DISCOVERING THE DAVELIS CAVE
At the cottage in Little Viciente, there still are long winter nights. Darkness descends early. Without television or central heating, there is nothing else to do but study, read, and write. The muses love to drop their ideas into a nest like that. It must have been December 2018 when I crawled up there at the fire and began to see visions of the caves... of those subterranean tunnels and halls... which the ancient Order used for initiation purposes... and members could access from various secret locations... sometimes even from their own grounds... as the caves were not far from Athens.
This was the time, when I began to work on "Twenty-Five Centuries Without You" (C25) in earnest, so I suspected these caves must be relevant to the story. However, back then - in the cozy book nook at the fire - I dismissed these visions, as the idea simply seemed too extravagant to me. (Another example, when the rational mind tries to censor intuition...)
This was the time, when I began to work on "Twenty-Five Centuries Without You" (C25) in earnest, so I suspected these caves must be relevant to the story. However, back then - in the cozy book nook at the fire - I dismissed these visions, as the idea simply seemed too extravagant to me. (Another example, when the rational mind tries to censor intuition...)
But the Muses, when they want to show you something, won't give up that easily! Before springtime arrived, the cottage in the forest suffered a devastating fire - however, as I stood in the snow, looking back at everything in flames, it was like a near-death experience. It helped me to put things into proper perspective, as the only thing I could think of in that moment, was the C25 manuscript. Instinctively, I felt what I had to do.
|
Despite the devastation, in order to bring Sofia and Pasión's story to life, I had to go to Greece!
I had to see Milos, the birth-place of Pasión and all the other places where magical events took place two and half thousand years ago. My friend Marco, joined me on the expedition and quickly became the fairy godfather of the story. Thus we began to travel, feeling our way forward through the story by discovering the Hellenic landscape. We allowed synchronicities and meaningful coincidence to show us the way. We were coming back from Milos by boat, when we came across the name of the Davelis Cave which the sacred shiver to my skin. Immediately, we both knew that we had to go there.
I had to see Milos, the birth-place of Pasión and all the other places where magical events took place two and half thousand years ago. My friend Marco, joined me on the expedition and quickly became the fairy godfather of the story. Thus we began to travel, feeling our way forward through the story by discovering the Hellenic landscape. We allowed synchronicities and meaningful coincidence to show us the way. We were coming back from Milos by boat, when we came across the name of the Davelis Cave which the sacred shiver to my skin. Immediately, we both knew that we had to go there.
There was very little to find about this cave, despite its historic importance and close proximity to Athens. In ancient Greece, here was the marble quarry for the Parthenon.
Yet, all we could find about the cave was a curious collection of supernatural rumors:
To me, such anecdotes suggested that the place may have an unusual energetic constellation, which could cause people's usual interpretation of reality to shift. Marco, who can sense subtle energies, confirmed this in a quite dramatic way: when we finally found the cave, he refused to stay in it for any extended period of time. I understood: the energies in there were by far not only "positive." There was something sinister, even threatening to it.
Hunting for a story, however, requires to stay with the good as well as the bad, and any experience, however fearsome it may appear. I stayed in the cave - although it was spooky, sometimes I felt "watched" - for as long as it took to find the piece of the story which I was looking for. After an hour or so, I could record some valuable impressions... but then I saw it. Up on the cave wall there was some darkness... it could have been a shadow... or an opening. |
Although, I wasn't prepared for any rock-climbing, there was a rope and I could somehow get myself up there. It was a hole, indeed, big enough to enter it. But when I used the torch on my phone to look inside, I saw that the hole went down vertically to an unknown depth.
A tunnel?
A tunnel?
This was exciting and disappointing at the same time! Could there be tunnels in this cave, as my early visions suggested? I neither had skills nor equipment to enter a pothole, however, so I had to go outside again - but determined to do my research and find out what's inside that cave. Surprisingly though, I couldn't find anything written about it. We had to go home without learning anything further. There was not even a book, nor a website with information about possible tunnels in the Davelis Cave. I asked my friends who spoke Greece to look up national literature, I contacted caving societies. Nowhere there was mention about any tunnels in that cave. But I knew, the issue wasn't closed yet. I had to come back with the proper equipment and make my way underground...