The Temple in the Mountain

Looking for adventure

I’m not sure how I found out about it exactly but there’s a Temple of Isis carved into the side of a mountain in a remote part of Egypt and of course, I just had to get there. I had to get there because …. Isis. As Her Priestess, I’m so very drawn to her ancient sites and practices. I had to get there because … not many people visit it in the middle of the desert and mountains. I had to get there because … I love finding and exploring out of the way places. I had to get there because…it seemed to be an opportunity full of adventure and magic.

I asked my friend in Egypt if he knew about it and of course, he did. “It’s in the Valley of the Camels,” he said. I asked if he could arrange for me to go there and he said, “You tell me when you want to go and I will arrange everything.” So he did.

The resort where I stayed was a little confusing to figure out how to tell drivers where I was exactly so I met my driver at the market. I was told to look for a jeep and the car waiting there was not a jeep so I waited. The driver asked if I was going to Port Ghalib and I said no so we were both still waiting. Then he was on the phone and came out to ask again where I was going. I got on the phone with my friend who then spoke to him and yes, this was my driver….he was taking me to Port Ghalib to meet up with the jeep. Ah! Only a little lost in the translating but that’s what keeps life interesting sometimes, right?

So, into the car I hopped and down the road we went. We drove for about 30 minutes then he pulled off the side of the road. He told me very matter of factly, “The jeep will meet us here.” I was thinking that this really would be an adventure if I’m getting picked up on the side of the road!

The jeep indeed showed up and we headed south to pick up a few more guests at resorts. I was the only American, the others were from Germany. There was a young couple and a man with his 13 year old son who joined us. Everyone spoke enough English that we could chat a little but it was really fun to listen to my Egyptian guide speak to them in German.

Wadi el Gemal National Park

We drove for about 2 hours and stopped before heading into the park at Wadi el Gemal, a protected national park near Marsa Alam. There’s the sea on the east and to the west is just a vast expanse of desert and mountains….and that’s where we were heading! Out into the desert where there were no roads, only well-traveled tire marks in the sand.

As we drove along I saw a tree that seemed very iconic to Africa and the desert and I asked if we could stop and take pictures. The guide said that there would be many trees like that one along the way but I laughed and said I wanted to take a picture of THAT tree, so we stopped. I got my picture and then whenever we would see trees after that, everyone was sure to point them out to me!

A few times the driver seemed to be going rather fast over the sand and we seemed to be bouncing and swerving quite a bit which made me a little nervous. I asked if the jeeps every turned over and the guide laughed and said, “You will not die today!” Well, that was always my plan, not to die that day but now it seemed like I was for sure not going to die by an overturned jeep in the middle of the desert.

As we bounced along into the park I had the window open and was really beginning to enjoy the scenery, mostly because there was really n-o-t-h-i-n-g out there except for the little jeep, and the mountains and the tree here and there, and tire tracks weaving across the sand and the blue blue sky. As excited as I was about seeing the temple, I also had this incredible feeling of peace and letting go. We stopped along the way a few times to get out and stretch and walk through the mountains. There were no camels there but it was still beautiful and quiet.

We also stopped and climbed up to the actual emerald mines, which were much more like holes in the mountains. I couldn’t imagine the work it took to dig down into the rock and how they found emeralds here but what an incredible place….and the view from the mines was stunning.

Temple of Isis

Finally, we reached the Temple of Isis. It was built near the emerald mines of Cleopatra and there are remnants of the houses of the workman still there. It sits about halfway up the mountain, carved right into its face. There are pillars and steps and little rooms. I looked for hieroglyphs inside, but only saw some ancient names and dates. I took pictures of them to remember them.

Inside the temple, there was an altar and after the group went to see the houses I stayed and sang the Morning Prayer of Awakening. The sound of my voice echoed inside and I could feel the place literally begin to vibrate and awaken. There was a small separate space to the right and I believe this was her shrine. Outside the main temple was another very small room, like a chapel, with a definite shelf inside and an area carved into the rock to hold the statue of the Goddess. While standing there trying to imagine what her statue might have looked like, I looked to the left and then I saw it. “Isis”, they symbol for her name carved into the rock. Seeing it took my breath away and filled my heart with joy. I thought about the workman who carved it, who sang her name, who brought her offerings into this small chapel and felt a sense of devotion and reverence. It was one of the most beautiful things to find and I felt so very blessed to be in this place.

All too soon it was time to leave the temple and I really didn’t want to go but I knew it would always be there and that it had touched my heart is such a way that I could always return through my memories.

Dinner in the desert

On our way back we stopped to eat! There was a guy who was cooking dinner for us and it was a feast! On a grill placed over a fire he had a pot of potatoes in a tomato sauce, rice and chicken. He motioned for us to sit at a table and brought over baba ganoush, cucumber salad, pita bread, and hummus. After a long day in the desert, walking, and bouncing along in the jeep and not dying we were all ready to eat!

Once again, it was time to go and we wound our way back through the park, somehow not getting lost in the dark with no road or signs to point the way out. We had one last stop and we all got out and looked up at the sky. Only once when I was about 17 and visiting my uncle in Oklahoma had I seen a sky so filled with stars and I think there were even more here in the desert than I had ever seen before. I laid down on the ground and just looked light years away into the sky that was dotted with bright twinkling lights we call stars. Lying there in this place under this sky made me feel so small yet still connected to the neteru, to life, to the world around me. It was one of those moments I tucked away in my heart to remember always.

I arrived back then to my apartment around 10:30 pm or so and my heart and soul were absolutely filled with the vast expanse of discovery and adventure of the day and I slept soundly. Happy.