PaganSquare.com - WitchesAndPagans.com Walk the sacred labyrinth with Ariadne, the Minotaur, the Great Mothers, Dionysus, and the rest of the Minoan pantheon. Modern Minoan Paganism is an independent polytheist spiritual tradition that brings the gods and goddesses of the ancient Minoans alive in the modern world. We're a revivalist tradition, not a reconstructionist one; we rely heavily on shared gnosis and the practical realities of Paganism in the modern world. Ariadne's thread reaches across the millennia to connect us with the divine. Will you follow where it leads?
Find out all about Modern Minoan Paganism on our website: https://ariadnestribe.wordpress.com/. We're a welcoming tradition, open to all who share our love for the Minoan deities and respect for our fellow human beings.
How do we practice Modern Minoan Paganism? What resources are available for people who are interested?
The most direct, comprehensive way to learn about MMP is via my two books Labrys & Horns and Ariadne's Thread. Labrys & Horns in particular is a how-to book for MMP. But if you don't feel like flipping through a book, there are other options for inspiration.
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Birds abound in Minoan art: swallows (shown above in a detail from the Spring fresco from Akrotiri), doves, partridges, hoopoes, and other birds whose exact species we can't identify. I've looked before at the variety of our feathered friends who appear in the frescoes, statuary, and other Minoan art.
In Modern Minoan Paganism, we associate swallows with Therasia, doves with Rhea, and larks with Korydallos. But how did the Minoans view birds, through the lens of their culture and beliefs?
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Joy is sacred, too, you know.
Those of us who grew up surrounded by the fundamentalist Christian concept that humor, laughter, and fun are somehow inherently evil - that the only way it's possible to worship or show reverence is by being deadly serious - sometimes have trouble with the idea that it's OK to laugh as part of our spiritual practice.
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Art from around the world and across time is one of the aspects of human existence that connects us all. Whether we're looking at mammoths on a cave wall or a framed painting in a museum, we innately understand the urge to express ourselves creatively. It has been a part of us for as long as we've been human.
Art from the ancient world does more than just help us understand the people who lived back then. It can also inspire us to creativity in our own modern lives.
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We've already had a look at the animals of the Three Realms (land, sky, and sea) in Minoan art. But that doesn't cover all the creatures the Minoans depicted in frescoes, seals, and other works of art. The last place we'll find animals in Minoan art is the realm of myth and imagination. Though these creatures were all borrowed from other regions (Mesopotamia, Egypt), the Minoan artists depicted them in a way no one else could.
So, for instance, we have the exuberant griffin in the gold seal ring above, from the Minoan cemetery at Archanes Phourni. Here, there's an equally exuberant female figure - a priestess or perhaps the goddess Therasia, since the griffin is her animal. Though this is probably a scene from myth or ritual, some of us like to imagine the humorous caption "Fetch!" for this one.
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This is the third in a series about animals in Minoan art. Part 1: Animals of the Land and Part 2: Animals of the Sky complete the exploration of the three realms, though we will still have a look at mythical critters in Part 4 (coming up next week).
Of the three realms of land, sky, and sea, the sea is perhaps the most prevalent in Minoan culture and art. Crete is, after all, an island, and the Minoans developed their great wealth as seafaring traders. So it's understandable that the waters of the Mediterranean, and the creatures that live in those waters, would feature in Minoan art in a major way.
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Last time, we looked at some of the land animals the Minoans depicted in their art: cattle, monkeys, lions, and so on. Today, we're going to explore the Minoans' images of animals of the sky, the domain of our Sun goddess Therasia - so, essentially, birds, though I think bees also count.
Sometimes it's easy to tell which type of bird is being shown. For instance, that's a swallow flying by some lilies in the image at the top, which is a segment of the Spring fresco from Akrotiri. Here's the whole thing, with quite a few swallows:
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