When the time came to meet the Sphinx I was ready.

The Sphinx:  The day started early.  I woke at 2:30 for our 5 am wake-up call!  We were heading to the Sphinx for sunrise.  I laid in bed resting until 4:45 then got up to take my shower.  We all met in the lobby then boarded the large tour bus which took us to the Pyramid complex just down the street.  The entry to the Pyramids is gated and heavily guarded and our guide, Emil, got out to talk to everyone and secure our way. There was a lot of handshaking and smiling and talking and then he returned to the bus with one of the gentlemen.  We had the Inspector and a Tourist Police officer with us whose name was Ahab, and he had the most beautiful grey blue eyes and a nice smile. 

We drove in and up the road under this pre-dawn cover of stars, the pyramids getting larger and closer and the Sphinx still hidden behind them in the darkness ahead. The bus stopped and we began our short walk to the Sphinx in anticipation and quietness. The air was cold... 11 degrees Celsius and much colder than I expected.  I wished I had worn my coat but I felt so alive!  We walked together in silence to another gate where we were met by more guards and officials, 3-5 of them. Emil seemed to know them all, and shook their hands. We then entered the area closed to the public and walked along the wooden path, descending the stairs that led us right between the paws of the Great Sphinx!

The Sphinx....he sat there in the darkness, awaiting the rising sun and awaiting all of us with a gentle, all-knowing wisdom.

We gathered between his paws in a circle and Normandi called in the four directions and she and Indigo read a passage from Normandi's translation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Awakening Osiris. We had all been anointed with rose oil as we entered the circle between the great paws and the scent of the rose oil reached my senses and opened my heart. After the reading, we were each invited to stand for a moment at the Dream Stela.

As I stood there literally shaking in the cold morning air and looking up at the face of this Being who for eons of time has watched the sunrise, he brought my attention to his ears and invited me to listen. I heard the birds, his heartbeat, the breath of the wind and whisperings through time. I was moved to tears standing there, almost in disbelief that I was Here. I was finally Here.

We finished our ceremony and gathered our things from the altar and had time to walk around and be in the presence of the Sphinx.

I walked around his great body and then decided to sit against his paw to listen for a message. There were no words but soon there was a spinning and I was in a vortex like a wormhole of birthing through the Ages. I sat in this energy and soaked it all in, my heart racing and my breath rushing to catch up.

It is really difficult to find the words to describe the surreal feeling of finally, finally, finally being here, in front of the Sphinx and in Egypt. In this place halfway around the world that somehow found me, who's whispers on the wind and across the sands of time bounce from the stars back down to me in the middle of a cornfield nestled safely in the Midwest. And here, now, as I sit here writing in my journal everything is still a bit surreal.

I took a lot of pictures and wished I could have settled into the being into the presence of the Sphinx a little better but maybe that is part of it, too, at least for me, because 

I can look at my pictures and remember the feelings and the moments and the magic and see that it was a real and not an imagined experience. While I explored the Temple ruins nearby and continuing my commune with the Sphinx, camera and all, I was shown some stones at my feet and one of them pulled me close. It was in the shape of a heart! A gift from the Sphinx to remember his heartbeat and the beautiful experience he gave me.

Our time was up all too soon in this special place and we returned to the bus which took us to the pyramids. We stood between these massive structures and marveled at the sheer size and magnitude of them.  Then it was time for our next adventure...riding the camels!