On December 15, 2012, during the midst of another Egyptian crisis (this time over their proposed Constitution which affords dictatorial powers to new President Mohamed Morsi), I left for Egypt to welcome the New Age, which we at Oracle call the Fifth Spiritual Paradigm. In total, there were six women on the journey, including me, my mother Pat, and my daughter Erin. We were led by Grace Yuksek, A.R.E. guide and mystic, and accompanied by soul sisters Olivia and Beverly.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The day before the Solstice, we officially began our preparation at the Temple of Philae – the “Jewel of the Nile” – which was built to honor the Egyptian goddess Isis, wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, the original “trinity.” The temple is located on an island and is therefore accessible only by boat. Normally thronged with tourists, we had the temple mostly to ourselves and were able to do our first ceremony in the room dedicated to the birth of Horus.

I lit a candle to honor the original “virgin birth.” We held hands around the flame, and Grace led us is in a Bonding Meditation aimed at unifying the six of us for our upcoming Solstice work and connecting us to the primordial feminine energy that radiates in the birthing chamber of Isis. Afterward, we all agreed that our greatest contribution to the Solstice is our feminine energy, which everyone must access in order for the New Age to commence. We pronounced our intent to be sisters, brought together to honor the Sacred Feminine and Venus, the planet that represents love and makes a pentacle in the sky.

Friday, December 21, 2012

We opened our day by visiting the Giza Plateau. Grace instructed us to select a name which incorporates “el” (of God). I chose Laurel (my pen name), my mother became Joel (after Joan of Arc); Erin was Arial (after the Little Mermaid and her Sun sign Aries); Olivia became Oliviel; Beverly used her surname Elba; and Grace uses Elqa for such occasions (an ancient Atlantean temple consecrated in love).

We performed a Purification Ceremony at 9:00 am, as the Sun lit up a crystal clear morning and illumined the plateau before us. We used incense and holy water from Israel, along with oil and manna that I received at my ordination from High Malku Priest Robert Martin, Patriarch of the Ancient and Sovereign Order of Melchizedek in Floyd, Virginia. Grace conducted the ceremony and I assisted. We cleansed our minds and hearts in preparation for our formal Solstice ceremony later that morning. It was the first time my daughter had ever participated in ceremony and I was so pleased to share this moment with her and my mother: three generations of females dedicated to the New Age. Afterward, the six of us hugged and cried and beamed. Inside, I felt a current, a washing away of residue – archonic dark energies – that had attached to me over the course of my work with Oracle. I asked for and received a sense of purity and renewed purpose that stayed with me for the rest of our trip.

Next, we mounted horses and camels to caravan to a site on the plateau which the locals call the Solar Cross. It is a deep, seemingly bottomless pit where, legend recites, the god Thoth (a/k/a Hermes) connected to Planetary Consciousness. Our local guide, Abdalla, grew up at the Guardian Guest House adjacent to the plateau, and as a child he played soccer and freely roamed about the pyramids and Sphinx before they were fenced off. He knew of this sacred place and wanted to share it with us at the time of the Universal Solstice: 11:11 am.

Surrounding this pit, we conducted a Ceremony of Intention, during which we took turns using words of power to declare our hopes for the New Age and to discard negativity from the passing age. Grace spoke of the emerging Fifth Root Race, the term Edgar Cayce used to describe the next generation of humans. I spoke of the coming Fifth World, the Hopi term for the next cycle of involution. I also spoke of the Fifth Spiritual Paradigm. It is notable that the number five is common to these prophecies, and one of the reasons Oracle chose the pentacle for its icon.

As we worked, I felt a deep and physically binding connection to the Earth, the other women, and to the greater community of humankind. In my awareness, we were able to generate a current of energy that spun through us and around the Solar Cross. I saw an energy toroid funneling down into the pit and up into the sky, propelling our pure intentions in all directions: around the plateau, to my fiancé Steve, to my sons, to my friends in Independence, Floyd and Charlottesville, to my mentor Tomiko, to lightworkers at Damanhur, to President Barack Obama, and to my recently passed grandmother in heaven …

When we remounted the animals and headed for the pyramids, black clouds suddenly filled the sky! I asked Abdalla how often it rains in Cairo, and he replied, “Four or five times a year.” Later, raindrops started to fall and we were pleased to receive this Sign. We rejoiced that our purified intentions were now sprinkling the Earth.

We spent the rest of the day at the Giza Plateau, which was mostly devoid of tourists due to the fact that the Egyptian government closed the Great Pyramid on the Solstice (originally, we were scheduled to be in the Great Pyramid on December 21, 2012). Nevertheless, “New Agers” meandered and meditated about the plateau, and we greeted them with smiles of acknowledgement and comradery.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

This morning, we left early for Abu Ghurab Temple, a site that is often closed to the public and rarely visited. Built near the pyramids at Abu Sir, this ruin contains an alabaster altar that is rumored to be a stargate. Grace invited me to sit upon the altar. Moved by her generous offer, I climbed upon the magnificent crystal platform and prepared myself for our next ritual.

The wind was whipping fiercely and I closed my eyes, the better to feel new energies emerging. Grace began to speak, her velvet voice working upon my soul. She invited us to join in a Dedication Ceremony, and tears came to my eyes, as the voices of my sisters encircled me. We shouted out that which we wish to manifest in the coming age. Beautiful words of power: hope, compassion, respect, community, trust, gratitude, kindness, understanding, intimacy, cooperation, evolution, joy, brotherhood, sisterhood, empathy, awareness, health, ascension, forgiveness, unity, faith, peace, enlightenment, and love.

We dedicated ourselves, as instruments of the Divine, to spreading these blessed intentions. And we pledged to assist humanity as mothers, daughters, and sisters of the New Age. With regard to my work at Oracle, Grace spoke additional words of power to energize Oracle’s volunteers and our sacred mission. She specifically blessed the Peace Pentagon and gifted it to the world. I felt lighter, lightness, as my body evaporated in the wind. Then, Grace invited each of the other ladies to sit upon the altar. Erin went next, and she appeared to me as a perfect vision of maidenhood atop the alabaster podium. In turn, we women shared the altar and the moment, encouraging and inspiring one another to be Mistresses of the Light.

After lunch, we returned to our hotel to prepare for our final ceremony in the Great Pyramid. There was much to bring: white gowns, special jewelry and stones (Grace gave each of us a gown, ankh necklace, and clear and amethyst crystals). In addition, I brought candles, rose petals, the Melchizedek oil and manna, a pentacle box containing items to be embedded in the foundation of the Peace Pentagon (including pieces of Jacob’s Stone), a serpentine cane I acquired at Philae, and items given to me by friends who wanted their most prized possessions energized during our culminating ritual. We left the hotel and raced to the Giza Plateau!

We arrived just a few minutes late and entered the Great Pyramid a little after 4:00 pm. We would be in the pyramid for a total of two hours, with unfettered access to both the Queen and King’s chambers (both misnamed). Immediately, Erin began to hyperventilate in the tight passageway. She announced that she could go no further. Sadly, I advised her to turn back if she felt it necessary (while secretly praying she would stay with us). But it was not meant to be, as she tearfully headed back to the pyramid’s entrance. We were now five.

We stayed briefly in the Queens’ Chamber. While there, we chanted “ohm” and then raised our voices in song. Erin later told us that she could hear us singing as she left the pyramid and that it gave her strength to make it back through the tight tunnel.

We then solemnly made our way to the King’s Chamber. Before we started ritual, I noticed the five relieving chambers, which are five recessed crevices in the stone wall. We immediately understood the symbolism, as there were five of us left and our intent was to welcome the Fifth Spiritual Paradigm. We then quickly donned our white initiation gowns and prepared an altar. We lit candles and I added the serpent staff, representative of feminine energy, which I had acquired at the Temple of Isis.

It was then time to commence our Initiation Ceremony. Grace began with a reading based on Edgar Cayce’s memories of Atlantis and the Temple Beautiful, wherein Initiates of old were ordained. She reminded us of our planet’s rich history, a superhuman legacy of reaching for heaven, within and beyond, and achieving spiritual ascension. Then she asked each of us to speak. The elder in the chamber, my mother Pat, took the staff and spoke first, reciting, briefly, the many challenges women have faced during this passing era of patriarchy. Pat, now Joel, recounted the many trials and betrayals that women have suffered at the hands of male dominated institutions, in particular the five primary religions which continue to subjugate the feminine half of God. She ended by declaring our intent to finish the hard work of birthing a more balanced paradigm, and our goal of passing the torch to the next generation of women, who shall be the beneficiaries of a more holistic, more enlightened age.

With nagging thoughts that my daughter might be lost inside the Great Pyramid, I asked Grace whether Erin would be safe exiting the long dark passageway without assistance: “Is there only one way into and out of the pyramid?” Grace assured me that Erin could not possibly be lost, and that likely she already was outside waiting with our guide. Just then, I got a vivid image of Erin, now Ariel, passing safely through the tunnel – a birth canal – while her five mothers of the Fifth World complete their labor and begin to celebrate her birthday!

Next, we approached the sarcophagus at the back of the chamber. It was time to be formally initiated into the sacred service of our Creator. Grace had each of us lie down inside the stone container as a symbol of death, going into the void to meet God and find answers. As we emerged from the sarcophagus, she anointed us with oil and called us by our new names: “Blessings upon you, Initiate Laurel, daughter of Truth, Love, and Light.”

At the end of the ceremony, we each ingested more of the manna I had saved from my Melchizedek ordination. We hugged each other and took a quick picture. SUDDENLY WE WERE IN TOTAL DARKNESS! Utter panic flooded my body. After a few seconds the lights came back on, and Grace said it was our cue to leave. Thankfully, when we emerged Erin was waiting outside. I held her tight and filled my lungs with cool night air. I am claustrophobic too, and the air inside the pyramid was stale and hot. It wasn’t until I was outside again that I realized I was drenched in sweat. I laughed, “It’s hard work giving birth!”

Yet, I felt numb inside, like I was out of body. This sensation of detachment grew over the next few days and stayed with me upon my return home. It is with me still, and it is only now that I feel capable of processing and integrating lessons from my Solstice journey into Egypt.

A Turning Point?

The end of the Mayan Calendar and the planet’s 26,000 year processional did mark a “Turning Point.” Not the rapturous event that some Christian fundamentalists envisioned, nor the multi-dimensional union that some New Agers hoped for … but a Turning Point nonetheless. Now that the hoopla is over and we face the same problems which existed before the Solstice, perhaps we will finally accept the harsh reality that no Spiritual Revolution has ever taken place without serious commitment, hard work, and an advanced moral vision of how to manifest positive social change.

The truth is that Washington is completely dysfunctional – controlled by the banks, the oil companies, the health care industry, and the military industrial complex. Our Constitution is in shambles, the Supreme Court compromised, and our civil rights vitiated. We commit torture, accept war as a perpetual state of affairs, and interfere in the natural evolution of other nations that can do us no harm. Our media is censored, our food is patented and poisoned, solid science is ignored, and global warming and water shortages are imminent. In short, men of power are turning the United States into a monstrous empire that even enslaves its own citizens, through unconscionable disparities in wealth, substandard public education, fear of militarized police, and actual, physical imprisonment. Surely, this is NOT the Turning Point that people of faith – both Evangelical and New Age – were hoping to see …

Oracle’s “Trickle-Down Deity Theory” explains the current chaos. When we worship only half of God’s magnificence, masculine “can do” energy is unchecked by and elevated above feminine “should do” energy. This encourages aggressive behavior, the misuse of technology, and the misapplication of scarce resources. “Daddy Deism” also supports systemic patriarchy and latent misogyny within all levels of society. Consequently, men of power want Sophia to stay veiled, and they seize upon the Godhead’s imbalance to promote all manner of inequity.

Since returning home after the Solstice, I realize that a dystopian future still may manifest. Moreover, I sense that the future of the human race is being decided RIGHT NOW. It is not a sense of total foreboding, but it is a feeling of personal powerlessness to craft the outcome. Usually, I do not feel irrelevant. Normally, my work feels significant (if not for the present then for the future). However, I am more convinced than ever that a positive Turning Point – a utopian future – will not occur unless “We the People” meet with our neighbors, collaborate, and create communities that are economically independent, environmentally sustainable, and spiritually focused.

I trust that Oracle’s Peace Pentagon will be the focal point of such a community one day. In the meantime, I wish to share the most comforting perception yet about my Egyptian journey:

I am grateful to have shared this Solstice adventure with five of my sisters,
Including my beloved mother and my cherished daughter.
May feminine wisdom, justice, and mercy bring peace to this planet!
And may I be a perfect vessel of Truth, Love, and Light.

For the good of All and according to the free will of All.
And so it mote be …