates a correspondance link to about every deity, demon, thoughtform, scent, colour, planet and path (minus Keltoi) going.

2) If Bree is practicing the work involved in the ritual she would be well aware of sexual work involved

3) The Rolling Stones admired Crowley as did many other rock groups, we have not linked them yet

4) The Egyptian deities would be displayed on a stele on her 'shrine', not him

5) "and I think the blood is important because of the iron pills"...........I may have missed some thread here, but since when is iron content important in ritualistic blood letting?

Blood letting comes down to four major factors:

To give the evoked spirit something to materialise in (one of AC's initiation rites was to use incense for a spirit to become visible in)

To offer pain and personal suffering as a symbol of your devotion or need. This may include feeding work with physical pain or personal revulsion.

To personalise sigils or spellwork with your own essence

And in groups of ancestral worship, to offer life.

This is disregarding the subject of life sacrifice and merely focusing on blood letting.