Guest Writer Anna Bromley Shares Her Incredible Story of Healing and Adventure...

I feel very honored to share a "dream sister's" story of healing and survival. It will touch your heart. All gorgeous photographs were created by the writer of this article, Anna Bromley

Greetings Dear Ones,

I am back from Crete and wanted to share with you my experience of the healing temple of Asklepios at Lissos. It's a bit of a long one, so get a cuppa and make yourself comfortable.

Dream of Invitation to Asklepios’ Temple at Lissos

I did a journey to the cinema of lost dreams to retrieve the dream that I remembered in fragments. The ticket collector was a Minotaur – a giant man with head of a black bull with big horns. He was scary looking but actually quite kind in a gruff sort of way. He gave us our tickets which were written on stone tablets. Bill and Phoebe came with me. He asked me to put down a heavy rucksack shaped like a turtle shell. It reminded me of my grandfather who had a very bad back when he came home from being a Japanese prisoner of war and walked as if he had a turtle shell on his back. He also took something off my leg.

The scene changed – now we were flying over the island of Crete in an old-fashioned flying machine with bat-shaped wings. We landed at Sougia on the South coast and prepared to walk to Lissos. We were met by Asklepios who told me to leave an offering at the beginning of the journey and to ask for his help. Then he carried me piggy back style to the temple. He told me, ‘Walk with intention for healing and I will help you. When you reach the temple, find a special stone to sit on – you will know it when you see it. Let the snake of healing enter you from root to crown. I will perform a healing for you to heal your back, leg and breast. Then go and swim in the sea and let the sea cleanse you.’

The Real Journey

So…the next day we caught the 5am bus from Chania to Sougia. It was beautiful watching the dawn break over the mountains as we hairpinned our way down from the hills through the tiny village of Mona and out onto the coast.

There was an incredible wind that whipped up the sand and tugged at our hair and clothes as we stepped off the bus and made our way into Sougia. We got a drink from the bakery – the only place open at 7am and bravely resisted the smell of fresh baked sweet pastries – me because of my no-sugar diet and Bill and Phoebe in solidarity to me.

Refreshed and ready for adventure, we set off for Sougia’s port where the trek to the temple at Lissos begins. We had heard varying reports of how long it would take from half an hour to one and a half hours and I knew that the terrain was not going to be easy. I had some trepidation about whether my poor sore body was up to it, with my weak sore leg and back but I was determined to go and I knew I had Asklepios on my side.

We found the sign for the trail and started on our way. Was this really it? The path started by scaling two huge boulders and then squeezing through an impossibly small gap. I was going to need all the help I could get. Time to make our offerings and call in all our allies. I called on Asklepios and he said he would give me a piggy back just as he had promised in the dream. Bill called on the power of mountain goat to give us sure footedness and good balance. Off we set, Phoebe dancing on ahead as excited children do, telling us she was scouting out the easiest route for us. As a Capricorn she was really taking on her mountain goat powers.

The way was very challenging, winding steeply through shoe-shredding rocks. There were many places where you have to lift your leg really high to step up onto the next boulder - all very difficult for me with my injured leg, and yet it felt strangely easy and I did have a strong sense of being carried. I know that Asklepios and the spirit of the land were helping me. It was also incredibly beautiful and peaceful, as we walked among pines, the occasional olive tree and myrtle bushes. We were the only ones walking here this early.

There were many boulders shaped like strange beings – a huge bear, a lion, a star fish and a winking cat. Others had huge megalithic faces in them – the stone people and spirits of the gorge were watching over us.

At last we came to a bilberry and thorn-covered plateau where the volcanic rocks were so razor sharp I thought my trekking sandals would be sheered off at any moment. At the western end of the plateau we had a beautiful view down to a cove of crystal clear water and we could see ancient ruins among the trees. A steep and treacherous decent along a narrow path with a long drop off the edge, brought us right to the temple. We could see huge blocks of stone and fallen pillars lying to the side of the temple, and there was still enough remaining to get the feel of how it would have looked.

It was wonderful to think that the temple stones have been here for over 2,000 years and built on the site of Minoan ruins from much further back. I contemplated all the feet of people who had made this journey in quest for healing over the course of this time. There certainly was a magical atmosphere.

At the entrance to the temple, I called on the Gatekeeper. ‘Whoa, he’s really here!’ said Bill. So we left our offerings of rye crackers spread with honey, and walked with reverence to the temple. Bill and Phoebe went in search of the spring, which had been diverted from its original place of issue from within the temple, and I looked for the special stone where I was to sit for the healing. The stonework was impressive – huge irregular-shaped stones all fitted perfectly together, just as you see in temple sites in South America, such as Machu Piccu. Just outside the temple, the pipe that carried the spring water was leaking and formed a little pool where all manner of butterflies, bees and colourful insects were drinking. As I crossed the temple floor with its mosaic of geometric shapes and a beautiful bird, I was drawn to an area to the left of the altar. I looked into a chamber to see that there was a marble basin with a hole in it at the bottom of the chamber and it felt as if this would have been the place where the spring would have issued up for drinking and bathing. The water must have been so important in this dry place so long ago.

I found my stone, just in front of this place and sat down for my healing. I connected my roots to the earth and my crown to the light from above and felt the presence of Asklepios arrive by my side, his huge snake rising from the temple floor, up through my feet, up through my body and into my head. Asklepios massaged my back and my leg and did an extraction on my breast lump. He filled my body with light and told me to drink from the spring and then to get in the sea for a final cleansing. I thanked him and left the temple. Bill and Phoebe greeted me excitedly telling me they had found a place where there is a tap that will let you drink the spring water. By now it was really hot and it was beautiful to bathe my hands and face and drink the cool, sweet water. Then we wandered down to the beach through ancient stone terraces and gnarly old olive trees to the remains of the Minoan harbour for a refreshing swim in crystal clear water.

At the beach we were relieved to see a sign saying that Captain George would be very pleased to take us back to Sougia in his boat for €5, so I wouldn’t need to make the arduous journey back on foot.

The following day, I felt a huge sense of wellbeing, not exhaustion as I had expected. The day after returning from holiday, I went to see my kinesiologist who did physical healing on all the things that Asklepios had worked on. He told me that it was coming to him that snake would be a very good power animal for me to work with in healing my physical structure. I smiled and told him about my encounter with the snake at the Asklepion temple. His eyes lit up as he told me that he has a strong connection with Asklepios and he had almost called his clinic after him, but plumped for the Chiron Centre instead as it is easier to say!

So my healing continues. I feel that it has helped me release a lot of the shock and trauma of the operation that went wrong. My body now feels more balanced. And my limp is almost gone as my leg gets stronger.