It was around the year 2000, I was living in Manchester, Gorton to be precise, not the nicest place in the world, but relatively cheap compared to Stockport. It was Gavin and my second place together, we'd moved from Stockport as the rents were unfeasibly high and I'd tried to pay the bills, but on only his wages, due to my losing my job at the hospital because of ill health, so we moved to Manchester.
I maintained a number of friendships from the people in Stockport and Manchester Pagan scenes and was being asked to start a moot in East Manchester, seeing as I was living that way, it seemed appropriate to do that. So The Crescent Moon Moot was started at The Angel in Denton... We had the function room, free of charge on a Tuesday evening, which was perfect.
I invited all kinds of speakers to come and give talks and it attracted all kinds of people, some of my friends from Stockport and Manchester came over and we had a nice group of people. Among the collective was a lovely lady who went by the name of Sacha. Sacha had more than a passing interest in hypnosis and I thought I'd ask her to regress me.
One Sunday afternoon at Joe's flat in Moss Side, we decided it was the right time and place to regress me. I was happy to be regressed in front of a couple of people, just so they could experience what it was like to see someone 'go under'. Also it meant that I had someone in hand to record anything as it happened.
"I'm going to ask you to count from ten down to one"...
Slowly and softly I was guided into the deeply relaxed state of hypnosis.
"Going back through this life...." She guided me back to childhood and then beyond, back to the experiences in Ancient Egypt.
"Describe where you are, what does it look like?"
I was standing in the courtyard of a temple building, around were pillars and people milling about. The sun was shining, the sky was a brilliant azure blue and the people were dressed in the style of the day, women walked with baskets on their heads. Everyone had a purpose, everyone had something to do. I said "I'm home".
I began to cry, huge sobs, tears running down my face.
"I'm going to ask you, Sheena, to just observe now"
Sacha lifted me from the intense experience of being in the scene and I was now aware that I was watching myself experiencing things.
"Tell me about the labyrinth"..
'The labyrinth was part of the initiation process,' I began. 'Different parts of the labyrinth related to different initiations, and the colourful images were symbolic of the process, they were to awaken things within you.'
"What kinds of things?"
'Knowledge, almost like a story, or pictures, parables, if you like, ways of making you see the world.'
"What's your name?"
I laughed, 'I can't tell you because I can't say it'
"Who's Pharoah?"
I paused. I was trying to say it. 'Amenhotep IVth'
"What's your job? What do you do?"
Images of an incense filled room filled my head. 'I wash their feet. I wash the feet of the High Priests'
I began to cry again. Tears of longing for long forgotten times and places.
"Five, four, three, two, one....and wake"
Sacha bought me out of the hypnotic state, I was inconsolable. And now I had been dragged back to the 21st Century.
Through tears I uttered, "It was wonderful, the colours, the images, so bright and vivid, like I was really there. I was an initiate in the temple and I washed the feet of the Pharoah and High Priests, that was my job. It was amazing."
The mystery of my past life was unravelling, it wouldn't be until a few years later that I discovered more about what happened to me and why.
