Anubis on The Thames

Guest post by Naomi Ozaniec

On the 3rd of October 2007 Anubis entered the city of London. His presence embodied in a statue 25ft high was floated upon the Thames on a barge. Traveling by water to the heart of the capital to promote the forthcoming Tutankhamun exhibition, this current procession presents us with an image not witnessed for millennia: a god rides upon the waters in triumphal entry to make way for the coming of the king.

For the Egyptians this was a familiar scene; the sacred sailing upon the waters was an event of great significance. The Nile like the Thames was the life-blood to a nation. For the Egyptians however the river itself was held to be sacred- a connection we have severed at our cost.

When great rivers become merely utilitarian waterways something invaluable is cast away.

Perhaps the startling image of the god riding upon the waters might jog the collective memory towards a moment of awakening.

Anubis, called, ‘the opener of the ways’ is a fitting figure to open this new Egyptian presentation. The face of the boy-king has become a global icon; it gazes back at us as we gaze upon it, and in that brief moment as his image becomes imprinted in the mind, we glimpse the Egyptian aspiration to honour and sanctify the divine life.

The image of Anubis in his familiar resting pose was placed within Tutankhamun’s tomb. The jackal face guardian of the Duat as the guardian of the necropolis like a faithful and most beloved dog was ready to lead the soul of the king back to the greater world.

But the less familiar image of Anubis as a jackal headed young man carries a different message. He is The Keeper of the Great Door. What lies beyond the portal is for the true spiritual seeker to discover. But in the time honored tradition, “Ask and it shall be given, knock and it shall be opened.”

At this time of spiritual renewal, Anubis comes to London. Ostensibly his figure invites the world to gaze on the outer mysteries of Egyptian glory but for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, his appearance is as the emissary to the inner mysteries of being and becoming.

Though the outer form has passed away, the spiritual heart still lives and Anubis stands it the threshold where he offers the ankh, the key of life to all who ask.

Entering London upon the Thames, Anubis also brings the gifts of Isis for the great river is sourced from the Thameshead in Gloucestershire and flows from there to Oxford where it is known as the Isis.

In this living synchronicity, nature brings the Egyptian tradition to London, one of the great spiritual centres of the word. For some, Anubis comes as a talismanic act, revivifying an ancient tradition.

For others he comes merely at the behest of smart publicists as part of an advertising campaign. But advertising must imprint its message into the collective mind to be successful and as an archetypal image Anubis already exists in the collective imagination.

Presenting his form in this startling and powerful manner serves as an invocation even if not intended. Archetypal powers cannot be confined to suit publicity professionals.

The Millennium Dome offers its own invitation. Its logo the O2 sign is the chemical symbol for oxygen which is vital to life, indeed to the breath of life itself. In Egyptian iconography the ankh is often extended to the nose so that its gift of life may be breathed in.

Where such life affirming symbols compliment each other, so enrichment and enhancement must surely follow.

Anubis comes to the capital city where wealth and power reside. His unspoken message is not one of reproach for the Egyptians enjoyed both wealth and power. But he comes to remind us that shared wealth heals and power under wisdom liberates.

Egyptian glory whether through the arts or in building was servant to a sacred philosophy which affirmed the inherent divinity of life.

The tomb of the boy-king is rich with this encoded message. Symbols of life, eternal and undying abound in his resting place both to honour his physical life and prepare his soul for a new life.  His face, framed for eternity comes as friend from the distant past reminding us of a different world view and asking us to look at the world we have created.

Without a word being spoken, the boy-king and the guardian god together bring a healing message from the past to the present

Appearing on no less than 75 TV stations in America and spread via the internet, in silent eloquence they come to announce a forgotten philosophy to a world in need of reminding.

Naomi Ozaniec is the Custodian of the House of Life. She is a priestess, author and workshop facilitator. Naomi’s books include practical guides to many aspects of the Western Mystery Tradition. For more information see Amazon and www.thehouseoflife.co.uk

Sometimes

just the right

question

will open up worlds

of unknown

potential

within us:

1. If you had all the money in the world what would you do?
2. Do you think doing and being are the same thing?
3. What does being really mean for you?
4. Do you really think mean people will get their just deserts?
5. Speaking of desert, vanilla or chocolate?
6. Top or bottom?
7. If you could be one person who would it be?
8. Who would you love to have lunch with?
9. Why do people have liquid lunches?
10. Do you think going with the flow is just an excuse for lazy people?
11. Are people lazy or just uninspired?
12. What inspires you?
13. Who inspires you?
14. What do you do to inspire others?
15. Are comedies a form of therapy?
16. Is it better to laugh or cry?
17. What is the first thing you think about when you wake up?
18. What’s the last thing you think about before you fall asleep?
19. Do you believe in soul mates?
20. Do you believe we have a soul?
21. If the present moment is where the power is why do we spend so much time dreaming of the future or reliving the past?
22. Why do old people always remember the good ole days as opposed to looking forward to the good days to come?
23. What makes a good day a good day?
24. Is the world full of good and bad, right and wrong, black and white?
25. Is white really a symbol of hope?
26. Do you hope that the world will change?
27. Who do you think should be president of the world?
28. Do we really need presidents?
29. What do we really need to survive ourselves?
30. Is there really a self?

+1. What is the greatest question we can ask our children?

Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Insights into The Ancient Egyptian Wisdom

The Boat of Millions of Years by Naomi Ozaniec

The Sacred Science of Ancient Egypt has much to offer us as we search to make a new paradigm a reality. Although the complex Egyptian pantheon can appear confusing, the application of a few simple keys will reveal a practical and profound understanding of nature and the cosmos.

Key 1 Divine Templates – The Neteru

The divine figures so often called, ‘gods’ and ‘goddesses’ are more properly called, neter and in the plural neteru which translates more properly as, ‘cosmic power.’ Often depicted traveling through the sky in the Boat of Millions of Years, the Neteru belong to eternal time.

These ‘gods’ are not grand projections of human qualities  but eternal and everlasting powers, divine templates of truth-justice, knowledge-learning, death-renewal, wisdom-compassion, beauty-love, and power-purification among them. Egyptian life was based upon the conscious manifestation of these powers as cultural and spiritual realities at different levels of life, in the cosmos, in nature, in human life and in the temple.

Key 2 Being and Becoming

Although we cannot help but think of gods and worship in the same breath, the Egyptians had no word for ‘worship’! In the temple tradition, the relationship with the neteru was one of recognition, identification and assimilation. In other words, the relationship between the human and the divine was one of Being and Becoming.

This dynamic relationship opens the way for a practical creativity and the exaltation of human consciousness. The Sacred Science as a body of knowledge and tradition enshrined the various ways of manifesting these powers in the physical world through rituals, offerings, festivals and ceremonies.

Key 3 Thinking Anew

It is not possible to enter into the relationship of Becoming with the intellectual-rational mind that characterizes our typical Western mentality. A new paradigm characterised by wholeness and connectivity can only arise from a different mindset. Here we may learn directly from the Ancient Wisdom.

Rosemary Clarke summarises this difference: ‘The communicating bridge between the Neteru and the human condition is the innate intelligence….the intelligence of the heart.’

This awakened consciousness is marked by three qualities: Simultaneity, Pairing and Association. If you apply this simple approach to even a single thought, it is easy to see how these qualities begin to knit the experience of life together and form the basis of a holistic consciousness.

The Egyptians understood and represented the innate connectivity of all life and endowed human consciousness with the potential for spiritual exaltation and co-creation in harmony with the Neteru. Egyptian culture shows us the results of this practical wisdom, we too might benefit from manifesting the Neteru, the cosmic powers.

Naomi Ozaniec is the Director of Studies for the House of Life. She is a priestess, author and workshop facilitator. Naomi’s books include practical guides to many aspects of the Western Mystery Tradition. For more information see Amazon and www.thehouseoflife.co.uk

Ancient Wisdom From The Land Down Under

by Ian Paul Marshall

When most people think of Australia images of koala bears, crocodile hunters and didgeridoos come to mind. But the land down under is also rich with a spiritual heritage that dates back thousands of years.

To find Australia’s hidden spiritual treasure one must turn their sights away from the countries modern cities and surftowns and journey into the outback in search of an ancient race of people whose stories trace back to the beginning of time itself.

A people that live close to the earth, respecting her sacredness, beauty and wisdom. They view themselves as mere custodians of the planet, nothing is truly theirs, and they do their best to work in harmony with nature and the seasons taking only what they need. A concept that is embodied in the statement “Tread Lightly”

Australia is spotted with various tribes and clans and it is from the Ya-dtmidungt people of southern region of the country that we have been graced with the following philosophies:

Everything Is One

Everything and every person is inextricably linked as part of one creative force, universal soul, sacred vitality. All we need to remind us of this truth, of this connection to all that surrounds us is our breath. For the air we breath connects us not only to each other but also to the world in which we live.

We Are All Creators In The Process Of Creating

Everything we do effects all that is around us. Realize that all our thoughts, words, actions, even animate and inanimate objects, impart their own energy or vibration upon the earth to form the ongoing creation of the world. The power is in our own hands. We are all creators in the process of creating

Now Is The Moment Of Your Being

A sacred and profound presence is deep within every form as our essential nature. A magical power that can only be found within the present moment of our lives. When we bring our thoughts to the present moment and begin to live in the now, all concepts of time, past and future, melt away. The veil of illusion is torn aside and our true essence is revealed. A perfect state of pure being.

A Varied Perspective Is The Key To Perception

While your truth and my truth are not the same, each person’s truth is equally valid. Therefore it is important to respect that someone else’s truth is as valid as your own. A varied perspectives is the key to perception.

Truth Is The Path

By living in harmony with your own truth, being true to the universe, true to each other and respecting the interconnectedness of all things, we find the true path of nature, secure health and well-being. We all have a song to sing and our songs make up the rhythm of life.

The beauty of the above philosophies is that no matter what your religious or spiritual backgrounds may be, the wisdom of the aboriginal people can aid you in your journey or spiritual quest. For in truth all paths lead to the same destination. May you tread lightly upon your own.

Copyright © – Permission is granted to copy and redistribute this article on the condition that the content remains complete, full credit is given to the author(s), the links are active with no sneaky “no follow” in the code and that it is distributed freely. Source: Ian Paul Marshall

Have you found your soul mate?
If yes please share your insights:

Take The Soul Mate Science Questionnaire!

Existence is the question, your life is the answer.

The Call Of The New Paradigm

© Ian Paul Marshall

I give thanks for this precious moment,
This chance to be alive.
For life is sacred, special, and a fragile thing.

Realizing that it may end at any moment
I give thanks for all that I have
And strive to live each day to the fullest.

I have come to realize the power that is within me.
That my former thoughts, words and actions
Became my present state
And right now, in this moment, I’m creating my future.

Understanding this awesome power that I have
It’s my deepest prayer to realize my supreme potential
In the liberated free-play of consciousness,
In this vast expanse,
So that I may inspire others to do the same.

I impress upon my consciousness
States of perfection
Perfect Being, which I’ve found Within
Perfect Wisdom, which I’ve found in Oneness
Perfect Compassion which I’ve found within humanity.

I now know that I live, breathe, and have my being
Within a living field of unified consciousness.
All things arise and fall
Within this field of consciousness.
A sea of infinite potential.
Where thoughts and phenomena,
Are the free play of space.

And in this moment
While there is this “I”
I begin to see the world as it really is,
Perfect and pure.
Where every atom vibrates with joy
And is held together by love.
Where everything is fresh and meaningful,
Radiant with unlimited potential.

I affirm that all the people of the world are created equal and pure,
That abundance, joy, health, and peace
Are the natural and complete states of our being.
I accept these now for myself,
And in doing so I’ve accepted these gifts for all of humanity.

I know now that I have a purpose in life
We all do
And everyday I express that purpose,
And I allow others to do the same.

For I know that we’re all one.
I’m another you
You’re another me
Me is transformed into We
and we’re all in this together.
So I reach out my hands and care for all of life
And I embrace all of the world
Knowing that I have truly touched
The very essence of my own existence.

I give myself the permission to be a miracle
I give myself over to the world
And use my life and all I can share Consciously
So that I may benefit whoever may cross my path.
Even if it’s for just a moment.

For I know it’s in moments like these,
That all of existence is unfolding through us,
And I become certain that heaven is truly here on earth,
And that life is beautiful, perfect and exactly as it should be.

I have become an expression of perfection.

And so it is.

OM.

This work was inspired by:

Alex Grey & the 16th Karmapa Rangjung Ripe Dorje

Copyright © – Permission is granted to copy and redistribute this article on the condition that the content remains complete, full credit is given to the author(s), the links are active and that it is distributed freely. Source: Ian Paul Marshall

The Cathar Prophecy

The Prophecy of the Cathars 1244

And the Cathars proclaimed that…

It has no fabric, only understanding.
It has no membership save those who know they belong.
It has no rivals, because it is non-competitive.
It has no ambition, because it only seeks to serve.
It knows of no boundaries, for nationalisms are unloving.
It is not of itself, because it seeks to enrich all groups and religions
It acknowledges all great teachers of all the ages who have shown the truth of love.
Those who participate practice the truth of love in all their beings.
There is no walk of life or nationality that is a barrier. Those who are, know.
It seeks not to teach, but to be – and by being, enrich. It recognizes that the way we are may be the way of those around us, because we are that way.
It recognizes the whole planet as a being of which we are a part.
It recognizes that the time has come for the supreme transition, the ultimate alchemical act of conscious change of the ego into the voluntary return to the whole.
It does not proclaim itself with a loud voice but in the subtle realms of loving.
It salutes all those in the past who have blazoned the path but have paid the price.
It admits no hierarchy or structure, for no one is greater than another.
The members shall know each other by their deeds, and their being, and by their eyes and by no other sign save the fraternal embrace.
Each one will dedicate their life to the silent loving of their neighbor and environment and our world, while carrying out their daily task, no matter how humble.
It recognizes the supremacy of the great ideal, which may only be accomplished if the human race practices the supremacy of Love.
It has no reward to offer, either here or in the hereafter, save that of the ineffable joy of being and loving.
Each shall seek to advance the cause of understanding, doing good by stealth and teaching only by example.
They shall heal their neighbor, their community and their world.
They shall know no fear and feel no shame and their witness shall prevail over all odds.
It has no secret, no Arcanum, no initiation, save that of true understanding of the power of love and that, if we want to be so, the world will change if we change ourselves first.
All those who belong, do so because they belong to the Church of Love.

- The Cathar Prophesy of 1244

Sacred Sexuality & Sexual Healing

“Sex shall be our salvation!”

Does your sacred include sexuality? Have you given thought to this concept? Have you given yourself permission to be completely creative? For creation is the ecstasy of eternity.

Existence includes everything.

Sex was the doorway which opened wide to give passage to the miracle of you.

Sex can never be separated from your spirituality.

You’ll meet a teacher, Guru, or spiritual tradition that will teach to avoid sex. They will tell you that sex is evil or that sex isn’t part of your spiritual progression, or some other non-sense.

These People Are Schizophrenic And Their Doctrines Create Madness

But if you pay close attention to these people you will notice something quite peculiar.

These same people are completely focused on sex. All of their energies are centered upon it. That’s what all their sermons will be about. Avoid sex. Think not of sex. Sex is the root of all evil and suffering.

Sex, sex, sex.

These people are schizophrenic and their doctrines create madness. They separate you from yourself. Telling you to walk proud while using only one leg. And yes you can walk on one leg but you will struggle greatly. You will be off balance. All you will think about is using the other leg all the time because deep down inside you will know that what you’re doing is ridiculous. That these thoughts and actions are against your nature.

It May Be That Sex Is The Greatest Teacher Of Transcendence

When you move against your source you create disease. A conflict arises within yourself leading to a distance between you and you core. Your essence.

If you ever truly want to unleash the full potential of your self you must accept sex. Embrace it. Be at peace with it. Awaken your passion for life once more.

Sexual energy is spiritual energy. Sexual energy is powerful and creative. Sexual energy is the energy of transformation.

It may be that sex is the greatest teacher of transcendence. For it’s in sex that we have the first glimpse and taste of the divine. For sex is meditative. Sex is pure immersion in the moment. Of losing yourself into bliss.

You Are Pure Ecstasy

For once you go beyond the form you meet the formless. The movement leads to the motionless. Duality is absorbed into oneness.

For the energy of orgasm lifts us high beyond duality and shoots us deep into the source of all existence. In that moment of climax you’re no longer here nor there. Your no longer two people separate and distinct.

All these concepts lose their strength in the moment of orgasm. For you are pure ecstasy, pure energy, pure feeling, pure bliss.

All supreme states of awakening.

Sacred Sexuality Day 24 Exercise

There are two different exercises below. One may resonate more with you then the other but the main purpose of these exercise is to become comfortable with your body and embrace the fact that you are a sexual being.

Sacred Sexuality Massage Exercise

Before you go to sleep tonight I want you to set aside at least fifteen minutes of me time. You will need to purchase a nice almond oil or some other form of massage oil for this exercise. I have a beautiful massage oil that has rose oil in it. If you do choose a scented oil make sure that the smell resonates with you and that you’re not allergic to the ingredients.

Turn down the lights and put on some nice music that preferably is instrumental. Something subtle that you can play in the background. If you live with other people please tell them to not disturb you for the next little while.

If you feel compelled, take off all your clothes and get comfortable on the bed. Be sure to sit in such a way that you can see all your body. I like to prop myself up on some pillows.

Take a few minutes and gaze at yourself. Begin to appreciate your body and let your thoughts move toward affirmations such as:

“I love myself completely.”

“I AM a sexual being.”

“I embrace my sexuality.”

Then take your massage oil and begin to massage each and every inch of your body. Do this slowly and fully give yourself over to the movement and the moment. As you massage yourself continue to say to yourself either out loud or in your mind:

“I love myself completely.”

“I AM a sexual being.”

“I embrace my sexuality.”

Do the massage until every inch of your body has felt your loving touch. For as your truly begin to love and appreciate yourself a world of amazing potential and power will begin to flow through you.

Sacred Sexuality The Mirror Exercise

This exercise is best done while in front of a full length mirror.

Strip down naked but be sure to do this slowly and be mindful of any thoughts or feelings that may arise. These will give you a clear indicator of some of the issues that you may have in regards to this issue.

After you’ve stripped down naked move in front of the mirror. Now stand there still. Don’t say a word just gaze at yourself again being mindful of any thoughts and feelings. See what will be revealed to you.

After about 5 minutes look in the mirror deep into your own eyes and say to yourself out loud,

“I love you exactly as you are.”

Say this over and over until you begin to feel it.

Next I want you to place your hands on your sexual areas. Touch them and embrace them. Caress them. Be mindful of any feelings and thoughts that you may have. If you become sexually aroused that’s fantastic, just go with the flow, be present to the moment.

Close your eyes and say to yourself while you caress these areas:

“I love myself completely.”

“I AM a sexual being.”

“I embrace my sexuality.”

Lose yourself to the moment and the exploration of yourself. Notice any feelings that you may have of shame, fear, and guilt. These will be the key lessons that you will have to uncover and push past in order to heal.

Sexual healing may be one of the most difficult areas for you to awaken. Be patient with yourself and have fun. These simple exercises will help you to become complete and whole once more. A tremendous power and potential will begin to emerge from within you. Enjoy it and embrace it.

Ian

Here’s Some Other Sites Chatting About Sacred Sexuality

Sacred SeXuality – Tantra

Healing Power Of Sex

Sacred Sexuality A Community of Faith

Introduction to the 2nd Chakra and Tantric Sexuality

The news is depressing; everything we know is falling apart; the familiar bonds of work and financial security which hold society together are everywhere failing. Security and unpredictability are unfamiliar in the west, not so for much of rest of the world which has simply learned to live with chaos. But chaos is an alchemical process. The core of Western society is being dismembered, hacked into pieces by our own Sethian nature, the impulse to materialism and accretion run wild.

Osiris the Good God, the green-faced God of death and renewal was tricked by treachery, so everyman has been tricked by sleight of hand and deception. Osiris was made vulnerable by trust, likewise we have been betrayed by trust.

Through the enactment of the ancient mysteries, the Egyptians reminded themselves that life was cyclical, a repeating pattern of death, dismemberment and subsequent renewal. This mythic framework embraced both natural and human life, for the resurrection of Osiris, through the raising of the potent Djed Pillar, signifies the fertilising power of cyclical life. The resurrection of Christ is no longer the sustaining myth of western spirituality in the age of new belief; we are adrift. The New Age provides many things but it cannot offer any overarching framework, we must rather look to the Old Age of Primordial Tradition.

Disconnected from the primal myths of being and becoming, it is easy to lose sight of the essential interconnection with all life; the draught of forgetfulness or memory is offered to the initiate; we are now in the grip of a collective amnesia.

The remembering of Osiris, the primordial mythic quest, embodies the classic initiatory phases from death to rebirth in its three phases: questing, finding and rejoicing. Osiris, rendered into death, his body hacked into pieces and scattered throughout the land. This, the first initiatory phase of dissection and breaking is central to all initiating traditions. ‘As above, so below,’ says the Hermetic maxim; what exists in the microcosm exists in the macrocosm. The fabric of society is currently in a phase of dissection and dismemberment; for many the sudden disruption of the working life must feel like a kind of death.

Osiris meets his death at the hands of Set; aspiring to seize the kingdom, he has prepared a trap in the shape of an ornamented chest measured exactly to fit Osiris. At a feast Set promised to present it to the man who should find the chest to be exactly his length when he lay down in it. Each tried it in turn, but it fitted no one. Osiris alone was left, as soon as he lay down the lid was slammed shut and fastened by nails, carried to the river and sent it on its way to the sea.

On hearing this terrible news his loving wife and queen, Isis, cut off her hair and put on a mourning robe, wandering from place to place, not knowing what to do, she questioned everyone along the way. Emptied by weeping and in the depths of her sorrow she did not hesitate to do everything in her power to find her beloved; she quests to re-member that which has been so savagely dismembered After searching without ceasing, probably after several years, Isis, learned that the chest had been cast up by the sea on a foreign shore where a tree had grown around it. After another initiatory tale, she finally retrieved the chest which had become a coffin.

Osiris has waited upon the cycle of regeneration, dismembered and passive, he has been compelled to surrender to the forces of nature and time. Isis alone has been active in her desire to re-member. In this second phase, the initiate must passively await on the inner processes of regeneration, resting in the cocoon of the psyche as the work of transformation silently proceeds. We too are entering the stage of transformation; broken institutions, shattered corporate bodies, dismembered organisations, now all are subject to process and change.

Isis, the mourning mother and grieving wife has shared in the human condition. Her voice of lamentation; the voice of grief and loss was raised to the heavens, our shared cultural lament has been sounded on the streets carrying despair and rage, it is both a lament and a wake-up call. From the depths of her grief, she calls upon Thoth, the lord of wisdom; Isis too is a wisdom goddess; wisdom alone has the power to embrace all, emptied as it is of self-interest. As the power to seek the greatest good, wisdom should walk hand-in-hand with public service. The Seven Wise Men of Greece were legislators and advisers especially chosen for their quality of wisdom. Who might we choose as our seven wise men? Human folly: the absence of wisdom, has decimated institutions designed to spread wealth; greed, self-interest and the love of money by the few has stolen peace from the many.

Under the aegis of Thoth, the magical work of reconstruction begins. Step by step, stage by stage the process of renewal commences; nothing is impossible with the help of wisdom: wisdom is not a vacuous concept or a timid voice, but a robust and skilled clarity brought to bear without self-interest. Thoth the ancient Egyptian embodiment of wisdom brings expertise to his calling: writer, peacemaker and diplomatic go-between, physician, law giver and judge, the writer of the truth, ‘whose horror is the lie’, the lord of the laws, the teacher of rightful order and the balance between order and chaos. These are exactly the skills needed at this time of unprecedented global crisis. These are the saving skills, this is the path of salvation through the unknown and uncertain; not a salvation doled out by the invisible almighty but earned through the skill and wisdom of men. It is Thoth who breathes new life into the body: the phallic Djed pillar, the axis mundi, the spine of Osiris stands upright once more; natural order has been restored. These annual enactments aligned the Egyptians to simple truths that we have forgotten at our peril: life and death are equally dynamic phases in the cycle of rebirth and transformation.

In this last phase the initiate rendered outwardly deathlike by the intensity of inner remaking, comes now to a new understanding of life, renewed and reborn, the past has been sloughed off as an outworn garment. This time of transition between the Great Ages, as Pisces wanes and Aquarius beckons, so a radical transformation of values and priorities is inevitable and essential: chaos though a fearful state, releases energy to the alchemical process which recombines the essential elements into a new matrix.

Globalization is here, arriving in an unguarded moment along with the Internet revolution, the family of humanity diverse and extraordinary now has unprecedented opportunity to recognize itself as never before. Isis the winged Goddess of Ten Thousand Names through her infinite compassion will always seek out the dismembered beloved and preside over the Mysteries of Rebirth in the infinite cycle of being and becoming which makes the world new again.

The ancient Mysteries of death and rebirth belong not to the past but to the Eternal Present; their timeless truth is valid in every generation. These great rituals connect us to life, by transcending the trivial and the mundane, these enactments of life and death are the true Passion Plays. Known as The Mysteries, from the earliest times, these particular dramatic performances are a class set apart from all other the theatrical forms. Their purpose is not to entertain but to initiate, to awaken the spirit and immerse all participants in the process of renewing life.

The word mystery is derived from the Greek, myein meaning ‘to close’ referring to the lips or eyes, the gesture of silence: the finger raised to the lips is familiar to students of the Mysteries, generally understood to imply a secret or even a closed event. However Egyptian vocabulary is possibly more insightful with regard to such performances. There is no Egyptian word for worship, instead the word, iau implies the establishment of a relationship between the participant and the divinity. The word, sheta means mystery but in daily use it means ‘hidden’, ‘concealed’ or ‘unprecedented.’ In a religious context the word means ‘a truly religious secret.’ The word djeser is usually translated ‘magnificent’ or ‘exalted,’ but it also means, ‘secluded,’ ‘inaccessible’ or ‘hidden.’ The verb bes means ‘to usher in’ or ‘to enter.’ It is used to describe the investiture of the pharaoh, the installation of a priest and a cultic secret. These words take us beyond the gesture of silence into the Mysteries of the Primordial Tradition: hidden, magnificent, exalted, and unprecedented experiences which usher in a relationship between the divinity and the devotee.

Since it is my wish to keep these ancient sacred enactments alive, the Mysteries of Isis and Osiris will be performed in 2010.

Naomi Ozaniec is the Director of Studies for the House of Life. She is a priestess, author and workshop facilitator. Naomi’s books include practical guides to many aspects of the Western Mystery Tradition. For further information see Amazon and www.thehouseoflife.co.uk