Itinerary  

We have an exciting invitation for you!

As many of you may know, Craig Barnes has a new book coming out in Spring of ’06 entitled In Search of the Lost Feminine, Decoding the Myths that Radically Reshaped Civilization. Ten years of research and writing has led to the conviction that great changes occurred in Western civilization when cultures of war, heroism and rampant misogyny invaded and stamped out a more benign, nature-based, world view. Recent discoveries suggest that at about the time of the fall of Troy, and perhaps as a result thereof, a whole way of seeing life, death, women and immortality was squashed and mythically reshaped to frame a justification for the harsh rules of patriarchy.

There is compelling new evidence that can be seen on the ground. We are inviting a special group to join us to go examine the sites, the frescoes, the seal rings and dancing dolphins that reveal an ancient world organized to honor markedly different values than those we hold today. It will be a journey for persons ready to see Western history through new eyes.

On September 26, 2006, we will depart for an exploration beginning in ancient Santorini, transferring next to Crete, then moving gradually forward through time and mythology to visit sites at Mycenae, Olympia, Delphi and Eleusis. We will examine the classical Greek stories associated with all these places to expose the deeper ideological bedrock of Western civilization. By day we will explore secrets at the sites or in museums and by night gather in the tavernas to reflect and compare discoveries. Craig’s job will be to see that artifacts, frescoes, monuments and the famous labyrinth are tied together in a new way, testing modern assumptions, attitudes and values which for three thousand years have been unquestioned. Finally, we will complete our journey in Athens on October 10 at the Parthenon, laying bare the patriarchal intention within the original vision of Pericles. This whole journey will last 13 days and take your mind through three millennia.

We can only take a limited number if we expect to have meaningful conversations. The cost for a select group of ten is $5500. Marilyn Mason will be our guide, facilitator and coordinator. We hope you will be one of those to help make this trip special. Our travels are arranged by our good friends at Hellenic Adventures, recipient of the 2005 Conde Nast Traveler Top Travel Specialist.

We need to make preliminary reservation numbers by May 2, 2006, and will need a non-refundable $750 deposit (check made out to Mason & Associates at below address) to hold your place by that date. Let us know if we can save a place for you.

Craig Barnes 96 Arroyo Hondo Rd Santa Fe, NM 87508 (505) 986-6025 www.craig-barnes.com

Marilyn Mason Journeys Inward, LLC 369 Montezuma Ave., #199 Santa Fe, NM 87501 (505) 820-6306 www.marilynmason.com

Craig Barnes is a former trial attorney, now an author, playwright, lecturer and public radio commentator

Marilyn Mason is an author, consultant, philanthropy advisor, advocate, friend of women’s history, former psychologist and founder of Journeys Unlimited

Journeys Unlimited is the organizational vehicle through which Marilyn Mason has guided travel programs in Europe, Asia and Africa for over 20 years. She, in turn, has engaged Hellenic Adventures, with whom she has worked before, to select and administer appropriate services for this trip in Greece and the islands. Together they have established prices, prepared guides, buses, hotels and inland travel. Craig Barnes will lead evening discussions based upon his research and analysis for the book In Search of the Lost Feminine. Condé Nast Traveler declared Hellenic Adventures a Top Travel Specialist in 2004 and 2005.



THE ITINERARY

Wednesday, September 27		Day One: Arrival in Athens Arrive Athens. Private transfer from the Athens airport to your hotel. Brief evening meeting to orient to the themes for our explorations that will follow in the next 12 days. Overnight in Athens.
Thursday, September 28		Day Two: Athens Meet our local guide to visit the marbled temples of the Acropolis to see Greek classic culture at its extraordinary height, but to note also its emphasis on war and the subordination of women and their sexuality and the co-option of the earlier goddesses of fertility and rebirth into Greek mythology. In the afternoon, visit the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art for a glimpse of those pre-Greek emphases which signal the cultural divide which will be a major subject of our trip. Evening: discussions and reflections on the substance of what we have seen. Overnight in Athens.
Friday, September 29		Day Three: Athens to Santorini Transfer to the airport for our flight to Santorini and to our hotel. Here we begin to lay a foundation of appreciation for those most elegant artifacts in 1500 BCE and the values displayed on walls, altars, and pots and designs, themes such as the eternal coming and going, the centrality of women to the cycles of life, the excitement of color, acceptance of sensuality, the peculiar absence of any celebration of war.
Saturday, September 30		Day Four: Santorini Visit the prehistoric museum in Fira featuring frescoes and elegant materials uncovered at the excavation at nearby Akrotiri. In no other place are the artifacts so well preserved and so fine. Here we lay the foundation for telling a new story of western civilization, beginning before the patriarchy to examine the possibility of a dramatically different alternative, not just for then, but for now. Afternoon: continue as time permits on up to Profitis Ilias, the island’s summit, for a fantastic view of the surrounding Cycladic islands and of Santorini’s landscape. Evening: discussions and reflections on the substance of what we have seen. Overnight in Santorini.
Sunday, October 1		Day Five: Santorini to Iraklion A day to explore the island and measure the impact, the ash layers, the still-smoldering cone, of the great volcano which sealed the fate of Minoan culture and may have ushered in the mythology of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, permanently displacing mother earth as the unifying concept (goddess) and replacing her with symbols of erratic power, cruel self interest and meaningless death. In the late afternoon, private transfer to the Santorini port to depart by ferry for Iraklion, Crete. Upon arrival, private transfer to our hotel. Free evening. Overnight in Iraklion.
Monday, October 2		Day Six: Iraklion to Chania Visit to the unfortified palace of Knossos, where frescoes of dolphins, griffins, monkeys and women gathered together in ceremony, bespeak a culture with values substantially unrecognizable to the modern eye. Here is the labyrinth that the Greeks would later vilify in myth and story as if to ward off its dolphins and monkeys, which raises for us the question, why was such defense in any way necessary? It is a question we will pursue throughout our trip. In the afternoon, visit the Heraklion Archaeological Museum to see the colors, the grace, the reverence for women reflected on graceful pottery, seal rings, the leaping bull dancers, and a culture in which women were at the center of celebration and ecstatic experience, a culture also remarkable for the apparent absence of military honors or focus on kings or conquests. Then by bus to historic Chania. Evening: discussions and reflections on the substance of what we have seen. Overnight in Chania.
Tuesday, October 3		Day Seven: Chania For some, transportation will be provided to Omalos, the starting point for those who wish to hike the gorgeous Samarian Gorge, the longest in Europe (18 km - 11 miles). Those who stay behind will meet their guide to enjoy a walking tour of the old town of Chania, noted for its well-preserved neighborhoods from the Venetian and Turkish periods. They will visit the archaeological museum, the public market and the harbor with its Venetian lighthouse restored by the Egyptians. In the afternoon, those exploring Chania may also wish to board the bus for a lovely drive through the beautiful White Mountains of Crete to Sfakia. En route, they will make a brief stop at Frangokastelo, built by the Venetians and lying practically on the marvelous sand beach. Return to Chania with the hikers. Free evening. Overnight in Chania.
Wednesday, October 4		Day Eight: Chania to Nauplion via Athens Early morning private transfer to the airport for your flight to Athens. We will be met at the airport by our private driver and 17-seater bus to begin our four-day land tour. Drive to visit Elefsis, there to reconstruct the annual celebrations where the divine feminine had been driven underground and nevertheless flourished secretly in ceremonies that endured beneath the surface of a warrior society for over 1300 years. Then cross the Corinth Canal and drive to Epidauros, the sanctuary of Asklepios, the god of medicine and the site of an ancient, remarkable, amphitheater, important to our history as medicine and the theater became alternate forms for healing the body and psyche. Arrive in Nauplion to check into your hotel. Overnight in Nauplion.
Thursday, October 5		Day Nine: Nauplion This morning private tour of Mycenae. Here was the transition culture, after Crete, the place from which Agamemnon sailed to carry on the great civil war which sealed the fate of women in western civilization, establishing marriage and patriarchy for all time. There are fine little museums in Mycenae, Lernea, and Nauhlion all of which demonstrate the strong influence of Minoan culture before the arrival of the Greeks and underscore the theory that women were of greater esteem before. Return to Nauplion for a free afternoon. Option: visit the Palamidi Fortress and/or the local folklore museum. Evening: discussions and reflections on the substance of what we have seen. Overnight in Nauplion.
Friday, October 6		Day Ten: Nauplion to Olympia We are off to Sparta, where a reverence for women and their traditional importance held on longer than in Athens or Argos/Mycenae, and from which Helen sneaked away to Troy, starting the Trojan war which ended independence for women in western civilization. We continue on to Olympia site of a more ancient sanctuary honoring Hera, Gaia, and Rhea, the earliest earth goddesses whose cults were violently suppressed by Zeus and whose sensuality was channeled into the famous games. Overnight in Olympia.
Saturday, October 7		Day Eleven: Olympia to Delphi (Arachova) Private tour of the ancient site at Olympia and the small museum that houses the fabulous friezes from the Temple of Zeus in Olympia as well as the renowned statue of Hermes by Praxiteles. Now we are beginning to see a comprehensive story which weaves the early high valuation of motherhood, the earth and the goddess of regeneration, together with the tales of the Lost city of Atlantis, the Trojan War that enshrined that subordination of women in almost sacred myth and began the mythology of heroes, the glorification of war, etc. This was followed by classic Greek civilization and then the subversive re-emergence, over the centuries, of the older Minoan values in either the story of Helen, or the Mysteries at Eleusis, the games at Olympia, or the theater of Dionysus, etc. Evening: discussions and reflections on the substance of what we have seen.
Sunday, October 8		Day Twelve: Delphi (Arachova) to Athens Drive along the beautiful bay of Corinth to Delphi, the center of the ancient world, site of the defeat of the Pythia, the ancient female oracle, by Apollo, and the establishment first of the Hellenic pantheon and but also the origins of the Dionysian tradition which unconsciously began to re-emerge older values of the pre-Greek civilization— all situated on the slopes of Mt. Parnassos in a landscape of remarkable beauty and majesty. Visit also the small archaeological museum with its magnificent finds from the ancient site, including the remarkable statue of the "Charioteer." Afterwards, begin our drive back to Athens, stopping at Thebes to visit the fine little museum which demonstrates the reach of Minoan culture before the cataclysms of Thera and the Trojan War and demonstrates, as well, the evident conflict with Greek values. Arrive in Athens in the late afternoon. Evening: discussions and reflections on the substance of what we have seen. Overnight in Athens.
Monday, October 9		Day Thirteen: Athens This morning, private sightseeing in Athens: visit the ancient Agora and the National Archaeological Museum which holds a remarkable collection of Minoan, Mycenaean, and classical Greek materials and a chance to compare and contrast. Free afternoon and evening to visit one last museum, snack on one more cheese pie, or take one last stroll around the Acropolis. Evening: Reflections on what we have seen of this extraordinary1,000-year period that laid the bedrock of western civilization. Overnight in Athens.
Tuesday, October 10		Day Fourteen: Travel day Private transfer from our hotel to the Athens International Airport for our outgoing flights.