Ausar Auset Society
Encyclopedia
The Ausar Auset Society is a Pan-African religious organization founded in 1973 by Ra Un Nefer Amen
for the purpose of providing members a societal framework through which the Kemetic
spiritual way of life can be lived and to promote Rosicrucian
values.
It is based in Brooklyn, New York, with chapters in several major cities in the United States
as well as international chapters in London, England, Toronto, Canada and Bermuda, West Indies. The organization provides afrocentric-based spiritual training to the African American
community in particular and to the African diaspora
in general. The religion uses elements of Ancient Egyptian religion such as the Tree of Life
(Paut Neteru) as the basis of its cosmogony
and philosophical underpinning.
) replicates the society's structure established by Ra Un Nefer Amen
in New York and falls under the leadership of either a Paramount King, Paramount Queen Mother
, or Chief
(tess) who has his/her own hierarchy of officials and autonomy over their respective region.
of ancient Egypt
, the symbol for realizing the divine potential is Ausar
(known in English by the Greek name Osiris). A means through which this realization can be achieved is through meditation which is symbolized by Auset
(Isis). These principles are embodied in the story of Ausar. In the story, the Supreme Being manifested itself in the world as Ausar, who rules through adherence to the divine law of Ma'at. Ausar’s younger brother Set becomes jealous and murders him, cuts his body into several pieces and usurps the throne. Ausar’s devoted wife Auset gathers the parts of her husband’s dis-membered body and magically conceives their son, Heru
(Horus). Heru eventually overthrows his evil uncle Set with the aid of Tehuti
(the deity representing Wisdom) and reclaims the throne, and thereafter rules the land of the living while Ausar rules the land of the deceased (underworld). A version of the story can be found in The Egyptian Book of the Dead. There is also a version of the story in Awakening of Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, along with The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts and the Book of Knowing the Creations of Ra and Overthrowing Apep form the scriptural frame of reference for Ausar Auset Society teachings.
Central to the Ausarian religious system are the 11 Divine Laws which have been extrapolated from the Tree of Life
. A full explanation and analysis of each of these Laws can be found in Amen's
book Ma'at, The 11 Laws of God. An important theme of this book is that the essence of these 11 Laws must be programmed into the Spirit
of the individual through specific meditation techniques. Impressing these Laws upon the spirit will ensure that an individual's identity is with his or her true Self
when he or she is confronted with a challenging situation rather than with the false self-image that gives control over to the emotions.
A proper understanding for the cultivation of the 11 Laws consists of the following:
Another important concept that is integral to the teachings of Ausar Auset Society is that Man's entire Being
is a composite made up of the Self
and the Not-Self, as both are required in order to exist in the physical world. An individual's true identity, however, is the Self which consists of Consciousness
and Will
(Not-Self consists of Energy and Matter) as there is no energy or matter in Man's true Self. Since Spirit
is considered Not-Self, Man's true Self cannot be Spirit. Also, every thought, emotion and sensation belongs to the Not-Self and generally represents a manifestation of the Animal Spirit in Man. The Animal Spirit, along with the Mental Spirit and the Divine Spirit, represents a triune view of Man's Being. The Divine Spirit, which is pre-programmed with Divine Law, corresponds to Man's true Self while both the Mental Spirit (Man's intellect and reasoning ability) and the Animal Spirit correspond to the Not-Self. Therefore, failure to control one's emotions, for example, represents a submission to the animal part of Being as well as a waste of one's Life Force
.
Ra Un Nefer Amen
Ra Un Nefer Amen is the founder of the Ausar Auset Society, a Pan-African religious organization dedicated to providing Afrocentric based spiritual training to people of African descent.-Early life:...
for the purpose of providing members a societal framework through which the Kemetic
Kemetic reconstructionism
Kemetism is a term for Egyptian neopaganism, i.e. neopagan revivals of Ancient Egyptian religion which developed in the United States from the 1970s...
spiritual way of life can be lived and to promote Rosicrucian
Rosicrucian
Rosicrucianism is a philosophical secret society, said to have been founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz. It holds a doctrine or theology "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe...
values.
It is based in Brooklyn, New York, with chapters in several major cities in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as well as international chapters in London, England, Toronto, Canada and Bermuda, West Indies. The organization provides afrocentric-based spiritual training to the African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
community in particular and to the African diaspora
African diaspora
The African diaspora was the movement of Africans and their descendants to places throughout the world—predominantly to the Americas also to Europe, the Middle East and other places around the globe...
in general. The religion uses elements of Ancient Egyptian religion such as the Tree of Life
Tree of Life
The tree of life in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden , whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . According to some scholars, however, these are in fact...
(Paut Neteru) as the basis of its cosmogony
Cosmogony
Cosmogony, or cosmogeny, is any scientific theory concerning the coming into existence or origin of the universe, or about how reality came to be. The word comes from the Greek κοσμογονία , from κόσμος "cosmos, the world", and the root of γίνομαι / γέγονα "to be born, come about"...
and philosophical underpinning.
Organizational structure
Each Ausar Auset Society branch or study group (Hesp/NomeNome (Egypt)
A nome was a subnational administrative division of ancient Egypt. Today's use of the Greek nome rather than the Egyptian term sepat came about during the Ptolemaic period. Fascinated with Egypt, Greeks created many historical records about the country...
) replicates the society's structure established by Ra Un Nefer Amen
Ra Un Nefer Amen
Ra Un Nefer Amen is the founder of the Ausar Auset Society, a Pan-African religious organization dedicated to providing Afrocentric based spiritual training to people of African descent.-Early life:...
in New York and falls under the leadership of either a Paramount King, Paramount Queen Mother
Queen mother
Queen Mother is a title or position reserved for a widowed queen consort whose son or daughter from that marriage is the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since at least 1577...
, or Chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
(tess) who has his/her own hierarchy of officials and autonomy over their respective region.
Ausarian Religion
According to the Ausarian theologyEgyptian mythology
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians' interaction with a multitude of deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces and elements of nature...
of ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, the symbol for realizing the divine potential is Ausar
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
(known in English by the Greek name Osiris). A means through which this realization can be achieved is through meditation which is symbolized by Auset
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
(Isis). These principles are embodied in the story of Ausar. In the story, the Supreme Being manifested itself in the world as Ausar, who rules through adherence to the divine law of Ma'at. Ausar’s younger brother Set becomes jealous and murders him, cuts his body into several pieces and usurps the throne. Ausar’s devoted wife Auset gathers the parts of her husband’s dis-membered body and magically conceives their son, Heru
Horus
Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
(Horus). Heru eventually overthrows his evil uncle Set with the aid of Tehuti
Thoth
Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
(the deity representing Wisdom) and reclaims the throne, and thereafter rules the land of the living while Ausar rules the land of the deceased (underworld). A version of the story can be found in The Egyptian Book of the Dead. There is also a version of the story in Awakening of Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, along with The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts and the Book of Knowing the Creations of Ra and Overthrowing Apep form the scriptural frame of reference for Ausar Auset Society teachings.
Central to the Ausarian religious system are the 11 Divine Laws which have been extrapolated from the Tree of Life
Tree of Life
The tree of life in the Book of Genesis is a tree planted by God in midst of the Garden of Eden , whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. Together with the tree of life, God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . According to some scholars, however, these are in fact...
. A full explanation and analysis of each of these Laws can be found in Amen's
Ra Un Nefer Amen
Ra Un Nefer Amen is the founder of the Ausar Auset Society, a Pan-African religious organization dedicated to providing Afrocentric based spiritual training to people of African descent.-Early life:...
book Ma'at, The 11 Laws of God. An important theme of this book is that the essence of these 11 Laws must be programmed into the Spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
of the individual through specific meditation techniques. Impressing these Laws upon the spirit will ensure that an individual's identity is with his or her true Self
Atman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
when he or she is confronted with a challenging situation rather than with the false self-image that gives control over to the emotions.
A proper understanding for the cultivation of the 11 Laws consists of the following:
- All activities in the universe are carried out by energy.
- The Spirit is the energy component of God and all beings.
- Energy everywhere in the universe is governed by laws, as proven by science.
- As an entity of energy, Man’s Spirit which is in charge of the realization of all events in her/his life—physiological and social—is controlled by laws.
- God’s and Man’s Spirit carries out all activities in the world through 11 modalities (faculties) of energy.
- Each of the 11 modalities of energy is regulated by its own law.
- These laws, which are stored in the Divine division of Man’s Spirit, must be transferred into the mind to guide the Life-Force.
- As a result, success, health, and the treasures of a spiritual life can be acquired.
Another important concept that is integral to the teachings of Ausar Auset Society is that Man's entire Being
Being
Being , is an English word used for conceptualizing subjective and objective aspects of reality, including those fundamental to the self —related to and somewhat interchangeable with terms like "existence" and "living".In its objective usage —as in "a being," or "[a] human being" —it...
is a composite made up of the Self
Atman (Hinduism)
Ātman is a Sanskrit word that means 'self'. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta school of Hinduism it refers to one's true self beyond identification with phenomena...
and the Not-Self, as both are required in order to exist in the physical world. An individual's true identity, however, is the Self which consists of Consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
and Will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
(Not-Self consists of Energy and Matter) as there is no energy or matter in Man's true Self. Since Spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
is considered Not-Self, Man's true Self cannot be Spirit. Also, every thought, emotion and sensation belongs to the Not-Self and generally represents a manifestation of the Animal Spirit in Man. The Animal Spirit, along with the Mental Spirit and the Divine Spirit, represents a triune view of Man's Being. The Divine Spirit, which is pre-programmed with Divine Law, corresponds to Man's true Self while both the Mental Spirit (Man's intellect and reasoning ability) and the Animal Spirit correspond to the Not-Self. Therefore, failure to control one's emotions, for example, represents a submission to the animal part of Being as well as a waste of one's Life Force
Life force
Life force is a concept of spiritual energy.Life force may also refer to:* Life Force , the American version of the arcade game Salamander* Lifeforce , a 1985 science fiction-horror film...
.
Some Publications
- Amen, Ra Un Nefer, Harlem River Arrangement: The I Ching Transcripts, 1984
- Amen, Ra Un Nefer, Metu Neter Vol. 1, 1990
- Amen, Ra Un Nefer, Ma'at, The 11 Laws of God, 2003
- Amen, Ra Un Nefer, Meditation Fundamentals Software, 2007
- Amen, Ra Un Nefer, Nuk Au Neter: The Kamitic Holy Scriptures, 2008
- Living Legacy DVD: The History of the Ausar Auset Society, 2009