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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1999)
M FEBRUARY 10, 1999 • Œlie ^Indiani» COb^nier BLACK HI1TORY MONTH 1999 <? The Mystical Temples Along The Nile: Part Two B y M arilyn H ull and W ynne B oylan We continue our spiritual journey o f the Nile temples at Karnak: K arnak The beauty o f this once majestic civilization can be visualized within the remains o f the temple at Karnak, dedicated to the god, Amon Ra (the source o f life). It is within this temple that one becomes connected with their own inner power as the th ird ch ak ra, the pow er cen ter located at the solar plexus, becomes activated. It is the gift o f knowing and becom ing empowered from within that one realizes their sense o f connected ness with all that was, is and ever will be. The individual defines oneself through the context o f their con nectedness with the All. However, there is a danger that lies inherent within the development ofone’sow n power: the correspond ing activation o f the personal ego. The candidate’s challenge is not to eliminate the ego. Ego is our anchor in the physical world. The success ful candidate learns to submit this ego to the service o f God rather than the service o f self. W alking through the columns within the hypostyle hall, some o f the most enormous and elaborate in Egypt, you can sense the struggle this discipline must have presented to the initiate. Certainly you can still sense the presence o f those who lost the battle. Dandera and Abydos The fourth chakra, the heart cen te r, is represented by two temples: Dendera and Abydos. This is be cause love takes two forms: per sonal love and love ofG od. Personal love in its pure form is honored in the temple at Dendera. This temple is dedicated to Hat-hor. Hat-hor, the goddess depicted as a beautiful woman with the ears and horns o f a cow, is the goddess o f romantic and maternal love. Abydos, the temple dedicated by the pharaoh Sety I to the god o f the underworld. Osiris, expresses the love ofhum ankind for God. Abydos was once known to be the destination o f spiritual pilgrims, much like Mecca is known today. The pilgrim demonstrated love for God through the sacrifices endured along the way. Once one o f the most beautiful temples in Egypt, it is now closed to the public in all but the most rare situations. One can expe rience it only through books, the most memorable is A bvdosbv Omm Sety. The essence o f Abydos is de picted in one particular relief: A pic ture o f Sety I offering a miniature o f Maat, goddess o f justice, to Osiris In doing this, Sety I vows eternal fidelity to justice for all Egyptians during his reign. Abydos represents the idea o f altruistic love, dedication to the highest good o f humankind. Together, Dendera and Abydos rep resent both o f the highest aspects o f love available to humans. Saqqara Saqqara stretch es across the desert for eight kilometers. Located here is the step pyramid o f Zoser, designed and built by Imhotep, an ancient architect, physician and high priest. Saqqara is said to be pro tected by the green hawk-headed god, Sokar. It is here that one gains their understanding of the fifth c h a k ra , also know n as the th ro a t c h a k ra . This center, when activated by the one’s life force energy, allows one to speak their inner truth and w alk their chosen path with courage and perseverence. TheSphinx The monument o f the Sphinx is associated with the sixth c h a k ra , also known as the third eye. It is with this eye, esoterically located just above the bridge o f the nose, that one sees the future. This associa tion is sensed as one quietly watches the Sphinx in its unceasing gaze over the horizon, and somehow over the eons. Due to its fragility, the Sphinx is well protected and cannot be ap proached by the visitor. One must gain appreciation o f it from a dis tance, which is best done in the early morning before the daily cadre o f tourists arrive. In person, it is evident that the head is too small to be proportional duce water erosion was at least 10,000 years ago, again adding cred ibility to the theory. The Great Pyramid of Giza Even to the casual tourist, it is obvious that the Great Pyram id o f G iza is not a tomb. The Book o f the Dead, the instructions for the after life, cover the walls o f a tomb. The walls o f the Great Pyramid are blank. Funerary processions were an es sential part o f the burial in Ancient Egypt. The stone passagew ays o f the Pyram id are too narrow for a sarcophagus to pass through. Instead, the Great Pyramid was the final test o f the initiate. This is where the initiate w agered their spiritual life itself against their years o f spiritual training. If they suc ceeded, they would know God. If they failed, they would know eter nal existence w ithin a now dead body. S u ccess d ep en d ed upon the initiate’s ability to raise the kundalini (Above)The defacement o f the Great Sphinx is in part due to erosion by the wind and in part to the cannon o f the mamlukes who used it for target practice. (Above right)The Avenue o f the Sphinxes connects the two-mile walkway between the Temples o f Karnak and Luxor. (Below right) Saqqara, the step pyramid o f Zoser. with the rest o f the monument. Some believe this is evidence indicating that the head was recarved from the o rig in a l. E gypt abounds w ith sphinxes as an art genre. None o f these hundreds o f other examples exhibit this same lack o f proportion, an observation that lends credence to the theory. Mystery schools teach that the Sphinx originally was carved with the head o f a woman on the body of a lion, a possible allusion to Sekhmet, the goddess o f war. This design was thought to reflect the era in which the Sphinx was created, when femi nine energy blended with the power o f the lion: the cusp between the ages ofV irgo and Leo nearly 12,000 years ago. Recently, erosion marks found on the sides o f the Sphinx have been reclassified as water ero sion. G eologists date that the last time this region was wet enough to pro- (life force energy) to the seventh c h a k ra , the crow n c h a k ra . They would be placed w ithin the black granite sarcophagus around which the Pyram id w as initially co n structed and which is still there. The stone cover would be sealed in place, elim inating both light and air. For three days, the initiate re mained inside. If they succeeded in m astering the use o f their crown chakra, they could escape into al ternate dim ensions, the spiritual realms. If they could not, they would suffocate. The Prom ise F or Today The Ancient Ones have prom ised that these initiations will con tinue to take place, orchestrated from beyond our third dimensional reality. They are open to all, whether or not you can travel to this ancient land, our true homeland. W ith right mind and open heart, Egypt will come to you. « Aftfkan Womanhood/ ? & t<> m o n jim e n t y o r J H f So th e Y o r u b a r ia G ods C o u ld b le s s y o u f fe r tility W ith rapture^ z I w o u ld ic ares> your bo.dy And Ijrfy i t epfrant trees oí And y^jH* body W o iid in ebony Steve Bradley Band Thursday, February 11 • 7:00 pm Valentine’s Dance with X Angels Friday, February 12 • 7:00 pm Mt. Hood Jazz Festival Concert Series KKJZ 5th Birthday Bash with Rick Braun Sunday, February 14 • 7:00 pm • $20 admission Arthur Moore Four Blues Band Thursday, February 18 • 7:00 pm Paul Delay Trio Thursday, February 25 • 7:00 pm Songwriters in the Round • Craig Caruthers Sunday, February 28 • 7:30 pm • $7 admission All ages welcome • No charge except where noted February Music •-A