I love the mountains of
North Carolina. None-the-less, I felt like I left a piece of my
heart in San Francisco when we moved from there to here three years
ago. To my surprise, I had a profound sense of the return of my
heart the moment my feet touched the earth in Egypt. I've never
been to Egypt - at least in this lifetime - and have purposefully
not read that much about it, but I immediately felt like I was home
at last!
How to describe
that which is beyond words? Let me begin with the people of Egypt
… the kindness, generous spirit, and simple beauty of the Egyptian
people surprised me. Most of the month of October is Ramadan, the
most sacred of Islamic holidays, where the Muslim people fast each
day from around 4 am until 5:30 pm. When they break the fast each
day it is called Iftar. Ninety percent of Egyptians are Muslim so
most of the people we met were fasting the whole time we were there.
Complete strangers invited us into their homes in the evenings to
talk and share a meal. English is a second language to many of the
people there so I was able to engage in many a heart felt conversation.
As for the
land, it is a stark contrast between oasis and desert. For part
of the trip we sailed down the twisting, turning silver snake of
the Nile River on the Sonesta Sun Goddess Cruise Ship. We traveled
from the Great Pyramids and Sphinx of Giza and Cairo, to Aswan,
Philiae, Edfu, Esna, Dendera, Abydos, and Luxor to the Red Sea.
Each day was like a dream. The temples were magnificent and came
to life for us as we entered them - usually around 5 or 6 am in
the morning a couple of hours before the crowds arrived. Nicki Scully
- a shamanic spirit with heartfelt connections to Egypt - was able
to arrange private time for our group to do sacred ritual and ceremony
at most of the temples. What an amazing privilege that turned out
to be!
The sights,
sounds and smells of Egypt are still filling my senses and my dreams
after almost a week of being back in the USA. I doubt I will ever
be the same and that is a good thing. While I was there I became
increasingly aware of the paradox of life and death. Egypt is the
true land of the shamanic rituals of death and rebirth. The light
and the dark dance there in a way that is impossible to ignore.
Egypt brings home the deeper questions of who am I, why am I here,
where did we all come from, what is our true origins as human beings,
and how can I reconcile the seeming irreconcilable differences in
my own life and heart and do my part on the planet? I loved the
fact that I could not escape these questions that touch my heart
and soul so deeply. Too often the distractions of everyday life
- even here in our sacred little Isis Cove in the mountains - creep
in and pull me away from what most matters.
I cannot
do any of the rituals justice by trying to explain them, but I can
tell you this … magic is alive and well in the land and temples
of Egypt! I came home with the inner knowing that, "IT IS NOT
TOO LATE FOR HUMANITY!" There is still time for all of us to
remember who we really are and to know we are all deeply connected
beyond time, space, color, creed and countries. The magic space
of hope renewed and expanded our hearts.
Never was
this truth more poignant than at the open-air Temple of Isis by
the Nile where we did a Shamanic Breathwork Journey. The guards
who were outside the temple could not resist joining our closing
circle. So there we stood - 39 so-called foreigners to Egypt - holding
hands with eight armed Egyptian soldiers singing John Lennon's "Imagine"
in the open-air Temple of Isis while watching the sun come up. This
was a moment I will always remember - not only about my journey
to Egypt but in a lifetime of memories.
As our beloved
tour guides Emil and Hatem would say to us as they prepared to take
us into each temple and sacred site ... "Travel sacredly, can
you feel it? Travel my friends AS ONE, and so it is and so may it
be."
Blessings
to All My Fellow Soul Companions on the trip and to those who held
space from a distance. You were with us, one and all.
