Tracing the Source of Life
Cairo, Egypt and Nile Cruise
May 2 to May 12, 2005  CLOSED for 2005

A journey with the purpose of tracing the source of life
for the ancient Egyptian civilizations and contemporary pilgrims.

Overview | Day-by-Day Itinerary

Day 2: Tracing the ancient search for eternal life:
The concept of resurrection was a powerful force motivating the pharaohs to erect grand pyramids to house their treasures and assure access to the next life so that they make take their place among the heavenly stars. As we visit the Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza we may ponder upon the legacies we are building and the treasures we accumulate. How do they inform and guide us in our relationship with God in our everyday lives? In the afternoon, we allow for rest and reflection on the soul of Egypt.

Day 3: Tracing the source of monotheism.
The Egyptian museum will delight us with an overwhelming abundance of artifacts, art, and statues, especially the statue of Akhenaten, the sun-disk pharaoh who introduced monotheism. The collection of figures and symbols that accentuate the role of the divine in the lives of ancient peoples challenges us to consider the ways we represent and remember the presence of the divine in our lives. As we stroll through Khan al-Khalili, Cairo's famous bazaar, we may ask, "How is God revealed in the chaos of the marketplace?"

"Despite appearances to the contrary, Egyptian religion is, in the strictest sense,
monotheistic - a view held by most scholars. The Egyptians regarded the universe
as a conscious act of creation by the one great and supreme God."
— John West

Day 4: Tracing the source of early Christianity and Islam:
Begin to image the beginnings of Christian worship as we visit the Hanging Church, an early Coptic Christian church from the fourth century founded by St. Mark. Walking in the footsteps of the Holy Family, we stop at the church of St. George to imagine Jesus and his family hiding from Herod. The Coptic Museum houses the greatest collection of fifth to seventh century artifacts, including leather bound manuscript and the primary source of the New Testament.

After a scrumptious lunch, we explore Islamic Cairo and the Citadel of Muhammad Ali. Sitting on the carpet in the huge mosque, we reflect in silence upon the God of the pharaohs, the earliest Christians and Muhammad. How do we know God? By what name do we know the divine? How may these earliest sources of great devotion and life touch us today?

Day 5: Aswan and a Nile cruise-moving to the beginnings of the source of life-
The Nile has long been the source of life in Egypt, bringing the spring floods in a desert region to provide for agriculture. We fly this day to Aswan, the southern most city with an African atmosphere, enriched by Nubian culture and a vibrant marketplace. As we visit the ancient quarry in Aswan, we observe the magnitude and weight of an unfinished obelisk that was to have adorned a temple. Sailing to the Temple of Philae, which was dismantled and moved to this higher ground after the construction of the dam, we walk where ancient pilgrims walked to worship Isis until the Christian era.

Used as an early place of Christian worship, this temple gives us evidence of ways Christians defaced symbols of prior religions yet also incorporated rituals and symbols into the new worship. We wonder how we approach others who hold different beliefs in God and how our own faith has changed over time. How has our image of God changed? What symbols are important to us?

Before we board the Sonnesta Cruise Ship, we will sail on the Nile in a felucca, a sailboat powered by wind, to see Kitchener's Island, the Agha Khan Mausoleum and the effects of the Nubian culture on this region. We begin to ponder the question of "What is the source of life for me?"

Day 6: Sailing to Kom Ombo-. Temples and bodies-the source of structure:
On board the Sonnesta Cruise Ship, just before lunch, we sail to Kom Ombo, site of the Temple of the gods Sobek and Horus. Remaining pillars and walls give us a sense of the decorated chapels, hypostyle halls and vestibules that once were a spectacle of beauty. Remnants of sophisticated medical instrumentation and knowledge give us insight into a culture that was advanced yet believed in the power of gods. As we wander this temple, we ponder, "What if my body is my temple? What if we saw each other as temples and approached them with reverence?

"The temples of Egypt are not meant to inform or instruct; they are
meant to evoke a consciousness of divinity: to illuminate." — John West

Day 7: Edfu (Idfu)- Covering the source of light in sand:
This morning we embark on a horse drawn carriage to Edfu to see the (/)Temple of Horus, the largest temple after Karnak. Buried in sand until the 1860's, the temple inscriptions highlight the fight of Horus and his uncle Seth for control of the world. This well-preserved, immense structure, features colonnades, a facade, statues and movement toward the sanctuary. We stand in this massive space and question: "As we have built up our lives, what has been covered over? What did we honor in our earlier life? Does it need to be brought up and honored? What do we need to bring forth into the light?

Day 8 and 9: Luxor and Karnak-
Sailing toward Luxor, we depart the ship to visit the Valley of the Kings and Queens, where royalty decorated the walls of their tombs with elaborate drawings to make their path to eternal life accessible. The Temple of Hatshepsut located nearby is a monument to a woman who assumed the role of Pharaoh. Moving into Luxor, we walk through the Temple of Karnack, the largest worship structure from the Pharaonic era. Massive pillars, colonnades, a lake, and numerous statues to adorn the entrance way and obelisks indicate how several rulers added to this site to make a majestic temple to gods.

The Temple of Luxor now stands around a worshipping mosque demonstrating how this land has integrated many ways (to) of worshiping the divine over the years of history. What is it in our human soul that calls us to develop places of beauty, awe and wonder? How do we construct our lives to be examples of awe? Before we return to Cairo by plane, we will visit other significant temples and tombs continuing our exploration of the connections with our ancestors who worshipped the divine in different and similar ways.

Day 10: Return home with a deeper sense of the divine: Seeing our Source of Life with renewed eyes:
As we fly back home, we begin to reflect on how this journey has deepened our sense of our relationship with the Sacred and with others in this diverse world. Looking at the wisdom of the ages and our current interpretations, we ponder the threads that bind us together. Returning to home, we transition back to the demands and lifestyle that we left, entering with a new sense of compassion and insight. We reflect on the spiritual tools we have learned in our group time and how we can integrate these practices into our ordinary routines. May the memories of the people and place continue to inform our hearts, form our journey into the everyday, and transform the life of our spirit as a guiding source for our decisions and actions.

"A visit to Egypt is much more than a trip into the magnificent
but vanished and superstitious past. It is a trip into a great civilization
with undeniable links to our own…"
— John Anthony West

Register for Tracing the Source of Life

Basic Information

Land costs include  roundtrip air from Cairo to Aswan/Luxor and a 4 night sail aboard a luxury cruise ship is $3950

Dates: Depart Dulles International Airport on Lufthansa at Monday, May 2, 2005. Depart Cairo on Lufthansa on Wednesday, May 12. 

Price: $3950 US Dollars. Price includes accommodations, all meals, site visits, gratuities, bottled water, all land and air transportation in country, all resource materials, experienced guides and expert cultural resources. Does NOT include airfare to Egypt or beverages other than water, personal expenses and alcoholic beverages. 

Documents: A valid passport not to expire within 6 months of departing from Egypt. A visa for $15.00 obtained at the Egyptian Embassy. We also recommend travel insurance for any unforeseen cancellations. Although not mandatory, we do recommend participants to be current with tetanus and hepatitis A and B vaccinations.

Guides: Your guides for this journey will be Phil Cover and Donna Smither.

Egyptian Guide: Our Coptic Agent in Egypt is Dr. Rabia, who is a partner with Abanoub Travel, a well-respected full-service travel company. All the guides have a deep professional respect for Dr. Rabia and his capable team, who consider personal service and safety a priority.

Accommodations: All accommodations will be in 4 or 5 star hotel and one of the several luxury 5-star cruise ships.

Call 703-535-1114 for more information

"On earth we are but pilgrims"
— Teresa of Avila

For assistance in arranging air transportation, pre and post trip travel, rental car or rail tickets in conjunction with your journey, please contact our friends at MacNair Travel & Cruises/American Express. We are beginning to establish group blocks and discounts through their organization. They offer web and published rates, provide complimentary flight insurance, offer worldwide care through American Express offices, and can interface with our team to ensure the right arrangements and communication.

Call 800-833-4382 and ask for Pauline or e-mail sapira@macnairtravel.com.

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