The Crocodile Initiation

Halfway down the Nile in a sleepy little town originally called Nubt is the temple of Kom Ombo dedicated to the crocodile neter Sobek and the hawk Horus. Here is where we face our fears. I wrote about this temple in Under the Stone Paw.

There’s a tunnel that runs from the holy of holies niche under the paving stones and comes out near the wall to the east. It is said in the old days that the area was flooded and the crocodiles would sun themselves around this pool. Initates had to swim through this tunnel and emerge without becoming any reptiles’ next meal.

Talk about scary (except Stephen and Hakim always said the crocodiles were well fed).

The tunnel is closed now, but when I first visited this temple when Hakim was still leading tours, it was open and we all got to experience the initiation — sans the water and crocodiles. I crawled in and about halfway through, a huge bolt of energy hit me right in my sacrum and ran up my spine to my head. Wow! I felt like a crocodile for a moment and I was filled with energy the rest of the day.

Here’s a video of Stephen explaining the process.