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All those topless women in Minoan art played a major role in the popularity of Minoan archaeology during the early 20th century, when the cities of Bronze Age Crete were being uncovered for the first time in over 3,000 years. They were quite racy for the Edwardian era, being considered almost pornographic back then.
But to the Minoans, they were sacred.
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The Minoans are a constant source of fascination to modern people. That means that Minoan artifacts are also fascinating, and images of them circulate online every bit as fast as the latest meme.
Unfortunately, a lot of the photos that regularly make the rounds online labeled as Minoan artifacts aren't Minoan at all.
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Minoan art is marvelously colorful, even 3500 years later. Was ancient Crete that colorful in real life? Probably.
Part of that color would have been due to the plant and animal substances used to dye the fabric that made the Minoans' clothing, household textiles, and temple decorations.
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Listen now, friends, to a tale of best-laid plans going awry.
As many of you know, my first book on Minoan spirituality, Ariadne's Thread, went out of print early this year. I got my rights back to the book and began revising it for a second edition. I wrote it before Modern Minoan Paganism came into being, so it definitely needed some changes. I was planning to release the new second edition on November 1 of this year.
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The Modern Minoan Paganism sacred calendar doesn't look like the eightfold Wheel of the Year that many modern Pagans are familiar with. Instead, we based our calendar specifically on Mediterranean seasonal cycles (the Minoans came from the island of Crete in the Mediterranean) as well as archaeological and ethnological evidence about the Minoans' religious practices.
So instead of a neatly balanced eight-spoke wheel, our calendar has some festivals that are spread out across the months and others that cluster together. One of those clusters - the biggest one - is my focus today.
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Individuation is problematic. That's the unofficial Modern Minoan Paganism motto.
It's sort of a joke, a witty response to difficult questions about divinity. But it's also very serious.
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The Minoans were a seafaring, trading people who traveled all over the eastern Mediterranean and points beyond. During those travels, they encountered other cultures. They brought back objects from faraway places: cylinder seals from Mesopotamia, carved stone jars and jewelry from Egypt. They probably brought back spouses/partners from the places they traveled to.
They also brought deities back with them.
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