Truth to Tell: The Oracle at Delphi

In the myths of the early Greeks, the ancient gods and goddesses ruled the Hellenic people with their superhuman strength, enviable beauty, and abilities not only to walk upon the earth but also to fly across the heavens, dwell in the oceans, and thrive in subterranean territories. Gods and goddesses often mingled with mortals, and their divinity was peppered with human character flaws, moral ambiguity, and mood swings that could change the fate of cities. Despite the fact that these deities were themselves subject to fits of jealousy,...

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The Japanese Tea Ceremony: A Ritual Meditation

In ritualistic ceremonies practiced by myriad cultures throughout the world, the imbibing of a potable plays an important role. Consider the wine used to symbolize the blood of Christ in the Catholic communion rite. Or, imagine the clan gatherings on the Micronesian island of Ponape, where the mildly narcotic drink sakau is sipped communally from a coconut shell. In Japan, as well, a drink plays an important--and in this case, central--role in a spiritual gathering known as the tea ceremony. Chado, the Japanese name for tea ceremony,...

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The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

As the first cathedral in the world dedicated in the new millennium, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, offers a spiritual anchor for the archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest and most diverse Roman Catholic archdiocese in the United States, a reality reflected in the cathedral's mission as well as its design. Situated along the Hollywood Freeway and located between Los Angeles's civic and cultural centers, Our Lady of the Angels is a gateway to the area's religious community and to its civic and cultural life. The...

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Palestine, the Birthplace of World Religions

In addition to Palestine’s historical strategic importance based on its relatively fertile plains and its location at the crossroads of Asia and Africa, it is a holy land to three major religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although it is only about 10,000 square miles in area, it is difficult to imagine a comparable tract of land in the world that has played a more important role in the affairs of humankind or has been as often and as bitterly contested. At Palestine's heart is the holy city of Jerusalem, home of three of the world’s...

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Modern Paganism: Everything Old Is New Again

Contemporary paganism is among the more arcane and misunderstood of modern religious phenomena, but this loose collection of spiritual traditions dates back thousands of years and continues to grow in popularity and influence. Perhaps the most pervasive misconception regarding paganism is that it is an organized faith, yet the very basis of modern pagan beliefs is their repudiation of institutionalized spirituality, a fact that has often placed paganism in direct conflict with the more conventional faiths of the Western world.   The...

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Hagia Sophia: From Church to Mosque to Museum

Sitting on Aysasofya Square in Istanbul, Turkey, is the most important surviving work of Byzantine architecture--Hagia Sophia. Its Greek name means "Holy Wisdom," and its history is closely connected with the rise and fall of two great empires, the Byzantine and Ottoman. It has witnessed amazing episodes of social upheaval, religious fanaticism, and spiritual tolerance. Roman emperor Constantine I, who accepted Christianity, transferred the administrative center of the empire from Rome to Byzantium in the early 4th century. He envisioned...

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W. B. Yeats and the Abbey Theatre

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) has been called the greatest poet of his time, but, in addition to being a writer of brilliant verse, he was also a dramatist who helped to establish Ireland's first national theater---the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Today the Abbey is respected throughout the world, but it was very controversial in its early days, and some of its initial productions prompted riots in the streets. Although there had been various theaters in Dublin since 1637, they were created not by the Irish but by the English elite. The...

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The Magic of Haiku

Haiku is a Japanese verse consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three groups of five, seven, and five. Founded in the Zen Buddhist philosophy of simplicity and disregard of the extraneous, the form is intended to express a sensation of a specific moment of life. After rain all clear - for just seconds the light scent of hawthorn flowers. The poet who raised the Haiku form to its highest level was Matsuo Basho. A son of a low-ranking samurai, Matsuo Munefusa (1644-1694) lived in a modest hut in a rustic area of Edo (now known as Tokyo). A...

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The Ladies of the Dime Novels

When one thinks of women writers of the 19th century, novelists such as Charlotte Bronte or George Eliot most often come to mind. There was, however, another group of women who made their living through storytelling, and while their work may not be of the caliber of a Bronte or an Eliot, it had no less impact on the readers of the day. These women wrote dime novels, pocket-sized paperbacks of roughly 100 pages that sold on newsstands and were popular from about 1860 until the 1890s. The popularity of dime novels was perhaps best expressed...

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Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz---"The Tenth Muse"

Seventeenth-century Mexican culture was dominated by the patriarchal Roman Catholic Church (much more orthodox in New Spain than in Spain itself), and it was generally disparaging of intellectual women. Despite the barriers placed in her way by church and society, however, Juana Inés de Asbaje y Remirez became one of the greatest poets and dramatists of colonial Mexico. Nicknamed "The Tenth Muse," she was a proponent of educational opportunities for women and was centuries ahead of her time. Her drive and intellect were apparent early...

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Sir John Falstaff: Sage or Satan?

Sir John Falstaff is one of the most intriguing characters in the entire Shakespeare canon. He appears in three plays, Henry IV, part 1 (1597), Henry IV, part 2 (1597-1598), and The Merry Wives of Windsor (there is controversy over the date, but 1599-1600 seems the most likely). Indeed Falstaff was so compelling that composers, authors, and directors have created material built around the character up to the present day. Several operas were created around this larger-than-life Elizabethan persona; these include Antonio Salieri's Falstaff...

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Some Famous Diaries You Might Want to Know

A day-to-day recording of experience, the diary is a unique literary form. From the Renaissance to contemporary times, published diaries or journals have presented a broad range of material, from sensational exposures, such as Marie Bashkirtseff's 'Journal,' to philosophic speculations, such as those in Andre Gide's distinguished 'Journals.' The finest examples of the diary have been produced by political and religious leaders ( George Washington, Cotton Mather, Pope John XXIII), travelers ( William Parry, Capt. James Cook), and literary...

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Behind Black Mask: Hard-Boiled Detective Fiction

The fictional characters Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, quintessential lone wolves who earned their living in a violent world guided only by their individual moral codes, personify the genre known as "hard-boiled" detective fiction. Originating in the 1920s, this literary form developed with a distinctive voice and style, which was exemplified by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler in the stories they wrote for the magazine Black Mask and which has endured well into the 21st century. Black Mask began publication in 1920, and although...

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A'Lelia Walker and the Dark Tower

A'Lelia Walker and the Dark Tower may sound like a fantasy adventure. In reality A'Lelia Walker was an entrepreneur and patron of the arts in the 1920s. Her greatest project, the Dark Tower, was among the best-known writers' salons of New York City's Harlem Renaissance. The movement nurtured the country’s most visionary and enduring African American authors. Born in 1885 in Vicksburg, Miss., A'Lelia grew up in St. Louis, Mo., and attended Knoxville College in Tennessee. In 1910 she helped her mother found the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing...

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