It was on the Nile River where I was handed two small essential oils bottles by my shamanic teacher seven years ago. One was Papyrus and the other was Blue Lotus. I was on a mystical journey with a group of people that I knew in Peru. We went on an adventure to explore the cosmology of ancient Egypt. Another shamanic experience that followed a deep dive into the world of the Buddha in Nepal and India 2 weeks prior.
While handing us the tiny bottles of oil, our guide told us: “We will not ingest any plant medicine here. Instead, we will work with the spirits of Papyrus and Blue Lotus through the sense of smell and see where they will take each one of you on this journey”.
Both Papyrus and Blue Lotus were deeply embedded in ancient Egyptians ways of living and dying. The first in their language and communication in one reality and the other in their connection to the spirit realms through the dream space and expanded states of consciousness in parallel realities.
As I opened each of the bottles and I smelled them separately, the Blue Lotus called out. I felt a deep reignited connection with it. I knew it somehow. It was the first time I smell it yet, somehow, the memory of it rippled in my body. “Mmmmm. This is a beautiful smell” is what I shared aloud as I applied some of it on my wrists.
One more guest was late, and we had to wait for him to start moving on the Nile River and exploring some sacred sites. As he arrived, the boat was waiting for us. He was coming directly from “Burning Man” and was in a very interesting state. The first day on the boat, he was purging almost the whole day and he was very agitated and restless. In the afternoon, our guide asked me to work with him energetically and physically with the intention to help him calm down and sleep.
After our dinner together, everyone in the group went down the deck to their rooms and I stayed to work with him for more than 2 hours. By the end of the session, he was calmer and ready to rest.
Going back to my room felt like a dream. I took a shower and went straight to bed. I had placed both bottles of essential oil on the bedside table near me. I felt so blessed to lie down and I went into a deep sleep as soon as I laid my head on the pillow.
At some point during the night, I do not remember what time it was, I woke up to the smell of the Blue Lotus filling the room. It was so vivid. I turned to check if any of the bottles was open or fell down on the floor. Both were closed and still in the same place where I had put them. I freaked out!
A day or two prior, as we were visiting one of the temples and the archeology guide was explaining some of the carvings on the walls, I had connected with a figurine of a deity whom I came to know as Thoth, the Moon God. What pulled me in his direction was his knowledge in the arts of magic, the system of writing, science, art and the judgment of the dead.
Back to my room, I was in an ongoing state of fear. I did not know what to do or who to call. I was awake. I was aware of what I was smelling. I kept repeating to myself: “What is going on? Where is this coming from?
I sat back on my bed and while being smothered by the smell of the Blue Lotus which I knew very little about back then, I was not able to understand anything at all. I was not in ceremony yet, I felt I was.
Suddenly, a form showed up in the room. A silhouette of a spirit! I could not believe what my eyes were seeing. I knew it was a spirit but how? How can this happen outside ceremony or without ingesting any plant medicine?
In denial, I asked: “Who are you?”
A voice responded: “You called for me”.
The vision of the carving in the temple linked me directly to those words. I was in awe. I could not believe how this can happen!
My head was spinning. My body frozen. I could not move.
After realizing what I had asked for and, in my ignorance, I added:
” Yes. I did call for you. I connected with You, and I ask you to teach me your medicine”.
What? What was I talking about? It was overwhelming. It’s like I was not the one talking. It was as if I was set on the side, and something is talking through me. I was out of my own way. I was shocked by what I was expressing.
The spirit answered: “What is medicine for you?”
If there was anything until then that was keeping me together, this question wiped it. I was speechless. I did not know what to do, how to answer or anything else whatsoever. I felt blank.
“What is medicine to you?”. I had been exploring and healing in the world of plant medicine for almost 4 years and I did not know what medicine was. I had heard the maestro and other practitioners talk about it. I memorized what it meant for them and would repeat their words, but I had no idea what it means for me till then. Their words escaped me as I was lost in a world of smell and spirit.
Was it all a vivid dream in which I was fully present and absent at the same time?
I do not remember how I went back to sleep but it felt like sleeping became the dream itself and that vision was the reality that I lived.
After sharing this story with my guide, the next morning, he said three words: “Hold your ground”. What did he mean? I had no clue. I was miserable. I felt I was going crazy, but I kept moving because I had no other choice. I was there and I could not leave. Not yet.
The rest of my journey in Egypt was life transforming. It was one of the most potent experiences in my journey outside the ceremony house. I brought the Blue Lotus oil back with me and over the years I spent in the jungle, that same bottle accompanied me until it was empty. I had kept another sample in my apartment back home and every once in a while, I would smell it.
Earlier this year, I started receiving messages again about the Blue Lotus after sharing it with some women. Seven years following my experience in Egypt, I was pulled again to understood what happened with me. As I searched more and followed the threads, I learned about the main Deity of the Blue Lotus – Nefertem and the ancient ritual of Initiation by the Blue Lotus in Egypt and Greece. My part of the world in this lifetime.
This mystical plant surfaced again in my life, and I knew that I will get a chance to work with it through a woman, a priestess and a guardian. It is timely and it is needed now.
In Love and Medicine
Maya Abou Chedid
