Pyramid Power

The filming of the Frankincense Trail is complete, but with just one day remaining in Cairo, we must make another early morning departure. Our group arrives at the Cairo Museum by 8:30 A.M. and the museum courtyard is already crowded with visitors. We are briefed on the use of the head phones and enter the museum just minutes after the 9:00 A.M. opening. The museum is vast and not well lit, but our group follows our guide who speaks into her microphone which is tuned to our head phones. She guides us and explains the masterpieces within the museum. I am especially fascinated with Akhenaten's sculptures and reliefs. The elongated heads and protruding bellies of the royal family seem alien and I wonder if they might have been just that? We have less than two hours within this great museum and I am most interested in the ancient Egyptian Jewelry. I wander off from our group, still connected by the head phones, but able to immerse myself in the jewelry galleries. Recently, in San Francisco, Art, John and I visited the Tutankhamum Exhibit. I was delighted to share the magic of the pharaohs with my family; but the S.F. collection was small. Many more significant pieces are tucked into one display case in the Egyptian Museum, than were in the entire Tutankhamum exhibit in San Francisco. I am impressed and inspired in all that I see. My mind whirls; blending these ancient images with designs of my own. I wish to be a sponge, able to absorb it all during the brief visit that I have.

We depart the museum shortly after 11:00 A.M. and drive to the pyramids of Giza. Lunch is provided at a roof top restaurant overlooking the great pyramids, the Sphinx and the Mena

House Hotel. Have I mentioned that since the storm, the sky of Cairo have been blue? I finish my meal quickly and wander the restaurant taking photos of clear vistas overlooking the pyramids as well as the coffee and hookah bar, backlit in the afternoon sunlight.

After lunch our group has free time to shop at the "bazaar." This experience will require a separate blog entry, but I will now try to focus on the magic of the pyramids.

Our tour includes tickets to enter the grounds of the pyramids. It is a ZOO within the gates; thousands of visitors and hundreds of vendors, all intent on selling souvenirs to the tourists. There is no magic, only chaos as we gravitate towards the Sphinx and merge with the flow of bodies. We are bombarded on all sides by vendors hoping to sell us post cards, t-shirts or jewelry. I plow past, abandoning our group in search of solitude and sanity. The pyramid site will close at 4:00 P.M. and our group will be granted a private entry into both the kings and queens chamber after hours.

The Giza plateau, famous for its pyramids and the great Sphinx, are world renowned for their spiritual power, but the daytime scene is anything but spiritual. Shortly before our private, 4:00 P.M. entry into the King's and Queen's chamber, we untangle ourselves from the chaos of the tourist scene and hike up the road towards our meeting place. The 108 of us have been separated in the preceding hour and our smaller satellite group is directionally challenged. We arrive at the entrance to the chambers at 4:30. P.M. Two of our groups have already entered the pyramid and we wait our turn outside as dusk descends. This is not a bad thing since tonight is a full moon and the Cairo sky is crystal clear from the earlier storms. I am struck by the magic of the fading daylight and the brilliance of the luminescent moon.

We are dwarfed by the immensity of the pyramid. Each stone that makes up this immense edifice is nearly as tall as I am. Simply walking the recently erected stone walkway to the entrance of the chambers is an effort and I ponder on the impossible challenges that confronted the architects and creators of this pyramid.

Soon it is time for our small group of 30 to enter the pyramid. I am surrounded by stone; above, beside and below. We hunch over, nearly on our hands and knees, in order to ascend the the long and low shaft leading upwards into the Queen's chamber. I am told that this shaft is the length of a football field, but I think that they exaggerate. Nevertheless, I am happy when I can stand upright again and when my eyes grow accustomed to the dim lighting within the chamber. Our group backs up against the cool walls of the room. Some within the group lie down upon the floor. Initially, I choose to sit with my back against a wall, but the room is surprisingly warm with the heat and energy of so many bodies and I too lie down upon the cool floor. We know that soon the already dim lights will be turned out and that we will be in utter darkness. I wonder if I will feel anxious; trapped within tons of stone; but when the lights go out, I feel extremely relaxed in the sensory deprivation. Sadly, someones cell phone alarm goes off during this extremely intimate time within the pyramid. We all try to regain the magic, but the invisible cell phone is set on snooze alarm and it goes off again. We are within this chamber for more than 30 minutes and our group now moves upwards along another shaft to the King's chamber.

Gary Young, (C.E.O. of Young Living Essential Oils and his wife Mary,) are holding court within the King's chamber. Gary emanates a vibrant presence and Mary is an opera performer. He speaks to us and explains the history surrounding us. The acoustics within the chamber are equal to that of Notre Dame. Mary begins to sing, her voice reverberating within the walls of the stone chamber. Christian hymns from my childhood resonate within the walls and I am truly moved. Gary preforms a blessing around the King's sarcophagus and we all circle and hold hands. My emotions are mixed between the spiritual power of the ancients and the spiritual power of Christ, but I allow it to all unfold and drop into the magic of the moment.