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A member of Ariadne's Tribe recently asked what our main virtues and values might be, and that got me thinking. We don't have a formalized list of virtues and values the way, for instance, modern Norse Pagan groups often do. But the values that matrilineal societies have traditionally supported are a big part of the attraction of Minoan spirituality.

The Minoans appear to have valued egalitarianism, inclusion, interdependence, and an animistic reverence for nature. Those are among the major values we espouse in Ariadne's Tribe. They inform our spiritual practice and our daily lives. They're enshrined in our Official Policies. We do our best to be living examples of these values as we interact with the Big World.

Lodhur is the original third brother in the trinity Odhinn / Honir / Lodhur. This triple god form appears in the Lore in two major places: when the brothers sculpt the world out of the slain giant Ymir, and when the brothers sculpt humans out of driftwood trees. Both of these are major acts of creation described as sculpting life from a dead form. 

When the Lore relates stories about Odin and his brothers going on adventures together, the name of the third brother becomes Loki. It is clear that Lodhur and Loki are the same god. But they are very different aspects of the same god. 

This is the second in a series exploring 3D elements in Minoan art. Find the first post, about 3D frescoes, here.

This time, I'd like to explore some of the amazing 3D elements in Minoan ceramics. Minoan potters were highly skilled and remarkably creative. Many of their works look quite modern and would be right at home in a typical kitchen or living room these days, or maybe in an art gallery.

In many ways, Minoan art feels more modern than ancient. It's certainly different from most of the Bronze Age art of Egypt and Mesopotamia, and it's distinct from the Iron Age art of Greece that followed after the LBA collapse.

One of the unique aspects of Minoan art is the amount of 3D decoration it has. Even some of the frescoes had raised decorative elements in them. The image at the top of this post is a spiraling all-over 3D decoration from the ceiling of one of the rooms in the Knossos temple complex. Pretty fancy, right? TO me, it looks like something out of a Victorian mansion.

What a magical thing a book is. Someone spends years slowly composing their thoughts, writing and rewriting every word over and over until it's their best work. Someone else polishes it, and someone else makes art to sandwich all the words together, and finally you open it and behold! There are markings, and they speak into your mind, and the words flow to you and you hear the thoughts of the author. Over time, over space, sometimes translated into new languages, or even beyond death, you hear another's thoughts and words.

To write, to read, to even just pick up a book and look at it is to honor the god of writing, Odin. Odin, who won the Runes on the Tree, in his act of shamanic self-sacrifice. Odin, who spoke his own words to human writers and poets to be written in the Havamal, the Sayings of the High One: "I know that I hung on the windy tree, nine long nights, without food or drink, I looked down, I took up the runes, screaming I took them, I fell back from there."

I knock on wood from habit and superstition. But lately the act has taken on both a Pagan and a Buddhist resonance for me.

Trees stand up like us but are taller and more grounded. Even so we are intimately linked: trees breathe out what we need to breathe in, and we return the favour. Trees are witness to our short lives and beacons directing our attention both above and below.

One of the things about spirituality is that without some effort, it can become a bit…navel-gazing.

It’s not a failing, nor anyone’s fault. What we do through our religious paths helps us to grow, heal, and cultivate joy, all of which are internal things. They help us to build community, too, which adds to happiness and contentment in life.