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Straircase of Egyptian Goddesses

Pale yellow color of the staircase wall of the Egyptian side of the house fills three floors of space with light. This shade symbolizes sunshine, optimism, joy of life, knowledge and, of course, Egyptian sands. Yellow treats depression, fills the solar plexus – the third chakra Manipura – with energy, strengthens the will, helps to make a decision, improves the memory, stimulates mental activity. Stabilizing and strengthening the nervous system, yellow color frees a person from fear, anxiety and sadness.

Here, in this staircase, is the picture gallery illustrating ancient Egyptian mythology and archetypes. The exposition begins with the map of Ancient Egypt, depicting the temples of Pharaonic Egypt, located along the Nile – from the upper reaches in the Nubian land to the lower reaches along Alexandria.

Rising up the stairs, you will meet the works of the U.S. painter, illustrator, and archetype art connoisseur Hrana Janto, painted during the period 1993-2001. These reproductions with original signatures of the author came to the villa from the United States. Seven ancient Egyptian goddesses will accompany you through the colorful area.

On the ground floor, the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet guards the villa. In the background of the blazing sun and a hot desert, wearing a crown with the divine cobra Uraeus, this goddess is severely watching the villa’s visitors. Sekhmet iconography illustrates archaism of the ancient Egyptian pantheon – originating from the zoomorphic African religions, the goddesses and the gods of the Pharaonic Egypt are often depicted as human-animal hybrids, with a human body and an animal head, or able to transform themselves into their totemic forms – eg. a lion, a cat, a cow, a falcon, a crocodile. The goddess Sekhmet bravely defends the dominions of her father, sun god Ra, from the rebels and the raiders. When is turned into a lion, she becomes an unbeatable rival, swallowing the enemies and drinking their blood. When is flown into a rage, Sekhmet becomes the incarnation of archetypal aggression. In Karnak temple, the prisoners of war from the defeated countries were offered to this goddess. This energy can help a modern man to protect his living territory and all the dearest to him, to be a devoted friend and an invincible enemy. The Egyptian gods knew that it is possible to pacify the anger of the goddess with the help of beer (or wine) with the mandrake root. When seeing a red drink, Sekhmet thought it was blood. After drinking greedily this liquid, she got drunk and fell asleep, and awaken she got her gentle feminine shape again. Maybe this ancient story could be the doctrine for the modern men: ply your angry women with red wine, until they turn themselves from the raged lionesses into the gentle kitties!

Between the ground and the first floor you will see the goddess Bastet – the archetype of pleasures, dance, playfulness, joy, gracefulness, fertility. Presumably, the cult of this goddess emerged as a transformed and softer variation of Sekhmet – a cat, carrying the sun. In ancient Egypt, the goddess was worshiped in the form of the sacred cat, sometimes she is shown as a cat-headed woman with a massive chest jewellery. People kept her sculptures at home for protection, as a symbol of fertility and happiness of a family, and during the burial ceremonies they were placed within the sarcophagi and in the tombs to accompany the deceased in the Underworld – in Duat. The cats in Egypt were considered to be sacred animals and were mummified after death. Bastet cult was extremely popular in the districts of the old city Bubastis, in Nile Delta (whose name means "Bastet home"). Here, a huge cat cemetery was found, located along the temples of the goddess. During the festivals, in honor of the goddess, people played on flutes, danced, held the fairs. Bastet archetype teaches us to move through life gracefully and elegantly; it reminds us, that playfulness and creativity are as much important, as work and goal seeking. Bastet energy frees sexuality, tenderness, teaches how to take care of children, of the family and the loved ones.

Another goddess in the staircase area – is the creative Hathor. Cult of this goddess flourished in Egypt in 3000 BC. According to the canons of ancient Egypt, she is considered to be the creator of the world, and is often portrayed in a shape of a cow with the sun disk between the golden horns. Hathor breasts symbolize her caring, nourishing nature. In Egyptian papyruses and in the temple bas-reliefs, one can see the scenes where an Egyptian Pharaoh is nursed from the divine breast of Hathor. This underlines the exceptional position of the ruler, as the favorite of the gods and the king of people. It is said, that Hathor participated in every baby's birth and fated the child's destiny. Milk of the goddess symbolizes blessing, eternity, strength, health, it is not only the body that is nourished, but also the human soul, longing for sacrality. It can be said, that Hathor herself – is the heavenly soul residing in the earthly body. One of the most beautiful temples in Egypt is built for this goddess – it’s the multilevel Dendera temple. In the Old World it was a healing, birth giving, arts and beauty center. Here you can see the famous Zodiac calendar (whose original was taken to the Louvre museum by the french). At the start of the new year, there was a holiday in honor of Hathor, with sounding tambourine music, dancing, and, probably, sexual orgies. In a solemn procession, a sculpture of Hathor, smeared with fragrant oils, decorated with most beautiful garments, by Nile was shipped from the inner altar hall of the temple to the god Horus temple, located in Edfu. There, the divine marriage was held, inseminating the universe. In ancient Egypt, the goddess Hathor was worshiped as the queen of healing, arts, beauty, sexuality, bodily pleasures, femininity, creativity. This archetypal energy reminds women, that the true femininity – it is spirituality, sexuality, union of the healing powers and arts.

Stepping to the first floor, in the stair landing you will meet the pictures of the daughters of the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut – the sisters Nephthys and Isis. On the left side, you will see the splendor of a very rare piece of art – an image of Nephthys, created by Hrana Janto in 2001. The Greeks called this goddess Nebthet. Dressed up with a tower-like crown, behind a veil, vested with the wings of a kite or a hawk, this goddess accompanies faithfully her sister Isis in all the peripeteias of the myth of Isis and Osyris. They both embody the opposite poles of life and the principles, constituting the whole of life: Isis symbolizes light, life, rebirth, spirituality, and Nephthys – darkness, dusk, sunset, death and matter. Both sisters are often shown kneeling next to Osyris or next the deceased man’s mummy: Isis – at the footside and Nephthys – at the headside. Being children of the same parents, the sisters have married their brothers (it is a common phenomenon in ancient mythology). Isis became wife of the growth and civilization god Osyris, and Nephthys – spouse of the desert ruler, the ruthless Seth. This story, like the real life, is full of the piquant turns and twists: not succeeding to have any children from her husband Seth, Nephthys changed once with her sister’s clothes and secretly came to Osyris’ bedroom. May it was drunkenness from wine of the feast, or perhaps because of his male generosity, Osyris made love with Nephthys. That night they began the divine baby Anubis – the jackal-headed god of healing, mummification and transformation. Unlike in people's lives, this story did not ruin the relationship between the sisters – Isis took care of a newborn Anubis with love, and taught him the art of healing. And Nephthys left her husband and accompanied her sister on the long journey searching for the remains of Osyris, and in the struggle for Horus’ rights to the throne.

The entrance to the first floor apartment is guarded by Isis on the right side. Hidden in papyrus’ foliage, with her hand-wings holding baby Horus to the chest – a son of Osyris and the heir to the throne, the new hero of the world, having to continue his father's work to defeat evil and ensure justice on earth. Known in Old Egypt as Au Set – “A Special Queen” or “spirit”, and called Isis by the Greeks – “The Thousand Names lady” – this goddess was worshiped in Egypt, Greece, and in old Europe. Portrayed with the throne-shaped crown on the head in traditional iconography, Isis was called the "throne on which sits the Pharaoh." In the papyruses and in the temple reliefs, she is often holding on her knees and breastfeeding the future ruler. Isis archetype includes a wide range of women's roles: a loyal spouse, a husband's companion, mother, sister, a guardian, a healer, a sorceress, a fighter against evil and just a woman, persistently seeking her aims. It is said, that Isis has taught the women to grind corn, to spin flax, to weave fabrics and to tame men – so to be able to live with them.

Rising up, you will see the sky goddess Nut. Dressed up with the thinnest white linen tunic, hands raised up, she is holding her heavenly form – the sky vault. This goddess loved her husband, the earth god Geb, so much, that she never separated from him. This angered father of them both, the sun god Ra. With the help of the wind god Shu, he separated the lovers, and forbade Nut to have children all the months of the year. Nut’s body has arched like the sky vault. She touched the ground with her toes and her fingertips. Every evening she swallowed the sun, and each morning she gave it birth again. Touching her husband just with the tips of her toes and her fingers, Nut couldn’t get pregnant. So the god of wisdom Thoth came to help her: after playing chess with the moon, he won five days a year, which were not included in the ancient Egyptian calendar (it was the Lunar calendar, not the Solar one) by then. This way, Nut have received five days of fertility, during which she gave birth to Isis, Nephthys, Osyris, Seth and Horus. The royal blue Nut’s body, spotted with golden stars, was depicted on the sarcophagi lids, on the ceilings of the temples and in the tombs, and she is considered as one of the world's oldest goddesses protecting humanity.

Rising upward the second floor of the villa, you will be greeted by Maat – the goddess of wisdom and justice of ancient Egypt, worshiped in all the temples and in public institutions. Kneeled on one knee, the goddess holds an ostrich feather and a container with a heart. This scene is traditionally portrayed on the papyruses and it symbolizes the posthumous trial – weighing the heart of the dead ceremony. Depending on the Egyptian nome (the administrative division), it was stated, that if the deceased was a good man, his heart was not aggravated by sins, then it will be lighter than the ostrich feather. The other version of weighing results was: if the deceased had made a lot of good in life, his heart is heavier because of the good works, and so it will weigh down the ostrich feather. In any way, the gods "weighed" the human life in the underworld courtroom, the results of this procedure were recorded by Thoth and presented to the underworld lord Osyris. If a person was extremely bad, his soul was swallowed by the goddess Ammut, with the crocodile jaws, the leopard and the hippo body, waiting here. This meant that the soul decomposes to primary substance, without any right to continue its own individual journey on the spiral of existence. The goddess Maat – is the archetype of truth of the universe and the balance, of justice in nature and in people’s society. There was no any temple built to this goddess, but she was highly respected in all manifestations of life as the principle of truth. The ancient Egyptian priests tattooed themselves the feather of Maat on their own tongue, for their lips would say the truth.

On the second floor of the villa, next to the terrace door, you will see the diving sites’ map of the Red Sea coast of Hurghada, with marked coral reefs and wrecks. After a day at sea, it is nice to look again at the visited and seen in the depth sites.

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