Kemetic Primer: Ideas please?

[Bastemhet]

OK, so I have kind of a problem. While I'd love to offer a primer (running it through in the Pathways thread first for any possible errors in information or interpretation on my part), I have this tendency to take a topic and dive in really deeply. This might pose a problem who wants to take the information for what it's supposed to be- a primer. For example, though the Kemetic religion is outwardly polytheistic, understanding how syncretism plays a part in temporary inhabiting of one deity within another to increase the first mentioned deities' power and spheres of influence cannot be well understood without also looking at implied theology of texts, and multivalent logic. Kemetic logic itself is different from anything I've ever seen, and would certainly be alien to people accustomed to Western logic.

Err...see what I mean? I can just imagine a person coming in, reading a few sentences, feeling an anvil drop on their head, and move on. So uh...for those who are interested (or can at least guess at what a newbie might be thinking), what are some of the most important details to Kemetic religion that someone just starting out might want to know? And though it is a primer I'd like to do a little more than "God/dess of ____, likes _____ color and (shinies)."

Topics that I will definitely mention are: description of the Pesedjet, Egyptian names of the gods, nome v. state gods, Heka, the role of statues in worship, importance of myths being replayed through ritual actions, etc.  

[TeaDidikai]

Background:

What sources is modern Kemetic polytheism based on?
-Texts?
-- What translations?
-- What is important to note about the translations?

-Archeological finds?
-- Pyramids are all well and cool, but what about temples, living quarters of the lower class etc?

-Anthropological commentary upon the merge with Coptic Christendom?
-Any thing else I missed?

Core Myths
- Cosmology
- Deities and their relationships with one another?
- How do these myths, legends, parables, fables etc relate to modern metaphor and life for modern Kemetics?

Core Practices
- Commentary upon key ancient cults
- Daily practices
-- What religious observations were so common that people did them without a second thought?
- Life Cycle rituals
- Festivals of different cities, cults etc. Everyone likes a good party
-- how all three of these are applied to modern times

Modern Groups
-Their merits and flaws, information on leaders and styles
- How cool Tea is for brainstorming all this stuff.  

[Bastemhet]

EXCELLENT! Thanks Tea, that gives me a good place to start. I was about to sit down and respond to all of them but it would take too long to do it tonight and my internet is acting all wonky. I'll be coming back to this and maybe posting it either here or in a Pathways thread.  

[TheDisreputableDog]

Besides everything Tea said...

Maybe something about relationships of the Kemetic gods to the gods of surrounding cultures?

The relationship between the gods, their stories, and the geography of Kemet, and how any of it is relevant to modern practitioners. (Many don't live in Egypt, and even for the ones that do, the Nile no longer floods, etc.)

Maybe something about how the most commonly available information about the Kemetic gods is filtered through Greek scholars and Victorian occult societies (and others I'm sure), and whether any of that is "canon" so to speak.

What makes a practice or group reconstructionist versus revivalist, and what considerations should influence that choice.

Some exploration of political claims to Kemetic spirituality, and religious privilege. By this I mean there are some exclusively Afrocentric treatments of Kemetic history and religion and its modern practice, some treatments that distance Kemetic culture from Africa altogether, and of course varieties that range in between; some of these positions are clearly racist and others are sticky, unresolved, or largely unmentioned.

Don't know if these are primer material, but they're some things I would've liked to know starting out.  

[Bastemhet]

Thanks for your response was well, DD. The third and fourth things you mentioned were things I already had in mind. Prob with talking about other groups is that I haven't participated in any of them, and the well known ones (basically ones with online presence) are mostly defunct. I think Akhet Hwt-Hwr is still around, possibly Nuhati Am Nutjeru, but I'll have to ask around with some people who do have experience. I'll also probably mention Ausar Auset but I tend to also be leery of religious movements with an agenda attached. I'm mostly familiar with KO because they're visible and also have a few things about their group that evoke a slam-into-a-wall negative feeling about them, but I also don't want to color them negative when other people may find their practices (however untrue to history they may be) useful or a good fit. I think I remember you saying you were part of KO before, right? Do you have any experiences and general view of them you'd like to share?