D's Blog

Our next tour to Egypt is set for April 2012.

We were suppose to go this past  March but given the events of this year, we got derailed because of the Arab Spring and had to re due our itinerary. The events that transpired this year in Egypt were a big surprise and I hope the Egyptian people benefit from it all. I feel it is a positive effort.

Whose going on Delilah’s Egypt Tour? Belly Dancers, family friends and anyone interested in Egypt who wants to see it from a magical point of view. Our new itinerary is  all on line and about half of our group is still on board. We lost a few travelers because they couldn’t get all the time off for 2012. Darn! However 2 new people are signing up because they can get the time off in 2012 so, there you go, never can tell what’s going to work out.

Things are turning around again and tourism is returning slowly. I have talk to friends who have gone and they said they were glad they went at such a historic time. All reports are pretty fantastic because the sights are not at all crowded . That is the preferred way to visit them (especially ifwe want to do some movement meditations in these sacred spots and not bother anyone.

Victoria at Abydos

We are still a long way out from April 2012.

However If you are thinking you might like to join us Let me know, save your money aside and I will let you know when I will accept new registrations. I may make a few tiny changes to the itinerary before then. Most likely I will accept new registrations in Dec/Jan. That will give you a good 5-6 months to plan. We are not going until April 24 2012

See all current Egypt Tour details

I’m getting inspired these days! I’m starting to see some cosmic energy lining up.

Recently I’ve been totally addicted to all the Egypt documentaries I can watch on net flix on my computer. One set is the 5 part documentary series “Pyramid Code”. OMG! How Fascinating. . . .A bit controversial, but very exciting.

You can The Pyramid Code it on YouTube but it’s best on DVD.

I got some very excited news that Velaria (who came on my last trip to Egypt in 2008). She is signing up to come on the next one in 2012. She’s been visiting me this week in Seattle and I turned her on to the “Pyramid Code” documentaries. We were both taken by a speaker on the program; an Egyptian man named Dr. Abd’el Hakim Awyan. He was noted as a Mystical Wisdom Keeper. He grew up on the Giza plateau and is a descendent from the Awyan tribe that claim to be the indigenous keeper of the ancient Al Khemitian (Egyptian) wisdom tradition. They claim to have been the guardians of area for centuries. Unfortunately he passed on recently. I would love to have met him. I understand his daughter and a son are following in his foot steps.  THUS it is my intention to see if I can add her to our itinerary. Maybe she can come and give us a talk at some point on our journey in 2012. Yes!

Over coffee this morning Veleria and I  have been reminiscing about our last trip and coming up with ideas for this coming trip. She explained she was saddened by the amount of garbage in some of the more remote sacred sites. She said she wished we could help in some sort of way by maybe becoming a volunteer clean up crew. If we had some sort of pool nets we could get the plastic water bottles left (most likely by tourists from all over the world out of the spring at the temple of Abydos. If we had gloves and garbage bags we could cart litter out of and improve the sites. Hmm? I thought for a few moments and 2 things occurred to me. I would hate to make the Egyptians feel insulted by our demonstration. Like we were making a comment on the Egyptians not having a clean house. Hmmm? We cannot hope to make a very big difference really. But then I think for each of us personally it would mean something profound as a ritual of recognizing the sacred value of these sights from the perspective of our global humanity. A ritual of cleansing, humbling and compassion. We leave our footsteps and our breaths there that little by little erode these monuments and the least we can do is make an effort to undue a little of the tourist impact.These monuments are our world human heritage. On a cosmic consciousness scale this would mean a lot energetically. It couldn’t hurt for anyone to  see a few Americans get down and humbly pick up some trash either.

At the temple of Isis

So I am going to have a list of things for Mohammad to have on our bus. A pool scoop, trash bags and I’ll bring a box of plastic gloves. Anyone who feel inclined can fill a bag of garbage and feel they made a difference even if it is very small.

I am going to also have him contact the daughter of Dr Awyan. If she is living in Egypt maybe she can come give us a talk!

I love to hear from those who are Ancient Egypt buffs like me.

Cheers!

Delilah

OMG! Egypt news;

These incredible discoveries made this month are giving me goose bumps about our Egypt Tour planned for April/May 2012!

You can sign up and join us.

DELILAH’s EGYPT TOURS

http://www.delilahs-belly-dance-retreat.com/Egypt2012/Egypt2012.html

I have been to Egypt 4 times in my life. I feel a familiarity that is uncanny in the pyramids, tombs and ancient cities. I danced in Hathor’s Temple in Denderra, at the temple of Isis at Phile, down the Nile, on the desert, and at lake Nasser, and in local villages. I know the power of this dance in my DNA. It is as old as the power that the ancients knew and cultivated to transform energy and move stone!

I rented the Great Pyramid and lead a private dance class for my tour participants last trip in the Queens chamber inside the Great Pyramid. So amazing. I can’t describe to you the experience of dancing in the Great Pyramid! You have to come with me! We are doing even more on this  coming trip. We will visit the city of Alexandria!

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NEWS FLASH!

New marking inside Great Pyramid

4500 YEAR OLD EGYPTIAN MARKINGS FOUND in GREAT PYRAMID MAY 2011

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/05/28/pyramid.markings/index.html

POSSIBLY 17 NEW PYRAMIDS DISCOVERED UNDER THE SANDS! May 2011

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/28/136718454/lost-egyptian-pyramids-discovered-from-space

WHERE? MANY IN THE NORTHEAST DELTA, NORTH OF CAIRO, EAST OF ALEXANDRIA, ANCIENT CITY OF TANIS

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/tanis-egypt/

TREASURES OF TANIS, RIVAL TUTANKHAMUN IN 1939. MAYBE MUCH MORE IN STORE TO BE FOUND AGAIN!

http://www.archaeology.org/0505/abstracts/tanis.html

KING TUT’S WIFE’S TOMB IN VALLEY OF THE KINGS, 2011

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/king-tuts-wifes-tomb-may-emerge-in-2011.html

MORE COLOSSAL STATUES DISCOVERED IN LUXOR, APRIL 2011

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/colossal-statues-of-tuts-grandfather-resurface-110426.html

OMG! there has been so much in the air about Ancient Egypt these days! Synchronistically it’s falling right into place where my head has been these days. As I have been gearing up for this years 2011 Solstice Parade I have been reminiscing about another parade where we built our 16 foot tall Pyramid in Parade in 2007.   It was our amazing feat! It shows how anything is possible! The ancients understood how things are manifest. It lead to my leading a tour to Egypt in 2008 that was so so very amazing for everyone connected!

I wanted to go one more time to Egypt and see some sites I have never seen so we decided to create a return  Trip of a Life Time tour last year but because of the Arab Spring fell right as we were to depart, we thought it best to delay a year. The good news is; more can join us! It’s not until April and May 2012 (we have a payment plan so you can sign up now.)

We utilizing 200 dancers and musicians and extras in building our pyramid. There were so many synchronistic and magical lessons in that 6 month project. The math, the organization, the rallying to the cause, the fund raising, the community involvement, the mass moving and rehearsing in air plane hangers, the excitement in actualizing our dream. It was big and it was a testament to realizing dreams.

I feel magic brewing a foot again and this time the project is about building up our Dance Temple. (Thats what I personally call VDP Studios). There have been alot of positive energy generated in the past 9 months to build community and a feeling of return to some precious ideals that were getting lost because of the stress involved with trying to run the studio by our selves in a time of economic and technological change.

Belly dance is a magical dance that can teach us so much more than than our limited common views of dance. It’s free formed methods of embodiment unlock the magic in our lives. This important skill needs to be preserved by it’s physical enactment.

Join our Tour.

Your money goes toward an amazing adventure I promise! And it supports our dance temple.

NOTE:  I submitted this piece to the Gilded Serpent online magazine but it’s been a while and they haven’t put it up. Thus I thought I would post it on my blog while it’s still current. If the G.S. puts it up, I’ll take this entry off my blog. The movie is now on DVD.

Movie Review: AGORA

On my way to my Hawaii retreat last January, I read  a magazine article that a new movie was coming

Hypatia is apprehended and brutally murdered

out about “Hypatia”. How exciting; I couldn’t wait! I love movies that take me back to ancient times and especially Ancient Egypt. This was perfect timing for inspiration because this coming spring, I am leading a tour to Egypt and the city of Alexandria is one of our prime destinations. This is where the historic tale takes place.

I suppose my entire inspiration for belly dance as a teenager was motivated by those old biblical-era movies like “Cleopatra”, “The Egyptian”, “Samson and Delilah”, and “The Robe”. . . The costumes and atmosphere completely captivated my imagination. There hasn’t been a good one in a long time, save for the HBO TV series “Rome” that was totally amazing (more on that another time).

So I was keeping an eye half peeled all year for the movie.  I occasionally asked people about if they had seen a movie called Hypatia, and they just shirked and said they hadn’t even heard of her.

Anyone interested in woman’s studies would, I hope, know Hypatia.

Hypatia (370-415 AD) was a famous Greek Philosopher, Astronomer and Mathematician from Alexandria, Egypt, who was famous for her eloquence and education. She was a teacher and advisor to many important pagans, Romans, Christians and Jews alike. The story that always follows her name throughout history is how she was brutally murderers by a rabid mob of Christians incited by Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria. In fiendish detail she was seized while riding in her chariot, stripped naked and then skinned alive by scraping the flesh from her bones with oyster shells and set afire. Yikes! What did she do? She was said to create religious turmoil by scientific reasoning. (Oh my Goddess, this could have been me!)

I came to find out the movie wasn’t called “Hypatia” but was in fact named “Agora”. Why they choose that name is unfortunate; I think more people would have seen the movie upon its release had it been called “Hypatia”. But it’s not too late! Check it out on Netflix. And it’s not the full story. Although the movie did very well in other countries, because of what was perceived as anti-Catholic overtones, it didn’t get an American distributor until just recently.

“Agora” is the Greek word meaning the center of the city where people meet. This movie is full of where things are meeting: science, religions, astronomy, and human history, tragedy and loss.

The movie takes place in around 370-415 AD. – many years after Jesus – during the rise of Christianity which causes complex tensions. From the accounts of people from many lands, Alexandria at this time in history had a reputation for public volatility. The people would apparently fly off the handle as the slightest thing and tear up the city (making any of us a bit agoraphobic). The city was originally founded by Alexander the Great and established as a place of great learning. The Alexandria Library was burned before this time. The library they are depicting in the movie is the “daughter library” in the temple of Serapis.

The  film stars Rachel Weisz as Hypatia. The movie was made by a Spanish film company with English speaking actors, and was directed by Alijandro Amenabar (born in Chile). The movie was made without CGI. All the sets were hand-built and installed in Malta, much like the making of HBO’s  “Rome”. Its budget was a mere 50 million dollars which in movie terms is a shoe string. Each scene is like stepping into an Orientalist painting. The lighting is especially heavenly. Everyone was committed to the project; they did a great job.

At the start, I was a bit repelled by the film because it’s kind of noisy, and I have to be in the mood for noise. However, I have watched it at least 5 times now. I understand the reason for my visceral response. Agora is very textural. It’s the noise of chaos during this time in history as viewed from the quiet cosmos. The population looks like ants crawling on the bones of the city. It takes us to the silence of space and the grandeur of our planet that is home to the passing clouds of history activity.

I love that the film takes us back and forth from aerial views of the Arabian Peninsula and drops us down into the time and place of Alexandria, Egypt 391 AD.  That beacon of light brought people from all lands to a city that was a pivotal point of historic change. The clash was between the fading past glory of intellectual thought which Alexandria represented, and the coming of the new faith allegiance to the One God. It was the end of a time and place where women like Hypatia and Cleopatra could write books and be philosophers, mathematicians, and scholars, and was the beginning of the long onslaught of human history where women would occupy a very subordinate role for centuries to come.

Other reviewers seem to like the movie but argue some historic points, which I think are pretty minimal (from what I read after seeing the movie). It is a movie after all. It is about a time none of us were around for but have stereotypic ideas blazoned into our minds without much question. Dare we question? This questioning is what Hypatia symbolizes in the movie over-all. The director chose to reverse some of these stereotypes and portray Christians as fanatics and more human and fallible than divine. The Jews stone the Christians…

I was surprised once more that this would be a film about science. Science moves me the same way as belly dance does. This was Hypatia’s unquenchable passion to know the answers which she chose to explore beyond love and family. I liked that she represents more options for women. I kind of wished I had gone into science as a career. Hypatia may still inspire me. One day I want to write a book called The Cosmology of Belly Dance because I see mirrored in our dance so much science and physics by the mere use of things like vibration, rotation and wave patterns (again more later).

When I saw the DVD extras about the making of this movie I was again deeply moved. It was created by a team of talented visionaries that all fell in love with Hypatia. I love what this director chos to do with the script. Rachel Weisz plays her well. When it comes to herstoric record, Hypatia deserves more meat on her bones. This movie is her tribute.

Now if they would just make a movie about the novel, ” THE RED TENT” !

TIMELINE BITS:

323 BC: Death of Alexander the Great and the beginning of the Hellenistic Age. During his lifetime he establishes the city of Alexandria as one of many towns he set up to establish Greek Culture.

320 BC: Sarapis is a syncretic Hellenistic -Egyptian God in Antiquity. Even though Sapapis is older this God comes into prominence after the death of Alexander the Great 320 BC. It is introduced to Alexandria as a patron deity to unite Egyptian and Greek populations. He combines attributes of both cultures’ past deities. On his head he has a grain measure, in his hand a staff. He is said to be Osiris in full but he looks like a Greek Zeus and Hades. Symbols are the Apis bull, serpent, and crescent moon.

280 BC: The famed Alexandrian light house is built.

260 BC” There were reported to be 500,000 scrolls in the library at Alexandria. The catalog is 120 scrolls. There are reports of what the library contained: cosmology, mathematics, physics, natural science, philosophy and more. It is said to house the original worksof Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.

69 BC: Cleopatra VII is born in Alexandria.

48 BC: Julius Caesar meets 21 year old Cleopatra and is said to have accidently burned the Great Library of Alexandria down when he set fire to ships in the harbor. Caesar gives Cleopatra 200,000 scrolls plundered from the library at Pargamum as a gift and put in the  “daughter library” which is the Serapheum; the temple of Serapis.

30 BC: Cleopatra dies 30 years before the birth of Jesus .

370-415 AD: The lifetime of Hypatia; philosopher, mathematician, astronomer.

390 AD: Christianity is made the official religion of Rome.

391 AD: The Serapheum is destroyed by a crowd of Christians or Roman Soldiers that were converting to Christianity.

415 AD Hypatia is murdered and becomes a martyr.

610 AD The Prophet Muhammad has his divine revelations and Islam is born.

www.visonarydance.com

www.delilas-belly-dance-retreat.com

Join me in Egypt for the Trip of a Life Time next Spring 2011.

We are registering people early because it insures us all the best accommodations. We have a payment plan for budgeting. I am not going to do this again so now is the time. There are other places I want to go in my life. I really rather go to Egypt with my dancing sisters, family and friends rather than a bunch of unknown tourists. I know you would too. This is going to so amazing.

We will do two trips in one. Ancient Egypt and Modern Day Egypt and if you are really adventurous continue on to Jordan where we will visit Petra and the red sea!

Check out my scrap book from previous adventures in Egypt!

Call me with questions 206 632-2353

This photo was taken of us doing a circle dance in the Queens chamber in the Great Pyramid in 2008.

Delilah at Isis Temple

I’m dreaming in ancient Egyptian symbols. . .

This week I got a bunch of calls from folks getting excited about coming to Egypt with me. Two gal friends are signed up for my “ Hathor down the Nile”. They are driving their families crazy with excitement. They have many months to wait, so I hope it’s not too hard on their families.

Then a family of 4 called and announced they are ALL are coming with me. The mom is one of our NTP dancers. The young daughter has a romance with ancient Egypt that I find hauntingly familiar. The teen age son I hear is a very good writer. What better to fuel his imagination with than a trip to the land of scribes and the beginning of writing. Where world histories, myths and cultures meet. A fantastic growth experience. I hope he keeps a journal and will share. The father couldn’t miss this rich opportunity to travel abroad with with his loved ones. This will be richly etched in all their collective memories. I am so pleased they are doing this as a family.
I got n email from a dance friend who wants to come and maybe on the entire 20 day trip of a life time. She said she is open for a room mate because she didn’t know if her husband would be interested or not. She and her husband are retired and very active and healthy. I hope he considers coming along too. It’s going to be a major experience for his beloved wife and life moves fast past 50. You gotta grab it while you can.  Husbands are very welcome on this tour. They won’t feel like its girls night out I assure.

In the story scrap book I put up on the Delilahs-belly-dance-retreat.com, I tried convey how powerful the experience was to share with some one close to you. I went alone the first time and made a new friend in my roommate Carol. The second time my then husband wasn’t interested and I went with a best friend (I wished he had come too). She and I had an incredible life altering trip . It was 1997 and we went to Turkey and Egypt in the same adventure.Then in 2000 I went with my folks while they were both healthy to travel.  OMG what a good decision that was. We joined harpist Ani William’s tour and about 14 belly dance fiends of mine came too. The last trip I took in 2008 my two daughters, 2 cousins, and my boyfriend came with me. I and shared with them the ancient mysteries. So fantastic. I figured that was the last time I would go. A handful of people who came with me last time in 2008 are interested in the Petra (Jordan) leg of the tours including my family members. That would be perfect.
This trip was prompted by my students who started asking me recently. Are you going back Delilah? If so I want to come. Really, I said? They said I make the adventure come to life so that it is not just a typical tour. I laughed, but I know what they mean. When we were in Costa Rica I over heard two tour guide talking to each other about how they wished they had our group because we were so vibrant and alive. I know we brighten up the guides, the guards and other tourists around us with our dance energy.

A Dance Inside the Queens Chamber

Then I realized I haven’t seen Alexandria, Petra the Red Sea and my most favorite thing in the whole world is to cruise down the Nile so this time I’m going to do it all!

So that is why we are going and have a nice long lead time so we can budget it into our dreams.
Life is so precious. Life is so fleeting. Youth believes they live forever. In our middle years we realize we better live it now.

Yours in Ancient and Modern Belly Dance.
oxox

Delilah

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March Dance Event

Part 3

Hathor Unveiled

Then the Hathor Show  was Saturday night. . . .OMG what a wonderful project to be a part of. Suzanna and Malia are such good girls. To honor their belly dance forbearers in such style! Hopefully some day they shall know the same privilege to be honored in ones community. Beautiful job, beautiful job! I choose not to do the kind of dance I am known for ( I did that so deeply the night before). Instead i took the opportunity to add to the Hathor theme of the whole event with a deeper tone . Dancers often miss the opportunity to be in contrast. It’s not always easy to leave what you know people expected to see you do. Since Hathor is my favorite mythological archetype I choose to dig that dance out of my dance closet. I this dance has a long history. It was originally commissioned as part of Laurel Victoria Grays EGPTA Show in Germany. That and a dance called “The Death of Cleopatra”. I also danced it in Hathor’s Temple in Denderra Egypt, in California at a retreat at a place called Isis Oasis, on Easter Sun rise at my Maui belly dance retreat with Mezmera. I teach it as a movement meditation often in workshops.

It is very calming and sooting to do with it’s specific movement passes and spacial design. The moves lead to a deeply trance inducing meditation. Often a tear appears from my left eye. I have no idea why, it just happens, and it happens often.

The full dance with costume was not easy to resurrect. The wig was made in 1975 . We fought for hours trying to stabilize the brass and copper moon piece on top of the head dress that was made by Lenny of Magic Circle in 1997. We finally figuring it out with the help of Christine and Erik right before the show. Yikes! Hathor’s mirror is an amazing art piece with carnelian and amethyst jewels, 7 knots of cane as well as the vertebra of a cow set into the handle. It was made by Uncle Mafufo and it was taken and used in the temples and pyramids of Egypt on 3 separate trips. The music is by my X husband Steve from his , Rapture Rumi Cd but it’s a special edited version. The blue and gold jewelry pieces were given to me at a workshop in New York in 1988 and just happened to go with the peal beaded dress I magically found in 1997. Laura Rose and Christine were my mirror and aunk attendants.

Hathor’s Mirror represents reflection, beauty, and mystery. The aunk is the life symbol. The ancient Egyptian Goddess Hathor represents women, birth music, dance and drunkenness. It felt so good to be able to share this piece with the belly dance community.

My wish to Hathor is for the power and strength of our belly dance community to

continue grow in the feminine ways of women’s innate wisdom.

Your

Neighborhood Temple Prietess

at your service

PS I am planning a Tour to Egypt in April of 2011

Email me your name phone and street address and I’ll send you the brochure soon as it”s ready.

PS Related story links

Experience of the Beautiful

Cane Dance of the Hatshepsut

Hathors Movement Meditation

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