Today I visited Dendera, a 1.5 hour drive from where I am staying in Luxor which is a journey in itself as you get to see the smaller villages and people. You really see how the Nile and its offshoots still nourish the lands and her people to this day. You see the children running to their buses to be taken to school, the farmers with their crops and animals. I couldn’t help but feel as though their lives are so simple compared to the lives we lead in our “progressive” countries.
Dendera is the temple complex of Hathor often depicted as the sacred cow, interestingly for most part of my journey there we were following a truck carrying a beautiful cow.
As we got closer to Dendera I began to hear a beautiful voice humming a tune from within, I closed my eyes to feel for it to come closer to me and felt Hathor welcoming me. I always feel Hathor, rather than see her. An expansive all encompassing energy that once I feel, I hear and embody. She really can teach you how to open to your inner priestess.
Hathor is known as the mother and wife of Horus, which is the meaning of her name - het which means house and Hor meaning Horus. She is the womb and home of Horus interchanging with Isis, Bast, Nut and Sekhmet throughout differing stories. Stories which assist in relaying the meaning beyond the words.
Hathors temple really tells a story. One of the sky, the nourishment of a mother, the history of worship to name but a few.
What I love about Egypt as a teacher is that she tells each of us a unique story and I am absolutely loving hearing my guide Hussams. To see Egypt through his lens as well as my own has been a trip back in time and also through the realms unseen. Activating a deeper relearning through all senses, all bodies - a complete remembering.
Each temple was originally an island, once you know this you can’t under it. As we arrived we passed the old port where the Nile would have once reached. Crossing the bridge from old waters to sacred lands we began by visiting the Mammisi which is seen as the birth house of the king.
Following this we went to the now dried up Sacred lake where those visiting the temple would wash before entering for prayer and offering. I could feel the similarity of worship, the sacred threads that have travelled through time.
I’m not sure if the words from here on will do the explorations of this temple complex any justice but I was gifted here today in many ways. The most powerful part of this temple for me personally was in a small room that you reach by a ladder where Hathor stands carved in the wall. I visited this hidden place last year too but something about the entire way we moved through the temple to arrive to her today brought her alive in me.
The sky goddess Nut (pronounced Noot) can be seen arching over you in multiple places the sky mother whose body holds all of the stars, who swallows each night and births the sun each morning.
Dendera also shows the entire calendar systems of Ancient Egypt under the arching Nut in the first hypostyle hall and besides her in the zodiac chapel.
Take in all you can from the photos, and enjoy.
My day then led to a visit to the hotel "zoo" where I was blessed to hold some baby goats and feed some monkeys and pelicans! Hathor is known to speak to us through animals, being bovine in nature herself. I feel as though the entire day has been her.
With love,
Gemma x
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