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The Public Curriculum

What the Craft Studies.

These are the studies of the Order, drawn from the temple schools of Kemet (ancient Egypt) and from the scholarship of Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan. What we study is public. How the degrees are conferred is not.

Spell 125 · Papyrus of Ani

The 42 Declarations of Ma'at

In the Hall of Two Truths the heart is weighed against the feather. The Declarations are the examination; the Order reads them as both a confession and a rule of life.
  1. 01

    I have not committed sin.

  2. 02

    I have not committed robbery with violence.

  3. 03

    I have not stolen.

  4. 04

    I have not slain men or women.

  5. 05

    I have not stolen grain.

  6. 06

    I have not purloined offerings.

  7. 07

    I have not stolen the property of the Neteru.

  8. 08

    I have not uttered lies.

  9. 09

    I have not carried away food.

  10. 10

    I have not uttered curses.

  11. 11

    I have not committed adultery.

  12. 12

    I have made none to weep.

  13. 13

    I have not eaten the heart.

  14. 14

    I have not attacked any man.

  15. 15

    I am not a man of deceit.

  16. 16

    I have not stolen cultivated land.

  17. 17

    I have not been an eavesdropper.

  18. 18

    I have not slandered any man.

  19. 19

    I have not been angry without just cause.

  20. 20

    I have not debauched the wife of any man.

  21. 21

    I have not polluted myself.

  22. 22

    I have not terrorized any.

  23. 23

    I have not transgressed the law.

  24. 24

    I have not been wroth.

  25. 25

    I have not shut my ears to the words of truth.

  26. 26

    I have not blasphemed.

  27. 27

    I am not a man of violence.

  28. 28

    I am not a stirrer up of strife.

  29. 29

    I have not acted with undue haste.

  30. 30

    I have not pried into other men's matters.

  31. 31

    I have not multiplied my words in speaking.

  32. 32

    I have wronged none, I have done no evil.

  33. 33

    I have not worked witchcraft against the King.

  34. 34

    I have never stopped the flow of water.

  35. 35

    I have never raised my voice.

  36. 36

    I have not cursed the Divine.

  37. 37

    I have not acted with arrogance.

  38. 38

    I have not stolen the bread of the Neteru.

  39. 39

    I have not carried away the khenfu cakes from the spirits of the dead.

  40. 40

    I have not snatched away the bread of the child.

  41. 41

    I have not fouled the water.

  42. 42

    I have not slaughtered the cattle that are set apart for the Neteru.

The Standard

The Seven Principles of Ma'at

  • Truth

    What is said matches what is.

  • Justice

    Each is given what is due, without partiality.

  • Harmony

    Parts are joined so that they strengthen one another.

  • Balance

    Nothing is carried to excess, in the self or in the world.

  • Order

    The pattern of creation is upheld against chaos.

  • Reciprocity

    What is received is returned; the circle is kept whole.

  • Propriety

    The right thing, done at the right time, in the right measure.

The Mystery System

The Ten Virtues

From the tradition documented by George G. M. James and taught by Dr. Ben. They are the character the temple required before it taught anything else.
  1. 01

    Control of thought

    The mind is the first workshop; discipline it before anything else.

  2. 02

    Control of action

    What the mind orders, the hand must be trained to obey.

  3. 03

    Steadfastness of purpose

    A work begun is carried through the years it requires.

  4. 04

    Identity with the spiritual life

    The initiate does not visit the sacred; the initiate lives in it.

  5. 05

    Evidence of a mission in life

    The life shows a labor larger than the person living it.

  6. 06

    Evidence of a call to spiritual orders

    The call is confirmed by conduct, not by claim.

  7. 07

    Freedom from resentment under persecution and wrong

    Injury does not become bitterness, and bitterness does not become habit.

  8. 08

    Confidence in the power of the master

    The student trusts the teaching long enough to be taught.

  9. 09

    Confidence in one's own ability to learn

    The seat in the temple belongs to the one who believes it can be earned.

  10. 10

    Readiness for initiation

    All nine before it, gathered and held steady.

Abu Simbel to Ghizeh

The Faculties of the Priest

From Dr. Ben's Abu Simbel to Ghizeh, as taught by Grand Master Dr. Jabade Powell.

  • Maa

    Sight — seeing beyond the physical.

  • Sedjm

    Hearing — hearing what the ancestors say.

  • Hu

    Feeling and taste — direct perception of vibration.

  • Sa

    Reason — understanding what has been perceived.

  • [FIFTH FACULTY]

    [Description to be supplied]

Per Ankh · House of Life

The Seven Liberal Arts

Taught in the Per Ankh, the temple school of Kemet, centuries before they were catalogued in Europe.
  1. 01

    Grammar

    The right ordering of words, the first tool of the Word.

  2. 02

    Rhetoric

    Speech that persuades without leaving the truth.

  3. 03

    Logic

    The measure applied to thought itself.

  4. 04

    Arithmetic

    Number, the language in which the Neteru wrote creation.

  5. 05

    Geometry

    Number set in space — the science of the temple builders.

  6. 06

    Music

    Proportion made audible; harmony learned through the ear.

  7. 07

    Astronomy

    The heavens read as a calendar, a clock, and a doctrine.

Note: the Fellowcraft lecture of the modern Craft inherits these seven.

The Neteru

The Neteru and the Working Tools

The Neteru of Kemet and the working tools associated with each
NeterWorking tool
PtahThe Great Architect — the trowel.
Tehuti (Thoth)The Word and geometry — the compass.
Ma'atThe level, the plumb, and the square.
SeshatThe cord and the founding of the ground.
Ausar (Osiris)The Master's rite of death and rising.
Auset (Isis)The veil — the Widow.
Heru (Horus)The All-Seeing Eye — the Widow's Son.
ImhotepThe first Grand Architect.
Amen RaThe Hidden and the Manifest — the Light in the East.

Khuti · Wa · Wa-Set

Orientation and Sacred Geometry

To orient is to turn to the east, to the rising sun. Orientation is the first act of the craftsman: before you measure anything, you must know which way you face.
  • KHUTI — light; the radiance by which a thing can be seen and therefore measured.
  • WA — one; the unit from which every proportion is built.
  • WA-SET — the One Seat; the place where the One is enthroned, and the city of the Mother Temple.
The pyramid, the benben capstone at its apex, and the winged disc above — the ascent from base to light.
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