Spiritual Egypt Tours September 2011 Newsletter

Spiritual Egypt Tours Newsletter September 2011 1

Must See Places to Visit in Egypt - Karnak Temple

2012 and the Mayan Prophecy

Excerpts from Carla & John’s Spiritual Awakening Travel Diary – visiting the pyramids at Dashur and Sakkara

Highlights from the Journey to Spiritual Awakening Tour Dec 2012

Egyptian Gods & Goddesses – Sekhmet – Goddess of Power, Protection and Healing

Introducing the newest member of the Team for the Journey to Awakening Spiritual Tour of Egypt in 2012 – Monica Ward

Welcome to Spiritual Egypt Tours Newsletter "Hello I'm Rhonnda Fritz and welcome to our Newsletter! This newsletter is for anybody who is on their spiritual path or who has Egypt high on their wish list for places to visit. Each month I will bring you articles about Ancient Egypt and modern day Egypt as well as information about our upcoming tours and events. I will also be including articles and information designed to uplift your spirits.

Our Journey to Awakening Spiritual Tour that departs on the 8th of December 2012 and ends in Cairo on the 22nd of December 2012 is attracting a great deal of interest. We already have a number of bookings for this tour which will be a once in a lifetime experience.

Check out the early bird savings. Although a little larger than our usual tours to Egypt, numbers for this tour are still limited and places will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.

In this Newsletter check out the ongoing travel diary and spiritual awakening for Carla and John as they travel on their own journey to awakening through Egypt. In these diary entries they visit the pyramids at Dashur and Sakkara. Also in our regular feature of "Must Visit Places in Egypt" we go to Karnak near Luxor with an extensive article written by Marie Parsons that includes a lot of history and facts about this incredible site.. In our regular feature on the Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, read about Sekhmet – the daughter of Ra and goddess of healing and protection. There is also an interesting article on the “Doomsday Connotations” for December 2012 in the article “2012 and the Mayan Calendar”. Plus meet our newest addition to the team of Guides and Lecturers for the Journey to Awakening December 2012 Tour – Monica Ward.

I welcome your feedback and if there is anything special you would like me to include in the newsletter please feel free to contact me at Rhonnda.SpiritualEgyptTours@Hotmail.com. Please share the newsletter with your friends.

Journey to Awakening Tour December 2012

Summary of the Tour Highlights: • Be pampered like a Pharaoh in 5

star luxury all the way • Enjoy the services of expert

Egyptologists and Guides • Private and exclusive access to

most of the sites we visit • Luxury Nile Cruise visiting the

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2012 is a year that people have been waiting for over many years. Will it be a big event or will it be a big fizzle like the Y2K prophecy of doom. Certainly the world is not going to end.

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However, on the 21st December 2012 many thousand people will be converging on Mexico to join in the celebrations of the end of the Mayan Calendar. This will include many spiritual leaders and their followers.

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The energy grids around the planet will be lit up and it will be felt at the centre of the Earth's land mass in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt where all the energy grids become one.

Spiritual Egypt Tours is hosting a group of people on a special and amazing 15 day journey to awakening through Egypt in December 2012 culminating in a 2 hour private visit to the Kings Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza beginning at sunset.

Sunset is a high energy point of the day and while it is sunset in Egypt it will be around 9:00am in Mexico when the celebrations will be well under way. Join us on this special tour of Egypt and be part of the meditation in the Kings Chamber at sunset on the 21st of December.

Four years ago the 2012 Journey to Awakening Tour was born during a lunch at my house around the Summer Ingress. Several of my like minded friends were present.

The subject of the Mayan Calendar and the alignment of the Sun with the Equator of the Galactic Centre was a hot topic of conversation. We surmised how incredible it would be to bring together a group of spiritually aware people together on

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temples and tombs of Luxor and Aswan Regions Visit the White Desert and camp out overnight under a blanket of a million stars Visit to Abu Simbel Stand between the paws of the mighty Sphinx at Sunrise – a magical experience that is not offered to many who visit Egypt Explore the chambers of the Great Pyramid at Sunset and enjoy a guided meditation and channelling in the Kings Chamber on your 2 hour private access visit Visit the Cairo Museum when it is closed to the public – a truly awe inspiring experience Most meals are included All transport including air travel within Egypt is included Discover an Egypt that most tourists never find Program of optional lectures, guided meditations and discussion groups included Travel with like minded people and spend 15 days sharing this spiritual journey

the 21st December 2012 in the Great Pyramid of Giza to tap into the high energy that would be alive and kicking on that day around the planet.

For those of us at that lunch, the 21st December 2012 is the next Y2K. Just as it was with Y2K nothing is going to happen - but do we know for sure given the amount of hype out there about it. After all, the indigenous tribes of the world must have had a reason to record that date. Many people are caught up in the Mayan Calendar phenomenon whether they believe it is real or whether they don’t or whether they are simply waiting to see what happens. All of this will be pumped up by the media the closer the date gets.

Early Bird Specials for Journey to Awakening Tour 8th to 22nd December 2012 Book Early and Save!!! Book & pay your Deposit of US$2,500 by the following dates • • •

This is going to create an enormous amount of energy through the Grid that passes right through the Great Pyramid of Giza. So what an incredible place to be to capture that energy and transmute it for the greater good.

To make it happen I needed my good friend Mohamed Nazmy who is the President of Quest Travel located in Egypt.

I met with him in Cairo in April 2010 and outlined my vision for the tour and the rest as they say is history.

Mohamed and his team at Quest Travel have won many awards and are the best ground tour operators in Egypt specializing in private, spiritual and metaphysical tours treating their guests like treasured pharaohs. Together we have organized a journey of a lifetime just for you to enjoy.

Quest Travel Egypt takes the safety and the welfare of their guests very seriously and when you travel with them you know you are in safe hands, which is why I have chosen them as the tour operator I use in Egypt.

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8th December 2011 - US$9,497 (save US$2,500 per person) 8th January 2012 - US$10,497 (save US$1,500 per person) 8th February 2012 - US$10,997 (save US$1,000 per person) 8th of March 2012 - US$11,497 (save US$500 per person)

Discounts also for Groups of 4 or more people travelling together (Please note prices are quoted in US dollars because our Egyptian Tour Operator uses US dollars as their international currency.

When you are ready to book contact us for the Australian exchange rate.)

As well as private access to the sites we visit and the services of Quest Travel Egypt’s expert Egyptologists and guides, there is also a program of lectures and guided meditations designed to open your spiritual awareness and to also empower, rejuvenate and enrich your mind body and spirit. Some of Australia’s leading mediums, clairvoyants and astrologers will also be on the tour and will be available for private readings.

Check out the websites for more information, full itinerary as well as lots of articles and videos.

www.SpiritualEgyptTours.com www.SpiritualEgyptTours2012.com

To Book Your Tour of a Lifetime, Email us or call us on (07) 5450 1597 Rhonnda.SpiritualEgyptTours@Hotmail.com

Breaking News!!!

We are delighted that Monica Hamers-Ward has made herself available for this very exciting and once in any of our lifetimes tour.

Monica is one of Australia’s Top Ten Mediums and Psychics.

She brings with her many years experience in the fields of clairvoyance, mediumship and spiritual healing. Monica is the real deal and was born with these gifts and has honed her skills through further training.

She is of Celtic origin and has a family connection to Maurice Barbanell who wrote “This is Spiritualism” (http://website.lineone.net/~enlightenment/maurice_barbanell.htm)

Monica has a special interest in psychic surgery and has spent time in the Philippines to both experience and authenticate this phenomenon. She has also spent time with the late Sai Baba and is well connected in the spiritual community both here in Australia and overseas.

A few years ago she was featured on the television show “The Extraordinary” as a result of the publication of a book “Flight into the Ages” written by Ken Llewelyn. Published by Felspin in 1991.

Click the link and view the footage to see Monica in action. http://youtu.be/I6g9zW6JX6I

She has featured in research for other books and has been a featured guide on many other healing trips.

Like me, Monica is a regular feature writer for “Your Stars” magazine. Monica regularly travels throughout Australia helping people, conducting readings, providing healing, and teaching psychic development and meditation Her powerful groups have experienced full body materialization and she has trained many people with psychic gifts to use them effectively.

Much of what Monica can see is often captured these days on digital cameras, which for Monica, is wonderful proof and reinforcement of the world of light, sound and energy around us. When you join us on the Journey to Spiritual Awakening Tour of Egypt in 2012, you will have the opportunity to capture these psychic photos for yourself because Egypt abounds in psychic energy and people capture it so often on camera that it becomes a little “ho-hum” (if you can believe that!!).

“I am not only delighted at the prospect of being included in this awesome tour but feel the building excitement of going into places with which I have such strong past life connections. I have always been drawn to this particular building in Egypt and remember rushing into a gift shop in Canberra years ago to see if the shopkeeper could identify this building which was inlaid into the top of a brass coffee table. To me this was "it”. He could only say this is the mosque at the back of Cairo. Well now I will see it for myself and see what visions it brings.

Past life memories of being a belly dancer in the luxurious tents go back many, many lifetimes and in this lifetime during channelling sessions, I have met Ra who I feel has a strong hand in this journey.” Monica I am very lucky to have had her as a personal friend and mentor for over 14 years. It was while sitting in one of her channelling circles in Canberra many years ago that many of my psychic powers” were activated. When Monica and I get together and combine our energy in the same circle some truly amazing things always occur.

Monica will be adding her enormous psychic power and energy to the powerful group of people who are coming together during the Journey to Spiritual Awakening Tour of Egypt in December 2012. She will be conducting meditations, lectures and healings and will be available for personal consultations during the tour.

Having Monica with us will certainly assist in the awakening of very powerful forces and allow for incredible experiences during the journey.

To learn more about Monica, visit her website: www.MonicaWard.com

The famous Citadel and Muhammad Ali Mosque which is one of the possibilities for the building that is calling Monica back to Egypt

2012 and the Mayan Prophecy Doomsday or a New Shift in Consciousness

By Ian O'Neill first published on www.Universetoday.com (republished with permission)

Apparently, the world is going to end on December 21st, 2012. Yes, you read correctly, in some way, shape or form, the Earth (or at least a large portion of humans on the planet) will cease to exist. Stop planning your careers, don’t bother buying a house, and be sure to spend the last years of your life doing something you always wanted to do but never had the time.

So what is all this crazy talk? We’ve all heard these doomsday predictions before, we’re still here, and the planet is still here, why is 2012 so important? Well, the Mayan calendar stops at the end of the year 2012, churning up all sorts of religious, scientific, astrological and historic reasons why this calendar foretells the end of life as we know it. The Mayan Prophecy is gaining strength and appears to be worrying people in all areas of society. Forget Nostradamus, forget the Y2K bug, forget the credit crunch, this event is predicted to be huge and many wholeheartedly believe this is going to happen for real. Planet X could even be making a comeback.

The Mayan Calendar So what is the Mayan Calendar? The calendar was constructed by an advanced civilization called the Mayans around 250-900 AD. Evidence for the Maya empire stretches around most parts of the southern states of Mexico and reaches down to the current geological locations of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and some of Honduras. The people living in Mayan society exhibited very advanced written skills and had an amazing ability when constructing cities and urban planning. The Mayans are probably most famous for their pyramids and other intricate and grand buildings. The people of Maya had a huge impact on Central American culture, not just within their civilization, but with other indigenous populations in the region. Significant numbers of Mayans still live today, continuing their age-old traditions.

The Mayans used many different calendars and viewed time as a meshing of spiritual cycles. While the calendars had practical uses, such as social, agricultural, commercial and administrative tasks, there was a very heavy religious element. Each day had a patron spirit, signifying that each day had specific use. This contrasts greatly with our modern Gregorian calendar which primarily sets the administrative, social and economic dates.

Most of the Mayan calendars were short. The Tzolk’in calendar lasted for 260 days and the Haab’ approximated the solar year of 365 days. The Mayans then combined both the Tzolk’in and the Haab’ to form the “Calendar Round”, a cycle lasting 52 Haab’s (around 52 years, or the approximate length of a generation). Within the Calendar Round were the trecena (13 day cycle) and the veintena (20 day cycle). Obviously, this system would only be of use when considering the 18,980 unique days over the course of 52 years. In addition to these systems, the Mayans also had the “Venus Cycle”. Being keen and highly accurate astronomers they formed a calendar based on the location of Venus in the night sky. It’s also possible they did the same with the other planets in the Solar System.

Using the Calendar Round is great if you simply wanted to remember the date of your birthday or significant religious periods, but what about recording history? There was no way to record a date older than 52 years.

The End of the Long Count = the End of the Earth?

The Mayans had a solution. Using an innovative method, they were able to expand on the 52 year Calendar Round. Up to this point, the Mayan Calendar may have sounded a little archaic – after all, it was possibly based on religious belief, the menstrual cycle, mathematical calculations using the numbers 13 and 20 as the base units and a heavy mix of astrological myth. The only principal correlation with the modern calendar is the Haab’ that recognised there were 365 days in one solar year (it’s not clear whether the Mayans accounted for leap years). The answer to a longer calendar could be found in the “Long Count”, a calendar lasting 5126 years.

I’m personally very impressed with this dating system. For starters, it is numerically predictable and it can accurately pinpoint historical dates. However, it depends on a base unit of 20 (where modern calendars use a base unit of 10). So how does this work?

The base year for the Mayan Long Count starts at “0.0.0.0.0″. Each zero goes from 0-19 and each represent a tally of Mayan days. So, for example, the first day in the Long Count is denoted as 0.0.0.0.1. On the 19th day we’ll have 0.0.0.0.19, on the 20th day it goes up one level and we’ll have 0.0.0.1.0. This count continues until 0.0.1.0.0 (about one year), 0.1.0.0.0 (about 20 years) and 1.0.0.0.0 (about 400 years). Therefore, if I pick an arbitrary date of 2.10.12.7.1, this represents the Mayan date of approximately 1012 years, 7 months and 1 day.

This is all very interesting, but what has this got to do with the end of the world? The Mayan Prophecy is wholly based on the assumption that something bad is going to happen when the Mayan Long Count calendar runs out. Experts are divided as to when the Long Count ends, but as the Maya used the numbers of 13 and 20 at the root of their numerical systems, the last day could occur on 13.0.0.0.0.

When does this happen? Well, 13.0.0.0.0 represents 5126 years and the Long Count started on 0.0.0.0.0, which corresponds to the modern date of August 11th 3114 BC. Have you seen the problem yet? The Mayan Long Count ends 5126 years later on December 21st, 2012.

Doomsday When something ends (even something as innocent as an ancient calendar); people seem to think up the most extreme possibilities for the end of civilization as we know it. A brief scan of the internet will pull up the most popular to some very weird ways that we will, with little logical thought, be wiped off the face of the planet. Archaeologists and mythologists on the other hand believe that the Mayans predicted an age of enlightenment when 13.0.0.0.0 comes around; there isn’t actually much evidence to suggest doomsday will strike. If anything, the Mayans predict a religious miracle, not anything sinister.

Myths abound and seem to be fuelling movie storylines. Case in point the blockbuster movie "2012" It looks like the movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is even based around the Mayan myth that 13 crystal skulls can save humanity from certain doom. This myth says that if the 13 ancient skulls are not brought together at the right time, the Earth will be knocked off its axis. This might be a great plotline for blockbuster movies, but it also highlights the hype that can be stirred, lighting up religious, scientific and not-so-scientific ideas that the world is doomed.

Some of the most popular space-based threats to the Earth and mankind focus on Planet X wiping most life off the planet, meteorite impacts, black holes, killer solar flares, Gamma Ray Bursts from star systems, a rapid ice age and a polar (magnetic) shift. There is so much evidence against these things happening in 2012, it’s shocking just how much of a following they have generated. Each of the above “threats” needs their own devoted article as to why there is no hard evidence to support the hype.

But the fact remains, the Mayan Doomsday Prophecy is purely based on a calendar which we believe hasn’t been designed to calculate dates beyond 2012. Mayan archaeo-astronomers are even in debate as to whether the Long Count is designed to be reset to 0.0.0.0.0 after 13.0.0.0.0, or whether the calendar simply continues to 20.0.0.0.0 (approximately 8000 AD) and then reset. As Karl Kruszelnicki brilliantly writes: “…when a calendar comes to the end of a cycle, it just rolls over into the next cycle. In our Western society, every year 31 December is followed, not by the End of the World, but by 1 January. So 13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan calendar will be followed by 0.0.0.0.1 – or good-ol’ 22 December 2012, with only a few shopping days left to Christmas.” – Excerpt from Dr Karl’s “Great Moments in Science“.

(Sources: Dr Karl’s Great Moments in Science, IHT, 2012 Wiki) (Leading image credits: MIT (supernova simulation), WikiMedia (Mayan pyramid Chichen Itza)

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Egyptian Gods and Goddesses Sekhmet – The Goddess of Power, Protection and Healing In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet was originally the warrior goddess of Upper Egypt. She is depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians. Sekhmet became identified in some later cults as a daughter of the new sun god, Ra, when his cult merged with and supplanted the worship of Horus (the son of Osiris and Isis, who was one of the oldest of Egyptian deities and gave birth daily to the sun). At that time many roles of deities were changed in the Egyptian myths. Some were changed further when the Greeks established a royal line of rulers that lasted for three hundred years and some of their historians tried to create parallels between deities in the two pantheons.

Her name suits her function and means, the (one who is) powerful. She also was given titles such as the (One) Before Whom Evil Trembles, the Mistress of Dread, and the Lady of Slaughter.

Sekhmet was believed to protect the pharaoh in battle, stalking the land, and destroying the pharaoh's enemies with arrows of fire. An early Egyptian sun deity also, her body was said to take on the bright glare of the midday sun, gaining her the title Lady of Flame. It was said that death and destruction were balm for her warrior's heart and that the hot desert winds were believed to be her breath.

To pacify Sekhmet, festivals were celebrated at the end of battle, so that the destruction would come to an end. During an annual festival held at the beginning of the year, a festival of intoxication, the early Egyptians danced and played music to soothe the wildness of the goddess and drank great quantities of beer ritually to imitate the extreme drunkenness that stopped the wrath of the goddess - when she almost destroyed humankind. This may relate to averting excessive flooding during the inundation at the beginning of each year as well, when the Nile ran blood-red with the silt from upstream and Sekhmet had to swallow the overflow to save humankind.

In order to placate Sachet’s wrath, her priestesses performed a ritual before a different statue of the goddess on each day of the year. This practice resulted in many images of the goddess being preserved.

It is estimated that more than seven hundred statues of Sekhmet once stood in one funerary temple alone on the banks of the Nile River.

Sekhmet also was seen as a bringer of disease as well as the provider of cures to such ills. The name "Sekhmet" literally became synonymous with physicians and surgeons during the Middle Kingdom. In antiquity, many members of Sachet’s priesthood often were considered to be on the same level as physicians.

She was envisioned as a fierce lioness, and in art, was depicted as such, or as a woman with the head of a lioness, who was dressed in red, the colour of blood. Sometimes the dress she wears exhibits a rosette pattern over each nipple, an ancient leonine motif, which can be traced to observation of the shoulder-knot hairs on lions. Tame lions were kept in temples dedicated to Sekhmet at Leontopolis.

As with the Goddess Isis, Sekhmet seems to have been reinvented in the twentieth century. Although she is still regarded as a powerful force, to be approached with respect and caution, we can perceive a 'watering down' of her aspects. In Ancient Egypt she was dangerous and ferocious, the bringer of plagues and retribution, the fire of the sun God's eye. This was no benign figure, who could be adored and worshipped as a gentle mother.

Today many women view Sekhmet as a source of strength, independence and assertiveness, and commune with her frequency when these attributes need to be augmented or instilled. To some, Sekhmet has become the symbol of the modern woman. She is approached as a healer, bringer of justice and as a guardian or protector, but the emphasis has shifted. It seems a natural progression that Sekhmet has transformed from what was almost a force of chaos into an icon of immanent female power.

The Legend of Sekhmet the Goddess of Vengeance and Hathor the Goddess of Love When Ra rose from the mists, he created night and day, and Apophis, the Dragon of Evil formed in the darkness of the night vapours and tried to spoil all that was bright and good. Apophis was the enemy of the good rule of Ra as Pharaoh, and as Ra grew old, Apophis reached into the hearts of the people of Egypt and many followed his false promises of power and rebelled against Ra. Ra called a counsel of his children, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut and Hapi. He also called on Nun who ruled the spirit of the primeval waters. And he asked them all what he should do about the evil among the people of Egypt.

"They gather in Upper Egypt to do greater evil even as we meet here," he said. "Should I strike them all down with a burning glance of my all-seeing Eye?" Nun, the eldest, spoke first. "Pharaoh do not turn your eye upon Egypt, for you will destroy every being and every thing. Destroy only the evil men and women and spare the good."

Ra nodded and spoke the word Sekhmet and a mighty lioness sprang into the counsel circle. She circled the floor and finally stopped in front of the throne of Ra. For many moments Sekhmet looked at the face of Ra, then she twitched her tail and turned and leapt out of the circle and sped to Upper Egypt.

The mighty jaws and claws of Sekhmet slaughtered the evil doers in Upper Egypt until the Nile ran red with their blood. Her hunger was endless and every day she stalked the men and women of Upper Egypt, and hid by night licking her paws and dreaming of new prey in the coming morning.

But Ra did not want to destroy mankind, only the evildoers. He decided to trick Sekhmet to stop her slaughter, but said, "I will not humble her for she has done what I asked, but I will give her a far greater power over men so that she will not be dishonoured." But first he had to catch her.

So to trap Sekhmet he sent messengers to Elephantine Island at the First Cataract of the Nile, telling them to bring red ochre. He sent the ochre to Heliopolis to the priest of the Temple of the Sun, Ra's temple. He commanded the priests and all the royal court to make beer and to mingle it with the red ochre so that it was red as blood.

"Quickly, carry the blood red beer to Upper Egypt and spread it on the land to trap Sekhmet," commanded Ra. When Sekhmet came out in the morning to feast on the wicked, she saw no men, but instead saw what looked like pools of blood spread over the land. She found she was thirsty and she drank the blood until she was drunk and helpless. And Ra called to her, "Come my pretty one," and she staggered down the Nile to Heliopolis.

Ra met her and lay his hand on her head, "Sekhmet, you have come in peace, so peace be with you, and a new name. You will no longer be Sekhmet the Slayer; you will be Hathor the Lady of Love. You will no longer rule man by terror, but will rule them by the passion of love. For Love is stronger than Hate and Terror, and all men will grow weak with love and be in your power."

"And I decree that on the first day of every year that the priestesses of love will mix the ochre of Elephantine with the beer of Heliopolis at a great festival to Hathor."

And the evil of Apophis was stopped and the bittersweet gift of love was bestowed on mankind.

Look out for information on the Gods and Goddesses every month as a regular feature of the Newsletter.

My First Meeting with the Living Statue of Sekhmet in the Temple of Ma’at at Karnak

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The Spiritual Awakening Travel Diary for John & Carla We were up very early this morning to travel to Dashur to visit the Red, Black and Bent Pyramids. We travelled through the streets of Giza and then out into the countryside. It is remarkable to see such lushness in the fields with the desert so close by. The site was completely deserted and there was this beautiful stillness all around us.

Bent Pyramid

The Bent Pyramid is considered to be the earliest of the Dashur pyramids, and it earns its name from the distinctive change in the angle of the pyramid. Historians and archaeologists alike believe that the builders of this pyramid realized that they were working at far too steep a pitch and quickly shifted to a gentler slope for the remainder of the building.

Red Pyramid The Red Pyramid was built after the Bent Pyramid and is considered to be the first true Egyptian pyramid due to the complete absence of steps or bends of any kind unlike the Step Pyramid at Sakkara or the Bent Pyramid.

We ventured into the Red Pyramid and the climb was well worth it. Once inside we experienced the first of the ancient Egyptian rituals. It felt wonderful to close my eyes and just allow my thoughts to drift. I could felt an energy stirring within me. I was expecting John to stand around taking pictures and he was true to form but at one point he sat down next to me and I could feel him relaxing in to himself.

Energy Ball

Interior of Red Pyramid – Look Closely at the middle of the picture with the stairs and you will find a distinctive energy ball This area has only been open for a year or so to visitors, so much of the energy of the pyramids is still very strong.

We drove to a very quaint restaurant for lunch. As we entered the complex musicians dressed in traditional costume were playing traditional instruments. A woman was nearby baking bread in big earthen ware ovens and the general feeling of the restaurant was one of celebration and rustic style.

The food was amazing. So many fresh ingredients that had been mixed into dips that we scooped up with delicious flat breads. Then there were succulent meat dishes and fresh salads. I can't remember when I've enjoyed eating more. The music of Egypt is so joyful you just want to get up on your feet and dance.

After lunch we travelled to Sakkara to visit the Step Pyramid of King Djozer. Sakkara is a beautiful site with much of it still being intact after thousands of years. The step pyramid reminded me so much of the pyramids that I've seen throughout Mexico and I began to wonder if there were some links between the two civilisations.

We had some quiet time in a side healing temple to meditate privately. John left me to enjoy it while he explored more of the site and captured it on film. There is so much that I want to know – so much that fascinates me about this ancient civilisation. In so many ways they were far more advanced in their thinking than we are today.

There were a number of vendors selling all kinds of souvenirs at the site and I couldn't help feeling that it was a tough way to earn a living. Our guide told us that many of these vendors have to support large families on what they earn from the tourists. There is a great deal of poverty in Egypt and my heart

went out to them – especially the children. But despite their life circumstances these people were so welcoming and friendly.

Pictures of the Sakkara Complex

On the way back to Cairo we stopped off at a carpet school where they are teaching children the ancient art of making hand made carpets. These children are trained to create the designs from their imagination. Their work was truly beautiful and I was in awe of their skills.

I fell in love with a large traditional carpet in rich tones of gold, royal blue and deep red but the logistics of getting it home were just too difficult so I settled for a smaller one similar in colour.

There was so much to see at Sakkara and I have to admit that by the time we left I was feeling rather tired from so much walking. I slept the whole way back to the Mena House because later tonight after dinner we are heading out to the centre of Cairo to visit the famous Cairo Museum. I am so looking forward to it. There is just our small group with our guide with the whole place to ourselves to explore!!

Travel to Egypt with Spiritual Egypt Tours and explore the pyramids at Dashur and Sakkara In the next Newsletter we will continue with excerpts from the Travel Diary of Carla and John where they talk about their journey through Egypt and about their personal Journey to Spiritual Awakening. Next month, read about their night time visit to the Cairo Museum where their small group had the museum all to themselves

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Must See Sites in Egypt Karnak Temple Near Luxor

By Marie Parsons Karnak describes a vast conglomerate of ruined temples, chapels and other buildings of various dates.

The name Karnak comes from the nearby village of el-Karnak. Whereas Luxor to the south was Ipet-rsyt, Karnak was ancient Ipet-isut, perhaps the most select of Places. Theban kings and the god Amun came to prominence at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. From that time, the temples of Karnak were built, enlarged, torn down, added to, and restored for more than 2000 years.

The ancient Egyptians considered Ipet-Isut as the place of the majestic rising of the first time, where Amun-Ra made the first mound of earth rise from Nun. At Karnak, the high priests recognized a king as the beloved son of Amun, king of all the gods. The coronation and jubilees were also held here. Staffed by more than 80,000 people under Ramsesses III, the temple was also the administrative centre of enormous holdings of agricultural land.

The largest and most important group in the site is the central enclosure, the Great Temple of Amun proper. The layout of the Great Temple consists of a series of pylons of various dates. The earliest are Pylons IV and V, built by Tuthmosis I, and from then on the temple was enlarged by building in a westerly and southerly direction. Courts or halls run between the pylons, leading to the main sanctuary.

The temple is built along two axes, with a number of smaller temples and chapels and a sacred lake. The northern enclosure belongs to Montu, the original god of the Theban area, while the enclosure of Mut lies to the south and is connected with Amun’s precinct by an alley of ram-headed sphinxes. An avenue bordered by sphinxes linked Karnak with the Luxor Temple, and canals connected the temples of Amun and Montu with the Nile.

Amenhotep IV who changed his name to Akhenaten, erected several temples for his new state deity to the east of the central enclosure of Amun. The most conspicuous features of these temples were open courts surrounded by pillars and colossal statues of the king. The temples were dismantled in the post-Amarna period and the stone blocks reused in later structures, especially the pylons built by Horemheb.

The Precinct of Montu The square northern enclosure is the smallest of the three precincts and its monuments are poorly preserved. It contains the main temple of Montu, several smaller structures, particularly the temples of Harpre and Ma’at (which houses a magnificent statue of Sekhmet which is considered to have magical powers and to be a living statue of Sekhmet) and a sacred lake. A structure thought to be a treasury built

by Tuthmosis I was discovered outside the east enclosure wall.

The Montu precinct is the most significant architectural complex north of the Amun-Ra temple. It was first built by Amenhotep III, on a podium, its masonry including blocks belonging to discarded monuments from Amenhotep I, Hatshepsut, Tuthmosis III, Amenhotep II and Tuthmosis IV. It includes other monuments besides the Montu temple.

Amenhotep III, the founder of the main Montu temple, built an enclosure wall around the Montu precinct. In its current state, the Montu precinct also includes several other temples and structures. The temple of Ma’at, the only one extant to this deity, leans on the rear side of the Montu temple. Largely destroyed now, it still preserves inscriptions of some of the viziers of Ramesses III and XI. A previous Ma’at temple apparently existed in this area, indicated by reliefs and stelae belonging to the reign of Amenhotep III. The trials of the accused tomb robbers were held in this temple.

The precinct also includes a temple of Harpre. The temple of Harpre is built along the east side of the Montu temple. The oldest part, the sanctuary on the south side, may date back to the 21st dynasty.

Nepherites and Hakor of the 29th Dynasty built a hypostyle hall with Hathor capitals. A geographical procession formed part of the decoration of the hypostyle hall. An open court and a pylon were added to the north façade during the 30th dynasty. A subsidiary building in front of the pylon is known as the eastern secondary temple, and may be related to the cult of the bull of Montu.

The sacred lake on the west side may have been dug by Amenhotep III and restored by Montuemhat, who has a biographical inscription in the Mut Temple. A "high temple" was erected by Nectanebo II as a storehouse for the offerings.

Lastly, six doors in the south wall of the Montu precinct lead to six chapels dedicated by Divine Votaresses of Amun to different forms of Osiris. The chapels are of Nitoqret, Amenirdis, an unattributed one, Karomama, and one from the reign of Taharka.

A dromos leading to a quay on a canal, which no longer exists, completes the complex. The dromos is a stone-paved road leading from the gate of the precinct to a quay on a canal north of the site. The quay may be dated to the reign of Psamtik I. Two statues of Amenhotep III have been found broken and buried under a chapel in the middle of the temple dromos.

A copy of the "Restoration Stela" of Tutankhamun was erected here, as was a stela of Seti I, inscriptions of Ramsesses II, Merenptah, Amenmesses, and Pinedjem. The eastern part of the temple collapsed at the end of the New Kingdom, and reconstruction was probably undertaken by Taharka, who also built a great portico on the main façade. This was dismantled and rebuilt by the first Ptolemies.

Outside the temple precinct, a limestone gate of Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III was usurped by Amenhotep II and completed by Seti I. Only two brick walls of the chapel dedicated to Osiris, by Taharka,

where a statue of the goddess Taweret was found by Mariette. Farther west, a door of Ptolemy IV marks the entrance to a small temple of Thoth, now in ruins. In the northwest, a columned building consecrated

by Nitoqret to the Theban triad has suffered. To the east of the Montu precinct, the remains of a building known as a treasury, built by Tuthmosis I, have been excavated. It consisted of a barque station of Amun, storerooms and workshops. This treasury may be the oldest building on the site.

The oldest remains on the site of North Karnak date back to the end of the Middle Kingdom and belong to urban settlements, with mud-brick houses, granaries and workshops.

All these buildings are dedicated to Amun-Ra of Thebes, even if rare mentions of Montu have been found, mainly epithets describing various kings as beloved of Montu. The dedicatory inscription of the main temple attributes the sanctuary to Amun-Ra, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, Pre-eminent in IpetSut., and this inscription is confirmed by various minor monuments such as the obelisks, the two quartzite statues of Amenhotep III and other statues.

The first dedicatory inscription to Montu appears on the stela erected by Seti I in the court of the temple.

From the reign of Taharka we have a comprehensive documentation in the decoration of the portico, stating that Montu, Lord of Thebes, is the main god of the temple. Scenes on the Ptolemaic gate of the precinct confirm this rank for Montu.

The Precinct of Mut The southern part of Karnak contains the temple of Mut, on the east bank of the Nile, more than 900 feet south of the temple of Amun-Ra. It is surrounded by a crescent shaped sacred lake called Isheru, and subsidiary structures, especially the temple of Khons-pekhrod, originally of the 18th Dynasty, and a temple of Ramesses III. During the New Kingdom, Mut, Amun and Khonso their son became the pre-eminent divine family triad of Thebes. The earliest reference to Mut, Mistress of Isheru, occurs on a statue of the 17th Dynasty.

Inscriptional evidence also links the site to Mut in the early 18th Dynasty reign of Amenhotep I. The earliest, securely dated Mut Temple remains are no later than the reigns of Tuthmosis III and Hatshepsut.

The temple of Mut was built by Amenhotep III, but here too the propylon in the enclosure wall is Ptolemaic, Ptolemy II Philadelphus III and Euergetes I, and there are later additions to the temple by Taharga and Nectanebo I among others. Hundreds of statues of the goddess Sekhmet inscribed for Amenhotep III are in museums, but some are still on site, perhaps moved from the king’s mortuary temple on the West Bank.

Recent excavations indicate that much, and possibly all, of the present precinct was village settlement, until some time in the Second Intermediate Period.

Under Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III, the precinct seems to have consisted of the Mut Temple and the sacred lake and to have extended no further north than the temple’s first pylon. Parts of the west and north walls of these precinct have been uncovered, including a gate bearing Tuthmosis III’s name and a Seti I restoration inscription.

The eastern and southern boundaries of this precinct are as yet undefined.

The Mut Temple was enlarged later in the 18th Dynasty, when the Tutmoside building was completely enclosed by new construction, probably by Amenhotep III. The Mut temple’s present second pylon, of

mud-brick, dates no later than the 19th Dynasty, and may have replaced an earlier precinct or temple wall. Its eastern half was built of stone late in the Ptolemaic period. The temple’s first pylon, also of mud-brick, has a stone gateway built no later than the 19th Dynasty, and displays at least one major repair. This pylon may also replace an earlier northern precinct wall. Also in the 19th Dynasty, Ramesses II rebuilt Temple A, which lay outside the precinct and which was already enlarged by Amenhotep III. In front of Temple A, Ramesses II erected two colossal statues, at least one usurped from Amenhotep III, and two alabaster stelae recarved from parts of a shrine of Amenhotep II. One stelae indicates that Temple A was at that time dedicated to Amun.

Temple A was more extensively renovated during the 25th Dynasty, during which time it functioned at least in part as a birth house, celebrating the birth of Amun and Mut’s divine child, with whom the king was identified. A significant part of the Mut Temple was also rebuilt.

In the 25th and 26th Dynasties a proliferation of small chapels began. These include at least two dedicated

by Montuemhat, an official in the reign of Taharka, a magical healing chapel dedicated by Horwedja, Great Seer of Heliopolis, a chapel related to Divine Votaresses, a small Ptolemy VI chapel, and Chapel D dedicated to Mut and Sekhmet, built by Prolemies VI and VIII. The massive enclosure walls built by Nectanebo II of the 30th Dynasty give the precinct its current shape and size, incorporating Temple C and a large area south of the sacred lake as-yet unexplored.

Karnak, Temple of Amun-Ra Pylon I, the entrance to the temple complex, is preceded by a quay, probably reconstructed during the 25th Dynasty and an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes, most of which bear the name of the high priest of Amun, Pnudjem of the 21st Dynasty. This pylon, which is unfinished, was probably built in the 30th Dynasty by Nectanebo I, though an earlier pylon may have stood here. South of the avenue are several smaller structures, including a barque shrine of Psammuthis and Hakoris, and parapets of the 25-26th Dynasties.

The court which opens behind this pylon contains a triple barque shrine of Seti II made of granite and sandstone, consisting of three contiguous chapels dedicated to Amun, Mut and Khonsu. In the centre of the forecourt there are remains of a colonnaded entrance of Taharga, one of the columns of which has been re-erected. A small temple or barque station, of Ramesses III faces into the forecourt from the south.

This temple was a miniature version of the mortuary temple at Medinet Habu The doorway on the north side of this court leads to an open-air museum, where a number of small monuments have been reconstructed, including the limestone barque chapel of Senusret I and Hatshepsut’s Chapelle Rouge.

Pylon II, probably a work of Horemheb, is preceded by two colossal statues of Ramesses II. Only the feet of one remains. A third statue of the king includes Princess Bentanta standing between his feet. Behind the pylon, the now lost roof of the Great Hypostyle Hall, the most impressive part of the whole temple complex, was borne by 134 papyrus columns. The relief decoration of the hypostyle hall is the work of Seti I and Ramesses II. The exterior walls depict military campaigns of these kings in Palestine and Syria, including the Qadesh battle against the Hittites.

Pylon III was built by Amenhotep III, but the porch in front of it was decorated by Seti I, and Ramesses II. Numerous blocks from earlier buildings were found reused in the pylon: a sed-festival way station of Senwosret I, the White Chapel, shrines of Amenhotep I and II, Hatshepsut, the Red Chapel, and Tuthmosis IV, and a pillared portico of the same king. The four obelisks which stood behind the pylon were erected by Tuthmosis I and III to mark the entrance to the original temple, but only one obelisk of Tuthmosis I is still standing Pylons IV and V, both built by Tuthmosis I, and the narrow once-pillared area between them, are the earliest parts of the temple. Two obelisks of Hatshepsut made of red quartzite can be seen here, one still standing.

Further east is the Festival Temple of Tuthmosis III. One room in this temple is known as the "Botanical Garden", because of its representation of exotic plants, birds, and animals. It may have contained the core sanctuary of the temple.

In the20th Dynasty, Ramesses III built a triple barque shrine in the western court and undertook the construction of the temple of Khonsu.

Taharka in the 25th Dynasty built the large sacred lake with a temple, the lake edifice, at its north-west corner. He also built columned pavilions leading to the eastern and western entrances of the temple and in front of the temple of Khonsu. The small pylon of the temple of Opet was also begun during the 25th Dynasty.

The large gate of Ptolemy III Euergetes was built in front of the temple of Khonsu and at the back of the Opet Temple. Extensive repairs were made to the bases of walls damaged where ground water had risen. Repairs were also made to the Hypostyle hall walls, and the eastern and western gateways were entirely redone.

The court north of Pylon VII is known as the Cachette Court: Here a deposit of thousands of statues which originally stood in the temple was found in 1903.

Near the northwest corner of the temple’s sacred lake is a colossal statue of the sacred scarab beetle on a tall plinth, dating to Amenhotep III. The Temple of Khonsu stands in the southwest corner of the enclosure. Its propylon in the main enclosure wall, built

by Ptolemy III Euergetes I, is approached from the south by an avenue of ram-sphinxes protecting Amenhotep III. The pylon was decorated by Pnudjem I, the forecourt by Herihor, and the inner part by various Ramessids. There is also some Ptolemaic relief work.

Nearly 20 other smaller chapels and temples are within the precinct of Amun-Ra, including one of Ptah built by Tuthmosis III, Shabaka, several Ptolemies and Tiberius. A good example of these small temples is that of Oriris HekDjet.

The Akhenaten Temples Akhenaton was second son and successor to Amenhotep III. He spent the first five years of his reign in Thebes, and he favoured the sun shine characteristic of the Heliopolitan centre of solar worship, which featured open courts on a central axis. Smaller stones were used which a single man could carry. Tens of thousands of these in the best sandstone were quarried at Gebel el-Silsila, about 100 km south of Thebes.

These small blocks were recycled later as the sun temples were reduced, and used as fill or foundation in walls and pylons of the 19th Dynasty. Some have been found in Horemheb’s Pylons II and IX at the Amun temple at Karnak, as foundation blocks beneath the hypostyle hall of the Amun temple, and in Ramesses II’s pylon and outbuildings in the Luxor temple. Some survived to be used as late as the reign of Nectanebo I, and some turned up at Medamud in Ptolemaic period constructions.

Akhenaten erected four major structures at Karnak during the first five years of his reign. The major building was called "the Sun-disk is Found", built in anticipation of the jubilee; then there were the "Exalted are the monuments of the Sun-disc", and "Sturdy are the movements of the Sun disk." The smallest of the four was the Hwt-bnbn, "Mansion of the benben stone". A Hwt-itn, "Mansion of the Sundisk", mentioned in tombs on the west bank, has not as yet turned up in the scenes on these blocks.

Only one of the four structures has been located and partly excavated. The main Aten temple was built to the east of Karnak. From the centre of its western side ran a columned corridor 12 feet wide that led west to connect with the 18th Dynasty royal palace which lay just north of Pylons IV, V and VI of the Amun temple. There were probably life-size statues made of red quartzite representing the king, arms crossed, though other statues may have included the queen as well. Reliefs show the king with one arm outstretched and being caressed by the rays of the sun-disc.

In the Aten temple, the consistent theme was the celebration of the jubilee, or heb-sed. Scenes in the entrance corridor coming from the palace show the approach of the royal party, courtiers kissing the earth, men dragging bulls, etc. Turning right along the west wall, to the southwest corner and then east along the south wall, are reliefs depicting the ritual of the "days of the White Crown," when the king made offerings dressed as the monarch of Upper Egypt. It is presumed that similar scenes were depicted showing the King in the same ritual for the Red Crown and Lower Egypt.

The Hwt-bnbn, though to-date not found, is reconstructed in the scenes on the blocks featuring tall graceful pylons and walls. But the identity of the celebrant of the offering to the sun-disc is not Akhenaten, but instead, his wife Nefertiti.

The relief decorations of the two temples called "Exalted are the monuments of the Sun-disc," and "Sturdy are the movements of the Sun disk," both structures also as-yet undiscovered, show domestic apartments, rewarding of officers, and other scenes from domestic life.

After the fifth year of his reign, Akhenaten moved from Thebes to Amarna, the new city he had built, and work on Karnak ceased. The name of Amun was obliterated throughout Karnak and the Theban area.

Sources:

• • •

Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt ed by Katharine Bard Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt by Richard Wilkinson The Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt by John Baines and Jaromir Malek

Marie Parsons is an ardent student of Egyptian archaeology, ancient history and its religions. To learn about the earliest civilizations is to learn about ourselves.

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