Camarilla and RPGing-related Photo Albums - Photos from Kate's Birthday, the Camarilla Premium Weekend 2007, My Housewarming 2007, Denz's Birthday 2007 and Costume & Other Random Photos (12th June)
Holiday-related Photo Albums - Photos from 2006 Royal Melbourne Show, 2006 Australian Adult Industry Awards, Weird Al Concert 2007 & Queensland 2007 (12th June)
Camarilla and RPGing-related Photo Albums - Various photo galleries: Conquest 06; Noctis Personae photos - Welcome & Farewell Dinners, Vampire, Werewolf & Mage (7th May)
Melbourne Aquarium - Again, it's not a holiday, but it's a tourist destination in Melbourne! (7th May)
Camarilla and RPGing-related Photo Albums - Various photo galleries: Ryan's Birthday plus Cameron & Tom's End of the World Party; Corsetry for Goth Clubbing; Cain & Alex's Engagement plus Kryal Castle; Beach Party 06; Andrew & Jo's Birthday Party. (23rd Mar)
Camarilla and RPGing-related Photo Albums - Photos from the Melbourne game of Mage the Awakening, photos from Stewie, Nat and Jenni's housewarming & the Melbourne Premium Weekend 05 have been added to the photo album. (22nd Dec)
Camarilla and RPGing-related Photo Albums - Photos from Conclave 2005, including dinner, Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf the Forsaken and Mage the Awakening have been added to the photo album. (13th Oct)
Camarilla and RPGing-related Photo Albums - Photos of my Birthday Party, and some new Vampire the Requiem (mobile phone photos) and Werewolf the Forsaken (digital camera photos) photos have been added to the photo album. (6th July)
Camarilla and RPGing-related Photo Albums - Photos of various RPGing activities, including Conquest 2005; Adam's Bucks Party; The Flower Drum; Adelaide Requiem 2005, Kristian's Party, Paintball Bruises & Road Trip Home; Laura, Scott & Simon's Housewarming; Connor's Farewell; Camarilla Beach Outing; Mandy's B'day Party; Melbourne Requiem 2005; Christmas and NYE Parties; Conclave 2004; Noctis Personae; and RPGing or Parties. (31st March)
Round-the-World Holiday Photos - Photos from Sweden, the UK and the USA from my 2002 round the world holiday! Sorry, no journal, just the photos... (14th November)
Apep, Water Snake-Demon of Chaos, Enemy of Ra... - Apep was a demon of the underworld, in the form of a giant water snake. It was believed that he was created when Nit spat into the primeval waters of Nun. He was the enemy of the sun god, trying to stop him as he travelled on his barque through the underworld each night. He was so powerful that little could defeat him, and even then, he was back again the following evening to threaten Ra. He was a demon outside of ma'at, the opposite of order, a demon of darkness and chaos. (5th April)
Sopdet, Goddess of Sirius, New Year and Inundation... - Sopdet personified the 'dog star' Sirius. This star was the most important of the stars to the ancient Egyptians, and the heliacal rising of this star came at the time of inundation and the start of the Egyptian New Year. As a goddess of the inundation, she was a goddess of fertility. She also was linked to the pharaoh and his journey in the afterlife. (20th January)
Camarilla Road Trip to Adelaide - photos and 'journal' of my road trip to Adelaide for role playing at their Camarilla game! (January 2nd)
Mehet-Weret, Celestial Cow, Goddess of Waters, Creation and Rebirth... - Mehet-Weret was the goddess of streaming water, a goddess related to creation and to rebirth. Her name means "Great Flood" or "Great Tide", linking her with water and the primeval waters of Nun. In the Old Kingdom, she was believed to have helped the pharaoh and Ra reach the sky, by way of the Nile in the underworld. (November 16th)
Iabet, Cleanser of Ra, Personification of the East... - Iabet was the goddess of the Eastern Desert, of fertility and rebirth. She was a personification of the land of the east and was known as Khentet-Iabet (Khentet-abet), 'Before the East'. She was believed to wash the god Ra, and was linked to the rising of the sun in the east. (8th November)
Human Sacrifice in Ancient Egypt... - Human sacrifice is not generally connected with ancient Egypt. There is little evidence of human sacrifice during most of the dynastic period of ancient Egypt... but there is some evidence that it may have been practiced in the Nile Valley during the 1st Dynasty and possibly also Predynastic Egypt. (27th October)
Shai, God of Fate and Destiny... - The ancient Egyptian god of fate and destiny. He was both a personification of these concepts as well as a deity - the Egyptians believed that he was 'born' with each individual, yet he was also a god. During the New Kingdom he appeared in the Book of the Dead, shown in the judgement scene in the Halls of Ma'ati. He was a god related to birth in the world and rebirth in the underworld. (13th April)
Taikomochi or Houkan, the Male Counterpart to the Geisha... - Information about the Taikomochi, or Houkan, who are the male jesters and amusingly erotic storytellers and entertainers of Japan. There are only five of these men left in Japan... (18th March)
My Satet page has been updated with new images from Ma'at Productions. Thank you! It's good to see an Australian company promoting ancient Egypt! (28th February)
The Sons of Horus - Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef and Qebehsenuef... - The four mummiform Sons of Horus were believed to be the sons of Horus (either Horus of Khem (Letopolis), Horus the Son of Isis or Horus the Elder), deities who protected the canopic jars that held internal organs of the deceased. From the First Intermediate Period until the end of the 18th Dynasty, the stoppers of the canopic jars were shaped like the face of the deceased. After this time, the stoppers started to be depicted as the four Sons of Horus. (26th February)
Kek and Kauket, Deities of Darkness, Obscurity and Night... - The Egyptians believed that before the world was formed, there was a watery mass of dark, directionless chaos. In this chaos lived the Ogdoad of Khmunu (Hermopolis), four frog gods and four snake goddesses of chaos. Two of these deities were Kek and Kauket. The chaos existed without the light, and thus Kek and Kauket came to represent this darkness. They also symbolised obscurity, the kind of obscurity that went with darkness, and night. (17th February)
The Boddamers Hinged the Monkey - My mum comes from a small fishing village called Boddam, which is situated near Peterhead in Scotland. I've been there once when I was a child, to visit my relatives, and stayed in Peterhead this year. We did go for a drive around Boddam while there, and saw the old fishing village once again. It seems to have a wonderfully rich history, yet no-one there seems to care... (20th December)
Added some more tips on getting points and referrals to my review of EmailCash Australia! (27th November)
Christmas and my Christianity - Coming up to Christmas, there have been a lot of discussions on a message board I post at regarding Christmas and Christianity. From this, I can see why some people really dislike Christians - some are somewhat... overzealous. But, then, I've seen some of the anti-Christian posts, and they are the same. I'd like to share some of the messages that I've been posting, especially the ones that are related to Christmas, or the ones that have become a 'hot topic' on the board. (8th November)
Do You Have Egyptian Photos that I could use on my site? I would love to be able to replace some of my current images of the Egyptian deities with better ones, or to have some photos of the less well represented deities... (with the appropriate copywrite, of course!) (7th November)
I actually got a $25 cheque from EmailCash Australia once! So it really did work, and as it's still alive (over a year later), the people running the site must be doing something right! (17th October)
I have added a new Change Detection tool to this page - add your e-mail address above, and you'll be e-mailed when I change my Changes page! (30th July)
Egyptology Reference Books - A number of people have requested a list of reference books that I use to create these articles. I have quite a number of Egyptology and ancient Egyptian related books at home, a number of which I go through to get information for the articles. (23rd July)
Want to go to an anime convention in Australia? Then check out my page - MANIFEST 2002, and get ready for the Melbourne Anime Festival, at Melbourne University on the 10th & 11th of August 2002! (16th July)
Can't get to MANIFEST, but still are interested in what happens at an Australian anime convention? Have a look at the MANIFEST Group on Yahoo! Come and chat, see the pre-con hype... and the post-con photos (after the con is over)! (16th July)
Amentet, Goddess of the Dead, Personification of the West... - Amentet was the Egyptian goddess and friend of the dead, and the personification of the Land of the West, 'Amenti'. It was she who welcomed the deceased to their new dwelling place in the netherworld. She was also a goddess who helped with the rebirthing process, and thus a goddess of fertility and rebirth, who regenerated the deceased with food and water. (25th June)
New tools added to the Currency Converter page - a Time Calculator, a Meeting Convertor and a Phone Home Sheet for all those tricky international time differences! (24th June)
Heh and Hauhet, Deities of Infinity and Eternity... - The Egyptians believed that before the world was formed, there was a watery mass of dark, directionless chaos. In this chaos lived the Ogdoad of Khmunu (Hermopolis), four frog gods and four snake goddesses of chaos. Two of these deities were Heh and Hauhet. These two came to symbolise infinity. After the Egyptians believed that time began, Heh and Hauhet came to symbolise limitless time, and long life. (22nd May)
Headdresses of the Ancient Egyptian Deities... - The ancient Egyptian deities tended to each have a distinctive headdress, which can often be used to tell the gods and goddesses apart. The headdress seems to have been strongly linked to the attributes of the particular deity, giving the Egyptians a visual clue as to the powers of the god or goddess. This, then, lead to the mix up of headdresses when different deities took over the attributes and powers of another deity. To the Egyptians it made sense - they could easily tell what the god was worshiped for - but it makes things difficult to identify deities today. (24th April)
Mut, Mother Goddess of the New Kingdom, Wife of Amen, Vulture Goddess... - Mut was the mother goddess, the queen of the gods at Waset (Thebes), arising in power with the god Amen. She came to represent the Eye of Ra, the ferocious goddess of retribution and daughter of the sun god Ra. Originally a local goddess, probably from the delta area, she became a national goddess during the New Kingdom and was adored at one of the most popular festivals at the time - the Festival of Mut. (2nd April 2002)
Nehebkau, God who Joined the Ka to the Body, God of Protection and Magic... - Nehebkau, 'He Who Unites the Kas', was a benevolent snake god who the Egyptians believed was one of the original primeval gods. He was linked to the sun god, swimming around in the primeval waters before creation, then bound to the sun god when time began. He was a god of protection who protected the pharaoh and all Egyptians, both in life and in the afterlife. (26th March 2002)
Meretseger, Goddess of Punishment and Mercy, Protectress of the Necropolis Under the Peak of the West... - Meretseger was the ancient Egyptian goddess of the necropolis at Thebes. She watched over the deceased in their tombs, protecting them and their belonging from tomb robbers. She also protected the area from criminals and oath breakers, striking all those with evil intent down with snakebites or with blindness. The workmen of Deir el Medina feared her wrath, begging for her forgiveness and a cure for blindness or venomous bites, believing that she had struck them down. They believed she was a merciful goddess who would cure them if they were repentant. (19th March 2002)
Serqet, Goddess of Scorpions and Venemous Creatures, Magical Protection and the Afterlife... - Serqet was the ancient Egyptian scorpion goddess of magic. As with other dangerous goddesses, she was both a protective goddess, and one who punished the wrong doers with her burning wrath. She could punish those with the poison of a scorpion or snake, causing breathlessness and death, or she could protect against the same venom. Yet just as she could kill, she was thought to give breath to the justified dead, helping them be reborn in the afterlife. (15th March 2002)
Sobek, God of Crocodiles, Power, Protection and Fertility... - Sobek was an ancient god of crocodiles, first mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. His worship lasted till Roman times, the people of Egypt worshiping him to gain his protection and strength, or reviling him and killing the crocodiles of the area because of the evil that they could do. To his worshipers, he was a god who created the Nile, a god of fertility and rebirth, and the symbolic strength of the ruler of Egypt. (26th February 2002)
Nit, Goddess of Weaving, War, Hunting and the Red Crown, Creator Deity, Mother of Ra... - Nit was the goddess of war and weaving, the goddess of the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and the patron goddess of Zau (Sau, Sai, Sais) in the Delta. In later times she was also thought to have been an androgynous demiurge - a creation deity - who had both male and female attributes. The Egyptians believed her to be an ancient and wise goddess, to whom the other gods came if they could not resolve their own disputes. (5th February 2002)
Maahes, God of War and Protection, The Leonine Lord of Slaughter... - Maahes was the ancient Egyptian lion-god of war. Both a god of war and a guardian and a lord of the horizon. He was believed to help Ra fight against Apep in the solar barque each night, a god who protected the pharaoh while he was in battle. By Greek times, he was attributed as being a god of storms and winds. He also had links to perfumes and oils. Maahes was a god who seems to have first appeared in the New Kingdom, and is thought to have been a deity of foreign origin. (21st January 2002)
Shu, Holder of the Sky, God of the Air, Wind, Sunlight and Protection... - Shu was the god of dry air, wind and the atmosphere. He was also related to the sun, possibly as an aspect of sunlight. He was the son of the creator god, father of the twin sky and the earth deities and the one who held the sky off of the earth. He was one of the gods who protected Ra on his journey through the underworld, using magic spells to ward off Ra's enemy, the snake-demon Apep. As with other protector gods, he had a darker side - he was also a god of punishment in the land of the dead, leading executioners and torturers to kill off the corrupt souls. (14th January 2002)
The Church of Ryouga last changed 26th November '05
New members added to the CoR Deaconate! (26th November)
New members added to the CoR Deaconate! (26th February)
New members added to the CoR Deaconate! (16th January)