Sacred Connections in the Holy Land of Egypt

"The monastic life of Egypt became famous throughout the whole Christian Church, and for a long time Egypt was regarded as the 'Holy Land' in preference to Palestine, because there could be seen the multitudes of saintly ascetes, and Christians came as pilgrims from all parts to see and hear them."
(The Coptic Church and Egyptian Monasticism by De Lacy O'Leary)

Last September (2007) we were privileged to partake in a spiritual journey visiting some of the major sacred sites by the river Nile in the ancient land of Egypt. This was organised by our good friend, Sheila Charlett, who lives near Dundee, Scotland, where she works as a healer and teaches spiritual development. Including ourselves, the group comprised 13 people, mostly from Scotland , together with a few folk from England. Sheila was guided to name this group "The Shambhala Network of Light" and it's purpose was to engage in meditational earth-healing ceremonies at various temples, pyramids and other sacred sites in Egypt, using a special symbolic mandala as a focus for the process. As we all anticipated, this spiritual pilgrimage was a unique personal experience for each individual within the group, as well as the application of the group energetic itself at the sacred places which we visited. The following is a pictorial montage of some of the sacred sites interspersed with a brief commentary from our personal perspective and recollection.

Here we visited the Red Pyramid attributed to King Snefru (2575-2551 BC). In a chamber deep within the pyramid we engaged in a group singing and chanting session which powerfully resonated within the accoustics of the pyramid.

The gold signifies the Christ consciousness. The symbol depicts the four elements (earth, air, fire and water), the four cardinal directions (north, east, south and west), the four colours of matter (green, yellow, red and blue).

We were informed by our Egyptian guide, Ayman, that the Temple sanctuary of Sekhmet is considered to be the "holy of holies" of the ancient sacred sites of Egypt. Immediately above the black basalt statue of Sekhmet is an open shaft in the ceiling. Ayman told us that a beam of light falls directly on the statue at a midday alignment. While engaged in a group process during the late afternoon (5.00pm) we were greatly surprised to see a shaft of light beam directly down onto the statue of Sekhmet. Why this happened at this time of the day is a complete mystery to us, but it certainly added to the group's powerful experience in this holy sanctuary.

Coptic Christian crosses at Philae. This symbolic cross was later adopted by the Knights Templar,
probably as a result of the 12th century Crusades in the Middle East.

The Temple of Isis at Philae is located on an island on the river Nile, and access for visitors is by small motorised boats operated by the local Nubian boat men. On our return to the mainland our Nubian boat man suddenly switched off the outboard motor bringing us to a standstill in the middle of the river Nile. Before we could surmise what was happening, our Egyptian guide, Ayman, exclaimed, "This is where you either buy or swim!" We then noticed some tourist booklets for sale in the middle of the boat, and also two Nubian men, who were not with us on our outward journey, holding armfuls of hand made necklaces and bracelets at the far end of the boat. Ayman went on to explain that the Nubian people here are very poor and rely on selling their crafts to survive. Needless to say, our group was happy to support these people as best we could. And so we finally reached the mainland with smiles all round!

Our group's visit to the Great Pyramid at Giza had been especially timed by our group leader, Sheila Charlett, to align and synchronise with the astrological date of the 9th September 2007 (9 9 9). Sheila was further guided to arrange to commence our planned spiritual process in the King's Chamber within the pyramid at 9 minutes past 9 on the morning of this auspicious day.

Before we departed for the Great Pyramid, while we were all waiting in our hotel's lobby area, a Brazilian group turned up. They had also travelled to Egypt especially for this 9 9 9 alignment. We introduced ourselves and agreed and it was generally agreed that we would all go into the pyramid together as a combined group. One of the Brazilian group offered Sheila some crystals which she accepted. This reminded Sheila of some spiritual guidance she had received the night before, when she was asked to "accept the crystals."

Our time in the King's Chamber inside the Great Pyramid was a powerful experience for everyone involved. Inside the Pyramid we were guided by a tall Egyptian man who made us welcome and also informed us that we would only be allowed five minutes in the King's Chamber. He subsequently said we could have ten minutes but Sheila persuaded him to allow us fifteen minutes. Access to this chamber is via a narrow passageway with a low ceiling angled fairly steeply upwards. Upon arrival the Egyptian guide then informed us that we could have fifteen minutes in the King's Chamber.

When our group of 13 arrived in the King's Chamber, together with the 8 Brazilians, we noticed a young Indian man meditating there, which made up our total number to the cabbalistic number of 22. This is the number of the greater arcana in the Tarot, as well as the number of letters in the archaic hebrew alphabet. We later befriended this Indian man, called Mukesh, who was also aware of the astrological implications and had specifically chosen to be in the chamber at this time.

Our process began with individual and group chanting. Time passed very quickly and after fifteen minutes the guide started to clap his hands and give signals that we were to finish. However, the energy here was highly charged and we tentatively managed another fifteen minutes, finishing with hugging each other and the Egyptian guide as well! During our spiritual process we became aware of an amazing sound resonating from above. One of our group asked the Egyptian guide where the sound came from. He replied, "From an air shaft". Whatever caused this accoustic resonance it certainly helped to create a memorable experience.

Interestingly, a group of Japanese tourists left the King's Chamber as we arrived and the 22 of us had this sacred place to ourselves for half an hour, until the next group of visitors arrived. Considering the vast numbers of people who were visiting the Great Pyramid at the time, this in itself was a somewhat miraculous achievement!

The Coptic monastery of St. Macarius, originally founded during the 4th century AD,
at Waddi El-Natrun in the western desert of Egypt

Coptic Christianity is believed to date back to the 1st century A.D. and the tradition of the
Coptic Church claims that its origin derives from the teaching of St. Mark in Alexandria c.40-60A.D.

The interior of the Coptic "Hanging Church" El Muallaqa (dedicated to the Virgin Mary) in Cairo. The Church derives its name from its location on the top of the southern tower gate of the old Babylon fortress (in old, or Coptic Cairo) with its nave suspended above the passage (Muallaqa translates as 'suspended').

The Obelisk at Heliopolis (Matariya - a suburb of Cairo) formerly the site of the ancient solar temple and Academy of On. Egyptian tradition says that the Holy Family of Christ were here. This was the final sacred site which the Shambhala Network of Light visited during the group's spiritual sojourn in the Holy Land of Egypt.