Tamara Siuda

Tamara L. Siuda (born 1969) is the founder and current head of Kemetic Orthodoxy and the House of Netjer. She is known formally within her faith as "Her Holiness, Sekhenet-Ma'at-Ra Setep-en-Ra User Hekatawy I, Nisut-Bity of the Kemetic Orthodox faith" and uses the honorific "Reverend" outside of the faith to indicate her position as clergy. She is also a mambo in Haitian Vodou.

Education

Siuda graduated from Mundelein College in 1991. [Fact|date=March 2008] She subsequently enrolled in the Egyptology program at the University of Chicago [ [http://humanities.uchicago.edu/depts/nelc/facultypages/ritner/index.html Robert Ritner ] ] , obtaining a master's degree in Egyptology with a concentration in Philology in August 2000Krogh 2004, p.168.] , and another in December 2007 through the Coptic Studies program at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. [ [http://www.pacitan.info/2006/12/31/first-students-to-graduate-with-ma-degree-in-coptic-studies-from-macquarie-university-in-sydney-australia/ First Students to Graduate with M.A. Degree in Coptic Studies from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia | Scholarships and Education Online] .]

Involvement with Kemetic Orthodoxy

Siuda founded the group which would become Kemetic Orthodoxy in 1988 after an experience during a Wiccan initiation ritual in which she is said to have been called by the ancient Egyptian deities to revive their worship. She left Wicca and began study and worship in ancient Egyptian religion with friends and students. [Dawson 2004, p.211.] In 1993, this group of people had grown substantially, and gained legal recognition as the House of Netjer Kemetic Orthodox Temple. In 1999, the House of Netjer, and the Kemetic Orthodox Faith, were granted 501(c)(3) status.

In October 1996, following what is believed to be divine approval via oracles and ritual, Siuda traveled to Egypt and underwent coronation rituals and assumed the religious title of "Nisut," meaning "Authority" or "Incarnation". In this capacity she is considered to be the mortal carrier of a divine spirit, [Krogh 2004 p.171.] by way of an aspect of the god Horus, known as the "kingly ka." In this capacity, Siuda provides spiritual guidance and leadership for members of Kemetic Orthodoxy. Devotees of Kemetic Orthodoxy often refer to Siuda as "Hemet", meaning "servant" or "majesty." [ [http://www.kemet.org/kemexp5.html What is Kemetic Orthodoxy?: The Nisut (AUS): Our Link to Netjer] .]

Siuda represents the House of Netjer in the World Interfaith Congress. [ [http://interfaithcongress.org/organizationlist.cfm Interfaithcongress.Org ] ]

Involvement in Vodou

Siuda has been a mambo in Haitian Vodou since July 2001, when she first initiated as a mambo asogwe (the highest rank of Haitian Vodou initiation) as part of La Sosyete Racine Sans Bout in Jacmel, Haiti. She left her first house in 2003 and was re-initiated as a mambo asogwe in another Vodou lineage, the Sosyete Belle Fleur Guinea of Petionville and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in January 2006. Siuda's own Vodou house in the lineage of Belle Fleur Guinea is called "La Sosyete Fòs Fè Yo Wè," and permits her to have students in the Haitian Vodou tradition completely separately from her role as Nisut of Kemetic Orthodoxy. As a mambo she is known as "Mambo T" or by her public initiatory name of "Mambo Chita Tann." [ [http://www.legba.biz/chitatann.html Mambo Chita Tann (Mambo T) and La Sosyete Fòs Fè Yo Wè] .]

Bibliography

* Siuda, Tamara L. (contributor) (2006) [http://www.illuminationsbook.com/ Illuminations: Expressions of the Personal Spiritual Experience] . edited by Mark L. Tompkins and Jennifer McMahon. (Celestial Arts/Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA)ISBN 1-58761-227-1
* Siuda, Tamara L. (2005) [http://www.egyptianprayers.com/ The Ancient Egyptian Prayerbook] . (Azrael Press) ISBN 1-894981-04-9
* Siuda, Tamara L. (2005) [http://www.kemetschool.org/pubs/book2.php Nebet-het: Lady of the House. The Gods and Goddesses of Kemet, vol. I] . (Imhotep Seminary Press, Joliet IL).
* Siuda, Tamara L. (2004) [http://www.kemetschool.org/pubs/book1.php The 42 Purifications: Meditations on a Translation of Chapter 125 of the Pert-em-Heru (Egyptian Book of the Dead). Translations for Kemetic Orthodoxy, vol. I] . (Imhotep Seminary Press, Joliet IL).
* Siuda, Tamara L. (1994) (published as Siuda-Legan, Tamara L.) [http://www.eschatonbooks.com/eschaton/books/105/105-p1.html The Neteru of Kemet: An Introduction] . (Eschaton Productions) ISBN 1-57353-105-7

References

Offline References

* Dawson, Lorne L. & Cowan, Douglas E. Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet. Routledge, 2004. ISBN 0-415-97022-9.
* Krogh, Marilyn C. & Pillifant, Brooke A. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_/ai_n6141942 "Kemetic Orthodoxy: Ancient Egyptian Religion on the Internet: A Research Note."] Sociology of Religion. 65.2 (2004): 167-175.

External links

* [http://www.kemet.org/nisutAUS.html Rev. Siuda's Biography at Kemet.Org]
* [http://vodou.faithweb.com/ The Vodou Faithweb] - Maintained by Rev. Siuda
* [http://www.legba.biz/ Legba's Crossroads] - Rev. Siuda's Vodou Botanica