Crystals and Sacred Sites Lightbecoming - Judy Hall
Crystals and Sacred Sites Lightbecoming - Judy Hall
Crystals and Sacred Sites Lightbecoming - Judy Hall
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<strong>Crystals</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Sacred</strong> <strong>Sites</strong><br />
Light becoming: Travelling with healing<br />
intent<br />
<strong>Judy</strong> <strong>Hall</strong><br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
It may seem absurd, it may seem preposterous, but we would insist that the<br />
journey described can become a real one, on several levels of underst<strong>and</strong>ing.<br />
The reader will have an opportunity of glimpsing within the lost realms of<br />
Egypt, <strong>and</strong> his or her own psyche, wonders that the modern world has almost<br />
forgotten.<br />
Alan Richardson <strong>and</strong> B. Walker-John The Inner Guide to Egypt.
Kom Ombo Temple c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
THE GODS RETURN<br />
Light unbinds the hieroglyphs of ransacked gods<br />
Scriptures chant from stone.<br />
Nudged by shadows we walk away from ourselves<br />
To a place where truth has the weight of a feather.<br />
Christine Aziz<br />
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Enter into this account with your heart not your head! It cannot be understood<br />
rationally. Do not try to make sense of it, sense it instead. The mythology of<br />
ancient Egypt is complex <strong>and</strong> evolved over three <strong>and</strong> a half thous<strong>and</strong> years so<br />
there are many versions. Allow yourself to enter into their world.<br />
.<br />
In the beginning<br />
As I have always suspected, you can be ‘here’ <strong>and</strong> ‘there’ at the same time. That<br />
there are such things as parallel lives <strong>and</strong> different timeframes that spin <strong>and</strong> flow<br />
together in an eternal present is a given to me as I frequently time-walk in my<br />
karmic healing <strong>and</strong> astrological work, weaving between the worlds. But I was to<br />
experience this much more personally through a journey up the Nile from Luxor to<br />
Aswan.<br />
My much treasured friend <strong>and</strong> publisher Margaret Cahill of Flying Horse<br />
Press was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma just after 21.12.12 <strong>and</strong> had her first<br />
intensive chemo four-day session just before I left for Egypt in February 2013.<br />
Her blog ‘Under cover of darkness: my journey through mantle cell lymphoma’<br />
quickly became addictive reading for me with its incredible depth of insight <strong>and</strong><br />
inner-sight. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology <strong>and</strong> ancient metaphysics,<br />
we would keep in touch while I was travelling down the Nile. I knew that the journey<br />
would not be an ordinary one but even I was surprised at what transpired. It<br />
certainly confirmed what Lao Tzu said aeons ago:<br />
The further one goes, the less one knows,<br />
Therefore the sage knows without going about,<br />
Underst<strong>and</strong>s without seeing,<br />
And accomplishes without action.<br />
I took a photograph of Margaret <strong>and</strong> her partner Stephen Gawtry <strong>and</strong><br />
carried it on the eleven day journey along the Nile. This was to be much more than a<br />
surrogacy trip though. Margaret <strong>and</strong> Stephen’s spirits were imbued in the<br />
photograph in the same way that the Egyptian gods interpenetrated the objects<br />
that represented them. The priests of old would have understood totally how<br />
Margaret could be in a hospital bed receiving intensive chemo <strong>and</strong> having coffee <strong>and</strong><br />
cocktails overlooking the Nile at the same time. To quote Alan Richardson:<br />
This [journey] is about exploring that realm known as Ancient Egypt. Not the<br />
Egypt which exists today… but Egypt as a state of mind, a level of<br />
consciousness which lies far beneath our own... To the Ancient Egyptian<br />
every aspect of their nation was a lower analogue of spiritual realities, the<br />
whole being an earthly expression of the universe <strong>and</strong> the soul of man…<br />
Explore one, <strong>and</strong> you explored the other also. To the Ancient Egyptians,<br />
there was not a great deal of difference. (Inner Guide to Egypt)<br />
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Margaret <strong>and</strong> her partner Stephen Gawtry. For the pink hat story read her blog!<br />
Mission statement<br />
Our lovely guide Tam kept telling the Solos group with whom we were travelling<br />
‘don’t forget we’re on a mission folks’. His mission was to introduce us to what<br />
remained of ancient Egypt - <strong>and</strong> to get us to see as many sunrises as possible it<br />
seemed. Our smaller group within a group had a mission within a mission, to become<br />
part of those wonders <strong>and</strong> use them to assist Margaret’s healing. I had originally<br />
thought I was going down the Nile to relax, revisit favourite haunts, share previous<br />
experiences <strong>and</strong> do some inner work. Well… yes. I did. But! There was to be much<br />
more to it, so many layers <strong>and</strong> levels interweaving. ‘Here’ <strong>and</strong> ‘there’ became one in a<br />
way that the ancient Egyptians knew so well. A kind of metaphysical internet was in<br />
place. What the ancient Egyptians called ‘the intelligence of the heart’.<br />
The intelligence of the heart<br />
Ten members of my Glastonbury summer astrological retreat had expressed an<br />
interest in joining the trip but one by one they were unable to do so. You do know<br />
how to make God, or the gods, laugh don’t you? You tell them your plans. However,<br />
fellow astrologers Terrie Birch, Patricia Korsgaard <strong>and</strong> Tore Lomsdalen were the<br />
perfect travelling companions.<br />
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The healing companions: Terrie Birch, Patricia Korsgaard, Tore Lomsdalen,<br />
<strong>Judy</strong> <strong>Hall</strong> ready for the last night on the boat.<br />
Tore kept me in touch with Margaret on the technological internet <strong>and</strong> took<br />
great photos, <strong>and</strong> Terrie <strong>and</strong> Patricia turned out to be talented psychic<br />
photographers as well as helping to create the metaphysical internet. I didn’t take a<br />
camera because I was exploring Norm<strong>and</strong>i Ellis’s idea that, when walking through<br />
the timeless temples <strong>and</strong> tombs, you enter into the book inscribed on the walls <strong>and</strong><br />
the book enters into you. Egyptian magic. Which chimed nicely with thoughts I’d<br />
been pondering for sometime. After all, it was in Egypt that the ‘as above so below,<br />
as within so without’ premise took root <strong>and</strong> flowered most strongly. All is indeed<br />
one.<br />
As the scarab is a symbol of rebirth in Egypt <strong>and</strong> pink was Margaret’s colour<br />
of the moment, as soon as we boarded the boat I bought a beautiful pink alabaster<br />
scarab to represent her soul <strong>and</strong> carried it with me wherever I went as a point of<br />
contact. The scarab symbolism was to play an integral part in our journey, more<br />
significant than I had imagined. It is the sign of regenesis (spiritual rebirth which<br />
should perhaps be written regen-isis, the coming again of Isis, in honour of the<br />
goddess), <strong>and</strong> regeneration, a new life to come. The Egyptians considered that the<br />
heart was the most important organ in the body – it was the seat of the soul <strong>and</strong><br />
signified the essence of life. It held all feelings such as courage, love, joy <strong>and</strong><br />
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sorrow; <strong>and</strong> the power of thought. The heart was the keeper of the soul’s secrets<br />
<strong>and</strong> acted as its conscience. Scarab amulets like the one I had bought were placed<br />
over the heart of the mummy in the tomb to preserve the person’s vital power as<br />
they journeyed through the Other World.<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
Placing the photo <strong>and</strong> the scarab at Kom Ombo, note the rainbow of light<br />
above my hat brim <strong>and</strong> violet light over the photo (see The Big P.S). There’s an<br />
ancient Egyptian spirit hovering to the left above Stephen for those with eyes to<br />
see.<br />
The Book of the Dead, a guidebook for the journey through to the afterlife,<br />
has spells for preserving the heart - which would be weighed against the Feather of<br />
Maat (truth, justice <strong>and</strong> perfect balance) after physical death to see if the soul<br />
was fit for rebirth into the spiritual life that followed. The heart would always<br />
speak truth <strong>and</strong> some of the spells implore the heart not to reveal guilty secrets<br />
but to speak instead on behalf of the deceased soul. It clearly had a life – <strong>and</strong> a<br />
veracity – of its own. For me the trip through the underworld was a symbol of the<br />
7
death of Margaret’s cancerous cells <strong>and</strong> regeneration into a healthy - <strong>and</strong> united -<br />
body <strong>and</strong> soul once more. We have to remember that for the ancient Egyptians<br />
death on any level was just stepping into another world, earth being the<br />
antechamber to greater things. The Afterlife was one of ‘light <strong>and</strong> joy, energy <strong>and</strong><br />
communion, where loved ones could be re-united for ‘millions <strong>and</strong> millions of years’,<br />
<strong>and</strong> where the living could search for their completeness.’ (Richardson).<br />
Weighing the heart before The Lord Osiris, papyrus copy. Anubis <strong>and</strong> Anumut, the<br />
devourer of souls, sitting beneath the balance while Thoth reads from the Records.<br />
The heart of the deceased is on the left of the balance, the feather of Maat on<br />
the right. Once the test has been passed, the deceased is taken forward to meet<br />
Osiris supported by Isis <strong>and</strong> Nephthys. Here the soul is granted new life.<br />
Luxor (Ancient Thebes) is according to Alan Richardson <strong>and</strong> Billie Walker-<br />
John the place above all others where we can give birth to ourselves so it seemed<br />
fitting that we were setting off from Luxor <strong>and</strong> would return to spend a final few<br />
days there. As they say ‘It is the place where our initiation is completed <strong>and</strong> yet<br />
begins.’<br />
The transmutation of the Lady of the Flame<br />
Continuing to amuse God - or should that be the gods? – with our plans, we went<br />
first to Karnak Temple in Luxor with the larger group. We were ushered to the<br />
huge scarab statue of Kepera, the dung beetle who pushes the sun around the sky<br />
during the day. We placed the photo of Margaret on the statue <strong>and</strong> began to<br />
process the traditional seven counter-clockwise revolutions around the statue for<br />
healing <strong>and</strong> good luck. Kepera is ‘light becoming’, the sun rising out of darkness, an<br />
auspicious <strong>and</strong> appropriate start. One lone tourist circled in the other direction.<br />
Dyspraxic? Or simply from the other side of the world? It felt deeply significant,<br />
like the dance of the cosmos. Maybe she was acting as a retrograde planet (planets<br />
sometimes appear to move backwards in the sky from the perspective of earth) or<br />
was she representing Chiron the wounded healer ‘planet’ who has a very eccentric<br />
orbit that weaves between three planets interconnecting them?<br />
8
c.Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Margaret <strong>and</strong> Stephen on Kepera, Karnak Temple<br />
c. Terrie Birch.<br />
Placing the photo while the Solos group circle, watched by bemused onlookers, most<br />
were unaware of the service they were performing for Margaret but it all helped!<br />
Breaking away from the larger group, Terrie, Patricia, Tore <strong>and</strong> I set off to<br />
visit the Sekhmet Sanctuary that featured in my <strong>Crystals</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Sacred</strong> <strong>Sites</strong> book. I<br />
had my first experience with the powerful statue of the goddess in that sanctuary<br />
9
twenty five years ago, which I drew on for my novel Torn Clouds. I always pay my<br />
respects to My Lady when I arrive in Luxor <strong>and</strong> was determined to do so again.<br />
Having passed through three ‘no entry’ signs, I was looking for the baksheesh man<br />
who holds the keys <strong>and</strong> who, for a ‘tip’ opens the temple, when out of a deep<br />
excavation in the foundations up popped a French archaeologist. ‘Temple closed!’ she<br />
said firmly. Message finally received <strong>and</strong> understood. My original intention of<br />
connecting the temples with the chakras had already been thwarted by the tour<br />
company changing the order in which we visited them, putting Edfu <strong>and</strong> the Other<br />
Side (the West bank at Luxor) on hold until the return trip. Time for a rethink. I<br />
was learning that this journey was to be about being with the flow rather than<br />
doing, <strong>and</strong> that it had a pattern that was not dictated by my conscious mind:<br />
definitely an intelligence of the heart.<br />
Sekhmet is a goddess of healing but first she was an instrument of<br />
destruction sent out by her father Ra (the sun) to kill off his subjects who were<br />
running amok (see The Story of Re below) – analogous to Margaret’s rogue cancer<br />
cells <strong>and</strong> the effect of the chemo. Sekhmet was lured into drinking a lake of beer<br />
laced, in one version of the myth with blood-like pomegranate, to calm her when the<br />
killing got out of control. Pomegranate juice, a Venus-attuned substance, featured<br />
large in Margaret’s healing regime at the time but clearly she didn’t need Sekhmet’s<br />
fiery power even though Sekhmet had later become a goddess of healing. Margaret<br />
needed extreme gentleness. Another healing goddess, Hathor (Venus), I was now<br />
told, would be more suitable as the goddess of love <strong>and</strong> rebirth would hold<br />
Margaret safely in her arms while every cell in her body was transmuted, as would<br />
the Divine Mother Isis (the Moon), the eternal renewer.<br />
c. <strong>Judy</strong> <strong>Hall</strong> 1997<br />
Sekhmet in her temple, the shaft over her head is arranged so that she is<br />
illuminated by the sun at midday.<br />
10
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The Goddess Hathor holding the Ankh, symbol of life <strong>and</strong> the lotus staff<br />
symbol of consciousness, Kom Ombo<br />
11
Sekhmet breathing fire-light. My apologies to the photographer whose name I have<br />
mislaid but it was my screensaver for many years. I’ll be happy to attribute it.<br />
The Temple of Man<br />
Luxor Temple is where Amon Ra <strong>and</strong> his consort went for their yearly honeymoon. A<br />
temple of celebration of joy <strong>and</strong> the fertility of life. Walking the long avenue of<br />
sphinxes that leads from Karnak to Luxor (which has recently been uncovered once<br />
more) is more than just a journey from once place to another. The repetitive but<br />
each slightly different face of the sphinxes (human heads on lions’ bodies<br />
symbolising the solar principle incarnated into human form <strong>and</strong> made conscious)<br />
open up a new level of consciousness if walked with due attention. The temple is<br />
‘skewed’, changing orientation as it progresses. To Schwaller de Lubicz this temple<br />
was a plan of the perfect man laid out on the ground, representing ‘as above so<br />
below’ <strong>and</strong>, according to John Anthony West‘s interpretation of his work ‘Luxor is<br />
based upon <strong>and</strong> incorporates the laws relating to the creation of man <strong>and</strong> his<br />
spiritual development <strong>and</strong> destiny. It may be seen as a kind of gr<strong>and</strong> library of<br />
genesis whose ‘books’ are the measures, proportions <strong>and</strong> harmonies of the building<br />
itself as well as the reliefs <strong>and</strong> inscriptions.’ Definitely a temple for being in rather<br />
than trying to intellectually underst<strong>and</strong> it (I’d tried that on a previous visit <strong>and</strong> it<br />
made my head hurt). Not surprising then that I’ve totally forgotten what occurred<br />
12
there during this current trip! At least for now. But, as Alan Richardson says, it is a<br />
place of self-initiation. The place where you can take responsibility for yourself <strong>and</strong><br />
for your own light.<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
Walking the avenue of Sphinxes. Below, Tore has attracted the attention of<br />
an orb. (For a discussion on orbs see The Big P.S)<br />
13
c. Terrie Birch<br />
The most potent hour. Luxor Temple just before sunset. Its one remaining obelisk<br />
pointing skyward to earth the power of the sun <strong>and</strong> recharge the temple’s batteries<br />
This temple welcomes you during the hours of darkness, I love it there just<br />
after the sun has set, so calm <strong>and</strong> reflective no matter how many people mill around<br />
you. The central ‘holy of holies’ was built by Alex<strong>and</strong>er the Great. I’m particularly<br />
fond of him as his birth was apparently foretold by an ancient Egyptain pharaoh by<br />
means crystal horoscope (see the MA dissertation on my website). Having predicted<br />
that Alex<strong>and</strong>er’s mother would be impregnated by Amon Ra, the pharaoh dressed up<br />
as Ra <strong>and</strong> ensured that the prediction came true. Luxor is also home to the moon<br />
god Khonsu <strong>and</strong> this temple’s hypostyle hall pillar bases mirror the phases of the<br />
moon (more of Khonsu later, see The Big P.S).<br />
A quick aside<br />
Before sailing, the four healing companions made a trip to Luxor museum. What<br />
most caught our attention was the crocodile god Sobek (more of him later, see Kom<br />
Ombo) with Amenhopis III, who built the amazing Mut temple at Karnak. There was<br />
a very powerful healing line passing through this statue <strong>and</strong> through the upper<br />
galleries where another of my old friends, Aken’aton, who featured in my novel Torn<br />
Clouds was displayed. This was to be one of my few trips to Egypt during which I<br />
did not visit Temple Mut to see how much more had been uncovered. 1500 statues<br />
of My Lady Sekhmet have been recovered there <strong>and</strong> the sacred birthing lake is one<br />
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of the most significant <strong>and</strong> beautiful in all Egypt. But there was no time so it will<br />
have to wait for the next visit. Roll on the Winter Solstice!<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
Amenhophis III, the compassionate face of Ancient Egypt, Luxor Temple<br />
Signs <strong>and</strong> serendipities<br />
Synchronicity was all around us throughout the journey. After we sailed, I was on<br />
deck experimenting with the ‘Wave over Water’ hieroglyph that looks like the top<br />
layer of the glyph for Aquarius - the sun was passing through Aquarius for the trip<br />
which culminated with a new moon in Aquarius <strong>and</strong> Chinese new year. I’d<br />
been told that the hieroglyph was a healing symbol, drawing energy in when pointed<br />
one way <strong>and</strong> sending it out when facing the other but hieroglyphs have many levels<br />
of meaning, which I was keen to experience. As I held it, ‘Bridge Over Troubled<br />
Water’ floated out of the boat’s sound system. It was part of my connection with<br />
Margaret. An etheric cord linking our hearts. Perfect!<br />
David Furlong has suggested that this sign looks very much like an electrical<br />
charge on an oscilloscope. ‘Two distinct elements - wind <strong>and</strong> water - are involved or,<br />
15
more exactly, the unseen moving the seen.’ And he asks ‘could this therefore be a<br />
symbol of the action of the invisible world on the physical universe?’ Very much so<br />
from my experience!<br />
c. David Furlong<br />
Hathor’s h<strong>and</strong>s offering the wave over water hieroglyph, Temple of Seti I, Abydos<br />
(David Furlong http://www.kch42.dial.pipex.com/egypttour_abydos.htm)<br />
I had printed out the symbol on photographic paper but its effect was<br />
powerful <strong>and</strong>, in the hope that it would strengthen the energy field around her, I<br />
placed it with Margaret’s photograph to channel healing energy to her.<br />
The signs continued. On our way to Kom Ombo – a dual temple, the only one<br />
dedicated to two gods – there was a magnificent ‘double dip’ sunset. The sun<br />
disappeared behind a hill just as the photographers were setting up. We petitioned<br />
Ra to show himself again <strong>and</strong> he reappeared <strong>and</strong> rose up in the West as the hill<br />
changed shape. Resurrection! We perhaps have to digress a little here to explain<br />
that Ra, the sun god, was believed to fight his enemies in the underworld at night,<br />
<strong>and</strong> then rise again triumphant, pushed by Kepera, to fertilise the l<strong>and</strong> during the<br />
day so sunset <strong>and</strong> sunrise were pivotal moments in the ancient Egyptian religion. The<br />
16
first splinter of morning sunlight was greeted with profound relief. Ra had returned<br />
safely to the upper world.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The Perilous moment. Ra enters the underworld. Sunset on The Other Side. The<br />
Theban hills are to the right<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The magical moment. Ra rises again. Sunrise in the desert<br />
17
Entering the Twin Portals<br />
Duality was a feature of ancient Egypt, but they embraced it <strong>and</strong> kept it in balance<br />
rather than seeking to enhance one end of the energetic spectrum or the other.<br />
They recognised that there was value in the dark just as in the light. So it’s<br />
something of a surprise to find only one dual temple dedicated to two different<br />
gods in Egypt – other temples have chapels for the various gods within them but<br />
here both reign supreme holding the dualities in harmony.<br />
Kom Ombo was a renowned healing temple in ancient times <strong>and</strong> its walls are<br />
still covered in medical texts that can be absorbed by walking within them rather<br />
than using rational intelligence. Healing is activated by being here.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The dual portals of Kom Ombo<br />
We paid due respect to its twin deities Horus the Elder (Mars) the Hawk of<br />
Farsightedness <strong>and</strong> New Birth (Mars <strong>and</strong> Sobek – the crocodile god of death <strong>and</strong><br />
resurrection representing, it would seem, the planet Pluto (more usually associated<br />
with Osiris) or possibly Chiron, the astrological wounded healer who I would usually<br />
equate to Imhotep in the Egyptian pantheon. Imhotep was an ‘avator’, an incarnation<br />
of Nefertum son of Ptah <strong>and</strong> Sekhmet who was then elevated to the gods once<br />
again. Margaret’s photo was placed on the altars of Sobek <strong>and</strong> Horus to hold the<br />
dualities in balance as was the Egyptian way, <strong>and</strong> to mirror the processes of cell<br />
death <strong>and</strong> regeneration that were taking place in her body. She was starting her<br />
second round of intensive chemo <strong>and</strong> accompanying cell regeneration therapy.<br />
When we arrived at Kom Ombo I was reading Imagining the World into<br />
Existence by Norm<strong>and</strong>i Ellis who said:<br />
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‘The power of conscious creation lies in one’s ability to hold the tension<br />
between opposing desires of thought. Life is not a straight line. It is a tide<br />
that goes in <strong>and</strong> out. We walk because we have learned to balance the<br />
oppositions of right <strong>and</strong> left appendages. Change <strong>and</strong> motion are perhaps the<br />
only true constant in the universe… Imagine that the space between your<br />
every breath is that moment of Zep Tepi [the first time]. Every heartbeat<br />
can be that new beginning’.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Margaret <strong>and</strong> her scarab on the Sobek altar, Kom Ombo Temple<br />
Regenesis. That seemed to fit rather neatly into Margaret’s earlier philosophical<br />
blog musings <strong>and</strong> our email exchanges. So, the message was: ‘Hold the balance. Flow<br />
with the tides <strong>and</strong> stay centered in your body <strong>and</strong> its processes.’ With beautiful<br />
synchronicity, at the time Margaret was learning to listen to what her body<br />
required as her blog later revealed. She didn’t want to fight the cancer, which<br />
would be fighting herself. As she said:<br />
‘I’ve decided to stop talking about the treatment being toxic as thinking that<br />
way creates such a horrible reaction in my body as it goes in. We all know it<br />
is extremely toxic <strong>and</strong> that it burns skin on contact, but the alternative isn’t<br />
19
exactly attractive either so I am concentrating on visualising the chemicals<br />
as a force for good sloshing through my veins… thinking about soldiers <strong>and</strong><br />
helpful liquid sloshing through my veins, I realise that my attitude <strong>and</strong> thus<br />
my needs are changing. My Mars in Aries has quietened down considerably<br />
through this experience <strong>and</strong> the soldiers don’t need to go storming through<br />
my system like they did. This is actually very welcome, as I didn’t really feel<br />
it was right for me. Even in the beginning, I didn’t feel that I was ‘fighting’<br />
this cancer. I’ve never done that well with fighting things anyway, <strong>and</strong> maybe<br />
I felt instinctively that I would use all my energy on trying to win the battle<br />
<strong>and</strong> have none left at the end to enjoy life. The happiest <strong>and</strong> most inspiring<br />
people seem to talk about living with cancer <strong>and</strong> that makes more sense to<br />
me. Cancer is now a part of my life, <strong>and</strong> the spectre of it in the form of<br />
regular tests will always be there; we would have a very uncomfortable<br />
existence if it was a continually antagonistic relationship. Fighting also<br />
doesn’t marry well with the exceptionally beautiful healing I am receiving. In<br />
the light of this I am working hard at being kind to myself <strong>and</strong> my body, as it<br />
was the reverse of those conditions that made it sick. To this end I am now<br />
seeing the drugs as a positive force gently washing through my system.’<br />
Exactly what the dual temple of Kom Ombo used in its ancient healing practices only<br />
there the positive force was the gods <strong>and</strong> the remedies they prescribed. Margaret<br />
later decided to call the chemo ‘happy juice’ <strong>and</strong> had much less of a reaction to it.<br />
Encounter with Sobek<br />
Then we went to the temple museum. When I first visited Kom Ombo many years<br />
ago, the mummified crocodiles were piled in a haphazard heap in a side chapel<br />
dedicated to Hathor <strong>and</strong> pulled out to amuse the tourists. Now they are more<br />
appropriately housed in a cool dark room. Sobek is much less disgruntled than he<br />
was. He was even ready to chat.<br />
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c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The crocodile god Sobek <strong>and</strong> Amenhopis 111, Luxor museum<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The mummified gods of Kom Ombo<br />
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c. Terrie Birch.<br />
Mummified crocodile eggs, note the golden egg in the far distance<br />
It was only a small statue, not like the wonderful life-sized alabaster<br />
crocodile god that sits with his arm protectively placed around his pharaoh in Luxor<br />
museum. When I touched that one a jolt of electricity shot through me <strong>and</strong> my hair<br />
crackled. And when I crossed his energy line elsewhere in the museum, my feet<br />
tingled <strong>and</strong> pulsed. Electric healing! I’d been thankful I didn’t have Margaret’s<br />
photo with me that day as it would have been too strong for her. Her scarab,<br />
representing her soul, however, drew great strength from it as did I.<br />
But this little guy was different. He was beautifully carved in granite.<br />
Granite is a quartz-studded, highly resonant stone that magnifies <strong>and</strong> conveys<br />
geomagnetic energies. It is strongly grounding <strong>and</strong> enduring, resistant to change so<br />
making a perfect receptacle for the essence of the god (you can read more about it<br />
in Crystal Bible 3 <strong>and</strong> 101 Power Stones). Granite assists with the process of<br />
apoptosis, the natural cell death that allows the biological cycle of renewal <strong>and</strong><br />
regeneration to continue so it chimed with Margaret’s chemo <strong>and</strong> cell regeneration<br />
therapy. Every inch of Sobek’s scaly skin was replicated perfectly but it was his<br />
left eye that caught <strong>and</strong> held mine like a tractor beam. Intelligent, benign,<br />
compassionate. Here was the God in incarnation, his essence still imbued in his<br />
statue in the old way. In ancient Egypt stone, as with everything else, was seen as<br />
essentially animate <strong>and</strong> impregnated with the divine. We spoke for awhile. ‘I will<br />
protect you <strong>and</strong> your friend’ he told me. Many years ago he was on the front cover<br />
of my first psychic protection book which has now been superseded by Good<br />
Vibrations published by Margaret. Now I understood why illustrator <strong>and</strong> esoteric-<br />
Egyptologist Judith Page had insisted on his illustration rather than Sekhmet’s<br />
gracing that first cover.<br />
22
c. Terrie Birch<br />
The tractor beam eye, Sobek still infused in his statue<br />
My new friend then directed me round to his right eye. More quiet.<br />
Intuitive, gentle <strong>and</strong> healing. Wrapping me – <strong>and</strong> Margaret – in his light <strong>and</strong> his<br />
underst<strong>and</strong>ing.<br />
Eventually I moved, at Sobek’s insistence, to a granite stela in a case behind<br />
him. Two crocodiles this time. Basking in the sun. Heads laid on rocks <strong>and</strong> tails<br />
hanging down behind. Sleepy. Chilling out. One eye on us (Terrie was with me) but<br />
unimpressed by these visitors from the 21 st century. Hathor, depicted beneath<br />
them, was more welcoming.<br />
23
c.Terrie Birch<br />
Dual Sobek <strong>and</strong> Hathor stelae<br />
She <strong>and</strong> her priestesses gathered around Margaret, Terrie <strong>and</strong> myself in<br />
quiet communion offering their support <strong>and</strong> heart-felt wisdom. Margaret was in<br />
safe h<strong>and</strong>s. So calm <strong>and</strong> restorative. A sisterhood. That’s the way it has always<br />
been in my enduring friendship with Margaret, who has encouraged me to go deeper<br />
in my writing <strong>and</strong>, in turn, her wisdom has sustained me. We didn’t even have to pay<br />
baksheesh to take photos, a rare event indeed.<br />
Outside we picked up beautiful, energetic Golden Healer Quartz <strong>and</strong> a<br />
haematite-infused Quartz that looked exactly like one of the mummified crocodile<br />
eggs we had just seen in the museum. What was waiting to hatch? What was halfborn?<br />
Treasure indeed.<br />
Nubian temple stones, c. Jeni Campbell, www.angeladditions.co.uk<br />
http://www.groovycart.co.uk/cart.php?c=2799&cat=Egyptian+Stones<br />
24
We even managed to email photos to Margaret later that day <strong>and</strong> to hear<br />
back that the chemo <strong>and</strong> cell regeneration therapy was underway. When I returned<br />
to my cabin the next evening, the gentle-souled Mohammed, who looked after it,<br />
had intuitively crafted a beautiful healing m<strong>and</strong>ala for Margaret with these stones.<br />
A great heart-centred gift for her.<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
Mohammed’s Nubian Temple healing stones m<strong>and</strong>ala<br />
And indeed, on my return home crystal healer Jeni Powell <strong>and</strong> I worked with these<br />
stones <strong>and</strong> others from Aswan in a surrogate grid which was later physically<br />
transferred to Margaret in Jeni’s healing room so that Margaret could do the work<br />
for herself <strong>and</strong> one would then accompany her into her next intensive round of<br />
treatment.<br />
25
c. Terrie Birch<br />
Mohammed starting one of his creations<br />
But, I now had work to do of my own.<br />
Be careful what you wish for<br />
Back in 1991 Alan Richardson, metaphysician extraordinaire <strong>and</strong> a fellow ‘pupil’ of<br />
my mentor Christine Hartley wrote The Inner Guide to Egypt with intuitive<br />
Egyptologist Billie Walker-John. I devoured it at one sitting. Literally working my<br />
way through the whole book during a one <strong>and</strong> a half hour train journey, during which<br />
time held no meaning. And I mean Working as I undertook each ritual, became the<br />
book. By the end I was an ancient Egyptian once again, it awoke so much past life<br />
knowledge, <strong>and</strong> the book has travelled to Egypt with me ever since. The shamanic<br />
journey starts with boarding the Henu boat, the great winged ship of Sokar (Osiris)<br />
‘the Lord of the Mysterious Realms’ which floats not upon water but air <strong>and</strong> is<br />
powered by sunlight. So eager is it to fly that it has to be chained down when at a<br />
st<strong>and</strong>still. The authors pose the question: ‘a sarcophagus is carried on board<br />
containing what?’ <strong>and</strong> answer: ‘Ourselves.’<br />
(See also The Big P.S.)<br />
26
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The winged Henu boat with its sarcophagus aboard <strong>and</strong> Sokar (Osiris) on top,<br />
Abydos<br />
So, Terrie <strong>and</strong> I sat on deck in the cool of the evening to journey on the<br />
Henu boat through a portal created by the dual temple entrance at Kom Ombo. We<br />
greeted first Sobek at the righth<strong>and</strong> portal, <strong>and</strong> listened to his wisdom <strong>and</strong> then<br />
journeyed to the stars with Horus. For me it was an adjustment of every cell in my<br />
physical <strong>and</strong> etheric bodies so that the light that the higher vibration crystals I<br />
was working with were bringing into my being could be assimilated <strong>and</strong> grounded into<br />
earth. I brought the dualities within myself into equilibrium <strong>and</strong> filled my heart<br />
with love. I felt whole, complete in myself. But I was aware of an energetic ‘gap’<br />
beside me (not within me). The lack of a complementary male energy. I have written<br />
in another book published by Margaret, The Soulmate Myth, of my heartfelt desire<br />
for a twinflame – a soulmate without the karma <strong>and</strong> soul lessons. The kind of<br />
mutually supportive, beneficial soul exp<strong>and</strong>ing relationship that Margaret had found<br />
with Stephen – the story of which also featured in that book.<br />
In my journey the creator god Ptah – husb<strong>and</strong> of Sekhmet – appeared on my<br />
righth<strong>and</strong> side. A god I have worked with many times as he pummels <strong>and</strong> shapes<br />
souls on his potter’s wheel ready for incarnation. His mummy-wrapped form is like<br />
the chrysalis stage of transformation, full of awesome potential. He st<strong>and</strong>s<br />
between Sekhmet’s dual qualities of destruction <strong>and</strong> renewal. This was always the<br />
Egyptian way. Ptah is one of the most ancient Egyptian gods who ‘is the capacity we<br />
all have for making <strong>and</strong> creating <strong>and</strong> inventing things… also the creation of words<br />
<strong>and</strong> ideas.’ (Richardson) He is an essential part of magic.<br />
27
Pharaoh before Ptah who holds the shedshed w<strong>and</strong>, his wife Sekhmet <strong>and</strong> their son<br />
Nefertum with the uas w<strong>and</strong>, a symbol of personal responsibility <strong>and</strong> self-creation,<br />
a lodestone that points to the strongest source of power <strong>and</strong> wisdom available to<br />
the seeker.<br />
In my visualisation, Ptah was golden magnificence with his close fitting<br />
helmet, breastplate <strong>and</strong> mummy wrappings shot through with flame-red. His magical<br />
shedshed staff too was gold. According to Alan Richardson this staff has elements<br />
of rebirth <strong>and</strong> renewal. It contains the djed pillar that was the backbone of Osiris<br />
<strong>and</strong> symbolises his entrapment in a tree (read the myth in The Big P.S), the ankh or<br />
womb of Isis, the basal fork representing the dualities of life on earth <strong>and</strong> a<br />
smaller ankh emerging from the top symbolising birth. Alan says ‘The shedshed,<br />
when brooded upon, becomes a disturbingly potent symbol with facility for keeping<br />
the meditator awake a nights. The answer to the question ‘How do you underst<strong>and</strong><br />
life on earth’ can be answered by every individual’s interpretation of this staff.’<br />
Ptah was stunning. Fully alive <strong>and</strong> able to move despite his mummified form.<br />
He more than adequately filled that energetic gap. When I left the temple through<br />
the Horus portal he accompanied me. After our Henu boat had l<strong>and</strong>ed <strong>and</strong> Terrie<br />
<strong>and</strong> I were sharing our experiences, I told her that the energetic gap was filled<br />
although it would be nice if he could manifest physically sometime soon. Be careful<br />
what you wish for! Or rather, be careful how you phrase what you wish for. I forgot<br />
to add the words ‘animate <strong>and</strong> fully incarnated in the present timeframe in an<br />
appropriate physical body’.<br />
The next evening I was in the jewellery shop on the boat negotiating for<br />
presents for my daughter <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>children with the lovely Raphael (named for the<br />
Archangel of healing of course). Can you imagine the shock when I went to my cabin<br />
to fetch some cash, switched on the light <strong>and</strong> there was a magnificent red <strong>and</strong> gold<br />
ancient Egyptian sitting in the chair by the window? He had piercing blue eyes that<br />
followed me around the room. Spooky or what? Mohammed had crafted him from<br />
28
pillows, towels, bottletops, a ghalebiah borrowed from the shop <strong>and</strong> slippers from<br />
the spa. But somehow he had been imbued with life. To my mind, Mohammed was<br />
definitely an Egyptian priest in a former life <strong>and</strong> intuitively knew the old ways. So<br />
Ptah, or H’er Khat as my visitor told me his name was, had manifested. He was<br />
reading The Osiris Labyrinth – my bedtime book. He was on the righth<strong>and</strong> side of<br />
where I slept, filling that energetic gap. Once more I was sleeping beside an ancient<br />
Egyptian. So, when I went to bed, I redid Alan’s Osiris journey, sinking into the<br />
earth to become one with it <strong>and</strong> have the last remnants of the past stripped away<br />
to be reborn <strong>and</strong> the new energies to be integrated. It was a long <strong>and</strong> interesting<br />
night! Which will be drawn upon for my next novel, of course. I forgot to mention<br />
that I had intended to work on that during this trip. Next morning I gazed into H’er<br />
Khat’s mesmeric blue eyes <strong>and</strong> asked that he manifest fully animate <strong>and</strong> incarnated<br />
in a modern day physical body of the right age <strong>and</strong> preferably with blue eyes to<br />
indicate my twinflame. H’er Khat was whisked away by Mohammed during breakfast<br />
but I will report in due course.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
How do you fancy coming back to your cabin to be greeted by this?<br />
29
Mesmerising blue eyes<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
A short P.S. here. The gods’ sense of humour has continued to manifest.<br />
When I returned home I realised that a nobbly lump of pink Aswan Granite I had<br />
brought back had, when turned the right way up, the eyes <strong>and</strong> nose of an ancient<br />
Egyptian but was lacking the lower jaw having only a tiny mouth. So I now have a<br />
H’er Khat crystal skull <strong>and</strong> intend to perform an opening of the mouth ceremony so<br />
that he can communicate at an appropriate time. But when a highly intuitive crystal<br />
worker, Jeni Powell, held the skull she found two more faces. So I have a triple<br />
faced skull awaiting its moment of resurrection. Which face will speak? Or will all?<br />
Each has something different to say no doubt.<br />
Aswan the beautiful<br />
And then there was Aswan. My heart always lifts as we approach this magical,<br />
peaceful place especially by river. One of my most favourite spots, so soothing <strong>and</strong><br />
calm.<br />
30
c.Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Aswan from the nileometer on Elephantine Isl<strong>and</strong>. This was where the annual lifegiving<br />
Nile flood was measured. Note the water-worn rocks on the other side.<br />
Water would have rushed through this channel <strong>and</strong> engulfed them on an annual basis<br />
as the flood could rise 15 meters or more<br />
Rescued from the waters of the old Aswan Dam, the temple of Philae holds a<br />
particular place in my affections because, when I first visited, Christine Hartley,<br />
who had recently passed to the other side, came to walk with me in the evening<br />
twilight to remind me of the time we had been priestesses together at this temple<br />
just before Christianity took hold. It was one of the last strongholds of Egyptian<br />
belief, the refuge of Isis (the Moon) <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong> Osiris (Pluto). Despite having<br />
been moved after its submersion, Philae temple is a place of power for me that still<br />
holds the imprint of the gods.<br />
The journey to Philae is magical. It has to take place by boat as the temple<br />
now sits in the middle of a serene lake. This time the smiling Nubian vendor who<br />
came aboard was most welcome, he carried locally made hematite jewellery that was<br />
highly protective. I was at the far end of the boat <strong>and</strong> watched his approach with a<br />
rising sense of excitement. By the time he reached us, Terrie <strong>and</strong> I bought most of<br />
his remaining stock <strong>and</strong> I collected more on our return, which is now on<br />
www.angeladditons.co.uk<br />
31
Happy days: jewellery shopping with Terrie on the way to Philae.<br />
See http://www.groovycart.co.uk/cart.php?c=2799&cat=Egyptian+Jewllery<br />
Entering Philae sanctuary between the lions of yesterday <strong>and</strong> tomorrow<br />
In the Sanctuary of Isis the photo of Margaret was first placed on the altar<br />
in the Holy of Holies. Isis <strong>and</strong> Osiris’ mythological journey of death (see the myth<br />
in The Big P.S), replicated in this temple, with its dismemberment <strong>and</strong> resurrection<br />
theme seemed fitting <strong>and</strong> reassuring. Regenesis was on the way.<br />
32
The photo was then taken to the Temple of Imhotep. Imhotep was a<br />
renowned healer, a mortal man who was elevated to the status of a god like Chiron<br />
in the Greek myths. I wanted to petition him for healing for Margaret in the old<br />
way. His temple has Hathor (Venus) columns all around it <strong>and</strong> you can see in the<br />
photo below what happened when I held Margaret’s photo above a block with the<br />
face of Hathor on it. That shaft of light is not sunlight. It is light coming directly<br />
from the third eye of the Hathor face on the column above, down through my crown<br />
chakra, out through my third eye, through Stephen <strong>and</strong> into Margaret’s throat.<br />
Terrie by this time was taking incredible, mystical ‘orbs’, colour sheets <strong>and</strong><br />
convoluted light-beam photos but this was the most impressive so far. (For a<br />
discussion on Orbs see The Big P.S) When I’d told Liz Dean, editor of my Hamlyn<br />
crystal books <strong>and</strong> Kindred Spirit magazine, that I was going to Egypt <strong>and</strong> could feel<br />
an article coming on, her reply was ‘Don’t forget Kindred Spirit especially if you<br />
have amazing photos.’ Here’s the answer!<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
Imhotep Temple, Philae. The shaft of light is emanating from Hathor’s third<br />
eye on the column above me<br />
33
We had been told that we had healing to do for all of Egypt, which was a<br />
very troubled place at that time <strong>and</strong> continues to be so, so the task is on-going. The<br />
Arab Spring revolution had not brought the changes that were hoped for <strong>and</strong> the<br />
people were suffering, especially in Upper Egypt which relies so much on tourism.<br />
The plight of women was perilous. So, at the High Dam we stood over the river <strong>and</strong>,<br />
with my big Smoky Br<strong>and</strong>enberg Earth Healer <strong>and</strong> a clear, rainbow-filled Magnifier/<br />
Record Keeper Quartz to which Terrie had attuned we sent healing up <strong>and</strong> down the<br />
Nile to bring a speedy <strong>and</strong> peaceful resolution to the conflict.<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
Nile healing crystals at the High Dam<br />
The Barren L<strong>and</strong>s, Aswan High Dam c. Terrie Birch<br />
34
c. Terrie<br />
Birch<br />
To send earth or water healing anywhere in the world, concentrate your attention<br />
on this photo for five minutes<br />
Imhotep<br />
35
c. Terrie Birch<br />
The Nileometer after the Nile healing ceremony<br />
36
c. Terrie Birch<br />
More Hathor healing, Elephantine Isl<strong>and</strong><br />
But we weren’t finished yet!<br />
L<strong>and</strong> of the lost souls<br />
The Nubian people are beautiful, shining souls. They hold the last remnants of<br />
ancient Egyptian magic. The lovely Mohammed is a Nubian, trained in the Aswan<br />
hotel school to create his incredible sculptures <strong>and</strong>, whether he knows it or not,<br />
following the ancient tradition of imbuing life into seemingly inanimate objects. Our<br />
shamanic boatman in Aswan (see below) was a Nubian, instinctively following the old<br />
ways. Such a friendly <strong>and</strong> hospitable people, Nubian history is nevertheless a dire<br />
<strong>and</strong> tragic one. The original inhabitants of the l<strong>and</strong> of Egypt, inscribed on tombs <strong>and</strong><br />
temples, they flourished as a civilisation for over three thous<strong>and</strong> years <strong>and</strong> were<br />
37
then overwhelmed by waves of invaders. The Coptic Christianity that followed the<br />
Romans, then the Arabs with their alien culture into which to some extent they<br />
were assimilated. But they were powerless before the next invader: water. Over<br />
130,000 thous<strong>and</strong> people were displaced by the Aswan High Dam, their ancient<br />
villages <strong>and</strong> burial places flooded <strong>and</strong> temples were engulfed although some still lie<br />
empty <strong>and</strong> forlorn on what was once fertile l<strong>and</strong> but is now desolate s<strong>and</strong>. I had<br />
made that journey a few years earlier <strong>and</strong> was aware of what had been lost.<br />
The Flooded L<strong>and</strong>, Abu Simbel under threat as the waters rise.<br />
When Terrie Birch <strong>and</strong> I walked into the Nubian museum at Aswan the whole<br />
weight of the people’s displacement overwhelmed us. It began with two mummy<br />
cases <strong>and</strong> their priestly occupants who had glaring spotlights over their eyes. They<br />
would have empathized with Margaret’s blog protests about being woken up by<br />
glaring hospital lights at 5.30a.m. But it quickly became apparent that the museum,<br />
which photographically recorded what had been before, had become a focus for all<br />
those numberless lost souls whose ancient l<strong>and</strong> had been submerged or ravaged. In<br />
ancient Egyptian thought, the soul was divided into several parts <strong>and</strong> the ka, a kind<br />
of etheric double with concentrated creative energy, <strong>and</strong> the khebit, the shadow,<br />
remained with the body at the tomb although the ka could travel elsewhere, while<br />
the soul bird, the ba, <strong>and</strong> the spiritual essence, the akhar ,travelled to the spiritual<br />
realms. Some of this underst<strong>and</strong>ing appears to have remained with the Nubians<br />
even after they took on other religions. But without the tombs, the ka’s <strong>and</strong> the<br />
khebits had clearly lost their anchors to the earth <strong>and</strong> lacking their connection with<br />
the ba <strong>and</strong> the akhar didn’t know how to move on.<br />
38
Outwardly we were just two tourists paying particular attention to the<br />
exhibits. But inwardly we were psychopomp priestesses, conducting souls to the<br />
Other World. We spoke to the souls of the mummies, trapped under the glare of<br />
the spotlights. We thanked them for the wisdom they had brought us <strong>and</strong> helped<br />
them to move into Light opening a portal for them to leave by, calling on the ancient<br />
gods to assist. Walking around the corner we found the perfect physical<br />
embodiment of the portal in stone – a large Kepera scarab in an open sided, roofed<br />
box.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The soul retrieval portal, Nubian Museum, Aswan<br />
The priestesses waited on the far side of the portal to call the souls<br />
through. Then we found an ancient Egyptian psychopomp to lead the way. She was<br />
an exquisitely carved, ‘small head of an unknown woman’ according to the museum<br />
label. Imbued with spirit, Mer’aber, beloved of Khnum, was clearly a wise-woman,<br />
priestess of her tribe. The most clear <strong>and</strong> beautiful soul waiting quietly to assist<br />
her people, just needing intention to set off the soul retrievals <strong>and</strong> clearings. It is a<br />
good thing that time has no meaning on the Other Side. We were able to leave the<br />
displaced souls streaming through the portal, safe in her h<strong>and</strong>s.<br />
39
c. Terri Birch<br />
The nubile Nubian portal keeper<br />
‘Coincidentally’ (there is no such thing, synchronicity was at work again!)<br />
while we were at the High Dam sending healing down the Nile <strong>and</strong> prior to going to<br />
the museum, Terrie’s husb<strong>and</strong> had texted her John Romer’s description of the<br />
women of ancient Nubia:<br />
‘If you look South from Aswan <strong>and</strong> let your mind fly over the backwaters of<br />
the Nile you will come to the ancient l<strong>and</strong> of the Nubians famed in ancient<br />
times (<strong>and</strong> still I believe) for its beautiful <strong>and</strong> graceful young women who<br />
selected their mate from the young men of the village by performing ritual<br />
dances as a group – naked – <strong>and</strong> at the end of several hours of dancing <strong>and</strong><br />
rituals in a gr<strong>and</strong> finale chose their man – who was sitting by now probably<br />
40
exhausted through erotic anticipation – by st<strong>and</strong>ing in front of him <strong>and</strong><br />
resting one thigh on his shoulder. The ancient Pharaohs <strong>and</strong> aristocracy<br />
thought very highly of Nubian women as you can see in many of their<br />
artefacts <strong>and</strong> paintings of slim, naked black women dancing in a group. The<br />
Nubile Nubians.<br />
All very reminiscent of a last-night-of-the-cruise party on the Nile – except<br />
for the wearing of ghalebiahs (the long robes that Egyptian men still wear today,<br />
elaborate versions of which tourists are encouraged to take home, I use them for<br />
rituals). Our psychopomp was a very nubile Nubian indeed but full of dignity <strong>and</strong> she<br />
so reminded me of Margaret’s soul-full-ness. I trust that those lost Nubian souls<br />
have now reached an Afterlife full of joy, pleasure <strong>and</strong> dancing after their<br />
displacement. In helping them find peace, it brought back some lost <strong>and</strong> displaced<br />
parts of my own soul. Just as one person making a shift helps the many, so too do<br />
the many assist the one. As above, so below. As without, so within. The maxim of<br />
the great Egyptian magician Hermes Trismegistus.<br />
Meanwhile, back at the Nubian museum, a displacement of another kind was<br />
being healed. The stones of Nabta Plya, the oldest stone circle in the world, <strong>and</strong> its<br />
calendrical avenue, have been uprooted from their desert home of the last seven<br />
thous<strong>and</strong> years <strong>and</strong> relocated in the grounds of the museum without, it would seem,<br />
due regard for their previous orientation. While Terrie <strong>and</strong> I tended the lost souls,<br />
astrologers Tore – also a skilled archaeoastronomer - <strong>and</strong> Patricia bedded the<br />
stones into their new home, checking the alignments <strong>and</strong> imbuing the stones with<br />
energy once more.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen.<br />
41
Nabta Plya. The large stone circle, repositioned to the Nubian Museum, Aswan<br />
. c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Nabta Plya ‘calendar alignment’. Note the orbs top <strong>and</strong> bottom<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
42
Never was afternoon tea on the Old Cataract Hotel terrace more richly<br />
deserved.<br />
Respite care<br />
The next morning, while the rest of the group joined the arduous 3 hour each-way<br />
convoy to Abu Simbel, Terri <strong>and</strong> I decided that we, <strong>and</strong> Margaret, were templed out<br />
so we went for another very civilised chill at the Old Cataract Hotel, relaxing on<br />
the Agatha Christie terrace which has the most amazing view. I drank an excellent<br />
coffee <strong>and</strong> Terrie a glorious pinky-orange cocktail for Margaret (well, as she said,<br />
someone had to do it even though it was 10.30am.)<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
Cocktail Madam?<br />
As Terrie’s camera showed, blue healing orbs were all around us. But it<br />
wasn’t just in those photos. The shot that accompanied us from the beginning was<br />
metamorphosing too. In the photo Margaret became more <strong>and</strong> more ethereal with<br />
the soft golden light all around her head <strong>and</strong> intense blue around her throat chakra<br />
– exactly where the shaft of light in the Philae temple had touched. While Stephen<br />
became even more of the earthy Virgoan that he is, providing an anchor while her<br />
spirit soared <strong>and</strong> regenesis occurred. Magic indeed.<br />
43
c. Terrie Birch.<br />
Aswan from the Old Cataract Hotel Terrace, <strong>and</strong> orbs, below<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
44
In the afternoon, as she’s a Cancerian <strong>and</strong> loves cruises, we took Margaret<br />
for a sail around the tranquil <strong>and</strong> stunning isl<strong>and</strong>s of Aswan to recharge as, by this<br />
time, she was well into her second round of chemo <strong>and</strong> we could feel that it was<br />
proving challenging for her. The regeneration had not yet begun. But even there<br />
magic followed. Our boat had a black feathered heron skin complete with beak <strong>and</strong><br />
wings pinned up, <strong>and</strong> a scarab placed overhead. We were under the shadow of the<br />
shaman. Our smiling Nubian boatman assured us that the bird had died naturally,<br />
<strong>and</strong> had offered itself up to keep the boat <strong>and</strong> its occupants safe. The ancient<br />
Nubian religion – as with the ancient Egyptians - was full of such shamanic practises<br />
<strong>and</strong> it still holds good today.<br />
Under the shaman’s shadow<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
45
The Return<br />
Reluctantly, it was time to leave Aswan <strong>and</strong> the boat headed north again. As it was<br />
stopping at Kom Ombo for a new group to explore the temple, we decided to go<br />
ashore too <strong>and</strong> give thanks to the gods for the work so far. But oh how different it<br />
was this time. Masses more vendors trying to inveigle us into buying their tut – I’ve<br />
always called them ‘shoo-flies’ because they have the same tenacity <strong>and</strong> aggravation<br />
qualities. Now, with so few tourists, they were desperate. They were analogous to<br />
what Margaret was writing about in her blog, the impossibility of rest in hospital<br />
because of constant interruptions by the staff, <strong>and</strong>, of course, the cancer cells<br />
that needed shooing out of her body – she was still undergoing her intensive chemo<br />
at that point. However, the Order of the Fly was the highest decoration for valour<br />
in ancient Egypt <strong>and</strong> I am trying to adjust my view. I have to say, some of my<br />
greatest Egyptian treasures, such as my first Sekhmet statue, have come from less<br />
insistent vendors in the past.<br />
Having finally made it safely into the temple, the guards were extremely<br />
aggressive when we tried to light a joss stick. Baksheesh didn’t work so we took<br />
refuge in the museum again where I introduced Patricia to ‘my’ Sobek statue <strong>and</strong><br />
she learned to communicate with crocodiles. Just before entering the museum, our<br />
attention was directed to the enormous well that used to serve the crocodile<br />
enclosure. Stagnant <strong>and</strong> in need of healing itself, we cleansed <strong>and</strong> purified it with<br />
the Petaltone Zl4 <strong>and</strong> Clear2Light essences without which I would never travel <strong>and</strong><br />
made a crystal offering.<br />
We were behind schedule so it was late afternoon before we got to Edfu,<br />
the Horus (Mars) temple which was to be the culmination of our river trip. I had<br />
high hopes for this temple as I’d found it invigorating when I visited before <strong>and</strong><br />
Horus is a symbol of flying free. It also has some interesting astrological texts.<br />
But, as an astrologer, I should have looked at the transits first. Once again I was<br />
amusing the gods. Our caleche driver was surly <strong>and</strong> took us through the back<br />
streets to the far side of the temple so we had to fight our way to the entrance,<br />
smiling grimly <strong>and</strong> saying ‘la shokran’ (no thank you, one of the few phrases I<br />
remember in Arabic) to the insistent shoo-flies.<br />
47
c. Terrie Birch<br />
Horus (Mars) on guard outside Edfu Temple<br />
c.Terrie Birch<br />
Patricia <strong>and</strong> <strong>Judy</strong> entering the mysterious realm<br />
Inside it was getting dark <strong>and</strong> the energy was changing. Some temples are<br />
wonderful places at night. This was not. It was as though the god was shooing us out<br />
48
of his sanctuary. We were not welcome there after the sun had left. The temple<br />
was mirroring Margaret’s body where the chemo was viscously destroying her cells.<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
Above, Temple of Edfu just after sunset, c. Tore Lomsdalen. Note the light<br />
to the left in the photo below, which had evolved from a squiggly line see below<br />
49
The squiggle approaching <strong>and</strong> changing form, see below. It is darker because of the<br />
exposure used. Is this really dust refraction? (see Big P.S) c. Terrie Birch.<br />
50
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The reconstructed Solar Barque in the Edfu sanctuary<br />
We ran the gauntlet to get back to our caleche <strong>and</strong> I have never been so<br />
thankful to arrive back on a boat. I usually feel so safe in Egypt no matter what is<br />
going on there but this was different, an out of this world kind of angst.<br />
Terrie had the same feelings too so when we went through Esna lock we<br />
stood on deck facing in different directions <strong>and</strong> released all the anger <strong>and</strong><br />
aggression, backwards <strong>and</strong> forwards throughout time, putting peace <strong>and</strong> harmony in<br />
their place. As it was the ‘last night’ party we were both in lotus-embroidered deep<br />
blue ghalebiahs <strong>and</strong> so looked – <strong>and</strong> felt - like two ancient priestesses.<br />
When I finally looked at what was going on astrologically, Mars, a symbol of<br />
anger, aggression or assertion in the chart, was conjoined in the same area in the<br />
heavens with Chiron, the wounded healer planet. Chiron is about integration but is<br />
51
also about lancing the boil to let out any poison before healing takes place. Uranus,<br />
the catalytic planet of transformation was sextiling them <strong>and</strong> Pluto, the planet of<br />
regeneration <strong>and</strong> rebirth challenging the whole combination. As one of my clients<br />
put it, ‘sextiles are the quickest road to hell because it seems easy until you get<br />
there <strong>and</strong> then whoosh… you’re in it.’ Again, there was such synchronicity with what<br />
was going on with Margaret <strong>and</strong> the astrology of her birthchart slotted in<br />
perfectly. She had been discharged from hospital the previous day. Her blog says:<br />
The rigours of hospital, its lack of peace, extreme bias on western concepts<br />
of care (obviously) <strong>and</strong> awful food take a huge amount out of me, <strong>and</strong> one is<br />
discharged to go home feeling very depleted indeed. It is pure irony that the<br />
doctor always asks, ‘Do you feel well enough to go home?’ I was so close to<br />
saying, ‘No, I feel so bad I have to go home,’ but didn’t. [Perhaps she should<br />
have, her cancer is after all in her throat <strong>and</strong> all those unspoken words add<br />
to its hold, but this would be addressed later in her treatment when she<br />
finally told the nurse in charge how bad things were <strong>and</strong> the style of care<br />
changed]They have no idea…<br />
[At home] I was able to let go of the discomfort of my body <strong>and</strong> soar<br />
upwards towards the safe place where I could tune into it <strong>and</strong> hold it gently<br />
as it wept. And weep it did. The chemotherapy is one thing, <strong>and</strong> I am slowly<br />
coming to terms with the necessity of its toxicity, but the other drugs you<br />
are given to counteract the side effects are quite another thing as they are<br />
unbelievably damaging in their own right. My body was screaming<br />
‘Noooooooooooooooooooooo!’ to all the other stuff as I meditated. As I came<br />
out of the meditation I knew what I had to do…<br />
Remember what I said about Chiron-Mars needing to lance the boil <strong>and</strong> remove the<br />
poison? Margaret discovered that many of the more distressing symptoms she was<br />
experiencing were due to the side effects of the additional drugs <strong>and</strong> her body just<br />
could not cope. So she did some EFT:<br />
‘Oh my word. The flood gates opened. One of our cats, Rowan, was sitting<br />
next to me <strong>and</strong> she made a cat equivalent kind ‘Ah no, poor you’ type of noise<br />
<strong>and</strong> climbed up to lick away my tears. Really. The only reason I have gone into<br />
this much detail [see the blog] is to show people who haven’t found time for<br />
it, or don’t think they need it, HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO LISTEN TO<br />
YOUR BODY.’<br />
So while we were running the gauntlet – another martian activity – Margaret was<br />
undergoing a massive release <strong>and</strong> coming to a resolution that ultimately brought her<br />
to an underst<strong>and</strong>ing of the difference between letting go <strong>and</strong> opening up:<br />
52
‘Letting go is a release, whereas opening up is an invitation to visit. And are<br />
we brave enough to see who will come visiting?’<br />
One of the Egyptian gods perhaps? (But see Be careful what you wish for, ask for it<br />
to be the most appropriate <strong>and</strong> helpful one for you!)<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen.<br />
Safe in the wings of Hathor<br />
Journey to the Other Side<br />
Monday was to be pretty much taken up with shifting from the boat to the hotel so<br />
Terrie <strong>and</strong> I paid a quick visit to the Mummification Museum in Luxor. A nice bite<br />
sized museum this one, the process is carefully documented <strong>and</strong> they have a few<br />
well chosen artefacts including a beautiful statue of Sobek. ‘Don’t forget what I<br />
told you,’ he admonished me. ‘Close <strong>and</strong> protect yourself but open your heart. Don’t<br />
try to figure it out, go with it.’ So go I did.<br />
‘You want go Other Side?’ is a common enough invitation in Luxor. You hear it<br />
every time you walk down the Corniche. Yes, I did indeed want to go other side. I<br />
usually go after I’ve visited Karnak but this time the schedule was dictated <strong>and</strong> was<br />
to be after we arrived at the hotel for our final few days. Fortunately the whole<br />
group had opted for the excursion to Medinet Habu, my favourite mortuary temple<br />
the entrance to which is guarded by two statues of My Lady, Sekhmet. This time I<br />
had to laugh because one was carefully wrapped in plastic to protect it while<br />
renovation work was being carried out around her. The other smiled a welcome <strong>and</strong><br />
gave me a much needed power-recharge. My stamina was beginning to flag by this<br />
stage. Too many early mornings!<br />
53
c. Terrie Birch.<br />
‘The birth house <strong>and</strong> entrance portal at Medinet Habu. The blue arrow points<br />
towards the statues of Sekhmet beneath the temple pylon.<br />
My Lady under wraps while restoration goes on, c. Terrie Birch<br />
54
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Battered <strong>and</strong> bruised but still imbued with power, the other Sekhmet<br />
statute at Medinet Habu<br />
I’d left Margaret’s photo in the coach as I didn’t feel she needed to be in a<br />
mortuary temple although of course it was the place where the Pharaoh’s body was<br />
prepared for resurrection <strong>and</strong> life eternal. But I had her scarab with me in my bag<br />
as her soul needed to re-cognise this process of dying in order to live again so, in<br />
addition to presenting it to Sekhmet, I took it into the holy of holies where the<br />
spiritual resurrection process began.<br />
The sanctuary is the centre of living energy… Invisible forces emanate from<br />
the solar resurrection body. They spiritualize the world <strong>and</strong> enlarge people’s<br />
hearts. Christian Jacq ‘The Tutankhamun Affair’.<br />
I picked Margaret’s photo up for the journey to Hapshepshut’s temple at<br />
Dair El Bahari, which is situated at a very ancient healing site known as the home of<br />
Hathor even before the temple was built. I got extremely cross with our tour guide<br />
when he showed the group a distant view of the temple, explained a bit about it <strong>and</strong><br />
said ‘you’ve got 20 minutes, you could have a coffee instead of going up there.’ It’s<br />
an amazing temple. ‘I’m going to the top,’ I snapped <strong>and</strong> stomped off. I was annoyed<br />
because he was impatient to take us to another retail opportunity (as if we hadn’t<br />
55
had enough of those already!) but, on reading Margaret’s blog later that day I<br />
realised I was also releasing some frustration for us both.<br />
OK – we are at Saturday morning <strong>and</strong> the tedium has hit. I came in Thursday<br />
<strong>and</strong> we got cracking on the first round, which was about 3 hours, then for<br />
yesterday <strong>and</strong> today I’m having 2 cycles a day of about 3 1/2 hours each.<br />
There is quite a lot of fussing around making everything sterile <strong>and</strong> checking<br />
the dosage so although the actual chemo dose is 3 hours the whole thing<br />
takes longer than that. Which isn’t so bad if it is all happening in the<br />
daytime, but we didn’t get started until nearly 10.00 last night so it didn’t<br />
finish until after 1.00 this morning. Thankfully Stephen had bought me the<br />
boxed set of Sex <strong>and</strong> the City, so Carrie <strong>and</strong> the Girls saw me safely through<br />
until the bitter end. I managed to get settled down <strong>and</strong> asleep by about 1.30<br />
<strong>and</strong> was having the most amazing dream. I think wonderful dreams are sent<br />
sometimes just to give us a break from the less pleasant things we have to<br />
go through – a sort of mental holiday. I was sublimely foxtrotting round a<br />
ballroom (<strong>and</strong> yes, I can foxtrot, <strong>and</strong> it is my favourite dance) with lovely<br />
swing music playing <strong>and</strong> sort of misty edges to the ballroom so it just faded<br />
away. I was probably wearing one of those amazing floaty dresses from<br />
Strictly Come Dancing, but I can’t remember now because next it was ‘GOOD<br />
MORNING! HOW ARE YOU TODAY? CAN I JUST TAKE YOUR BLOOD<br />
PRESSURE?’ <strong>and</strong> my lovely dream was torn asunder. Lights full on, I was<br />
dragged kicking <strong>and</strong> screaming into the reality of Saturday <strong>and</strong> another day<br />
of treatment.’<br />
However sometime later when speaking to a consultant <strong>and</strong> explaining how bad the<br />
side effects of the drugs she was being given to counteract the side effects of the<br />
chemo were <strong>and</strong> what was going on with her heart for the third time that day:<br />
In my fragile state I had to go all through it again, only this time I was<br />
getting angry. I asked him how he could possibly expect me to have any kind<br />
of a life when apart from dealing with the effects of chemo, I also have to<br />
now contend with being totally incapacitated <strong>and</strong> needing 24 hour care for 2<br />
days every week or so, because I am keeling over from the drugs that they<br />
insisted I take. Which weren’t working anyway. Lyn moved in with a final<br />
thrust <strong>and</strong> he wrote the prescription [for a much reduced dose].<br />
Next stop ECG, where I was trussed up like a turkey with the heart monitor.<br />
The sensors had to be interwoven with my tunnel lines, then all the cabling<br />
hidden under my t-shirt, with the magic black box clipped to my waistb<strong>and</strong>.<br />
Walking Frankensteina doesn’t begin to describe it. We thought we would<br />
take a jolly down Christchurch High Street just for a laugh to see if I could<br />
do so without tripping over my own cabling. I did, <strong>and</strong> Lyn bought me a lovely<br />
lunch.<br />
56
I am sure you can imagine that all of this is very damaging <strong>and</strong> intrusive, even<br />
for someone who is well, but it isn’t an experience that can be avoided or<br />
stopped, once it has started. You just have to deal with it. My big challenge<br />
seems to be in learning to deal with these events from a place of calm, or<br />
mindfulness, so that worries about the future <strong>and</strong> what may/may not happen,<br />
<strong>and</strong> whether or not I have control over it cease to affect the present<br />
moment. With this in mind, <strong>and</strong> in great need of inner calm (heart still<br />
jumping about) I went joyfully the next day to see my friend Crispen for<br />
some sound therapy. If you haven’t done this, try it. It is truly an experience<br />
sent straight from heaven. The first time I had a treatment I was reduced<br />
to tears by the sheer beauty of the sound. This isn’t like a gong, or chanting,<br />
or anything you can possibly imagine. It is the music of the spheres<br />
incarnate. If in some greater realms there are lofty celestial halls thronged<br />
with wise, loving souls, then this is their backing music; no ersatz, horrible<br />
lift music for them, oh no. This glorious sound truly sings the soul back home.<br />
You lay on the floor within a pattern of crystal <strong>and</strong> glass bowls, positioned so<br />
as to align with the chakras; other acoustic wooden <strong>and</strong> metal instruments<br />
are also used to enhance the process when appropriate. Struck firstly one by<br />
one (with a wooden stick covered in suede), the bowls are then eventually<br />
used in combination to produce stunning harmonies which last for an<br />
eternity. The sound goes straight through you, into your very bones. This<br />
time I also saw colours. Careful readers from previous blogs will note that I<br />
am on a journey of introspection <strong>and</strong> I was interested to see what this<br />
healing session would produce. When Crispen got to my throat chakra I was<br />
expecting a very strong reaction as it is not only the site of the cancer but<br />
also the place where I feel most blocked. (Obviously). This means that<br />
anything emotional tries to come pouring out, which frankly can be a very<br />
unpleasant feeling as I want to both release <strong>and</strong> block at the same time. It is<br />
always a battle <strong>and</strong> I don’t enjoy it at all. I have done a huge amount of<br />
releasing, <strong>and</strong> the fact that there still seems to be a bottomless pit of<br />
emotion indicates to me that whatever I’m doing isn’t working. This time was<br />
different though, <strong>and</strong> it only elicited a few tears, in a very gentle, ‘Oh yes’,<br />
kind of fashion. The very clear message I was getting was to open up. I had<br />
already started to feel this in previous sessions of EFT <strong>and</strong> meditation so it<br />
was good to have it confirmed in such a beautiful <strong>and</strong> gentle way.<br />
Introspection is all well <strong>and</strong> good but you still have to have a sense of<br />
direction: I am enjoying the experience of quietly watching to see what<br />
comes up, <strong>and</strong> to see where following that whisper leads me. So I was lying<br />
bathed in sound, wondering why I was finding it hard to open up. I saw<br />
myself, almost from above, as being closed <strong>and</strong> scared. Closed down, although<br />
I had done so much work in the past on letting go. Why? How much more can<br />
I do? But letting go is different from opening up, isn’t it? Letting go is a<br />
57
elease, whereas opening up is an invitation to visit. And are we brave enough<br />
to see who will come visiting? Enter the fear.<br />
Once we start talking about fear <strong>and</strong> get over the obvious ones, fear of<br />
dying, fear of losing your job, partner, health, etc., you start to look at how<br />
fear actually affects your daily life, <strong>and</strong> how it might have been a pattern<br />
since early childhood – possibly rooted in some almost imperceptible slight or<br />
incident many years ago. My mum told me how I would have nightmares as a<br />
tiny tot. This grew into a fear of blowing newspapers (there seemed to be a<br />
lot where I lived, near the marshes in Essex), men (?!), <strong>and</strong> loud noises. What<br />
on earth was going on in my impressionable <strong>and</strong> unformed mind that could<br />
possibly have upset me so much, so young? I wondered how I would be able<br />
to find out, then I realised that it doesn’t actually matter. I realised that I<br />
try to underst<strong>and</strong> the world using logic a lot of the time. Although I am a<br />
Cancer Sun <strong>and</strong> empathise in a watery fashion all over the place, my way of<br />
underst<strong>and</strong>ing any crisis is where my very left-brain, logical Virgo Moon runs<br />
amok. I think I do this too much. It occurred to me that what I am dealing<br />
with is something that doesn’t necessarily have an answer. I don’t necessarily<br />
need to know that a particular event, either in this life or a previous one, has<br />
created the reaction of fear in me, <strong>and</strong> it is that I need to spend time with.<br />
I have spent huge amounts of time going back to forgive, integrate,<br />
acknowledge events <strong>and</strong> people that have hurt me in the past, <strong>and</strong> in past<br />
lives. You name it, I’ve done it, <strong>and</strong> for me, that strategy (good Virgo word)<br />
isn’t working. I am watching a beautiful presentation by Thich Nhat Hanh on<br />
mindfulness <strong>and</strong> fear. It is the worry about the future (which is pointless)<br />
<strong>and</strong> sadness or regret for the past (which we can’t change) that intrudes on<br />
our present <strong>and</strong> I know I am guilty of both.<br />
Both Stephen <strong>and</strong> I are finding that our world is changing tiny bit by tiny<br />
bit, on a daily basis. We have always talked about these kind of things but<br />
our conversations now have a passion <strong>and</strong> vigour they didn’t before. This isn’t<br />
just armchair philosophising or intellectual discussion. This is a real life<br />
situation that needs more that just b<strong>and</strong> aid <strong>and</strong> placations, <strong>and</strong> it offers, as<br />
nothing has before, a massive opportunity to explore our inner l<strong>and</strong>scapes<br />
<strong>and</strong> wonder at the complexity <strong>and</strong> potential contained within. As Joseph<br />
Campbell says, ‘We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned so as<br />
to have the life that is waiting for us.’ Amen to that. (Out of Darkness)<br />
Light was beginning to dawn <strong>and</strong> has continued to do so ever since.<br />
58
Horus, in the form of a bird-headed winged serpent guards the entrance<br />
ramp to Deir El Bahari<br />
Dair el Bahari, the reconstructed temple<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
59
But once again the gods were laughing. When I puffed my way to the upper<br />
level of the temple with Tore, I found that the innermost/uppermost sanctuary<br />
which had been a renowned healing cave before the temple was built was closed off<br />
as there’d been a rockfall. Perhaps I should tell you that this tiny sanctuary had<br />
been the one place in all Egypt that I’d tried for 20 years to baksheesh my way into<br />
<strong>and</strong> failed. And yet on my previous visit in 2004, it had been open <strong>and</strong> I’d had a<br />
powerful healing experience there. But not this time.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
60
Note the shamanic faces in the rocks above especially to the left <strong>and</strong><br />
centre. These are all along these cliffs. This place was sacred long before the<br />
temple was built. Photo<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
In front of the innermost sanctuary, Deir El Bahari<br />
So, we placed Margaret as close as we could get <strong>and</strong> set off at a run to the<br />
Hathor part of the temple for another Venus experience. Bliss!<br />
61
c. Terrie Birch<br />
The Hathor Temple, Deir el Bahari<br />
We’ll pass quickly over the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. I wanted to<br />
show the others the astrological ceilings <strong>and</strong> star clocks <strong>and</strong> fortunately most of<br />
the relevant tombs were open but they were nothing to do with the transformatory<br />
inner journey Margaret <strong>and</strong> I were on – at least I don’t think so but I am still trying<br />
to keep my head out of it.<br />
A monument to eternity<br />
We were now at our last day <strong>and</strong> one of the main reasons for four astrologers<br />
making the trip had been to see the Dendara zodiac – well, the replica anyway, the<br />
original having been removed to the Louvre. And of course the amazing Nuit, the<br />
sky goddess, ceilings which are thankfully still intact. While you’re travelling to<br />
Dendara you might as well go the extra miles <strong>and</strong> visit Abydos, home of Osiris <strong>and</strong><br />
the opposite end of an energy chain to Philae – more linking of the dualities. Abydos<br />
is also a cosmic temple. Terrie had decided to have a chill-out day, so Tore, Patricia<br />
<strong>and</strong> I tore along the new desert road in the care of our young driver Bono who was<br />
much amused that my first visit to Egypt had been made before he was born. He’d<br />
never been into the temples, despite taking tourists there regularly, so he became<br />
the fourth member of our party.<br />
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c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Nuit stretched out her arms above the registers recording the mummification<br />
process <strong>and</strong> the resurrection of Osiris .<br />
What struck me most about the new road was the number of cemeteries<br />
already lining the route. It’s some distance from the fertile part, although water is<br />
being trucked in to bring life <strong>and</strong> create some astonishingly green patches amongst<br />
the barrenness. So, new life alternated with death. Very Osiris-like as he is often<br />
represented by new shoots emerging from a mummy. I wrapped Margaret in a<br />
protective bubble <strong>and</strong> called on Hathor to bring her safely through.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Hathor-headed (Venus) columns<br />
63
Both temples were blissfully empty, of tourists <strong>and</strong> shoo-flies although I was<br />
able to buy a couple of ‘golden’ Ankhs, the symbol of life, from a sweetly-smiling<br />
child.<br />
The Osirion at Abydos has always fascinated me. Way below the main<br />
temple, it is often deeply flooded. Last time I was there the water was a bright,<br />
fluorescent green that extended several feet up the pillars. This time though only<br />
the 9 metre deep channels on either side were full <strong>and</strong> fishes were visible, it was<br />
possible to walk down to where the reeds were being pulled out to open up the<br />
clogged passageways yet again, a cyclical task. A glimpse of the rebirth to come?<br />
c.T. Lomsdalen<br />
64
The Osirion being cleared of its reeds. The pools are 9 metres deep <strong>and</strong><br />
filled by the Nile. The wall of Seti I’s temple is above to the right.<br />
Let’s backtrack for a moment. Do you recall the Henu boat? There are many<br />
on the passage wall leading out to the Osirion. The Boatman for that journey is<br />
Kha’m-uast, ancient high priest <strong>and</strong> crown prince of Egypt. ‘Keeper of the Secrets<br />
of Heaven <strong>and</strong> Earth <strong>and</strong> the Duat, who knows the Necropolis <strong>and</strong> the Temple, who<br />
was a persistent Traveller himself on all planes of existence, who eternally renews<br />
himself through cycle after cycle’ (Inner Guide). He is a powerful link to my mentor<br />
Christine Hartley <strong>and</strong> a chain of transmission that stretches back through the ages.<br />
Abydos is as far as he takes travellers coming up the Nile from the Delta, the<br />
journey to Thebes is left for intrepid travellers to do alone. Luxor to Philae, the<br />
journey we had been making, is for the initiated. In the Inner Guide Alan <strong>and</strong> Billie<br />
Walker-John remind us that Kha’m-uast served Ptah (remember him?), one of the<br />
oldest gods <strong>and</strong> sometimes known as ‘the Opener’, <strong>and</strong> indeed Kha’m-uast had come<br />
to talk to me when Mohammed created Ptah in my cabin <strong>and</strong> I performed an opening<br />
of the mouth ceremony to bring life to my vision.<br />
The Hennu boat with Sokar (Osiris on top), copyright as shown.<br />
The underlying mythology of Abydos is that when the god Osiris was<br />
chopped into pieces by his brother Set, the pieces were scattered at places where<br />
temples were later built along the Nile (see the story of Isis <strong>and</strong> Osiris in The Big<br />
P.S). But Abydos, traditionally was where Isis later buried him <strong>and</strong> his tomb was the<br />
focus for a great yearly festival to honour the god (see The Inner Guide to Egypt<br />
for an evocative description). His story is told on the walls of the roof chapels <strong>and</strong><br />
his death <strong>and</strong> resurrection were re-enacted as sacred drama. As Alan says ‘if<br />
[visitors] could by pilgrimage <strong>and</strong> devout acts, <strong>and</strong> a bit of shopping in between, link<br />
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with his spirit in some small way, then they too could live for ever, just as he does…<br />
Osiris offered hope to everyone.’ Sounds rather like our Nile trip to me!<br />
In my experience, Abydos is one of the temples where you can gather the<br />
scattered parts of yourself together <strong>and</strong> become whole. In Alan <strong>and</strong> Billie John’s<br />
esoteric endocrinology it represents the pancreas (see the Big P.S). As they say<br />
‘even today there is a discernible, numinous quality about what is otherwise a barren<br />
place <strong>and</strong> the feel that a person might step bodily through in certain circumstances<br />
if only they dare.’ Oh yes!<br />
In The Big P.S I’ve put some musings about what the neters (gods) mean <strong>and</strong><br />
this is a prime example because Osiris resonates so strongly with processes that<br />
are going on within Margaret. As The Inner Guide puts it so well:<br />
In Abydos, amongst many other things, the circle of consciousness <strong>and</strong> the<br />
life-force of the individual with all its cycles of growth <strong>and</strong> decay <strong>and</strong><br />
something-in-between, was Osiris. But beyond all else where there was<br />
Osiris, there was love; <strong>and</strong> where there was love Osiris could be found also.<br />
Osiris on his bier .<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The High Priest Kha’m-uast was the fourth son of Rameses II was one of<br />
Egypt’s great magicians. He was particularly fond of Abydos <strong>and</strong> sited his<br />
‘Monument for Eternity’ there. His statue is now in the British Museum but the<br />
false door remains. In another sphinx-like statue made, as Alan points out, from<br />
flawed material, he proclaims that, although of legendary status, he was human<br />
underneath. Whenever I’m at Abydos I read the words from his tomb, the false<br />
door <strong>and</strong> his stelae so that he will not be forgotten – <strong>and</strong> to pay my fee to the<br />
ferryman for the journeys I have made <strong>and</strong> the wisdom I have received. This is<br />
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just a selection so that you can invoke him too if you need a guide to the inner<br />
planes:<br />
Journeying in the morning barque across the heavens, the Sem-Priest<br />
<strong>and</strong> King’s Son, Kha’m-uast goes without descending or passing away.<br />
What heaven gives, the earth brings forth <strong>and</strong> Nun brings forth from<br />
the heights for the Chief Artificer, Sem-Priest <strong>and</strong> King’s Son, Kham-uast,<br />
justified.<br />
May the Sem-Priest <strong>and</strong> King’s Son, Kha’m-uast live like the stars live<br />
in the sky. May he see Hathor.<br />
May the Sem-Priest <strong>and</strong> Kings Son, Kha’m-uast live like the stars live<br />
in the sky…<br />
O Atum, may you give breath to the King’s Son <strong>and</strong> Sem Priest Kha-muast,<br />
this sweet breath which is in your nostrils. The King’s Son Kha’m-uast,<br />
justified, takes his seat upon this great throne…<br />
A Monument to Eternity, Kha’m-uast’s statue in the British Museum.<br />
On this occasion rather than finding the false door in the maze of the main<br />
temple, I chose to sit above the Osirion to recite his words, making an offering of<br />
incense, <strong>and</strong> to do a throat-chakra clearing meditation that Terrie (who joined us<br />
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for the occasion by mobile phone) had given me in which we opened the lotus at the<br />
throat chakra <strong>and</strong> then slid down into cool clear water to release as bubbles all the<br />
words locked into ourselves, Margaret <strong>and</strong> the people of Egypt so that we could<br />
speak our truth – an appropriate setting as the guys were pulling out the reeds<br />
below us opening the way to the tunnel to eternity. Not so appealing given the<br />
somewhat scummy nature of the water itself. But bubbles always rise up from its<br />
depths as it is fed from the sacred, life-giving Nile. Deep down it was clear <strong>and</strong><br />
pure <strong>and</strong> fed the soul.<br />
But there is more to Abydos than the Osirion. The temple of Seti I has<br />
amazing roof chapels rather like Dendera where you can sit under the protection of<br />
the sky goddess Nuit <strong>and</strong> follow the journey of Ra on the Hennu boat through both<br />
the upper <strong>and</strong> lower worlds, <strong>and</strong> bask in a beautiful Hathor chapel with cosmic<br />
ceiling.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The Hathor Chapel<br />
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c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Dendara: Venus (Hathor) –Moon (Isis) conjunction alongside the head, h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong><br />
arms of Nuit (to the left) who is swallowing the sun at sunset. Nuit’s feet are in the<br />
bottom right corner of the ceiling.<br />
This picture must depict a specific moment in time when the setting sun on the<br />
horizon was accompanied by moonrise, with Venus, as the evening star, also visible.<br />
But there is also deep symbolism in the ‘cow’s horns’ rays which plot the<br />
Venus cycle as visible from Earth: see http://Egypt\Goddess Hathor Cow Horns<br />
Crown Astronomy Relation.mht<br />
69
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
On the way to the roof. Note the orbs in the foreground on the Bundle of<br />
Life staff that carries the placenta of the Pharaoh. This represents the kha,<br />
national soul of the nation <strong>and</strong> Pharaah’s link to the divine. His ba soul-bird is to the<br />
left of the staff<br />
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The cosmic dance<br />
And off we went to Dendera, a place of deep delight for astrologers <strong>and</strong> ancient<br />
Egyptians alike. This is a Hathor (Venus) temple <strong>and</strong> as the texts on the walls say:<br />
Pharaoh comes to dance<br />
He comes to sing.<br />
You, his Lady, see how he dances.<br />
Wife of Horus.<br />
See how he springs<br />
.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Blissfully peaceful, the temple of Denedera drowses in the afternoon sun. Below the<br />
astrological roof chambers .<br />
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c. Tore Lomsdalen.<br />
This tatty plaster cast is all that remains of the earliest round zodiac in its former<br />
home<br />
At New Year the statue of Hathor was carried to the roof of the temple so that<br />
the revitalising rays of the sun could energise her <strong>and</strong> a great fertility festival of<br />
singing, dancing <strong>and</strong> sexual union took place. She was the consort of Horus (Mars) at<br />
Edfu <strong>and</strong> there was much to-ing <strong>and</strong> fro-ing between the two temples. In its other<br />
role, Dendera was another of the great temples of healing where all manner of<br />
psychological <strong>and</strong> magical therapies took place. Miracles were commonplace <strong>and</strong><br />
water was collected from the roof <strong>and</strong> the sacred lake to be given to the sick.<br />
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There was definitely a rebirth theme going on as Margaret’s cells were at the time<br />
being transmuted by the chemo <strong>and</strong> cell rejuvenation therapy <strong>and</strong> her pomegranate<br />
juice regime.<br />
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c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Bono having an astro-astronomy lesson, young Egyptians are not taught their own<br />
mythology.<br />
It is in the depictions of Nuit (the sky) <strong>and</strong> Geb (the earth) that the magic<br />
really begins for me in both Abydos <strong>and</strong> Dendera (they are extremely difficult to<br />
photograph as they are on the ceilings of cramped chambers, so all credit to Tore<br />
for the photos reproduced here). When the sun is in Nuit’s belly it is the dark<br />
night of the soul) <strong>and</strong> she is just about to give birth. The start of a new day.<br />
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Nuit <strong>and</strong> Geb were twins who ‘cleaved to each other’. Their father Shu (air)<br />
prised them apart <strong>and</strong> forced them to live separately. Forever after Geb yearned<br />
towards his sister-wife although Thoth (Mercury) stole the ‘dog days’ that lay<br />
between the sun <strong>and</strong> moon calendars to give them time to mate <strong>and</strong> birth their<br />
children. This is an ancient story that I used in The Soulmate Myth to illustrate<br />
how old the concept of a soulmate or twinflame is. I thought of Margaret <strong>and</strong><br />
Stephen when looking at Nuit arched over the curled-over Geb with their fingers<br />
<strong>and</strong> toes almost touching. So tender <strong>and</strong> yearning. Twinflames indeed. Stephen <strong>and</strong><br />
Margaret are so fortunate to have each other at this time. Stephen is a treasure. I<br />
could see him anchoring Margaret into this world while letting her spirit soar.<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
The h<strong>and</strong> of Nuit, the sky goddess, Dendera<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Geb the earth god curled over under the sheltering body of his sister-wife<br />
soulmate Nuit<br />
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Head of Nui<br />
c. Tore Lomsdalen<br />
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c. Tore Lomsdalen.<br />
Geb, the earth god is curled around himself to the left of the picture with his arm<br />
outstretched reaching towards the h<strong>and</strong> of Nuit on the right. Above: Geb from<br />
another ceiling. This picture suggest to me that the ancient Egyptians underst<strong>and</strong><br />
the rotation of the earth.<br />
Margaret’s experience has released in a different kind of creativity in her.<br />
She’s written in her blog about getting so immersed in Zentangles that she could<br />
forget about being in hospital (when the staff would leave her alone long enough). I<br />
love the idea of Zentangles, much like hieroglyphs as they create many layers of<br />
meaning. Hieroglyphs are ideogrammatic, invoking a series of concepts <strong>and</strong> ideas<br />
rather than merely one fixed meaning, <strong>and</strong> are capable of triggering an emotional<br />
response. So, for instance, an owl (mulotch in Ancient Egyptian) represents the<br />
letter ‘m’ but beyond this it is also the universal concept of wisdom, secrecy <strong>and</strong><br />
seeing in dark places. Put it together with the symbol for a chairback <strong>and</strong> you get<br />
the name ‘Sem’ the wise priest who lends us support as we explore the mysteries.<br />
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c. Terrie Birch<br />
The ‘m’ hieroglyph is on the right, the one to the left which looks like a bone is the<br />
symbol for flesh <strong>and</strong> bone <strong>and</strong> also for progeny<br />
Looking at hieroglyphs brought me back to what Norm<strong>and</strong>i Ellis says about giving up<br />
trying to underst<strong>and</strong> with your head but instead walking within the book:<br />
Hieroglyphic images work upon the psyche through symbol, association,<br />
metaphor, story <strong>and</strong> sound. They require the spiritual aspirant to slow down,<br />
to meditate, to intuitive, <strong>and</strong> to dream… God speaks through the eyes, the<br />
ear, the heart, <strong>and</strong> the natural world… As they entered the book, the book<br />
entered them.<br />
We had one more amazing experience in this temple, but we wouldn’t know it<br />
until we were home again. Having been down into one of the underground crypts<br />
(which I believe to be part of ancient initiations as I wrote in Torn Clouds), Tore<br />
climbed up to one of the mysterious ‘crypts’ set into the thick walls – this one<br />
decorated with belly dancers. Patricia, no mean belly dancer herself, took two<br />
psychic photos – even more spooky than seeing H’er Khat manifest. In one Tore is<br />
flooded with golden light although there was no sunlight <strong>and</strong> precious little electric<br />
light in the chamber. In the other it looks to me as though many layers of his inner<br />
self are being shown <strong>and</strong> at least one incarnation as an ancient Egyptian. As Tore<br />
said, he loved that temple <strong>and</strong> felt totally at home there. I think he was - especially<br />
as he’d done a regression to a life as a ‘sky-watcher’ priest in the ancient temples<br />
the evening before! That hair-like line beneath his arm is not a hair on the lens, it<br />
also appeared in several of Terrie’s pictures, changing form from moment to<br />
moment. Exactly what it is has not become clear – yet.<br />
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c. Terrie Birch<br />
The Venus cycle. Hieroglyphs embody many levels of meaning as this Hathor<br />
si strum (musical instrument) in the h<strong>and</strong>s of Pharaoh shows, see also the<br />
‘cow’s horn rays’ above.<br />
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copyright Patricia Koorsgard/Tore Lomsdalen<br />
Stepping through the worlds. The many faces of Tore. Camera was held absolutely<br />
still <strong>and</strong> there was no fault with the lens. Subsequent shots were fine.. Note the<br />
squiggly line to the right. I see an ancient Egyptian in the background.<br />
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c. Patricia Korsgaard.<br />
Photo in the same place seconds earlier. There was no light source that would<br />
account for the golden light, note how the line beneath the arm changed form<br />
Our driver Bono offered us the choice to return on the old road on the<br />
other bank alongside the green, green fertile Nile, coming full circle. A few speed<br />
bumps <strong>and</strong> checkpoints to negotiate but a highly successful trip. All that was left<br />
was to pack <strong>and</strong> leave for the airport next morning – well before sunrise once more.<br />
I was able to buy a beautiful sparkling alabaster Sobek for Margaret to guard her<br />
during her passage through the Other World.<br />
Much reflection has been going on since <strong>and</strong> new insights will no doubt arise<br />
about my own process <strong>and</strong> how it intertwined with both ancient Egypt <strong>and</strong><br />
Margaret’s journey. I’m letting the connections percolate naturally, thinking is<br />
proscribed for the time being! Jeni Powell’s guide told me that I would probably<br />
never know all that had been done <strong>and</strong> I’m content with that. It was part of being.<br />
But see The Big P.S. for the latest news.<br />
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The last thing I said to Terrie before we parted was that I was tired of<br />
‘working’ on myself as that meant that there was always something wrong with me,<br />
<strong>and</strong> so I was going back to one of my favourite affirmations ‘I am perfect exactly<br />
as I am in this present moment.’ It was wonderful to have that confirmed by<br />
Kindred Spirit arriving the next morning with the affirmation printed alongside a<br />
bright pink tulip – Margaret’s colour of choice for hospital visits <strong>and</strong> Hathor’s own<br />
special hue. Heart-centred intelligence indeed. I leave you with a quote from John<br />
Anthony West’s Traveller’s Key to Ancient Egypt which also accompanies my<br />
travels:<br />
Egypt was a gigantic act of magic.<br />
Light become<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
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And a final reminder from The Inner Guide:<br />
Ancient Egypt exists within all our futures.<br />
Alan Richardson<br />
c. Terrie Birch<br />
This way to the future! Watch this space<br />
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Acknowledgements<br />
I would like to acknowledge with grateful thanks the skills of my fellow travellers,<br />
the photographers Tore Lomsdalen, Terrie Birch <strong>and</strong> Patricia Korsgaard. Their<br />
companionship <strong>and</strong> sense of fun, <strong>and</strong> their kindness <strong>and</strong> care for Margaret <strong>and</strong><br />
Stephen. Also the members of the Solos tour who played out their parts without<br />
knowing they were taking part in a mystic drama of epic proportions. And much love<br />
to Margaret Cahill without whom the journey could not have been made. Her blog<br />
can be found at http://wwww.margaretcahill.wordpress.com/. Blessings too to<br />
Stephen Gawtry for the Norm<strong>and</strong>i Ellis book <strong>and</strong> to Alan Richardson <strong>and</strong> the late B.<br />
Walker-John for starting the process so many years ago. And to Christine Aziz for<br />
allowing me to use the first verse of her poem-in-progress The Ancient Gods see<br />
http://www.wordsfromarevolution.com/. Her hymn to Isis is simply amazing, so<br />
relevant throughout aeons of time.<br />
<strong>Judy</strong> <strong>Hall</strong> crystals including a limited supply of Nubian temple stones are available<br />
from: www.angeladditions.co.uk<br />
Indispensible accompaniments for the journey which can be accessed through the<br />
Amazon button on my website www.judyhall.co.uk:<br />
For instructions on how to make the journey to the Sekhmet Sanctuary yourself<br />
with the aid of a crystal see:<br />
<strong>Crystals</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Sacred</strong> <strong>Sites</strong>: Use crystals to access the power of sacred l<strong>and</strong>scape<br />
for personal <strong>and</strong> planetary transformation Fairwinds Press £12.99<br />
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Torn Clouds: a timeslip novel of romance <strong>and</strong> regeneration Kindle or paperback<br />
version: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Torn-Clouds-<strong>Judy</strong>-<strong>Hall</strong>/dp/1903816807/<br />
ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365343079&sr=1-1&keywords=Torn+Clouds<br />
The Inner Guide to Egypt, Alan Richardson <strong>and</strong> B. Walker-John; Imagining the<br />
World into Existence, Norm<strong>and</strong>i Ellis; The Travellers Key to Ancient Egypt, John<br />
Anthony West<br />
Clearing essences: Petaltone Zl4 <strong>and</strong> Clear2Light www.petaltone.co.uk<br />
For events following our return, go to The Big P.S.<br />
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