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From: Tamara Siuda
To: DEMIPAGAN Date: 2/18/01 3:51 AM
Subject: Truth and the House of Netjer? Reference: None
Read: 2/18/01 12:25 PM Private: Yes
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Note: This is a letter pertaining to material on webpages called "Agora." that appear with the information including this e-mail name. In clicking around, I see that this Agora has evidently been discontinued, but wanted to try to get an e-mail directly to the writers of one of its sections, mentioned below. Please, if you know who they are, forward this along with my best regards; and if you don't, you're still welcome to read it, and I'd appreciate it greatly if you could just let me know I'm not going to be able to find them after all. It's worth a try. Please forgive me if I've taken up space in the wrong person's e-mail box. And thank you for your time.

-Tamara


*********
Em hotep (in peace) "Curmudgeons" ::smile:::

I had occasion to stumble across this URL earlier today and read the entire thing several times in amazement:

http://people.goplay.com/truefreedom/
...................................... pagan-authority.html (*)

It has changed since the first time I saw it at least a year ago, and suggested to Rev. Craig Schaefer, the sealbearer of our temple, to write and say that you might not wish to include us because of potential confusion with legitimate local Egyptian Pagan groups. We do not consider ourselves Pagan in that the word today is too closely defined with neopagan practices, and our religion existed long before the word was coined and then revised to mean "anything that isn't Roman Catholic" by the Holy See (and its modern idiom really has little to nothing in common with groups using that phrase today). We thought it was unfair for Chicago-area persons looking for a good neopagan group with Egyptian influences to be sent here as that's just not what we're doing. There are groups in Chicago who do.

Also, within this current URL, and I do believe it was also in the first one prompting me to ask Rev. Craig to write, was some information that was completely untrue.

example:
the belief that we are all on/from/having to do with the University of Chicago, when I am actually the only UofC associate to my knowledge in the entire religion. The House of Netjer temple has approximately 200 members in the USA and 14 other countries on four continents at this writing (16 Feb 2001), and averages 100 "hits" per day on our website tracker from all over the world. I have my personal master's degree in Egyptology from UC; there is no other official or unofficial association of Kemetic Orthodoxy or the House of Netjer with the University.

I also found then (and find even more now, sadly) items that seem to be based completely on hearsay/rumor or personal issues of unknown individuals against myself or my temple, none of which I believe I deserve and none of which I was questioned about before they were passed on as "something to watch out for."

You may wonder why we wouldn't want to be "in the Chicago Pagan community." Rather vivid, negative discussions of my (supposed) character by a complete stranger are an example of one of the reasons why. I do not believe I have ever had a fair reception amongst Chicago pagandom, at least many of those that I personally knew and worked very hard for as part of the Pagan Leadership Council for several years in the early 1990s; and frankly, seeing that it is now nearly a decade later and five years after I ceased speaking with the vast majority of any of these people over very similar hurtful statments....reading that someone I have never even met was, in the first incarnation of this website, repeating them as if they were true... I wonder if I sounded so hurt when I told Craig to write you, that he DID write a letter that was more terse than the polite "please leave us off your list, we do not wish to work with the Chicago community at this time" I asked him to send. I am sorry if his letter was unclear or unnecessarily harsh.

Trying to do interfaith work (and I considered it interfaith as I did not have much in common practice-wise with the pagans I met, though I respected them and appreciated their differences) with people I respected but who did not respect me back in this city gained me several years of emotional and sometimes spiritual pain. I do not wish to repeat the process. I have a religion and a temple where I believe we are doing what Netjer (Deity) wishes for us to do, and the politics I encountered amongst the supposed "Chicago Pagan leaders" is simply not part of that calling. I have always wished them well in their work; it would be nice if they could wish me well in mine.

My vocation led me in different ways. I now believe it was Netjer's will that we left the Chicago pagan community, not because we had a problem with pagans or paganism, but because it was not where we were meant to be. I contemplated ignoring this website tonight, as well....but then realized since I do not know you, very likely you have no idea why I left the community to form a religion that was not at all neopagan, and you deserve an explanation if you want one. I hope that I can make it clear that we do not refrain from the "p word" out of any sense of snobbery or elitism, but because we simply do not find it a label that fits. Perhaps that is why we were unable to work with the local community; perhaps somewhere deep down they too knew we weren't meant to be there.

It is very personally distressing to walk away from an abusive, one-sided situation, writing a very open letter to the community and being told that I was supported in that walking away; and yet, eight years later, come across complete strangers painting me as an active enemy. It was equally distressing to read this URL which has evidently been updated after Rev. Craig's letter to you, and now seems to suggest not only am I some sort of primadonna who can't handle a bit of criticism, but that you believe it might be possible that I sent one of my priests to hack your website in "retaliation" for what you said about me! This is amazing to me....the thought never would've crossed my mind, even if I knew how.

Certainly I was (and continue to be) saddened by the characterizations of myself in this website that I do not believe are based in fact, and given that you do not know me do not seem fair at all -- but I would not ever condone, nor would I ever seek, for those things to be destroyed rather than simply asking for them to be removed and leaving it to your own conscience to decide what to do with them, which is exactly what we did. I asked Rev. Craig to tell you that including us was inappropriate given your stated mission of listing Chicago pagan groups as we weren't one, and he did. We did nothing else. You are entitled to say and believe whatever you wish, and to put it on as many websites as you wish. I wish you'd be concerned enough about the truth to get to know me before writing unsubstantiated things about me, but that's my wish only. Your choices will be your own. I cannot force you to talk to me (though I am certainly offering to do so given the misunderstandings that evidently must exist, and rumors I can't even imagine must be circulating, for you to come to such conclusions).

On a more upbeat note, I *am* pleased to notice that since the time I read this essay, at least there seems to be some questioning going on. Perhaps had you attempted to speak with me directly, or written about your concerns directly to Craig, this could have been resolved sooner. While I still believe the best answer would be to remove us from the listing (as we're not Pagan and we don't actively solicit members from Chicago pagandom), it's probably not necessary, but for the record I would be more than happy to talk to you about any questions at all that you have about me, the religion of Kemetic Orthodoxy, or the House of Netjer, even just for your personal reference.

You may reach me at [email protected]. I hope that you will at least consider a conversation. In most cultures, a person is considered innocent until proven guilty, and I would like to believe I, and the religion and people I have the honor and privilege to represent, are innocent of these charges.

(Tamara)|
Tamara Siuda, AUS
Nisut, Kemetic Orthodox House of Netjer

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(*) Site deleted a few years ago when GoPlay went out of business.