Essential Oil Education

Yesterday’s post reflected on my spiritual journey through several temples in the Luxor valley including the Valley of the Kings. Today I want to continue my story and take you to the temples at Luxor, Dendera and Karnak and to the King’s chamber at the great pyramid in Giza. As I mentioned in the last post, rituals were conducted daily at these great temples in an effort to connect with divinity and with the sacred in life. If we take a moment and think about other societies throughout history–we find that there is this universal spiritual need to reach out to what is “unseen” to the world of spirit whether it is through worship or through prayers for protection, appeasement or gratitude. Our hearts and minds are oriented toward God and there is a longing that only grows within as we age and mature. It is that longing for oneness with the divine that carries us to visit the “holy” or “spiritual” places where we can be touched and touch the divine. And so I begin today’s journey through the great Temple at Luxor.

We actually visited Luxor in the evening, one of the few temples lite up at night. As I approached the gate entrance, I had an awareness of having been here before–the same feeling I had the first time I entered Chartres Cathedral in France. It was a “knowing” and an awareness at some level of experiential knowledge that I really can’t explain. As I walked through the colonades, it was if I knew the ceremonies that took place here. We had time to wonder through this temple and explore the many rooms, some of which were places where people came for healing.

I am pictured here in one of the rooms dedicated to healing. I would have to say that Luxor of all the temples was my most favorite place–probably because of the spiritual connection I felt here.

Pictured to the right is one of the carvings in the wall of perfume jars. This was on the walls of the healing rooms–quite appropriate I thought. I could imagine the fragrance of frankincense, and other oils like spikenard, myrrh, and balsam waffling through the halls!

The final picture I am including from Luxor is of some of the colonades richly ornate, fitting for the work that was conducted at this place of healing.

My story continues with a very special temple run only by the priestesses–Dendera. With a wake-up call at 4am, all 108 of us on the Frankincense Trail tour were on our buses for a three hour ride to Dendera Temple. This too is a massive temple in which most of the roof in still in existence, held up by huge columns. As you enter this sacred space, you are immediately aware that many ceremonies were conducted here by the priestesses. In fact, this was a completely female temple near the Nile River. There is a tradition that has been handed down that when Jesus, Mary and Joseph fled into Egypt, the priestesses hid the Holy Family in a secret hiding place beneath the floor of this great temple. Herod’s army pursued them and actually desecrated this temple and the priestesses but never found the family hidden beneath the floor.  We were privileged to have special permission to go down into this crypt to see the space where the Holy Family stayed for several weeks. Every inch of this cramped space was filled with carvings and exquisite symbols about life, death and the future. For me, this was truly a ‘holy’ spot and one I wish I could have spent some quiet time in meditation but with a hundred people all waiting their turn, we each only had a few minutes here.

As we explored the many rooms of this temple I was impressed with the deep sacredness of the space. The columns you see to the right have been cleaned and the brilliant colors beneath are visible. The ministry of antiquities is spearheading a cleaning of this great temple–other sections are still blackened with age. One room in particular was fascinating to me–in the ceiling, you find a complete wheel of the zodiac. These priestesses were astrologers and knew the heavens.  It was originally made of pure gold and is now in some museum–hopefully to be returned someday. to the left is one of the frescoes on the walls depicting either some kind of healing ministration or embalming process. Several of us spent quite some time in the Chapel of Sanctity where the mysteries of the birth of the cosmic order were celebrated. Below is the best picture I could get of the zodiac in the ceiling.

Dendera was indeed a remarkable temple and one I recommend if you ever visit Egypt. Be prepared to want to stay all day. The spiritual energy here is quite strong.

Next on our adventure was the Temple at Karnak. This is an immence area divided into three zones or enclosed areas. Each of these areas was completed in different eras and dedicated to different gods. Much of Karnak lies in ruins with restoration continuing to go on to this day. It has many porticols, columns, statues, and obelisks, shrines, colonnades and smaller temples. One special place we were taken at Karnak was to the temple honoring the god Sekhmet, a female cat-headed god. Here, Kadiza, one of our Egyptian guides, lead us in a healing ritual.

My final entry before I move on to the Frankincense Trail story is to the great Pyramids at Giza where we had special permission to visit the King’s chamber and the Queen’s chamber inside the pyramid of Khufu. It was quite impressive as we approached these three great pyramids constructed around 2500 B.C. These are gigantic burial grounds that originally had smooth exteriors of limestone. These were stripped away before the 19th century and probably used for many other purposes. Most likely many of these stones are now part of buildings in Cairo. Guarding the entrance is the Great Sphinx which is now worn away by the sands of time.

The day we were at Giza was quite warm and by the time we climbed the hill to Khufu’s pyramid, most of us were pretty heated. In order for all 108 of us to go into the King’s chamber, we had to go in three groups. Inside, Gary and Mary Young along with Kadiza our Egyptian guide, conducted ceremony for us with singing once inside. Then there was time for private reflection as the lights were extinguished. Here is a picture of the stairway leading up to the King’s chamber followed by a picture of me in the chamber.

I sensed a great deal of energy in this space but no profound experience–nothing like my experience at Luxor. The air was “old” and thin. The walls were granite and undecorated–probably 14-16 feet high. A simple emptygranite sarcophagus was at one end. The queen’s chamber was below the King’s chamber and smaller in size. It too was undecorated, however there was an alcove where probably the sarcophagus once was located. Here is a picture of Gailann Green standing in the Queen’s alcove.

As we exited the inner sanctum, we came out to a beautifully clear night with a full moon–a fitting end to our temple and pyramid visits. Pictured with me is Jeanne Clark.

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