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Part 8
Beginning Practice of Ancient Egyptian Religion
 Shrine Area Trappings
Covering the Walls
by Reverend Michael Poe
One of the ways to make your ritual area look more Egyptian is to put something up on the walls to set the tone. They can be permanent or perhaps something temporary that you are able to take down at a moments notice.
Painting the walls:
Assuming you have the time and you own your house or condo this is a permanent and probably the best way to go. I have a couple of photos here of the Temple of Sekhmet that has painted walls for examples of what you can do and possibly inspire you. You could do the equal vent of a tomb setting or of a temple setting or combination of both.
How to do it:
As the 2 examples above these are all done by hand. Other ways include:
1. 1. In the good old days you could take a slide photo using a close-up lens of an Egyptian scene from a book, then using a slide projector, show it on the wall and trace the image in and paint it in later.
2. 2. Use a digital camera and take a photo like 1 above, and use a projector for a computer (which you always see in use in businesses that use power point presentations) and use the same technique as 1 to get it on the wall.
3. 3. Using a scanner on one of the many Egyptian books including those by Dover Publications, get the scanned image, paint it using one of the many (and some of them free) photo shop type software, print it out on paper with a sticky background (such as 8x10 clear mailing labels), trim it, and stick it on the wall.
Temporary covering:
Many of us have temporary shrines and may need to take down our wall decorations occasionally or maybe replace them if a different type of ritual takes place so here are some ideas for temporary artwork.
Bed Coverlet/Sheets/Towels and more:
I found a bed sheet with Egyptian motifs and used it as a background wall covering behind the shrine and that worked just fine. You put it up using some push pins. Also useful are any Egyptian motifs beach blanket or towel. You might find Egyptian designs on material at a yardage store that can work well. You can make a banner with a couple of dowel rods and using an iron with basting material to make the hems.
Framed or Unframed Prints:
The easiest way is to use framed or unframed prints with Egyptian motifs and the easiest to find that and not that expensive are papyrus prints. Papyrus prints can be found just about any where on the Internet that has metaphysical or Egyptian art, including Ebay. The vast majorities of them are imported from Egypt and come in a variety of sizes. Or you can buy blank papyrus and put your own designs on them.
For the more artistic of you, you can buy blank artist canvas and put your own designs on them then either frame it, or if you bought it from a roll of artist canvas (most art stores sell it by the foot or yard), you can make a huge banner and hang it off a wall.
Egyptian motifs in fake stone: In many online shops such as the Museum Company and Toscano you can find a large variety of ancient Egyptian motifs done in a fake stone making it look like it came right out of a temple or tomb wall. There are representations of Anpu(Anubis), Auset (Isis) and many others. They are fairly reasonably priced.
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 Copyright November 20, 2010, Church of the Eternal Source graphics by:
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