Towards White Owl Island

February is an ideal time to be cruising the Lemurian Seas. It rains, but never for more than a day or so. When it stops, the winds shift 180 degrees and blow, in what is known as a clearing Northwesterly. Exhilarating blue skies, fresh sea air and salt spume excite the senses.

The spectre of the Cetea has passed, passengers have returned from the Island of the Temple People and we are cruising through untroubled waters. At this time of the year the sunsets are gorgeous.  The clouds, low sun angles and weather adds up to some very memorable evenings on the deck  where lots of deck activities have been organised.

We will be sailing until Valentines day when we are scheduled to arrive at White Owl Island. It is a good time to dip in to the archives and read more about this island that is filled with nature. White Owl Island is a sacred, a deeply spiritual island that is guarded by Lemurian Warriors. The Warriors are vigilant and will only let those, who have proven that they have open hearts, explore and engage in this world

It is dusk on White Owl Island and all is quiet, not a mouse can be heard stirring.
by Heather Blakey

Deck Training for Pythian Games

The word music itself is derived from the Muses, the legendary goddesses of Delphi. Greek mythology is rich in stories related to music. One of the most well known myths concerns Orpheus, the son of the Thracian King, Oeagrus and Calliope, one of the nine Muses. Mythology tells us that Apollo presented him with a lyre and the Muses taught him to use it so that he not only enchanted wild beast, but made trees and rocks move from their places to follow the sound of his music. At Zone in Thrace a number of ancient mountain oaks are still standing in the pattern of one of his dances, just as he left them.

After a visit to Egypt, Orpheus joined the Argonauts, with whom he sailed to Colchis, his music helping them to overcome many difficulties. There are many accounts of how he died. One says that Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt for divulging divine secrets. Whatever, the Muses tearfully gathered his remains and buried them at the foot of Mount Olympus where the nightingales now sing sweeter than any where else in the world.

The Muses delighted in feasts and the pleasure of song. At one such contest the daughters of Pierus defied the Muses in a contest of song and, having been defeated, were turned into magpies, greenfinches, ducks and other birds. Likewise, the Sirens, who were daughters of one of the Muses competed with them and lost. The Muses proceeded to pluck out their feathers and made crowns out of them for themselves.

The Muses discovered letters and the combination of these we call poetry. These letters were used to celebrate victory. Polymnia is so named because by her great praises she brings distinction to writer’s whose works have won for them immortal fame. Perhaps it was Polymnia who crowned the Poet Laureate at the Pythian Games which took place at Delphi every four years. The festival not only involved athletic contests but included musical competitions and drama. Unlike our society which had turned sports figures into icons, in ancient Greece there was no divorce between intellect and muscle. Each was viewed to be a necessary quality of the perfect man. Pindar, a Boeotian poet made it his professional business to celebrate the athletic contests in music and song. When a city was victorious it rejoiced in poem and song. Thus these games furnished poets, musicians and authors the best opportunities to present their productions to the public, and the fame of the victors was diffused far and wide.

Homer was clearly present at a number of games and his reports provide us with the most accurate account of what happened during this time. There was a contest in which the fight between the god and the monster was represented; the prize a garland of laurel, which was Apollo’s tree. The story goes that Apollo had fallen passionately in love with Daphne, the mountain nymph, a priestess of Mother Earth, the daughter of the river Peneius in Thessaly. He pursued her all over the countryside but just as he was about to overtake her Daphne cried out to Mother Earth who, in the nick of time spirited her away to Crete, where she became known as Pasiphae. Mother Earth left a laurel-tree in her place, and from its leaves Apollo made a wreath to console himself. It is this wreath that is placed on the heads of the victorious.

After defeating the Python Apollo took over from Themis the neighbouring oracle of Delphi, which was in historical times the most famous oracle in the Greek world. It was after this that Apollo instituted the Pythian games, which took place at Delphi and involved a reenactment of the slaying of the Python.

The Pythian games fire my imagination because they permit me to participate. As someone who has neither the coordination or the body to engage in physical exercises I have never been able to conceive of a time when I might be able to enter myself in any sporting events. I am prepared to move mountains to do whatever is required for me to enter the writing events.

The Greeks insisted that poetry was a form of craft, of practiced skill. To prepare for the Pythian games we need to practice our skill and become deft wordsmiths.

Let the training begin on the deck of the SS Vulcania: Check out the mad deck activities and then use the Pythian Games forum to participate and contribute your entry.

If you are not a registered USER of the Pythian Games simply send in a request to the group to join and we will sign you in.

Chocolates in Your Cabin

The horns of the SS Vulcania are sounding. It is time to leave the Island of the Temple People. Passengers are being called back to their cabins where they will find that le Enchanteur has left a surprise for them. She has left a special box of chocolates, to savour as the ship heads towards the next destination.

Many passengers may choose to work in the Ship’s Library where a Myth Workshop is happening.

Enchanteur’s Dream Seeds

Le Enchanteur’s Dream Seeds of hope, light and creativity have become legendary. It is no wonder that travellers come from all over the world seeking a packet of these potent seeds.

One only has to look at the work that appears at the Soul Food Cafe and within the Lemurian Constellation to know of the power of these seeds.

During the Seed Festival on the Island of the Temple People, Enchanteur meets participants and provides them with packets of dream seeds.

Take the time to reflect and consider what you hope will blossom from your work on the SS Vulcania while she cruises the Lemurian Seas.

Design a seed packet, label it and plant one of Enchanteur’s dream seeds into a pot filled with some of the composted soil they have down in the greenhouse. Put this in a sunny spot and ake care of it over the coming months. Keep a record of the seed’s journey. At the same time look for signs that the seed you planted in the pot is flourishing.

Sementivae Seed Festival

On January 24th, each year, the Island of the Temple People, host, as a part of their festivities, the festival of Sementivae.

Sementivae, also known as Feriae Sementivae, is a Roman festival of sowing.  It is held in honor of Ceres (the goddess of agriculture) and Tellus (Mother Earth). The initial half of the event is a festival in honor of Tellus which runs from January 24 through January 26.

This is a particularly important festival for SS Vulcania passengers who have joined the ship on her maiden, Trans Lemurian cruise and who will be looking to harvest a rich crop of work by the end of their voyage.

The Festival of Sementivae provides the opportunity to mark the full circle of birth, death and rebirth. During the Seed festival of Sementivae, Lemurians take the time to ponder the untamed forces of nature, the cycles of wild plants and animals. Here life and death is venerated. The Snake goddess, the great goddess of life continuum, presides over this festival. It is the Snake goddess who watches over birth, death and rebirth. It is she who is the creator, nurturer and the destroyer.

In a temple, in the  Grove of Clementia  there is a variety of ceramic forms, vases, figurines and ritual implements. These stand alongside forms made of stone, bone, antler and amber. The temple is cluttered, filled with an offering table, on which stand fertility figurines, musical instruments, vases, ceramic jars, all filled with seeds. Disproportionate, supernatural buttock on female figurines reveal their regenerative powers.

Masks hang on the wall waiting to be received by participants in the Seed Festival. These masks represent sacred animals and when worn they embody a fusion of animal and human forces. Some have bird beaks, snakes eyes, rams horns or pig snouts.

Spend some time in the temple absorbing, using your sensory powers of sight, hearing, touch, taste and feeling. Meditate upon the masks and decide which one you will wear for the festival. You are amongst a small group of the chosen ones.

Once you have dressed, chosen your mask, choose a receptacle filled with seeds and make your way slowly down the sacred pathway, towards the terraced fields on the nearby mountain.

Take the time to sit on your plot, feel the earth and begin to ritually plant the seeds, uttering thanks to the Snake Goddess as you work. “In Classical Arabic poetry there is a device known as ‘kindling’ in which the poet induces the poetic atmosphere with a luscious prologue about groves,  streams and nightingales, and then quickly, before it disperses, turns to the real business at hand.” (Graves White Goddess)

Consider taking the time to fill a terracotta pot with potting mix and plant some seeds. You will be able to monitor the changes and growth that you witness in your journals and compare your own development.

Become a Collector of Portraits

Bridgette Hoatson never knew that it was her destiny to run the Little Red Apple Tearooms on the Island of the Temple People until she came and found the cottage in the apple orchard. Her tearooms are a favourite meeting place for travellers who stop to chat about books and tell stories of their Lemurian Adventures in her Tea House. But, of course, she also offers classic apple cider and plenty of apple pie.
by Heather Blakey

Many passengers have visited the Island of the Temple People and discovered that the place is filled with interesting characters who have made the Island their home.

While they are on the island some passengers will take the opportunity to be a collector of people, breathe life into people, like Tilly, who have knowledge and who have been waiting to be noticed.

At the Soul Food Cafe there are two Squidoo Lenses that will help you as you develop profiles. The Technique of List Making and Technique of Portraiture are just two that may provide kindling for your work. Heather Blakey’s Bookshelves have other references that will, if you check the inded, have more ideas. For example, Progoff’s, The Art of Journal Writing, has rich veins to tap.

Trains of Thought and Dream Masters

Dream Master
by Heather Blakey

When you arrive in the subterranean cave you will be greeted by one of the Dream Masters who will take you to a dreaming place where you can dream a thousand dreams and capture some of them in your dream journal.

My handmaiden, Heather Blakey, is tracking  Trains of Thought. You can store yours in your cabins and on the Island of the Temple People under the categories of  Night Mares, Dream Masters and Trains of Thought.

Festival Begins

It is the 14th of January and the Festival of Carmentia is underway. Sibyl Riversleigh has arrived and is leading a fertility dance in honor of Carmenta.

When I join her I will be wearing an amulet made for me by Issy, from the Dragon’s Lair, which contains very special magic

Make sure to make your way to the Grove of Carmenta and join the festival.
le Enchanteur

SS Vulcania Berths at Carmentia

The SS Vulcania is berthing in the harbour of Carmentia, the old, original city of the Temple People, named in honor of Carmenta, ancient Sibyl and Oracle.

Carmentia has long been an important centre for Lemurian Merchants who traverse the Soul Food Silk Way in their caravans filled with fascinating wares. It is a city filled with history, a melting pot, inhabited by people from all parts of Lemuria.

Reporters from the Vulcanian Times managed to catch a glimpse of Enchanteur, incognito, heading to partake of some serious retail therapy.

The departure date for the SS Vulcania is February 1.

Enjoy your days on the island. There is plenty to see and rich festivals to engage in. The two main festivals are the Festival of Carmentia, held in the Temple of Carmenta and Feriae Sementivae, the time when creative seeds are sown.

Festival of Carmentia

Carmenta was the goddess of childbirth and prophecy, associated with technological innovation as well as the protection of mothers and children, and a patron of midwives. The Camenae were originally goddesses of springs, wells and fountains, or water nymphs of Venus . They were wise deities similar to the muses and sometimes gave prophecies of the future. Carmenta bears much in common with Themis, the Greek Goddess of divine law and wisdom.

Carmenta, the Triple Muse gave oracles to Hercules and taught Evander and is said to have lived until 110. “Mercury, or Hermes, or Car, or Palamedes, or Thoth, or whatever his original name was was given poetic sight by the the Shrouded Ones (his mother Carmenta, or Maia, or Danae, or Phorcis, or Medusa, or whatever her original name was.)”

Carmenta  was famous for chanting her prophecies in verse. Her Greek name was Nicostrate, but when she arrived in Italy, the locals called the singing woman Carmenta, for the Latin ‘carmina’, or ’song’. That the Gorgons, of which Carmenta was, by another name, lived in a grove at Tartessus can mean only that they had an alphabetic secret to guard.

The Vulcania will berth at the Island of the Temple People, in time for the Carmentalia festival on the 15th of January. The journey on the Vulcania is a time of birthing of creative ideas and so many passengers will want to participate and make offerings to Carmenta in the Temple of Carmenta.

In the grove of the Temple of Carmenta nymphs await instructions and are ready to respond to wishes.

Participants are to enter her grove barefoot, as no leather is permitted in a templum dedicated to Carmentis. No immolationes (blood sacrifices) are to be performed for Carmentis. Milk, rather than wine, is poured as a libation for Carmentis. She may also be offered water with which to wash, olive oil, salt, honey, course meal, and flowers. Soothing herbs, especially those associated with Roman practices of childbirth and breast-feeding, would also be appropriate offerings – rue, malva, and salvia. Offerings of special dishes of cheese and herbs, called popana, may also be made.

Some people who visit the grove of Carmenta learn the songs of Carmentalia, the art of healing herbs and experience a contentment they have not known before.

Reference: The White Goddess by Robert Graves