Today is the first day of “Discover the Magic”…everybody has arrived from Paris, Dubai, Hong Kong…some late last night, some during the previous day. We are staying at the Hotel Sofitel Le Sphynx in Giza, with a few in the renovated rooms which are delightful….we all have a view of the pyramids.

After the magnificent buffet breakfast, where Helen discovers a passion for fig jam, we gather in my room to “open the circle”, to become a group and to meet! After the “spiritual shower meditation” and lots of laughter, the participants chose their shawls and are given a very special bottle of shower gel, which is made like the ones from ancient Egyptian times; the content has are energized to refresh and protect, a nice tool which can assist during the trip to come. Finally we are en route to our first day out. We are going to see and visit many pyramids, from the oldest to the most impressive, from Saqqara to the Cheops…So  we start at the foot of the “bent “ pyramid…an early attempt at a “straight” pyramid where for some reason, the angle was changed mid-way up…it reminds me a bit of humanity: first we were aware of our gifts and were centered in them, then greed and other “flaws” came to us…we were “straight” then we became “bent”…the energy is still interesting…Basically no tourists here…We pile out of our bus and decide to walk in the desert for 20 minutes, to the “red” pyramid…a beautiful monument, perfection really…Imagine you are in the desert, nobody around, and you are walking from one isolated pyramid to another, undisturbed, just focusing on your steps and what you see…Silence, the only sound the sound of your feet on the sand…The sun high in the sky…silence and you with your senses open…ready to access your feelings, your gifts! Soon one of the participants, who joined the journey “just because of his partner” and is “not into this meditation and spiritual stuff” comes towards me and shares the magnificence of his experience: the “red” pyramid has a blue halo he says!!! And it pulsates and the color becomes deeper and deeper, nearly purple…and he sees it! The effect is transformational, he is deeply touched, tears stream from his eyes…we work with the energy and he experiences his heart “opening”….and all this in total privacy as everybody is walking their own walk at their own pace…with their own experience. Quite a beginning to a journey that promises to be eventful!

Day 2: impromptu visit to the Sphinx

“This is your wake up call Madam, it is 4:30 am “
Ohhhh noooo,….indeed last night, on the spur of the moment, we had all decided to add something to our day and I had asked for early calls to make sure we would all be ready for this adventure! We pile into our bus and drive to a totally sleepy Giza village, not a soul around, peaceful, not even a muezzin call yet!

To arrive in front of the Sphinx and the pyramids in silence, ALONE is quite an experience…..normally this spot is teaming with merchants peddling their wares, camel drivers “selling” their camelrides, tourists clicking their cameras…and we have it to ourselves, awesome! Not quite to ourselves because some enterprising Egyptian galabeia clad man spies us and offers to bring us closer to the Sphinx, which, after some negotiations on “baksheesh”, we accept. So we walk through the small alleyways of Giza village, meeting an occasional donkey or camel but basically empty of life. It feels like these little narrow dark streets lined with mud huts have not changed in several thousand years (apart from roof top satellite dishes), we are all subdued and following our thoughts…and suddenly we arrive….not more that 100 metres away from us lies the majestic Sphinx, waiting to be greeted by the rising sun…we stand there, contemplating this monument, absorbed in our sense of history, imagining what is was like here 3000, 4000 years ago….sensing the aromas, stenches and other scents associated with embalming, with temple worship, with royal pomp and with simple Egyptian life… it takes a while, and one of the group starts dancing with our impromptu guide…The sky gets lighter, a cockrel crows, the calls to prayer resonate over the Plateau and the town like a symphony, in waves, and then the sun…the pyramids behind the Sphinx transform from grayish blue to pinkish, the Sphinx starts to light up…it seems a smile shows on his face…what would it be like to be here at the Spring Equinox, when the sun rises due East and greets the Sphinx full on at the first hour, what would it be like to re-live “the first time” as suggested on the stelae between his paws??? Well, we were not to know that day, but had a beautiful, private, peaceful and meditative moment and are now ready to have a big breakfast…so we return to our hotel to change and get ready for the rest!