(Photo Essay 4) Goddess Pilgrimage 2017 by Kaalii Cargill

[Author’s Note: In July 2017, I set out on a 4 month pilgrimage to the Unites States, Italy, France, Spain, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt. I name it a “pilgrimage” because my main focus is what I call “visiting with the Grandmothers”, although I also encountered many other wonderful people and places. This series of Photo Essays is an invitation for you to visit with the Grandmothers I met on my journey . . .]

Paestum, Italy, is the site of an ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in what was Magna Graecia (80 kilometres /50 miles south of Naples). The three temples, built c600-450 BCE, were dedicated to Hera as Goddess of fertility and to Demeter/Ceres or Athena. The museum displays include a fragment of a neolithic Goddess statue found at the site – the sign on the display reads: “Feminine magic – a promise of wellbeing”.  To the west of the city, a paved road leads to the Sanctuary of Hera at the mouth of the River Sele – the Foce del Sele or Heraion, one of the most famous temples of antiquity. The position of the Sanctuary near the sea is similar to the Sanctuary of Demeter in Selinunte, Sicily. Both sanctuaries originally had outdoor areas for ritual and were probably built over more ancient sites. In this region, Goddess did not disappear with the advent of Christianity but was absorbed into the Virgin Mary. In the nearby 11th century Sanctuary of Madonna del Granato, the Madonna holds a pomegranate, ancient symbol of Goddess.

Paestum Temples. Walkway inside one of the temples at Paestum – it is unusual to be allowed to walk inside a temple like this. It gives a different sense of the scale of the structure and of the temenos (sacred precinct).

Foundation stones of the Heraion on the banks of the River Sele
Dancing women, Heraion, 6th century metope relief panels from the Sanctuary temple.
2500 year old paved road leading from Temples to Sanctuary
Fragment of Neolithic Grandmother statue – feminine magic!
Statues of Hera/Demeter from Heraion, c500 BCE
Madonna of Granato holding a pomegranate

 

 

Meet Mago Contributor Kaalii Cargill


Get automatically notified for daily posts.

Leave a Reply to the main post