A Temple Wild Podcast
Invoking the Muse
Were there really nine muses in ancient Greece? Where were they worshipped? And what do their stories tell us about artistic inspiration and the Greek landscape? In this episode, meet the ancient Greek Muses and learn more about their special relationship with music, winged messengers, springs, and the Greek gods of prophecy and sleep.
Plants of the Greek Moon Goddesses
What are the trees and herbs sacred to the Moon in ancient Greece? The answer might surprise you! In today’s episode, we meet the three moon goddesses of the ancient Greek world — Selene, Artemis, and Hekate — and discuss the plants, stones, and other entities to invite into a Moon Garden in honor of ancient Greek lunar power.
Tears of the Sun: Helios, Phaethon, the Heliades, and Other Ancient Greek Solar Myths
Today, on the Winter Solstice, I introduce you to the Greek gods of the Sun — the Titans who gave birth to the radiance of the celestial bodies and the prophetic wisdom that the Greeks believed came from their light. We also learn about the Sun’s connection to the Underworld, grief, and mourning, and meet the plants sacred to the Sun god Helios.
Meet Linda Pappa
In today’s special episode, we meet Greek multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and ritualist Linda Pappa. Linda is based on the ancient island of Crete, where she has a home and studio in the mountains, and she shares with us her artistic process: how she co-creates with the land, crafting ceramic vessels from wild clay she harvests herself and painting with pigments she makes from local plants and soil. Our conversation wanders into some really interesting places, including the dark sides of living in modern Greek culture, and also whether ideas of masculine or feminine energy can be associated with the landscape.
Hypnos and the Poppy: Ancient Greek Dream Incubation
In this episode, we’ll be meeting the Greek gods of Night, Sleep, and Dreams — Nyx, Hypnos, the Oneiroi, Mnemosyne, and more. We’ll explore dream rituals in ancient Greece, in particular dream incubation as a means for healing and divination as occurred at the temple of Asclepius in Epidaurus and at the Oracle of Trophonios. We’ll learn about how the Greeks understood their dreams and how they are connected to the Underworld. And we’ll meet one of my favorite flowers of the Greek landscape, the often controversial — and even illegal in some countries — Poppy.
Meet the Greek Herbalist: Greek Herbal Tours with Maria Christodoulou
In today’s special episode, we meet The Greek Herbalist, Maria Christodoulou. We discuss her experiences as a first generation Greek-American, what it was like encountering the Greek landscape for the first time, how she went from a classics major to studying herbalism to now living in Greece and, among many things, leading the way in herbal immersion tours all over the country. In her own words, Maria is a clinical herbalist exploring the wisdom and whimsy of ancient Greek herbal medicine. In a previous lifetime she lived on a farm in ancient Greece and found the cure for plagues. Maria teaches and writes about medicinal plants featured in fantastical myths, ancient medical texts, and surviving artwork. She offers educational herbal tours throughout Greece and is the author of "The Greek Herbalist's Guide to the National Garden" and "The Greek Herbalist's Guide to the Mountain." For more adventures through antiquity, visit www.thegreekherbalist.com.
Coming Home to Greece
For those living abroad or without any living relatives in Greece, it can be difficult to find ways to connect with your Greek roots. So in this episode, I share some unique ideas to connect with your Greek ancestry that do not involve genealogy. Instead, I’m going to suggest some other practices for coming home to Greece, even if you are unable to visit in person. If you’re not of Greek heritage, but you feel a deep affinity to Greek culture or mythology, these techniques can also deepen your connection with the mythic Greek landscape.
Plants of the Underworld
Journey down, into the depths of the earth, to meet the plants of the Greek Underworld — the trees, flowers, herbs, and shrubs that ancient Greek mythology associates with the Realm of the Dead. Along the way, we meet the Underworld rivers and entrances to Hades; learn about the sacred kykeon of the Eleusinian Mysteries; discover a shocking truth about Persephone's connection with the seasons; and meet the botanical allies for navigating through death, grief, and the Unseen Realm.
Dionysos and the Vines
Today, we encounter Dionysos through the lens of his most sacred plants, the Vines — specifically the Ivy, Grape, and Rough Bindweed. We also talk about wine, entheogens, and consciousness-altering brews of the ancient Greek world; the Maenads who danced into ecstatic union; as well as some of the places, mountains, and other herbs sacred to the god of divine madness.
Season 2 Introduction
Welcome to season two! Listen to some exciting announcements about what to expect from the new season.
Containing the Wild Flame: Ancient Greek Fire Myths
After the devastating Greek wildfires of 2021 — in which over 100,000 hectares of Pine forest burned in two weeks alone — I became curious about the ancient Greeks’ relationship to wildfire — and fire, in general. What sorts of stories do they have to share with us about the power of flame? What Greek gods and myths have arisen from the ashes of their interaction with the element of Fire? And, of course, which plants, trees, and aspects of the Greek landscape are intimately linked to those burning stories?
The Nymphs of Ancient Greece
In this podcast episode, we discuss the Nymphs, the nature spirits that dwell in and protect the waters, plants, and mountains of Greece. And while it may seem that the nymphs take a backseat to the Olympian gods by playing minor roles in the famous stories, I believe they are in fact the most important beings of ancient Greek myth and plant lore, especially for those of us seeking a deeper connection with the Mediterranean landscape.
Athena and the Gift of the Olive
For the ancient Greeks, the Olive was a sacred symbol of divine blessing and wisdom associated particularly with the goddess Athena, as well as with Zeus and the patron of human culture, Aristaeus. In this podcast episode, we discuss the ancient uses of the Olive, as well as discuss the Olive as a teacher of perspective and a reminder of the ancestral gifts of awe, gratitude and humility.
Nostimon Imar: The Taste of Coming Home
Like many Greeks, I come from a family steeped in olive oil. My grandmother’s family tended olives in a small village near Kalamata, the city in the southern Peloponnese famous for its olive of the same name. In this episode, I get a bit more personal than usual and share how I came to live here in Greece - and how I now find belonging and meaning in the Mediterranean landscape.
Persephone and the Descent to Hades
Persephone is a youthful spring goddess wandering in fields of Narcissus and Asphodel when Hades, the god of the Underworld, comes to take her as his bride. And while her disappearance inspires her mother, the goddess of grains, to instigate a world-wide famine, it is Persephone who is changed forever by consuming the Pomegranate seed, later becoming an equal to Hades and ruling beside him as a Queen in her own right.
The Melissae, Oracular Bee Nymphs
In this episode, we turn our attention to the Melissae, the oracular Bee Nymphs of ancient Greece. The Melissae are considered divine messengers, conduits for prophecy, speakers of divine truths, and a source for inspired thought and song. Today, I share with you some of the ancient Greek folklore associated with the Bee, as well as some of my favorite ceremonies and techniques for connecting with Bee.
Daphne and Apollo
In this episode we discuss the myth of Daphne and Apollo. Daphne, whose name actually means Bay Laurel in Greek (Δάφνη), was a nymph of ancient Greece who, while running from Apollo’s advances, was transformed into a sacred tree of prophecy and ritual cleansing. In one story, she is the beautiful daughter of the River Peneos in Thessaly, and in another version she belongs to the River Ladon in the Peloponnese. But it is her connection to Mount Parnassos and the oracular Bee nymphs which is to me the most interesting, as it links her quite intimately, as we will see, with the Pythia — that ancient Oracle of Delphi.
Narcissus and Echo
Most people know the myth of Narcissus, the beautiful youth who falls in love with his own reflection in a pool of water and wastes away, pining for the love he cannot touch. His tale is often shared as a warning against egoism, pride, and self-obsession, but few people have heard of his counterpart, the nature spirit Echo, whose obsession with Narcissus leads to her own dissolution. I adore this myth because I believe there is a deeper message in this story - a message about numbness, obsession, and human desire - a message I think that most people miss...
Intro Episode: Welcome to the Mythic Greek Landscape
In this episode, you’ll hear a brief introduction to the podcast.