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Set-child here, and an ANES specialist with many tasty articles I could send your way, if you have a need. I'd be more than happy to supply you with resources via PM.


Concerning offerings in general, a not-Set-specific book that I'd love to recommend is Sylvie Cauville's Offerings to the Gods in Egyptian Temples. Many of the examples do come from Ptolemaic and Roman Period additions to various temples like Dendera, Edfu, and Esna, but they nevertheless illustrate the sorts of offerings -- those specific to festivities and deities as well as generic ones -- that had been routinely given to the Netjeru for millennia. These are accompanied by very handy explanations of each offering-type, the EGYPTIAN terms (in transliterated Latin characters as well as in the original text) for these individual items, and photographs.


Another important point about offerings worth making: Rather than offerings being about what a God "likes" in the way you or I might "like" coffee and chocolate cake, etc., offerings for the Gods carry very intricate meanings, and embody that which sustains ma'at, both for and among the Gods as well as for and among human society. Some offerings serve very specific and unique ritual purposes, and some are everyday items. Cauville's reference is very handy in that respect.


Above and beyond all that, though, the Gods accept what is freely given with a sincere and loving heart, even if it's just cool water, incense, and candlelight. It CAN be that simple, and that IS just as valid an offering as steak and expensive wine.


As far as daily devotions / offerings go, sharing a meal with Them, however "unremarkable" it may seem to you, won't be looked down upon in the slightest (I share my coffee and tea with Them often, for example, and have offered chicken, which is not strictly speaking an "historical" offering, even though there is ample evidence that chickens were indeed raised throught the Near East and Northeast Africa from a comparatively early period). You give what you have, what you can eat (since Divine offerings are reverted and consumed, not thrown away and left to rot), as you are able, and generally speaking it tends to matter very little whether there's an explicit historical basis for certain offerings or not. Barring any taboos concerning certain cults, of course. Pigs are an example of a taboo item for a few different Divinities: they're uncertain territory, in part because they are an animal fairly exclusive to Set. Offering Set His own idiosyncratic creatures is iffy for self-evident reasons, and offering Divinities like Aset and Wesir pig-flesh could easily be offensive to Them. We do know of Libyan taboos against offering pig-flesh to Aset, though not of any explicit Egyptian ones. Egyptians raised and ate pigs, and there is ample evidence of this from the middens of several settlements, yet, insofar as I've seen, pigs NEVER occur in Egyptian offering-lists, for ANY period. This is a different situation from the bull, which is often ritually cast as a stand-in for Set, Whose severed foreleg (His death-dealing weapon, the xpS), deprived of its offensive force, is presented to Wesir joint-first in the context of certain rituals, and to the Justified Dead in the context of ancestor veneration. Why the bull and not the pig isn't something Egyptians ever pointedly elaborated upon. It's simply a distinction between "ritually-acceptable and unacceptable animals" we must accept and take as a given.


Anyway, the TL;DR of the situation: As it is said in The Instructions of Merikare (c. 2100 BCE):


129~The deeds of the upright person are preferred to the ox of the evildoer

130~The God is aware of him who acts for Him.


Your honesty and sincerety are vastly preferred by the Netjeru over what specific (non-taboo) items/actions you offer Them. Don't get too hung-up on "will He like my offerings?" or "my offerings aren't grand and opulent enough . . . I must be a TERRIBLE devotee!" You're giving Set your time and your love and your (ma'atian) actions, and your offerings, however simple or meager they may seem to you, are undoubtedly appreciated. What is a big deal to us is often small to [God], and what may seem small to us is often a big deal to [God]. So don't tie yourself into knots over it. :3

Sure thing :)

So the first thing I would do is get a good grasp of Egyptian mythology. There are a number of different books that can explain the various myths. I started with this one, but this one might also be worth checking out. Knowing the myths is integral to understanding AE's religious systems.

The second book I might recommend is Jeremy Naydler's Temple of the Cosmos, it can be a little dense, but it does a great job of explaining how the Ancient Egyptians viewed the world, the importance of Ma'at, and the various religious concepts that were integral to... everything. Once you've got the symbology down, I would recommend you stick to book by Egyptologists, and make sure to avoid anything translated by E.A. Budge. Some of my favorites have included:

Magic in Ancient Egypt by Geraldine Pinch

Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt by Emily Teeter

Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt by Erik Hornung

And I definitely think it's worth reaching out to Thoth / Djehuty :) That's the best way to establish a connection with a Netjer in my experience -
the Ancient Egyptian deities are well known for being relaxed / understanding / welcoming to new-comers, so don't worry about doing anything fancy. Just sitting down somewhere quiet, lighting a candle, introducing yourself and talking about your interest in Him is sufficient to start with. Maybe offer the research you perform and books you read to Him as a devotional activity.

Here's a commonly recommended Kemetic starter guide worth a read:
https://thetwistedrope.wordpress.com/kemeticism/kemetic-starter-guide/

When I got started with more regular offerings, I based my ritual on this one: https://persebek.wordpress.com/practices/general-rites/general-solitary-kemetic-ritual/

If you find yourself wanting to know more, I recommend checking out the Kemetic Round Table.

Forcing? No, He's never forced me, but that may be the nature of the relationship we have.

However, I have had a lot of astral travel experiences. I meet Him there a lot. We talk, and He usually shows me around a bit, or carries me. Last time I went, He sat me on His lap as other Netjeru came to speak with me.

I have been reading a book on astral travel/projection, and it's actually quite common to accidentally slip into it and then snap back because of surprise for the first time. If you want to learn more, I suggest Astral Travel for Beginners by Richard Webster -- it's a little New Age-y, but so far pretty solid.

Welcome to Kemetic polytheism. It's different than LHP. I personally am a member of Kemetic Orthodoxy, but it's not the only way to worship Netjer. However, the House's recommended reading list is pretty solid, so I suggest to start there. There's a lot of knowledgeable people around here and Tumblr (if you can stand it).

I hope this helps!

I was looking through a book (not mine, college library's) called "Religion in Ancient Egypt:Gods,Myths, and Personal Practice", and found this in "Ancient Egyptian Cosmogonies and Cosmology" by Leonard H. Lesko.

>The rather objective description of the cosmos reflected in Egyptian lexicography was in some ways consistent with the mythological descriptions of the heavenly cow and of the sky goddess Nut. The great Cow of Heaven, who might also be identified with the goddess Hathor, stood supported by gods who held each of her legs. She gave birth to the sun as Ihy every day, and the sun traversed her belly to be swallowed by the goddess at night. In another mythological tradition, Nut gave birth to the sun god Re, who passed below her arched body during the daylight hours, was swallowed by her at sunset, and passed through her body at night. (pg. 118)