starsandepithets:

Hello!

I’m sorry that you’re unwell, I hope you’re feeling better soon 🙂

So ritual purity, is basically the standard of cleanliness that was necessary to go into a temple in AE. As with most Kemetic things, it has a practical and spiritual purpose. ‘Ritual purity’ is used by modern Kemetics as anything from absolute rules, to just a metaphor.

Things that made/make up ritual purity:

☀️Bathing before entering the temple.
This makes sense in the Ancient world where you might be covered in dust or dirt, and wouldn’t want to track anything into the temple. I interpret this as taking a shower before I approach my shrine.

☀️Shaving before entering the temple.
It was common in AE for men and women to shave most of their body (you could leave your eyebrows, unless you were mourning). This was simply to prevent the spread of lice and because you are cooler with less hair.
I interpret this as shave what you normally would, as I have no intention of shaving my head for example.

☀️Washing with natron.
So natron was ritually pure, but it was also a detergent and worked exactly like soap. This was practical for getting clean. Some priests even ingested natron before going into the temples so their insides would be squeaky clean – I absolutely do NOT recommend doing this.
For my interpretation of this, I have a few flakes of natron in my body wash and put a few flakes in a bottle of mouthwash, and this seems to work quite well.

☀️Abstaining from sex for a few days before hand
This is making you ritually pure, because to an extend you are withdrawing from daily life. Changing your focus from people to the gods.
I personally don’t obey this, because honestly I’m not good enough at planning.

☀️Abstaining from eating certain meats, fish or fruits for a few days before hand
This changed temple to temple, and cult to cult. Different temples demanded different foods be taboo. I also don’t follow this one, because I haven’t been able to find any reliable sources on Hathor and taboo foods.

☀️Wearing clean clothes made of linen (or cheater pelt) and papyrus sandals.
Part of this is that each item of clothing has significance, and would act almost like a uniform putting a persons mind in focus with what they were about to do. Also clean clothes meant that nothing could get tracked in from the outside.
I interpret this as just wearing clean clothes, and cheater pelts are not practical or ethical to get a hold of these days.

☀️Not going to the temple when menstruating.
Practical, because before reliable sanitary products it would be difficult to remain clean, and cramps are the worst. Sometimes I can barely stand let alone performing a carefully though out ritual.
This one is up to everyone who menstruates and is their own choice on if they approach their shrine or not. I personally tend not to.

☀️Not going to the temple if you are bleeding or sick.
This was practical, you didn’t want to be changing bandages in the middle of the temple. And because it was a communal place, if you went when you were sick it would just spread it around.
When I’m sick, I tend not to approach my shrine. Unless I am approaching my shrine to ask for help with my sickness. I often offer to Selqet when I have a sore throat, for example.

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All of these are things that make up ritual purity, and were designed for a society over two thousand years old. They were designed so that a person could be well presented when they approached the gods, and designed so that a person was only thinking about the gods when they did. They weren’t worried about how hot and sweaty they were, because they’d just bathed. They weren’t worried that their tunic wasn’t a good as another priests, because everyone wore white linen. They weren’t worried they were getting everyone else sick, because they were at home resting.

How you want to interpret ritual purity for your own practice is up to you, and may be completely different to the next person. The end goal is to approach the gods so that you are calm and can focus purely on them. Even if that means just splashing your face and hands with water, and that’s it.

I sometimes approach my shrine when I’m ritually impure, but state it. So I’ll say something like, ‘Forgive me gods, I am impure. Yet I have come before you to beg…’

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This was a really long one, and so I really hope in the info-dump I answered your question! Let me know if anything doesn’t make sense or if you have any follow up questions 😀