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Mfundishi Jhutyms
Black Gods of Kemet
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Netjers of Ancient Kemet
Tuamutef
"Praising his mother" One of the "Four Sons of Heru" depicted in funerary literature as protecting the throne of Wesir in the Underworld, Duamutef is depicted as a jackal-headed mummified human on funerary furniture and especially the "canopic" jars which held the organs of the deceased (Duamutef's jar held the stomach). Later Hermetic philosophers would equate Duamutef with the element of earth because of his association with the funerary protectress Nit and the direction of north.
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Heru-Em- Akhet
"Heru-in-the-Horizon" Heru-em-Akhet is not truly a Name of Netjer, but a divinized persona specifically applied to the great Sphinx stationed before the second pyramid (Khafre) at modern-day Giza. As protector of the Old Kingdom necropolis, Heru-em-Akhet sits facing the dawn and the Nile, watching that no one disturbs the rest of his masters, with his human head and lion body on a much grander scale than any other sphinx known to Kemet. The name also alludes to the presence of the king (Heru) inside the pyramid (more often than not called a horizon, symbolizing the death implicit in sunset and the rebirth implicit in sunrise). the animals Kemet's people feared most: crocodile snout and head, feline claws and front, and a hippopotamus body and back legs. Ammit is also sometimes referred to as "Great of Death," and papyri depict Her patiently watching Yinepu weighing a man's heart against the feather of Ma'at.
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Ammit
(Am-mut) - "Dead-Swallower" Stationed just to the side of the scales in the Hall of Double Truth [see Ma'at], Ammit's function is to await the postmortem judgment of a soul (envisioned as the deceased's heart being weighed on a scale against the feather of Ma'at) and then, if the soul fails the test, Ammit snatches up the heart and devours it, causing the soul to cease to exist. As the ultimate punishment of the wicked, Ammit is depicted as a hideous composite of the animals Kemet's people feared most: crocodile snout and head, feline claws and front, and a hippopotamus body and back legs. Ammit is also sometimes referred to as "Great of Death," and papyri depict Her patiently watching Yinepu weighing a man's heart against the feather of Ma'at.
ApepÂ
While outside of the creation of Tem and thus technically not a part of Netjer, Apep is yet a part of the universe; that part which constantly seeks its dissolution and destruction. Apep is characterized as an "evil serpent"in some texts, but it must be remembered that for Kemetics this is not a personalized evil, such as the Christian or Islamic concepts of "devil." Apep's birthday and New Year's day are marked by the performance of execration rituals to stave off "random acts of Apep" during the subsequent year. It is stated in more than one text that "Apep" is not Its actual Name, but while many other names are given for Apep, none is acknowledged to be the "true" one, possibly to avoid attracting the attention of this extremely powerful Presence.
Djehuty
Other Names:
Tehuti, Thoth
(Tehuti; G/R Thoth) - "Leader (derivative form)" Ibis-headed Lord of Time, Writing and Wisdom, Djehuty is said to have invented the hieroglyphic script and negotiated five extra days from the moon in order to perfect the 365-day year. As a result of these mythological connections, Djehuty is the patron of writers, teachers, accountants and all persons involved in the dissemination of knowledge, writing and/or calculation. His consorts are alternately Ma'at, Netjeret of Truth and Order; or Seshat, patroness of recordkeeping, libraries and the foundation of buildings.
Djehuty is the nominal head of the Ogdoad (group of eight Names of Netjer) honored at the city of Khemenu (Hermopolis of the Greeks), overseeing four pairs of natural syzygies: Eternity (Heh/Hehet), Darkness (Kek/Keket), Water/Potentiality (Nun/Nunet) and Wind/Hiddenness (Amen/Amenet). Along with the ibis, Djehuty is associated with baboons of the genus Cynocephalis, which the ancients observed raising their hands and "singing" to the rising sun; He stands at the side of the scales in the Hall of Two Truths to record the verdict which Yinepu delivers after weighing the deceased's heart against the feather of Ma'at.
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Ptah
"Creator" Great Name of Netjer of Mennefer (G/R Memphis), the capital of the dual Kemetic state for most of its history, Ptah is depicted as a mummified man wearing a skullcap and bearing the symbols of life, power and stability (ankh, was, djed) in his unfettered arms, standing on the plinth which is part of Ma'at's hieroglyphic name and was used as a straightedge by stonemasons and architects. Ptah is sometimes seen as an abstract form of the Self-Created One, Who effected creation through the actions of His heart (identified with Her-wer) and His tongue (identified with Djehuty), and Who "set all the Netjeru in their places and gave all things the breath of life." As a creator (and more directly involved with the physical act of creating than either Ra or Tem), Ptah is intimately connected with the plastic arts and especially with architecture and stonemasonry, and is patron of sculptors, painters, builders and carpenters, as well as anyone who creates with his or her hands. The transit which was the stock tool of masons, and the title of Ptah's High Priest, "Master Builder," would centuries later be picked up by a pseudo-Egyptian Western fraternal organization known to the world simply as Masonry.