So, where did this all begin?
Well, actually best not to start at the beginning.
I'll start in the middle
somewhere. The Odyssey does not begin at the beginning,
but begins with The Return of Odysseus, toward the end of the hero's
adventures, and then requires that the story move backward and forward
in time and space. The Iliad begins 9 years after the
beginning of the Trojan Wars.
in medias res - in the
middle of the plot. I figure if that is good enough for Homer then
it is good enough for me.
So I am starting here, just 3 days
before flying to Athens, to meet up with an incredible group of women to
embark on this Odyssey. The idea for this came to me in August
2006 while on a 7-day cruise in the Greek Cyclades islands on the
motor-yacht M/V Diogenes with my sister Connie. I was so at home
in Greece, and so stimulated by the energies of the ancient and modern
surroundings, and particularly enriched by the knowledge of our
wonderful guide, Elena, on that voyage. A licensed guide,
former flamenco dancer, fabulous linguist, and one who still feels the
myths of the ancient gods and goddesses, and wonderful warm person.
I shared with her my
Visual Travel Journal that I had been working on during the
trip, and promised her that somehow I was going to find a way to get
Juliana to come to Greece, and to lead a retreat. And I know at
the time it must have sounded to her (and even to me) like one of those
things that people sincerely mean at the time they say them, but that
never really happens for some reason or other.
And yet, here I am, meeting
Juliana and others at the Hera Hotel in Athens next Sunday evening for
the beginning of an incredible journey. I know we'll all share the
moments when we first thought about travelling to Greece. Or when
we learned about this particular trip. But really, when did it
REALLY start?
What called me there? What
called Juliana there? What called the others there? Am I
even asking the right question?
The Call.
The second of the 7 stages of Pilgrimage as laid out by Phil
Cousineau in his book, The Art of Pilgrimage.
For me, the call began when
I attended Juliana Coles' workshop (www.meandpete.com)
in Ojo Caliente in September 2005. There's a
page I did with a map of Greece, and rubber stamp of a siren and a
dragon, and it was titled Odyssey. In
that page, I wrestled with my regrets about some of the choices I
had made in my life, had the courage to place the
long-ago-forsaken dreams upon the page, and to let them go.
And I reflected on how many of my dreams had actually come true,
although not necessarily in the way I thought they would.
And how to continue to honor the dreams of my younger self.
I could
dream of Voyages Imaginaires, and there are many. But, I
could go on Voyages Realites, too. I look back at this page,
and it is no coincidence that this was done on the background of a
map of Greece. In fact, the loopy outline is the tracing
from a favorite necklace of mine that I bought in the Plaka of
Athens in 2001, some 28 years after my first trip to Greece with
my husband, Jim. And I've worn it many times since. I
consider this necklace a promise to myself to return to Greece.
What
calls me? I don't know for sure. Deep inside, it is
enough to know that I have been called, and so I must go.
Read a posting from
Cheryl, one of our Greece Odyssey trip members who went a few
days earlier and posted about her yummy Greek salad.
"Lots of tomatoes, cucumbers,red onions, green peppers, olives
and a huge slice of feta cheese." Now I'm really
starting to feel like I've almost arrived there myself.
Of course, been rushing
around like a crazy woman the last few days, and banged up my
little toe big time while barefoot in the house. I have
it taped and all that, and it's making me sit still a little
more and figure out what I REALLY should be doing.
So, reminded me of a
Visual Journal page I did in Juliana's workshop in
Hacienda Mosaico
this last April, titled "Big Toe Manifesto". A
'complaint' from my big toe, which then turned into a spread
about healthy foods and taking care of myself.
Hmmm, maybe time to slow
down and savor these pre-departure moments. They are a
special part of the journey, too.
