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.

Despite over 5,000 years under human cultivation, the Olea europaea remains wild-looking and ancient, with some trees surpassing 1,000 or 2,000 years of age.  Surviving fires, drought, and even a complete cutting back to the stump, the olive tree will just not give up. This is a formidable, primordial, and powerful tree, a teacher of perspective, and a reminder of the ancestral gifts of awe, gratitude and humility.  Associated with the goddess Athena as well as Zeus and the patron of human culture, Aristaeus, the Olive was a sacred symbol of divine blessing and wisdom.

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. And as next month's Materia Mythica entry will be the olive tree, I wanted to share with you a little about my own experience of the Greek landscape - a piece of my personal mythology.

The Pomegranate is a spiny, deciduous shrub or tree with red-orange tubular flowers that transform into large red fruits containing a multitude of seeds. A sacred symbol of fertility, mortality, and the Underworld, the fruit has been associated with many Greek goddesses, including Persephone and Hera.

Cycles. Protection. Devotion. Guidance.

A Time for Celebrating the Ancestors.