Like many feminist Catholic women, I have long been attracted to the female images of the divine, long available in the Judeo-Christian tradition: Ruach, Nephesh, Sophia, Shekinah, Bat Kol. As a feminist biblical scholar and sometime theo/alogian, I have read, taught, and written–both about the female divine in my own tradition–but 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. As part of my spiritual path, I was ready for a pilgrimage experience centered on the goddess. While still nominally a Catholic, I had not been 'practicing' for about a year; when I did attend Church, it was an Anglican congregation with a woman priest. My other spiritual activities were outside the institutional church–the Catholic Network for Women's Equality, a local feminist Christian organization called the Friends of Sophia. When I read about Carol P. Christ’s ‘Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete’ in a feminist theological journal, I knew that it was for me.

"Equilibrium Triptych" by Philip Hallawell

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 tours entitled ‘Sacred Journey in Greece’ and ‘A Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete’. Each is offered twice annually, once each spring and fall. The trips are limited to women only, and consist of groups of up to seventeen people. 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. Her personal commitment to spiritual feminism makes these sacred journeys a labor of love.

My pilgrimage took place from May 27 to June 7, 2003. This particular tour 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 forty-three; the oldest was sixty-eight. While parts of the tour were physically challenging, we all managed the demands of the journey. No one was pressured to do more that she felt capable of accomplishing. It was encouraging to learn that we were able to do a lot more than we’d thought was possible!

The tour began and ended in Heraklion, the principal city of Crete, and alternated between urban and rural settings. It visited the vibrant, modern cities of Heraklion and Agios Nikolaus, further punctuated by quiet times in the mountain resort of Zaros and by the idyllic fishing village of Mochlos. The tour focused upon 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 the Mycenaean from the Greek mainland. While the Minoans were a highly cultured, sophisticated and peaceable people, their art and artifacts reveal a love of life, nature, beauty and the divine, their script, 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 Minions; Ariadne, the Cretan vegetation goddess integrated into Greek mythology as the daughter of Minos and Pasiphäe, 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 proved a treasure-trove of artifacts and archaeological sites. The tour included visits to the great archaeological museum at Heraklion, as well as to many smaller museums, from the impressive collection at Agios Nikloaus, to tiny folk-museums in rural villages. We also visited archaeological sites, including the famous complex at Knossos excavated by Sir Arthur Evans early in the twentieth 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 centers where the Minions carried out the graceful rituals depicted in the beautiful murals that decorated their walls.

The Minions were a deeply spiritual people who worshiped not only at man-made shrines but on mountaintops and in the womb-like caves found throughout Crete. We pilgrims followed in the ancient worshipers’ 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. At the end of each day, the pilgrims shared a storytelling time, where we reflected on the experiences of the day, and the process that had brought each of us on this sacred journey.
The tour had many highlights for me. One was the Palani Monastery, a community of Orthodox nuns built around an ancient and holy myrtle tree, sacred to Aphrodite in antiquity. The legend of the tree is that long ago, a miraculous icon of the holy virgin was found in the young shrub. The local folk tried to move the image to a nearby chapel, but the icon would not stay in the church, miraculously appearing back in the myrtle in the morning. Left in the tree, the icon was gradually wrapped deep amidst her branches, invisible to suppliants, but filled with power. Pilgrims still visit the tree to pray for miracles, and the number of votive objects hung on its branches attests to the power of the All Holy One. As a special treat, the nuns sang us the legend of the myrtle tree while serving us coffee and pastries. I was touched by the almost seamless blend of pagan and Christian elements, the goddess and the Virgin, both honored with the title "All-Holy One". I also loved the sisters, who lived in a community, owned their houses, and traditionally had farmed the convent land. Two younger women had recently joined them.

A very powerful part of the pilgrimage was the sharing times built into our daily activities. Most evenings, all participants got together after dinner for about an hour of discussing what had brought us to Crete, and what we had found. As an introvert, I found this a bit intimidating, but one evening, I found myself crying as I tried to express how touching I found the sight of the elderly nuns and Cretan peasant women dressed in their traditional garb of black dresses, heads covered by babushkas. I realized during the process that I was finally grieving the deaths of both my mother and my grandmother in the 1990s. After the emotional release of that sharing (which took place in the beautiful seaside village of Mochlos), we shared a sunset labyrinth ritual on the seashore, located beside the remains of an ancient threshing floor. I felt the healing and loving presence of the women in the group, and of the goddess of love, whose star obligingly appeared in the dusky sky.

I brought the goddess back with me to the Canadian prairies (where she had been all along). I now have a goddess shrine (with both Christian icons and goddess figurines) in my home, and, as a theo/alogian, I am still working to integrate goddess and Christian spirituality. I organized an outdoor Mary Magdalene celebration shortly after I returned from Crete, produced a play about the women at the Last Supper, and coordinated a major national feminist Catholic conference in my home city. I have recently joined the Anglican Church, and am encouraged to belong to a Christian denomination where pluralism and female leadership are offered.

This account has necessarily left out many of the sights and experiences of the pilgrimage. In addition to being moving and illuminating, it is very well organized, and led by Carol and her assistant with great care, patience and good humor. The scenery is gorgeous, the people are charming, and the food and wine are delicious. September 11 and the invasion of Iraq have made Americans, especially, hesitant to travel, and the pilgrimage is in jeopardy. Interested readers are encouraged to contact the Ariadne Institute at institute@goddessariadne.com, or to consult the Institute’s website at www.goddessariadne.org.

© Mary Ann Beavis, 2005

BIO: Mary Ann Beavis is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon, Canada. She is the author of numerous academic publications. Her most recent book is an edited work entitled The Lost Coin: Parables of Women, Work and Wisdom (Continuum, 2002). She is the founding editor of the online Journal of Religion and Popular Culture (http://www.usask.ca/rest/jrpc), and has a special interest in the blending of Christian and feminist goddess spirituality.