DAY 8 June 15 2001 by Karen PAMUKKALE

Breakfast at Pansiyon Atelya (in Antalya), then off toward Pamukkale. On the way
we stopped at the black goats'-hair tent of the nomads. A large sturdy woman with many missing teeth and expressive hands and eyes graciously invited us into her tent for elma çay (apple tea). We met her youngest daughter (18) and granddaughter, who greeted Meli with a kiss on the hand. The grandmother told us how she has lived her nomadic life like her mother and mothers before her, since arriving from Central Asia. She spends her days tending to her cows and her small but beautiful garden and weaving. On June 23rd the others in her band will take the goats to the higher plains but she will stay for another month to take care of the cows. She also showed us her shotgun, which she uses to scare away wolves. When we asked if she could read or write, she said she was ignorant but knew everything about goats. We asked her why she wore a head scarf. She said she did it because her mother's mother had done the same and for sun protection - not for religious reasons. Meli then showed us how to tie a head-scarf in the style of many different regions - Gypsy, Eastern Turkey, Black Sea, etc. She looked stunning in all of them.
The bus climbed through the mountains and we had a buffet lunch at Salda Lake
(Gölü)--a beautiful crater lake at 4500 ft. Ellen was the swim goddess.

Next we stopped at the women's carpet cooperative where we were given an exhibition in a large hall and an opportunity to view more gorgeous carpets than you can imagine.
(From Nancy's diary: Meli told us that under the auspices of this government-sponsored cooperative, women were given looms in order to revive traditional carpet weaving in Turkey, and that 7,000 families are members of these cooperatives. Men warp the looms, and the women weavers are paid per knot and can work at home with their children.)
(Ed.: We also visited the training center at the cooperative, where a small number of girls can get a high school education, earn money and learn to weave carpets in the traditional manner at the same time.
Meli explained to us that this cooperative represents more than just a stopping shop. Turkey is a "carpet culture." Beautiful carpets adorn the walls and floors of even the humblest homes (as we saw, for example, in the black tent). Weaving carpets is a major artistic outlet for millions. Carpets often contain religious symbols and are used to decorate mosques. They are major heirlooms and trousseau items, thus symbolizing family continuity and re-creation. People are even wrapped in them for burial. )

Then we were accompanied by salesmen (emphasis on the "men") and many of us bought carpets. Diane Ohllson won the prize for 5 carpets bought. Then back on the bus for a quick dinner at our hotel in Pamukkale before heading to the "champagne bubble" waters of Pamukkale. Swimming by moonlight among the ancient carved columns that a long-ago earthquake had pitched into the Hierapolis hot-spring "sacred pool" was an experience I'll never forget. After a long day, most of us crashed early!

DAY9 SATURDAY June 16, 2001
by
Yvonne

Aphrodisias

After breakfast and the loading of the Meli Bus, we travelled from
Pamukkale to Aphrodisias via a slight detour to a weaver's co-op.

At the Weavers' building, we stop on the stairs to listen to the machines - the thud of shuttles, the working of the pedals (and the cooing of doves). The cloth here is woven by men, all of them elderly. It is beautiful - as are the faces of the men (although I suspect they were a bit annoyed at our interruption).

Boys and young men patiently trot back and forth to bring even more goods from the warehouse across the street to meet our requests. All seem to embody the exhortation on the Kemal Ataturk statue at the entrance: "Turk. Be proud. Work. Have Confidence."

Once again - the goddesses rise to the challenge of assisting the local economy.

On the bus, Beebe shares her current sense of peace around the passing of her mother. Others share about this loss in their own lives.
As we listen and chatter, we journey through the valley of the Meander River. We see marble quarries that look like mountains missing great rectangular chunks.

And then - APHRODISIAS. For me, of all the Hellenistic sites, this is the one with which I experience the most connection. It is the first place I realize that all Culture Ministry buildings are marked with a stylized "tree of life," expressing the Islamic sense of the eternal rooted in the earth - and this seems so appropriate given the amazing tree at the tourist shop opposite the museum.

Inside the museum, we are once again served up a feast of carved marble. I remember the quarries we passed, whose "soft" marble can be so intricately carved. We admire the Cult Statue of Aphrodite, foam-born goddess of beauty and love. As Meli points out, this means much more than the narrow "beauty and love" that the dominant culture often assigns to her today.

Afterwards, our ritual under the trees and in the breeze celebrates the 3-in-1 aspects of the Goddess of Love: Sensual/Sexual; Maternal/Parental; and Spiritual. The ritual features Yvonne leading a version of the St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer called the Navajo Changing Woman Blessing - Love above, love below; I am love, You are love, We are love .. Ellen then leads us in "Love is a many splendored thing." Judy and Emily (in her nearly see-through nightie!!) lead us in sensual/sexual, divine, and maternal dance. After pairing off to share a memory of an intense experience of love, we feed each other an aphrodisiac made of a honey-saturated nut mixture. Then we have a round of affirmations, each woman telling the person to her right one thing she loves about that person. The ritual closes with the Blessing of Aphrodite.

We arrive at the beautiful and distinctive Selcuk Kalehan Hotel. The evening air is fragrant with jasmine. In the evening we have Women in Community. Our deep, powerful sharing about our lives concludes with an exchange about people's experiences and expectations surrounding rituals and a discussion of the challenges presented by our particular group's dynamics.

Then bed - wonderful, welcome bed - at the end of another rich day that will require months to harvest the fruits. Thanks, everyone. Blessings of Aphrodite to all.

Yvonne