Is Abydos calling you? … In a London suburb in 1904, a little girl fell down a flight of stairs. She was pronounced dead. And then, she returned to life, claiming she belonged in Ancient Egypt. Her name was Dorothy Eady. She remembered a forbidden love with a Pharaoh that began 3,000 years earlier, here, in the dust and light of Abydos.
Some places you visit. Others, you feel. Abydos is different. It gets under your skin. For me, that feeling is forever intertwined with a story—a tale of reincarnation and a love that defied time itself. It’s Omm Sety’s story. And its echo in these stones is so palpable, you can feel it.
The 3,000-Year-Old Sacred Spell: A Pharaoh’s Forbidden Love
Egypt, circa 1,285 BC. The air is scented with lotus and the dry heat of the garden. Pharaoh Sety I, a man of forty or so years, is resting at his palace in the pilgrimage town of Abydos. He is here to oversee his greatest work: a magnificent new temple for Osiris, god of the afterlife, believed to be buried in this sacred ground.
His solitude is broken by a young priestess of Isis, unaware of his presence. Her name is Benetrashit—”Harp of Joy.” At fourteen, she had been given to the temple as a child after her mother’s death. Despite the chasm of age and status, an immediate, undeniable attraction sparks between them.
In the following weeks, they meet in secret. But word comes of trouble on the borders. Sety must leave. While he is gone, a devastating truth emerges: Benetrashit is pregnant. Brought before the High Priest, she admits to a lover but steadfastly refuses to name him. As a consecrated initiate of Isis—the goddess of love herself—she is temple property, forbidden to any man, even her Pharaoh.
Benetrashit’s Sacrifice: Love’s Triumph Over Betrayal
Faced with an impossible choice—betray her king or face the temple’s judgment—Benetrashit chose a third path. She took her own life.
When Pharaoh Sety I returned to Abydos and received the news, he was shattered by a grief that would transcend his mortal reign. He made a vow, a sacred promise sealed in sorrow: he would never forget her. A promise that would echo, against all odds, through 3,000 years of history.
The Priestess Reborn
England, 1904. Dorothy Louise Eady is born. At three years old, she tumbles down the stairs at her home in Blackheath. A doctor pronounces her dead. An hour later, a nurse finds the little girl sitting up in bed, perfectly alive, but profoundly changed.
She becomes obsessed with Egypt. A visit to the British Museum ends with her being dragged away, screaming that the mummies were “her people.” Then, she finds a photograph of the Temple of Seti I at Abydos. She runs to her mother – Caroline, pointing. “This is my home!” she cries. But she is confused. Why is it in ruins? Where is the beautiful garden?
As she grows, she skips school to haunt the museum’s Egyptian rooms. She befriends the renowned Egyptologist E.A. Wallis Budge. He is astounded at how quickly she learns hieroglyphs—until she explains she wasn’t learning, she was remembering.
Dorothy Eady Goes to Cairo
The Second World War comes and goes. Dorothy cheats death during the London bombings at least twice. Her dreams are filled with fragments of a life she cannot yet understand.
At twenty-nine, she marries an Egyptian man, Imam Abdel Meguid, and moves to Cairo. She bears a son and, to her husband’s family’s dismay, insists on naming him Sety. Thus, she becomes Omm Sety: Mother of Sety. The marriage lasts but two years. After parting, she leaves her son with his father.
Dorothy goes to work with the Department of Egyptian Antiquities. She astonishes seasoned Egyptologists with her intuitive knowledge and skilled draftsmanship, often filling in missing pieces of inscriptions and layouts from memory.
Over time, the memories solidify. She was Benetrashit. And the spirit of Pharaoh Sety I began to visit her. He explained—as a high priest of the mysteries—how he could gather life force to fashion a temporary physical form. It would cost her, shorten her life. She insisted. And so, he came to her not as a ghost, but as a man she could see, touch, and love.
Return to Abydos
In 1956, Dorothy Eady came home. She moved to Abydos and would remain there until her death in 1981.
Both Dorothy and Sety I understood the price of their past transgression. To atone for their forbidden union and ensure their spirits could find each other again in another life or dimension, they had to abstain from all physical contact. To fail would mean eternal separation.
For the next 24 years, Omm Sety lived her devotion and Pharaoh Seti continued to visit her. He spoke with her about his life outside of Abydos and in particular his son Ramses II. She worked at the temple, guiding visitors, making exquisite drawings, and helping archaeologists. She told them where to find the lost garden, and every day, she performed the ancient rites of a priestess of Isis within the very halls she once knew.
She is buried at Abydos, though not precisely as she wished.
A Stone Waiting for Its Place
What many people don’t know is that Omm Sety asked for very specific words to be spoken over her when she was laid to rest in 1981 — a prayer offered to the gods. Even fewer know that in 2011, a friend of mine had those very words carved in hieroglyphs on a large slab of alabaster, intended to be placed over her grave at Abydos. History intervened — the revolution came, and the stone never reached its destination. It has been resting quietly at Mara House in Luxor ever since, waiting. Curious guests at Mara House see the slab, ask the question and are introduced to the story of Om Sety. Perhaps it is also fitting that her prayer is read repeatedly and regularly, in answer to the questions. Everything in it’s own place and time. For now this is my touch stone of connection to all the Abydos timelines.
The words on the slab read:
“The royal offerings are presented as a gift for the god Osiris, Lord of the city of Abusir, the great god, lord of the city of Idous (Abydos), so that the voice of the offering may be granted — consisting of bread, beer, oxen, fowl, and every good and pure thing — before the god, that offerings may be made for the revered one, beloved of the King (Seti I), the wife of the goddess, Ast Benetrashit. From the revered one of the necropolis, true of voice.”
The temple itself speaks of devotion. Thoth – the god of Wisdom and Keeper of the Records – and his wife, Sheshat, appear together throughout Abydos — beside doorways, arches, and sacred spaces — as if whispering of knowledge, balance, and journeys from the West. Perhaps it is this energy that drew three women from the Western isles — Margaret Murray, Dorothy Eady, and myself. While I cannot yet say I fully understand my task , if there is one, I have answered the call in my own way, since my first visit to Abydos: sharing the stories of Omm Sety, Thoth, Osiris, Abydos and Sety I, keeping their memories alive, and inviting others to experience this extraordinary place. Omm Sety’s prayer now carved into the alabaster slab rests here at Mara House, a quiet reminder of the love and devotion between two people that endurs through the veils of time and space.
Omm Sety’s life was full of other fascinating details. She even had a plastic replica of a sarcophagus made for her burial, which the authorities denied on the grounds that it might become a health hazard. And her life-long friend, Hanny el Zeiny, through his careful recordings of her conversations — questions put to the Pharaoh’s spirit about history, royalty, and daily life — has preserved a remarkable window into her world, forming the basis of his book, Omm Sety’s Egypt, for those called to delve deeper. I once went to visit Hanny in Cairo, through our mutual friend who had the alabaster stone carved. We got on well, until I asked the fateful question: “Do you believe what Omm Sety said?” That, apparently, was the end of the conversation — he politely asked me to leave, the question remains unanswered.
👉 Explore all my transformative travel stories from Egypt
It is crucial to note: No one who knew her work ever disputed Omm Sety’s story. She was, and remains, deeply respected by Egyptologists for her contributions and her unwavering character. Her story has captured the imagination of travels for years and inspired more than one towards further research into ancient texts and writings.
There is something at Abydos that keeps drawing me back, not just physically but also mentally. After years of visiting I began to realise that the Pharaoh Sety I had left his own biography on the walls at Abydos and, by following my own instincts and a natural progression, on entering the temple, the story eventually became so obvious I was wondering why guides were not just reading it to tourists, as it was written. That is a story for another day.
There is so much more to write and discover about Abydos, but a story only has real value when the listener can hear something in it that resonates with his own inner being. There are infinite stories in the cosmos – and, here is the best part – we can each choose our own. Just as Sety I, who had been brought up and trained to be a devotee of the god Set (not a pleasant character), refused to serve – so can we choose at any moment in time to change the drama we are currently playing out. I wonder if Abydos is calling you, as it calls to me … Come to Abydos with Mara!
Mara House Luxor is my home and if you are looking for a different kind of experience other than the usual hotel, then look no further, email me today: maraegypt@gmail.com
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The Seeker’s Path: TheSevenKeys – Abydos & Dendera
This article is part of a series. Unlock the full story with all seven keys.
- Key of Invitation: The Seeker’s Path
- Key of Connection: How the Stones Found Me
- Key of Devotion: Omm Sety – Dorothy Eady & Pharaoh Sety I
- Key of Mystery: Return of the Djedi?
- Key of Revelation: The Maker’s Hand – Unseen Genius at Abydos
- Key of Ritual: Beyond the Cartouches – The Priests Who Kept the Heartbeat of Abydos
- Key of Cosmos: The Celestial Secrets of Dendera Temple