





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}
Footage by Tor, edited by Orryelle, with music by Orryelle (violin & vocals), Shiko (female vocals) and Amordios (percussion).




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...
The VISION behind the GLOBAL CHAKRA WORKINGS
Chanting the Chakra Tones