GREETINGS LOVE BEINGS, it is I SAINT ANDREW;
THIS is for and TARA & RAMA and Dr. CARMEN Boulter.
Around the time that I started MY ascension on MAY 13th 2010 at midnight, I had a few days of some FLASH BACKS which seemed like approx., the LAST 5 minutes of some of my other incarnations. Although I wrote it down in detail what happened, I do not have it with me but I can recall some of it or possibly most of the LAST 5 minutes of being incarnated as QUEEN NEFERTITI.
Here is what I do remember about my memory recall.
I was in a sort of, a hidden room under a pyramid that I would do secret teachings in and I had gotten WORD that people were coming to KILL ME. So the memory starts that I ran through a like hallway and into a room under a pyramid somewhere and I tried to close a door behind me. But it was too late as a HUGE BLACK PANTHER was chasing me up these what looked like cement/stone stairs. I turned and saw this PANTHER coming after me and I have a memory of seeing this room. The room looked like cement stone[s] of some kind which I ran up, as I looked back to my left to gage the position of this huge black cat [don’t think it was SEKHMAT?] but perhaps an EXOTIC PET, or an evil form of someone else or perhaps a good form of a TOTEM that was protecting me ? O.K. back to the room, I was running up these stairs and to my left was my special hidden teaching room that other people were NOT supposed to know about, as I had to teach things in secret as there was a fear and urgency about it. I saw to my left as I ran up those stairs what looked liked stepped cement/stone type steps [LEVELS] about 2 feet high that people sat on to hear my teachings at the bottom of the room it was flat like a kind of stage area, and then there were graduated steps going up like stairs about 2 feet at a time that people would sit on, perhaps with the aid of a cushion, but I saw NO cushions at present, but I knew people sat there in my secret teachings. [seemed maybe a grayish/whitish color] maybe beige. I run up these stairs and I turned around and quickly closed this heavy stone like door, blocking this PANTHER animal from attacking me. STILL not sure how I closed the door that fast but as I did, or one of my maidservants PERHAPS did as they were screaming at me HURRY NEFERTITI, RUN NEFERTITI, RUN. The door is closed and I turned around and there is a like a canal of water hiding under one of these pyramids or buildings that possibly linked underground to other pyramids. I look over and my 2 maidservants are yelling HURRY NEFERTITI as they brought me over a narrow long like gondola type boat that perhaps [that would sit say around 6 to 8 people] Now this water-way channel went straight across from me and into a couple of different directions. I had a moment and I looked down at myself and saw that I was wearing possibly leather open-type sandals, I was richly dressed and I noticed that my wrists, both wrists looked like they had some form of a tattoos/ perhaps a henna type tattoo or bracelets around my wrists that had Egyptian symbols on it. I was getting yelled at so I did not get a chance to see if those were actual bracelets or tattoos, although they seemed like tattoos, but I did SEE my skin and I was not brown, but I would say more on the white side, with more of a mediteranean type of skin color. Then I was motioned to get into this long narrow like boat contraption with my 2 maidservants rushing me. I went into a dark like water tunnel and I think someone said to me, over here, this way [that had a channel of water with a boat to go down] And it ended that everything went black. I have gone over and over this several times trying to figure out what happened. DID I try to escape and my maidservants try to save me, or was I murdered by them [as I sensed an “off feeling” in one of them] and perhaps they may have set-me-up to be murdered ? Or maybe they didn’t know and someone else was waiting for me in the shadows? I HAVE NO IDEA, at this point unless I do a past-life REGRESSION. But it seemed as if that THOSE MAY HAVE BEEN, the very LAST 5 minutes or so, of MY LIFE as her. DID I even make it out of that tunnel and/or did someone DRUG me or STAB ME and I passed out as I entered the darkness, AS EVERYTHING WENT COMPLETELY BLACK. HOPEFULLY with more time and DISCOVERIES I may remember more ? Which is why I KEEP PRAYING to KNOW MORE constantly about this. I was probably murdered for the wealth of our cities.
I have never said anything about this, other than to a few other people and my children. There is a woman, who claims to be NEFERTITI and has spent around 300,000.00 on her face reconstruction on the youtube – internet, who claims that SHE is the real NEFERTITI. Is SHE or is or WAS it really me?
But I AM pretty sure that the REAL NEFERTITI was ME as I TRY to RECALL more memories. I could also be wrong, but for some reason, I do NOT think so as it ALL SEEMS SO REAL at the time, and I HAD ACTIVATED {Through the 7 Angels of my SPIRITUAL team} into my FULL CROWN CHAKRA and it WAS very loud and very STRONG. The MEMORY SEEMED so very REAL.
I sat down a few times and told my children this STORY that I thought I JUST MIGHT be the real NEFERTITI in a past life. WHICH explains a lot to me in many ways. [When I find my notes as I had written this down] I did write down a little more information about the boats and the channels of water, like secret underground tunnels that connected me either to other pyramids or to special hiding places. I want to say this in case anything happens to ME.
NOW of course and forever, the DARK CABAL are on an UNHOLY hell type of rampage and raiding and trying to DESTROY and cover-up more archaeological sites as they try to STEAL or Hide THE EGYPTIAN SECRETS. I HAVE always had a FASCINATION with the EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS and HISTORY. And EVERY NOW and THEN I see if there are anymore NEFERTITI DISCOVERIES to see if anymore of my memories come back.
This happened to me about 7 years ago, which why I am so ADAMENT on getting the REST of these memories back. I have prayed lately about this and asked HEAVEN to have more information about this as I really WANT to know more. And all of a sudden more EGYPTIAN MYSTERY comes forth.
And of course the DARK cabal BEINGS have been searching like crazy and raiding and destroying anything Egyptian PROBABLY to hide more of the EGYPTIAN DISCOVERIES and the REAL TRUTHS from US and humanity.
I have been WORRIED about putting this out to the PUBLIC as I do NOT want to be RIDICULED by OTHERS or become perhaps an EVEN BIGGER target in case I am RIGHT. But my soul and being seems to INDICATE that I was really her. Now you know why I held this back as I was unsure how others would take it. But I would REALLY LOVE full memory of it for many reasons besides JUST my own CURIOSITY. LIKE what was it LIKE BEING HER and what EXACTLY did I TEACH. SOMETHING tells me that I SHOULD talk about it even if I am not her. But again everything inside me tells me I was really her.
JUST so you KNOW that THIS WAS way too REAL to seem LIKE just any or odd or a random dream. I believe that I had a real past life memory recall.
The PATRICIA McNEILLY twin-flame videos that I follow and post says she is FROM the “MARY MAGDALENE” lineage, which I also FEEL so DEEPLY and innately connected to being SAINT ANDREW in my present female form.
The MARY’S = [The OFFICE of the CHRIST females] [The BLUE – RAYS]
The MERLINS – THE MALES
I do HOPE this helps everyone as I want to KNOW so much more myself.
YOU can either BELIEVE ME or take it with a GRAIN of SALT. But to ME there is a real SENSE of KNOWING for some odd reason that it has to be me, and I just can’t explain it other than an inner knowing, and I had 6 DAUGHTERS as the story goes. BELIEVE me YOU are NOT the only ones who want to KNOW more about the EGYPTIANS as my own CURIOSITY never ceases when it comes to anything EGYPTIAN. I was making and working on a EGYPTIAN type of magical HEADRESS when I was forced out of my HOME by the POLICE and SHERIFF, when they ILLEGALLY STOLE my HOME.
I REALLY don’t have the TIME RIGHT now, but PERHAPS with some RESEARCH anyone that does KNOW more, then I WILL too. LATELY I have been thinking a lot about it, trying to put the pieces together as well.
WOULDN’T YOU, if this happened to YOU, want to KNOW MORE? As I would absolutely LIKE MORE PROOF on this MATTER as well, so I am at MORE EASE ABOUT IT as well. AGAIN I am NOT 100 % sure but I AM CLOSE that I MIGHT just really have been her in a past life. I WISH HEAVEN would say something or CONFIRM it SOMEHOW or SOMEWAY. It would be VERY APPRECIATED RIGHT about now considering EVERYTHING else going on.
Now I am SHARING THIS with ALL of you as I BELEIVE I SHOULD know.
THAT is all I have to SAY on this matter right now as we HAVE to get FULL CONTROL of our PLANET BACK and give HUMANITY their FREEDOM.
With LOVE and as much as I can REMEMBER about this so far.
SAINT ANDREW
NAMASTE’
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Friday, January 27, 2017 AKHENATEN DISCOVERY CHANGES HISTORY FOREVER! DARK JOURNALIST & DR. CARMEN BOULTER
Published on Jan 26, 2017 Visit http://www.DarkJournalist.com
Changing History Forever! In this earth-shattering episode full of historic revelations, Dark Journalist Daniel Liszt welcomes Pyramid expert Dr. Carmen Boulter back to the show for some History Changing Revelations about the shocking discovery of a secret site unearthed in Turkey of an Ancient Egyptian chamber that bears a strong resemblance to King Tut’s tomb and that contains a wealth of Egyptian treasure and lifelike statues of the heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten along with exotic antiquities of the Amarna period. Exclusive PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE provided in this Part 1 episode to substantiate the claim makes this the most important Dark Journalist episode to date and represents an earthquake for our understanding of the ancient past, Changing History Forever! Amazing Akhenaten Discovery Dates Egypt Back to 10,000 BC This amazing discovery would be incredible and historic enough just by virtue of the fact of its being located in Turkey and suggesting that Queen Nefertiti fled with a small band of followers and escaped her husband’s fate at the hands of the corrupt Amun Priesthood. But this historic find has even more secrets to reveal. The early testing of the artifacts reveals the extraordinary data that carbon dating tests put the age of the artifacts at approximately 10,000 BC, which throws a completely new light on the age of royal lineage of the Amarna ruling family. This royal like includes Akhenaten, Amenhotep, Nefertiti, Hatshepsut and Tutankhamen. It raises all kinds of important questions about our ancient history and strongly suggests that this unusual Amarna lineage may have been a Heritage of Blood transferred down from Royal Atlantis and is linked with advanced spiritual understanding and extraordinary psychic abilities.
Queen Nefertiti and The Pharaoh Akhenaten The story of Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife, Nefertiti has been portrayed by mainstream Egyptologists in a way that suggests that the Amun Priesthood was heroic, in deposing the heretically monotheistic “mad king”, says Boulter. According to her, the real story is much more intriguing and it relates to Akhenaten’s esoteric knowledge about the founding of Ancient Egypt. Why did the Priesthood attempt to strip Akhenaten and Nefertiti from history? Was Nefertiti able to escape, to conceal ancient knowledge of Egypt’s Atlantean past and exotic origins in a secret sacred tomb in Turkey? The newly released Bombshell Photographs answer that question with a resounding YES!
In this stunning episode, Dr. Boulter she explains that her new discoveries, inspired by her intuitive sense as well as her expertise as a researcher, reveal that the corrupt Amun Priesthood attempted to eliminate the royal family in Egypt and killed the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his son Tutankhamun (King Tut), but that Queen Nefertiti fled to Turkey and escaped their vicious treachery. She also explores the possibility that Akhenaten and Nefertiti were Atlantean supernatural beings that were giving humanity a new mystical philosophy of peace and spiritual attunement.
Dr. Boulter also discusses her five-part documentary series, ‘The Pyramid Code’ that explores the esoteric wisdom the Egyptians used to build the incredible monuments at Giza. Her new documentary series called ‘The New Atlantis’ will unveil her cutting edge and exciting research of an Atlantean culture that existed before recorded history, which formed the basis of the Sumerian, Egyptian, Mayan, and Inca Civilizations!
Shocking, enlightening, unnerving, strange and compelling. You don’t want to miss this history changing Dark Journalist episode!
GREETINGS, SAINT ANDREW again;
Doing some searching about this, as I never did search the waterways etc. as I was so convinced that I really was NEFERTITI [still am I guess in a sense.]
Precisely Cut Underground Waterways Connecting Pyramids to Nile …
earthmilkancientenergy.com/ch4.htm
The wells and shafts that permeate all around the pyramids have always been a great … Photo of similar underground chamber under Sekhmekhet’s pyramid.
Labyrinth Of Tunnels And Shafts Under The Pyramids
https://hiddenincatours.com/giza-plateau-of-egypt-labyrinth-of-tunnels-and-shafts-un…
Aug 1, 2014 – Many people are acquainted with the idea that there may be chambers under the paws of the Great Sphinx of Egypt, based on prophesy by …
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NOW, you have gotten my curiosity going, again I am adding to this. I found this [on Feb 01 2017] today and I am adding this information as it might explain underground water ways. Although I could not tell you if the underground well and waterways were in anyway connected, but perhaps some were, or NOT at all? We would need like some type of maybe sonic wave feedback or something like an x-ray to see if and how there were the water passages connecting some pyramids and going underneath them and to other places etc. I found these today;
It just MAKES my past life RECALL, that much MORE REAL.
http://earthmilkancientenergy.com/ch4.htm
Precisely Cut Wells, Shafts, and Underground Channels Connecting the Pyramids to the Nile River

Aerial photo of Giza Plateau. The dark blue represents the Nile. The red circles show a system of holes, shafts, and deep wells. The yellow spots show large holes large enough to drop houses into. The wells and shafts that permeate all around the pyramids have always been a great curiosity to me. In all my research they are rarely mentioned. Someone went to a lot of trouble to create them. They appear to me as part of a system to move water around and into the pyramids. I know that if those huge holes were filled with water, they could force water to flow through the small narrow horizontal passageways to the pyramids using simple water hydraulics and Bernoulli’s principle of moving fluids.

Photo from the top of the Cheops pyramid. Red oval shows systems of elevated mounds with rectangular holes open to the sky.
Photo from top of Cheops looking south. Red oval shows more mounds.

Photo from inside a raised mound as seen in #70. The 4-foot rectangular hole opens up to a chamber approximately 16-feet square. You are looking up to the sky through the small rectangular hole you saw in #70 from the top of Cheops.
Inside the chamber is another shaft that goes down to another chamber.

Photo showing 3-foot-square shafts with horizontal passages down about 20 feet. Red arrow is pointing to a horizontal passage.
Photo from top of Cheops looking at Chepern, the second pyramid. Red circle shows more mounds around the pyramid complex.

Photo showing a system of shafts and wells around the base of the Cheops pyramid. They are connected to underground channels and shafts.
More shafts and wells around the pyramids.
Photo of a precisely cut, 3-foot rectangular hole in solid bedrock.

Photo of me dropping a stone into a fenced-off well shaft next to the Cheops pyramid. I never heard the stone hit the bottom of the shaft. I believe that it is an access to a giant underground chamber.
Photo of deep well shafts with steel grates over them.

Photo of an underground shaft connecting to underground horizontal passages.
Photo of a huge hole; a red circle shows a man standing next to the hole.
Inside the chamber is another shaft about the same size as the one that looks up to the sky, as seen in photo #72.

Photo of huge hole that has been added onto sometime in the past. I think it had to do with the fluctuating levels of the Nile River. (See red arrow.)
Photo of more examples of interconnecting passages looking down into the shafts. Passageways are not large enough for humans to use. Red arrows point to horizontal passages.

Photo of large holes looking down to the Nile River. You can see the back of the head of the Sphinx in the background.
Photo of an intersecting passage; the red arrow is pointing to it.

Photo of precisely cut, 4-foot rectangular hole in the bedrock. The existing buildings in the background is where the Nile once flowed.
Photo of well-shafts looking towards the Cheops pyramid.
Photo of channels connecting to underground shafts.

Photo of current archaeological dig site at the Giza plateau. They are currently removing sand to expose deep well shafts.
Photo of deep well shaft under excavation.
Photo of another well shaft that has been excavated. I believe that it connects to the underground chamber at the Giza Plateau.
In recent years a major discovery was made at the Giza Plateau. The ground water was so low that it exposed a rectangular corridor that had been cut in the solid limestone of the Giza Plateau where the great pyramids sit. It was the opening and passageway to an enormous underground cavern the size of a football field under the pyramids.
There are also shafts in the bottom of the water yet to be explored. At one time in history, when the Nile flowed beside the pyramids, the opening here was deep under the surface of the river, and the enormous chamber would fill up with water, directly underneath the pyramids.

Photo showing approximately 7-foot square, man-made channel hundreds of feet long connecting the Nile River to the huge chamber under the pyramid.
Photo showing large channel with rectangular opening which connects to where the Nile River once was.

Drawing of the approximate location of the underground chamber that connects to the Nile River.
Photo of similar underground chamber under Sekhmekhet’s pyramid.
Causeways are common to all pyramids that were built along the banks of the Nile. They stretch from the base of the pyramid to the Nile River. They are connected at the base of the pyramid and at the Nile with a large opening to the sky structure and huge stone doors that open and close inside the Nile River.

Aerial photo of Giza Plateau showing the causeways common to all pyramids near the Nile. Some causeways are covered and some are open. Note red oblong circles; see the long shape of the channel.

Drawing of reconstructed pyramid complex. Note that all pyramids set above the Nile have connections downstream to lower structures.

Photo of causeway looking up to pyramid. Note the solid black granite lining the causeway.
Photo of a typical causeway at nearby pyramids at Abousir, approximately 15 miles from the Cheops pyramid. (See red oval.) Blue color represents the old location of the Nile.

Photo of causeway at Saqarra, approximately 30 miles from Cheops, looking up to pyramid.
Photo of the same causeway looking down towards where the Nile once was.

Photo of causeway looking at the back of the head of the Sphinx (in red circle) looking down toward the Nile River.
Photo of causeway partially covered in sand attached to the Menkaure Pyramid. (See red arrow.)

We are in the lower structure of the causeway, below the former level of the Nile. Note the arrows pointing to the dark stains etched into the granite columns that support no ceilings.
Photo of the outside of the lower chamber that connects to the causeway in the red circle.

Photo of the interior of the Sphinx Temple. There is physical evidence that thick granite slab doors once opened and closed underwater.
Photo of locked passageway below water level.

Photo of shafts that have been filled in with dirt. (See red arrows.) We are below the former water level of the Nile.
Photo of large well holes with protective rails around them. More deep holes with interconnecting passages. Again we are below the surface of the Nile River.

Aerial view of the step pyramid at Saqarra. It is located about 30 miles from the Cheops pyramid. The blue-filled area shows the former banks of the Nile.
Photo of the Step pyramid thought to be the most ancient of all the pyramids.
Photo of an enormous well. (See the man in the red circle for a perspective on how large it is.) Step pyramid in the background.

Note the stone extension that was added onto this hole (in red oval).
Photo of some typical well holes that are all around the pyramids at Saqarra. This hole is approximately 30-feet square. Typical of all the well holes and shafts on the Giza Plateau.

Photo of typical intersecting passages. (See red arrow.)
Photo of some deep intersecting passages. (See red arrows.)

Aerial view of pyramids at Abousir, about 15 miles from the Cheops pyramid.
Photo of some typical Pyramids.

Drawing of typical pyramids. Interiors vary slightly. All have descending passages below ground level, small underground chambers and connections to underground water.

Drawing of a 17th-century water pressure system. Note how similar it is to huge holes with small intersecting passages near bottom of holes. It is similar in design to the underground chamber with small channels connecting them.
Photo of a large hole with small intersecting passages near the bottom.

Drawing of how far and high water can be made to flow without the application of energy.
Photo of a huge hole with small intersecting passages near the bottom.

A 17th-century drawing of a water system for elevating water.
Drawing of a cross-section of a hole system after the sand was removed. It looks to me in this cross-section of drawing #127 that there would be many opportunities to create pressure or a vacuum.
Bernoulli’s Principle
Bernoulli’s principle states that in an ideal fluid, with no work being performed on the fluid, an increase in velocity occurs simultaneously with the decrease in pressure or gravitational energy. I believe the ancient Egyptians knew how to move water through all the various channels and chambers of the pyramids using this principle.

Drawing shows how the shape and size of the passageway can vary the flow of liquid.
Drawing shows a reservoir filled with liquid can create pressure to move the liquid through small passages.

Drawing of simple pumping system. Flowing water can push a smaller amount of water uphill to a higher level with a simple lever device.
Back to: Journey Through the Cheops Pyramid
© 2007 Earthmilk Ancient Energy
Giza Plateau Of Egypt: Labyrinth Of Tunnels And Shafts Under The Pyramids
Many people are acquainted with the idea that there may be chambers under the paws of the Great Sphinx of Egypt, based on prophesy by Edgar Casey, as well as seismic tests carried out by geologist Robert Schoch. However, few know that there are a myriad of tunnels and shafts under all of the Giza Plateau.
My guide on this adventure, and others was expert Yousef Awyan, co-director of the Khemit School who has explored the Giza area all of his life. In fact he lives across the street from the Sphinx. The fact that he is from the prominent Awyan family allows him access to areas that other guides may not even know about.
As we walked up the plateau in the direction of the Great Pyramids (see the Sphinx’s head in the background) we came across a number of deep shafts cut into the limestone bedrock, partially filled with the ever present sand of the area. The shafts lead to tunnels that travel north to south, and east to west, with some being miles long.
There are also many small side channels which enter into the underground system. Most are locked and impossible to access, yet others are open and lead at least 3 levels down below the surface of the plateau. The theory is that rather than being tombs, the pyramids were machines that generated energy by breaking water into hydrogen and oxygen…long before the pharaohs…
There are also a multitude of rooms underground, some of which were used by the dynastic people for burial purposes. They used them as tombs, but did not initially create them. Why carve out a chamber in the solid bedrock when it is already there?
The tunnels show extreme weathering, and the build up on the surfaces of salts which are most likely the residue of water traveling through them for extensive periods of time. Most Egyptologists of course scoff at the notion that this labyrinth was made before the time of the pharaohs, but I know what I have seen with my own eyes more than once.
Openings such as the one above, and many others are easily accessible, and you are invited to come and explore Egypt with us in March of 2015. The Khemit School as far as I know is the only tour company that literally delves deeper into the history of Egypt than any other:
Full itinerary and details HERE
I am presently working on a book about Lost Ancient Technology in Egypt which should be available by September 2014 via Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I highly recommend the work of Stephen S. Mehler, who is an expert as regards ancient Egypt, and especially subjects such as covered in this post:
Brien was born in Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.A. but grew up on the west coast of Canada. At age 11, he became fascinated with the art of the Haida and other native people, and began carving totem poles, and other related art forms, learning from Native teachers. After completing an Honours Bachelor Of Science degree, Brien decided to take up carving and sculpture full time at the age of 25. This included the creation of 15 full size totem poles, dugout canoes, masks, bowls, boxes and other Native style works.

Brien Foerster
Upcoming Tours You Can Join
Our operations began nearly a decade ago as a way to facilitate my longterm research into megalithic sites and ancient wisdom. Over the years our offerings have grown to an annual series of major group tours featuring well known researchers as well as private tours with me to sites in Peru and Bolivia.
Henna
Henna, a potent natural dye, is derived from the dried, crushed leaves of the Lawsonia inermis shrub. Although the leaves are green, the dye produced ranges from an orange shade to a deep brick red-brown. It is henna which produces the lovely reddish hair color favored by many Middle-Eastern and North African women. It is also used for body ornamentation, to paint designs upon the body, traditionally the palms and soles, for the purposes of beauty and spiritual benefit.
Once familiar only within certain ethnic enclaves, the art of henna painting, also known as mendhi, has become fashionable worldwide and for good reason. Besides its beauty, henna is safe, temporary and painless. The dye, which is permanent on fabric or wood, lingers anywhere from 2-12 weeks on skin, depending upon the quality of the henna, its reaction with an individual’s skin and the care taken to preserve the design. Henna is painted upon the skin; there are no needles, cutting of the flesh or insertion of dyes within the flesh. Furthermore, during the thousands of years that henna has been an art form, it has simultaneously been used for medicinal healing purposes. Henna is believed to improve the texture of hair and skin. On a spiritual level, henna is believed to bestow happiness, good fortune and all the benevolence of the universe.
Henna’s historical trail begins in ancient Egypt. Modern Egypt remains one of the main commercial suppliers of the plant, as do the parts of Sudan corresponding with ancient Nubia. Egypt’s associations with henna are confirmed by its botanical nickname: Egyptian privet. The term “henna” derives from the Arabic, al khanna. There is a hieroglyph, pouquer, which is believed to indicate the henna plant. The term mendhi, used synonymously for henna, derives from the Sanskrit mehandika. Much of the modern revival of henna derives from its popularity in India and Pakistan. It is believed, however, that the plant arrived in India as a gift from Egypt and there is much debate as to when it actually arrived on the subcontinent, perhaps as late as the Mogul Empire.
The earliest historical documentation of henna are the traces found upon the nails of mummified pharaohs. It is fairly certain based upon that evidence and existing images that henna was used to color the nails and to condition them: a royal manicure, if you will. There is some speculation that henna was also used, then as now, to create designs upon the body but because of henna’s temporary nature, that theory may be impossible to prove. There is evidence that it was used in that fashion by Asian worshippers of the Semitic goddess Anat, one of the few foreign deities to achieve popularity in ancient Egypt, so it’s fairly safe to speculate that the Egyptians were at least familiar with all henna’s potential uses.
Whether or not there was an earlier indigenous tradition, the art of henna painting would become firmly established in Egypt alongside Islam. Henna’s vocabulary of styles is based largely on region: Bedouins tend to create stark, solid blocks of color while in India very elaborate and intricate forms are favored. Berber designs are characterized by a bold geometry. Classical Arabic and Middle Eastern designs tend to be delicately geometric and floral rather than representational and this is characteristic as well of much of the henna design seen in modern Egypt. The palm is not quite so “filled-up” as is favored in India or Pakistan.
Henna, like tattooing, demonstrates a cultural process of gender-reversal. Tattoos, until recently associated in the West as almost exclusively masculine, were in ancient Egypt associated almost exclusively with women. Henna’s ancient traces exist on male pharaohs; in the following centuries, it would become a plant associated almost exclusively with women and the milestones of their lives. Henna has become an integral part of bridal rituals around the world. Whereas in Western nations, a bridal shower or rehearsal dinner may precede the wedding, in many other parts of Earth, the bride is the star of a henna party. (In fact, there is some linguistic speculation that the term “hen party” derives from just such rituals.)
The henna, used to ornament the bride, is a constant; other details differ depending upon region and culture. In Mauritania, for instance, even the groom may be decorated. Egypt, too, has integrated henna into traditional wedding rituals. Leylet el-henna, the henna night, begins with a trip to the hammam (bathhouse) for the bride, her female relatives and friends. (Indeed for best effect, if you are having henna done, make sure the area is clean and exfoliated: if a trip to the bathhouse is impossible, a loofah, at the very least, is recommended.)
Then onto the party: the bride is given a lump of henna to hold in her palm. One by one, guests add golden coins to the sticky paste. Once the lump is filled with coins, it’s scraped off (handling henna for even a short time will leave traces of the dye). Beautiful designs are then applied to her hands and feet, necessitating the bride to sit quietly for hours, while her friends regale her with advice and good fellowship. The henna is then wrapped in linen, left on overnight and removed the next morning to reveal the beauty of the designs. It takes about forty-eight hours for henna’s color to fully deepen and mature; decorating is thus timed so that the designs will be at their loveliest for the wedding and the nuptial night.
Any remaining henna is given to the guests to hold during the ceremony so that they may share in the joy and blessings that henna brings.
Henna stains nails with a deep color that may remain for months, only growing out with the nail. If you are handling henna and do not wish to stain your nails, wearing nail polish may protect them. On the other hand, some, like those ancient pharaohs, may appreciate the benefits of a henna manicure: it doesn’t chip, needs little maintenance and henna improves the health and quality of the nails. Obtain or create
Henna Paste
(This is a basic recipe for creating henna paste. It is only one among millions: in some regions every family has a closely guarded secret recipe, including various add-ins guaranteed to improve the hue and longevity. Take this one and experiment: you can add espresso, rose petals, saffron or hibiscus flowers.)
One teaspoon powdered and sifted henna powder
Two teaspoons strong black tea
5 drops of essential oil of eucalyptus
1. In a glass mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.
2. Mix, stirring in one direction to eliminate any lumps. The texture should be akin to toothpaste or stiff cake frosting: add extra powder or liquid, a little at a time, to achieve this consistency.
3. Once the paste is smooth, cover the bowl with a towel and let it sit overnight in a warm place before using.
You can also reap the benefits of henna without the color: neutral (colorless) henna powder may also be used to condition the nails. Neutral henna powder is usually sold as a hair-care product. All polish must be off your nails for this treatment to be effective.
Add half a teaspoon of the neutral powder to one half cup of warmed spring water. You may also add a teaspoon of yogurt (full fat for best effect) and one or two drops of essential oil of chamomile for extra conditioning. Mix the ingredients in a glass bowl, creating a paste. Gently place a lump of the paste on your nails and cuticles; allow it to remain for about fifteen minutes and then remove.
Nile Cruises By Jimmy Dunn
Celebration for the Young and Old By Mohamed Osama
The Western Desert of Egypt: Adventure Travel at its Best By Cassandra Vivan
The Latest Fashions in Ancient Egypt By Ilene Springer
Editor’s Commentary By Jimmy Dunn
Ancient Beauty Secrets By Judith Illes
Book Reviews Various Editors
Hotel Reviews By Jimmy Dunn & Juergen Stryjak
Kid’s Corner By Margo Wayman
Cooking with Tour Egypt By Mary K Radnich
Egyptian Exhibitions By Staff
Nightlife Various Editors
Restaurant Reviews Various Editors
Shopping Around Various Editors
Web Reviews By Siri Bezdicek
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