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SLEEPING IN THE PYRAMIDSby Patricia HellerI traveled to Cairo before the rest of the tour group. On my first night I went to see The Sound and Light Show at the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx in Giza. Narrated by Richard Burton, it is a laser show extraordinaire in which they drew the Vatican in laser lights on the Great Pyramid of Cheops to show it’s incredible size. When I came out, my guide and driver knowing my intention to spend the night alone in the Great Pyramid had been talking to a man they'd met who said he might be able to arrange the night in the Pyramid, but that it was now closed for repairs and it would take some time. He could, however, arrange for me to spend the night alone in the Great Sphinx that very night. His name was “Frank” and his father was the captain of the guards at the Mesa complex of the Sphinx and the pyramids, my driver knew him from childhood. It was February 13, a bright starry night which I remembered as the eve of the Lunar Eclipse. At dinner that night, I begged my Egyptian guide, Ashraf, to go with me as my bodyguard. Usama, one of the principals of the tour company was with us at dinner, he had come over early with me before the tour group to see his family in Egypt. Our trip from Boston to Zurich to Cairo had stretched out to 48 hours because of technical problems with our plane in Zurich and he was exhausted. Too tired to join me on my adventure, he helped me convince Ashraf to go. Ashraf was not only nervous about being caught as an Egyptian guide doing something illegal, he really wasn’t happy about the possibility of awakening universal information from the “Hall of Records.” Edgar Cayce, the Nostradamous of the 20 century, prophesied a Hall of Records would be discovered at the Great Sphinx in 1998. My guide Ashraf finally acquiesced to go with me as my body guard. Usama warned me against wearing my Rolex, and I took the precaution of covering my long blonde hair with a scarf the way the Muslim ladies do. I found the first day that a tall blond who treats everyone as if “We are all one,” with a big happy smile on her face was treated by everyone in Egypt as a blond goddess. We met “Frank” at the stroke of midnight near the entrance to the Pyramid mesa and after both Usama and Ashraf queried him some more, we were off. We followed him through back alleys, climbed up the back of the Pyramid mesa with the shifting sand of the Sahara beneath our feet and met a guard dressed in Arab garb who was waiting to sneak us past the other guards. Lots of surreptitious stuff, we scurried crouched down past the pyramids. It was a full moon and the pyramids looked close enough to touch. It was thrilling to see the pyramids shining in the moonlight with big bright stars everywhere. We made a hurried descent down a hill where we were told to hide behind a guard house until it was safe for us to cross over to the Sphinx’s legs, climb up and then down into a excavated hole four by four with a lid over it. This small area which I had to climb around and down to get in was my home for the night. They had been excavating two small tunnels about eight inches wide which I figured was for a robot camera. So, I sat with my left foot in the tunnel leading to the Hall of Records and my other foot in a tunnel leading to the Hall of Tombs. I was instructed not to make any noise or use my flashlight and that they would check on me every now and then. I decided to go against my guide’s wishes and use my flashlight for an instant to look down into the two small tunnels to see if there were any critters. I also quickly shined it around looking for spiders or scorpions. Satisfied I was alone; I settled back and closed my eyes to meditate. I saw a bright white spot behind my eyes, which I first thought was from having had the flashlight on, but it kept getting bigger and bigger until the white light filled my vision behind my closed eyelids. As the white light got bigger my heart was opening – it felt larger and larger and was filling with awe and gratitude and love. Both kept getting larger and opening bigger and bigger until I had an incredible feeling of love and bliss. When I came back to a state of awareness of all that was around me, I heard a scraping sound on the metal lid above my head. At first I thought it might be the wild dogs we'd seen while crossing the mesa but then I realized it was the trash I'd had given to my guide to throw away that I'd found in my cubicle. Instead of taking it with him, he had left it up on top of the lid and it was blowing around and distracting me. I reached out to gather it up and I noticed a lot of green lights going around and heard loud laughing and talking. Annoyed, I thought, "Boy, I’m glad I paid to spend the night alone in the Sphinx – it sounds like everybody and his brother are out front having a party.” Later my guide Ashraf said that it was Prime Minister Tony Blair of England, his entourage and about 20 military guards with uzis who had come to view the Sphinx by moonlight. Ashraf was scared to death and was hiding and quaking in the guard house bathroom. As fearless as I was the whole night that was how fearful Ashraf was – he said he’d wasn’t even as scared the night he was mugged and beaten in the United States. What a balance we were - I opening to love and he in abject fear. Back in my hole, quiet again prevailing after everyone left, I heard someone coming to check on me. I had never seen the guard’s face who met us to guide us to the Sphinx. All of a sudden, the metal lid above me opened and a strange Egyptian face was peering in at me. I wasn’t sure if I’d been caught or if he was one of ours. I looked up, took my hand and circling it said, “Hi” in as happy a voice as I could muster. He grinned and lit a couple of matches to see what I looked like, closed the lid and came around to the side where I’d crawled in. After some more matches, an offer of a cigarette and what looked like an attempt to get in my small resting place with me, I said, “No, no, I have to be alone, I’m fine, thank you, bye, bye. It worked. He left and I was once more alone. My last experience was a vision. I decided I would hear anyone coming long before they would reach me and had partially crawled out and was sitting – still hidden - cradled in the Sphinx’s arms with my back on the “Tablet of Dreams,” looking up the beautiful, beautiful face of the Sphinx on that starry, starry night. Frank had come to check on me and as he was leaving said, “Pray for Egypt.” It seemed as if all the guards and guides were a little in awe of me. Again a little annoyed, I thought, “It’s my night – I don’t want assignments.” I feel off to sleep for a moment and had a vision. I saw the backs of Egyptian soldiers dressed in brown uniforms and brown helmets. They were sitting in a lecture or ready room looking forward at the commander on a dais at the front of the room. The commander, also in brown uniform with a beret with an emblem on it, was standing in front of a large map. In his right hand he was using a pointer with a five point star on its end. The vision then changed to two missiles going off and the silhouette of Cairo in the background - domes and praying towers and scaffolding. While it looks like a prophetic vision about Egypt I am working on it from a personal standpoint of my being the spiritual warriors readying for a mission. The five point star - the most powerful symbol used by the secret ancient alchemists to call on higher energies, keep away evil and imbalance and to protect - very, very powerful. When I considered what part of me is gearing up for war, personal growth or mounting a campaign - it is of course the part of me that has to go out into the world with the book - missive or missile - I am writing. The next day I used the Runes to gain more information on the vision. The one I pulled for the situation rune was the spiritual warrior, for the action rune - Harvest or one year, and for the new situation rune - A Journey, Communication, Union, Reunion - the end of its description held a simple prayer: "I will to will Thy Will |
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