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.
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.
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.