An Hatshepsut Mortuary Temple Visit.

Last Monday Sonja, my Belgian next door neighbour, and I went to Hatshepsut’s Mortuary temple on the West Bank of Luxor. It is still hot here in Luxor, for November, but we were not expecting it to be quite so hot!  The good point though is that there are fewer tourists, due to all the unrest here! There were a few busloads of Tourists on a day stopover from Hurghada, and they were definitely dressed for the beach and not the temple, but once they had spent their half-an-hour they all left on their buses again, leaving us the privacy of the whole temple!

Initially we went straight up to the third level but ended up being hassled by the ‘guides’ there, who were trying to show me ‘Ramses’ image on the temple walls and Hatshepsut’s cartouche! Never believe these guides! They know next to nothing! I overheard one guide, who was taking the Russian tourists from Hurghada around, that an image of piles of cinnamon bark, and other woods, from Hatshepsut’s trip to Punt, was Henna! Good lord!

Anyway, we entered the top tier and Sonja immediately felt the energy there. She had had a fascination with Hatshepsut since she was five years old but had never visited the temple. This was her first experience of energy too! She has been attuned to the Gaia Method to the second level but has never done any site work yet…until today!

Because the Egyptian ‘guides’ wouldn’t leave us alone, and were constantly trying to show us things for baksheesh, we decided to go downstairs and look at the the second level instead. I took her to the Hathor Chapel first, but  there was no energy discernable. That was unusual as it is usually quite active. When we were finished there we went to the other side. This is the Colonnade which describes Hatshepsut’s trip to Punt and beside it stands the temple of Anubis. For the first time since I have been coming to this temple, nearly eight years, the Anubis temple was energetically active!

We decided to tune in here and see what was going on and as soon as I closed my eyes I saw a black energy line move from my ‘centre’ and connect to my husband’s centre. The Black line is the female energy line which runs through the earth and is one of the Spider Mother’s two lines, the other one being the masculine red line. I saw my husband being placed in a a three-layered pinkish sheath, which looked like three layers of lotus petals. He was placed in the centre of them and then they closed up around him. He was then placed, cocooned in this sheath, into the waters of the Nile. It reminded me of Osiris when Set placed him in a wooden box and sent him floating down the Nile. Then the image faded.

We found a nice image of the Goddess Seshat on the end wall, giving her energy to a kneeling figure in front of her. She is the Goddess of Wisdom, writing and architecture and inspires people to write, create and design. This suggests that the design for the temple itself was ‘channelled’ by Hatshepsut and/or her architect. Seshat is also Goddess of Sacred Geometry and is always invoked when the temple foundations are being planned and the Laying of the Cord ceremonies are being carried out. These ceremonies are not purely about the physical building however as the laying of the cord is also the laying of the energy lines which stretch between the temples, joining them in a grid of light.

 

For all the years I have been coming to this temple I have also never been to the lowest level.  It seems to be an automatic thing when visiting here that you walk up the ramps to the higher levels. Everyone does it! But this time I wanted to check it out. Once we had walked down to the colonnades on the ground level, beneath the Anubis Chapel, we could feel the energy buzzing here. It felt like the energy source of the place, the earth power place. The art on the wall also seemed to echo this, with Hatshepsut portrayed as a sphinx, symbol of Earthly power and cows being used to plough fields, but being held by ropes, one for each cow, and each rope having a small ankh at the end. This shows how the earth itself was ploughed using ‘light’ to ensure fertility ,good crops and new thoughtforms. I really liked the energy here.

Next we went around to the other side, beneath the Chapel of Hathor, but yet again there was no energy here at all!  This part of the temple is completely different too as it is painted red and has mud brick domed ceilings, and brick and mud brick pillars.  This is later construction work , replacing the older pillars, and even though it is completely different to the rest of the temple as a result, it was still beautiful.

As there were now no tourists we returned to the top level again. Sonja had overheard someone mentioning it so we followed the ‘clue’ and returned to the Sanctuary of Amun. This was originally built to receive the barque of Amun as it did its’ tour of fertility’ duty once a year during the Valley festival. This is also where the sun comes in at the  Winter Solstice.

(As I was writing this up and watching a video of the sun, which I had shot while in the temple for the winter solstice, I found my energy ‘raising up’ and so I tuned into it. I made a connection to the centre of the sanctuary and the saw Hatshepsut, as priest, taking a golden cup filled with communion wafers from a tabernacle at the back where the sun streams in. She then took this golden chalice and brought it outside, laying it on the ground in front of the sanctuary entrance. A beam of sunlight poured into the bread in the chalice, charging it with solar light. Once this was done she picked it up and carried it out and down to the next level, then entered the Hathor Chapel and gave a piece of communion to the waiting priestesses there. When she had done this she then walked around to the Anubis chapel and there her priests were waiting for her. She gave to each of them too a piece of the the solar-charged bread and then she left the temple, followed by both priests and priestesses, and walked to the end of the terrace. All of the priestesses of Hathor stood to her right, in a line, and all of he priests of Anubis stood to her left, also in a line. Together they faced the Sun, giving thanks that fertility would once again fill the land of Thebes. They all bowed to the Sun in gratitude and acknowledgement, and the ceremony was complete. This is obviously an energy working to be done at some point as the Tabernacle represents the Holy of Holies/the Sacred Heart, and the chalice is the Divine Feminine energies. The communion is the bread of the Mother, which, when charged with solar light, feeds the land and its people. When you eat the communion you become one with the God/Goddess, filled with bounty and fertility.)

When we arrived upstairs again we had the place completely to ourselves. We stood in front of the Sanctuary and we could both feel the energy again. I guided Sonja into a short meditation to see what she would receive. Her guides placed a rod through her body which went deep into the earth. Above her head a large green eye sat atop the rod, and from this eye a shaft of light shone into the Sanctuary.  Then a Divine Woman emerged from the Sanctuary and in her hands she held a white sphere, which she gifted to Sonja. It was a ‘gift of light.’  And that was the end of  that.

We spent a little more time walking around the temple grounds, as I wanted to see the sun go down over the temple. We also had a cup of coffee at the cafe before it closed and the guy working there was an old friend of my husband’s, so not only did we not have to pay for the coffee but he also gave us a key ring each as a gift. On the key ring  hung a golden image of Tutankhamen. So we figured that was to be our next destination; his tomb in the Valley of the Kings…and the Tomb of Ay! Let’s see what happens there…

 

 

For more information on Hatshepsut’s temple click here.

Where is Nature Gone?

One of the things I feel the most disconnected from here in Luxor is nature!  I know that might seem a little strange to some, who see the beautiful pictures of sugar cane fields and palm trees hugging the Nile, but actually living here is a very different story.

Palm Grove.

Having moved from England, where I was in nature a lot, this life here feels so disconnected from it. All of my life I have spent in nature. Growing up in ireland and being surrounded by fields and woods, then Spain where I spent most days either in water or horse riding or roaming the fields, not always with positive outcomes, but that’s a different story! Even moving to England I was again surrounded by green fields and large woods. And water, my most favourite element.

When I began really connecting to nature, and the elemental energy within it, my awareness that my body and consciousness were part of the energetic matrix of Life within the natural world expanded. I knew myself to be in a relationship with nature and that is where I felt the most comfortable. Doing my earthwork over the past 13 years and being part of the natural world made me feel healthy and whole, even though I was still healing myself of all of my pasts. Over the years I have moved ever deeper into the consciousness of nature, and the elemental energies which keep it growing abundantly. I learned why certain areas were not growing abundantly and how to change it energetically. I also learned how our ancestors understood, and worked with, the cycles of nature to create abundance for themselves. They too had a good relationship with their surroundings. They understood the necessity of creating harmony within that relationship if they wanted to survive well. They understood the vagaries of nature and respected it. Although this has changed immensely over the past few thousand years people are realising that in order to survive they need to move back into that awareness again. Many of the problems with nature is the people in it!

Seti the First Temple in Gourna.

So having grown up, surrounded by nature and the Elementals, and now living in the desert, I find it it is a very different experience. We live on reclaimed desert but which was once ancient graveyards, going back to the Naqada period (6.000 years). A few hundred yards away lies the Temple of Seti the First, which was once beautiful and surrounded by nature, but is now a barren tourist destination. We are surrounded by an ever-growing community of people whose only desire is to live the modern life depicted on TV, and promised by the money brought by tourists. Older, mud-brick houses are replaced by concrete and steel buildings and people are becoming more and more disconnected from the land. In order for these buildings to be built they tear down the trees, which grow around their houses. Palm and fruit trees only grow around the mud-brick houses but disappear as soon as another son needs to build a house because he wants to get married. Slowly the nature is disappearing and being replaced by tall, unfinished buildings with satelite dishes on top and the noisy hum of air-conditioning units. You can’t live in a concrete and steel building here without one!

The disconnection from nature is palpable. As a foreigner here, having grown up in greener Nature, this disconnection is very difficult to manage. I yearn for a small house, surrounded by garden and lots of trees. Although we are lucky here to have a garden I rarely go into it as it is always filled with kids or adults and I really want to be able to just sit under the olive tree and ‘commune’! There is no concept here of ‘personal space’!

The Nile at Night.

It feels here like the prevailing energy is always ‘tense’.  There is no sense of ‘ease’ here, even if people spend most of their time sleeping, especially in the hot summer months. I have spent the past two years crossing the Nile, back and forth, from East bank to West bank, but only once actually ‘felt’ the water. The first time we were sitting on the ferry waiting for it to move away, and I suddenly heard the lapping of the water at the edge of the bank. It was such a quiet, soft sound and my entire body relaxed into it. It was the first time in nearly two years that I had felt this and i wondered why it just never seemed possible to connect with the river in this way any more. The people here are constantly thinking of survival and the pursuit of money. The enjoyment of nature is just never considered. They live on nature, not within it.

The farmers, who spend a lot time in the fields, have a closer connection but this too is about money. They think of the land as a product, rather than as something to be nurtured by and enjoyed. They spend more time fighting over it, selling the topsoil for cash, yelling about field boundaries, but not a lot of time actually relishing the miracle of the life they are nurturing as they grow the food for their families. But again it all comes down to survival.

One of the most satistfying feelings i have ever felt was the tiredness at the end of a day spent growing my food in my garden. Knowing that I was taking care of myself and my kids, foodwise. It was a feeling of utter completion and joy, and I never get that feeling with anything else that I do.  I miss that connection. I miss life. And as I write this I am hearing three men’s voices, arguing and shouting, about God-only knows what this time. It is a constantly stressful place to be and maybe that is why there are so many stroke-victims here. Virtually one a week. Cancer and stroke, the two big killers.

If you cannot connect with Nature then you are also not connected to your own body. I feel like the energy in my body is depleted. It is starved of life. Living this way is a trap with very little hope for a way out. That is how most people exist here. Cut off from their feelings, their experience and from life. It takes such a long time to move out of this that people often just don’t bother any more. They live in a tiny fishbowl of envy and petty jealousies. They are always on edge. Life is hard but it could be a lot easier, if they only changed their minds and listened to newer ideas and ways of doing things.

But I guess that is why we are in the middle of revolutions. Because people need to be pushed to their limit before they know that change is necessary. And I hope, that when the change really comes that people will reconnect to their land in a positive way and not continue skimming across it as if it were ice.

I can only hope…

Luxor Life.

I have been here in Luxor now for nearly two years now and it has been an education! I learned to just be a witness rather than try to change things because I learned that it is very difficult for anyone to change centuries worth of beliefs in a short space of time, no matter how frustrating it is to watch how those same beliefs just don’t work!

Living in the middle of Egyptian society is very different to living an ex-pat life and I have had no desire to become involved with the ex-pats who live here, except for two ‘foreign’ wives of our next door neighbours whose husbands are related to my husband! We meet for coffee and a ‘vent’ and exchange the stories of our lives and what we are experiencing. Its always interesting to see how our experiences match each others and how we feel about them.

Full Moon over The West Bank.

Its not easy to live here. In fact it can be infuriating, expecially when you see how things are run, or not, in most cases. The corruption, across all levels of society is rife. Traditional and Islamic beliefs create a mish mash of cultural life which is hard to keep up with sometimes. Much of it doesn’t make any sense. But I have been trying to understand the origins of certain beliefs, the sources of certain behaviours, both dysfunctional and healthy, and that activity keeps me interested.  But it can also drive me crazy!

When I first moved here it didn’t take long for me to see how things could be done differently. So I tried…and met with huge resistance. In the garden I pruned the apple trees, just like I did with my trees in the UK. I trimmed all all the suckers from the Guava, orange and Lemon trees and Omar and I managed to get some of the garden to grow potatoes and onions. No-one actually believed that we could do it. I had been growing veges since I left home at 19 years of age. I know how to grow veges! But I was a foreign woman and obviously knew nothing about anything!

It was very difficult. The one thing that drove me nuts was that no-one ever waited for things to be ripe before they would just pluck them from the trees. Lemons, figs, guavas, pomegranates and apples all disappeared. The kids and women just helped themselves. There are four flats of people here in our building plus Mother and Father. Four sons and their wives and children occupy the flats, ours being one of them. If something was grown in the garden people just helped themselves without considering anyone else’s needs. I couldn’t understand it.

Virginia Creeper clad walls of Mount Brandon.

I looked back to my own childhood and my Grandmother’s orchard. Mick, the gardener grew everything there and if my grandmother wanted anything she sent someone up to tell him and he would give her what she needed. Woe betide anyone who took something without first asking for it! To my mind this was how it should be. There was always food for the kitchen. Things were ripe and ready to be eaten. But here, as soon as it appears it is picked, unripe and unready!  Nothing had a chance to grow so nothing was shared either. Everything was so mismanaged! How did these people ever survive?

Orange blossoms on the tree…

I gave up on the garden and my role in it after a very clear message from one of the older brothers that my ‘work’ was not appreciated. After pruning one side of the apple tree, I left one side the same as it was just to see the difference, this older brother saw me and said “What are you doing with my apple tree?” It was said in a ‘jokey’ way but it felt nothing like a joke. This was the brother who never set foot in the garden I might add!  I laughed, taking it lightly, and replied “Just wait until next year and you will have lots of apples”. This little apple tree only produced small quantities of apples, 5 -6, when it could have been producing lots but it had never been trained or pruned.

Two days later Omar and I were in the garden again and the brother appeared with an older man. They went straight to the apple tree! The old man was checking out the tree and my pruning. The message was loud and clear and I felt it in my stomach like a kick! “This is MY tree and you have ruined it”. Omar obviously picked up on his brothers intentions too and so he asked the old man how my pruning was. The old man replied that I had done a good job but I had pruned it back too hard. But it was good. (They only take off dead leaves here and the tiny tips of branchces when they prune).

Even though the old man ‘approved’ of my work I felt completely gutted. The brother’s actions were telling me clearly that I had no ‘rights’ in their garden.  It upset me for the entire day and I made a decision that I was just not going to get involved in the garden again. What made it even worse was that the other brothers defended this brother’s actions even though it was also clear as a bell to them what his intentions were. But no-one stood up to him!

Water Fowl. Keeping Cool.

So I turned my attention to chickens. We bought our chickens and converted an unused mudbrick shed into our chicken house. Omar’s mother kept her chickens and ducks in another shed along with the sheep. I bought my chickens ‘proper’ feed from the shop and gave them scraps as well. A few days later ‘Mother’ told us that rats were stealing her hens eggs and so, innocently, I suggested she keep them with our chickens. Bad move. Although I fed them they were now no longer my chickens. She questioned every little thing I did and undid everything too! The other women would send their children to get the eggs without asking so we told htem that when there were enough eggs we would share them with everyone. One wife refused any eggs at all because she couldn’t just go and help herself! Then another brother felt so quilty that the other wife wasn’t getting eggs that he refused the eggs as well. It was ridiculous.

There was a constant battle for control and I became so fed up with the whole thing.  Nobody else could see what was happening, or rather they chose not to. We decided to build another chicken house below our flat. Our flat is above the ‘apple tree brothers’ flat. Omar made mudbrick walls and put a door on and just before we were about to put our chickens there the brother kicked off again. He ranted that he didn’t want chickens outside his house!  That was the end of that idea!

I went to the UK for two weeks and when I came back I decided that I was going to take back my power and my control and take care of my own bloody chickens! So we put a lock on the door. Mother got one too..lof course. Totally defeated the object but one can’t reject mother!

The women, who were feeding them scraps, threw these scraps over the door and it stank. We told them to put the food outside the door rather than throwing it over the door and leaving a horrible stinking mess as you walk in to the coop! Nothing went down well. Mother was out of the loop!  But the scraps were still thrown over the door!

Two remaining ducklings!

We bought three ducklings, two of which died when someone let them out of the palm run they were in. So we put our last remaining duck in with the chickens. But two days later Mother bought ducks and where did she put them? She threw them over the door and in with our chickens, which effectively meant that she could now enter as she liked.

I gave up and gave her all the chickens to look after! I had had enough. She was not pleased as it now meant that she had to feed and water them everyday. I no longer paid for their food and had nothing more to do with them. She complained that she still wanted me to look after them, which really meant she wanted me to pay for their food!  We said OK, but didn’t act on it, leaving her with the responsibility! We still own our duck, which she looks after,  but most of the hens have been eaten. In the winter we are putting concrete stairs up to the roof and we will build houses for our birds and rabbits. Then I will do it my way…hopefully!  But before doing that I will make sure that ‘the brother’ doesn’t take control of that idea too! It he does then I will not build the stairs but will wait until I have my own farm someplace else!

But there is a point to this blog. These incidences of power and control taught me about how women’s lives are here in the poorer parts of Egypt. How people can all live together and how the power dynamics between men and women, and the women themselves, make or break a family. I will write more about this in the next blog.

PS. The little apple tree died in the end and produced nothing at all after all its little apples were eaten. Everyone thought it was a case of ‘bad eyes’ after the pruning fiasco! Too much negative energy etc. All the other trees we took care of are now producing more fruit than they ever have.  Hey ho!

Egypt, Old and New Ideas.

Cooking fire and Oven.

Reading through the comments on the We are all Khaled Said’s facebook page I noticed one woman’s suggestion on how to rebuild Egypt’s tourism industry and try to bring some money back to the local people. Having spent time in Luxor for a few years, and studied some of the works which charities out there do I was struck by the efforts of one charity. They donate gas cookers to very poor families so that they no longer have to cook in the traditional way, i.e. in a pot over a small fire. This makes their lives easier but it made me wonder how they were going to afford to replace the gas bottles/cylinders. Would they have to be dependent now on the charity forever?

It also felt uncomfortable to me because we were imposing our ‘values’ on their culture. People in the ‘West’ spend a fortune on having perfect homes. We replace our ‘old’ kitchens’ for newer models and then throw away all of the appliances which no longer fit the new colour scheme!! I have never understood it! Then, when we see a people who do not have the ‘luxury’ which we have, we dive in to ‘make their lives better’. I think that this ‘better’ also creates its own problems.

I love the way poorer Egyptians can make everything out of the earth. They are masters of invention and this is something which I have had a strong connection to in my own life. When I think back over my life I remember the things which I loved to do. As a child growing up in rural Ireland in the 60’s we ‘kids’ had our own self-built house in the woods, complete with fire and kettle on top, filled with water from a local spring. We made tea, boys and girls together and played in the woods. How we didn’t burn it down is anyone’s guess but we were obviously good at keeping it safe!

Cupboard made of mud.

When I lived in Spain from the age of 11, with my mother, we moved into a villa in Benalmadena Costa. It had a garage full of old furniture. We climbed in the window and created a home in there. Later on, when we moved to Torremolinos and to a new building development, we had huge concrete pipes which then became our ‘home’. We foraged in the surrounding countryside, (There actually were fields full of crops and sugar-cane then!) often on horseback. We came home with bags of grapes, usually stolen!! Pomegranates, avocados, sugar cane and vegetables from the edge of fields. We even stole a chicken once and plucked it, built a fire and cooked it on a spit! It wasn’t entirely successful but we loved it. We were as independent as we could have been. I never liked houses, always preferring to be outdoors.

Then when I was 14, we moved back to Dublin to live with my father and step-mother. Nightmare!!! My independence was taken away and we lived in a house which was so ‘perfect’ that we were not allowed to do anything! The life I loved with my mother, free and able to survive on nothing, was stripped away and I lived a modern life. I hated it. I felt completely trapped. Dependent once again.

Now as an adult I feel the same sense of being trapped by modern conveniences. I hate this life. I want to live a life of connection to the earth again. To make my own furniture, my own clothes, to be self-sufficient.

So when I see ‘progress’ in rural Egypt I see possible disaster! I love their traditional bread making skills, cooking skills, furniture making skills, because this feels ‘normal’ and right to me. I worry about them becoming so dependent on modern luxuries that these old survival ways become lost. Maintaining a modern life means becoming a slave to gas companies, electricity companies. Yes having a gas cooker makes a woman’s life easier. Yes I can see the value of a fridge but the energy has to be paid for!! More money is then needed to maintain that lifestyle and so it goes on!

When a person builds a cupboard from the mud it has cost them nothing. I love this ability to create something with nothing but what nature has provided, and some creative thinking and craft skills. Poor Egyptians are incredibly creative, because they have had to be. But I love this about them and I fear that they will lose this in an effort to be ‘modern’.

Hassan Fathy House in New Gourna, Luxor.

Some of us here in Europe and the US recognise that life needs to change. Our ‘modern’ way of living strips away our ability to survive and thrive in the natural world. We are relearning how to build our own houses, to make clay ovens, to live closer to the earth. To find new, free ways of cooking, living and storing food. There is so much we could learn from the rural Egyptian people. So much we can reconnect to. Before it is all lost in the mad race for ‘modernisation’.

Hassan Fathy, to me, was the Father of earth-based living. He designed everything to suit the environment and I would love a house built by his design. One day I intend to build one.

 

Egypt today…and tomorrow. January 2011

After the events in Egypt over the past three weeks I have felt it very difficult to separate my beliefs about energy healing from the political events which happen in places I feel a strong connection with! These last three weeks have kept me on the edge of my seat. I have tweeted, and face-booked and written and watched. I got up early in the morning and went to bed late. I didn’t cook, I barely cleaned the house because I just could not take my attention away from what was happening. This fire that is spreading across the Arab world is far too important to worry about my housework! It is changing our world! 

It has been a roller-coaster of emotions, a journey of healing. I have felt my own energies mixed with the collective energy of Egypt. At times I forgot where I was!! Egypt was in my living room! 

This reclaiming of personal power and self-worth has been my own journey over the last 16 years and it was a joy to watch an entire nation go through that. I still get goosebumps just thinking about it!

But although Mubarak has stepped down I still feel that this is a first step. There is so much more to accomplish. My own guidance over the years, through channelling, has told me that, in my future,  I would live in a country which had seen huge change and growth. A culture would be dismantled and then put back together in a new and vibrant way. A country with its roots in the ancient world, the Land of the Great Mother, Egypt. At the time I received it, it made no sense but now I understand. My future is in Egypt’s future and I cannot wait! 

Not everyone in Egypt is feeling their power. This is the beginning of their journey also. But it is a  joyous start. As an abuse counsellor I know how difficult the journey to self-worth is but I also know the incredible feeling of stability and power that is achieved during it. 

I wish that all people, all over the world, get to feel this and to know it!  

This is my wish!

 

Egypt Jan 2011.

I’m beginning to lose count of which day we are on now. Day 11? For 16 hours a day I have stayed on the computer, watching Al Jazeera/English, tweeting, re-tweeting tweets, posting on my facebook page, communicating with other supporters of the Egyptian revolution, etc. etc. I have been so connected to the energies of Egypt and its people that I have had Egypt in my living room. All my thoughts are there, my consciousness is there. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about what is going to happen the next day, what is Mubarak going to pull today, how are the protesters going to move from this point.

I have cried, been shocked to the core at the behaviour of this president and his mobs, I have rejoiced while watching some of the incredible things which have emerged from this, such as the wonderful way that men and women have worked together, Muslim, atheist and Christian have held hands and prayed together. It has been both incredibly amazing, and equally painful. A roller coaster of emotions.

I couldn’t bear to be away from the computer…just in case I missed something vital. All my other work has taken second place, although I did manage to make some very nice jewellery sitting in front of the computer…and done some work on my tour website!

I have also worried about the livelihoods of those people in Upper Egypt, dependent on the tourist industry, when tourists have both gone home to ‘safety’ and been told by flight companies that it is just too dangerous to travel there. But I have also been shocked at the behaviour of some tour operators and their lack of responsibility towards people travelling there.

I have agonised over Egypt for nearly two weeks, and will probably continue to do so until Mubarak has finally left and Egypt gains her freedom. I know also that I am not alone. For us outside of Egypt, who want so much for this country and its people, it is frustrating  as hell that we cannot be there, to support their struggle in person. To watch powerlessly as Egypt renews her battle against an abusive dictator and comes out, day after day, in support of freedom. To listen to the BS that our own governments shovel out to the masses in their own fear of change.

But, for those of us who are healers of consciousness, we recognise that as our energies are joined with those of Egypt that our healing thoughts are constantly directed to the positive loving energies which are trying to make changes in Egypt, and the rest of the Arab world. Our work is universal and yet we are each joined by an invisible thread to the consciousness of the country which we most resonate with. And this is what keeps us focussed and watchful, adding our soul energy to the soul energy of Egypt. Because we know that this change has been foretold for many years and that now we are seeing the great rebirth, a rebirth of self-love and self-worth, with the heart of the Mother pounding through the very soul of Egypt.

I will remain connected in this way to the heart and soul of Egypt until Egypt is free…as will so many others.

Yalla Misr.

Visions of Egypt, from a ‘higher’ perspective.

Before I moved to Egypt, and right at the beginning of the First Revolution in January 2011 I received a lot of information about what was happening in Egypt, from a Higher perspective, i.e. that of the Soul level of consciousness. This is a small portion of what I received:

Golden Pharoah

“I kept waking up having visions of a completely golden Pharoah/God. He was standing in Giza, at the Great Pyramid, and in his arms he was carrying an Egyptian young man in jeans. This young man was dead. The golden Pharaoh carried him very lovingly and laid him on the white marble steps of a temple which was beside the pyramid. Everything was white and gold and lovely, yet sad. But what I felt from it was that Khaled Said’s death was a sacrifice made for the Egyptian people. This revolution was ‘supposed’ to happen. I felt that these young men, including the man in Tunisia, had a higher purpose in doing what they did. The torch has been lit.

Then the vision changed and I was looking at a computer screen. It was someone’s page! It had a black background with a young man in a suit sitting, as though deep in thought. He was looking out to the left of the screen. His suit was made up of images of the uprising, like a beautiful collage. Beside him there was a document but I couldn’t see what it said. Over this image the song by 12 Stones was playing: ‘World so cold’.    #mce_temp_url#

The song stayed in my head and was still there when I awoke. ‘They’ also said that there would be a bigger uprising later, which would be bigger and last longer than the first, but they didn’t say when. Then there would be third revolution and that would be the successful one leading to a New Beginning. But this process would take years.”

19 August 2012. Channelling.

“An open wound lies at the heart of Egypt. A wound festering with rot and putrefaction. This wound was caused by the dark thoughts and deeds of those in the past who desired power at all costs. They wished for nothing more than the ultimate control of an entire region. This desire for control has cost the lives of many people and continues to do so for this wound rots more and more each day, cutting off the life-force of those who live here. Without this life-force nothing can survive for long, which is why you see a dying nation before your eyes. It will not be long before the country will fall into the wrong hands. The hands of those who would be only too happy to take the reins of power and control the people once again. Mercy is on their lips but the fire of hate is in their hearts.”

Love is the only solution!

 

The Art of Ahkenaten.

I was busy writing to my Earth healing site when I began to feel a burning urge to write about recent understandings of the Art of Amarna.
I recognise that feeling so here I am. The reason for this is a book I am reading called “Tutankhamun, The Exodus Conspiracy” by Andrew Collins & Chris Ogilvie-Herald. Now I’m not generally into conspiracy theories but this subject is close to my heart. I’ve only just begun reading it but I have finally understood more of what Akhenaton was trying to achieve. There is so much gumf written about him and what his artistic style represents and, as usual, they completely miss the point. People interpret this stuff so literally forgetting about ‘symbolism’. Has Jung had absolutely no impact on the academic world?
In order to understand the Amarna art you have to open your mind up to certain spiritual concepts. Many healers are working with this level of information now so surely its not all that hard.
I have been working with the Akhenaten energy for some time now. It comes and goes, typically part of the spiritual learning path! It hasn’t been around for a couple of years but now its back, on a different level. The authors reflect on Akhenaten’s view of the aten:
“According to the inscriptions left to us this was an omnipotent, BISEXUAL FORCE symbolised by the light and heat of the sun’s rays. In art is was depicted as a sun-disc, encircled by the uraeus-snake-a symbol of sovereignty, from which emanated rays of light that ended in hands, some of which offered ankhs, the Egyptian cross of life”.
Later on, trying to interpret other people’s views on why Akhenaten chose to portray himself as an aphroditic image and how this might have meant that he suffered from a disease they end one sentence with;
“Explaining perhaps Akhenaten’s BISEXUAL physiognomy in Amarna art”. Now Akhenaten’s name means the glorified spirit (akh)of the Aten, meaning that he embodied the male solar energy, the energy of male creation. If the Aten was a bisexual force, which it is (everything contains both masculine and feminine), and Akhenaten embodied that force then it seems pretty obvious to me that he would portray himself as BOTH energies, the male and female. The whole point of his work was Balance. Serpents represent creative force, both masculine and feminine, and have been used all over the world by priests and initiates, in world service.
In my view Akhenaten was trying to bring that awareness into the lives of the Egyptians. They were held in thrall by the priests of Egypt and, much like Christianity over the years, had become corrupt and greedy. If you wanted to go to heaven, or the afterlife, you had to do what the priests said, which included giving your money and living in fear of going to hell(or the equivilent) if you didn’t. People lived in fear of their gods and Ahkenaten knew the truth. He followed his guidance when told to build the city where he did. He tried to create a community of people dedicated to healing the consciousness of the people and to freeing them from the slavery of religious belief.
Now, there is nothing unusual in this. It happens periodically. Whenever change needs to happen here on earth some souls choose to incarnate in order to plant seeds for the future, in terms of belief systems, or to change things in ways that are on ground level, such as politically. It happens all the time. Souls that specialise in spiritual change come in because spiritual belief systems are crippling people instead of allowing them to grow. Spiritual beliefs need to be opened up again and balance once again established. Akhenaten, his family and many of his followers were part of that particular change. Just as now we are going through a time of spiritual and global change, a rebalancing.
The earth work that I do uses many of the same symbols and energies as those used by Akhenaten. They were not invented by him but known by his ancestors. They were a part of older energy systems designed to keep the energies of the earth in balance, and thereby influence human thinking. He was guided to build Aketaten on a site which had a strong serpent/earth energy and which had not been used by previous builders. Again, this happens all the time when you work with earth energies. As an example, look at the history of the Findhorn community. Eileen Caddy, the founder, was guided and taught by her guides/God and she was instructed, every step of the way, to build the community and where. Years later, they discovered that main energy lines run beneath the place they built upon and this is why she had to build here. When you are strongly guided, even if you don’t know why you are being asked to do something, you still do it because you know it is necessary!
Akhenaten knew what he was doing! He followed his guidance and carried out his mission, nearly! Some people were unable to do the work necessary to be able to bring it to its conclusion. If something is to work it needs everybody’s input.
The Amarna art is a physical representation of the teachings. The balance of male and female, energetically and physically, is shown in the paintings. The women were just as important as the men, each has their role. Serpent energy, that power within the Sun and the Earth, was part of their spiritual development. They knew, that in order to affect change that they had to represent the forces of creation. And what was the greatest force of all? Divine Love, an open heart, compassion. They tried to show this in their art. The family, the love within it, made them human. They were spiritual human beings, not set apart from their people but part of them. Look at the life of Jesus, he was human. He knew what he had to do and he did it. Another spiritual changer.
In Aketaten they would have had to be trained in working with the serpents. This takes years of self development and dedication, as it is a challenging path. This is work that the ancient people of all cultures knew and still know. The ancient priests and priestess of the British isles, the Aborigines, the native Americans etc. It is the knowledge which built Stonehenge and Avebury. Each culture would have had its own language with which to express their knowledge and each had its mysteries which only initiates knew. But even initiates only knew their level of knowledge. I believe that the work done by Akhenaten and his followers was the same. It may have had its own language but the basic concepts of the work would have been understood by all initiates.
His work is the same as that done by many of us at present, which is why it is recognised. Studying his art can tell us much about what he was trying to achieve. I hope we can get it!!

Some Luxor reality! 2010.

I arrived back from Luxor yesterday having spent three weeks there. It was an interesting time as I spent most of it struggling! As soon as we had arrived at our new flat my guides ‘popped’ in and said “You will make your final decision in three weeks”. Oh god. I thought I had made it already!! So I spent the three weeks to-ing and fro-ing about whether to move there permanently or not! Part of me liked it but another part of me really did not! For the first few days we could not get out of the building because the owner Mahmoud hadn’t finished putting the locks on the main doors and gates. So we had to wait for someone in his family to come and let us out. This raised some very interesting issues! Our apartment is out in the middle of sugar cane fields on the West bank and our road is a dirt road! It is very beautiful with terrific views but also a lot of pollution. The locals throw all their rubbish into the canal beside the road so its not very hygenic! Lots of plastic bags and bottles. Luxor really needs a good refuse collection in outerlying areas and a recyling plant!! Then all that is needed is re-education!!
Anyway, it rained hard one night and we had no electricity. We also couldn’t get out of the apartments! So I rang the owner and woke him up at 8am. He doesn’t get up until mid-day usually but I really didn’t care. There was water everywhere. Egypt isn’t used to rain like this so they close off the electricity rather than have everything blow! We didn’t know that!
Mahmoud sent his brother around to explain and I voiced my anger about being stuck in the flats. If there was an accident and we couldn’t get out it would be dangerous.
Later that evening, after a day out, we arrived home to find Mahmoud standing on the veranda. He had put in the locks and had keys for each of the doors. Fair play! So now we had some freedom!
The flats were not completely finished which is why this incident arose. We had bought the lease the previous October and chose to stay there rather in the other flats. Things were not quite finished but are moving into completion fast now. Hopefully by the time we go back in September the pool will be completed and the restaurant on the roof up and running. They are nice flats and have absolutely beautiful views.
We are learning how to get about without taking very expensive taxis where tourists are constantly ripped off. In fact tourists get ripped off all the time! Its very annoying to feel conned all the time. People say that Egyptians are friendly. They are, but like the Irish they are also gossips! You have to have to wits about you when dealing with them because if they can get more out of you they will, no matter how they do it. I find it challenges your sense of power. So I thought that I would offer some info on what things really cost and how to get around without being cheated. You have to be quite rude really which is very difficult for most foreigners, especially the British who are generally polite to people and expect everyone else to be polite too. Mind you that’s not always the case…….
When buying anything you can be damn sure that they are charging you way over the odds. To give you an example we used to buy our white street bread, a small, but long bread sold on the streets, from a small bakery in El Gezera. We were charged 20LE (£2) for 10. This seemed like a lot for 10 small rolls and I wouldn’t have spent that in England or Ireland but we didn’t know any better. We felt that it was a lot but didn’t know whether it was normal or not. Later we discovered that actually 10 of those rolls actually cost 2LE (20p). That’s a hell of a difference. Now we pay 2LE whether they like it or not. I’m not a rich tourist and I can’t afford to pay through the nose for basic staples.
The same thing applies to Taxis, boats, camel rides, horse rides, etc. You will be charged a fortune and, if you are on your own, you may well be taken all around the houses and charged way too much. To add insult to injury you will also be expected to pay a tip, for being conned and over-charged!!
I’m not purposefully being negative but I need the truth and am not happy unless things are fair and right. Egypt is a wonderful country but it is like many other tourist destinations. Especially when that destination is poor! Money is all important and they don’t care what ethics they have to forego to get it. You just cannot afford to be gullible in Egypt or you will be fleeced. If you are so rich that it does not matter then fine. But if you have saved up all year, scrimped and scraped to get the money to pay for this holiday, the last thing you want to feel is conned and ripped off.
Egyptian men are very good actors and this starts early in life. They all see tourists as money! Many even think tourists are completely stupid for paying the prices they ask!! (I won’t run empty wallets back to the airport” said our lovely landlord!! ) And they are treated accordingly! Its not a nice feeling to be seen as money bags and guit-tripped into paying above the odds. Egyptians are brilliant at it. And, as much as I hate to say it, the Irish are no different!! I am Irish so I know! Because I have an accent which is not quite Irish enough (having lived in England for 16 years) they think I am English so we get ripped off here too.
The boats: to get a motor boat from the West bank to the East bank is actually 5LE. Not the 20LE and above that they try to charge you. Its actually 1LE to go across on the big ferry but many people like to take the boats, us included, because the ferry is government owned and the boats are local so the money stays local.
Of all the Egyptians we met only one was generous and honest and didn’t try to sell us anything! His name is Salah Hussin and he owns the Cafateria R. Ramsses beside Medinet Habu. He is a self-made man who has attained his guide licence and also runs his restaurant with his brother. From the first moment he met us he sold us things at a reasonable price. He also gave us some tagine bowls for making vegetable and meat dishes and never asked for anything. In fact he turned out to be quite a passionate man. We told him that we would be back in September and he gave us ideas on how to make a living. He suggested teaching Egyptian kids English! He said that too many kids grow up with tourist English and tourist ideas but he himself was inspired by an English teacher and as a result he changed his destiny. I had goosebumps listening to him as he was telling me what my guides had already told me. That if you want to change the way men, and women, view women and life then you have to start with the children! Also Salah suggested that if you wanted to live in Egypt you should live the same way as Egyptians, i.e. not spending loads of money but staying balanced. Lovely man. I could really feel his passion as when people are telling the truth with integrity and heart it makes me feel very tearful.
Interestingly I found some other blogs who mention Salah and feel that his cafe is the best in Luxor. I would totally agree! Lovely guy and a good muslim.
I can’t say the same for our land lord however. He spends most of his time sleeping, eating and drinking. He can be ok for a chat but if he has nothing to gain from you he tends to not be quite so chatty. His wife, an English woman, does the majority of the work and is highly respected in Luxor and beyond. She is a good business woman and he would have gained nothing if he had not met her. Like many Egyptians they view foreign women as good wives to have because they know how to make money and do business. At least that is what they think. British women ‘fall in love’ with Egyptian men thinking that those same men are romantic but they really only want the women for business. And many women fall for it. However, there are a lot of poor British women living in luxor but because ‘all british women are rich’ they don’t believe that they are poor and marry them hopefully. They soon learn, on both counts. Many of these men are also married already and probably have children but that is kept secret until after the marriage. That’s fine if you just want to be married, or love Egyptians and are happy to share your husband with possibly three other women. Unfortunately most of these women end up seriously unhappy and disappointed.
Search high and low for a good Egyptian man as they are worth their weight in Gold!