Cairo’s infamous “City of the Dead” is a centuries old cemetery that has become home to as many as 5 million Egyptians during the last decades. The buildings in the cemetery are like full-blown houses and the cemetery has long had mosques, school and markets. “The historic belief in Egypt is that the cemeteries are an active part of the community and not exclusively for the dead. Egyptians have not so much thought of cemeteries as a place of the dead, but rather a place where life
Continue reading A Visit to Cairo’s City of the Dead
On our last trip we docked near a small village in upper Egypt and went into the town (this is one of the advantages to sailing on a private dahabeya) where we ran across a wedding celebration. The local woman were dancing in the streets and they just spontaneously invited us to join them. It
Continue reading HD Video: Wedding Celebration, Egyptian Village near Kom Ombo
Here’s a 7 minute promo video about our private luxury Nile cruise-ship “The Afandina.” Spirit Quest Tours’ next three trips will feature this incredible experience.
Continue reading Video: The Afandina
There’s a very nice interview with me about all aspects of spiritual travel in Circles of Light. Take a look: http://www.circlesoflight.com/blog/spirit-quest-tours/
Continue reading A new interview in “Circles of Light”
Here’s another great little treasure from the immensely talented Paulo Coelho, that he’s made freely available to everyone. It’s called “Statutes for Life.”
Continue reading Paulo Coelho’s Statutes For Life
This has long been one of my favorite sacred texts. Not only the pure sound of the Aramaic language, but the meaning of it as well. I grew up with a very different version in my head (as many of us did, I guess) and the differences between that, and this, are pretty profound. And
Continue reading Abwoon D’Bashmaya – The Lords Prayer in Aramaic
“Historically, sound has been used as a means of spiritual awakening and to utilize the vibrations to resonate certain deep inner places and states within the seeker in a way that typical language cannot.”
-David Newman
The info page is here.
The MP3 itself is here.
While you’re at it, check out my article on “The Use of
Continue reading RockOm interview with David Newman on Sacred Sound
Where is the ONE place on the planet you would choose to go before your died? If you could only pick one place to visit – where is that, and why? It’s kind of a “desert island” question. I know – it sucks only being able to choose
Continue reading Spirit Quest-ions: where is the one place you want to visit?
An unedited clip shot at a friend’s stall in the “Alley of the Tentmakers.”
This is truly authentic Egypt – not a place that tourists visit (though we take all of our groups). This is where you can find the most beautiful, intricate, hand-made quilts & embroidery at truly amazing
Continue reading HD Video from Spirit Quest: The Alley of the Tent Makers
Easter is not complete without loving the one who made it possible—Judas. Forgiveness becomes possible when we transcend appearances and realize that those people who represent the Judases in our lives and those qualities within ourselves that seem to have betrayed us have been the divine process growing us into Christs. It’s all Love.
-Walter Starcke
I
Continue reading A remarkable encounter in Heathrow: The Essence of Forgiveness
Here’s an awesome piece of video – it’s period footage from Egypt circa 1932.
For those of you that know Cairo, this footage show a SHOCKINGLY clean city. Since the brits were in charge then the narration has more than just a whiff of colonial prejudice to it. For example…
“Across the street the Dragoman are always
Continue reading AMAZING period footage from Egypt, 1932.
[ March 1, 2009; ] Wadi Natron is the center of Coptic Monasticism in Egypt and one of, if not the, earliest homes to Christianity. The name means "Valley of Natron" or "Valley of the minerals." Natron salts were used for the preparation of mummies during the pharaonic period.
Christianity was brought to the valley by St. Mark during the
Continue reading Images from Wadi Natron, Egypt
There’s a wonderful new interview with Paul Coelho that’s just been published in The Guardian.
Do you really believe in angels?
Yes.
Have you seen one?
No, I never saw an angel, but it is irrelevant whether I saw one or not. I feel their presence around me. Not the classic angel with the wings etc, but you know
Continue reading An interview with Paul Coelho: Author of “The Alchemist”
About this talk
People want to be religious, says scholar Karen Armstrong; we should act to help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help her build a Charter for Compassion — to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious do.
About Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong is a provocative, original
Continue reading Video: Karen Armstrong’s charter for compassion
[ April 6, 2009 8:00 pm to April 9, 2009 8:00 pm. ] I’m headed to New York the week before Easter so that my daughter, Leslie, can check out the conservatory she just got accpted to (yes, I am proud poppa): The New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts.
While I’m there I’m hoping to have a chance to revisit a couple of modern urban sanctuaries that I’m really partial to:
Continue reading Headed to New York in April
What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What’s the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?
-Buddha Shakyamuni
Just before this last Christmas I flew from Los Angeles to Seattle to spend the holiday with my family. A sudden snowstorm closed the airport in Seattle and forced our diversion to Spokane, which ironically was itself sitting under 3 and half feet of snow, but where the airport was at least open.
The scene at the airport was a kind of panicked chaos. It was now well past midnight and the tiny airport was overwhelmed with rerouted travelers from up and down the West coast. There were no facilities, no food, not much information, and many unhappy
Continue reading Lessons from the Road: Hipless in Seattle
Here’s a brief handheld POV clip, shot with a pretty crappy camera, of worshipers streaming into (and out of) Besakih Temple on the slopes of Mt. Agung, in Bali
Continue reading HD Video from Spirit Quest: Besakih Temple, Bali Indonesia
This is the first entry in a periodic series about the temples of the “Sacred Balinese Mandala.” Today we begin with the center, the heart, the most revered of all nine temples: Besakih.
Bali is often called the land of 10,000 temples, and while no one actually has quite an exact count, that’s as good a
Continue reading Balinese Temples: Besakih – The Mother
Remember that trippy new-age song from the show “Hair” about the dawning of the age of Aquarius? Well, turns out it didn’t just rhyme. We are moving into the beginning of that Zodiacal age, and this Saturday the Moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars. Ring a
Continue reading The Age of Aquarius Begins
[ February 13, 2009 to February 28, 2009. ] I’m just about to leave for Egypt: Spirit Quest is leading “The Spirit of Moses” for two weeks.
Cairo, Alexandria, Aswan, Philae, Kom Ombo, Luxor, Karnak, Dendarah, Abydos, Edfu, Sakkara, Giza, Wadi Feran, Mt. Moses, St. Catherine’s Monastery.
I am so EXCITED about this trip. We’ll doing a spiritual pilgrimage through Egypt and to Sinai, sailing the Nile
Continue reading A Trip to Egypt: The Spirit of Moses
I’ve been recently reminded again of the great genius that is constantly at work behind the everyday events that seem, at first blush, to be accidental.
I’ve just returned from leading a group to Egypt and during our visit to the Temple of Seti I in Abydos, I left the group of forty with my Egyptian
Continue reading Happenstance, Coincidence and the Divine Mind
[ February 8, 2009 to February 13, 2009. ] I’m taking a trip to Israel between February 8th and February 13th. I won’t get up to the north and the area around Galilee (which I love) or to Tsfat (one of the four Judaic holy cities and a center of the Kabbalah) but it will be great to return to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and En
Continue reading A trip to Israel in February (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Dead Sea)
During our last tour, with Houston Baptist University, I ran into my friend Robert Bauval over breakfast at the Mena House and he reminded about a spectacular phenomenon: the “solar rebirth” at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor which occurs at dawn on the morning of the winter solstice. I was familiar with this, but
Continue reading Karnak Temple at Dawn Near the Winter Solstice
Here’s a Flickr slideshow of some new shots of Luxor Temple (shot during Spirit Quest Tour’s recent HBU trip to Egypt and the
Continue reading New Photos of Luxor Temple
For the last eleven years in Egypt, independent travel to places like Abydos or Denderah was forbidden by the government. Numerous cities could only be visited by tourists who traveled together in armed convoys. Happily this decade-long restriction has been lifted. This might seem like ironic news in light of the recent horrific events in
Continue reading Tourism as an Act of Bravery
I think the best place to start is with my late adolescence – around age 10 or so. That’s when I first pursued an independent path of spiritual exploration.
I was raised as a tepid Episcopalian. We hit church for all the biggies: Xmas, Easter, funerals, etc. But God didn’t intrude much beyond
Continue reading Divide by Zero: A Spiritual Autobiography of Greg Roach
A quick googling of “Spirit Guides” returns well over a million results. Just about every spiritual tradition on the planet embraces the idea of some form of spirit guide: whether they’re called angels, devas or ascended masters. And I have to say that I’ve had my share of experiences with these “non-embodied” helpers. But that’s not what I’m talking about here.
I’m referring to the real-life, flesh-and-blood, currently incarnated kind of “spirit” guides without whom meaningful experience, if not useful access, at sacred sites would be a lot harder to come by. All over the world I have consistently found myself dependent upon, and deeply blessed by, the kindness of strangers who would become
Continue reading Spirit Guides: Bali, Egypt and Europe
In upper Egypt there’s a temple dedicated to Hathor at Dendarah. It’s a remarkable site. While the current temple is Ptolemaic (i.e. very late in Egyptian history) it’s built on, and contains, elements from much, much earlier
Continue reading The Mystery at Dendarah
Two recent news stories – from very different parts of the world – help to confirm what we’ve known for a very long time: namely that sound was an integral part of ancient spiritual practices and that resonance was a key technology that was recognized, understood, and used, by the
Continue reading The Use of Sound in Ancient Rituals
The Balinese practice a unique form of the Hindu religion that they call Agama Hindu Dharma, which is something of an amalgam of “traditional” Hinduism, Buddhism, animism, ancestor worship, Zen and perhaps even a little Shinto. We in the West tend to think of Hinduism as a form of polytheism, but this is
Continue reading Balinese Hinduism: Generator, Operator, Destroyer
Practically everywhere you look in Bali you will see offerings made to the Divine: flowers, rice, leaves, food, candy, and even a little money. The tiniest offering is a delicate little cone made from banana leaves and flowers (it looks just like a sushi hand-roll), while the largest and most elaborate will be as tall as a
Continue reading Balinese Offerings
You can find the most amazing and beautiful things in Bali: from 12 foot carved stone Buddhas to the tiniest, most delicate silver filigree work – and everything in between. It’s all of the highest quality and the lowest
Continue reading 10 for the price of 1: The Arts in Bali
The average Balinese will, between birth and adulthood, pass through a whole series of ceremonies that ritually mark, and celebrate, the various stages of human progress.
One of the most elaborate and important is the “matatah” or tooth filing ceremony. The optimal age range for tooth filing is generally considered to be between 6 and 18 years old – but even the elderly will have it
Continue reading Balinese Tooth Filing
The Balinese can be called by 6 different names: personal names, birth order names, kinship, teknonyms, caste names and public job
Continue reading 2 of 6: Balinese Naming
Our Balinese friends and guides, Yenta and Darta, often joke about “rubber” time in Bali (that’s one of the great things about our friends at Tour East – they’re always on time). But it’s not surprising that time would be perceived a little differently in Bali than here in the States.
The Balinese use three different calendars at the same
Continue reading Balinese Rubber Time
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