On a chilly, pre-dawn, Full Moon morning, we gathered together in the lobby of the luxe River Nile island resort we were staying at in Luxor. A combination of sleepy and excited, we milled about wondering out loud and to ourselves how we’d be received by the fierce goddess we were on our way to meet. Everyone had heard me tell of my personal, life-changing meeting with the goddess Sekhmet the previous year. Now, they were on the way to their own personal meeting with her.

For me, regardless of whatever else I experienced on the Egyptian Odyssey, spending time with Sekhmet again was what I was looking forward to the most. She is all things– fiercely protective and pure unconditional maternal love, as she heals and guides you through this journey called life. Great Mother energy is a recurring theme for me and I feel privileged to have been called to her.

We boarded the coach and were uncharacteristically silent as we rode through the still, dark streets of Luxor on the way to her private temple in the Karnack temple complex. Once we arrived at Karnack, we were escorted to Sekhmet’s outer temple by the guards who lit the way with their mega-watt flashlights.

There, in her outer temple stands a stone altar. We intuitively knew we were to form a circle around it. I instructed them to put their hands on the altar and told them that I would call them into the temple to meet Sekhmet, one at a time.

Rina and I went into the main temple and were greeted by her temple guardian, a man with a beautiful spirit and of such indeterminant age, you knew he’d been her temple guardian for countless numbers of lifetimes.

I wish I could describe in words what it feels like to be in the space of that inner temple. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more content, more at peace, more ageless and endless than I felt standing in Sekhmet’s inner temple that morning. Rina went to see her first. After a few minutes, it was my turn. She embraced me (how does a stone statue embrace you? I don’t know how; I only know that she did) and my soul felt loved, protected, and filled with an indescribable sense of peaceful joy. She thanked me for bringing her children to her and told me she was ready to meet them again.

As I prepared to leave her presence, she said, “Oh, and take off your hat!” Yes, I was standing in the presence of the goddess and had forgotten to approach her properly! I laughed, removed my beret, and went to get Casy, whom she specifically asked for first.

There was a correct order to the process and Rina, a high priestess of Sekhmet, guided me as I guided Casy and the others through the process before I handed them to the temple guardian who escorted them to Sekhmet. I noticed that he escorted each of them to different positions of closeness to her. He knew where each soul needed to stand on the path and Sekhmet met them the rest of the way. With each meeting, that person’s suffering was lifted from them and replaced by love.

Rina and I worked smoothly together; of course we would– we had overseen this same ceremonial mission over countless lifetimes. After everyone had their private meeting with her, we all held hands and formed a circle with her at one end and her temple guardian at the other. We said a prayer for those who were too ill to join us in person and I spoke and delivered the message Sekhmet wanted us to have before I instructed the Odyssey-ites to form pairs and approach her and hug her.

Melissa was in one of the last pairs to hug her and afterwards, she called me over and told me she had to go again, but this time with Jinan. Again, I wish I had words to describe what I felt as I realized what Melissa’s words meant. I knew then that Melissa and Jinan had a soul bond that was deeper and more beautiful than anything I could have imagined– I knew that these two sisters and temple priestesses had found each other again. I felt awed and humbled to be in the presence of such perfection. (Even now, I’m overcome with emotion as I remember and write about it.)

I found Jinan and took her to Melissa. I watched as they silently approached and embraced Sekhmet. And then my heart almost stopped from witnessing the pure beauty of what happened next. With their eyes closed, while still embracing Sekhmet, Melissa took Jinan’s right hand in her left hand and placed them on the front of Sekhmet’s heart. I had never witnessed so great a demonstration of Divine Love before that moment. Although I don’t remember taking it, there is a photo of that moment on my phone. Did I somehow, have the presence of– what? It couldn’t be presence of mind– I was completely out of my body by then– to take a photo of that moment? What else I didn’t know at the time was that at the very moment Melissa was reaching for Jinan’s right hand with her left and placing it over the front of Sekhmet’s heart, Jinan was simultaneously reaching for Melissa’s right hand with her left hand and placing them over the back of Sekhmet’s heart! Perfection!

It was time for us to leave Sekhmet and gather around the alter stone in her outer temple again. Rina placed a bag on the altar stone and told me the bag contained individual bottles of lotus oil, and that lotus oil would consecrate our experience. “You must touch them!” she said as she placed each bottle of oil in my hand, further instructing me to personally hand each of the Odyssey-ites a container of the oil. That was another time-out-of-time instance and I did as instructed, marvelling at how deeply connected to Spirit Rina is.

As we left Sekhmet’s temple, the sun was coming up, and that’s when we could see it– with the exception of the temple priests and the guards, we were the only other people walking through Karnack temple. I wish you could’ve been there with us, a handful of souls bonding with our past, each other, and ourselves as we walked through the vastness of the thousands of years old Karnack temple complex while greeting the dawn of a new day, both literally and metaphorically.

Rina caught up to me and slipped her arm through mine and said, “I know what you are doing.” I looked into her beautiful beaming face and I asked, “Oh, and what am I doing, Rina?” Still beaming, she answered, “You are training me!” I smiled, nodded, and said, “Yes, and you are training me.” My soul was elated– I love it when I see and feel the results of following the Divine’s instructions!

This was an exceptional experience and there is more to this day… Stay tuned!

Lots of Joy,
Sheilaa