(Shenu)
There resides inside each of us a Spark of the Divine Creator Energy that is always present. SKHM, which is also known as Seichim and Sekhem, helps one to reestablish, or establish in a fuller way, your connection with the Source, allowing you to more fully become aware of and move into your life purpose. It also assists in removing any blocks that keep you from connecting with Source, and helps in removing blocks that create the illusion of separation from Source. Come and take the time to completely immerse yourself in the Living Light Energy of SKHM and deepen your own unique connection to this stream and flow of energy, which may manifest itself in many different ways in your life, such as increased healing and healing abilities, clairvoyance, psychic and artistic talents. This experiential workshop also includes sound healing using toning, overtoning, sound meditations and body movement. There will also be the opportunity for opening through spontaneous Heart Initiations. Be prepared to feel an ecstatic connection with the Divine.
History of Seichim – Sekhem – Seichem - SKHM
Seichim (say kehm) comes from the Egyptian word SekHem (sek khem) which translated into English means ‘Power of Powers”. It was discovered in modern times by Patrick Zeigler. The variation in names refers to the same energy stream. SKHM denotes the way Patrick refers to his work with the energy today.
Patrick Zeigler joined the Peace Corp back in 1978. He spent most of his free time meditating and studying the bible and the Koran. He was in Yemen and this is where he became exposed to the Muslim religion. He was very drawn to it, but he couldn't practice it. Mainly because he didn't agree with how women were treated. He spent time searching for a Sufi teacher to study with, but he never could find one... He pretty much gave up on that.
He went to Egypt for a vacation, and to fulfill a childhood dream of sleeping overnight in the Great Pyramid of Giza. He said that as he entered the West Bank, the energy of the place just drew him in. He could feel it, and he was instantly drawn to the Great Pyramid.
One day, early in the morning he entered the Great Pyramid, and he could feel the energy of the place begin to reverberate through him. He was there very early in the morning, when they had just opened, so not many people were there. He actually had most of the place to himself. He was first drawn to the Queen's Chamber. Patrick said that energetically it was very peaceful there.
I'm going to start writing this from the first person as if Patrick was telling you.
I just sat down and meditated there for awhile. I just sat and felt the energy...I felt drawn to move around to experience the energy in the Queen's chamber. At that point more activity began to occur and people moving into the chamber, and I thought, "It's time to explore the King's Chamber next."
As you enter the Kings Chamber, you first walk through the Grand Gallery, so you go from this very small, claustrophobic tube to a very high, 20 to 30 foot high, spacious staircase that goes about 2/3 of the way up the pyramid. As you get up there it begins to level off a bit, and then you begin to enter the King's Chamber.
The sounds are awesome....every sound begins to vibrate...it's as if you're walking into a big bell. If you were to walk around, the sound of your footsteps would begin to vibrate through the chamber. If you're quiet enough, you can even hear the vibration of your breath. Just take a moment and feel the vibration of your breath.
The acoustics are perfect. You make an Aum (Om) sound and it just carries through, it's so deep. I walked in and felt right at home. When you walk in, the sarcophagus is to your right, and the position of the head, I believe is North. The sarcophagus is in a North/South orientation.
The Sarcophagus itself is a container in which the remains of the King are placed, and it's made out of a solid piece of granite. I'd hit it and it would make this huge gong sound. That in itself carries a lot of energy, again I knew I wasn't to stay at this time but I knew in my heart that I needed to spend the night in this place.....
I didn't know how I was going to do this, but I asked for guidance for this to occur. Right as I was leaving, I looked down and there was this little door. It was the door where thieves had tried to carve in around the granite that had encased the King's Chamber, and it was a tiny hole only big enough for someone to crawl into. It would take some effort....
There was a gate covering it, but the gate was unlocked. I took out my flashlight and checked it out. This voice came in and said, "You're going in there!" I thought, "I'm going in there, but not now." I went back to the hotel and the next morning I returned.
I was prepared, and I decided that I would fast. I had things I'd need to spend the night. When I got to the King's Chamber, again the gate was left unlocked. So when no one was around, I opened the gate, and crawled in. Of course I had no idea what was in there! I could only crawl, and I began crawling upward. I found myself in this little alcove above the King's Chamber. I was amazed by how the blocks on the outside of the pyramid were so perfect in how they came together, but on the inside they were quite crude.
I sat there and meditated all day long. It was just wonderful...as if I was in suspended animation. There was this nice calm there, this wonderful peaceful energy. I could hear tourist groups coming and going all day long. I waited until I felt all the people had left, and then I waited until I heard the front gate shut.
They have this big metal gate in the front, and when the closed it, it echoed all the way up to where I was in the pyramid. I waited a bit longer until it was absolutely still and I was sure no one else was around. That's when I came out and went directly to the Kings Chamber. Of course it was pitch black, but I had my flashlight with me. I decided to sit and meditate in the sarcophagus.
Then I decided to lay down....it was actually a good fit. (Patrick is 6 feet five inches tall, and he was surprised that he fit.) The sarcophagus isn't the coffin, just so you know. The sarcophagus is what holds the coffin.
I laid down, and I'd bump the edge and listen to the reverberation...it was such a wonderful tone. I started meditating, and before long I heard this high pitched sound....I thought, "Oh my, things are starting to happen awfully quick." It sounded like mosquitoes though, and I thought, from my research, that mosquitoes didn't or couldn't survive in this climate.
One thing I definitely have a problem with is mosquitoes...I had a roll of toilet paper, so I started wrapping myself up in the toilet paper -- so the bugs couldn't bite me...I wrapped my arms, feet and face.
When I began getting comfortable, I began hearing this thumping sound. Oh no, someone's coming. I was laying in the sarcophagus all wrapped up and someone's coming. I kept trying to decide what to do...should I get out or stay here. I decided to stay put, because I couldn't move anyway...there was this energy over me that kept me down...so I kept listening...I could feel it coming up the Grand Gallery.
I began to rationalize...I decided that whatever it was, it wasn't human...I thought maybe it was bat droppings or something, but it was too consistent...there weren’t any animals around...So I realized it was beyond animal and human...
I began experiencing fear...it began to overwhelm me....I went deeper and deeper into the fear...It was freezing me....The sound came closer and closer. As it got closer my fear grew. It entered into the King's Chamber, and I could feel its presence. My fear became deeper and deeper. Suddenly, I felt and saw the energy above me...and it was whirling...in a figure eight or infinity pattern, and it was this electric blue light. I said, "I could die now, or I could allow whatever this is to happen."
At this point, energetically the fear began to melt away and the energy entered my heart. I felt this love filling my being...the fear transformed as the love enveloped it...it transformed into a deep feeling of love. As it entered my body I could hear the sound and the sound was coming out of my heart....the sound of my heart had transferred outside of myself and inside myself.
The whole evening I meditated on feeling the energy within my heart and my entire being. That's how the rest of the night went. I was bathed in this love.
When I realized it would soon be morning (I didn't sleep the whole night), I got out of the King's Chamber and went back to my hiding place. I waited for some tour groups to come and go, and when I felt it was appropriate, I left my hiding place.
When I came out, I realized I was covered in this glimmering white dust....I tried to brush it off as best as I could, but it was all over me. As I was walking towards the entrance/exit, these guards began calling out to me to stop and come back in Arabic. I pretended to not notice and just kept walking faster....Luckily, there was a tour bus waiting outiside, and I hopped on and was taken back to my hotel. When I got back, I looked at myself in the mirror and saw that I was completely covered in this dust. It was as if a huge white flower had stuccoed me all over. (He later learned that this powder is known to be in the pyramids and is used in India to promote healing and spiritual powers. One name for it is Vibhuti, sacred ash.)
I laid down with the energy for a bit...took a shower and decided I would go into the old city of Cairo as this is where all of the old mosques are. Many stone blocks from the pyramids were used to build the mosques in the Old City. While I was walking around, this woman came up to me dressed completely in orange. I don't know how to spell the following....she was a Rajneeshi (Follower of Bagwhan Shree Rajneesh, or Osho) which is very rare in Egypt. She came up to me and asked me if I could help her find someone. I told her that I would try, and when I saw the name, I thought, "Yeah, good luck."
I walked over and asked this man if he knew who this person was. He said, "Oh yes, but he doesn't live here, however there is a group of his students who are here. They have a school across the street." We went over there....the school there was for Sufis, and I told them who I was looking for. I was told that the Sheik lived in the Sudan, but we were more than welcome to stay and study with them....they would teach me what he had taught them. I stayed with them for a week.
Their whole practice basically is what I learned in the pyramids. Essentially the focus was on the heart....Holding the heart center during prayers and dance.
Unlike other Sufi dances, which usually are in a spiral, they moved from left to right in an Infinity pattern. They'd all line up, men in one room standing, the women in another room sitting and praying. Usually chanting and dancing this...which is called the Zikr (Zik ker). The Zikr is their way of remembering...the energy would come flowing in as they danced and the singing would grow stronger and stronger, building the energy, and then they'd quiet down, and then they'd start again...this they would do all night long.
At the end of the week I began having visions of a man who would come to me with a turban. Now they had pictures of the Sheik everywhere, which may have helped, but it was so clear. They told me that one of the gifts the Sheik shares with them is he visits and teaches them in their dreams.
My woman friend and I decided to go to the Sudan...we were going to go overland, but they said, "oh, no...." and they handed us two plane tickets...we were just shocked.
When we got to the Sudan, we didn't know where to go or anything...I asked a taxi driver if he knew how to get to the Sheik’s house, and he did.... He took us to his house, and refused to accept any money from us. The Sheik’s home was small, but he had this huge living room...he would sit in a chair, and there were a circle of chairs around the room where other people would sit.
We went in and introduced ourselves, it was all very informal. I spent two weeks with him. The first week was spent getting to know everyone and talking with the Sheik.
After the first week he gave me some beads, and told me for each bead to say "Allah", however it came across to me as “All Love”. He told me to continually do this....I still practice this today. It gives the mind something to focus upon...as well as connects you to the Light. The Sheik said, "Usually I ask people to focus on one of the prophets.... but with you, if you wish, you can focus upon the most beautiful Light.
During the second half of the second week, I developed a small fever. The Sheik would visit every evening....This particular evening I looked up and he was standing there.... he said, "You know Abdullah (what they called Patrick) you really should become a Muslim." I said that I really couldn't, because of how they treat their women. He said, "I understand."
Patrick looked away for one second, and the Sheik was gone. When he asked everyone where he was, they said that he had never come that evening. Patrick went to the Sheik’s house and found him lying down. The Sheik woke up, and said, "You know, you really should become a Muslim." I was just floored, and I said, "I already answered you," and we laughed. Then we prayed together for awhile. That was the only teaching he received from the Sheik.
When I got back, a whole world opened up. I started having out of body experiences all the time...
One night I heard this singing, as if it were Angels and I suddenly was completely free of my body. I went to the room of my roommate and asked her to join me. She said not now, that she was tired. My heart sank, but I realized that I could experience this on my own.
Before I knew it I was on a deeper level of sound....The next morning my friend asked me if I had come to her room...this is when I realized that it was a shared reality...that this stuff wasn't something I was making up, or that I was going crazy.
Patrick began putting his hands on his body about this time whenever he didn't feel right, and his body would vibrate or shake...and then he would feel better. He wasn't working with anyone at this time...just himself.
He went from Yemen to Nepal and continued meditating...he knew he had to learn healing, so when he came back, he enrolled in the New Mexico Academy of Healing Arts school. He studied all types of healing modalities there, and this is when he met someone who did a Reiki treatment on him. He thought that Reiki was similar to what he had been working with, so he took the 1st and 2nd degree in one weekend from Marilyn Alvy.
He had decided to move onto the master level after recently receiving an inheritance, and he had scheduled a class. As he was completing his Reiki Master (IIIA) training, he was visited by the woman he had met in Egypt who had led him to the Sufi group. She asked him to accompany her back to the Sudan at the Sufi group’s request. Immediately after completing his Master class, he traveled with her back to the Sudan, where he spent another two weeks dancing and studying.
During this period of time, the Sheikh’s son shared the Sheikh had died. The group members knew the Sheikh had passed on teachings to Patrick that were rarely passed out and they wanted to Patrick to become a Sheikh, marry the woman who had brought him there and for both of them to teach. Patrick was honoured by their request, but he gracefully declined the offer. The group gave him their blessings, and encouraged him to teach what he had learned from their leader. So he spent a couple of weeks with all of them, but he said that it wasn't the same without the Sheik.
Patrick came back to the United States to California and started a small healing group. He taught some, but he never felt right with it for some reason. This is when he met T’om Seaman, who wanted an attunement to the energy Patrick was working with. Patrick told him that he was working with this energy and he would share it all with him... At this time though Patrick had no idea what to call it.
He consulted a woman who channelled an Indian Spirit Guide named Marat. Patrick started talking with Marat about Seichim, and Marat stopped him saying, "That is not what you are doing...you are doing Sekhem...Marat taught him about doing attunements
Patrick made three attempts at giving attunements before he was successful with the fourth. He spent several days working with and teaching T’om Reiki and Seichim using the attunement method he was developing.
Patrick said that at that time he was also getting a lot of images, but he never recorded them...never gave them form..... Patrick states that he now he sees the energy as a pearl essence...not so much the electric blue.
T’om Seaman began to work with and teach the energy of Seichim that he had been given by Patrick. He attuned two people, a Swami friend of his, and Faun Parliman. One of Faun Parliman’s earliest students was a woman named Kathleen McMaster. This was in 1985. She later changed her name to Phoenix Summerfield. Not long after her attunement by Faun Parliman, she located T’om and received further Seichim teachings, later supplemented by telephone conversations with Patrick. T’om realized that Phoenix was going to create a standardized form of Seichim with levels and symbols, similar to Reiki.
Patrick credits Phoenix with being highly influential in spreading the word about Seichim. She continued to teach and work with Seichim until her death in 1998. Since Patrick’s early work, the practice of Seichim has spread across the world, becoming a popular healing system. It is taught under many different names in the United States and the West. Some of the names are Sekhem-Seichim Reiki, Seichim, Isis Seichim, Living Light Energy, Sekhem and Patrick’s work, called SKHM.
Diane Shewmaker is the originator of this style called Sekhem-Seichim-Reiki and she has a book explaining it in detail called All Love - Celestial Wellspring Publications, Beaverton, OR,ISBN 0-9674135-1-6.
Recommended reading: All Love: A Guidebook for Healing with Sekhem-Seichim-Reiki and SKHM by Diane Ruth Shewmaker,
ISBN 0-9674135-1-6. No prerequisites.
