Event Details

The mystery of pilgrimage rests in the soul's essential engagement with place, memory, and meaning. In certain places there are reverberating voices which are especially distinct and condensed with meaning. The mystery centers of Ancient Greece were a crucible for transformative learning--a contemporary term for initiation. Following up on our 2005 pilgrimage, Aftab Omer and Melissa Schwartz will lead a two-week pilgrimage to the mystery centers of Ancient Greece in the Spring of 2007. This intimate journey to the birthplace of classical mythology will be a window into the mythic imagination and its role in contemporary possibilities for personal and cultural transformation.

Pilgrimage Highlights
• Athens, the Parthenon at the Acropolis, the Agora, and the Plaka.
• Corinth, the palace of the acropolis of Tiryns, Hercules and his twelve labors.
• Nafplion, this elegant old town which was the first capital of Greece after its independence is dominated by the towering Palmidi Fortress.
• Epidaurus, site of the healing sanctuary of Asklepios, and world-renowned classical ampitheatre.
• Mycenae, the ancient palace of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.
• Samos, the island birthplace of Pythagoras and the sanctuary of Hera, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world
• Ephesus, the temple of Artemis and the birthplace of Heraclitus, on the Aegean Coast of Turkey.
• Troy, the site of the Trojan wars described in the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer.
• Lesbos, the island where the poet Sappho made her home.
• Eleusis, site of the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries, ritual celebrations in honor of Demeter and Persephone.
• Delphi, home of the ancient oracle in the sanctuary of Apollo.
• Sounion, the site of the temple of Poseidon.

Pilgrimage Leaders
Aftab Omer is President and core faculty at the Institute of Imaginal Studies. Formerly a faculty member in the Psychology Department at Sonoma State University, he is currently the President of the Council on Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychologies. Aftab's research has focused on the emergence of human capacities within transformative learning communities and his work has included assisting organizations in tapping the creative potentials of conflict, diversity, and complexity. Born and raised in South Asia, his previous experiences in Greece, including the Institute's program in Greece, have been formative to his work with imagination and cultural transformation.

Melissa Schwartzis Academic Dean and core faculty at the Institute of Imaginal Studies. Formerly a faculty member in both the Psychology and Counseling departments at Sonoma State University, she is in private practice as a Licensed Psychologist and Marriage & Family Therapist. Her interests include enriching the psychology of gender with mythological perspectives. She finds in Greek Mythology a rich cornucopia of images to deepen our understanding of feminine and masculine soul journeys.

Pilgrimage Information
For more information, to receive a detailed itinerary, or to register call Andrea Lambert, Director of Communications, at 707-765-1836 or send an email to PublicPrograms@imaginal.edu. More information is also available at www.imaginal.edu.