Kemetism
contemporary revival of Ancient Egyptian religion primarily practised by those of African descent
Kemetism (also Kemeticism or Kemetic paganism; sometimes referred to as Neterism from netjer "god") is a neopagan religion based on the beliefs of ancient Egypt, which emerged during the 1970s. A Kemetic is one who follows Kemetism.
There are several main groups, each of which takes a different approach to its beliefs, ranging from eclectic to reconstructionist. These can be divided into three types: reconstructed Kemetism, a syncretic approach, and the more monotheistic Kemetic Orthodoxy.
Etymology
The movement's name is based on an endonym of Egypt, Kemet (the conventional vocalization of hieroglyphic notation km.t). The word is also sometimes written as Takemet, from the fuller tꜣ km.t. In translation from Egyptian, it means "black" (or in longer form "black land"), which is derived from the black colour of the fertile mud brought by the Nile during the annual floods (currently no longer occurring due to the existence of the Aswan Dam).
Kemetics sometimes refer to the ancient Egyptian deities as the Netjeru, also referred to as the Neteru or the Netjer. Kemetics also commonly prefer to refer to the Netjeru with the conventional Egyptological orthography of their original ancient Egyptian name: for example, they would refer to Horus as Heru and Anubis as Anpu.
Reconstruction
Some Kemetics or hermeticists claim direct continuity with secret societies allegedly continuously existing since the prohibition of Paganism by Roman emperor Theodosius I in 392 CE, or since the closing of the last functional Egyptian temple (of the goddess Isis on the island of Philae) by Emperor Justinian around 535.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kemetism” is contemporary revival of Ancient Egyptian religion primarily practised by those of African descent. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kemetism, contemporary and revival, not as a finished interpretation.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1081042. The Library of Congress control number is sh2017003136. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kemetism” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.