Halcyon Days

After visiting Mycenae this morning, I went for a long walk along the sea cliffs this afternoon. I am immersed in the sea without even getting wet. The sounds of waves washing against the rocks, the milky blues and bright turquoise reflections, the smell of the sea and it’s mutable emotions engulf me. Clouds moved in today softening the landscape and muffling the sunset into a pastel palette. It rained a few drops, but it still feels like the best of times: the calm weather and clear sailing of halcyon days.

Today I saw my second kingfisher leaving a tracer of neon teal as its back receded from my view. Unlike American kingfishers, these have bright backs that match the clear Mediterranean waters. Not only does this bird bode good times, but it also showed up in Greek mythology. It was so iconic that it became one of the adversaries of Herakles, namely Alcyoneus. Why Herakles would do battle with kingfishers has been puzzling, but it helps to recognize that each of his adversaries stood for a constellation. Alcyone (fem.) was to the Greeks the brightest star in the Plieades. This star cluster is recognized all over the world even though it was not specifically named as a constellation by Ptolemy. It was historically one of only a handful of constellations that occurred in early Greek writing.

This is a kingfisher, even though I am not a bird photographer.

In the Herakles story, Herakles kills this giant who is then mourned by his seven daughters. Older constellation stories talk about the lost sister who is mourned by her sisters, or they are a flock of doves or kingfishers. Myth would lead us to believe that the six stars visible to the naked eye once had a seventh companion who has faded from view over the eons.

Other women who have faded from view are living on in the museums of Greece. After searching the Internet for goddess images that would work in my book, I thought I had seen them all. I am a astonished at the beauty and abundance of goddess statues, paintings and figurines that I have never seen before. What a blessing.

I was just rounding the cliff edge which brings me back to the hotel when I heard a choir of men singing hymns. I sat for a while in the gathering darkness soaking in the harmonies, still filled with the sound of the sea and the promise of rain. I have a recording for you but naturally, I haven’t mastered the tech of attaching sound bytes. ..bear with me.