My goddess pilgrimage to Crete

Catholic New Times, Nov 16, 2003 by Mary Ann Beavis

Like many feminist Catholic women, I have long been attracted to the female images of the divine that are available in the Judeo-Christian tradition:Ruach, Nephesh, Sophia, Shekinah, Bat Kol.

As a feminist biblical scholar and "theo/alogian," I have read, taught and written both about the female divine in my own tradition, and also in religions, past and present, where the holy is experienced as female, as goddess. In my personal spirituality, I have found traditional male-oriented theological language, imagery and worship less and less satisfying, and almost unconsciously have surrounded myself with images of the divine female, Christian and non-Christian.

And so, as part of my spiritual path, I was ready for a pilgrimage experience centred on the goddess, and when I read about Carol P. Christ's "Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete" in a feminist theological journal, I knew that it was for me.

Dr. Carol Christ is one of the pioneers of feminist theology/thealogy, and one of the foremost theorists of contemporary feminist goddess spirituality. Her books include WomanSpirit Rising, Weaving the Vision, Laughter of Aphrodite, Odyssey with the Goddess, Diving Deep and Surfacing, Rebirth of the Goddess, and most recently She Who Changes: Re-imagining the Divine in the World.

Formerly a full professor of Religious Studies at San Jose State University, she moved to Greece in the 1980s to found the Ariadne Institute for the Study of Myth and Ritual, and has recently become a Greek citizen. She and her dedicated staff lead two, two-week tours in Greece each year, "Sacred Journey in Greece" and "A Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete," both of which are offered twice a year, spring and fall. These tours are for women only, and are limited to a maximum of 15-17 women per tour. Carol's fluency in Greek, her extensive knowledge of Greek history and culture, and her personal relationships with people along the way, make the tours unique and special. Her personal commitment to spiritual feminism makes these sacred journeys truly a labour of love.

My pilgrimage took place from May 27-June 7, 2003. The tour was small and included six Americans, one Australian, and myself. Two of us were Christian-one Methodist, one Catholic; two were Wiccan; all could be described as spiritual feminists, or open to feminist goddess spirituality. The youngest member of the tour was 43; the oldest was 68. While parts of the tour were quite physically challenging, all of us managed most of the demands of the journey, and no one was pressured to do more than she felt capable of. It was encouraging to learn that we were able to do a lot more than we'd thought was possible!

The tour begins and ends in Heraklion, the principal city of Crete, and alternates between urban and rural settings. Visits to the vibrant, modern cities of Heraklion and Agios Nikolaus are punctuated by quiet times in the mountain resort of Zaros and the idyllic fishing village of Mochlos. The tour focuses on the eastern half of the island, the home of the ancient and mysterious Minoan culture, which lasted from neolithic times until about 1400 B.C.E., when Crete was invaded by Mycenaeans from the Greek mainland.

While the Minoans were a highly cultured, sophisticated and peaceable people whose art and artifacts reveal a love of life, nature, beauty and the divine, their script, called Linear A, has never been deciphered. The goddess of the pilgrimage is the many-faceted sacred female revered in various forms throughout Minoan history: the prehistoric goddesses of birth and death; the Mistress of the Animals; the Mountain Mother; the elegant snake goddess/ priestess whose image was found in the domestic shrines of the Minoans; and Ariadne, the Cretan vegetation goddess integrated into Greek mythology as the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, Lady of the Labyrinth.

In a country dominated by the Greek Orthodox Church, the divine woman has survived in Christianized form as the Blessed Virgin, known in Greece as the Panagia (All-Holy One), and in the female saints (Sophia, Anna, Catherine, Helena, Paraskevi) whose shrines and icons are ubiquitous throughout the island, often adjacent to ancient pagan sites.

Crete is a treasure-trove of artifacts and archaeological sites, and the tour includes visits to the great archaeological museum at Herakleion, as well as to many smaller museums, from the impressive collection at Agios Nikloaus, to tiny folk-museums in rural villages.

We also visited an amazing number of archaeological sites, including the famous complex at Knossos excavated by Sir Arthur Evans early in the 20th century. Interpreted by Evans as the palaces and villas of a hierarchical culture ruled by a king and queen from the "capital" at Knossos, more recently these have been interpreted as sacred centres where the Minoans carried out the graceful rituals depicted in the beautiful murals that decorated their walls.

The Minoans were a deeply spiritual people who worshipped not only in built shrines but on mountain-tops and in the womb-like caves found throughout Crete. We pilgrims followed in the ancient worshippers' footsteps, laboriously climbing mountain paths and carefully making our way down into the darkness of the earth, celebrating rituals at the ancient sacred sites. Prayer, singing, dancing and ritual were woven into the tour, at sacred sites (including an initiation ritual at a prehistoric tholos-tomb), on the tour bus, and at special celebrations at the beginning and end of the pilgrimage.