A magazine of Goddess celebration with news,
research, artwork, photos, personal experiences and ritual, that
aims to reflect the diverse community of Goddess spirituality reclaimed
from the past and alive in the world today. The magazine is primarily
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WOMANSPIRIT RISING - THE DIVINE ANCESTRESS Goddess Festival at Walcot Chapel, Walcot Street, Bath Details from Sheila Braun 01225-840820 |
ISSUE No. 6Summer/Autumn 2004
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THE GODDESS’ WHEEL OF THE YEAR
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Goddess Sites of Eastern Crete - Part 1
by Cheryl Straffon & Jackie Dash
Many of the great Minoan* centres of Crete are well known and much visited by Goddess lovers. The so-called ‘Palaces’ (or to be more accurate, Temple sites) of Knossos, Phaistos and Malia are popular and on many visitor trails, and even lesser-known post-Palatial shrines like Gournia and Ayia Triada have received much more attention in recent years. However, as we were to discover when we stayed in remote south-eastern Crete recently, there are many other fascinating smaller Minoan sites, hardly known or visited at all, where you can get a wonderful sense of the Goddess-celebrating people who lived and worshipped there and connect deeply with their spirit.
Much of Northern Crete has been blighted by the ravages of mass tourism in recent years, especially in the areas to the east and west of Heraklion, the prime example being the ‘lager-lout’ town of Ayios Nikolaos. With their ‘English pub’ and Guided Tours mentality, it is hard to get any sense of the ancient Minoan Goddess of the Land in these places. But travel to the far north-west or south of the island, as we did recently, and you discover a different world entirely. Here wild mountain ranges look down over small coves and beaches, and Minoan Goddess sites nestle in the mountain peaks or in the slopes of the hills, little-visited except for those determined to seek them out. And what a rich reward they proved to be! This article gives some details of sites hardly known about at all, so that other Goddess-loving women nd men may discover them too.We stayed for a few weeks in the harbour area of Makriyalos, which made a good centre for visiting this remote area of eastern Crete. Travelling west from Makriyalos, after 42km you come to the unspoilt village of Myrtos. At Nea Myrtos, about 2km east of the village before you get there, there are two remote Minoan sites on two hilltops, overlooking the sea. The first easterly one, Phournia Koryphi is the more difficult of access; the second one Pyrgos just before Myrtos itself, is easier to find. It is signposted off the main road, and there is a lay-by for parking. Whitewashed stones mark a path that climbs the steep hillside, but the views at the top alone make it worthwhile. It is very close to the sea, and there is a wonderful panorama on one side of the whole coastline, and on the other of the mountain ranges.
(click on image for larger version)We arrived in the heat of the day, but fortunately there was a cool breeze to make it
tolerable. The site was an early Minoan I I settlement (2500-2000 BCE) which was destroyed by fire, but then rebuilt in the Middle Minoan and Late Minoan I periods (about 1900-1600 BCE). It then consisted of an elegant house with two or possibly three storeys the remains of the lower one being visible today. With the aid of a site plan from the Blue Guide to Crete we tried to make sense of the layout, which included a paved courtyard, a raised walk, a verandah, various rooms and a household shrine. Amongst the finds from this were clay sealings, 4 clay tubular stands for offerings, and a conch shell of pink faience, doubtless a treasured offering to the Goddess on Her altar.
There were some very beautiful features in the visible remains, including a paving of purple limestone stones. Outside the house were the remains of a two-storey communial tomb, and the whole place had the feel of a settled and peace-loving people, at one with the Goddess in their hilltop sanctuary by the sea and overlooked by the mountains.
Click here for a map of Eastern Crete
After this visit, and an afternoon on the beach at Myrtos to cool off, we ventured back in the cooler evening to the other Minoan hilltop site at Phournou Koryphi. This too is signposted from the main road, but there is no obvious turning leading to it. The most direct way is to park in a small lay-by beside the main road by a gulley, and then scramble like a mountain goat up the sheer side of the gulley itself - not for the faint-hearted! With care however, the site soon comes into view. Our Blue Guide said it was fenced in and locked, and had very little information on the site itself, so we were not expecting much. However, Fortuna shone on us, and we found the gate into the site unlocked, and there discovered another hilltop settlement, intervisible with Pyrgos that we had visited earlier in the day.
The two sites would originally have been contemporary, from the early Minoan II period (2500-2000 BCE), but Phournou Koryphi was also destroyed by fire (perhaps as a result of the eruption of the volcanic island Thera), and, unlike Pyrgos, not rebuilt.
(click for larger version)So the remains date from the earlier period, and consist of 90-100 small interlinked rooms. Finds included equipment for weaving and pottery, and for making wine and olive oil. What amazed us was what a wealth of original artefacts had still been left on the site ‘in situ’ (which presumably is why it is sometimes locked). We found pestle and mortars for grinding spices and herbs, decorated stones and a beautiful bowl and stone for refining other natural herbs. We both had a go with these utensils, and it brought us very close to our ‘grandmothers’ who lived and worked in this place, and perhaps sang songs to the Goddess as they worked with these very bowls and tools.
(click for larger version)
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