At the Isis Temple in Philae,Egypt...A Funny Story From the Road to Sacred Sites
At the Isis Temple in Philae, Egypt
By Karen Tate
The group I was leading to sacred sites of Isis in Egypt all clad in white ritual clothing and galabayas left the Philae temple after a thorough exploration. Our aim was to honor Isis with a private ritual. We found a perfectly quiet and uninhabited spot to the side of the temple and alongside the river to do just that!
During the course of the ritual I noticed a few curious tourist onlookers. I didn’t pay them much attention and focused on the ritual at hand.
About 15 minutes into the ritual I realized by our clothing and actions we’d drawn quite a crowd of Western tourists and the temple caretaker was taking full advantage of those gathered. He was overheard telling the tourists we were a group of local holy women who came to the temple on a regular basis to pray to Isis – and he passed his hat to collect their donations, or baksheesh as it’s called in Egypt. I guess he had it partly right.
