Wednesday, 18 February 2026
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Egyptian researchers discover collection of ancient rock art spanning 10,000 years in Sinai desert
Jerusalem Post February 17 2026
Egyptian researchers discover collection of ancient rock art spanning 10,000 years in Sinai desert
The engravings and drawings are divided into several groups, researchers learned in their initial study of the space, the oldest of which are done in red and dated to between 10,000 and 5,500 BCE.
A shelter containing rock art spanning nearly 10,000 years was discovered by a team of archaeologists in the southern Sinai, the Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Ministry announced last week.
The Egyptian Book of the Dead
The Book of the Dead is the name given to an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BC) to around 50 BC.Book" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife and written by many priests over a period of about 1,000 years. In 1842, the Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius introduced for these texts the German name Todtenbuch (modern spelling Totenbuch), translated to English as 'Book of the Dead'. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw, is translated as Spells of Coming Forth by Day.
The Book of the Dead, which was placed in the coffin or burial chamber of the deceased, was part of a tradition of funerary texts which includes the earlier Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts, which were painted onto objects, not written on papyrus. Some of the spells included in the book were drawn from these older works and date to the 3rd millennium BC. Other spells were composed later in Egyptian history, dating to the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt (11th to 7th centuries BC). A number of the spells which make up the Book continued to be separately inscribed on tomb walls and sarcophagi, as the spells from which they originated always had been.
There was no single or canonical Book of the Dead. The surviving papyri contain a varying selection of religious and magical texts and vary considerably in their illustration. Some people seem to have commissioned their own copies of the Book of the Dead, perhaps choosing the spells they thought most vital in their own progression to the afterlife. The Book of the Dead was most commonly written in hieroglyphic or hieratic script on a papyrus scroll, and often illustrated with vignettes depicting the deceased and their journey into the afterlife.
The finest extant example of the Egyptian in antiquity is the Papyrus of Ani. Ani was an Egyptian scribe. It was discovered in Luxor in 1888 by Egyptians trading in illegal antiquities. It was acquired by E. A. Wallis Budge, as described in his autobiography By Nile and Tigris in 1888 and was taken to the British Museum, where it remains.
https://www.getty.edu/news/what-is-the-egyptian-book-of-the-dead/
“Book of the Dead” is a modern term to describe a series of ancient Egyptian ritual spells (instructions and incantations).
These helped the deceased find their way to the afterlife and become united with the sun god Re and the netherworld god Osiris in a continual cycle of renewal and rebirth.
There are nearly 200 known spells, but they weren’t collected into books in our current sense of the word. Rather, assemblages of spells were inscribed on objects from mummy wrappings to coffins to figurines to papyrus scrolls, all meant to accompany the dead in the tomb. They provided instructions for the various challenges the deceased would face on their journey. Spell 125, for example, lists a number of misdeeds they must deny having committed in life when they appear before Osiris.
Spells from the Book of the Dead
What are these spells like?
We use the word ‘spell’ to indicate the individual sections of a Book of the Dead. They are also often referred to as ‘chapters’ or ‘utterances’.
The spells were written down to help the person named in the papyrus to pass safely through any difficult or dangerous situations in the afterlife. One of the most important spells is Chapter or Spell 125 which usually contains a scene showing the heart of the dead person being weighed against maat (divine order and cosmic balance). The same spell also contains a long text referred to as the Negative Confession, in which the dead person recites a number of things he or she has not done.
Ordering and selection of spells
The numbering system used today to identify the different spells was first assigned by the German scholar Richard Lepsius in 1842. He published a Ptolemaic Book of the Dead and numbered the individual spells in the order they appeared in that particular papyrus. It is clear that this order was not particularly standardised and the selection of spells varies too from papyrus to papyrus, probably according to the arrangement determined by the scribe responsible.
We do not know whether the person buying a papyrus would necessarily be involved in selecting and ordering the spells. In some cases it is clear that the person whose name appears on the papyrus had purchased one that was already pre-written, with spaces left for the buyer’s name to be inserted. This is not the case with Ramose’s Book of the Dead.
— Book of the Dead, spell 30B
The section imploring the heart reads:
O my heart of my mother! O my heart of my mother! O my heart of my different forms! Do not stand up as a witness against me, do not be opposed to me in the tribunal, do not be hostile to me in the presence of the Keeper of the Balance, for you are my ka which was in my body, the protector who made my members hale. Go forth to the happy place whereto we speed, do not make my name stink to the Entourage who make men. Do not tell lies about me in the presence of the god. It is indeed well that you should hear!
Spell 9: Identifies the owner with the god
Words spoken by Ani: 'O you Soul [ba], greatly majestic, behold, I have come that I may see you; I open the Netherworld that I may see my father Osiris and drive away darkness, for I am beloved of him. I have come that I may see my father Osiris and that I may cut out the heart of Seth who has harmed my father Osiris. I have opened up every path which is in the sky and on earth, for I am the well-beloved son of my father Osiris. I am noble, I am a spirit [akh], I am equipped; O all you gods and all you spirits [akhu], prepare a path for me.
Spell 42. contains a list of all the essential parts of the body and their divine parallels.
My hair is Nu; my face is Ra; my eyes are Hathor; my ears are Wepwawet; my nose is She who presides over her lotus leaf; my lips are Anubis; my molars are Selkis; my incisors are Isis the goddess; my arms are the Ram, the Lord of mendes; my breast is Neith, Lady of Sais; my back is Seth; my phallus is Osiris; my muscles are the Lords of Kheraha; my chest is he who is greatly majestic; my belly and my spine are Sekhmet; my buttocks are the Eye of Horus; my thighs and my calves are Nut; my feet are Ptah; my toes are living falcons; there is no member of mine devoid of a god, and Thoth is the protection of all my flesh.
Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Recommended reading and TV
I have just finished very much enjoyed "The Untold Story of Christine Bott" bt Catherine Hayes
ISBN 9781838338824 - it's not available on Amazon at the moment but maybe through a bookshop.
On IPlayer I enjoyed the two series "Waiting for the Out" and "Small Prophets"
Monday, 16 February 2026
Sunday, 15 February 2026
A UK Cannabis Activism Retrospective: A Simpa Life Broadcast interview with Winston Matthews and Alun Buffry
A slight problem with quality at start but stick with it.
RIP Winston Matthews
Kabul to Peshawar via the Khyber Pass - Meeting Hellmut, 1972
Taken from "All About My Hat, The Hippy Trail 1972"
Peshawar and the Khyber Pass
It was 180 miles from Kabul to Peshawar, across the Khyber Pass.
Keith read quietly from his guide book:
“Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province, and the administrative centre and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan.
"Peshawar is situated in a large valley near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, close to the Pakistan-Afghan border. Known as "City on the Frontier", Peshawar's strategic location on the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia has made it one of the most culturally vibrant and lively cities in the greater region. Peshawar is irrigated by various canals of the Kabul River, Kunhar River and by its right tributary, the Bara River.
“Being among the most ancient cities of the region between Central, South and West Asia, Peshawar has for centuries been a centre of trade between Afghanistan, South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. As an ancient centre of learning, the second century BC. Bakhshali Manuscript used in the Bakhshali approximation was found nearby.
“In 1947, Peshawar became part of the newly created Pakistan after politicians from the Frontier approved the merger.
“Over 99% of Peshawar's population is Muslim, mostly Sunnis, with Twelver Shias the significant minority group. Despite the mainly Islamic nature of modern Peshawar, the city was previously home to a diverse range of communities, such as Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Zoroastrians and members of the Bahá'à Faith. A significant number of Sikhs, in addition to smaller communities of Hindus and Christians, continue to exist in Peshawar”
“That is very interesting, I did not know that history”, said a voice with a German accent belonging to a man that sat opposite us.
“My name is Hellmut. You want smoke some joint?”
He had lit and was offering them a joint – on the bus!
Well, I could tell Al liked the smell so he quickly accepted it with a “Danke” (thank you in German, Al thought). He took three rapid puffs and passed it to Keith who took three puffs and passed what was left back to Hellmut.
Al was feeling quite self-conscious about smoking on a bus heading to Pakistan. He thought everyone was looking.
He turned round to look back down the bus.
Almost every seat had a man leaning out and looking back up the bus at him!
And, Al noticed, they were all grinning and smiling and nodding, as if to say “You are stoned now, as we are stoned too."
Al thought those men probably did not smoke cannabis but it must have been in their blood, handed down over the centuries.
He relaxed, chatted with Helmut a while. Helmut said he travelled that route every year for ten years. Then as the calming effect of the lovely hash took over, he sat and started to enjoy what was to be an incredible journey through the Khyber Pass.
The over-laden coach trundled on, struggling up hills and rounding bends with sheer drops, then down and up again. At the end of most down bits there was a small waterfall. At the end of each up bits there was a beautiful view, often including the same road below them, winding around the boulders in between the fields.
At some places there were what looked like caves in the sides of the hills.
We passed small groups of men that seemed to be just sitting and looking; we saw young boys driving herds of sheep or goats or camels and several times we had to stop to let them pass us.
Occasionally we saw groups of women carrying baskets, bundles or clay pots on their heads, trailed by urchin-looking children – her children always waving at the coach.
The women here were dressed very differently and, Al thought, more practically than those in Burkas. These showed their faces beneath head-scarves decorated with beads and chains and quite colourful too. These must be tribal mountain women, Al thought.
The coach was moving quite slowly and Al had a chance to take a couple of photographs through the window, of the valley below. He wished he had more film, but thought he would not be able to afford it.
Hellmut was quite jolly company and did lot of talking. They smoked another couple of joints.
He explained that he travelled this same route for years and the border post guards knew him. He always gave them a little money and they left him alone. He also said that every year he visited Afghanistan and Pakistan, India and Nepal, and arranged for shipments of hash to be sent back to London where his partner lived. He travelled for six months, then went back to London and his partner did the same. They were paying off customs everywhere, including the UK, and they were making a lot of money. But, he said, he preferred to stay in cheap hotels, not the big ones, and then he met people.
So Hellmut too, was heading for the Hotel Rainbow.
“Very very cheap”, he said, “But it is OK for a few days, but do not eat their food – it is better to go out to eat in a secret local restaurant that I know, it is good and clean.”
Hellmut said that after Peshawar, he was heading to Lahore and then would fly to Amritsar where the “Golden Temple” was and where travellers could sleep and eat for free, courtesy of the Sikhs. The same plan as Al and Keith's, they used to call it the “Hippy Trail.”
“Hey listen to this about the Khyber Pass man,” said Keith, who read again from his travel guide:
“The Khyber Pass is a mountain pass connecting Afghanistan and Pakistan, and India cutting through the north-eastern part of the Spin Ghar mountains. An integral part of the ancient Silk Road, it is one of the oldest known passes in the world. Throughout history it has been an important trade route between Central Asia and South Asia and a strategic military location. The summit of the pass is about 3 miles inside Pakistan at Landi Kotal, about three thousand five hundred feet.
“The pass itself is entirely in Pakistan. The nearest major cities on the route that goes over the pass are Jalalabad in Afghanistan and Peshawar in Pakistan, with Torkham as border crossing point.
“For strategic reasons, after the First World War the British built a heavily engineered railway through the Pass. The Khyber Pass Railway from Jamrud, near Peshawar, to the Afghan border near Landi Kotal was opened in 1925.
“At the Pakistani frontier post, travellers are advised not to wander away from the road, as the location is a barely controlled Federally Administered Tribal Area.
“Crossing the Khyber has always been something of an adventure. Even in peacetime, this was a fairly wild region where banditry and tribal warfare were part of local history and almost every adult male went armed. “
It was quite a journey until they reached Peshawar, but once there, with Helmut leading the way, they soon found and booked into the Rainbow Hotel. Reception gladly changed Afghani money into Pakistani Rupees.
The room for Al and Keith was small with two beds, but the view out of the window into the street below was good.
It was May 5 1972.
View from Rainbow Hotel, Peshawar
Giggling Squid not funny
very disappointed with what the Norwich restaurant served up as I usually rate it highly, but this time ... the chillie mushrooms were mostly breadcrumbs with a sad pot of weak sauce. The spicey hake, one of my favourite dishes, was spoilt by hardly cooked green beans, sweetcorn and cabbage. what a shame.
Saturday, 14 February 2026
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