Stand in the Light

An amazing experience of the Egyptian Sun at Solstice, 21 December, at the Healing Temple of Abedos, Egypt, crowned an amazing trip into a distant past, to illuminate the present, and a possible future, with its very bright light of timeless wisdom.

My family and I were in a group of eight Cape Townians, and we offered informal rituals of conscious intentions for ourselves, others and communities.We visited several Ancient Sacred sites along the Nile, including the pyramids, and Luxor., and called it Earth Healing.

And that is precisely what we what got: shifts in our consciousness, and how we perceive the world. We went around with a 17kg Lemurian Quartz, without specific religion or dogmatic agendas. We purely wanted to connect with the sites as they presented themselves to us. We looked, and felt with open minds and hearts. Our guides had incredible knowledge, and even though we in principle had no specific expectations, were blown away with the magnitude and subtlety of what we saw and experienced.

Divine Being

Stepping into the clearly defined antiquity of Ancient Egypt, and its landscape, revealed astounding insights about the modern world perspective we stepped out of. I always feel that the truth is hidden in plain sight, right in front of our eyes, if only we would bother to look, or learn to see clearly. Immersed in tombs, passages, temples and chambers in pyramids, and wandering, in awe, amongst fantastical pillars and obelisks and figures, engraved with mystical images of male and female humans, deities and gods, engaged in exchanges of mysterious rituals, cannot but enlighten the heart-mind of someone who seeks to confirm, or validate alternative world views. Awareness of Divine Being defined our particular Egyptian experience.

Fall from Love and Light, into duality

World systems and religion as we know it is characterised by a sudden rise of patriarchy, instated by Roman destruction of the female participation in spiritual matters, circa 300 AD. Up to this period the Egyptian civilisation displayed a distinct expression of the feminine, in harmonious balance of male and female priesthood. It’s Wisdom Teachings were famed, and many Greek thinkers, artist and philosophers sought out the Egyptian teachings.

In the Yoga lore there is an oral tradition of earlier epochs, much older than what is thought of in our time as ancient (i.e. the oldest printed traditions of 3 000 Bc.), times when there were balance of the masculine and feminine. In the Yoga system “healing” may be understood as the Sacred (Divine) Union of Dualities. Duality may be any apparently opposite aspect of the whole – for example, male and female. This is also the great yin-yang of the Ida and Pingala currents, which, when balanced, and activated, connects the practitioner to Bliss. Or transcend ordinary duality reality.

In the Yoga system this “whole” is most neutrally expressed as The Source. Everything that exists in the Universe is part of Everything, The Field of Existence. Separation of any of its parts from awareness of the Source, for example, disconnection from inner nature and the natural world, creates the delusion of a reality that are mutually exclusive dualities, spiritual and profane, dualities.

Union In Yoga, in OM

With the destruction of the “Divine Feminine” the world was plunged into the ignorance of the “undivine” i.e. dominating masculine, and the female rendered “undivine” too. In this duality the world fell into the unconsciousness of the male biased rule of commerce and religious of our era.

Interest in a return to Union, the One-ness, non-dual state, thought of as a return to Source – is creating a possible wave of change. Much evidence of a return to Universal Intelligence is evident in cutting edge culture and science.

OM as mantra is chanted as symbol of, and actual physical practice of the Sound of the Universe. To hum this sound is to vibrate with this sound, a physical and spiritual transformation, a healing force. I recorded a few of our group, on my iPhone, chanting at a sacred site in the Valley of Queens, Luxor:

Sacred Mystery – Secret School of Initiation

An initiate in the Egyptian Mysteries was also called an Adept, because the knowledge acquired involved the greater, unseen forces of the Universal Realm. This esoteric wisdom held great revelations, as it lies behind the immediate material and mental domains of Earth plane. Pharaohs were initiated during these secret, sacred rituals, and it is said by some that Alexander the Great, Pythagoras, amongst others, including Joseph from the Bible received such training. We know historically that Jesus was taken as a baby, to Cairo, to safety, but also to where Joseph had connections with the great wisdom keepers of the Mystery Schools.

To attain conscious connection to the “original One-ness”, in an actual experience, and not only as a conceptual or cognitive reality, demanded death of the ego. In Yoga the “unrealised self” is an unconscious person, in a state of consciousness sleep, of limited material being. Central to the Egyptian Mysteries was an awakening to “the whole being”, and practices and rituals with frequencies, or therapy with sound, olfactory, colour, light and darkness, activated the BodyMind to its harmonious potential of left and right side balance, harmonious being of inner or outer aspects, altered states of stimulated awareness to reveal the subtle, normally unseen worlds.

While there has been abuse of the power gained from the mysteries, there also has been an ongoing lineage of liberation, a paying forward of this Universal Power. Such greater co-creation is the foundation of healing non-duality – not a concept, or religion – a State of Being. While dualities are a natural, necessary expression of the whole, ignorance of the whole may cause any aspect of duality to dominates another. The video suggests that earlier Egyptian culture, with its mystery teachings, was a remnant of a glorious past of Higher Being, in touch with the Divine Realms.

Mythology and Middle Eastern Sci-fi on the Nile

A few days in close proximity of the pyramids impressed me with an overwhelming sense of an unfathomable sci-fi. Much research suggests a celestial purpose to the Great Sphinx and temple complex. Some say it was to resurrect the soul of the pharaoh Khafre, who built the last of the great pyramids 2 500 Bc. For me it seems there is more to the story than channeling the power of the sun god Ra! Khafre appeared to have had Divine Intentions of co-creation rather than personal power.

In the Cairo Museum is a fantastic sculpture of this renowned (possibly the last great Initiate-King of Egypt). His gaze emits a serene energy that emanates from from another realm of Grace. His hands reminded me of the Buddha sculptures I contemplated in Sarnath, India, transmitting Life Force via specific mudras. Khafre’s is depicted with a tight hand for holding the reigns, and an open hand of peace.

One of the members of our group was inspired to write about the being of Pharaoh Khafre upon observation of the stone carving: “In intimate embrace on your shoulders Horus, the celestial bird, gentily touching you with spreaded affectionate wings, enhancing your vision beyond the physical realm.” Jospeh Koetsier, scholar, writer and visionary entrepreneur.

Transcendence

My main takeway from this Egyptian experience, and from previous sacred retreats and travels to temples, is that every yoga class or meditation is a conscious act. There is a possibility, of health and happiness, every time we make the choice to be conscious. Literally a Life Path.

Yoga is about the interaction and integration of realms. To stand in that Light remains the central pillar of Yoga. We may not be able to achieve this all the time, but that is okay too, awareness of duality also reveals the possibility of non-duality. As the business and busyness of this materialistic era increase, it becomes increasingly clear that the only True Peace is in True Presence. Yoga manifests itself, in our Self, when in such a Moment, Here, Now. 

Which is not always easy to manage. Perhaps this is a value of suffering, and chaos – which may also show us humility and instil gratitude.

What can we do but stand in the light? 

Outer peace is the result of going within. With practice we can develop transformation of our personal reality, to help balance the individual aspects of one’s internal being that hinders personal growth. The sense is that tolerance of “the other”, flexibility, innovation, and surrender, with a detached logic and a warm heart – will connect us to Source. We frequently forget, and don’t make this Connection. In the Stream of Consciousness, and only that Stream, is True Peace. Heed this call, and Stand in the Light – in the Sacred Temples of our own BodyMinds!

Yours in Yoga and Music,
Cape Town,
January 2021.

Useful resources:

Podcast with Joseph Koetsier, whom I met, and travelled with in Egypt.

Ancient Egyptian research centre:
https://www.arce.org/resource/ra-creator-god-ancient-egypt