The coloration of the Akem-Shield of Sekhmet the Eye of Ra and Mistress of Heaven began on December 14, 2021 during the days leading up to Full Moon Day, the proper auspicious time for the "filling in" of the Deity to begin. These are the days when the "filling" of the Wedjat Eye is completed, when the powers of the lunar Gods reach Their ascendancy, when the pieces of the Wedjat Eye are reassembled. Each deity may be seen as a manifestation of the Wedjat Eye, traversing a cycle of incompleteness and diminishment before reentering the sphere of rejuvenation and fulfillment. Until this phase, the Akem-Shield of Sekhmet the Eye of Ra has been drained of light, incomplete, insubstantial, and wavering between mortality and godhood. Only when the first touches of color are applied to the image does She take Her first breath in the material world and enter our sphere of influence. Coloration begins the process of the image's possession by the Deity, for color (iwen) is the manifestation of character (iwen), nature (iwen) and quality (iwen), which are the hallmarks of all created things, what makes them distinguishable from the uncreated.
I began coloration with the eye of the Goddess. The eye of the Deity is always the first attribute to be painted in a cult-image, for the essence, the vital and dynamic power of the Deity is manifest through the eye, as it is with all living beings; but with the Goddess Sekhmet, the "Eye of Ra", Her eye takes on special meaning as the instrument through which the destructive, purging power of the Creator Ra is demonstrated throughout creation. His Eye is this flaming Goddess of retribution and divine justice, hurled through space and let loose in the world of human beings. Her eye, then, has been painted to resemble a burning ember set in a smoky socket, peering not out at the viewer (which could be a form of danger to the worshiper), but up towards the radiant disk of the Sun crowning Her head. This is none other than the body of Ra, making of this segment of the icon (the head and eye of the Goddess and the Sun-disk upon Her head) a rebus saying "Sekhmet the Eye of Ra."
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