My fascination with the Minoan culture on Crete continues. It seems to me so inspiring to know that this - the first European civilisation of around 2,000 BC - was a highly sophisticated culture where the sheer joy of life was celebrated in peace, where people in lived in harmony with nature, men and women were equal and the sacred was vested in and expressed through the feminine.
I love the way that this challenges so many of our suppositions about what it is to be human and confirms that we do have the potential to live in joy and co-operation without conflict, incorporating the spiritual into everyday material life and thus creating a happy balance in our relationship with ourselves and others. We really aren't designed to live a grind of daily toil or to constantly beat up ourselves and everyone else!
Minoan settlements engaged in farming, creating beautiful goods and trading and they seem to have centred around large, decorative complexes of buildings that have been labelled 'palaces' but were probably more like a combination of temple and community centre.
There are three major complexes that have been uncovered on Crete. They would have been joined by roads and surrounded by farms producing olives, grain, honey and more, by sophisticated, comfortable houses and streets with drainage systems.
Knossos is best known and is situated for trading with northern Aegean islands, Malia would probably have been the setting off point for Cyprus, Rhodes and the eastern Mediterranean and Phaistos, in the south of the island, is perfectly located for trade with Egypt and other North African countries.
I explored Knossos and Malia when on holiday a couple of years ago and recently I set off with Julie to visit Phaistos. It's probably best known for the Phaistos disc, which was discovered there - a clay disc of hieroglyphic style writing that has not yet been deciphered and is therefore the subject of fascination and intrigue.
Phaistos is in an absolutely stunning location, surrounded by mountains and close to the sea. Fields and olive groves around it probably look much as they would have done in Minoan times.
All the Minoan complexes are remarkably similar in design, with an open courtyard for rituals such as bull leaping and sacred games, a theatre for music, dance and drama, store rooms with large amphora that would have contained oil, wine and other produce and workshops where beautiful, intricately designed pottery, jewellery, sculpture and other art was created.
The final area contains the innermost sacred rooms that go down deep into the earth - the province of the priestesses who represented the goddess. Little is known about the nature of Minoan ritual because we have no written records, but the physical remains speak of a shared, uplifting sacred experience without fear or domination.
I wanted to reawaken some of the Minoan energy that is embedded in this site and so I took my drum. After sitting and meditating, giving attention to the spirits of the place, I stood looking across to the sea and mountains and drummed for a short time to raise the energy, checking that I wasn't disturbing any fellow visitors. Just as I was concluding, a girl in official uniform bustled towards me and told me to stop. We agreed with a smile that I was now finished and I silently blessed her along with the Minoans.
I love the way that this challenges so many of our suppositions about what it is to be human and confirms that we do have the potential to live in joy and co-operation without conflict, incorporating the spiritual into everyday material life and thus creating a happy balance in our relationship with ourselves and others. We really aren't designed to live a grind of daily toil or to constantly beat up ourselves and everyone else!
Minoan settlements engaged in farming, creating beautiful goods and trading and they seem to have centred around large, decorative complexes of buildings that have been labelled 'palaces' but were probably more like a combination of temple and community centre.
There are three major complexes that have been uncovered on Crete. They would have been joined by roads and surrounded by farms producing olives, grain, honey and more, by sophisticated, comfortable houses and streets with drainage systems.
Knossos is best known and is situated for trading with northern Aegean islands, Malia would probably have been the setting off point for Cyprus, Rhodes and the eastern Mediterranean and Phaistos, in the south of the island, is perfectly located for trade with Egypt and other North African countries.
I explored Knossos and Malia when on holiday a couple of years ago and recently I set off with Julie to visit Phaistos. It's probably best known for the Phaistos disc, which was discovered there - a clay disc of hieroglyphic style writing that has not yet been deciphered and is therefore the subject of fascination and intrigue.
Phaistos is in an absolutely stunning location, surrounded by mountains and close to the sea. Fields and olive groves around it probably look much as they would have done in Minoan times.
All the Minoan complexes are remarkably similar in design, with an open courtyard for rituals such as bull leaping and sacred games, a theatre for music, dance and drama, store rooms with large amphora that would have contained oil, wine and other produce and workshops where beautiful, intricately designed pottery, jewellery, sculpture and other art was created.
The final area contains the innermost sacred rooms that go down deep into the earth - the province of the priestesses who represented the goddess. Little is known about the nature of Minoan ritual because we have no written records, but the physical remains speak of a shared, uplifting sacred experience without fear or domination.
I wanted to reawaken some of the Minoan energy that is embedded in this site and so I took my drum. After sitting and meditating, giving attention to the spirits of the place, I stood looking across to the sea and mountains and drummed for a short time to raise the energy, checking that I wasn't disturbing any fellow visitors. Just as I was concluding, a girl in official uniform bustled towards me and told me to stop. We agreed with a smile that I was now finished and I silently blessed her along with the Minoans.
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