Private, formal worship engaged in by the Asiti is based on the recognition of MAET as being intrinsically feminine and that all women are therefore the human expressions of the Divine. The basis of this recognition comes from a variety of observations which result in a common conclusion: that life, the only distinguishably divine aspect of Reality, is inherently feminine. Throughout nature, life is dependant upon the female for survival. Dispite a few exeptions, life depends upon the female to lay eggs, give birth, provide nurishment, provide protection, and provide training. Among the lions, it is the female that provides the pride’s food through hunting. Among the hyenas, it is the female that leads the pack. Among the bees and ants, it is the female that is the reproduction center, worker, and soldier or the colony. The males, for the most part, serve only as the inseminators of a future queen. This purpose of serving merely as an inseminator for a female isn’t limited to bees but can be seen as the standard throughout nature. While male bees and ants soon die after the act of reproduction, the male mantid literally has his head bit off while still engaged in the act of insemination. Thus, not only do male mantids die before the birth of their young, they die even before the conception of many of their young. And even to do this, as with most males throughout nature, the male must first prove himself to the female to be worthy of the task. Where males don’t prove themselves, females are found to be quite reproductive on their own. Male bees and ants are developed from unfertilized eggs. Fleas, frogs, and even turkeys have been known to have layed unfertilized eggs from which have developed live offspring. In the most extreme case, a species of lizards called Cnemidophorus is composed entirely of females.
In the human world, it is the tiny sperm of the male that is passively pushed by a detatchable tail to the enormous egg of the female to await acceptance. Once absorbed into the egg, it is the body of the egg itself that will undergo the cell division resulting in the body of a human being. If the body turns out to be geneticaly male, it will be a body with a Y chromosome. This Y chromosome is actually a diminuitive X chromosome of only 15 genes, of which only one actually contributes to masculinity. Thus, a male only differs from being a female by a single gene. And while fathers pass more of their genes on to their daughters than to their sons, sons inherit more of their genes from their mothers than from their fathers. Both the cytoplasm, which composes over 90% of every cell, and the mitochondria, the very life of the cell, will only have been inherited from the female. It is due to the great abundance of mitochondria in each of the heart cells that the heart is able to beat throughout life without ever tiring. Without the mitochondria, neither food nor oxygen can be processed into the energy used to sustain life.
On a larger scale, life is further provided inside the female by the umbilical cord and outside the female by her breasts. The mother is the primary provider, protector, and teacher of a young child. As such, in prehistoric times, regardless of which gender may have actually been responsible for the invention of stone age tools and fire, it would have been the mother who was responsible for teaching the use and production of these tools to successive generations. Generally outliving men as elders and possessing a more developed language center in their brains, women became the living expressions of wisdom. It is this uniquely intellectual human ability to engage in language and symbolic thought which significantly distinguishes humanity from the rest of the animal world enabling humanity to achieve much greater levels of organization. Furthermore, as the providers of over 95% of the diet and 100% of the medicinal herbs, it was the woman who served as the lifeline of the community. As the primary providers, first teachers, and first doctors of the human community, women became the first agriculturalists and first ecclesiastical figures thereby laying down the foundations of civilization. In religion, the divinity of the woman was conceived of and expressed in the form of the Goddess thousands of years before any gods were ever imagined. Thus, the first religion was the religion of the Goddess, not God, and the recognition of this Divine Femininity was exclusive, not shared. Feminity and masculinity are not principals of Divine equality. There is no divine Mother/Father principal of creation. Reality is Feminine, while masculinity is merely an aspect of the Feminine Reality.
Since all women are therefore the human expressions of the Divine Reality that is MAET, each woman is a Goddess to be exclusively worshipped by her high priest/husband. This is not to say that each woman is a representation of “The Goddess” or that “The Goddess” dwells within her but that each woman is literally Goddess and that apart from womanhood the status of Goddess does not exist. Though both feminine and divine, the Divine Feminine which is MAET is not a (or the) Goddess but is merely manifested as Goddess through the agency of womanhood. Since womanhood is therefore synonomous with goddesshood, each woman has the ongoing responsibility of maintaining the divine dignity which accompanies her divine status through the lifestyle of Muat. For the married woman, this lifestyle includes her monthly participation in the full moon ritual called S’nafar which takes place on the fourteenth day of the month. The marriage itself, is considered to be a holy life long monogamous commitment beginning when a couple have privately declared their vows to each other before consumation. This wedding, or union of the Goddess with her high priest, is followed the next day by the herta menhep (i.e. marriage feast): the festive celebration of the new union with family and friends.
S’nafar is the private, formal form of worship which a husband performs for his wife in recognition of her goddesshood and his appreciation of her divine presence. Though the woman’s body is the physical manifestation of goddesshood, the divine presence for which S’nafar is performed requires that the woman be the living embodiment of Muat and therefore the personification of MAET in order to be truly divine. With this requirement fulfilled, the Goddess can then receive the worship due her from her personal high priest. This worship, in the form of S’nafar, is derived from the ancient Kami temple rituals of pleasure and beautification for the Goddess. As such, it involves creating a pleasant atmosphere for the Goddess to be worshipped. This includes the lighting of incense, playing of music, and the setting of flowers, all of which must be to the Goddess’ liking and done only after the husband has bathed and put on clean clothes. Next is the purification ceremony in which the Goddess enters the room, is offered a seat, and has her hands and feet washed while sipping on a glass of water. This is followed by a warm bath in which the Goddess is bathed and afterwards massaged. When ready, the Goddess is then anointed with fragrant oil and is either dressed in her favorite jewelry and clothes or presented with new jewelry and clothes of her liking. Once dressed, the Goddess is then fed a prepared meal of her choosing and afterwards presented with a gift of her desire. The Goddess is also poetically praised at various times throughout the ritual with verses to her liking. With the formal activities of cleansing, adornment, and feeding completed, the time remaining is spent fulfilling the Goddess’every wish and need.