January/February 2007 Spirituality
The Journey of an Egyptian Goddess to Portland
by Nicki Scully
It was a crisp evening in late October. The awakening starlight was dimmed by streetlights as we mounted our camels in the village of Nazlet el Samaan, a bustling cluster of homes and shops at the base of the pyramid complex at Giza, Egypt. Sounds of horses returning home, their metal shoes clattering amid honking cars and colorful trucks, filled the air as they negotiated between camels, carts and children playing in the streets.
The raucous clamor of the village, alive with people and animals, mingled with odors of eastern spices and pungent apple-scented tobacco, soon wafted behind us as our camel caravan entered the desert and made its way past reveling night riders, across the stark, sometimes stony sand and up to a quiet hilltop.
We gazed in wonder at the majestic pyramids looming before us in the fading light, the stars beginning to twinkle above as our camel driver's men quickly built a campfire and set out carpets and pillows for us. Fresh hot tea and birthday cake completed our meal of pita wrapped falafels with yogurt and tomatoes. In the warmth and glow of our campfire, we revisited our most recent shamanic experiences, and then journeyed together into the "neter-world" of the stellar goddess, Nut -- the night sky, herself.
Throughout our 15 years working together, during every trip some new magic comes out of our land agent's wizard's hat. During our two earlier tours this past year, we thought he had pulled out all the stops. Because of the new shamanic Egyptian mysteries that we were developing and practicing at the time, we were given the rare privilege to enter into the inner sanctum of the oldest pyramid, the Step Pyramid at Sakkara, so that we could experience our renewal of the heart ritual in a similar setting, as had the Old Kingdom pharaohs some 4500 years past.
After a number of other private temple visits along the way, we were gifted an amazing privilege -- an after-hours visit to the Cairo Museum. This was an almost eerie experience, given that this huge, echoing vault, while open to the public, is filled with the cacophony of thousands of tourists receiving guidance from hundreds of Egyptologists vying to be heard in one of the most densely filled museums in the world. To have it privately is to be able to explore unhurriedly each room and treasure, and especially to be able to hear the history and descriptions without distraction.
Whether in a private or public visit, and despite the sheer volume of statuary in the Cairo Museum, a grand, seated statue of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, is noticeably missing.
"The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt" runs at the Portland Art Museum through February. Visit
www.portlandartmuseum.org.
It is here, at the Portland Art Museum.
Sekhmet's name means power, a name that is resounding from the lips of spiritual seekers the world over. She represents the feminine face of the sun, a goddess of destruction who is also the quintessential compassionate healer. In her chapel at Karnak participants on our shamanic journeys have their most profound experience for it is the creative principle of Sekhmet who, with her fiery breath, blows life into your heart to renew and bring forth your sacred purpose.
When one encounters Sekhmet with an open heart, whether at her home in Karnak, at an exhibit such as the one currently on display in Portland, or in one of the many museums world-wide where her statues now reside, one is touched by the power emanating from the ka of the statue, the spiritual connection to the source of the fiery energy of the deity. Sekhmet is so powerfully and magically infused into the artful creation of the statue, that it informs the consciousness of the intelligent heart and inquisitive mind of the viewer.
Visit Sekhmet at the current exhibition in Portland, and maybe, just maybe, she'll invite you to visit her in Egypt.
Nicki Scully is author of Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt, Awakening the Healing Power of the Heart, her forthcoming book co-authored with Linda Star Wolf. Through Shamanic Journeys, Nicki will conduct two tours to Egypt in 2007. Visit www.shamanicjourneys.com, email office@shamanicjourneys.com or call 800-937-2991 or 541-484-1099.