Home Itinerary Tour MapHerstory Guides Booking PoetryContact
The Great Mother Goddess of Catal Huyuk and Her daughters: Artemis, Aphrodite, Cybele-Aranna and Hekate await us. Artemis Apollo Temple Artemis Rock Hotel Cappodocia Amazon Frieze          April SAVER :       Save £50 on a single booking (£1225 pp)          Double SAVER:     Save £75 each if two of you book together before end of April (£1200 pp)                                              A Message from a Previous Pilgrim on this Goddess sites and Women's Collectives Tour Diana, (jsndt@alaska.net)  a previous pilgrim on a tour hosted by Atilla has send this endorsement of her experience: Hi Suz, "Yes, I would be willing to do that for you folks. Atllla was always trying to teach me Turkish, which was great. I did have a wonderful time, it has been the best trip of my life and also life-changing. My favorite was staying in the Rose-oil village with our Turkish family. During that trip only me and my roommate got up to help at 6.00 in the morning, but it was beautiful to harvest the roses with the local people. The smell in the fields was heavenly!!!!" The Tour of Sacred Sites and Women's Collectives: On this 14 day pilgrimage of a lifetime we visit Her sacred sites, encounter Her symbols and representations in many forms and actively celebrate Her presence in our lives and the world through our ritual and ceremony. We explore Catal Huyuk (where we will picnic, receive a guided tour of the site from Ian Hodder, the archaeologist in charge); museums at Ephesus, Ayia Sophia, Aphrodisias and Ankara; the Temples of Artemis at Ephesus; the only know Temple dedicated to Hekate; the city of Aphrodisias with its Temple to Aphrodite and Aphrodite, The Valley of the Amazons and the Hittite centre of the sun Goddess Aranna/Cybele and Ayia Sophia. This will be no passive encounter with the Great Mother of All. The pilgrimage will include ritual celebration at six of the sacred sites. As well as the sacred sites and images of the Goddess in her many forms in the splendid museums we will visit a woman’s pottery to create our own images of the Goddess stay in a rural village with a women’s rose oil collective where we share their food and work for an evening and morning rising at dawn to collect rose petals* experience the mystery and sacredness of ancient music therapy engage in the mysticism of the Whirling Dervishes performing the role once filled by the pagan Curetes *roses are the sacred flower of Artemis and Aphrodite. The rose is carved on Artemis statues alternately with bees and at the birth of Aphrodite from the sea, where the sea foam fell onto the beach it turned into roses. Your Hosts Goddess Pilgrimages is hosted by Susan Evasdaughter Author of Crete Reclaimed and Atilla Sevilmis Creator of the Eco- Holiday Retreat Paradise of Yuva   Connecting with Local People So very often tours of Western groups stay in a cocoon of relative luxury and isolation, separated from the local community. Whether travelling independently or in a group, it is so easy to have a wonderful time in a distant country but never really understand about the lives of local people. In order to fully connect with local people we have arranged meeting and interactions between our various cultures in several ways. We meet with three women’s collectives. These are women who have come together to work with each other and to share their income thereby avoiding working for someone else who takes the profit. This kind of work is usually at subsistence level and these women need all the help they can get. We wanted to ensure that money from the tour goes to these women’s communities. We have therefore arranged interaction with two women’s collectives: making clay Goddess icons or vessels at a women’s pottery collective and learning about, and perhaps buying, Turkish carpets from a women’s Turkish carpet making collective. Additionally,  to ensure that we have an authentic experience of living and working with Turkish women, we have arranged a stay at the Basmacti Village Women’s Rose Oil Collective where we will stay in twos with our host families (an afternoon, evening night and morning) learning about how they live and helping where we can. At dawn, for the hardy, we will go with the women to the fields to collect the rose petals that they need for the rose oil, on which their livelihood depends. Previous pilgrims have described this experience as the highlight of the tour. Roses were sacred to Aphrodite (they sprang up where the foam from her body hit the beach when she was born from the sea) and to Artemis (her statues are adorned with her sacred flower), and these women live lives not dissimilar to those of our Goddess celebrating ancestors at Catal Huyuk. What is Included Transfers to and from Istanbul airport (at the beginning and end of the tour duration) Internal flight Bodrun to Istanbul 14 nights’ accommodation based on two sharing Including the spa hotel mineral pools and Jacuzzi, the cave hotel and women’s rose oil collective village Vegetarian breakfast and dinner daily Travel in luxury coach Overnight slow sleeper 3 Tour Guides Entry to all museums except mosaic museum Turkish Night Anatolian dancing Bosphorus river cruise Music therapy with ancient instruments in Istanbul Ihlara Valley gorge walk Open air museums What is not Included Optional activities eg horse riding, hot air balloon trips, hamam (Turkish baths), sauna and massage at Spa Hotel Tips Lunches Whirling Dervish show Donation to Catal Huyuk fund Investment: Early Bird: if booked before 1st February: £1200: After 1st Feb but before 1st March £1225 or equivalent; After 1st March £1275: All based on two people sharing a room. Single room supplement £300 (includes all hotels, the Rose Village and slow sleeper train) Please feel save and print off the flyer and display it on your website or send to friends We are all unique and perfect creations of the Goddess LATEST NEWS: SAGE WOMAN - is giving every pilgrim a free copy of their Goddess Magazine READING LIST - following a request this has now been added in the Poetry Section NB: To pay by electronic transfer you will need the name of our bank. It is Abbey. Other details on booking form Links: www.goddessconference.com  Im not sure how to set up links but do see this amazing annual conference in UK            www.goddesswithin.co.uk    Yorkshire sabbat gatherings and workshops just copy these links and place into Google            www.goddessdownload.com