On Sunday, August 21, 2002, MSIA’s headquarters, also know as Prana, was host to a PBS special starring Agapi Stassinopoulos. The special is called “Conversations with the Goddesses,” based on Agapi’s 1999 book of the same name. The crew had been ready for some time. The audience went silent as the lights on the stage came up. And everything was just perfect on the film set — the “backyard” of Prana.
This was not the first time that Prana has been used as a film set, but it was probably the most uplifting, since the entire tone of the evening was one of expanding into greater wisdom and celebrating life and divinity. Agapi was the creative force behind the project from beginning to end, and the beautiful grounds of Prana provided the perfect format for her to make the goddesses come alive in everyday life.
The setting was Aphrodite’s boudoir, and lilting Greek music filled the air. Agapi took the stage and let us know that this evening, Greek mythology was coming out of the textbooks and into our psyches and hearts. The Greeks created their gods like us — perfectly imperfect. This representation gives us permission to be human, with our strengths and foibles, and to understand and claim unconscious parts of ourselves to free our expression and participation in life, love, beauty, and Spirit.
While this was a one-woman show, Agapi did not take the stage alone: She invited the presence of the goddesses to be with us. Hestia, goddess of hearth and home; Demeter, abundant goddess of the harvest; Artemis, goddess of independence; Athena, goddess of soulful wisdom; Hera, goddess of marriage; Aphrodite, goddess of love; and a seventh goddess, Persephone, who brings the gift of transforming darkness into Light (While Persephone is not officially considered a goddess in Greek mythology, Agapi declared her one — because, after all, goddesses can do that!).
Agapi personified the goddesses as she spoke about each in turn, demonstrating in the moment how the divine principle of each goddess is present and available at all times — all we need to do is start a conversation. We had the opportunity to interview Agapi and members of the PBS production staff before and after the show. Here is what they shared with us:
Agapi shared her experience of the event: “My commitment in doing the show on Sunday was to tell the stories but to also be very personal, very authentic and assist people to see how to take these tools with us in our every day life… I felt that the event went absolutely beautifully, that the energy was wonderful, people were so supportive, and the people who came who knew nothing about Prana were so touched by the place, and couldn’t believe that such a place existed in the middle of Los Angeles. Everyone left feeling very filled with something special that happened. All of that was an amazingly positive experience. Everyone there felt the energy of love and peace, and people could not believe how filming could go so flowingly. To me that was a manifestation of bringing the Spirit present, and when you make Spirit more important, then things flow.”
eNDH: About half our readers are likely to ask you the following question: “As a male, how can I have the goddesses work for me in my expression?”
AGAPI: “In the same way that women use the goddesses. The archetypes know no gender. So the wisdom of Athena applies to both men and women. The freedom of Artemis applies to both men and women. Every quality of the goddesses is applicable to men. In addressing the goddesses we are addressing that aspect of ourselves that actually relates to those archetypes. I want people to get the level of authenticity so that these archetypes become like role models, so that people do not hold back. These archetypes never hold back. We look at these archetypes in their fearlessness. The psyche likes to relate to storytelling so that’s what I am trying to do to make them real and inspiring and that they have some fire in them, these goddesses. So people would light up a bit.”
eNDH: How can a couple work with this material to enhance their relationship?
AGAPI: if you enliven yourself within the archetype, you enliven the relationship. You make a game but a game that you can apply, such as “How can we have more passion in our lives?” How can we have more wisdom, more playfulness, more equal partnership and all that good stuff? Balancing the archetypes balances the union.
eNDH: What’s next for you?
AGAPI: I’m going to get married and have a wonderful man to look after me and provide for me. Why not? (Laughs) My next thing is really to bring this wonderful wisdom to PBS. I am going to be going to different stations to promote the PBS special in December. Then in January, I am promoting a jewelry collection made in Greece based on the goddesses for the home shopping network. Then I’m hoping to write a book that would present a practical application for the goddess archetypes, and also a children’s book on the goddesses.
PBS co-producer and director Allen Walker sat with us in cozy chairs on Prana’s rotunda, sipping coffee after a quick staff dinner of pizza (and, of course, Greek salad).
eNDH: How did you meet up with Agapi?
ALLEN: She was assigned to me. My normal function is director of photography. I do a lot of national television shows. I went over to Agapi’s house and introduced myself. She looked at me very nervously, like, number one, “He’s a guy, this is about girls. What does he know about enhancement for women?” First thing I said as I walked in the door was, “I read your book, and I really think this should be a party.” And from then on, we were totally tuned in to each other. She’s just the most open person. She’s unique to anyone I’ve ever met in my life. It’s been a little frustrating because we’ve been on such a very small budget, but it’s been a lot of fun. But what you will see does not look like it was made on a very small budget.
eNDH: Are you having fun with it?
ALLEN: I think it’s a kick in the head! I love stress! Stress is fun! If you turn it around, it can be fun. The thing of it is that you’ve got airplanes overhead, you’re trying to get this thing as pristine as possible, you’ve got no time, very little budget, and all of this extraneous noise happening — you’re just pulling little miracles out here and there.
eNDH: How do you like the surroundings?
ALLEN: I love it! It’s a very easy place to shoot, except for the airplane noise. We’ve looked around at a lot of places and it always came back to this. And the people here are phenomenal! I have to say that the people here are much easier to work with than anywhere I’ve shot, and I’ve been doing network television for 25 years. I don’t know what it is, Kevin and everybody here, either they recognize the limitations of our project and are there to help us, or maybe we are behaving ourselves and there’s nothing to worry about. They’ve been overwhelmingly helpful.
Agapi told us: “I love that we decorated the place to look like a goddess garden.” The person responsible for that was Elena Katsioula, the amazingly creative production designer and art director. Here is what Elena shared with us about her experience with the project:
eNDH: How did you hook up with Agapi?
ELENA: I’ve known her for several years. I had read her book and very much believed in what she was doing. I have the same Greek background, grew up being spoon-fed Greek mythology. So, it was so easy for me because I knew exactly what she was doing from being a designer and art director. Although she had the very tiny budget to do it, I knew how to do it. How it can look great. Immediately, I could not wait to get into it.
eNDH: What do you think of this location?
ELENA: this is a gorgeous place. It has very nice areas where we can shoot and I wish we had something else we could shoot at the pond, I wish we had another something to put in there. This was so tight, that we had to do it all in one day and I’m really happy about the results. I think the place has a beauty and a spirituality to it; apparently the vibrations are great. It was just the perfect spot to do all this. The first thing I told Agapi was, “You really have to find a great location that is very natural. This is the most important thing, and then I can add to it.” And once I saw it, I knew what I needed to bring in here and take the direction we wanted.
eNDH: What was the direction, the intention…
ELENA: Agapi is working on the seven goddesses of Greece, and each one has a character and a specific style with specific symbols. And she’s working on monologues, and each monologue is manifesting the character of each goddess. So, putting together the character, the monologue, the symbol of each goddess, I put together individual little sets such as Aphrodite’s boudoir. Since she was doing this very forward piece about this very liberated woman who loves men, so I thought why don’t we do a boudoir so that she is totally within her element. Then, I just went wild with that. We also had Diana the goddess of trees, nature, and forests. Her symbols are the bow and arrow and there she did that monologue. (See picture) We added simple elements that celebrate and add to this beautiful space in order that we manifest what these goddesses are. This was the intention. We created it in very little time and with a very small budget.
eNDH: How do you feel about the end result?
ELENA: I’m excited… I’m very happy with what we accomplished in just one day. It doesn’t matter what the budget is, all you need is just the love and the energy and the intention. Once you have the intention, you just move forward. I’m just so much in love with this space, it’s absolutely gorgeous. I got some of your brochures and I would love to read it. I am also following some similar paths, for many years. I’d love to come back. (Elena was delighted to know that she could return to walk the labyrinth, and that there are video seminars on Friday nights at Prana).
Allen summed up the essence of the project with these words: “I think Agapi’s done a brilliant job in transferring first century archetypes and literally translating their meanings to the 21st century woman. I think she’s done a clear job of bridging that gap and showing us that internally, I would even say metaphysically, women still require the same reinforcement as they did all through history; and that all of these things are still available to us. ‘Don’t forget your past; take it with you.’ Agapi is showing us that there are some things in our history that are totally indispensable. These things can be applied to our lives today. It’s a very clear message on her part, and I think she lives it. She radiates this stuff. Again, I’m a skeptic, but I see it very clearly. Agapi is my goddess now. She’s the eighth goddess.”
Nestled in the backyard of Prana, the beauty of the environment and peace graced everyone. The goddesses came alive and paid everyone a visit, inviting all to keep the conversation going, and to love, laugh, dance, and give thanks for the blessings that already and always are. Baruch Bashan.
