Update from Greece ~Tenacious Magic & More
Dear Friends,
Greetings from Athens! I’ve been here on Spring Break with my daughter since last Saturday. We leave tomorrow. I’m writing tonight to let you know a few things:
FIRSTLY: Chapter 14 of Tenacious Magic will be delayed until I can see straight. I am hoping that will be Monday. I wasn’t sure whether I’d find time to write here or not—it’s been nearly impossible. Traveling with a kid in a foreign country is a full-time gig between navigating, translating, making our tours on time, and finding places to eat…never mind the jet lag for us both :) I wouldn’t trade our time here for the world, but I feel a little sad to delay the chapter release. The regular Friday publishing schedule has been good for me and presumably, good for dedicated readers. Rest assured, the chapter is in the works and I’ll have it to you soon. I have a 10-hour plane ride tomorrow, so we’ll see.
One thing that’s been interesting in terms of process is the insight Greece has brought me into Gurdjieff. I feel him so often here. In Athens and in Mykonos, the locals have been deep into their Eastern Orthodox Easter celebrations and observations since we arrived. Tonight, the ancient ritual of the crucifixion and resurrection began at 9pm with processions through the town, candlelight vigils, and the burial of Christ. All week, prayers have been broadcast by speaker through the squares and the church doors have stood open with floods of visitors moving through. It’s been a revelation to feel God centered in a culture, to feel the coherence and shared orientation towards the Sacred. Gurdjieff is often referred to as a Christian Mystic. Now, I understand that better. Not protestant…Orthodox Christian, Byzantine. I feel young Gurdjieff when I see the children playing outside the church, holding their candles aloft and walking through the maze-like streets (especially in Mykonos). I’ve also been reading a big, fat copy of his opus magnum, Beelezebub’s Tales to His Grandson, while here. It’s an epic and … hilarious …tale that takes place on a spaceship. It really is so weird and wonderful. I had forgotten how FUNNY he is. I’ve laughed out loud numerous times. It feels like I’ve reconnected to something in his stream here in Greece.
SECONDLY: THE GODS. Oh my GODS. I can’t believe I’ve put them second. The reason we came to Greece in the first place was for the Gods. My daughter has been interested in Greek mythology since she was four. She has little figurines on an altar in her room. She knows every myth, every family relation, every tryst of Zeus, every offspring, every dominion of every god, titan, giant and nymph. She’s now 12 and something of an expert. So, for her 12th birthday and initiation into young adulthood, I wanted to bring her to the source.
It’s been INCREDIBLE.
She’s been ecstatic to be in Athens; to know this place. There’s more I want to write about a particular initiatory moment that I tried to orchestrate and then botched…a trip to the Parthenon that went sideways. What’s been beautiful is how she’s FELT their presence. Not in her imagination, but REALLY. And to my surprise, how I’ve felt them, too. To be honest, I was always indulging her relationship to the gods. I never really “got” the Greek gods and found the stories to be off-putting, patriarchal, violent, petty. What I’ve experienced here has been something truly profound. The presence of the gods, the whole pantheon, is so viscerally tangible. I have dreamt of them (Athena), been held by them (Artemis and Ge/Gaia), been illuminated from the inside out by them (Apollo) and excited by them (Dionysus). Their effects are purely attuned to their attributes—not as ideas, but as energies. I understood the Greek Gods for the first time and I felt AWE. The stories are still funny…but the archetypes are pure! I guess Mount Olympus is real. I mean…if course it is…but, wow.
I also had an incredibly deep coming home communion with Isis on the island of Delos. At the small temple of Isis, way up on the hill, on a ruins pre-dating the city of Athens…there she was and I felt her, and wept. What did I feel….? Oh…I wish I could just transmit the feeling to you directly. I felt…silence, a peace so deep it vibrated…along with the most exquisite potential energy…the potency, potentiality was electric and the peace was profound. Isis is the daughter of the earth god and sky goddess. I felt that…the coming together of these mighty forces in a feminine form. She was sensual and open, receptive and active, playful and beautiful. I wanted to stay with her. That’s why I cried…I didn’t want to leave her. It was a strong feeling.
And last, but not least…I fulfilled a lifelong dream to visit the Oracle of Delphi. It’s funny, but even though I felt ambivalent about the Greek Gods (before) I always felt strongly connected to the tradition of prophesy at Delphi. What I learned this trip was that before it was dedicated to Apollo, Delphi was already a center for prophesy in the ancient world. The sybils were female priestesses who communed with and channeled Ge or Gaia…Earth. They did this standing on a rock (which is still there). Over time, word of their prophesy reached the ears of Apollo and he, being the patron god of prophesy, decided to descend and attend to the site, to fill it with his presence. The site became world-famous, renowned and legendary.
When I heard this story on the way to Delphi, I formulated a story in my mind that the sybil had been ousted by Apollo and as has happened many times throughout history, the original intention of the feminine wisdom was usurped and turned to the building of Empire. I felt upset with Apollo about this. BUT, when I got there and sat with the Earth, communed with the energies there, I felt beautiful Apollo’s presence and I sensed that he’d been a boon to them. I sensed that Apollo really brought an incredible amount of energy and LIFE to the site. He’d made it divine. I felt him—wow. Being at Delphi was another coming home experience for me. I felt history become present within me.
So, I brought my daughter to Greece to commune with the Gods and we’ve both had a magical journey. I am so grateful to her and to the energies and deities of this place. The memories and sensations that will change me in ways I can’t yet know. I bet I feel them more once I’m home and have had time to integrate. Tonight as we prepare to leave I feel FULL of the pilgrimage’s gifts. What a blessing to be able to visit the great holy sites of this world and to know them with our own bodies and hearts. I will do all I can to integrate what I’ve gained here into my ways and work in the world…
Including the story, Tenacious Magic, which I am sharing with you all these days and my meditations every Tuesday morning at 9am EST. Come!
Thank you for your patience and support. I feel so blessed to be living in a time when we can and must integrate these energies into whatever we’re creating next. I remember.
Schuyler
Very beautiful Schuyler, to feel the space that opened for both you and your daughter in Greece, for deep, intuitive embodied communion with these beings in the invisible world, so close, so alive.