The Shen - The Ankhkasta Logo - What Does it Mean?

The cycle is a fundamental principle within indigenous African healing (a practice which aims to preserve life). A cycle is a series of events that are completed and repeated in the same order. The shen hieroglyph shows a ring or rope that is tied at the bottom and thus captures this concept of completeness and the cycle. The principle of the recurring cycle specifically became relevant to human life hundreds of thousands of years ago as told in the Holy Drama.

First off, the Holy Drama is humanity's oldest story and presents the life of Wsr (Osiris), the God of the second trinity of Uast (Thebes). He must make a choice of how to live out his immortality. His options are: live forever and never die or experience death and reincarnation. He chooses the latter, which makes it necessary for him to die in order to be reborn. His life path is cyclical.  

Wsr must die to be reborn, resurrected, or reincarnated. Given the same choice, his brother Set chooses the opposite–to live forever. Set thus lives life on a linear path. He only cares about himself. At the same time, Set will do what he can to maintain power for himself. He represents the principle of  destruction. He kills Wsr. Then Aishat, Wsr's wife, resurrects Wsr and with him conceives their son Heru right before Wsr dies again. 

According to the Kemetic healing traditions, the cyclical principle marked the beginning of the lifestyle and principles of healing as a tradition. When Wsr is dead, there are periods of absence from the Earth. As a result, he is continuously forced to do what he can to raise  the quality of Earth and the quality of other people. If he raises the quality of life for others, it raises the quality of life he comes back to or through. His choice to live life on a cyclical path is the basis for the improvement and preservation of human life.

Frankly, at the end of the day an authentic traditional healer does not do what he or she does for you primarily but it is first for himself. He understands that if he helps others raise their quality, he also helps himself spiritually and in lives to come. They know the cycles and rhythms in nature, and how to adjust a person's energies to be in harmony with them. At Ankhkasta Natural Healing, our team accomplishes this through time tested herbs that target a person's energies, complex energy readings, and spiritual offerings.  Additionally, they advise you on how you yourself can take specific steps to harmonize your own energies. You will heal on so many levels and notice physical improvements too.

Ultimately, without the principle of the cycle there would be no need for the tradition of healing. This module comes from generations of people who know you have to build the world you want to see for you, your children and generations to come. We honor the principle of the cycle as an essential aspect of traditional healing. To show you this, we feature the shen symbol on every package and product we distribute to you.