The HermAphroditic ChAOrder of the SILVER DUSK Presents...

The GLOBAL VISSUDHA (Throat) CHAKRA WORKING

Great Pyramid, Giza, and Saqqara,
Nov (Samhain) full moon 2006

The Fifth in a series of group rituals at the Sacred Site Chakras of the Earth, aimed at resonating within the microcosm of the human body the awakening of the Global Kundalini (serpent-fire) towards 2012.

The Vissudha is the Chakra of sound, vibration and communication, so the emphasis of our rituals at Giza was upon harmonic chanting and Words of Power, rooted in Ancient Egyptian magic and mythology to resonate with the site of activation.



{Photo by Marc'Aurelio}

Though drawn together in quite a rapid and unexpected manner -as it was originally planned for 2007- omens pointing towards this working's execution now were confirmed as this was one of the most potent group workings I have experienced, a feeling corroborated by others involved locally. Many performed linked rituals worldwide, and the power of this was felt there in Egypt, and reciprocated as also consolidated by the reports coming in from around the globe. The effects and results continue to unravel...


This initial report details basically what happened, mostly on an extant level. The inner worlds experienced by each participant are further expanded upon by themselves in links from this page; although I will briefly touch here upon some of the visions and sensations others have expressed experiencing as well as my own.
Then there are the transmissions: Part of our intent was to each receive/create/ transmit a Word of Power, with the potential of this developing into a longer transmission from the Ancient Egyptian Gods and Neters ('principles').
Although the main focus for Vissudha -as Chakra of Sound and Vibration- is vocal/oral _expression, Communication in general is an aspect of the Throat Chakra. The Scribe was a vital figure in Ancient Egypt, so we continued this tradition invoking Tahuti/Thoth to record our Words and Glyphs on sacred papyrus parchment.

It seems we opened some major Akashic Gateways here as information and inspiration continues to stream in faster than we can relay it...

Giselle at Saqqara - Photo by Orryelle

PART I: ARRIVALS & PREPARATIONS:

However the next day we were still unable to contact Nasser, so decided to leave most of our luggage in storage at a hotel in Cairo and head out to try and find him in person. We were told Saqqara Village was small enough that we would probably be able to locate him with the picture and name on the card we had. We only discovered later that he didn't actually live in Saqqara village but Abu Sir village, which is on the other side of the Saqqara pyramids. Going to Saqqara village would have probably been fruitless and frustrating, but a strange twist of fortune led us to Nasser's doorstep nevertheless! :

Eventually locating and boarding a minibus heading towards Saqqara (via Giza) we were relieved to finally be getting out of Cairo. However half-an-hour later I sought more physiological relief also as an unexpected urge to urinate had suddenly overwhelmed me with increasing intensity. I held on til my liver was aching but realized I was going to have to get off before we reached our destination. The bus was now as congested as the traffic outside it but somehow we pressed our way to the front and eventually got the driver to stop.
Running for the nearest cafe where we were severely overcharged for subsequent coffee and water, we then found ourselves on the side of the very busy Pyramid Rd in rush hour, with all minibuses packed to the point of people hanging out of the doors and taxis also all occupied. While we were wondering how long it would be before we could get one and how much we would be overcharged at this time and place, a German traveller in similar circumstance approached us. He was with an Egyptian who- after helping us get a taxi within half an hour and at a reasonable price- we discovered was taking the German to a village near Giza to obtain some papyrus plant for an exhibition in Berlin. Though wary after our cafe experience, I had a good feeling from him and showed the Egyptian Nasser's card. To our surprise he said he knew him well, 'He is like my uncle' and helped us get there, there being we discovered actually Abu Sir rather than Saqqara village!
The chances of this meeting and re-routing on such a major busy road halfway between Cairo and Giza seemed very slim and it was a good sign, spirit apparently guiding us to our destin-ation via my bladder!




Nasser welcomed us and showed us the house where we could stay and its adjoining temple, right on the edge of the village and the desert with the pyramids in the distance. (Photo by Tor}

An advantage of being the first arrivals was that we claimed the Nuit chamber as our bedroom:
This white curved egg-like room is a work of architectural genius as a large hole has been cut in the curved ceiling to allow the stars above (veiled only by a thin mosquito-screen) to form the Body of Nuit (the Ancient Egyptian Sky Goddess) whose face is drawn on the end of this aperture with hair cascading to the floor, which is filled with hexagonal cushions in a beehive-like matrix. The chamber is entered and exited via a small crawl-through opening at the other end, a solar-disc-shaped aperture flanked by great Hadit-wings drawn on either side.

At first it seemed as if on entering the room one was like the Sun-God disappearing into the womb of Nuit for the night, but on reflection it was paradoxically the opposite, as inside the room one was actually 'outside' Nuit looking up at Her arched body above and around. So emerging back out into the Universe outside this place outside space and time was actually entering the Body of Nu...


Several of the other participants coming from other countries a few days later had less good fortune with their arrivals, indeed with Mercury retrograde it seems that powers of Communication were tested to the utmost just to get there for many of us- flights rescheduled, severe delays and mixed messages which were only overcome with patience and persistence.
Negotiating with people on arrival who speak primarily another language is also of course often a challenge to communications, especially when many of them are trying to take advantage of their belief that because you are western you must be much richer than them (not actually the case with several of us).

Most of us arrived on the 1st Nov (Samhain by date) and after a hectic day in Cairo of finding and picking up everyone we eventually had an initial circle back in Saqqara. This was good although it seemed most were still 'landing' and there was considerable discord in the chanting. It occurred to me with a sudden sense of disillusion that I'd had no idea of the vocal capacities of many of the participants (some whom I'd only known by email, others I'd spent time with in their various homelands) and ironically for a working revolving around sound, the vocal harmony was not as good as with many of the other group chanting sessions I have facilitated over the years.
What an assurance then when even the next day there was a marked improvement, and with every chanting circle (2 or 3 a day) we harmonized ever more, dramatically proving the power of these tones especially in a group context to open the Vissudha and transform the vocal and harmonizing potential of chanting the energetic octave; so that within mere days the group became one of the most powerful vocally I have experienced, as befitting a global throat chakra working!



The space helped align our spirits and sounds rapidly also: the unfinished temple was a large brick hemispherical dome, with eight arched gates (left- photo by Liz) in the adjoining unroofed smaller round room above it. The acoustics of the space are incredible, highly reverberant as if it was made for a throat chakra working. Several times over the course of our progressive work there I was overwhelmed with how much each syllable resonated around the dome, making one intensely conscious of clarity in focusing the Power of the Word.

Another factor in the rapid opening and harmonization of our throat chakras was the breathwork we did together: Kumbukka (breath-hold) Pranayama to clear the channels, Bastrika (firebreath and alternate-nostril) to energise and at one stage an hour-long session of progressive deep-breathing through each chakra alternated with chanting the tone of each and visualizing its related colours, attributes and global sacred site.
Thus we all learnt to vocalize not just from the throat but from different energy centres in the body, using the abdomen and diaphragm to fully potentiate what the throat focuses into resonance. Doing all of this together naturally also created a powerful unity between us quite quickly despite our disparate backgrounds, perspectives and places of origin (Australia, UK, Italy, Germany). On the culminative day of the working this unity proved to be a powerful deciding factor in the effectiveness of our ritual at Giza...




Our first group excursion was to the museum, pyramids and mastabas (tombs) of Saqqara, although at this early stage it was quite a scattered expedition, most having arrived just the night before. It was good to see our first ancient sites however, finally viewing heiroglyphs carved in stone rather than just printed in a book, and following the extensive murals showing ancient scenes along the walls of the different chambers. The new Saqqara Museum is also interesting, with one actual displaced mummy in a glass cabinet and many statuettes and figurines of Gods and Pharoahs.
Here was my first meeting with Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, a local conflation of Gods of Creation and Death Who was to have a lasting impact upon the work (and Words) to come for me.

Photo at left by Orryelle: Giselle amidst the golden pillars of Saqqara

We wandered around in 2s and 3s and only all came together once briefly to chant in one of the tombs. Abstractly chanting to test its acoustics I was told by a guard this was, 'not permitted' but then once out of their sight he indicated with gestures and broken English to me that once the current group of tourists were gone we could proceed, indicating with finger and thumb rubbed together that a small bribe was expected for such a privilege. So we came to know the usual procedure of the caretakers of ancient sites and monuments. Unlike in Greece where we were horrified to find worshipping old Gods in the ruins of Their own ancient temples was illegal due to them being controlled by the government and its nationwide sanctioned Orthodox Christianity, modern Egypt seems to have an acceptance that foreigners might want to pray or ritualise to their ancient Gods even though they all seem to be almost invariably Muslim themselves (apart from a small segment of Coptic Christians). As with most things in Egypt however a little 'Baksheesh' (monetary reward) was expected in acknowledgement of the vast difference in the home economies of most foreign visitors compared to that of modern Egypt.



After the tour group left we began the chakra tones together but were halted when we reached the solar plexus as some more had turned up. This was frustrating and we hoped it wasn't an indication of the way things were going to go, but we left that mastaba and agreed to reconvene and complete the octave at the 'Tomb of Ti' on the far side of the site.



In the meantime we saw the first pyramid (according to official archeology) ever built, the Zoser step pyramid with six obvious layers like the Mayan pyramids rather than the continuous faces of later Egyptian ones. It was good seeing the first pyramid built first, and it was even more impressive up close than as we had seen it from Nasser's doorstep across the desert.


{Photos by Orryelle (above right) and Alex Nym (left)}

Like the Unas pyramid next to it however, the step pyramid was not open to the public. The Unas pyramid looks like nothing much now from the outside, pretty much a huge pile of rubble still with a vaguely pyramidical shape. However we knew that within, mostly underground, are some of the oldest ancient Egyptian heiroglyphic texts known, the famous 'Pyramid Texts' which later formed the basis of The Egyptian Book of the Dead/ 'The Book of Coming Forth by Day'.

On our way back from Saqqara (most of us walked throught the desert) we stopped at a little cave on a hill just near the village from where all the pyramids could be seen in a magnificent panorama, from where we quietly watched the sun set.

{Photos by Orryelle and Tor}

Charged from our morning session, we went to the Pyramids of Dahshur, another group nearby.
The 'Red Pyramid' {Right -Photo by Orryelle}

was open and as soon as we began the extensive descent into its interior I suspected our chanting would be more successful there. It was a long way down the narrow dark passage and I doubted any of the watchmen outside would make the stooped trek in to ask us to stop.
The small but high-ceilinged room within was hot and stuffy, but extremely resonant. Soon after we were all in we silently sat down, joined hands and began to chant. It was incredible, the sound lifting up into the tiered vault of the ceiling and ringing through the pyramid. Thrice we reverberated each tone up the octave and our spines, almost oblivious to an Egyptian on our periphery who watched in nervous fascination. Grounding with return to the low base tone, we then after a few minutes silence -energy buzzing around- broke circle and rose. I began to chant the powerful Ancient Egyptian mantra, 'Sa Sekhem Sahu' (loose translation: Open to the Power -of Kundalini fire- with Protection) and one by one the others joined in. As we chanted we walked- slowly, processionally- across the chamber and up the stairways at its far side, the sound and its palpable energy rising with and around us.
This was all quite spontaneous but flowed as if it was exactly what we were meant to be doing. There was an atmosphere of utmost sanctity. The vast difference from the day before was testament to the unity achieved from our morning circle back at the dome.

At the top of the steps and around the corner we stood on a high balcony overlooking the adjoining chamber of the pyramid. As the Sekhem chant faded into its last trailing echoes, we overlooked the rock-hewn chamber below in silence. Kundalini was tingling in my head. Then a new mantra emerged unexpectedly from my mouth: 'Ptah-Sokar'.
It seemed completely complementary to the one we had just done, and the others soon joined in, harmonics spiralling up and down. Then I registered that lioness-headed Sekhmet -whose primary mantra is Sa Sekhem Sahu- and Ptah as Her consort were the primary Gods of the area, forming with their son Nefertum -God of the Lotus (chakra?)- the Triad of nearby Memphis.

A few tourists wandered in and looked surprised by our ceremony, but moved around the periphery of the group in respectful (or stunned?) silence.
On our return back down, then up and out from the main chamber, we returned to the Sa Sekhem Sahu mantra. This sequence with Ptah-Sokar later developed into a specific pair of complementary asanas, mudras and mantras with potentiating breathwork to invoke the energies of this divine couple, facilitating the blossoming of their lotus child within.




After the steep ascent emerging into the bright sunlight was dramatic- somewhat of a rebirth in itself. We were informed later by Nasser -who was waiting for us outside- that the guards had heard us chanting within and were actually somewhat freaked out by it, but didn't try to stop us. Not being such a tourist mecca as Giza, it was not a heavily controlled area.




{Photos by Tor}

From the Red Pyramid we went to the nearby 'Bent Pyramid' which though unenterable is uniquely spectacular from without: Its angle changes two-thirds of the way up (thus the name) and it is the only pyramid which has retained most of its limestone casing, unable to be as effectively pillaged over the millenia due to these angles. The casing gives the pyramid a smoother and lighter appearance so that it shines white-golden in the searing sun.




{Photos by Giselle}


Where the casing was missing on the corners, jutting angular stone blocks were able to be climbed easily, and to my surprise the caretakers of the site were quite happy for me to scramble half-way up (there being no other tourists about) to view the surrounding desert sands and pyramid complexes from this vantage point. Below, Dorryn tapped sticks together and chanted himself into shamanic trance in the shade on one side of the looming edifice.


We returned to the base house and temple in Abu Sir village invigorated and inspired, to greet the final two arrivals, Alex and Lerry from Germany. After dinner they joined us for an extensive evening circle of more chanting and breathwork, and discussion of our intent as we began to consolidate as a group what we were going to do for our culminative ritual on the 4th.



Now we were eleven- including one-and-a-half year old Fox (guarding the temple door at left -photo by Tor) who loved to sit and chant with us, adding his endearing and often comical touch to the proceedings with his high-pitched oooos and aaaahs and makeshift yoga asanas twixt shifting from one cross-legged lap to another around the circle.

Many were tired but we knew that tomorrow was the culminative day of our work -with hundreds linking in worldwide- so stayed up to consolidate as much as possible of our intended proceedings. While leeway was left for spontaneity and an openness to the fact that everything was unlikely to go exactly as planned in chaotic Egypt anyway, we devised a basic ritual agenda for the following day and evening. There was an expressed wish that we'd had more time to prepare and include all elements that had come up, but also a sense that the concentrated plunge into this work had its own powerful momentum.
After planning to go there after Giza, it had become apparent that we would not be able to enter the Unas Pyramid after dark after all and that as several of us were also uncomfortable with the high expense for just an hour in there in the afternoon, it was unfortunately removed from the plan. Instead we opted for spending an hour alone together later at night in one of the pyramids of Abu Sir- directly between the powerful nexus of Saqqara and that of Giza -which although not open to the public were accessible via our contacts in the village and with much smaller baksheesh than Unas.

Although initially disappointed to have to leave out Unas, as it turned out the replacement Abu Sir Pyramid visit was most potent and perhaps even more synchronistically appropriate to our work; and there -after a staggering affirmation of the power of united activated throat chakras at Giza- we were able to chant, sing gibber gabber babble and shriek wildly to our hearts' content beneath the full moon, distilling from this glossolalia our Words of Power...