Day 1. Saturday, October 12. Arrive Malta. Group Meeting & Welcome Dinner (D)
Arrive in Malta today on your own. Please book your air to Malta - Airport Code MLA. We encourage you to arrive early enough in the day so that you’ll have a chance to rest before our afternoon and evening activities. - After clearing Immigration and Customs look for SSJ’s local tour representative in the Arrivals Hall with a sign with your name on it. He will assist you to transfer to the hotel. NOTE: For those of you in the group who are arriving early, this information is for you too!

Check in and rest a bit before our evening meeting and dinner.

5:30PM – Group Introductory Meeting in the hotel breakfast room facilitated by Andrea Mikana-Pinkham; Presentation by Mark Amaru Pinkham - Malta and the Worldwide Megalithic Culture

6:45PM – Depart walking to the La Giarra Restaurant, 5 minutes away from the hotel for our Welcome Dinner. Return walking to the hotel aftewards.
Overnight Valetta. The Barrister Hotel.
The Barrister is a new boutique hotel located in Valletta; it opened in January 2019, and is receiving rave reviews! It's only a few minutes walk from the city center. Among the facilities are a restaurant, a 24-hour front desk and a concierge service, along with free WiFi. The property also has a currency exchange for guests. All rooms at The Barrister Hotel have a flat-screen TV, air conditioning, a desk and an electric tea pot. In addition rooms come with a closet, and are complete with a private bathroom equipped with a shower and a hairdryer. Daily breakfast is included.

Day 2. Sunday, October 13. Cart Ruts, National Museum of Archaeology, Free Time; Optional Full Moon Meditation (B)

Breakfast (continental buffet, i.e not cooked) at your leisure. Begins at 6:00AM

9:00AM – Be in the lobby ready to depart

9:15AM – We're off to explore the mysterious ancient “cart ruts” that have been the subject of debate for hundreds of years as to their origin, form and function - a most perplexing mystery! Here on the islands of Malta and Gozo they are the most famous and numerous. Deep ruts, tracks and grooves left in the limestone in such numbers, variety and confusion leave more questions than answers. On Malta there are cart ruts going off high cliff tops, while some are located on the sea floor. At both Clapham Junction and San Gwann Junction. there are many that intersect each other in total chaos. The Clapham Junction site was nicknamed that after the complex railway tracks of a London station. How were they formed? If they're made by humans, who were they and why did they make them? We'll explore this longtime mystery and see what conclusions we can come to for ourselves.

Lunch on your own. Each day our guide will take the group to a grocery store or cafeteria, delicatessen, food wagon or some other fast-food establishment where you'll be able to buy your lunch.

Then we’re off to the National Museum of Archaeology, a Maltese museum of prehistoric artifacts that is managed by Heritage Malta. The ground floor of the museum exhibits prehistoric artifacts from the Maltese islands, from the Għar Dalam phase (5200 BCE), the earliest appearance of settlement on the island, up to the Tarxien phase (2500 BCE).

Early Neolithic Period Room (5200–3800 BCE)
This room exhibits artifacts from the early Neolithic Period, including decorated pottery from the Għar Dalam, Grey Skorba, Red Skorba and Żebbuġ phases. Of particular importance are the Red Skorba figurines, the earliest local representations of the human figure and the predecessors of the statues of later temple periods. The exhibition features a reconstruction of the rock-cut tombs that were a characteristic of the early Neolithic period in Malta.

Temple Period Rooms (3800–2500 BCE)
These rooms show examples of architecture, human representation and other items that date from the Mġarr, Ġgantija, Saflieni and Tarxien phases of Maltese prehistory. The temples that were built at this time are considered to be the world’s first free standing monuments and are listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The museum exhibits numerous corpulent statues representing human bodies unearthed from temple excavations, along with phallic representations. Are these statues of the Mother Goddess, Fat Ladies, Deities or Priests? The discovery of temple altars and corpulent human representations suggests that some type of cult existed on the islands of Malta and Gozo in prehistory. Given the corpulence of the statues it may be that the cult was tied to a fertility rite. Fertility at this time must have been very important since, apart from family growth, it also meant the reproduction of crops and animals. We’ll explore the theories during our time here in this sacred land.

We return to hotel later afternoon. You have free time.

Time To Be Announced - Optional Full Moon meditation with Andrea and Mark. The moon is full tonight at 11:07PM.  

Dinner is on your own this evening. You can either eat at the hotel, or stroll along the nearby streets where there are many restaurants.
Overnight Valetta. The Barrister Hotel.

Day 3. Monday, October 14. Mgarr: Skorba and Ta Hagrat Temples; Mdina (B)

Breakfast at your leisure
8:30AM – Be in the hotel lobby ready to depart
8:45AM – Depart the hotel. Today we begin our exploration and experiences of the sacred Goddess temples of Malta! After breakfast we depart by coach to the Village of Mgarr (im-jarr), a small town in the southeast part of Gozo, a typical rural village situated in an isolated region, to visit the temples of Ta Hagrat and Skorba.

Our first stop is at the Skorba temples, megalithic remains on the northern edge of Zebbieg which have provided detailed and informative insight into the earliest periods of Malta's Neolithic culture. The site was only excavated in the early 1960s, rather late in comparison to other megalithic sites, some of which had been studied since the early 19th century. The site's importance has led to its listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a listing it shares with six other megalithic temples in Malta.

The remains on the site are a series of megalithic uprights (one of them 3.4m high), the lowest course of the temples' foundations, paving slabs with libation holes in the entrance passage, and the torba or cement-like floor of a three-apse temple, a shape that is typical of the Ġgantija phase. Unfortunately, the greater part of the first two apses and the whole of the façade have been razed to ground level. But the north wall is in a better state of preservation.

Originally, the entrance of the temple opened on a court, but in later additions during the Tarxien phase, the temple's doorway was closed off, with altars set in the corners formed by the closure. East of this temple, a second monument was added in the Tarxien phase, with four apses and a central niche. For a period of roughly twelve centuries before the temples were built, a village already stood on the site. Its oldest extant structure is the long straight wall to the west of the temples’ first entrance. Deposits at its base contained material from the first known human occupation of the island, the Għar Dalam phase, including charcoal, which carbon analysis dated to 4850 BCE.

Andrea will facilitate a meditation to assist us to use our “psychic archaeology” to tune into the lives of the Mother Goddess people who lived here in ancient times.

Next we visit the Ta Hagrat temples, of which the larger temple dates from the Ġgantija phase (3600–3200 BCE); the smaller is dated to the Saflieni phase (3300–3000 BCE).

Major Temple: The Ġgantija phase temple is typically trefoil, with a concave façade opening onto a spacious semicircular forecourt. The façade contains a monumental doorway in the center and a bench at its base. Two steps lead up to the main entrance and a corridor flanked by upright megaliths of coralline limestone. Three are placed on each side and support large hard-stone slabs. The corridor beyond the entrance is paved with large stone blocks placed with great accuracy.

The corridor leads into a central torba court, radiating three semi-circular chambers. These were partially walled off at some time in the Saflieni phase; pottery shards were recovered from the internal packing of this wall. The apses are constructed with roughly-hewn stone walls and have a rock floor. Corbelling visible on the walls of the apses suggest that the temple was roofed. Minor Temple: The Saflieni phase temple rests to the north and is 21 ft. long, and is entered through the eastern apse of the larger temple. Smaller stones have been used in its construction and it exhibits irregularities in design considered archaic or provincial.

We’ll take time for meditation to connect with these ancient energies.

Optional Box Lunch. We’ll take time to share with each other about our experiences at the Goddess temples this morning.

After lunch we’re off to visit the village of Mdina, the old capital of Malta. Mdina is a medieval walled town situated on a hill in the center of the island. Punic remains uncovered beyond the city’s walls suggest the importance of the general region to Malta’s Phoenician settlers. Mdina is commonly called the "Silent City" by natives and visitors. The town is still confined within its walls, and has a population of just over three hundred, but it is contiguous with the village of Rabat, which takes its name from the Arabic word for suburb, and has a population of over 11,000. Mdina is fascinating to visit for its timeless atmosphere as well as its cultural and religious treasures.

The history here goes back more than 4000 years. According to tradition it was here that in 60 CE that the Apostle St. Paul is said to have lived after being shipwrecked on the Islands. He supposedly resided inside the grotto known as Fuori le Mura (outside the city walls) now known as St. Paul’s Grotto in Rabat. The late 17th-century St. Paul's Cathedral in Mdina stands on the traditional site of the house of the governor Publius, who received St. Paul when he was shipwrecked on Malta.

Mdina has had different names and titles depending on its rulers and its role but its medieval name describes it best – ‘Citta’ Notabile’: the noble city. It was home then, as now, to Malta’s noble families; some are descendants of the Norman, Sicilian and Spanish overlords who made Mdina their home from the 12th century onwards. Impressive palaces line its narrow, shady streets. Mdina is one of Europe’s finest examples of an ancient walled city and extraordinary in its mix of medieval and Baroque architecture. During our tour we will stop at the bastions of Mdina to admire the extensive views of Malta from one of the highest points on the island.

We return to the hotel later afternoon. You have free time tonight and dinner is on your own.
Overnight Valetta. The Barrister Hotel.

Day 4. Tuesday, October 15. Private Entrance at the Hypogeum; Tarxien Temples; Group Meeting (B)

Breakfast at your leisure

8:00AM - Be in the hotel lobby ready to depart.

8:15AM – Depart the hotel to the Hypogeum for our 9:00AM PRIVATE ENTRANCE  The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni, or underground cavity carved from solid rock, is a unique monument and superb example of architecture in the negative. Excavation has yielded a wealth of archaeological material including pottery, human bones, personal ornaments such as beads and amulets, little carved animals and larger figurines.

When discovered it contained the bodies of over 7,000 people. Three stories deep, it contains rock-cut features such as a 'speaking chamber', trilithons, lintelled-doorways, a large cistern and a 'holy of holies' surrounded by 'embryonic' chambers. The Hypogeum is one of the greatest remaining structures from prehistory. Its pristine condition allows us to see the past through the eyes of our ancestors.

The purpose of the Hypogeum is one of the most highly debated in circles of megalithic architecture. This amazing and very unique underground space offers us a rare glimpse at the prehistoric synthesis of funerary, solar-worship and shamanic traditions. Perhaps the central chamber's several small rounded cubicles carved into the walls were originally intended for 'living' people as part of a ritual, in which they would have had to lie inside in a fetal position. Traces of ergot have been found in the chamber called the 'cistern'; one of the physical effects of ergot is to constrict bodily muscles, resulting in a forced fetal position. In these small cubicles, echoes from the 'speaking' chamber reverberate into a rhythm that is similar to the human heartbeat.

The entrance to the Hypogeum is through an unsuspecting doorway in an unsuspecting street. It was first discovered in 1902, when builders broke through whilst building foundations for a house. At first, the hole was covered over and the event was kept quiet but word of the discovery soon got out and the museum authorities moved in to protect it. Although underground, the Hypogeum was built near the top of a natural hill overlooking the Marsa. The nearby Hal Tarxien, temple complex was built higher still on the same face of the hill.

Although most of the Hypogeum is underground, the entrance to it was built with megaliths, placed in what was presumably the natural entrance of the original cave. The original entrance consisted of a large square opening in its center (a porthole slab). This slab was later smashed and disposed of to make way for the new housing estate.

The first excavations in 1902 were performed by Fr. Magri, S.J. but unfortunately shortly after its commencement, he left the island to take a missionary post abroad where he died, leaving no records of his observations. Following this, the work was passed on to Prof. Themi Zammit, who worked on it for the next five years. The 1990-1992 excavations suggested that there may have once been a monumental structure built directly on top.

The speaking chamber has a hole known as the oracle hole in the wall carved with a rounded interior surface. A design was painted in red-ochre onto the ceiling of the chamber; it starts off on one side with a honeycomb design and transforms into a collection of 'floral' spirals on the other. It's speculated that the oracle hole was part of a ceremonial process. Words spoken into it make an echo which reverberates throughout the hypogeum. The results of recent scientific study suggests that the 6,000 year-old hypogeum could have been specifically designed to conduct and manipulate sound to produce certain effects on the human brain. In this way, people in the hypogeum experienced mood changes while listening to chanting. Some scientists believe that certain sound vibration frequencies created when sound is emitted within its walls are actually altering human brain functions of those within earshot. According to a laboratory study, exposure to a tone within this frequency, particularly at 110-111 hz seems to create a shift of brain function, "turning on" an area of the brain that bio-behavioral scientists believe relates to mood, empathy and social behavior.

We’ll have a sound meditation here to support altering our consciousness to higher frequencies.

The hypogeum includes replicas of features from megalithic structures above ground on Malta. It is possible to see both trilithons and 'doorways' in the same style as those found in the numerous temples on the islands. It was also the place where the famous terracotta figure called the Sleeping Lady was found in a cistern containing numerous offerings. Two of these clay figurines were found in the Hypogeum. One (right) in a sleeping position, and the other of similar design, but with the woman lying face down. They were both found in the main chamber. Some researchers believe they represent humans involved in dream incubation.

Afterwards we continue to the nearby Tarxien (tar-she-en) Temples, which date from 3600-2500 BCE and are the most complex of all temple sites in Malta. The temples are renowned for the detail of their carvings, which include domestic animals carved in relief, altars, and screens decorated with spiral designs and other patterns. The spiral is the most common design in megalithic art on Malta, and indeed around the world. Believed by some to represent eternity, the design is expressed in a wide variety of forms across the islands and clearly had a significant meaning for the ancient Maltese peoples. Of particular note is a chamber set into the thickness of the wall between the South and Central temples, which is famous for its relief of two bulls and a sow. The site seems to have been used extensively for rituals, which probably involved animal sacrifice.

In the Bronze Age (2400-1500 BCE), Tarxien was reused as a cremation cemetery. The site lay hidden for centuries until its discovery in 1914, when farmers struck large stone blocks while ploughing a field. Sir Temistocles Zammit, Malta’s first director of museums, excavated the site in 1915-17.

              

  

The Tarxien temple complex consists of four temples connected by a square court. The temples each have separate entrances. Uniquely, the central temple consists of six apses. This is the only known example of such a layout and it represents a final phase in the long evolution of Maltese temple architecture. A narrow staircase connects the central temple to the east temple.

Fertility goddess figures (now in the national museum in Valetta) discovered in the ruins indicate that the temples were dedicated to the Earth Mother/the Mother Goddess, as were many Maltese temples. The most famous of these figures is a sculpture of large hips with feet, dubbed the "Fat Lady.

Spherical stones found at the site have provided a valuable clue as to how the great stones of Malta's megalithic temples may have been moved into place; some researchers believe they were rolled on the stones while being towed with ropes. We’ll discuss this and other theories about the ancient megalithic building techniques.

We’ll take time to meditate among the ancient stones and temples.

We return to the hotel. You have free time for lunch on your own. And time to explore more of the area!

5:00PM – Group Meeting: Presentation by Mark Amaru - The Ancient Goddess Tradition in Malta in the hotel breakfast room.

You have free time. Dinner is on your own this evening.
Overnight Valetta. The Barrister Hotel.

Day 5. Wednesday, October 16. Hagar Qim / Mnajdra Temples and Blue Grotto; Dinner at Ta' Marija Maltese Restaurant (B/D)