Tones of Creation - the cruise with a difference

Jon at Giza Pyramids

I am honoured and delighted to be working with Jonathan Orchard, an amazing yoga teacher, musician and poet on this fabulous yoga holiday. More information on Jon's work can be found on his websiteJonathan Orchard Yoga!

We aim to combine yoga with meditations and sounds, and link it all in with Ancient Egypt and the eternal River Nile.

Dahabiya - sail in style

We are cruising on a dahabiya south to Aswan for one whole week of spirituality!

Our first cruise will take place on June 20th, 2012 and we will be celebrating the Summer Solstice in Karnak Temple, Luxor. This is a special moment on its own.

Sunset over Karnak sacred lake

Add to that visits to various temples en route to Aswan, each with its own individual spirituality, a relaxing sail on a twin masted dahabiya, yoga classes and meditations, tonings and therapies and we think we have the perfect holiday.

It is a retreat with a difference.


Briefly, this is a precis of our journey

"Join us for a compelling eight day journey into the inner worlds of awareness. Enter into a deeply transformative process born from the depths of the Egyptian Mysteries.  Our focus will be the Seven Seals or chakras and the vast universe that exists within each of them. By exploring these energy vortices within your own subtle energy body, known as the Ka by the ancient Egyptians, you will activate and free life-enhancing energies.

From an esoteric and mythic standpoint, the sacred pathway of the chakras is sometimes referred to as the Inner Nile. This is due to the fact that subtle energies continually move through this pathway, metaphorically, like the waters of a river or a stream.

The classical neters of ancient Egypt are often associated with the pantheon of gods and goddess as expressions of fundamental forces of consciousness. On this journey we will be working with the flow of subtle energy from these archetypal beings.

Other systems of alchemy or energy or energy-based transformation recognize similar life-enhancing subtle energies, but call them by different names. Yogis use the word prana, while Taosits use the term chi. These three (neter, prana and chi) are quite similar in many regards though the methods for working them in meditation are quite different.

We will be focusing on prana.

By entering deep meditative states through the use of sound, you can effect the flow and quality of the neters within your own Ka. This refinement of subtle energy is the source, the stream from which positive life change occurs during this journey."

More information can be found on our Facebook page at Tones of Creation  or we can be reached via email for a full programme information pack as follows:

Hazel -hazel@spiritofthenile.com

Jon    - ptaah1111@yahoo.co.uk

The eternal River Nile

We both hope that you can join us on this journey!   

Tones of Creation

Coming soon!

Tones of Creation

Initiation:  Journey upon the River Nile

A brand new project for me in collaboration with Jonathan Orchard, yoga and all things spiritual!  Music and singing combined with yoga and spirituality.  Add to that a private dahabiya, the River Nile, Ancient Egypt's temples and tombs and you have the journey of a lifetime!

Jonathan is "The Voice of Yoga"   Jonathan's website

Watch this space for details of the most amazing Nile cruise ever!!

Luxor Spring Festival

https://www.facebook.com/Lxr.Spring.Festival

I have just heard about a Spring Festival to be held in Luxor on the 17th April 2012.  It is being held at the Luxor Royal Golf Club.  It is open to everyone, so if anyone either living in Luxor, or visiting on holiday would like to go, I have the following information for you.

The provisional programme is as follows:

1- FIRST & MOST AMAZING COLOR FESTIVAL @ LUXOR for THE FIRST TIME
2- AMAZING DJ PRODUCER ... MOMO RIVERA
3- LUXOR BEST DANCE CREW , offering 5 dances ... pharonic style .. modern dance ,,, egyptian dances etc
4- POetic EVENING WITH MUSIC , by Hisham el Ga5 the most Brilliant Talented poet in upper egypt
5- a Musical Concert by Egyptian Super Star Hamza Namira
+ ofcourse Super Star Michlle rounds if she agrees
Vip Ticket 100 L.E : Front Line Seated + Soft Drink on a Very Comfortable Chair And Table
Golden Ticket 75 L.E : Seated on a regular Chair ... 2nd Area
Silver Ticket : 65 : Non Seated Full Entrance Ticket

free Transportations are offered for Vip & Golden Tickets
100 % security By police officers , Ambulances , anti - Fire Cars , and Body Guards ,+ 50 Regular security persons

children under 6 are for free
from 6 - 12 are for half Ticket ...

Tickets are priced very reasonably and it looks like it will be a good day out!

And if we are lucky, we get to see our very own Michelle Rounds performing for us yet again!

For more information please telephone +2 01098226644 or email barhomdman@yahoo.com  

Pyramid of Tukh

What a great day out!

I spent the day with great friends out and about exploring this amazing country. Now in response to all those who, when they visit Luxor, ask "where are the pyramids?", prompting hysterical mirth in response, we can now say..... just north of Luxor!

Today, we went to see the Pyramid of Tukh..... 3rd Dynasty, Pharoah Huni, father of Khufu!  A badly damaged step pyramid which is actually well worth seeing.  I got to sit quietly inside the collapsed part of the pyramid and thought it was an amazing place for meditation.  I didn't want to leave!

At the same time we visited some small tombs, sadly with nothing really left in the way of reliefs, but still worth a look.  They are 18th Dynasty and the area around the outside is littered with pottery fragments, bits of which still have some paint on them.  Beautiful.











To finish our little tour, we then headed to a temple dedicated to Set.  Nothing much there to see, as all the stone has long gone, but you can clearly see the outlines of the walls, and there are a few bits of stone laying around.  Lol I am going to have to Google Earth it now to see the actual shape of the temple.

Next to the site of the temple are many, many pre-dynastic burial pits...... need to wander around there next time!

Finally, we finished off at the Ramesseum rest house...... and a good long natter!!

There will be more pics later once my friend is back home and can upload her photos!  She will blog it herself, so I may just point you there to see the rest of the pictures.

Thanks to Stan Kurowski for allowing me to use his photos!

Business Today: Disputing the Numbers

Interesting article from Business Today regarding tourism numbers for 2011.   Seems they included half a million Libyans fleeing the fighting there in their tourist numbers.   Well I guess it was donkeys and ice cream in Alex for all of them!  And how much of the number crunching is anything to do with the IMF and its loan requests

Business Today: Disputing the Numbers

Destination Palestine!

A friend of mine is joining an amazing "tour" (for want of a better word) to Palestine this summer and the group are offering the opportunity for anyone to join them!  My friend is hoping to use her Reiki and other healing skills to help the people near to the town of Hebron.
It is an amazing opportunity for anyone who wants to help Palestine, in very small ways, or very big ways and also gives members of the group the chance of a lifetime and a wonderful experience.
There is a  Destination Palestine event being organised in Coventry to explain more and introduce people to Palestinian culture.

If you are even remotely interested, please see the following Facebook group for more information and contact details:
Destination Palestine

Below is a copy and paste from the page!

• Dear Friends, Habibi is delighted to invite you to our fourth upcoming event on Sunday 1st of April from 4-9PM 'DESTINATION PALESTINE'. A small group of 20 ordinary people just like me and you decided to go to Palestine and make a change. With no organisation forms to fill, no funding, just the passion and the courage to make a difference. They just had a few meeting, booked the cheapest tickets with a few pounds in their pockets, they boarded Easyjet making their destination the West Bank, Palestine. They were warmly welcomed by the Palestinians who made space in their homes in a small village called Beit Kahil in Hebron. Where they travelled like a Palestinian, lived like a Palestinian, shared their food, their stories, worries and happiness. Just a few people managed to draw a smile in the whole village of Beit Kahel. Those 20 people have inspired many more who are now making their Destination Palestine this Summer 2012. If You Have Ever Been Interested In Visiting The Holy Land Then Now Is Your Chance to Join us on this very special event and share with us our extraordinary experience through fruitful stories from Palestine. You will also have the chance to speak to those who are going this summer 2012 and hear what they have of exciting activities for the adults and children of Beit Kahil in the West Bank. The evening will consists of Palestinian arts, performances, music, speakers, images and a video to share, while Palestinian food and drink will be served. Tickets: £5 (available at the door) Why Not Making Palestine Your Next Destination?

Habibi Restaurant

142 Far Gosford Street, CV1 5DY Coventry, United Kingdom

View map · Get directions

Doors and knockers!.

I have had a great day out today with a friend who is here for just a couple of days and we found ourselves on a mission to find a particular mudbrick house in the Medinet Habu area. We found it, although could not gain access as the caretaker was not around.



But..... the main door to the house was a really old, solid wood door with the most fantastic knocker made of solid bronze!  Wonderful.












I think my new mission in life will be to find old doors and amazing knockers!

A great week in Luxor!

I had a great week last week!  I am not sure where to start but it was a wonderful mix of work, fun and peace.



During the week I spent a wonderful morning in the Valley of the Kings with 2 lovely Belgian ladies who I was looking after for a friend. 4 hours and only 3 tombs! We loved it!




I made it to one of the films at the African Film Festival, wandered along the new corniche before heading for coffee with yet more friends.



I spent a couple of hours on a caleche.... visited Ace Animal Hospital and was taken to view a working water wheel complete with donkey turning the wheel.  (There was a cow, but apparently, the cow had gone lol)

I also went to Karnak temple, again another amazing morning, I find new things every time I go there!

A friend bought me a pressie from the UK..... I now have a fabulous new bag which was stuffed full of gorgeous smellies, and a nice chunk of really strong mature cheddar!

I spent quite a lot of time on the East Bank this week, and had a lot of fun while I was there. Copious amounts of coffee were consumed at varying times!


The building work has slowed down now....  the building in front of me seems to be complete from a building point of view, next door is being painted as we speak (and the outside walls are canary yellow!!), the roof seems to have ground to a halt.

This is the building in front of me when they started in November, it is now a 3 storey building! But fortunately it is not blocking my view of the river!

Hodhod bird

And here is a hodhod bird on my balcony, with the new building in the background!





Home is once again a reasonably quite place to return to.  Well, except for today and yesterday when they have decided to play music very loudly and sing along! I am guessing it helps the paint to dry!

Another West Bank sightseeing excursion tomorrow morning is planned, should be fun and I am hoping to see the new statue at Amenhotep Third! Must tell the driver to drive slowly! 

View to the West Bank from the new corniche

Another busy, but fun week looms!  I hope you all have the kind of week that I think I will have!

Email problems

I think I have solved the problem outlined below. All emails now seem to be working ok.  But if anything does bounce back at you, please use this alternative email address.

Thank you.

I have just changed over my hosting company and I am having problems sending and receiving emails from spiritofthenile.com

If you do need to contact me, please use my hazel.isis@googlemail.com email address for the time being. I am trying to work it all out, but as I am not particularly techy, I am a bit lost on this one.

Please bear with me lol