To An Enchanted Island

When I left home, it was important to me that I reestablish my belief.  Belief in the goodness and kindness of people.  My belief in the possibility and hope of redemption.  Redemption available, as I'm daily reminded, through desperate grace alone.  My belief in vulnerability as a lifestyle, and maybe the only road to true transformation.  I needed to reaffirm my belief in the power and beauty of the divine feminine, of my own femininity, despite living in a world that daily works to devalue and denigrate us.  I wanted to believe in myself, in my competence and ability as a little woman alone in a big, big world.  Most importantly, I deeply needed to believe again in the audacious power of hope.

Upon arriving on Santorini, I was nearly knocked off my feet by the mystical weight of the air.  There was something sanctified, something ancient and very alive here.  This tiny island deep in the Aegean sea has a prehistoric history of habitation, and is speculated by some to be the origin of the lost city of Atlantis.  Even its myth of creation is derived from a divine love, in which Euphemus is said to have impregnated one of the nymph daughters of Triton.  In effort to create for her a safe haven from her father's wrath, Euphemus threw a clod of earth into the sea and created "the most beautiful", now known as Santorini.

Phenomenal (and hilarious) Pandora player

I quickly began to understand why so many Greeks had questioned my intention to do the island alone.  It is a place created and sustained by a special kind of creative force, a force of love.  I remained undeterred though, determined to see this dreamy place for myself.  I hadn't yet allowed my solo status to limit my adventure, so I certainly wasn't about to  stand in my own way of experiencing the loveliness, the lovely magic of this enchanted island.

Though the temperature was quickly descending,  the sunlight remained strong enough to give my freckles freckles, and light the paths I daily hiked.  I befriended a few of the island dogs, most of whom were abandoned by residents who moved off the island.  I discovered favorite places for my favorite foods, and favorite people who embraced me with what can only be described as perfectly Greek hospitality.  They welcomed me into their off-season daily lives, teaching me the Greek origins of all things, and including me in their evening festivities.  My originally planned 4 days slowly unfolded into 10 as I allowed Santorini to respond to some of my traveling prayers, in the gentlest of ways.

Thira

What better to remind me of redemption and transformation than a people who have not only lived, but thrived on the cliff face of a rock for more than 5,000 years?  The warmth and kindness extended to me, as well as the respect and even reverence with which I was treated, a reminder of the power and beauty inherent in being created a woman.  Wholly, uniquely, divinely woman.  Not at all the curse we're taught, but a compelling power, and a gift for which I'm becoming ever more grateful.  So though I did the island alone, I didn't do it lonely.  Santorini gifted me a heart full; full of promise, and full of hope.  And if that's not love, I don't know what is.