& Friends - Anthroposophical Society in America

ODYSSEYOur Hellenic OdysseyOn June 28th nine questing souls met at Philadelphia airportfor a three week exploration of ancient sites and mysterycenters in Greece and Turkey with four guiding angels. Nassiain Greece and Hakan in Turkey were our knowledgeable localguides. Gillian Schoemaker (picture right), co-leader and curativeeurythmist, led us in healing movements appropriate toeach sacred site; Glen Williamson (below), co-leader and NewYork-based actor and story teller, related and performed tales ofthe ancients, often on the very ground they trod.The quest led into ancient Greek Mysteries and myths, andearly Christianity; and also into ourselves, individually and as atraveling community. We tested capacities for sensing the evolutionof consciousness described by Rudolf Steiner, as in thestatuary, which reflected a gradual flowering from archaic andancient Greek times through to early Roman.Our senses were filled. The translucent blue of warm Aegeanand Corinthian seas beckoned us to immerse ourselves. Softsummer breezes and cool shade treesbecame a welcome relief from 100 degreeheat. Inner senses were stimulated by Glen’sstories and Gillian’s eurythmy. In Athens, asnight fell on the rooftop garden of our hotel,Glen gave riveting scenes from his playAeschylus Unbound, the Acropolis behindhim. We visited Eleusis, the play’s setting,the previous day. In the mountainous regionof Delphi, four brave souls joined Gillian the noonday sun for aspecial healing dance in the theatre just above the temple whereApollo’s oracle once spoke. The circle moved so eloquentlythat tourists alongside us on the path became still, and a hushfell upon this sacred place. Another one of our group, a musictherapist, led us in spiritual songs, one being “Dona Nobis Pacem”in the Beehive Tomb at Mycenae. The resonances aroundus and within us were palpable. — From Athens’ Acropolis andParthenon we traveled to ancient Ephesus in Turkey, an immensehillside metropolis situated at the meeting of Eastern andWestern cultures. Nearby at the Temple of Artemis, now almostgone, Gillian’s eurythmy of the Zodiac felt deeply healing. Closeby in the House of Mary, intensely meaningful for many of us,Glen told The Incarnation of the Logos from Mary’s standpoint.The many stops on our Odyssey filled eye, heart and soul: theNew Acropolis Museum; the Sounion peninsula at sunset withits Temple of Poseidon overlooking the sea, part of a perfectequilateral triangle with the exquisite hilltop Temple of Aphaiaon the isle of Aigina, and the Parthenon; the hanging monasteriesof Meteora with their wonderful wall paintings. And threeless visited places with a quiet inwardquality: the secluded healing center ofAmphiarios with its abundance of fragrant,healing herbs; Thorikos, the oldest knowntheater of human size; the uniquely fortifiedcitadel of Tiryns in the Peloponnese;ancient Mycenae’s massive structures of1500–1200BC, with huge rock walls andimpressive Lion Gate; and the deep healingcenter Epidaurus, where Racine’s Phedrewas performed in wonderful acoustics for 15,000 people. Thenisland hopping to Hydra and Spetses for beach swimming andgentle idling, and a sunset cruise to Patmos, where island life isat its most languid. Here too, nestled in the mountainside, wasthe small Cave of St. John where he received the Revelation. Wegathered within in silent meditation. Afterwards, in eurythmyGillian recited the descent of the Holy City New Jerusalem.Our journey ended as beautifully as it had begun: a morningon the Isle of Samos, a final day on our own in Athens, and onefinal sharing on our last evening. We began with a Rückschau,looking back at all we had seen, opening a space for all to offersomething from their hearts. Good byes were said over a dinnerof authentic ancient Greek dishes. Heading home, though travelweary we felt inwardly renewed and refreshed.Brenda and David HollwegerThe OdysseysAn odyssey is a journey both outer and inner. After the fall ofTroy, Odysseus voyaged homewards to his island where patientPenelope waited. The journey lasted ten long years—‘full ofadventure, full of instruction’ (Constantine Cavafy). In short, theodyssey is a pathway of initiation, one that we are all travelingtoday, and ‘our friends and companions may be for us, though26 Evolving News for Members & Friends