A conversation with the goddess on Mt. Olympos by Patty Mooney
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DEAR ATHENA
Dear Athena is a wry, contemplative video poem by filmmaker and writer Patty Mooney, inspired by a mountain bike trek in search of Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom, courage and reason during the filming of “Full Cycle: A World Odyssey,” in 1994.
The journey does not unfold quite as expected.
After trekking to Olympus in hopes of encountering some trace of the goddess, the narrator instead finds herself confronted by a lean black dog with bared fangs, barking and clamoring at her feet. With little choice, she scrambles onto a pile of rocks beside a place where mountain water crosses the trail and waits for the animal to retreat.
Then comes an observation too peculiar to ignore:
DOG spelled backward is GOD.
The coincidence does not escape notice.
Yet Athena never appears in helmet and armor. There is no thunderbolt, oracle or grand revelation. Instead, her presence seems to emerge through the landscape itself.
A butterfly settles delicately upon golden blossoms. Clear water moves through the mountain terrain. Eventually the fierce dog retreats, allowing the traveler to descend from the rocks and continue exploring.
At a crystalline spring, she bends to drink.
And that, unexpectedly, is enough.
Dear Athena transforms a simple outdoor encounter into a meditation on nature, mythology, fear, coincidence and the sometimes comical ways human beings search for meaning. The goddess who seems inaccessible may, in the end, have been present all along, not as a marble figure appearing on command, but as a butterfly, a mountain spring, a threatening dog and a moment of satisfaction beside clear running water.
With its mixture of classical mythology and distinctly American trail-side irreverence, the video poem finds humor in the gap between the spiritual revelation we expect and the one nature actually provides.
Context
- Written as an address to Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom
- Inspired by a trek to Olympus
- Features an encounter with a fierce black dog
- Includes the playful observation that DOG spelled backward is GOD
- Draws upon imagery of golden wildflowers, butterflies, rocks and mountain water
- Concludes at a crystalline spring
- Combines Greek mythology with nature, humor and personal reflection
- Created as a video poem by Patty Mooney
Why It Matters
Dear Athena explores an enduring human impulse: the desire to venture into nature looking for signs, answers and encounters with something greater than ourselves.
What begins almost as a pilgrimage becomes something much less predictable. The anticipated goddess never materializes. Instead, the traveler encounters fear, beauty, absurdity and finally water.
The poem finds meaning without insisting upon an explanation. Was the dog a warning? Was the butterfly Athena’s touch? Was the spring merely a spring? The unanswered questions are part of the experience.
And somewhere between DOG and GOD, ancient mythology and a very real set of canine teeth, Dear Athena suggests that wisdom may have a sense of humor.
Credits
Written and created by: Patty Mooney
A video poem by: Patty Mooney
Genre
Video Poetry · Americana · Greek Mythology · Nature · Adventure · Personal Essay