Ode to Minoa

Rating:
Summary: An engrossing book, superbly written, couldn't put it down!
Review: A wonderful story that deals with timeless ideas and issues of birth, love, transition, initiation, and death. This book is a great mixture of history and fantasy of a Snake Priestess of Minoa in the Bronze Age who has visions of the future. The imagery in the book is incredible and I found it spellbinding.

I found myself living right along with Aureillia in her experiences of leaving childhood, claiming her power, becoming a priestess, and birthing her child. The power of her life, ruled by the cycles of the moon, rekindled in me an ache to have ceremonies as a part of everyday life. As a mother, it also reminded me of the power of initiation in life, one generation to the next.

Ode to Minoa's characters are strong, confident and magical. Theresa Dintino creates male and female characters that are equally strong; dealing timeless issues. The author is very knowledgeable about history, ritual and ceremony and weaves it into the story in a way that I felt myself right in the Bronze Age of Crete. (And, believe me that's not a place I've ever longed to study!)

I recommend it to anyone who likes good books! It would make a beautiful movie!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Choice for A Book Club
Review: I found the book mesmerizing. The content was uncomfortable at times but always thought provoking. I loved the spirtuality and depth in the book. I found myself wanting to share and discuss the book with a friend to absorb even more than I could by just reading it once. It captures the complexity of being a woman and leaves me feeling proud,purposeful and sad all at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Choice for A Book Club
Review: I found the book mesmerizing. The content was uncomfortable at times but always thought provoking. I loved the spirtuality and depth in the book. I found myself wanting to share and discuss the book with a friend to absorb even more than I could by just reading it once. It captures the complexity of being a woman and leaves me feeling proud,purposeful and sad all at the same time.

Rating:
Summary: Woman Finds Her Purpose
Review: In her story of the Cretan snake-princess, Auriellia, Theresa C. Dintino points all women in a direction where through meditation and experience they will find meaning regarding themselves. At a young age, Auriellia hears voices and sees things; the Cretan hierarchy interprets this as a divine calling to the priesthood of the snake. Under the tutelage of Barbara, Auriella undergoes the bitter journey of the acolyte, where when bitten by the snakes and saturated with their venom, her visions form prophesies that are recorded by the council of elders. She sees a future where the goddess is no longer worshipped and sadly women are persecuted for their herblore and mutilated by the world of men. Horrified, Auriellia is driven to look further into the meaning of her own life and to insure that people of the future remember the ancient mysteries.
Dintino manages to create the vibrant doggedness of Auriellia's character yet fails to give the reader the sense that she is a woman of another time. Her selection of the matriarical society of Minoan Crete to backdrop her message while intriguing was lackluster. I did not get a sense of the people or community. Mostly I would have liked to see more myth wrapped within the tale. Case in point, as the labyrinth is detailed within the story's structure as an intitiation ground, I would have enjoyed a reference to the minotaur myth. . . but, perhaps Dintino's tale predates this.
Overall this was an interesting spiritiual read; Auriellia's awakened feelings as a mother are right on the mark and beautiful to read.

Rating:
Summary: Woman Finds Her Purpose
Review: In her story of the Cretan snake-princess, Auriellia, Theresa C. Dintino points all women in a direction where through meditation and experience they will find meaning regarding themselves. At a young age, Auriellia hears voices and sees things; the Cretan hierarchy interprets this as a divine calling to the priesthood of the snake. Under the tutelage of Barbara, Auriella undergoes the bitter journey of the acolyte, where when bitten by the snakes and saturated with their venom, her visions form prophesies that are recorded by the council of elders. She sees a future where the goddess is no longer worshipped and sadly women are persecuted for their herblore and mutilated by the world of men. Horrified, Auriellia is driven to look further into the meaning of her own life and to insure that people of the future remember the ancient mysteries.
Dintino manages to create the vibrant doggedness of Auriellia's character yet fails to give the reader the sense that she is a woman of another time. Her selection of the matriarical society of Minoan Crete to backdrop her message while intriguing was lackluster. I did not get a sense of the people or community. Mostly I would have liked to see more myth wrapped within the tale. Case in point, as the labyrinth is detailed within the story's structure as an intitiation ground, I would have enjoyed a reference to the minotaur myth. . . but, perhaps Dintino's tale predates this.
Overall this was an interesting spiritiual read; Auriellia's awakened feelings as a mother are right on the mark and beautiful to read.

Rating:
Summary: mythic journey
Review: This book transports you to the exotic within you. It is a mythic journey that we all take. However, for all its spiritual growth and aesthetic appeal, the characters are as relatable as your cousin. This is no new age grope fest. It is a gorgeously written tale of love and personal evolution. You feel part of a powerful goddess sisterhood while staying with these intriguing women; however, the book is lovely in that it loves and respects men at the same time. I can't wait for Dintino's next book.

Rating:
Summary: mythic journey
Review: This book transports you to the exotic within you. It is a mythic journey that we all take. However, for all its spiritual growth and aesthetic appeal, the characters are as relatable as your cousin. This is no new age grope fest. It is a gorgeously written tale of love and personal evolution. You feel part of a powerful goddess sisterhood while staying with these intriguing women; however, the book is lovely in that it loves and respects men at the same time. I can't wait for Dintino's next book.

Rating:
Summary: Imagining a world
Review: Throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, Neolithic settlements have been unearthed which reveal that war has not always been the natural state for humans on this planet. For tens of thousands of years humans lived in partnership with one another. The main image from these societies is a female deity, depicted in a wide variety of forms including animal, bird or insect. She was the Mother Creatrix who concerned herself with all aspects of life, death, rebirth and regeneration.

In the Mediterranean, on the island of Crete, is found the full flowering of this phase of human existence. While most of Old Europe had fallen into a warring state, Crete, with its island isolation and strong tradition maintained a stable culture allowing it to develop into the full realization of the Neolithic City, lasting well into the Bronze Age.

After immersing myself in information on these early societies and being inspired by even this possibility, I had an intense desire to imagine what it would have been like to be a woman living in a society that worshipped a female deity. What was the relationship between the Goddess and the human woman? What did this spirituality consist of? What would it be like to live in a place where a woman's body is honored for all its magical ability?

Trying to imagine meant researching certain recurring symbols. For example, I discovered a deep connection in many cultures of the world between humans and the symbol of the snake. Snake has many interpretations, but the one that resonates most deeply with me is the idea of snake as the energy force of the planet and all the beings who inhabit it--the life force, the Goddess within.

I also discovered, in the work of Merlin Stone, that the venom of a venomous snake, if ingested and tolerated, acts as a hallucinogen inducing a deep trance in the same person if bitten again. This could account for the widespread association of snakes and wisdom. In one of the temples within the temple-complex in Knossos, the largest city in ancient Crete, was found a snake pit. I decided that the worship of snakes on Crete must have consisted in large part with oracular divination through venom induced trance. This would have been carried out in a most contained and ritualistic fashion.

In the book, Ode To Minoa, the girl, Aureillia is chosen at a young age to become a Snake Priestess. After a long and rigorous apprenticeship and initiation she becomes full priestess and begins a series of visions in which she witnesses the future of women. The juxtaposition of these two widely differing worldviews on women's power, wisdom and sexuality allowed me to explore and try to understand some of the issues that concern me most deeply. Throughout her journey, Aureillia is assisted by animal guides and learns to nurture and trust the voice of the Goddess deep within her. The book is as much a mystical tale as a female quest.

What I discovered most essential in the society of Minoa--that which is so lacking in the world in which I currently find myself living--was women who owned their power and drew a deep sense of meaning from their connection to that power--the Goddess within. With this power they were able to understand the full meaning of their own personal destiny and the way in which that could be useful to the community in which they were born. With it they were able to create and maintain a safe and satisfying place to live.