Readers will know, I have been on some amazing quests over the years. They will also know that a few quests have fallen by the wayside too. One of these looked to be the quest to create a Wand. I know, Harry Potter and all that. Alas, the Universe does seem to be insisting that I pull this one-off. The primary reason for me being in Egypt was to collect a piece of Amber. Let me tell you now, that was the only information I had.
- “Your wand will need some Amber from Egypt”
Did the Goddess, who told me this know how big a place Egypt is? Possibly not, what is size to such beings? Here I was then on my 4th day in Egypt and my second in Cairo. The only tour I had booked as part of my journey was happening this day…the pyramids and sphinx half-day tour. I had already been to the pyramids the previous (and first) day of my visit. I had claimed the second reason for my Egyptian adventure, the Element of Fire on that afternoon.
The tour guide said that there were a couple of more pickups before we got to the pyramids, me being the first. Eventually there were 7 of us in the bus when we arrived at the Area of the Great Pyramid. The tour guide told us all sorts of stuff about the pyramids, but I was only paying half an attention. The other tourists were initially interested in my dowsing but soon got bored – to my delight – and I was left in relative peace to dowse.
At one point we were taken to what is called the Panoramic Viewing Area, which is where the movie shots are done (with a little Photoshop to remove Cairo from the background). Here is where the dowsing rods, oddly enough, got interesting. Was there anything for me to learn here? Yes. I was surprised as there was nothing here except tourists, camels, hawkers and busses. Still, I asked the rods to direct me as to where this learning could occur and they pointed me out into the desert opposite the pyramids!
Looking into the distance I could see some camels and people. I asked the tour guide whether those people where hawkers offering camel rides? He replied that they were Bedouin. Really? I asked the rods how important it was that I go out to visit these Bedouin? Ten, out of ten. Like, very important then. Was there any place else I could gain this learning? No. It was to do with my Amber and Wand quest so I couldn’t really say no. There was a voice in my mind saying you…came 3000 miles, what’s another couple? To the chagrin of the tour guide – who told me flatly that they would not wait and that I wasn’t allowed to go out there, I set off across the desert.
Now, you might know this, but walking in the desert sand is not like the beach. It is hard to walk in a place where your feet get swallowed in a half-foot of sand with each step and you are only wearing street trainers. To add to this, after twenty minutes or so of walking the camels and camp didn’t seem to have come closer. On the far out reaches of my mind, I wonder whether it was a mirage. My only safety net (and it was a big one) was that there was no way I was getting lost, not with the Great Pyramid behind me.
However, distance caved to footsteps and eventually I could make out the camp, well a couple of sheets of cloth tagged to poles and the fifteen or so people, maybe two families sans cousins? As I approached, another sacred journey truth came to my realisation.
- When on a sacred journey, rational questions don’t enter your consciousness.
In this instance, it was only as I stepped before the watching Bedouin did I realise that I don’t speak Arabic! Oh Crap! They seemed friendly enough. I greeted them and motioned to myself and there camp. “Could I come in?” They spoke to me, I guess since I kind of can be taken for an Egyptian they assumed I was one. Of course I didn’t understand but assumed it was an invite and walked in.
One of the guys, I later learned his name, Mehmood, spoke to me again and I told him that I only spoke English. He shouted into the ‘tent’ and a young (maybe 12 years old) girl came out. Amazing she could speak pretty good English. Laila (as was her name) told me that her father Mehmood was saying that I walk like a snake. I was puzzled, until he smiled and made a zigzagging movement with his hands. Ah…the light went on in my head. Like following a feminine energy line I thought.
The semi-translated conversation turned to the rods I was carrying and using and I told him that I was a seeker (point to eyes) of the heart/spirit (place hand on heart). Like this and with the help of the amazing Laila, I managed to convey that I was seeking something from them. I was allowed to dowse the camp and the rods came to rest on Mehmood. His fellows laughed and asked him to empty out his pockets (or at least that’s what I translated it as, since he began to). Eventually, his pockets emptied and I dowsed over them. Nothing!
To say I was disappointed is an understatement, after all I had just walked a mile in the sand and managed to effectively communicate with a group of Bedouin and now I was faced with nothing. Dejected I shook my head in the negative to the sitting group and they invited me to drink tea with them, perhaps in commiseration?
The tea was awful, it tasted like it was made from olives or at least the water used had had olives in it. But I guessed that it would be disrespectful to refuse so, with a forced smile. I drank it up. As I was about to go, Laila was called again and she brought with her a small bottle. Mehmood, then anointed his fellow family and me with a nice smelling oil from the bottle, on the wrist of my left hand. I smelled it, it was okay.
I asked Laila what the name of the oil was and she rushed into her tent. Coming back a few minutes later with a battered English to Egyptian dictionary, she pointed to a word in it. Amber.
Kal Malik
