Luxor Temple at Night

Back from another, my 36th!, group to Egypt. Each of us returned gradually during this week, floating and swirling like leaves back down to earth. The sense of comraderie and caring amongst the group was evident from the first gathering at Logan to begin our long flight. This was a harmonious gathering of old souls, each being a strong individual and yet able to work in co operation with others. There were no big egos or reincarnated Ramses or Nefertitis, no spiritual snobbery or elitism. Just a kind and compassionate group of seekers and adventurers, open to the moment.

Egypt was wondrous as always, and the only unpleasant weather was the day we toured Giza Plateau. There was a fierce wind and sandstorm, most unusual for this time of year. It made the pyramids look as if they were fading into another dimension and caused us to rush the startled vendors in search of cotton scarves to protect our faces.

Oddly,  only a few were up for climbing inside to the King’s Chamber, but those who did were blessed with a special gift. As we ascended to the top of the Grand Gallery, we heard the most beautiful, etherial chanting echoing from the granite walls. Inside there were three women and one man, eyes closed and in deep meditative state. A few of us silently took places seated on the floor and we were bathed in this heavenly sound and vibration. Their voices were magnificent and when the chanting ended, all bowed to one another and departed without a word. It was one of those magical synchronistic moments that doesn’t call for words, only an open heart and deep sense of gratitude. I have no idea who these lovely people were or what country they came from, but I thank them for sharing those sacred moments with strangers. It is so true that there are no strangers, only friends we have not yet met…

The above photo revealed literally hundreds of energy orbs, as did every photo taken in the temple that night. We were also thrilled by an enormous golden/orange shooting star as we entered the temple; this spectacular site passed too quickly for anyone to catch a photo.

The next tour is already forming, to take place in late January 2010. It will be my last for some time, as I am involved in other projects. If your heart calls you to come home to Egypt, you are most welcome to join me.

See website for all details.

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photo credit: Mohd Tarmizi

Here is the rather lengthy list of suggested reading for those who are joining me on the trip to Egypt soon. While I do not endorse fully every word written by these authors, there is sufficient wisdom in each to warrant your exploration. As always, accept what resonates as true for you and leave the rest. Perhaps it will come back to you again later and you can reconsider it. None have the final word on the infinite mysteries of the Universe or the teachings of the Ancients, but these are topics that fascinate and intrigue all who seek a higher understanding of our existence.

Begin where you are drawn and enjoy the journey. By clicking on any title, you will be taken to it instantly.

There will not be a quiz. However, the more you explore the greater and richer will be your experience when you are standing on the sacred ground of Egypt.

SOME SUGGESTED READING FOR EGYPT TRAVELERS

General Egypt Guidebook

KNOPF GUIDE TO EGYPT

SYMBOLIST EGYPT / ESOTERIC PHILOSOPHY

THE TRAVELER’S KEY TO ANCIENT EGYPT & SERPENT IN THE SKY : (Quest Books), John Anthony West



THE TEMPLE IN MAN, SACRED SCIENCE, THE EGYPTIAN MIRACLE.  HER-BAK & HER-BAK, DISCIPLE Schwaller de Lubicz. Inner Traditions

SACRED GEOMETRY. Robert Lawlor. Crossroad



CONNECTIONS: The Geometric Bridge Between Art and Science, Jay Kappraff, McGraw Hill


EGYPTIAN MYSTERIES. Lucie Lamy. Inner Traditions International



THE GODDESS SEKHMET .Robert Masters. Amity House


TEMPLE OF THE COSMOS, Jeremy Naydler, Inner Traditions International



THE MESSAGE OF THE SPHINX, (in UK, KEEPER OF GENESIS), Graham Hancock & Robert Bauval, Crown



IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS. P.D. Ouspensky



AWAKENING OSIRIS. Normandi Ellis. Phanes

ATLANTIS/COSMOLOGY/REVISIONIST HISTORY

FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS, HEAVEN’S MIRROR, Graham Hancock. Crown



BEYOND THE BIG BANG: Ancient Cosmology and the Science of Continuous Creation, Paul LaViolette, Inner Traditions International



WHEN THE SKY FELL. Rand & Rose Flem-Ath. St. Martins



BLACK ATHENA (Vol. I), Martin Berna1, Rutgers

THE ANCIENT SECRET OF THE FLOWER OF LIFE (VOL 1 &2 ) Drunvalo Melchizedek

THE KYBALION, THE EMERALD TABLETS, Hermes Trismegistus

BRINGERS OF THE DAWN, EARTH, FAMILY OF LIGHT, Barbara Marciniak

THE HATHOR MATERIAL, Tom Kenyon & Virginia Essene

THE PASSION OF ISIS AND OSIRIS, Jean Houston


PYRAMIDS AND PYRAMIDOLOGY

SECRETS OF THE GREAT PYRAMID, Peter Tompkins, Harper & Row



HOW THE PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT. Peter Hodge, ed. Julian Keeble. Element Books (UK)



THE GREAT PYRAMID DECODED. Peter Lemesurier. Avon



TRAVEL AND PERSONAL ACCOUNTS

IN SEARCH OF SECRET EGYPT .Paul Brunton



LETTERS FROM EGYPT: A Journey on the Nile, 1849-1850; Florence Nightingale. Weidenfeld & Nicholson



FLAUBERT IN EGYPT, translated and edited by Francis Steegmuller, Academy


ONE THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE. Amelia Edwards, Dover



RIVER IN THE DESERT: Modem Travels in Ancient Egypt, Paul William Roberts. Random House

INITIATION- Elizabeth Haich



HISTORY, AUTOBIOGRAPHY & FICTION

Ramses Series, The Stone of Light, many other titles- Christian Jacq

An Egyptian Woman – Jehan Sadat


Letters from Egypt – Florence Nightengale (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)


The Search for Om Seti (Jonathan Cott)



An Egyptian Joumal – William Golding (Faber & Faber)

Child of the Dawn – Pauline Gedge



Winged Pharaoh – Joan Grant (Ariel Press)



A Woman of Cairo – Noel Barber


Nile – Laurie Divine



Practical Egyptian Magic (Murray Hope)

Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt, Nicki Scully and Linda Star Wolf



GENERAL INTEREST / ACADEMIC EGYPTOLOGY

ETERNAL EGYPT, Pierre Montet, Mentor



ATLAS OF ANCIENT EGYPT, John Baines & Jaromir Malek.

MYTH AND SYMBOL IN ANCIENT EGYPT. R. T .Rundle Clark. Thames & Hudson

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It requires one to suspend all preconceptions and surrender to the present moment, while at the same time adjusting to the odd sense of experiencing life  multi-dimensionally. In spite of growing up in the 1960s in Harvard Square,  I never touched drugs, yet the mild-altering effect of Egypt sounds similar to those ‘trips’ described by users of hallucinogens. It flows over and through you,  naturally altering and enhancing every moment. Sounds scary? Not at all. Read on…

The Ritual of Awakening

It could be a tomb, my room so dark and silent as I lay savoring the stillness, reviewing the night’s journeys.  Which was dream, which reality?  It must be almost time for the second muezzin call to prayer, that sound that permeates even the tombs with its haunting, mesmerizing cry.

A light tapping startles me and I rise, pulling on the enormous white terrycloth robe that trails on the floor behind me.  I open the thick, dark wooden door to find Khaled balancing the fragrant tray that carries my breakfast.  Stepping inside and standing statue-still, he waits for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, exaggerating his difficulty, his magnificent classic features barely visible.

Relenting, I cross the room, and remove just one clothespin from the drapes, allowing precisely two inches of sunlight to enter; just enough for him to make his way and put down the heavy tray.  He smiles, accepting the five pounds extra tip for his extreme good nature in enduring me every morning.

These waking rituals must be performed painstakingly in a certain order; this is made clear in the Book of the Dead, more accurately translated as ‘The Transformation into The Light.’ A copy lies open on my nightstand, transliterated in Arabic and English.

The scent of tamarind hangs heavy in the room, the tantalizing array of fruits beginning to spread their sticky ripeness over the sides of the silver tray onto the garlands of late summer jasmine that I wore last night. Today I will perform the ‘Ritual of the Eating of the Fruits’, but with great care so as not to invoke again the dreaded ‘Mummy Tummy.’

Slowly, I open both outer and inner drapes, carefully moving aside the intricately carved mashrabeya shutters.  Sunlight blinding, I turn the handle of the old casement window; it creaks with age as it slowly reveals the world outside.  The sight of the Pyramids takes my breath every time and the nearness and beauty of them is almost too powerful to bear.  The morning airs carries a rich bouquet of scent and sound along with a fine dust that dances into the room on the rays of sunlight.  The clip-clop of hooves, the braying of donkeys, shouting of vendors, honking of horns, drivers calling greetings to each other, the constant undercurrent of laughter, the stray dogs barking, all heading in a great colorful parade up the curving road to The Giza Plateau.

Pulling table and chair closer to the window, I finally turn to the tray and slowly open the thick white linen napkin, revealing the basket of warm fresh pastries and ‘aish baladi’ my favorite local bread. The Al Ahram lies folded on the tray, waiting to shatter the magic of this moment with world news. I ignore it as if it is an unrecognizable object from another time period. Lifting the perfectly designed square silver pot, I inhale the scent of hot, strong tea, sit back to gaze at the Pyramids and praise Allah that I am alive in this moment.

Omar’s stable across the street is chaos; busloads of tourists demanding camels or Arabian stallions immediately as if they have business meetings to attend across town. American women in bright and too-revealing attire, giddy with jet lag, bravely climb up on the high saddles, as the camel heaves and pitches back and forward to rise to its feet. Their husbands look warily at the overfriendly camel boys, not sure if they should release the reins and let their wives be led into the looming desert with these handsome boys in loose-flowing gallabeyas.  “Camel for you too, sir. No miss the fun. Two for one.” The men are hoisted and cajoled against their protests and off they go. The intrepid tourists move in caravans, laughing and taking photos of one another to prove to someone at home that they did in fact ride a camel to the pyramids.

It is day one of their tour and the cliché is already documented on film; by the time they return to Giza in two weeks for their final stay at The Mena House they will be forever changed.  That is, if they can surrender to the enduring, maddening mystery that is Egypt.

For information on Katrina’s next Transformations Sacred Site tour to Egypt www.transformationscenter.com/tours

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Search for the Zar

In this excerpt from a soon-to-be published book by Katrina Valenzuela (Khadija), we learn about the Zar, an Egyptian ritual performed to appease spirits (the Jinn) and relieve the stresses of life.

Khadija describes her first clandestine experience in a Zar ceremony, arranged after considerable searching and effort, as the secret ritual is illegal in Egypt.  She is accompanied by her friend Mostafa, who had initially discouraged her determination to participate.

The story begins as they meet a tall, gaunt figure under a bridge, who guides them to a private home where the Zar takes place.

The mysterious stranger greets us in solemn monosyllables and we follow him in silence over unpaved roads, dodging muddy trenches and stray dogs, through the poorest section of Old Cairo to a small stucco house. My clothes are mud – spattered and dusty, but the sound of drumming and the wafting myrrh and frankincense cause my heart to leap with anticipation. A woman answers the door and takes us in with her wide dark eyes, assessing us in a suspicious manner as she adjusts her hijab in a modest gesture, covering the front of her hair. After extensive, huddled discussion among the group, the mood shifts entirely and we are suddenly welcomed in and embraced.  We are told we are the first newcomers to the group in years and so they were uneasy.

Because I speak Arabic, the women consider me one of their own; they become overprotective and feel free to ask direct questions about my marital status and personal life, which I answer as briefly as possible. “Yes, Mostafa and I are only friends. No, I am not presently married or engaged. No, my father does not know where I am.” Shaking their heads in astonishment, their eyes reveal both envy and disapproval. Still, I am taken under their wing with motherly concern and I feel completely safe.

Bathed in candle light, the living room of the small house is a sea of movement, heads swaying, eyes flickering in ecstatic trance, each lost in their own inner world.  Women who are more inhibited drape large black cotton scarves over their heads and their swaying creates a mysterious silhouette. The power of the experience overcomes me within moments and I join in, allowing the rhythm to move my body. Mostafa takes a doumbek and joins the small group of men on percussion, whose task is to keep the ayoub rhythm flowing unbroken for the duration of the ceremony.

There are no steps to learn, only to surrender to the hypnotic repetition of drums and chanting. Once inside the experience, I am beyond all thinking or self-consciousness and move in a way that is deeply familiar, instinctual, and primal.  To move from a trance state is as easy as breathing and I lose myself completely in the experience.

Suddenly a large, middle aged woman in a long, flower print dress drops to the floor writhing and shaking, the sheikha loudly calling out incantations to the Jinn that possesses her. Others rush to surround her while continuing their movements around the convulsing woman. They are entirely unperturbed by the situation as they offer support and a circle of safely for whatever she needs to go through.

The Jinn is finally appeased and the frenzied expression subsides. It is obvious that some part of the Zar experience is an outlet for the repressed lives of very poor women, a chance to act out some of the frustrations and anger at conditions that never change through generations. This is a powerful sisterhood of support and I am fortunate to have been allowed entry.  When the first muezzin call goes out over the city, all activity suddenly ceases and we silently file out into the hazy early morning, each going their way without a word. I leave Mostafa at Ramses Station to catch his train back to Upper Egypt. “Let’s go again in two weeks; maybe it will cure these headaches I have had for years,” he says. We agree to talk once we have integrated all that occurred in this long and strange night.

Back in Zemalek, I fall into my bed exhausted and dizzy, the hypnotic sound of the drums still echoing in my head as it leads me into a hallucinatory sleep… Suspended in a place between waking and dreaming, I am unable to move and yet so deeply relaxed that it does not frighten me. I am carried on this journey until the mid-morning muezzin intrudes, calling me to full wakefulness. I feel a lightness and joy in spite of my lack of deep sleep, as if a burden has been lifted.  My deep heartache over my recent life changes has dissolved and in its place is a sense of gratitude and rightness about this new phase of my life. Wherever I am led next in this mosaic of adventures, I feel open and prepared for the journey.

Khadija’s book is scheduled for publication in 2009. Khadija lived in Egypt and leads spiritual tours to Egypt and surrounding countries. Visit the website to learn more about her:

http://transformationscenter.com/

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