Our cruise-ship slowly pirouetted on Lake Nasser before the two temples at Abu Simbel; that of Ramses II, distinctive with its four huge seated figures at the entrance, and that more modest one of his daughter, Nefertari. As the ship swung slowly about, selections from the operas Aida and Nabucco soared into the light breeze from speakers placed on the upper deck. Like many such occasions in Egypt, we were all caught by surprise.
    What could have been over-theatrical, even gauche, was a delight. I found the music and the graceful dance of the ship before the temples and the ancient deities so moving that it sent shivers up my spine. I stood, overcome by the profound stillness which had quietly taken hold. Group members told me afterwards that they felt moved to tears; on what was otherwise a sunny Tuesday morning.
    But these unexpected eruptions of emotion, as deep as the past is far, as immediate as the past is ever-present, are to be expected in Egypt as part of the experience the land offers and is proof that somewhere, within ourselves, rests an ancient memory just waiting for the right moment to break free.
    The night before we had seen a sound and light show, under the stars, in front of the temples: it was pure Hollywood but then it didn’t pretend to be otherwise. As entertainment it was enjoyable but it did not come close to the experience of visiting the two temples themselves which were embedded deep into a rocky hill. Or, at least, into an artificial rock hill, since they have both been moved up from the former desert below which has now been inundated by the creation of Lake Nasser.
    We marvelled at the courage and ambition of the Italian expert who, when seeking a solution to the flooding of the site by the rising waters of the Nile said, ‘Lets move both temples higher.’

Between the paws of the Sphinx

We had arrived in a warm Cairo evening, two days earlier. The very next day, as on every pilgrimage, began with sunrise at the paws of the Sphinx - a private visit to a site normally closed to tourists. Following this, after a leisurely breakfast at our hotel which abutted the Giza Plateau, we were allowed a private visit to the interior of the Great Pyramid. All other visitors were excluded and the doors to the subterranean chamber - normally closed - were opened for us.
    It is quite a difficult scramble 105 metres down (and up again) through the bedrock to the strange, supposedly unfinished, artificial cavern directly below the king’s chamber and thirty metres below ground level. Others of our group made their way up the narrow tunnel to the vast and impressive Grand Gallery and then to the Kings Chamber where they waited for the rest of us to arrive. We were intent on making the symbolic journey from the rough and unformed subterranean chamber to that above which was smoothed and perfectly finished.
    Once we were all in the King’s Chamber the lights in the Great Pyramid were turned off for thirty minutes. Then, in silence, lit only by a small flickering candle, we spent a short time intoning an ancient name of God - one known to Judaism, Christianity and Islam - followed by a period of personal meditation or contemplation.
    I, for one, always feel uniquely privileged to be able to have the opportunity to do this, humbled, as we were, by the magnitude of the achievement which is the Great Pyramid and the thousands of years of human aspiration which it witnesses.

Following the Nile

Our cruise down Lake Nasser took us, after four days of good food and remote yet dignified Nubian temples, to Aswan and the great temple of Isis at Philae - the very last temple in Egypt to continue working. It survived, performing its ancient rituals, until the early sixth century AD, outlasting the Roman Empire.
    From Philae we drove to Luxor which we used as a base for several days. We made, with special permission, a wonderful early morning visit to the Temple of Hathor at Denderah where we were able to spend some time in the strange underground crypt which runs beneath the Holy of Holies with its enigmatic and unique carved images . We left as the first tour buses arrived and drove to the temple of Pharaoh Seti I at Abydos, the legendary birthplace of Osiris. Behind Seti’s temple is the ancient and timeless Osireion. Its monumental stonework is similar to that of the Valley Temple of the Sphinx and the Valley Temple of Khafre; all three suggest a construction date far older than the Pyramids.
    While at Luxor we visited the Valley of the kings where we had the chance for a private visit into the deep tomb of Septar. We arranged for the lights to be extinguished and sat in silence. Afterwards we walked silently out of the rough and unfinished chamber along a corridor to the decorated sloping shaft leading upwards to the light which we could see pouring in at the top. Who knows whether this tomb was truly unfinished or whether it was using, as Freemasonry does, the symbolic combination of the rough and the smooth? In any case, it didn’t seem to matter as we used it to make our own symbolic journey from the depths of primeval earth up into the light.
    We also visited the remains of the vast temple complex of Karnak, Luxor temple itself, the palace and temple of Medinat Habu, the nearby Ramesseum where lies, tumbled and broken, the vast stone head which inspired Shelley to write his poem ‘Ozymandius’ and, in a private trip financed by Freemasonry Today, to Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el-Bahri and the remains of the tomb workers town at Deir el-Medina with its small but exquisite temple.

Climbing Mount Sinai

We had added some extras to this trip: firstly a visit to Mount Sinai and the monastery of St. Catherine. Climbing it is quite a feat: it is about five miles uphill, the final part steep and strenuous. Most of us took camels for the first four miles or so to a tea-house. From there a few of us walked the last mile or so to the summit where we sat quietly watching the sun setting across the endless rugged Sinai moonscape.
    Afterwards, when night had fallen, we walked back down in the darkness. All the way, hanging in the starry sky immediately above the peak of the mountain, was a perfect crescent Moon like a curved boat, just as it is depicted on the statues and in the temples.
    We returned to Cairo where we spent a morning looking at sites reflecting the diverse religious reality of modern Egypt, visiting sites sacred to Islam, Judaism and Coptic Christianity. We had already been impressed in Aswan seeing the Christian Church virtually next door to the main Mosque. Egypt adheres to the true attitude of Islam which preaches tolerance to other religions. Our Egyptologist, Fathy Yehia - for many years in charge of the Tutankhamum exhibition at the Cairo Museum - took us to the huge Al Rafaai Mosque and spoke to us about Islam: in particular, he explained that Islam had no middle-man between an individual and God. The teachers, the Imams, are guides, they are not like priests. Moslems, he said, do not need anyone to forgive their sins, they seek a direct relationship with the Divine for such forgiveness as might be necessary.
    That afternoon the renowned expert on the Pyramids, Dr. Mark Lehner, talked about his discovery of the township constructed to house the workers and officials who built the Giza pyramids and in the evening we had a private visit to the Egyptian Museum. To be able to contemplate its treasures without the distraction and pressure of the crowds was unique and due entirely to the efforts of the President of Quest Travel, Mohamed Nazmy, who always tries to provide us with something special.
    Optional on this trip was a three day extension to Jordan to see the ruins of the great carved city of Petra and the largest castle in the Middle East - the huge Crusader stronghold of Kerak, within sight of the Dead Sea, infamously held by Reynaud de Châtillon at the end of the twelfth century. It was Reynaud’s attacks on Arab camel trains which precipitated the war with Saladin which was to destroy the economic and military viability of the Crusader kingdom.
    Petra was all that we had expected - but far larger - and with unexpected delights. Perhaps the most dramatic arriving after a forty minute climb up hundreds of steps: around a bend in the narrow trail, high in the rugged mountains, we suddenly came upon a huge and ornately carved façade of the ‘Monastery’. Across a small plateau, and slightly higher, sit the few stones and terrace remaining from some smaller ancient sanctuary on the ‘high place’. I, along with Derek and Linda Bain, sat there, above the world, while a local man sang Bedouin songs to the accompaniment of a large mandolin. Derek borrowed the instrument and played the blues. We could have stayed for hours. But the sun was beginning to drop in the sky and we had a long walk back to our hotel.
    It takes some effort to experience the sites in Egypt and Jordan but that is as it should be for I think it fair to say that all of us on the trip learned something new and experienced something important. And that is the whole point.

Freemasonry Today would like to thank Tracey Strand of HPB Travel, Bury St Edmunds for organising the English side of our trip, Mohamed Nazmy of Quest Travel, Giza, for taking care of the arrangements in Egypt, Medhat Yehia for his management skills and Fathy Yehia al Dibh for his knowledge. Websites: www.hpb.com and www.questtravelegypt.com