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.

Image by Makalu from Pixabay

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).

Image by DEZALB from Pixabay

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.

Cambodia’s Celestial City

It was in 1860 that a group of Chinese and Siamese tour guides cut through the dense jungle to reveal the great edifice of Angkor Wat to French naturalist Henri Mouhot. Many say that Mouhot discovered this great former seat of the Khmer Empire, but the place had long been known by local groups.

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Angkor Wat is Cambodia’s celestial city, built to reflect and make concrete the spiritual cosmos. Each temple is considered the home to the god it is dedicated to. The statues, lingams and other artifacts were imbued with the spiritual signature of that god or goddess. Humans go to these temples to align themselves with that particular energy. Why? To raise their consciousness. To achieve enlightenment.

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The Khemitians (Egyptians) had similar rituals. Once a statue or other symbol was completed, the Neter or particular spiritual energy was evoked so that statue radiated the energy of that Neter. People would go and sing or meditate in a particular temple to align with that energy. Those of you who have been to Sekhmet’s shrine in Karnack know what I’m talking about. She’s there. She will interact with you. She will advise and admonish you. Most of all, she will love you more than you can imagine. But I digress.

Angkor Wat is built to reflect the Hindu cosmos. In the center of the universe stands Mount Mehru, the cosmic axis mundi. This is represented by a tower or prasat in each temple that enshrines the principle deity. And I’ll bet when we get there, we’ll find a central core to the whole complex that represents the One Consciousness from which all the deities spring. Then in each temple, following sacred geometry principles, are “subordinate” towers dedicated to the deity’s spouse or “vehicle.” The periphery of the temple is for objects and things associated with the liturgy or ritual performances.

Now before we get too excited about this apparent hierarchy, remember that in Hindu cosmology, the god is the form of spirit, while the goddess (spouse) is the energy that makes the form active. Thus, “vehicle.” (In Western metaphysics, the language is almost the opposite, with masculine being energy and feminine being form, but if you read carefully, the principle is exactly the same.) This is sometimes misunderstood as “subordinate” or lesser than. But this is really a matter of time. The form exists, then is multiplied and spread through the energy of the female. But spiritually, the two are equal. One cannot exist without the other. It is only when the manifest universe dissolves at the end of a huge cycle, represented by one breath of the Great Mother, that the two fold back into the One Consciousness.

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The Khmer rulers would take statues and objects from the temples to align their rule with the cosmos. In ancient Khemit, statues of the Neters were paraded in the town to spread the energy.

The outskirts of the city near Angkor Wat are also full of spiritual artifacts. Water was very important to the civilization and Shiva lingams were placed in the waterways to energize it. Water running into the pyramids in Khemit was energized through the sun and crystals. This video shows the “River of a Thousand Lingas.”

In the 16th century, the Theravadan Buddhists revitalized the site and are still active there today. Monks will lead us in a dawn chant on one of our days in Angkor Wat.

Our Cambodia Wisdom Tour is December 4th – 11th. I’m looking forward to exploring these temples and meditating in them. Sign up by the end of September.

The Star Family Now Available

 

NOW AVAILABLEThe Star Family S

THE STAR FAMILY by Theresa Crater

A secret spiritual group

A recurring dream

A 400-hunderd year old ritual must be completed before it is too late

Jane Frey inherits a Gothic mansion filled with unexpected treasures. A prophecy claims it hides an important artifact – the key to an energy grid laid down by the Founding Fathers themselves. Whoever controls this grid controls the very centers of world power. Except Jane has no idea what they’re looking for.

The Star Family . . . explores the esoteric aspects of a progressive Protestant sect called the Moravian Brethren and weaves their history into a fascinating piece of speculative fiction. What if the Moravians had continued to observe some of their controversial practices in secret? What if their rites and music have played a role in withstanding the malignant forces that threaten to overwhelm modern society? What if one woman who discovers her true ancestry could oppose dominion of darkness through music and erotic spirituality? What if a town in North Carolina holds the key to bringing harmony to the world? Readers who enjoyed The Historian and The DaVinci Code will enjoy The Star Family.”

Dr. Craig Atwood, Moravian College, Director of the Center for Moravian Studies

 eBook $6.99 Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Smashwords

Paperback $17.99 & at your favorite bookstore

Signed copies $22.00. Send an email to the author at theresacrater@comcast.net

New Egyptian Short Story

The Nile floods when Sirius rises just before the sun. And when the Priestess of Hathor and the Priest of Horus perform the Sacred Marriage ritual. Read it now.

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Reprint from The Aether Age:  Helios (2012).

The Serapeum

On our tour to Egypt in April, I was finally able to visit the Serapeum, and Oh My God!

We walked down steps into the ground, then down some more. We turned left next to a large box and walked down to a corridor filled with niches. I turned left and went to the first one. That’s when the visions began.

I wish I could go through it niche by niche and describe every world and every operator, but I can’t remember it that clearly. But I saw the attendants in mostly every niche and images, colors and feelings of the worlds that niche connected to. The attendants reached out and touched me with their scepters. Some on the third eye, some on the shoulder. Others nodded an acknowledgement of me. Others made hand gestures or motioned for me to come inside.

The boxes were filled with liquid light. They were transport devices to other worlds. I asked how they worked, and the third or so guardian told me, “They work much like the crystal you described in your book.” The person lays in them and is transported to the place this niche connects to. Just sort of dissolved into energy. In others, I saw people turning into Neters. In some, people were healed.

Some were solar worlds, filled with light and gold and sun. Others had many colors. Some were night worlds. These began toward the end of the corridor and mostly on the other side. Some were very green and filled with plants. Some desert and sand. Some were water worlds. In one of the night worlds, the guardian came forward to greet me and a big black Jaguar came out and licked my face.

There were 27 in the hallway. Later I realized that’s how many letters there are in the Hebrew alphabet. Then I went down the hallway that intersected them, sort of like an H, but not even. The boxes were being made or repaired on that side. Stephen went further and said there was a workshop back there. He says there’s a door blocking another tunnel and there are more—who knows how many.

I went back and that’s when I counted them. At first, I counted the box without a lid next to the door. If there are more, I’m curious how they are grouped. In certain numbers or what?

I’d like to go there with a master toner and see what happens, or do what my friend Jeanne suggested and each of us sit in one and tone. Holy cow. I can feel the place turning on just thinking about that.

When we left, the vendors were waiting just outside the door. A Neter-like being, at least seven feet tall if not more, walked out with me. The vendor said to us, “Five dollars American” and I completely cracked up, imagining if this Neter were really there fully in our dimension, him looking at some chronometer on his wrist and thinking, “Blast, I’m in the wrong year.”

When I was in the Serapeum, I thought I was seeing other worlds, other planets that make up our stellar family. But later I thought perhaps they were dimensions. Perhaps it’s not a matter of time—that in the distant past we used this place in this way, but a matter of layers—that in some higher frequency we still use this place as a transportation and healing nexus.

In either case, I want to visit the Serapeum again.

Me in Serapeum

 

 

New Short Story

The Judgment of Osiris — A modern retelling of an ancient myth. The ancient gods of Egypt reach through time and claim Owen as their next sacrifice. On the last day of the tour he leads, Owen accepts a gift from a rival tour guide Simon. The miniature sarcophagus contains a mysterious white powder  that takes Owen into the mythic Egyptian underworld. Will resurrection come for him as it did for his namesake Osiris?

 

Reading for Auraria Writers Week

osiris31I’ll be reading from my short story “The Judgment of Osiris,” Monday, March 18, at 11:45 a.m. in Tivoli Room 320 AB on the Auraria Campus in Denver. The story will appear in spring in the anthology Tales of Firelight and Shadow edited by Alexis Brooks de Vita for Double Dragon Media.

On Tuesday we have our State of Publishing panel, and on Wednesday Gish Jen will present. (See the post below for details.)

Interview–Mary Gillgannon

Imagine my delight on discovering another great book about Olde England. I mean really old. Mary Gillgannon’s last book is about the Celts, one of my favorite topics, and I know many of you can’t resist a good book about the Druids.

Would you please tell us a little about yourself?

MaryI’ve been writing fiction for almost twenty years, and I’ve published twelve historical romances, mostly in the dark age and medieval time periods. I’ve also written two fantasies, The Silver Wheel, which is an historical fantasy, and a book I call “chick lit fantasy” in which my modern heroine travels to bronze age Europe.

Would you please tell us about your latest book?

The Silver Wheel tells the story of the Roman conquest of Britain from the Celtic viewpoint. As the Romans threaten to overrun Britain and conquer her people, Sirona, a young Druid-in-training in Wales, begins having visions. Desperate to discover what the gods intend for her, she joins her fellow student Cruthin in a sex magic ceremony. Their flaunting of druid rules results in both of them being banished, and Sirona sets off on a perilous journey to the north. Five years later, Sirona begins to understand what her visions mean. Determined to change the course of history, she travels to warn the Iceni queen Boudica of the danger to come. But when Boudica refuses to listen, Sirona is forced to risk her life and her immortal spirit to save her people.

What inspired you to write this novel?

TheSilverWheel2_850I originally became interested in the story of the Romans in Britain when I read about a body found preserved in a peat bog near Lindow, England. The body was of a healthy, aristocratic young man who had been strangled, bludgeoned, had his throat cut and then was pushed into the bog. Because the body dates from the time of the Roman conquest in the early first century, some researchers surmise that this man was offered as a sacrifice to petition the Celtic deities to aid the British in their battle against the invaders. Reading about this discovery immediately started all sorts of plot ideas spinning in my mind.   

What does a typical writing day look like?

My writing is mostly done in the morning. After checking email and internet stuff, I usually write for an hour or two before heading off to my job at the local public library. (A great job for a writer!) On weekends I may put more time in, but I also help my husband with his business and try to “have a life”, so I usually don’t write more than fifteen hours a week. It’s a slow but steady pace.

Can you describe your writing process?

I’m an “into the mist” writer, which means I don’t really plot. Once my characters “come to me”, I just start writing and see what happens. Scenes sort of appear to me out of the mist. If they don’t and I get stuck, I mull things over, often in the middle of the night, until I “see” the next scene.  It’s not a very efficient process, but it’s the only method that really works for me. I used to write the first draft a lot faster, but then ended up doing a lot of revising. Now I go slower and let the story happen at its own pace. If I do this, my first draft is usually pretty clean, unlike The Silver Wheel, which I wrote pretty fast but then revised five different times over ten years. It definitely was the most challenging book I’ve written.

How did you prepare to write about the book’s specific area or field of study?

I did a lot of research on the Druids and Celtic mystical belief, as well as reading the historical accounts of the time period (all written by the Romans). I’ve always been fascinated with this era and Celtic culture in general, so I enjoyed that part of it. 

How did you come up with your title?

The book was originally called When The Sky Falls because a famous Celtic chieftain was quoted as saying that he did not fear death or anything on this earth, only “the sky falling”, presumably referring to the end of the world. That perspective (and most of my first draft) just seemed too negative and pessimistic, so I changed it. The “silver wheel” refers to both the goddess Arianhrod, who is associated with the moon and the silver wheel of the night sky that affects human destiny, and also the magic Sirona uses at the end of the book to save her people.

What advice do you have for writers who have not yet been published?

The publishing world is very competitive and getting more so all the time. You have to faith in your vision, your unique voice, viewpoint and stories. That’s really the only thing that can set you apart from other writers and bring you success. You also really have to have a passion for writing, as well as tenacity and determination.

Excluding family, name three people who either inspired you or influenced your creativity. 

Jim Morrison was a huge influence on me as an adolescent. He was a poet as well as a singer/songwriter and his passion for words inspired me to read even more widely than I already did and to take my first steps as a writer. Morgan Llywelyn and Mary Stewart both influenced me a great deal because of the time periods and worlds they wrote about. 

If your book were chocolate, what kind would it be and why?

It would be dark chocolate (which I don’t personally like). It is an intense and often dark story, but also (I hope) rich and satisfying.

Tell us about your main character’s psyche or personality. What led her (or him) to be the person s/he is today?  

Because of something mystical that happened to her when she was a toddler, Sirona ends up training to be a Learned One/Drui from a very early age. She is also born with a special connection to the spiritual world and magical abilities, although those gifts don’t start to manifest themselves until she reaches adolescence when the book begins. 

Describe your protagonist as a mash-up of three famous people or characters.

She’s a seer and has magical abilities like Merlin, a priestess like Morgaine and the savior of her people like King Arthur.

If you could host a magical dinner party, who are the six people (living or otherwise) you’d include?

The three writers who influenced I mentioned previously, plus F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marilyn Monroe (I think she had a great spirit) and William Shakespeare. Three men and three women, a nice balanced dinner party.

What are you working on right now?

I’ve almost finished the first draft of a reincarnation romance set mostly in modern Denver, but with characters who also lived in 6th century Ireland.

Learn more about Mary at http://marygillgannon.com