Tag: Delphi

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 »

We’re Back!

Posted C. LaVielle4 CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

And I am feeling most fortunate. The food was fabulous, the weather was almost too hot and sunny, and everyone was very kind to us. But it’s obvious that Greece is having economic troubles. Almost none of the restaurants and hotels would take credit cards—they all wanted cash; and my husband and I got out of Athens airport just one day ahead of a metro/taxi strike and airport closure. But it was the ancient Greeks and Minoans and their civilizations that drew us to modern Greece and held us spellbound for our entire sojourn there. The thing that always surprises me when I look carefully at an ancient civilization is how intelligent the people were and how much they knew about Life, the Universe and Everything. We tend to think that our ideas, philosophies, and understanding of the universe are special and original to us. They aren’t. They’ve all been thought and said and done before. The Greek temples and Minoan palaces were marvels of architectural… Read More »