My temple community recently rallied together for a new event – coined the Kemetic Name Exchange. Participants supplied the Name of a god that they wanted to receive attention in some way, and specified what kind of attention – hymn, heka, prayer, food offerings, etc. All these Names went into a pool, and we were randomly assigned a Name to spend time with this month.
I received the Name, Aker. Until the moment that I received my assignment, I had not heard this Name. I was asked to offer Prayers of Protection at Sunrise and Sunset. I had no idea what this meant. Did I ask for protection of others? for myself? For the Name? It was not specified, and I found myself pondering both a new god, and what I wanted to do with my prayers.
Needless to say, it was a lot to think about.
After some reading, I discovered something fascinating. Aker is considered to be the deification of the horizon. He guards the eastern and western borders of the netherworld, as a sort of Gatekeeper, and protects the sun god at sunrise and sunset. The readings I’ve come across only mention only Ra, but clearly, since my Father is the god of the rising sun, Aker must be protecting Him at dawn, at the eastern border of the earth and the netherworld. It was a beautiful revelation for me, and I realized that I wanted… needed… to make a new connection. While I wouldn’t say that I’m ready to devote myself to Him constantly, (I still feel like I need to develop deeper connections with my Father and Beloveds), I was more than happy to pray to Him at sunrise and sunset.
I wake every morning at 6:30. Doesn’t matter what day, doesn’t matter how late I stayed up the night before. It’s just the way my brain operates. But something that I’ve been terrible at doing, is paying attention to the sun rising. I think many of us take it for granted – it happens every day, of course it does, why think about it? But when I think about it… my Father, Aker, and many Others, are working diligently to make sure that it continues to happen. That the world doesn’t fall into chaos and madness. And so I am grateful for the task I was given. I spent a few mornings and evenings, taking a pause from life, from stress, and stood outside and prayed to Aker. Unsurprisingly, the sunrises were my favorite moments – not just because of my affinity with my Father, but also because it can be legitimately quiet. I was able to listen to the world wake up, and it made me feel serene and calm.
I prayed differently each morning and evening, trying to speak from the heart. Most days I asked for strength and protection for my Father, and my loved ones. I spoke to Him about a few other things, but those are private 🙂
In the end, I very much appreciated this task, and I feel that I’ve discovered something important, and found another source of strength to draw from in the morning.
The sky at dawn 