The fear generated by militants elsewhere, but fanned by the xenophobia of media everywhere actually created a kind of opening and a blessing for those of us who followed a spiritual calling and traveled to Egypt this winter. There were few other sojourners in Egypt at this time, which made my most recent journey through the temples with Deborah Jones and Nine Gates, both poignant and leisurely. It was as if we had been given private visits and more than ample time to explore the tombs, the plateaus, the towns and to sail upon the beautiful waters of the Nile.
What did I do while I was there? I grabbed a lion by the tail and held on, in pursuit of the mysteries!
Before our group arrived Deborah and I toured the Coptic churches of Old Cairo, where we witnessed portraits of saints crying tears of sacred oils in the churches dedicated to Saint Barbara, Saint George, Mary of the Iron, and Saints Sergius and Bacchus. We toured the Ben Ezra Synagogue, now closed, but reputed to house the well from which Moses was drawn by the pharaoh's daughter.
Later, we went to see one of the most enigmatic sites -- Zabbaleen, also known as Trash City, which is a Coptic community on the outskirts of Cairo. While the streets were lined with mounds of garbage that 70,000 strong community has now become a hub of recycling plastics, metals and other waste. What was most amazing was the Church of St. Simon the Tanner, where the church itself and its Christian icons are carved into the side of a mountain cavern, the cavern having been created during an earthquake in the 12th century. Known as a site of miraculous healings, the church has a large room containing the crutches, wheelchairs and canes of cripples who received their healing there.
Once our group arrived, the beautiful and enigmatic Sphinx awaited our sunrise visit and listened eagerly to our whispered intentions and prayers. At Saqqara, we had an extended day of visitations to tombs, pyramids, courtyards, sounding chapels, and the serdab of Djoser. At Philae, the star Sirius and the constellation Orion (Isis and Osiris to the ancients) watched us from their places in the night sky as our boat glided silently under a quarter moon toward the Temple of Isis,. There we prayed for peace, made our petitions in her sanctuary, then awaited Ra dawning over the waters.
Before our group arrived Deborah and I toured the Coptic churches of Old Cairo, where we witnessed portraits of saints crying tears of sacred oils in the churches dedicated to Saint Barbara, Saint George, Mary of the Iron, and Saints Sergius and Bacchus. We toured the Ben Ezra Synagogue, now closed, but reputed to house the well from which Moses was drawn by the pharaoh's daughter. Later, we went to see one of the most enigmatic sites -- Zabbaleen, also known as Trash City, which is a Coptic community on the outskirts of Cairo. While the streets were lined with mounds of garbage that 70,000 strong community has now become a hub of recycling plastics, metals and other waste. What was most amazing was the Church of St. Simon the Tanner, where the church itself and its Christian icons are carved into the side of a mountain cavern, the cavern having been created during an earthquake in the 12th century. Known as a site of miraculous healings, the church has a large room containing the crutches, wheelchairs and canes of cripples who received their healing there.
Once our group arrived, the beautiful and enigmatic Sphinx awaited our sunrise visit and listened eagerly to our whispered intentions and prayers. At Saqqara, we had an extended day of visitations to tombs, pyramids, courtyards, sounding chapels, and the serdab of Djoser. At Philae, the star Sirius and the constellation Orion (Isis and Osiris to the ancients) watched us from their places in the night sky as our boat glided silently under a quarter moon toward the Temple of Isis,. There we prayed for peace, made our petitions in her sanctuary, then awaited Ra dawning over the waters.
What more can I say? Everywhere our feet touched sacred
ground. Deborah Jones, the Nine Gates Mystery School participants and I were
blessed to travel in style on our dahabeya, the Afandina, which allowed us beautiful,
languid sailing time on the Nile, the most delicious food every cooked by an
Egyptian chef, vistas of sand hills, temples, water buffalo drinking at the
water’s edge, and egrets lifting off the crown of trees to wing their way above
the waters while families of fisherman sliced through the fog and cast their
nets into the water.
By the final day of our trip, when we emerged from the
initiation inside the Great Pyramid, we were buzzing. Every cell in my body was
thrumming and I was left shivering and speechless from the energy. And thrilled
beyond all reckoning. It was one of the best trips ever.
Come with me to Egypt! April 21-May 5, 2016
I take this opportunity to say that I am returning to Egypt in April 2016. I look forward to another great trip with our guide Emil Shaker. I could ask for no better friend and guide through this sacred land. He knows the ins and out of stealth shamanism in the temples better than anyone could imagine. You will, through his magical means of working, gain access to some of the mysteries others can only imagine.
Indigo Ronlov and I will be leading this trip ASTRAL EGYPT: Living and Dreaming Together. We will combine our sacred practices of art, journaling, hieroglyphic thinking, dreaming and meditation through this amazing temple work.
On this tour, you will have ample opportunity to explore your personal and collective transpersonal piece of the puzzle through dreams, visioning, writing, and rituals and initiations that are designed to give you direct access to the Egyptian pantheon and the knowledge they wish to impart at each of the monuments you will visit.
Egypt is endowed with sacred symbolic language and art carved on the ancient temples and monuments throughout the land. It has an amazing ability to invoke something deep within, bringing forth our own symbolic language and along with it our transformation and renewal.
Normandi and Indigo will guide you in the cultivation of your own sacred symbols that come from the temples, your dreams (both in the night and the visions of the daylight), and the living architecture of this beautiful land. We will use our initiatory rituals to explore the astral realities between worlds, building relationships with the neteru (the deities of Egypt) and the sacred symbols that will move us, inform us, and ground us into the humanity that we are to become.
In order to keep the dream alive, most days will hold a time to create together. Whether a stroke of a brush or a pen, a word or a picture, you can record the essence of your experience to carry with you to remember. We will laugh heartily and hold and support each other as we dream this alchemical dream together during our nine nights on the Nile on the Dahabeya Afandina, and during the rest of the time as we luxuriate at the Mena House Garden hotel, directly across from the Great Pyramid.
This tour includes private time during sunrise at the Sphinx, inside the Great Pyramid, and most amazing, sunrise at the Temple of Isis at Philae, where we will be free to experience initiations and rites of passage not available to the public.
It will be one of the best tours yet. And there is still room. Please contact us today if you are interested.
