Egypt and Mysticism - My Personal Experience - Part 1

When we were working at the Al Arab Medical University in Benghazi, Libya in late 1980s, I dreamt of visiting Egypt that bordered Libya on the East side. There were two reasons for this. One, I had a great fascination for Pyramids and Sphinx, second, I had a beautiful pen friend (her name was Mona) from Egypt during school days. But that dream couldn't materialize because of visa problems- visa was required to leave Libya and also to re-enter, which was not an easy process. 

Egypt, at last

Now when I set my foot on Egypt after 36 years of that dream, I realized  why I had to wait for all this time. Through my spiritual practices over these years, I have reached a level to absorb much more of the spiritual essence than I could have imbibed years back! Most of the time I was there, I felt as if I was in an an upper layer of the atmosphere. Egypt is a land of stunning landscapes, ancient wonders, and vibrant culture.

Cairo to Aswan

We reached Cairo on October 13th afternoon and settled into the Parkside hotel for the night stay, as there was an early morning flight to catch for Aswan the next day. We would be coming back to the same hotel to spend the last three days before the return flight. The moment we entered the reception area of the hotel, I gasped at the decor. It gave the complete feeling of being in Egypt!

Before leaving for the airport at 3am the next day,we were given very poorly packed  breakfast boxes, and it was a real pain to carry them, along with our luggage, as you can see below.

When we reached Aswan our guide was waiting for us. He was a knowledgeable and  compassionate person. After completing 5 years of study on Egyptian history, he still does self study to update his knowledge. Located along the banks of the mighty River Nile, Aswan is a small, quiet town. We had Philae temple and Aswan High Dam on the itinerary to visit that day. 

The Aswan Dam and Philae temple

With the visit to the Aswan High Dam, one of the world's largest embankment dams, our education on Egypt started. It is a rock-fill dam located at the northern border between Egypt and Sudan. Built across the Nile in Aswan between 1960 and 1970, it enabled better control of flooding, and increased water storage for irrigation and electricity. The dam was seen as pivotal to Egypt’s planned industrialization. 

Philae Temple is associated with the goddess Isis, who was revered as the divine mother and the goddess of fertility, magic, and protection. According to devotees, a visit to the temple and offering prayers to Isis would grant them blessings, protection, and guidance.

Living on the river Nile

After these visits we came to the Nile cruise. Sleeping three nights with Nile beneath us! And meditating in the atmosphere carrying vibrations of Nile!! What a great blessing!

Nile runs through or along the border of 10 other African countries. Its three main tributaries are the White Nile, the Blue Nile, and the Atbara. Every aspect of life in Egypt depended on the river – the Nile provided food and resources, land for agriculture, a means of travel, and transportation of materials. It literally brought life into the desert, which led to the Greek historian Herodotus remark that Lower Egypt was a “gift of the Nile”.

About one-tenth of the area of the continent is covered by the Nile river basin, and it served as the stage for the evolution and decay of advanced civilizations in the ancient world. Unlike other rivers known to them, the Nile flowed from the south northward and was in flood at the warmest time of the year – this was an unsolved mystery to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks.

Kom Ombo and Edfu Temples

They are the two most popular landmarks in between Luxor and Aswan. Kom Ombo is unique – it is dedicated to two deities, Sobek and Horus. The left entrance here is dedicated to the falcon headed God (the first “God of the kingdom”) Horus and the right one takes you to the sanctum sanctorum of the crocodile headed God Sobek.  Kom Ombo means the heap of gold; the word Kom means heap in Arabic and the word Ombo means gold in the ancient Egyptian language.

Constructed over the course of 180 years under a variety of rulers during the Ptolemaic period in Egypt, Edfu temple was built on top of much older ruins dating back to Ramses III. The Temple of Edfu was buried for centuries under sand and silt until the nineteenth century, when French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette rediscovered the site. It is widely regarded as Egypt's very best-preserved temple.

The building contains a wealth of legible inscriptions on its walls, describing the conflict between Horus, the deity of the fertile Egyptian lands near the Nile, and Seth, the deity of the surrounding Egyptian desert, as Horus seeks revenge for the murder of his father, Osiris. This story was ceremoniously re-enacted by the ancient Egyptians each year at the temple complex.

Luxor

Sailing overnight, we reached Luxor and checked out after breakfast. Located on the Nile river, Luxor is known as the "World's Greatest Open-Air Museum" due to its abundance of ancient ruins. We had a full day of programs, visiting the Valley of Kings, Queen Hatshepsut temple, Colossi of Memnon, and after lunch, Karnak and Luxor temples.

The Valley of kings was part of the ancient city of Thebes and was the burial site of almost all the kings (pharaohs) of the 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties (1539–1075 BCE), from Thutmose I to Ramses X. Located in the hills behind Dayr al-Baḥrī, the 62 known tombs exhibit variety both in plain and in decoration. It was Tuthmosis who started the tradition of burial in the Valley of the Kings, and pharaohs stopped building pyramids after that. Tuthmosis changed the burial traditions of ancient Egyptian kings forever when he built the Valley of the Kings as an effort to protect his tomb from robbers.

Queen Hatshepsut temple

The temple of Hatshepsut (Egyptian: Ḏsr-ḏsrw meaning "Holy of Holies") is a mortuary temple built during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Located opposite the city of Luxor, it is considered to be a masterpiece of ancient architecture, its three massive terraces rise above the desert floor and into the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari. Identified by its axes, the temple has twin functions: its main east-west axis served to receive the barque of Amun-Ra at the climax of the festival, while its north-south axis represented the life cycle of the pharaoh from coronation to rebirth.

In a country that was ruled by kings, Hatsepsut took charge once her husband died and left very young sons. She made trade treaties with neighbouring kingdoms, stopped wars and was extremely successful and loved dearly by the public.  After a long time Egypt had no orphans and widows because men were not dying in battle. However, her son in law killed her and took over after she had an affair with a foreigner.

The state of the temple has suffered over time. Two decades after Hatshepsut's death, under the direction of Thutmose III, references to her rule were erased, usurped or obliterated. The reasons behind the proscription remain a mystery. Perhaps the concept of a female king was anathema to ancient Egyptian society. 

The Colossi of Memnon

The Colossi of Memnon are two enormous statues of 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III originally designed to guard his mortuary temple, located on the western bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor. They are two-seated king statues on ornamented thrones, representing the pharaoh wearing the royal headdress of the Nemes, protected by the divine cobra. Weighing 720 tonnes each, they are 18 meters tall. They are carved from single blocks of sandstone.

The earthquake at 27 BC partially destroyed the Colossi of Memnon, it was then restored by Roman emperors during the Roman Empire in ancient Egypt.

Karnak Temple

The Temple of Karnak was believed to be the spot where creation began, and a point of interaction between the God Amun-Ra and Egyptians. It is important to Egypt's cultural history because it was a place of worship and provides clues about the ancient Egyptian religion.

A pit near the temple of the God Ptah at Karnak yielded 38 religious artefacts that had been placed around a seated statue of the God Ptah. The items date from the eighth to seventh centuries B.C. and include 14 statues and figurines of Osiris; three statuettes of baboons; two statuettes of the Goddess Mut; one head and fragments of a statue of Bastet, the cat Goddess; two unidentified statuette bases; a small plaque and part of a small stele marked with the name of the God Ptah.

The Luxor Temple

This is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River, dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship; it may have been where many of the pharaohs of Egypt were crowned . It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. The avenue (known as "path of god") stretching for about 2,700 metres between the Luxor Temple and the Karnak area is lined with human-headed sphinxes.

The Luxor Temple was built during the New Kingdom and dedicated to the Theban Triad that consisted of Amun, his consort Mut, and their son Khonsu. This massive temple contains ten sections: the Avenue of the Sphinxes, First Pylon, Roman Camp, Mosque, Court of Ramses II, Court of Amenhotep III, Chapel of Mut, Chapel of Khonsu, Chapel of Amun, and finally the Birth Chamber.

To go to Part 2, CLICK HERE