I worked as a tour guide in Egypt for a number of years and indeed lived in that country from 1999 until 2003. It was the time spent in Egypt that marked my shift from “academic” to “feeling the vibe” kind of person. I lived in a small village at the foot of the pyramid fields. My rooftop sleeping quarters looked UP at the Great Pyramid. My morning jogging circuit was around the Giza Plateau, weaving between pyramids and tombs. Lunch times were spent beside the Sphynx and evenings in the desert looking at the stars.
I just KNEW in my soul at that time that “there are greater things in Heaven and Earth than are contained in our philosophies, Horatio” as Hamlet said. I KNEW it. Not everything we know is written in books or recorded historically. That is a vast leap for a person steeped in academia.
This was my last guiding trip to Egypt. The year was 2009. During this time Michael and I travelled to Siwa Oasis out near the Libyan border. Siwa is one of the world’s great energy centres. Alexander the Great famously travelled here to consult the famous Siwa Oracle and to find the Emerald Tablet. The one that says “As above, so Below. As Within, So Without”. You can read about this green stone tablet under my Kabbalah section.
Postscript Egypt
As I reflect back to this time (I am now writing this bit in 2017), I am smiling because something happened at Siwa Oasis in the Temple of the Oracle. I meditated at this spot and asked for “guidance” … perhaps as Alexander did. EVERYTHING changed from this point. Michael and I … our travels … and the kind of work we now do.
Please click on a photo to enlarge the scrolling gallery.
- the perfect spot
- some are big blocks
- tourist police
- classic
- deep inside the red pyramid
- cairo favourite
- a guides work
- a guide still working
- temple guardian
- could sell anything
- walking to valley of the kings
- on top
- balloon ride
- hatshepsut’s temple in the morning sun
- still working
- end of a great day
- great lunch views
- philae guardian
- leaving philae late afternoon
- ramses II
- the key to everything
- friday prayers
- city of the dead
- big view
- when in siwa
- the oracle of siwa
- siwa sunset
- siwa oasis
- fantastic shapes
- surreal light white desert
- white desert sunset
- ball and chicken rock
- fun in the dunes
- tea stop
- a constant
- the perfect end