Essential Oil Education

Now that I have been home for a few days from an absolutely awesome trip with other aromatherapy enthusiasts, I want to take some time to truly reflect with you the meanings I have gleened from this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  Gary Young, founder of Young Living Essential Oils extended an invitation to distributors to accompany him to Egypt and Jordan to finish the filming for a documentary on the Frankincense Trail. At first there was no way I could clear my calendar for two whole weeks but then it just happened thanks to several of our teachers stepping up to cover me while I was gone. Divine intervention? I like to think so.  My spiritual guidance said I needed to be on this trip not just for me–but for my students and readers as well.

I left in the middle of a snow storm from Denver and miracleously made all my plane connections arriving in Cairo on February 20th. This was to be a day of rest before heading down to Luxor located on the Nile River, about an hour’s plane ride south of Cairo. Jeanne Clark, one of our Healing Touch Spiritual Ministry instructors was my roommate which made the whole trip quite enjoyable. The next morning we had orientation, meeting with Gary and Mary Young, Doug Nelson, the CEO of Young Living and with all our tour guides. Since there were 108 of us, we were divided into three color-coded buses. My “orange ribboned” companions would be with me throughout the trip. We found out that we would have a very busy schedule and that sleep would not be on the agenda! What I also discovered was that reflective time would be in short supply.

I am going to divide my thoughts about this trip into different blog posts beginning with the Temples. After that there will be posts on the frankincense trail and the filmng we did for the documentary, then on to Petra, the city set in stone and more filming. My final entry will be on the River Jordan, Christian sites and the Dead Sea.

A Spiritual Journey to Ancient Temples

Why do we seek out ancient spiritual sites? Over the past 20 years I have visited many of the great cathedrals of Europe–Chartre, Note Dame, Cologne to name but a few. Someday I would like to visit   Hindu temples in Malaysia, Buddhist monasteries in Tibet,  the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and great mosques in Arabia. On this trip–I visited spiritual temples of ancient Egypt. There is a kind of “divine seduction” that draws us to seek a spiritual connection with Source/God throughout our lives. We create altars in our homes, gather sacred objects and yes, visit sacred sites. We want to touch the sacred and feel its energy. We want to know that our lives count for something and that we have purpose. Beyond the yearning we feel to visit these spiritual sites, we are actually longing for transcendent experiences, to be fearless in the presence of God. This is not so much about religion as it is about that deep spiritual connection with divinity. For the Egyptians, there were many gods. But if you examine their mythology a little closer, what you see are really “aspects” or “views” of the One Source/One Creator. It’s the many faces of God.

Our first stop was at the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut. It is one of the most well preserved temples in all of Egypt. Queen Hatshepsut was the only woman to reign as a pharoah. From a distance you can see that the temple is cut into a great mountain with a long path (ramp) leading up to it. As I walked around the columns and viewed the carvings and hierogyphics on the walls, I thought of the many rituals that were celebrated here.

Many columns lined this fabulous testament to architecture. it’s official name is the Temple of Deir el-Bahri and is a unique example of Egyptian architecture consisting of a series of vast terraces and ramps that move up to a sanctury. I tell you all this because of the shear size of this temple. The period was about 1500 B.C. Here is another picture of some of the well preserved frescoes on the walls.

In the afternnon we visited the Valley of the Kings a very dry desert-like area where there are many tombs of the royality. Most of these tombs were pillaged over the centuries and their trasures stolen. Tutenkhamun’s body had just been returned from the Cairo Museum and was in his crypt. (Several days later we visited the Cairo Museum where I was privileged to see the alabaster jars that held the precious essential oils “fit for a king” and to see his throne which depicts in pure gold, his wife, Queen Ankhsenamon, rubbing oil on the King’s  body.)  Going down into the tomb we could see the richly decorated walls depicting the gods protecting the King. Every inch of these rooms were decorated in brilliant colors. No pictures were allowed in this tomb or any of the tombs we visited in the Valley of the Kings. It was amazing to see how well preserved these tombs were. Since I mentioned artifacts from Tutenkhamun’s tomb, here is a picture of the Queen anointing the King. It is one of my most favorite pictures in all of Egypt.

From here we visited Habu Temple, the temple of Rames III. It is one of the most perfect buildings left by the ancient Egyptians. This is actually a massive temple to celebrate the victories of the pharaoh. Statues of their various gods can still be found within the grounds. As you enter, you walk through a series of vestibules, open areas and closed areas–all leading to the sanctuary.

This temple actually had a landing on the Nile river where the royal court could sail right up to the landing to enter the temple.

My next post will take us to Dendera, Luxor, Karnak and the pyramids at Giza.

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