By Nomathemba Pearl Dzinotyiwei

23 June – 22 July marks the Season of Set in the Southern Hemisphere—a sacred cycle in the Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) spiritual calendar where chaos reigns, storms brew, and illusions are stripped away.

Set, also known as Sutekh, is the powerful and misunderstood deity of chaos, disruption, and necessary transformation. Unlike Western associations of chaos with evil, in Kemetic cosmology, chaos is a creative force—the raw material from which the universe was born.

Among the Zulu people, Set is known as uMbhidlizi, ‘The Destroyer’. This honours the universal principle that chaos and destruction precede order and the process of building something new. The Great Empire of Kemet, an organisation dedicated to restoring ancient wisdom and alignment with the cycles of life in Southern Africa has published a calendar to enable those on the spiritual path to align with the energy of each season to elevate spiritually and ensure abundance and protection.

You may be wondering what the connection is between the present day land of Egypt and Southern Africa. Every year the earth’s magnetic field shift so the compass point we recognise as North shifts by a few degrees every year. More than 30,000 years ago, the earth’s magnetic field pointed south so south was north and the present day north was south. The people of ancient Kemet recognised Southern Africa as the place of their origin. Kemetic artefacts such as the ankh, more than thousands of years old have been found in caves in Southern Africa, the burial places of kings.

Before order (Ma’at) is restored, chaos must first do its sacred work.

🌪️ Why Chaos is Sacred

Chaos is not to be feared. It is to be witnessed, felt, and worked with. The Season of Set invites us to: face what we’ve buried; let go of control; destroy what no longer serves us; and make space for something more aligned to our highest good.

This is a time when relationships shift, emotions erupt, and the soul is called to look inward. If everything around you feels unstable or uncertain, know this: you’re not broken—you’re in rhythm with the season.

For those experiencing a spiritual awakening, this is the time when the dark night of the soul is at its most intense because this is in alignment with the season when the sun is at its furthest from the earth at the height of winter. After the Winter Solstice on the 22nd of June, which marks the slow return of the sun to the Southern Hemisphere, it is still dark and the nights are still long. This is the most intense phase of the ego death which must happen for the spirit to elevate and for one’s spiritual gifts to manifest.

The season of Set aligns with the astrological sign of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere. This season requires one to be as persistent and persevering as the mountain goat which climbs steep mountains and can survive in the harshest conditions. The season also corresponds to the energy of Saturn which rules the sign of Capricorn and the 10th house. Saturn is the planet of karma or divine reward or retribution and lessons from experience. The 10th house in astrology rules career and public image. In this season, expect any career or reputation that is built on a false foundation to be destroyed completely. We are expecting a court verdict in the P Diddy trial soon.

This corresponds to card number 13 in the major arcana in Tarot: the Devil. The message of the card is one of sensuality, uncontrolled sexuality, addictions and attachments, things that control you. This is the reason you are called to introspection and to release anything that no longer serves your highest good.

🔥 Honouring Set: Rituals and Offerings

To align with the energy of Set, create sacred space and offer your intention, attention, and reverence.

You can align with the energy if the season on a daily basis by wearing red, wearing or carrying a hematite object or something made of lead. You can wear a print or keep images or sculptures of animals sacred to Set such as the crocodile, the hippopotamus, the goat, the antelope and the gazelle in your space or on your altar.

You can set up a temporary altar with: red candles (for fire, transformation, and vitality); red objects (cloth, stones, or symbols); meat (especially pork, traditionally offered to Set) Lettuce (a sacred Kemetic food), red wine or beer. Alternatively put these objects on your existing altar.

More important than the items is your sincerity. Offer your prayer, your truth, and your willingness to grow through the chaos.

A Simple Prayer to Set

“Great Set, Master of the Storm,

I honour your power and embrace your fire.

Strip me of illusion, burn away my fear.

Help me face my shadows and rise stronger

I walk this chaos with courage,

Knowing Ma’at will return.”

A prayer similar to this is in the Kemet:Afrikan Royal Calendar of Ancestral Prayers in isiZulu. It is written and published by Mkhulu Nsingiza of the Great Empire of Kemet Movement and the Zindzi Mandela Foundation.

🧘🏾‍♀️ How to Work With the Energy of Chaos

The key is to not resist the storm. Instead, lean in. reflect. release.

Here are powerful practices to ground you:

🌬️ Breathe: Anchor yourself in your body. Inhale deeply. Exhale what you cannot control.

🧹 Clean your house: Physical clutter mirrors spiritual clutter. Set thrives in fresh, open space.

🔥 Cleanse your energy: Smoke, water, salt, prayer—whatever you have access to.

🪞 Reflect: Journal. Meditate. Ask, “What must end? What must be reborn?”

🌍 Ground: Connect with the earth. Bare feet on soil. Water on skin. Stones in hand.

This is also a powerful time to seek therapy, cut energetic cords, or confront emotional truths you’ve avoided.

🌟 The Promise of Ma’at

After the storm, comes clarity.

The Season of Set ends on 22 July, giving way to the Season of Ma’at, where balance, harmony, and truth are restored. The chaos you are experiencing now is not without purpose. It is sacred preparation.

So, if everything feels upside down, if emotions are running high, if life feels uncertain—know this:

You are in the sacred storm. And the storm will pass.

Lean in. Reflect. Release.

Order will return.

#KemeticSpirituality #SeasonOfSet #SpiritualChaos #SetianPath #MaatisComing #SacredStorm #SouthernHemisphereWisdom