Your journey through Northern Crete

You arrive at Heraklion Airport, heart fluttering with anticipation, and a short taxi ride brings you to our beautiful hotel, your sanctuary for our journey. Settle in, breathe, rest. In the evening we gather for the first time as Sisters for our joyful Welcome Dinner.

We enter the newly renovated Heraklion Museum, a jewel box of Minoan magic: the luminous Snake Goddesses, the golden Priestess rings, the frescoes of lilies and dolphins. Then lunch at a sun-kissed local taverna, and a little sacred shopping for olive oils and golden honey, gathered for our libations and offerings in the Temples and caves to come.

The Goddess of Day 2

The Snake Goddess

Knossos, one of the largest and most legendary Temple Complexes in Crete, is the home of the famous Snake Goddess Herself.

More about the Snake Goddess ›

Photo: Jebulon, Wikimedia Commons, CC0

We descend slowly into Skotino, one of Crete’s most awe-inspiring sacred caves, and sit in complete darkness in the Womb of the Dark Mother. We listen. We are reborn. Then the intimate Archanes Museum, a taverna lunch among the olive trees, and the tomb of an Ancient Priestess at Phourni, where we offer a wondrous ceremony to honour the Priestess lineage within us all.

The Goddess of Day 3

The Dark Mother

In the Womb of the Dark Mother, where the ancient Priestesses once chanted and made offering, we remember the Mystery. We listen. We are reborn.

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Photo: Алексей Шулик, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

The Priestess of Day 3

The Priestess of Archanes

Around 1350 BCE a woman of high rank was laid to rest in Tholos A at Phourni, above Archanes, with her gold rings around her. The women buried at Archanes are known as priestesses by the sacred objects laid beside them.

Pictured: a priestess on the sarcophagus of Agia Triada. Photo: Zde, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

In the mountain village of Agios Thomas, hidden from the crowds, we explore grottos that were sacred, secret temples of the Priestesses, and hold a deep ceremony calling to the ancestors of this place and our own. After lunch in the village, the Temple Complex of Knossos, home of the Snake Goddess Herself, and just across the road, the best shopping in Crete.

The Goddess of Day 4

The Snake Goddess

Knossos, one of the largest and most legendary Temple Complexes in Crete, is the home of the famous Snake Goddess Herself.

More about the Snake Goddess ›

Photo: Jebulon, Wikimedia Commons, CC0

A free day to rest, journal and integrate, or to shop in Hersonissos. After a seaside lunch we journey to the tranquil Paliani Convent and its centuries-old Myrtle tree, beloved of Aphrodite, a living Priestess. Beneath Her boughs we gather in a circle to pray and chant.

The Goddess of Day 5

Aphrodite

A beautiful, ancient Myrtle tree, gnarled and wise and deeply beloved to the Goddess Aphrodite. This tree is a living Priestess. Centuries old, Her branches whisper blessings.

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For thousands of years women have made pilgrimage to this womb-like cave. We sit upon the Omphalos Stone, the Navel of the World, and ask the Mother to help us birth our dreams, and deeper inside hold a gentle ritual of release and healing, held by Sisters. Then a master potter at the Nikos-Giorgos workshop, a village lunch, and the glittering Sfendoni Cave at Anogia: the Goddess in Her crystal gown.

The Goddess of Day 6

Eileithyia

From all over Crete women made pilgrimage to this womb-like sanctuary to sit upon the Omphalos Stone, the Navel of the World, and ask the Goddess for the blessing of a child.

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Anique’s favourite day of the whole tour. The vast Temple Palace of Malia, where the golden Bee Pendant was found, hums with ancient memory, and with eyes to see we understand the rituals, processions and honeycomb ceremonies that happened here. Then a leisurely taverna lunch, and a swim in the clear Cretan sea or a golden afternoon in the sun.

The Goddess of Day 7

The Goddess of the Bee Priestesses

Here the famous golden Bee Pendant was found: two Bees laying down honey in the sacred vessel, the symbol of the Goddess Herself. The bee was sacred to the Goddess, and in later Greek tradition Her priestesses were called the Melissae, the bees.

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After a celebratory goodbye breakfast, with hugs, laughter and promises to return, a taxi takes you to the airport. You leave with a suitcase full of pottery, oils, honey and treasures, and a heart lighter, brighter and full of Goddess. The friendships you make on this pilgrimage will last a lifetime.