(Photo Essay 3) Goddess Pilgrimage – Malta by Kaalii Cargill

From Greece, I journeyed to Malta, where I joined nine other women for a six-day immersion in Goddess, From our farmhouse on Gozo, we visited Temples,  sat with the Grandmothers in museums, and were gifted with an opportunity to chant in the Hypogeum.

The Megalithic Temples of Malta are prehistoric temples built during three time periods between 3600 BCE and 700 BCE. They are among the oldest free-standing structures on Earth.

An aerial view of the the Ġgantija temples on Gozo (3600-3200 BCE) shows the  shape of Goddess in the structure of the apses. We walked amongst the ancient stones, sensing the rituals of 5000 years ago, noting the carved hollows where libations were poured, the doorways through which  people entered sacred space . . .

Grandmothers – the Red Skorba fragment below has been dated at 4500-4100 BCE. The seated figure below is from the temple of Hagar Qim, 3600-3200 BCE.

The statues are old, but the megalithic temples of Malta may be even older than we think. Evidence of Neanderthal humans and animals known to be extinct before the end of the Paleolithic era have been found in the cave of Ghar Dalam, pointing to the migration of people and animals across land bridges joining Malta to Sicily and Sicily to mainland Europe. Marija Gimbutas showed that Goddess iconography in Malta shares numerous features with other Old European traditions (Labyrinthos Potnia – Malta Megalith Temple and Goddess Gallery; Marija Gimbutas & Miriam Robbins Dexter, The Living Goddesses).

This first image is from c 6300 BCE, and was found in Thessaly, Greece.

This second image is from the temple of Hagar Qim, Malta, showing a pregnant woman figurine with similar symbols painted on her body.

On out last night in Malta, we shared a meal in Xaghra on Gozo. As the sun set, the local people performed a play in the town square. Imagine our delight when we discovered that the the central character of the play was Calypso, a priestess/Goddess figure who has been there since the beginning and can still be found “in the laughter of children”.

With blessings to Tricia Szirom, Rose Benito, and all my sister  pilgrims in Malta.

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

Read Meet Mago Contributor Kaalii Cargill.