Category: Greece

The God as Superhero: Part IV, Hades

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Gifts from the Multiverse, Greece

Continued from previous posts… Hades? You’ve got to be kidding. The dread Lord of the Underworld? The god the Greeks feared so much that they wouldn’t even speak his name?* The god who granted Medea her death and , at her request, destroyed her lover, Jason?** The master of the remorseless Furies, who releases them to torment the living?** The infernal Jove, the snatcher of things, who causes the earth to shake and open up and devour his unfortunate prey? ** The god who called a deadly plague down upon the city of Thebes?** The god who snatched his sister’s only child and took her down to the underworld to be his queen? That’s not a Superhero, that’s an Archvillian! So, imagine my surprise and terror when Hades began talking to me as I stood outside his Ploutonion in Elefsina, Greece. (see previous post: Power Points of Eleusius: The Ploutonion ) I was there a few years ago with my husband and two good friends.… Read More »

Animal Magic in Greece

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Greece

One of the highlights of Greece was its animals. They were everywhere. Dogs strolled down the sidewalks of Athens and snoozed in front of the Erecthion Cats peeked from nooks and crannies and, if you were lucky, they came out and rolled on the sidewalk and let you scratch their bellies. Every restaurant seemed to have its resident cat. These furry souls didn’t care that I was a stranger in a strange land. They treated me like all the rest of the humans, making me feel comfortable and accepted. Yes, I am well aware that most of those wonderful animals were homeless, but that didn’t make them any less cute or any less comforting. Greece has very few animal shelters and, according to the Greek Animal Rescue web site, dogs and cats and donkeys are horribly abused there. But, fortunately, we saw no evidence of this during our brief sojourn. And I would bet that more than a few of those street animals had homes.… Read More »

Delphi, Another Step in Our Greek Odyssey

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Goddess, Greece

The town of Delphi nestles on the south slope of Mt Parnasus, and overlooks dramatic hillsides, acres of gray green olive groves and a small, sparkling-blue slice of Korinthiakos bay. It’s just plain, knock-your-socks-off beautiful. And this is only fitting, because back in the day, long before there were Greeks, Gaia, grandmother earth, had her sanctuary in this lovely spot and her child, the terrible Python, lurked underground. This was the time of the Titans. A time when the shadowy, frightful ghosts, gods, and spirits of the underworld reigned supreme.* Even then, legend has it that Gaia’s temple was a famous oracle.** And because it belonged to Her, it would have been the center of the earth, her belly-button or omphalos. And then, down from the big sky steppes of the north, came Zeus. He was a new and strange god. He had no form and no personality. He was huge and incomprehensible and He ruled the vast heavens. And He was definitely a he.… Read More »

The Eschara and the Original Meaning of the Word Holocaust

Posted C. LaVielle3 CommentsPosted in Goddess, Greece

Continued from previous posts…. Towards the front of the site at Elefsina, before you even get to what’s left of the Great Propylaia there is what looks like a large, brick barbecue. And that is precisely what it is. Except it is unlikely that any living soul got to taste the meat that was cooked on it. It is an eschara, a sacrificial altar. “But wait,” you say, “didn’t the Greeks get to eat most of the meat from their sacrifices?” They did. According to Hesiod*, the Greeks had Prometheus to thank not only for fire, but also for the privilege of reserving the best cuts of the sacrificial animal for themselves. The story begins back in the mists of time, back before Prometheus had stolen the divine fire and given it to mortals, back when the gods still came down from Olympus to dine with humans. Prometheus was having his first meal with Zeus and took it upon himself to portion out the sacrificial… Read More »

The Temple of Demeter and The Curse of Eleusis

Posted C. LaVielle8 CommentsPosted in Greece

Continued from the three previous posts…. This painting by Joseph Gandy, British artist and visionary architect, gives us his idea of what the site at Eleusis might have looked like around 200CE at the beginnings of the end of the Roman Empire. The Temple of Demeter is that big building in the center. The Temple and its grounds had two propylaia, or massive entryways, at this time. The outer, newer one is the Great Propylaia, built around 150CE by either Emperor Hadrian or Marcus Aurelius or both. It’s that large, columned  building/gate to the right. The tiny building to the far right is probably the Temple of Artemis. The smaller gate with three entryways that’s closer to the temple is the Small Propylaia, built around 50BCE In the site museum, which is quite nice, there is a statue of a woman with what looks like it might be a basket on her head. But this wasn’t just any woman. When I looked up into her… Read More »

Power Points of Eleusius: The Ploutonion

Posted C. LaVielle9 CommentsPosted in Greece

We left the Demeter Well and headed up the steps, thinking that we were headed for the Site Museum, but we were waylaid once again. Just before the entrance to the Temple of Demeter, where the final part of the Eleusinian Mysteries took place, we came upon a sign that said “Ploutonion”. It also said that this was the spot where Hades abducted Persephone as she was picking flowers. A Ploutonion is a sanctuary or shrine dedicated to Hades, god of the underworld. They are built at entrances to the underworld, and are, fortunately, rare. Strabo* identifies the only other ones I could find. Both were in Anatolia (modern Turkey), one outside Caria and one near Phrygia, and both had vents that released mephitic (noxious) vapors, and both were dream oracles. There is another sort of sanctuary of Hades called a necromanteion. This is also an opening to the underworld, but it is an oracle of the dead. People go here to speak with the… Read More »

Power Points of Eleusius: The Demeter Well

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Goddess, Greece

At last. Against all odds (see previous post), we were standing on the site where the Eleusinian Mysteries were performed. Like good little tourists, we decided to hike straight up to the Site Museum and get oriented and then come down and go over the ruins. This was not to be. First we were attracted to the remains of what had once been a stoa, a long Greek porch, where pilgrims probably rested after their long walk from Athens. Then, as we headed for a huge set of steps that were on the way to the museum we were drawn to their lower left-hand corner. The source of the attraction was a Demeter Well. I had seen these before in Sicily at Agrigento and a particularly powerful one at the Rock of Ceres (the Roman Demeter) in the central town of Enna. The Rock of Ceres is another well-situated site. It overlooks the Goddess’s wheat fields and the place where the Sicilians say Hades nabbed… Read More »

The Way to Elefsina

Posted C. LaVielle3 CommentsPosted in Greece, Synchronicity

The ruins of the site where the Eleusinian Mysteries were performed are in Elefsina, an industrial town located on the Saronic Gulf between Athens and Corinth. We almost decided not to go there because the guide books were very unenthusiastic about the place, giving descriptions like “surrounded by oil refineries and factories” and describing the ruins as “scattered”.* But all our pagan friends who had been there looked at me in horror when I told them we were going to skip the site. “Oh, but you must go!” they said. “It’s definitely worth the trip.” So we went. But it wasn’t easy. As we drove out of the car rental at the Athens airport it looked like a simple trip. Almost every freeway sign said “Elefsina” and had a big, white arrow pointing the way. Little did we know that this would be our first encounter with the Greek street sign trick of being obvious and clear until you get close to where you want… Read More »