ANTINOUS SAILS THE SOLAR BOAT BY NIGHT THANKS TO THE MYSTERIES OF HELIOPOLIS

MARCH 4th is the festival of Re at Heliopolis ... a city which Antinous visited during his fateful trip up the Nile ... and a city which our spiritual leader ANTONIUS SUBIA visited during his sacred pilgrimage to Egypt this past month.

After leaving Alexandria, the first important stop for Antinous on the Nile journey in late 130 AD was at Heliopolis, the ancient center of the worship of Re, the sun god.

The Heliopolitan cosmology states that the universe is created when the Atum (first principle) masturbates and creates himself as the sun god Re, the visible manifestation of the Atum, and then rises up from the primordial waters in the form of a mound.

Re then gives birth to the Enneads, the Nine beings who create the cosmos: Shu (air) and Tefnut (fire), Geb (Earth), Nut (Sky), Osiris and Isis, Seth and Nepthys who together are the principles of life. 

The creator, Re-Harakhte, travels across the sky on his Boat of Millions of Years every day, and then as it submerges beneath the horizon, Re-Harakhte battles against death and evil, and is greeted triumphantly each morning by the priests of Heliopolis. 

Antinous was admitted into these mysteries, and gained a place by the side of Re-Harakhte on his sacred boat, according to the hieroglyphs on the Obelisk of Antinous.

The glyphs state that Antinous can "assume any form his heart desires, because the semen of the First God TRULY is in his body."

When Hadrian and Antinous visited Heliopolis, they were no doubt shown the sacred shrine of the Bennu bird, who was said to have burst forth in a shower of radiant light from the heart of the First God.

This is the same First God who ejaculated into his own mouth to utter the words of creation at the moment of Sep Tepy, the Creation Moment. Other versions say he ejaculated in great arcs which created all the other deities and the entire universe.

Then on October 11th, a few days after visiting the Sacred Shrine of the Phoenix in Heliopolis (and acquiring that virulent bit of spellwork), Hadrian and Antinous visited Oxyrhynchus and heard of the fabled phallus of Osiris.

And a couple of weeks later, Hadrian cradled the limp body of Antinous on the shores of the Nile. The body was limp like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

Hadrian "wept like a woman" and refused to accept oblivion for his Beloved Boy. Instead, he proclaimed Antinous a god and set about making sure that the Religion of Antinous took root and blossomed.

The Obelisk of Antinous speaks of Antinous being full of the "Semen of the First God" which is the creative force of the universe.

That means Antinous can assume "any form his heart desires" since he (like Osiris) is one with the First God ... and one with the Bennu Bird.

Antinous IS the Phoenix.

As sacred synchronicity would have it, "Bennu Phoenix" birds (Egyptian storks) flew over Antonius Subia's head during his pilgrimage ... most notably when three Bennu bird storks flew overhead during the ABU SIMBEL SUNRISE cosmic event on September 22nd.

So it was imperative for Antonius to visit Heliopolis ... which he died on the final day of his pilgrimage ... despite hindrances and setbacks. 

Antonius says:

From the day we arrived I was trying to get there but it kept getting pushed back for another day. Finally the last day came and I was not going to be dissuaded from seeing Heliopolis.

It turned out to be an arduous ordeal across the worst parts of Cairo ... In the Rain and at rush hour ... all of which turned what I thought would be a short solo excursion ... into a four-hour journey.

I decided just to take a taxi ... made arrangements to meet everyone later at the Dervish dancers at 6:30 (actually I was supposed to go back to the hotel first then we would all go together).

The taxi driver didn't speak a word of English but when I showed him where I wanted to go he said okay ... as we left I realized that he thought I wanted to go to a Hotel called Heliopolis ... and he had no idea where to go. 

Eventually he called a guy from the sidewalk who spoke a little English to translate ... and then he said he knew and off we went. 

I had no idea how far it actually was ... and in a rough industrial area full of burning garbage (and I have been in some extremely rough parts of Egypt ... but this was the worst. 

The taxi driver and I eventually could chat using the "translate conversation" function on my phone ... even he said that it was in a Bad Neighborhood.

Suddenly in the distance I see it ... The Giant Obelisk! ... one of the only Obelisks still standing in its original location.

There was a lovely little park surrounding it with what little remains of the once glorious city of Ra, where the Great Temple once stood, which is said to have been larger, older and more spectacular than Karnak.

The Great Temple of Ra at Heliopolis was where the creation story involving the god Atum masturbating the universe into being took place. (Illustration above: "Israel In Egypt" by Edward John Poynter)

The city where Orpheus, Pythagoras, Homer and Plato all came to study with the priests of The Temple of Ra-Atum.

It is also where Antinous and Hadrian came during their visit a few months before Antinous drowned, the place where the event in which Antinous said he would be willing to give his life for Hadrian occurred.

I needed to see Heliopolis

I needed to stand where Antinous once stood,

Where he willingly dedicated his life to Hadrian

So many obstacles tried to prevent me from getting there. 

I went all by myself into the wild worst parts of Cairo, and paid a heavy fare to get there and back. 

I spent as long as I could, absorbing the presence and power beneath what could be seen around me ... and thanked Antinous for making it possible for me to have this magical moment.

My last adventure in Egypt.

The way back was worse than getting there, I barely made it on-time to see the dervish dancers ... which was surreal in its self.

Then back to the Hotel to pack and head to the airport where I am now.

Heliopolis was wonderful ... and heart-breaking.

Egypt was wonderful and heart-breaking.

It has been the most powerful experience of my life so far and it will take a while to go through all that I have experienced.

The Obelisk of Heliopolis will stand as my final pilgrimage station in Egypt. Although so many obstacles endeavored to prevent me from getting there ... I overcame all that came before me and stood in the footsteps of Antinous.

Ave Antinous!

~ANTONIUS SUBIA