June 13, 2025 • 68 mins
Did you know olives were one of the first domesticated fruits in the world? It created an industry that built the ancient world. Its oil was used for lanterns and also for sacred rites. Its practical and spiritual uses shaped the course of humanity tremendously.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:35):
Hello and welcome to Esoterica and Nonsense, a podcast where we
discuss myths, legends, folk tales, fairy tales, supernatural
phenomenon and religions from around the world.
I am your host, Annabelle, and today we will be discussing the
(00:55):
mystical, incredible Ancient Olive.
Before there was bread and wine,there was the olive, bitter and
ancient, pressed into oil and legend.
This fruit has nourished gods, crowned kings, and sealed sacred
(01:17):
covenants. Today we dive deep into the soul
of the Olive tree, following herroots through myth, ritual, and
sacred story. Olives, baby.
Part of why I wanted to talk about olives today is because
Palestine is still being obliterated.
(01:43):
There is a genocide happening. It is an active genocide that is
being televised around the worldfor over 2 years, actually, I
guess coming up to two years. However, the genocide has been
happening for many, many years. I'm heartbroken by this, but I
(02:04):
think even more than heartbroken, I'm embarrassed on
behalf of the human race. How can we teach our children to
share and to be kind and to do unto others as we would want
done unto us? How can how can we teach our
children that violence is not acceptable when adults are
(02:31):
actively consenting in murder onmass?
It's embarrassing and it's unacceptable.
What hurts the most is knowing that it's happening and as an
(02:55):
everyday average person, feelinglike nothing I can do will be
enough. And so this is really my
petition to all human beings on the planet, all living things on
the planet, for us to change howwe show up as human beings.
(03:16):
In my personal opinion, what matters the most is the health
and longevity of our beautiful mother planet Earth.
I personally believe that we should be organizing our
societies, our cities, our communities around working
(03:39):
symbiotically with nature, planting trees that work well
with the region. With more trees, you get more
precipitation. With more precipitation, you get
more fresh water. We can build natural irrigation
systems with no technology that water our plants.
(04:01):
We can have living forests that are like supermarkets.
You walk into the forest and youcan pick a fruit that is ready
to eat. You can pick a vegetable.
We don't need to be farming. We can be planting agroforests
that take almost little to no maintenance and living simply
(04:23):
with the seasons. We can be relaxing, enjoying the
seasons, changing and enjoying watching the young babies become
children and watching those children become adults, and
watching those adults become elders.
And thus the cycle continues. That's why we must shout out
(04:43):
indigenous cultures. Obviously, the indigenous
cultures of the Americas were light years ahead of the
Europeans. But let us not forget that the
Europeans had indigenous cultures years ago.
They had ancestors that lived with the changing of seasons.
(05:06):
That we're worshipping trees, talking to the plants, talking
to the animals. There are indigenous cultures in
every aspect of the world, in every nook and cranny of the
world that at one point we're communicating with nature.
And it is an ability that lives within us all.
And so I am asking the human race, every single human being,
(05:31):
what if all of us woke up the next morning and just decided to
put our energy into living peacefully with planet Earth?
What if we put all of our energyand creativity into just
(05:52):
planting trees and plants strategically and allowing them
to do their thing and we can sitback and relax and minimum, we
can stop murdering each other. How about that?
(06:13):
Also, if you're new here, I wantto be very clear that I am not
pro murder for anyone. No one.
Genocide is never OK. I don't care who it is that is
being killed. I don't care who it is.
Let's do the killing. There's never an excuse.
Genocide is not OK. Point Blake.
(06:35):
Period. If that's not OK with you, you
can move along. You can leave Napoleon.
Ah. So without further ado, let's
talk about olives, The ancient gift of the ancestors, the fruit
of the ancient world, the botanical wonder, Wonder Boy,
(07:00):
the olive. So obviously, when you think of
an olive, I think when we all think of olives, we see common
ideas, right? We have this idea of the olive
branch, which is a peace offering or even a dove holding
an olive branch. Olive trees are kind of like an
(07:21):
unspoken symbol of resilience, of peace, divine blessing,
immortality, and victory. Also, olive oil is often a
symbol of purification, consecration, sacred
nourishment, and light. And obviously these social
(07:41):
understandings of olive have incredibly ancient roots, and
it's fascinating how such ancient beliefs about any single
thing can carry gravity into ourmodern world even without hands
on knowledge or practice. So what I'm going to share with
(08:03):
you today is going to blow your little mind because let me tell
you, there's so much about olives that I did not know.
Perhaps you did know. Perhaps you know more than me.
And if you did, please e-mail inat esotericanonsense@gmail.com.
So olives as we know them are a descendant of a wild olive that
(08:23):
is known as the Olistas, oly olyasters.
Yes, let's say oly asters. So this is like the the
grandparent of the olive and they were first recorded to be
gathered by humans as early as 8000 BC.
(08:44):
Let that sink in as early as 8000 BC.
And in my experience, if the historians say that add an extra
10,000 years, but let's just say, let's just go with that
8000 BCE, that is 10,000 years ago because right now it is the
(09:05):
year 2025. Let's just say it started in
8000 BCE, that is 10,000 years ago.
That is a long time ago. And surprise, surprise, they
were first cultivated around theEastern Mediterranean.
Just kidding, it's not a surprise.
Most likely the grandparent of the olive comes from modern day
(09:29):
Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and the beautiful Palestine.
We love you Palestine. Bless you.
So most likely the domesticationof olives began in the Levant,
which is modern day Syria and Palestine.
And this would have happened around the year 6000 up to
(09:50):
around 4500 BCE. So we're still talking 8000
years ago. This is a long time ago.
This is full on domestication, planting, breeding for qualities
they liked. This is 8000 years ago.
By the year 3000 BCE, the Minoans in Crete had established
(10:11):
A booming olive industry. So like let that sink in Crete
which is an island. Also one of the most iconic
places of the labyrinth. The Minoans were the same people
who had that famous labyrinth. If you have not listened to the
labyrinth episode, go back to episode 1.
It's fantastic. Labyrinths are my favorite.
(10:33):
They had a booming olive industry 5000 years ago.
Olive cultivation was one of theearliest large scale
agricultural enterprises on the planet.
Alongside grain and grapes, olives are a pillar of the
(10:55):
Mediterranean triad, being grain, grapes and olives.
Olives are the fruit of the ancestors and of course with
that comes so many beautiful tidbits, pieces, beliefs,
worship. And that is what why we're
(11:17):
really here today. As you all know, we're not a boy
podcast that talks about money and power.
We're a girly femme podcast thattalks about esotericism and
nonsense. OK, so of course olives are now
(11:38):
a booming industry in the ancient world, specifically the
Eastern Mediterranean. It's spreading quickly.
Other parts of the Mediterraneanand the world are now getting a
taste for olives. But with that comes a spiritual
value, an economic value that were intertwined much like most
things in the ancient world. Spirituality, mysticism,
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esotericism was a part of daily life.
So with that also held an economic power.
Olive oil was not just a food oran oil.
It was considered to be a medicine.
It was used for lamps, it gave light, it was perfume, It was
(12:22):
used as a sacred anointing fluid.
It was used as a currency. Ancient peoples used olive oil
for lighting lamps not only in their homes but in temples.
They used it for lubricating their tools and machines.
They used it for cooking and preserving their food.
(12:43):
They used it for skin care and for treating wounds.
And they used it for ritual purification and anointing
priests, kings, and the dead. Olives and olive oil were a
piece of their life, their livelihood, their bodies, and
(13:05):
their spiritual belief. Where there was oil, there was
civilization. So as time is moving, right?
So now we're in the Bronze Age, where in the year 3000 BCE,
olive oil has become one of the most traded goods in the
(13:28):
Mediterranean world. It is a part of daily life.
And just as a reminder, the Bronze Age is from around 3000
to 1200 BCE. OK, this is like 5000 years ago
that the Bronze Age is starting.The Mediterranean is eating
olives using olive oils. It is a part of everyday life.
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The major olive oil producing centers are Crete, the Minoans
AKA Labyrinth people, the Mycenaeans of the Greece, the
modern day Grecian area, Phoenicia which is now modern
day Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Carthage which is in North
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Africa. Egypt was the biggest importer
of olives and Rome which createdvast olive estates in Hispania,
North Africa and Gaul, which would be Spain and France.
Fun fact. I just want to throw this out
here. I learned a really interesting
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tidbit the other day that I think is worth noting,
especially because I think in the United States everyone is
obsessed with Rome. Or I maybe I should like
rephrase that. Like white men are obsessed with
Rome. And I do think for good reason,
mostly because the US, in my opinion, has kind of modeled
their colonization model off of the ancient Romans.
(14:58):
But I learned that in ancient Gaul, which is now France, there
was a huge population of Celtic people, people, indigenous
people from the British Isles, including Ireland, pieces of
Scotland and some of the other islands around it had many of
(15:22):
them had actually emigrated to Gaul throughout the centuries.
And according to this piece of information that I read, there
was up to 3 million people in Gaul who had Celtic ancestry.
And during the time of Julius Caesar, he invaded Gaul,
(15:47):
murdered one million of those, enslaved another million, and
left the other million there to live on their land, which had
been burned to the ground and then colonized.
And the reason why I'm bringing this up is because I think that
(16:08):
it has been forgotten that colonization has spread like a
virus. And one thing that colonization
often does, and especially in inthe modern sense of the term, is
that it erases local culture. It seeks to erase local customs,
(16:32):
languages, beliefs. I mean, I think the spiritual
beliefs are a big part of that. And when I learned this, I blew
my mind because, you know, sometimes when I think of
France, I think of I think of the Louvre, I think of huge
buildings. I think of people with hoity,
toity attitudes. You know, I think of Haiti, I
(16:56):
think of French Polynesia. I think about all of the things
that France has done involving the transatlantic slave trade
and colonization. But I don't think about people
5000 years ago who were enslavedand murdered.
And I think it contextualizes this vicious cycle that seems to
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be repeating itself again and again and again of hurt people
becoming the oppressor. You know, how can you
conceptualize freedom if you've never seen freedom?
And so you think that the king is free.
You think that the king is the only person with real freedom.
So everyone wishes to be king. But by being king, you become
(17:47):
someone who profits from genocide, someone who profits
from enslavement, someone who profits from killing the earth.
And in my mind, that isn't freedom at all.
In my mind, freedom is waking upwith nothing expected of you and
choosing what you want to do with that day.
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And with real freedom comes the access to explore yourself,
explore yourself multi dimensionally, explore the world
multi dimensionally. Even if you're just staying in
one little place your whole life, you could be staying in
one little corner of the forest.But with real freedom, there are
(18:31):
endless possibilities. And anyway, I just, I just
wanted to bring that out, bring that up, because I do think it's
really interesting that Rome colonized Spain and France and
used them as places to grow olives.
(18:54):
You know, that's, that's what wecall monoculture.
And interestingly enough, Spain,Portugal and France and of
course England has done the same.
They have colonized so many parts of the world and use them
for monoculture and extracting resources.
Isn't that funny? Let's take a little break.
(19:16):
Hey little Pepper, this is Annabelle here reporting live
from Pepper World HQ. If you enjoy the podcast, it
would help so much if you could follow me.
You could write a comment. Give me 5 stars perhaps.
Also, I would love to hear from you. e-mail in at
esotericaandnonsense@gmail.com. I'd love to hear about your
(19:39):
stories. I'd love to hear about
suggestions. I would love to hear about any
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Also, if you would like to support my podcast, you can
follow me on Patreon. It's Patreon back slash
esoterica and nonsense. I will also have a YouTube page
coming at you so soon. And I also sell merch.
(20:02):
You can look up my merch. It's in the show notes for every
single episode as well as the show notes for my show.
I appreciate you so much. I made this podcast to connect
with cool freaky people like you.
So thank you so much and we're back.
Yes darling. OK, so here we are.
(20:26):
We're in the ancient world. We're in the Bronze Age.
Olives are being grown all around the Mediterranean.
Everyone's eating them. The Egyptians are importing
them. Imagine just beautiful hot women
laying on their side and just eating olives in the warm
Mediterranean sun. Take me there on top of that now
(20:50):
all of the become a a huge booming industry because of the
oil we talked about it. The olive oil is a huge
commodity, especially as the Roman and Byzantine empires are
growing. Olive oil is used in oil lamps.
So this is light. This is this is what's kind of
(21:11):
extending the productivity of every empire being able to stay
up at night with lanterns, with light, right?
So now in the Bronze Age, olivesare being heavily taxed and
regulated, right? Olives are money.
There was these ceramic oil containers known as amphorae,
(21:35):
which were marked and tracked like gold.
We're talking serial numbers. We're talking tracking numbers.
We are talking liquid gold, right?
Olive oil is money, and cities and ports were built around the
olive trade, such as Pompeii, Carthage, and Athens.
In some regions, olive oil was used instead of money to pay
(21:59):
taxes and debts. In Rome specifically, control
over olive oil production was ascrucial as control over grain.
Losing access to olive oil couldde establish entire populations.
Let that sink in. And of course there are.
This is just the economic significance.
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And if we know anything about Rome, if they have something
regulated in tax, there's also esoteric power with that object.
Whatever's being taxed is also amagical object.
And let me remind you that the tree of Delphi is an olive tree.
So let's get into the mythical and royal powers of olives and
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the practices around it, becausethat's why we're really here.
So in the ancient Near East, this would be what we now call
the Middle East. Olive oil was used to anoint
kings and priests. The olive oil itself symbolized
divine favor. In the Hebrew Bible, there are
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passages that speak of kings andprophets being anointed with
oil. Interestingly, this is actually
where the word Messiah comes from.
Messiah comes from the Hebrew word mash, Mashiac.
I'm probably saying that wrong, but it's in my English brain.
(23:30):
This looks like Mashiac, and this word means anointed 1
specifically anointed with oil, specifically olive oil.
So now you can whip that out at a party.
Party. The word Messiah means anointed
with olive oil. In Greece, olive wreaths were
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given to Olympic victors. The paneth.
I can say this word, I can say it.
The Panatheonic Games, in honor of Athena, awarded one of those
giant ceramic vessels full of sacred olive oil as a as a
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prize. So basically if you won these
games, they were kind of like a small Olympics in Athens.
You would win this giant ceramicVAT of olive oil and it would be
worth a small fortune. It's like winning a prize, like
a $20,000 prize. In Christianity, olive branches
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and olive oil symbolize peace, light, and divine presence.
They are used in sacraments suchas baptisms, confirmations, and
last rites. So because of this, olives are
kind of center stage in society,right?
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You're using them to baptize your children.
You're using them in ceremonies,and they're also now being
controlled by the government andtaxed.
So in ancient Athens, the original olive tree was said to
be a gift of Athena. So Athena allegedly gave an
(25:17):
olive tree to the city that became Athens, and it was said
to have sprung from the ground during her battle with Poseidon.
And so this olive tree was protected by law.
Harming it would lead to either exile from the city and very
possibly death. Athens wealth was partially
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built on olive oil exports, and olive oil supported both local
economy and religious diplomacy in parts of Rome and Carthage.
Carthage in North Africa controlled a huge part of North
Africa because of their monopolyon olive oil.
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After the Punic Wars, Rome claimed Carthage and its Groves
and created a supply line that helped Rome dominate for
centuries. Like, let that sink in.
The olive industry was financingRome.
And I just think this is so interesting.
There are so many parallels to the sugar industry, the tobacco
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industry, and the cotton industry, right?
European countries colonizing other lands and growing a cash
crop and using it to fund whatever they want.
And really what they wanted was to spread their empire to keep
colonizing. And how interesting, right?
This is the same business model.This is a fucking business
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model, and it's really bad for the Earth and it's really bad
for humanity. I just like it, really.
It really does get me going. I'm sorry.
Like we're literally repeating the same cycles again and again,
and it's kind of embarrassing but also fascinating because why
aren't we talking about this? I feel like in school, when I
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learned about ancient Rome, it was all very like learning about
each emperor. You know, we like learn about
the emperor and like what he did, but we're not really
thinking about the day-to-day life of a regular person.
And I, and this is just my opinion, but I think if you
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actually study the day-to-day life of a person in any given
civilization, that is the opportunity to learn so much
more. You know, for example, what
would a regular person in Rome be eating for lunch?
And that's that begs the question in the city of Rome or
the empire of Rome, because Romewas at a certain point massive.
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But olives, olives are a center point of the culture and
economy. And I think it's like a missing
link that we don't talk about enough.
Rome was being funded by the olive industry and the wine
industry. And that my friend, that is
huge. OK so moving on, in the Islamic
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world, the Quran mentions the blessed olive tree.
Many Muslim empires cultivated olives widely, especially in
Spain as they eventually obviously the Moors colonized
Spain and they used Spain as an olive orchard essentially.
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Olive oil was also vital in the Islamic world because it was
used in sciences, particularly in creating medicine and it was
used in mysticism during the Islamic golden age.
It kind of makes me think of like Zoroastrians and ritual
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rites and and healing. Of course now in the modern day
world, olives are still a huge player in the economies of
Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco.
They are still huge olive producers.
And of course Palestine had someof the oldest living olive trees
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in the world and they were destroyed by the IDF using
phosphorus bombs. These trees were over 2000 years
old and they were priceless. Just I just want that to sink in
for you. Of course, to this day, olive
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oil is still seen as a luxury good and a sacred offering.
We all know about virgin extra virgin standards echoing really
the ancient world and old purityrituals.
Olive Groves are protected as cultural heritage in parts of
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the Mediterranean, especially trees over 1000 years old.
And sadly the olive trees in Palestine we did not protect and
they have been destroyed. So for this reason olives have a
multi dimensional power and presence.
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Obviously there is a political power within olives.
Whoever controlled olive oil andolive production controlled
lighting. They controlled food, they
controlled healing. Obviously there's also a
mystical power. Allegedly the olive trees were
gifts from the gods. They were wept from the
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goddesses, anointed upon kings. They were even used in sacred
rites, from death into birth, war into peace.
And then of course, the economicpower, empires growing from
olive production itself, olives being the lifeblood of trade and
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commerce. It's crazy, am I right?
It's fucking crazy. OK, so now let's get deeper.
I teased you and I teased you, and let's really get into the
mysticism, baby. So of course, the myth that
we've already touched on is the myth of Athena and the olive
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tree. Athena and Poseidon competed to
be the patron of Athens, and they went through many tasks.
They were fighting. They were trying to kill each
other. They both wanted to be the
patron of Athens. And of course, at this point, it
wasn't even called Athens. Athens is named after Athena.
So this is an unnamed city. Athena and Poseidon are
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fighting. Poseidon offers salt water in
some versions of the story, or offers a horse to the city.
Athena offers an olive tree, andthe people of the city chose the
olive tree, and because of that they accepted Athena as their
patron goddess and named the city Athens.
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The olive tree thus became a symbol of wisdom, of
civilization, and a feminine creation.
Her sacred tree grew on the Acropolis.
The olive became central to Athenian economy and worship.
Then of course, over in Rome there was packs, there was
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victory and virginity. There was wreaths that they
would make of olive branches that were worn by the victors
and emperors. So anytime somebody won a
contest or won in a in the Olympic Games or an emperor
became anointed, they would weara wreath, a little crown of
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olive branches. It was also used in religious
purification rites and in the lamps of Vestal Virgins.
So of like of temple girls, theywould use the highest grade
olive oil in their lamps. Interestingly, there's also a
lot of crossover in Judaism and Christianity.
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But of course olive oil is used in the anointings of kings and
priests. Like I mentioned messiahs in
Judaism and there is a little snippet of Psalm 52, eight.
I am like a green olive tree in the House of God.
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And of course, in Christianity, olive branches are seen as the
sign of peace and reconciliationbecause on Noah's Ark, a dove
leaves his ship and returns withthe leaf of an olive.
And that is literally where we get this symbol of the dove
carrying the olive branch. It comes from the Bible with
(34:14):
Noah. Also, Jesus himself prayed under
an olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Gethsemane. I don't really know how to say
that. Geth, Gethsemane.
Interestingly, this word gets a man means olive press.
(34:39):
Think about that. So Jesus was literally in a
place that was called olive press.
So it was most likely a huge olive oil producer, most likely
in Palestine, and he prayed under an olive tree.
This could very possibly be the olive Grove that was recently
destroyed in Palestine. That's 2000 years old.
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Jesus was there praying under those trees.
Let that sink in bitch. Olive oil was also used in
sacraments, baptisms, confirmations.
Olives were a part of the ancient world and of course they
are mentioned in the Quran as well.
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The Quran references that the quote blessed olive tree as a
cosmic symbol of divine light lit from the oil of a blessed
olive tree. Neither of the east nor of the
West. The olive tree is considered
sacred. It represents guidance,
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nourishment and light. The Prophet Muhammad said eat
olive oil and anoint yourselves with it, for it is from a
blessed tree, literally. I could cry, I could cry, it's
so beautiful. Also, its influence, of course,
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spread all throughout the ancient world.
In parts of the western Mediterranean and the Balkans,
olive branches hung on doors andon baby cradles to ward off the
evil eye. In Crete, brides would circle an
olive tree before the wedding. In parts of Spain and southern
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Italy, folk healers used Folk healers used olive oil.
In diagnostic rituals they woulduse oil drops to scry and detect
curses. If you don't know, scrying is
when you look at a surface and kind of go into a Tran state so
you can look at a mirror or the surface of water.
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So they would use oil to scry with.
They would also use olive oil for anointing bodies, to break
hexes or to invoke protection. In the Sufi and Gnostic
traditions, olive oil is used inmeditative rituals.
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It is seen as a carrier of subtle divine intelligence.
It's just, it's just so magical.And I think we forget this.
I really think that we forget this.
Even in the even in parts of theancient world that were fully
colonized, there were still so much more interaction with the
(37:32):
world around them, specifically with things like plants and
animals. They are magic.
They're alive. And I think about over the
course of the last 2000 years how societies have become almost
(38:00):
like wage prisons and that everyday people aren't really
engaging in ceremony. They aren't engaging in plants
and animals unless they are a part of a working religion.
(38:22):
And even still, it seems that the the meaning behind these
things have been lost. And I don't think it's a
coincidence. I obviously think it's a symptom
of colonization. I'm just really sad by it.
I'm I'm really sad. Plants are magical and I talk to
plants and I love plants and plants have changed my life.
(38:47):
Specifically smoking weed. When I started smoking weed, it
changed my life because I forgotthat I could talk to plants.
And when I started getting stoned in high school, I started
talking to plants again. And if you listen, they, they
talk to you. They know so much and they're so
kind and they're so special. And I just, I have a longing to,
(39:09):
to live in a world where we together communicate with plants
and communicate with nature. I, I wish that I was raised in a
society where my elders were anointing me with magical oils
and my elders were teaching me about the secrets of the plant
world and teaching me how to communicate with them.
(39:30):
I wish I lived in a society likethat.
Let's take a quick break. Planet Earth can be a terrifying
place sometimes. Why is that?
Because of humanity, Human beings.
However, I would like to remind you that planet Earth is a
(39:51):
beautiful planet, and a big reason why is because of plants.
Plants are amazing. Plants are so magical.
Plants are the original OG life force on this planet.
Plants can heal us and plants necessitate our health.
(40:15):
This is your reminder. Maybe you should plant a plant
this year. If you're worried about plants,
maybe you can have a succulent like an agave.
Agave are amazing because it's almost impossible to kill agave
and you can use them on your skin.
You can use them if you have a sunburn.
(40:36):
You can use them for moisturization.
You can actually drink the pulp if you ever have a cold.
Plants are incredible. The list goes on and you already
know, but research some plants. Plant a house and plant a house.
No Plant a plant within your house.
Maybe plant a tree outside of your house.
Everyone on earth planted a treetoday.
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That would be almost 8 billion more trees.
Let's do this as a teen baby. And we're back, darling.
OK, let's let's talk about some some really cute magical
aspects, some deities, and some folk tales about olives because
(41:21):
I feel like this has been so much academic info and we're all
here for the stories. So some honorable mentions
before we get into our folk tales.
Obviously we talked about Athena.
Athena is an olive goddess, but also Demeter and Persephone have
(41:41):
some olive crossover. Demeter is obviously more
associated with grain and being the goddess of the grain
harvest. However, during the festivals
that people would celebrate for Demeter and Persephone, they
would often use olive oil in their anointing rituals, both to
(42:02):
burn their lanterns but also to anoint each other.
And olives were a specific part of the Illusion Mysteries
offering. We did talk about that in a
previous episode. I highly recommend you listening
to the Persephone episode if youhave not.
But olives were very present anda part of the offering.
(42:23):
And that's worth noting. Also, Minerva, who was a Roman
goddess, she was the Roman equivalent of Athena, of course,
is depicted with olives as well.And another honorable mention
would be Mary, who is known as the mother of Jesus Christ.
Mary is sometimes symbolized as an olive tree.
(42:45):
She is a symbol of righteousnessand of mysticism.
And olive oil is used in Marian anointing rituals in certain
Catholic traditions. Worth noting.
OK, but now let's get into the meat.
This is what we're really here for.
So this is a folk tale from Greece known as the cursed olive
(43:10):
tree. Long ago in a small village on a
sun soaked island in ancient Greece.
This village was located by the Aegean Sea and there stood A
gnarled silver leaved olive treeat the edge of the town square.
(43:34):
The elder said that it happened,oh, that it had been planted by
Athena herself. Each year the villagers held a
small festival beneath its shade, lighting oil lamps and
offering honeyed bread and gratitude.
But one year a man named Deodorus returned to the village
(43:55):
and embittered by years of misfortune.
His crops had failed, and he hadgrown suspicious of the old
ways. He scoffed at the offerings and
mocked them in a tree. This old stump brings no coin,
no crop. If the goddess cared, she would
have spared my suffering, he spat.
(44:18):
One night, drunk on homemade wine and fury, he took his axe
and chopped the sacred olive tree down.
Stupid boy. The next morning, the
townspeople found the tree. Fallen birds had vanished from
the square. The air felt hollow.
Deodorus laughed and he said nowwe can plant something useful.
(44:44):
But the curse was already at work.
This fucking idiot. That spring, his fields bore no
grain. His goats fell.
I'll rain refused to fall over his land while his neighbors
thrived. Yeah, bitch, that's right.
Each night he dreamed of a womanin a bronze helmet, her Gray
eyes watching him in silence, disappointment heavy in her
(45:07):
gaze. Oh my God, that's so Kunti.
She's literally visiting him in his dreams and just giving him a
the the stare of shame. Yes, this fucking idiot.
Jesus. Like if there's an ancient tree,
be nice to it you fucking loser.Do you know what this is
(45:33):
reminding me of? Like, this is kind of reminding
me of the Christmas ritual. Like, yeah, if you haven't
listened to the Christmas episode, I highly recommend.
But basically in parts of Europe, they would decorate
trees and leave offerings at trees during the darkest time of
the year as like a prayer to like, bring a meaningful harvest
(45:57):
and to bring good luck and to basically, like, worship the
trees because the trees give life and they give food and they
give shelter. And like, how crazy is it that
that became a fad? And then like, basically what
I'm getting at is like how feminine, how obviously a woman
(46:17):
came up with this idea of like leaving offerings at trees and
like decorating them and treating them with love.
And then only a man could think of turning that into an industry
where you chop the fucking tree down to decorate it in your
house and then throw the tree away.
Like, you know what I mean? It's like, tell me a man did it
without telling me a man did it like the modern Christmas tree
(46:37):
industry. And that's what this is
reminding me of. This like fucking idiot guy is
like all this beautiful, sacred ancient tree in my village.
It's not making me money. I'm going to just cut it down
'cause it's useless to me. Like you fucking idiot.
Meanwhile, this goddess is just disgusted with him in his
dreams. I'm living for this story.
Have modern men learned? No.
(47:03):
OK, so now he's being visited inhis dreams.
And he withered like the tree hehad destroyed.
Yes. Eventually the man vanished.
Some say he wandered into the hills seeking forgiveness.
Others say he was turned into stone.
The villagers planted a new olive tree in the same spot, and
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to this day they say it leaves whisper warnings in the wind.
Do not mock the sacred. The old spirits remember even
when we forget. That's right, bitch, stop
killing the olive trees. I don't even want to think about
(47:45):
the amount of bad fortune they've amassed by murdering all
those olive trees. Jesus, let's just be nice to the
trees. We should be decorating them and
telling them we love them and bleeding onto them with our
menstrual blood and talking withthem asking what they want.
(48:05):
Be nice. It's really, it's really not
that hard. It's literally so much easier to
be kind and love plants. Also, if you listen to them,
their advice is really good. It usually has to do with
relaxing and focusing more on listening and planting more
(48:27):
plants. Have you seen that theory that
like plants are actually farmingus because we give them carbon
dioxide and we fertilize them when we die, and that we're
actually basically like, we justspread their seeds and cultivate
(48:47):
them and that's what they want? I should actually do a whole
episode. I have.
I have a whole crazy like theoryabout how plants are farming us.
So stay tuned. OK?
Folk tale #2 This is an Italian folk tale called the Olive Girl.
Oh my God, can't wait. I'm an olive girl.
(49:08):
I'm actually, I don't know if you're watching this on YouTube,
but I am wearing my olive green dress.
So I am an olive girl. Today.
This story takes place in southern southern Italy in the
rural countryside in a place that cultivated olive.
So here we are in the countryside in an ancient olive
(49:30):
Grove. There once was a farmer named
Lupo who lived alone after his wife passed away.
Every year he tended his ancientolive Grove, but the trees no
longer bore fruit. One day, while pruning a knot of
(49:51):
a knotted OLED olive tree, he found a strange shiny olive
unlike any he had seen before. It was large, glistening, and
seemed seemed to hum in his palm.
He was moved by instinct. He planted it into the soil
beneath the tree. Weeks passed and one morning he
(50:15):
returned to the spot and he saw a small girl sitting where the
olive had been planted. Her eyes were the color of green
gold. Her hair was the shade of olive
leaves. Ah, get out of town.
This is, this is reminding me ofKaguya.
Who are you? He said.
I am from the tree, she replied simply.
(50:40):
Oh my God, I'm going to cry. He took her in and raised her
like his own. She never ate, munched, she
never ate much. She only sipped dew and olive
oil. Get out of town.
Wherever she walked, trees blossomed.
The Grove returned to life. I'm in love with her.
(51:03):
Oh my God. But she had one condition.
No one was to ever try to take her photo or capture her
likeness. Hmm.
Years pass and people began to talk.
She must be a fairy, they said. Taurus offered Lupo money to see
her. One day, a stranger sneaked a
(51:25):
photograph. Come on, you fucking bitches.
The next morning, she was gone. Yeah, no, like, come on.
In her place, an olive tree stood.
It strung slender and youthful. From its branches hung golden
green olives unlike any other. They say her spirit lives in
(51:48):
that tree and that the oil from its fruit can heal broken
hearts. Some beings belong to the land.
To try to own them is to lose them.
That is so true. That is too true.
I love the olive girl. I want to be the olive girl.
(52:12):
These are so precious, these olive stories.
I could cry. Next we have a Berber legend.
The Berbers are from North Africa.
This legend is called the Goddesses Tears.
Oh my God, I could already tell.I'm going to love this story.
(52:33):
The olives born of sorrow. This takes place in the Atlas
Mountains. Long long ago, in the time
before time there was a goddess named Tislet.
Sake. Tislet.
(52:53):
I love that name, Tislet, who watched over the mountains and
the desert people. She walked among them unseen,
blessing the herders and singingto the stars.
But alas, war came, Tribes turned against each other and
blood soaked the earth. Tislet was heartbroken.
(53:16):
She stood atop the highest mountain and she wept.
Her tears fell on to the rocky soil, and from each tier a small
dark fruit sprang. The people, desperate and
starving, saw these fruits and ate them, though they were very
bitter. Then one night an old woman
(53:38):
dreamed of the goddess, pressed the fruit and light it.
She told them she woke. She pressed the olives and
placed a drop of oil in a clay lamp.
It burned for seven days and seven nights.
This is sounding a little bit like Hanukkah, baby.
(54:01):
She woke, pressed the olives. Oh, I already read that.
Oh, pause. Some people believe that in the
Hanukkah myth, olive oil was used, and I just want to bring
that up. OK, carry on.
Peace slowly returned the land. The olive became sacred, a gift
(54:22):
born of grief but transformed into light.
Today, Berber women still sing songs to Tislet during the olive
harvest, and some say if you cryunder the olive tree in grief,
your tears will never be wasted.Even in sorrow, when honored,
(54:46):
can become a blessing. This is so fresh.
I want to grow olive trees. OK, And lastly, we have a Balkan
folk tale. The olive tree that remembered
(55:06):
this takes place in Montenegro in a coastal village.
There once was a woman named Mila whose husband was lost at
sea. Each day she walked to the
ancient olive Grove by the cliffs and lit a candle under a
tree they had carved their initials into.
Years passed and she grew old, but she never stopped visiting
(55:30):
the tree. Oh, and she missed her husband.
He was lost at sea. 1 winter. She fell ill and could no longer
walk. The villages carried her to the
olive Grove, and she placed her head on the tree.
That night a great storm struck,but the tree remained standing
(55:52):
while the others fell. In the morning her body was
gone. In its place new branches had
grown in the shape of arms. Reaching skyward that spring,
the tree bore thousands of olives for the first time in 70
years. They say the tree remembered her
(56:13):
love, her ritual, her grief, andgave fruit in return.
Trees remember those who love them.
They bloom not just with the sun, but with the devotion of
its loved ones. I'm telling you, and that's why
I'm trying to tell you, love thetrees.
(56:35):
Love is the most powerful thing,and if when you love the trees,
the trees will bloom extra. We can literally heal the world
with love. It sounds like it's corny.
It sounds like it's a fantasy, but it's so fucking true.
Love is the most powerful spell in existence.
(56:55):
People. Come on, come on.
Oh yeah. Let's take a quick break, baby
girl. Hello, traveller.
Have you forgotten that you are an incredible one-of-a-kind?
(57:17):
Pepper? There is no one on planet Earth
like you. Do you know how incredible that
is? Never forget it.
It might take time, it might take practice, but whatever your
dreams are, you can attain them.Yes, you can, and you know that
it's true. I believe in you.
(57:38):
I'm so proud of you. One step at a time and you're
going to make it. And we're back.
Darling. Let's get into the most exciting
of all. Let's talk about the sensual and
spicy legacy of olives and oliveoil.
(57:58):
Yeah, babe, we're going there. This is a shout out to my
curious Carnal and pervy listeners.
I'm just kidding. I don't mean to call you pervy.
I'm just reaching out to my sensual and sexual baby girls.
Let us talk about olive oil, orgies and Greco Roman body
(58:23):
worship. Let's talk about it.
Olive oil was the original body gloss babe.
In ancient Greece, especially during festivals like the
Dionysia and the Panathenia, young men and women would anoint
their bodies with oil before participating in ritual dances,
(58:43):
athletic contests, and erotic revels honoring gods such as
Dionysus, Aphrodite, and Arrows.Yes, people would rub each other
down with olive oil and have giant orgies and or have
exercising competitions or have a dance party or have all three.
(59:06):
I'm telling you, Greek athletes especially, well, let's just say
nude athletes, they would often compete naked.
They would cover themselves in olive oil to show off their
physique and to symbolize their divine favor.
(59:28):
And after wrestling or racing, they would scrape the olive oil
from their body, combined with their sweat and dust, and they
would put them into little containers.
And they called them glowyos. And so these athletes would then
sell these like little vials of the oil in their sweat and dust
(59:52):
and sell them to fans. And they said that this would be
a potent love or healing charm. How's that for merge?
That's hot. That is fucking hot.
Also, olive oil was considered to be an aphrodisiac and it was
used as a sensual massage oil during.
(01:00:13):
Or basically orgy festivals. And they were dedicated to both
Pan and Dionysus. How hot is that?
Also, in the secret rites of Bacchus in Rome, known as the
Bacchanalia, participants would be bathed in oil before
(01:00:34):
aesthetic dancing and sometimes orgies.
How fun is that? You just get covered in oil and
have a dance party and then an orgy like that.
This is how it's done, people. It, this is how it's done.
And olive oil is so good for your skin.
I'm telling you like we can we bring this back?
(01:00:57):
Interestingly, olive oil was also a very common funeral rite.
It accompanied the dead on theirjourney across time and space in
Egypt. Interestingly, tombs were often
found containing olive oil vessels.
(01:01:18):
These would be offerings for theafterlife.
The oil was believed to preservethe soul, which they called the
ka, and it ensured that the deceased would smell sweet in
the afterlife. Also, in ancient Greece and
Rome, corpses were anointed witholive oil during preparation for
burial, symbolizing purification, divine favor and
(01:01:42):
beauty. Even in death, Oil lamps were
lit in tombs and kept burning toguide the human soul home.
In some funeral games held to honor the dead, winners were
awarded olive oil vats these offerings of the spirit of the
(01:02:03):
deceased. Wait, I'm so sorry my my brain
right now. This offering the spirit of the
deceased wealth and glory in thenext life.
So basically you could win oliveoil that you would take to you
take with you into your afterlife.
Also in Christianity there is the last rites, also known as
(01:02:28):
the extreme Unctium and they would use olive oil to anoint
the sick or dying, sealing the soul with divine light.
In early Christian catacombs they contain graffiti of olive
branches and olive vessels, which was a prayer for eternal
peace. How magical is that?
(01:02:50):
Also like I mentioned olive oil has been used.
For scrying, it has been used tomix with herbs to create
tinctures, candles to put over doorways to anoint lovers for
love spells in Sicilian magic, olive oil was rubbed on the skin
(01:03:12):
to invoke love and ward off spirits.
It has been used for protection and exorcisms.
It's even mentioned in the Bibleand the Kabbalah that olive oil
was used to cast out demons and to anoint holy warriors and
prophets. Moroccan women would speak,
(01:03:33):
would soak rose petals and cinnamon bark in olive oil and
create love potions and pleasureoils.
The oil was warmed and used in sensual massages and they would
prepare the body for ritual sex and fertility rites.
Olive oil was not just sensual, it was supernatural, a divine
(01:03:59):
lubricant between worlds. How hot is that?
Also worth mentioning that in a lot of Greek and Arab myths, the
olive tree was a symbol of love and union.
Lovers would often consummate their union under an olive tree,
(01:04:22):
believing that the spirit of thetree would bless their union
with fertility. In Sapphic poetry also the olive
Grove is a sacred lesbian love site.
We love that lesbians for olivesin the Song of Songs.
In the Hebrew Bible, the belovedis described with metaphors of
(01:04:44):
olive, of oil and trees. Quote, Your name is like perfume
poured out. Your body is a garden of
pomegranates and olive shoots. Kill me.
That is so beautiful. In both Lebanon and Palestine,
there's folklore that says couples married under ancient
(01:05:04):
olive trees would stay bound forseven generations.
That's so beautiful. It's also interesting to note
that the olive pit is seen as a symbol of a womb or a vaginal
symbol, and the oil is often seen in its viscous, golden and
(01:05:27):
slow moving state. It's seen as sexual fluid.
Like quite literally a symbol ofsexual fluids and compared to
sexual fluids. In the Sufi, Gnostic and Tantric
traditions, the pressing of olives became symbolic of divine
ecstasy through pressure and surrender.
(01:05:49):
The metaphor of love, labor, transformation, fertility.
Olives have had a huge impact onhuman culture and though today
we may not think about them or be using them, it is important
to note how big of an impact that olives have had on human
(01:06:12):
culture. The fact that even now you can
look at a symbol of an olive branch and know that it means
peace. You can see a white dove
carrying an olive branch and these seem to just be symbols
that we all know and they come from rituals and beliefs that
are 10,000 years old. Olives helped shape the modern
(01:06:33):
world. Olives are an integral part of
our human history and they are magical.
They are medicinal and they are special.
And let us not forget that thereare still olive trees alive
right now that are thousands of years old and they are worth
saving. Let's not be like that idiot in
(01:06:54):
that one story who chopped down ancient olive trees.
We're doing it around the world.We're chopping down ancient
trees and not thinking about it sometimes because we're just
being silly and negligent, and sometimes it's out of hatred.
It's unacceptable. Let's start planting trees.
Let's start protecting trees. Let us go back into union of
(01:07:19):
communicating with the plants and animals, enjoying the plants
of animals, worshipping the plants of animals.
This is a magical paradise planet.
We have everything we need here.We need to get over ourselves.
We need to end human on human violence and enjoy the beautiful
paradise that is planet Earth. Olives are magical.
(01:07:42):
You are magical. We can do this.
I love you. Thank you so much for listening
to the podcast. I deeply, deeply appreciate you.
And I'm reminding you. Please e-mail in, send me some
stories. Send me some weird stories that
you heard as a kid. Tell me about a weird dream you
(01:08:04):
have, Tell me about some weird visions you've had, Tell me
about aliens that you saw once. I want to hear it all.
I appreciate you. I love you, I adore you.
Please take good care of yourself.
You are an important asset to planet Earth.
We're all here to love and enjoyand grow.
(01:08:24):
Keep up the good work babe. I'll see you next time.
Over and out.
Hello and welcome to Esoterica and Nonsense, a podcast where we
discuss myths, legends, folk tales, fairy tales, supernatural
phenomenon and religions from around the world.
I am your host, Annabelle, and today we will be discussing the
(00:55):
mystical, incredible Ancient Olive.
Before there was bread and wine,there was the olive, bitter and
ancient, pressed into oil and legend.
This fruit has nourished gods, crowned kings, and sealed sacred
(01:17):
covenants. Today we dive deep into the soul
of the Olive tree, following herroots through myth, ritual, and
sacred story. Olives, baby.
Part of why I wanted to talk about olives today is because
Palestine is still being obliterated.
(01:43):
There is a genocide happening. It is an active genocide that is
being televised around the worldfor over 2 years, actually, I
guess coming up to two years. However, the genocide has been
happening for many, many years. I'm heartbroken by this, but I
(02:04):
think even more than heartbroken, I'm embarrassed on
behalf of the human race. How can we teach our children to
share and to be kind and to do unto others as we would want
done unto us? How can how can we teach our
children that violence is not acceptable when adults are
(02:31):
actively consenting in murder onmass?
It's embarrassing and it's unacceptable.
What hurts the most is knowing that it's happening and as an
(02:55):
everyday average person, feelinglike nothing I can do will be
enough. And so this is really my
petition to all human beings on the planet, all living things on
the planet, for us to change howwe show up as human beings.
(03:16):
In my personal opinion, what matters the most is the health
and longevity of our beautiful mother planet Earth.
I personally believe that we should be organizing our
societies, our cities, our communities around working
(03:39):
symbiotically with nature, planting trees that work well
with the region. With more trees, you get more
precipitation. With more precipitation, you get
more fresh water. We can build natural irrigation
systems with no technology that water our plants.
(04:01):
We can have living forests that are like supermarkets.
You walk into the forest and youcan pick a fruit that is ready
to eat. You can pick a vegetable.
We don't need to be farming. We can be planting agroforests
that take almost little to no maintenance and living simply
(04:23):
with the seasons. We can be relaxing, enjoying the
seasons, changing and enjoying watching the young babies become
children and watching those children become adults, and
watching those adults become elders.
And thus the cycle continues. That's why we must shout out
(04:43):
indigenous cultures. Obviously, the indigenous
cultures of the Americas were light years ahead of the
Europeans. But let us not forget that the
Europeans had indigenous cultures years ago.
They had ancestors that lived with the changing of seasons.
(05:06):
That we're worshipping trees, talking to the plants, talking
to the animals. There are indigenous cultures in
every aspect of the world, in every nook and cranny of the
world that at one point we're communicating with nature.
And it is an ability that lives within us all.
And so I am asking the human race, every single human being,
(05:31):
what if all of us woke up the next morning and just decided to
put our energy into living peacefully with planet Earth?
What if we put all of our energyand creativity into just
(05:52):
planting trees and plants strategically and allowing them
to do their thing and we can sitback and relax and minimum, we
can stop murdering each other. How about that?
(06:13):
Also, if you're new here, I wantto be very clear that I am not
pro murder for anyone. No one.
Genocide is never OK. I don't care who it is that is
being killed. I don't care who it is.
Let's do the killing. There's never an excuse.
Genocide is not OK. Point Blake.
(06:35):
Period. If that's not OK with you, you
can move along. You can leave Napoleon.
Ah. So without further ado, let's
talk about olives, The ancient gift of the ancestors, the fruit
of the ancient world, the botanical wonder, Wonder Boy,
(07:00):
the olive. So obviously, when you think of
an olive, I think when we all think of olives, we see common
ideas, right? We have this idea of the olive
branch, which is a peace offering or even a dove holding
an olive branch. Olive trees are kind of like an
(07:21):
unspoken symbol of resilience, of peace, divine blessing,
immortality, and victory. Also, olive oil is often a
symbol of purification, consecration, sacred
nourishment, and light. And obviously these social
(07:41):
understandings of olive have incredibly ancient roots, and
it's fascinating how such ancient beliefs about any single
thing can carry gravity into ourmodern world even without hands
on knowledge or practice. So what I'm going to share with
(08:03):
you today is going to blow your little mind because let me tell
you, there's so much about olives that I did not know.
Perhaps you did know. Perhaps you know more than me.
And if you did, please e-mail inat esotericanonsense@gmail.com.
So olives as we know them are a descendant of a wild olive that
(08:23):
is known as the Olistas, oly olyasters.
Yes, let's say oly asters. So this is like the the
grandparent of the olive and they were first recorded to be
gathered by humans as early as 8000 BC.
(08:44):
Let that sink in as early as 8000 BC.
And in my experience, if the historians say that add an extra
10,000 years, but let's just say, let's just go with that
8000 BCE, that is 10,000 years ago because right now it is the
(09:05):
year 2025. Let's just say it started in
8000 BCE, that is 10,000 years ago.
That is a long time ago. And surprise, surprise, they
were first cultivated around theEastern Mediterranean.
Just kidding, it's not a surprise.
Most likely the grandparent of the olive comes from modern day
(09:29):
Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and the beautiful Palestine.
We love you Palestine. Bless you.
So most likely the domesticationof olives began in the Levant,
which is modern day Syria and Palestine.
And this would have happened around the year 6000 up to
(09:50):
around 4500 BCE. So we're still talking 8000
years ago. This is a long time ago.
This is full on domestication, planting, breeding for qualities
they liked. This is 8000 years ago.
By the year 3000 BCE, the Minoans in Crete had established
(10:11):
A booming olive industry. So like let that sink in Crete
which is an island. Also one of the most iconic
places of the labyrinth. The Minoans were the same people
who had that famous labyrinth. If you have not listened to the
labyrinth episode, go back to episode 1.
It's fantastic. Labyrinths are my favorite.
(10:33):
They had a booming olive industry 5000 years ago.
Olive cultivation was one of theearliest large scale
agricultural enterprises on the planet.
Alongside grain and grapes, olives are a pillar of the
(10:55):
Mediterranean triad, being grain, grapes and olives.
Olives are the fruit of the ancestors and of course with
that comes so many beautiful tidbits, pieces, beliefs,
worship. And that is what why we're
(11:17):
really here today. As you all know, we're not a boy
podcast that talks about money and power.
We're a girly femme podcast thattalks about esotericism and
nonsense. OK, so of course olives are now
(11:38):
a booming industry in the ancient world, specifically the
Eastern Mediterranean. It's spreading quickly.
Other parts of the Mediterraneanand the world are now getting a
taste for olives. But with that comes a spiritual
value, an economic value that were intertwined much like most
things in the ancient world. Spirituality, mysticism,
(12:02):
esotericism was a part of daily life.
So with that also held an economic power.
Olive oil was not just a food oran oil.
It was considered to be a medicine.
It was used for lamps, it gave light, it was perfume, It was
(12:22):
used as a sacred anointing fluid.
It was used as a currency. Ancient peoples used olive oil
for lighting lamps not only in their homes but in temples.
They used it for lubricating their tools and machines.
They used it for cooking and preserving their food.
(12:43):
They used it for skin care and for treating wounds.
And they used it for ritual purification and anointing
priests, kings, and the dead. Olives and olive oil were a
piece of their life, their livelihood, their bodies, and
(13:05):
their spiritual belief. Where there was oil, there was
civilization. So as time is moving, right?
So now we're in the Bronze Age, where in the year 3000 BCE,
olive oil has become one of the most traded goods in the
(13:28):
Mediterranean world. It is a part of daily life.
And just as a reminder, the Bronze Age is from around 3000
to 1200 BCE. OK, this is like 5000 years ago
that the Bronze Age is starting.The Mediterranean is eating
olives using olive oils. It is a part of everyday life.
(13:51):
The major olive oil producing centers are Crete, the Minoans
AKA Labyrinth people, the Mycenaeans of the Greece, the
modern day Grecian area, Phoenicia which is now modern
day Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Carthage which is in North
(14:12):
Africa. Egypt was the biggest importer
of olives and Rome which createdvast olive estates in Hispania,
North Africa and Gaul, which would be Spain and France.
Fun fact. I just want to throw this out
here. I learned a really interesting
(14:33):
tidbit the other day that I think is worth noting,
especially because I think in the United States everyone is
obsessed with Rome. Or I maybe I should like
rephrase that. Like white men are obsessed with
Rome. And I do think for good reason,
mostly because the US, in my opinion, has kind of modeled
their colonization model off of the ancient Romans.
(14:58):
But I learned that in ancient Gaul, which is now France, there
was a huge population of Celtic people, people, indigenous
people from the British Isles, including Ireland, pieces of
Scotland and some of the other islands around it had many of
(15:22):
them had actually emigrated to Gaul throughout the centuries.
And according to this piece of information that I read, there
was up to 3 million people in Gaul who had Celtic ancestry.
And during the time of Julius Caesar, he invaded Gaul,
(15:47):
murdered one million of those, enslaved another million, and
left the other million there to live on their land, which had
been burned to the ground and then colonized.
And the reason why I'm bringing this up is because I think that
(16:08):
it has been forgotten that colonization has spread like a
virus. And one thing that colonization
often does, and especially in inthe modern sense of the term, is
that it erases local culture. It seeks to erase local customs,
(16:32):
languages, beliefs. I mean, I think the spiritual
beliefs are a big part of that. And when I learned this, I blew
my mind because, you know, sometimes when I think of
France, I think of I think of the Louvre, I think of huge
buildings. I think of people with hoity,
toity attitudes. You know, I think of Haiti, I
(16:56):
think of French Polynesia. I think about all of the things
that France has done involving the transatlantic slave trade
and colonization. But I don't think about people
5000 years ago who were enslavedand murdered.
And I think it contextualizes this vicious cycle that seems to
(17:22):
be repeating itself again and again and again of hurt people
becoming the oppressor. You know, how can you
conceptualize freedom if you've never seen freedom?
And so you think that the king is free.
You think that the king is the only person with real freedom.
So everyone wishes to be king. But by being king, you become
(17:47):
someone who profits from genocide, someone who profits
from enslavement, someone who profits from killing the earth.
And in my mind, that isn't freedom at all.
In my mind, freedom is waking upwith nothing expected of you and
choosing what you want to do with that day.
(18:09):
And with real freedom comes the access to explore yourself,
explore yourself multi dimensionally, explore the world
multi dimensionally. Even if you're just staying in
one little place your whole life, you could be staying in
one little corner of the forest.But with real freedom, there are
(18:31):
endless possibilities. And anyway, I just, I just
wanted to bring that out, bring that up, because I do think it's
really interesting that Rome colonized Spain and France and
used them as places to grow olives.
(18:54):
You know, that's, that's what wecall monoculture.
And interestingly enough, Spain,Portugal and France and of
course England has done the same.
They have colonized so many parts of the world and use them
for monoculture and extracting resources.
Isn't that funny? Let's take a little break.
(19:16):
Hey little Pepper, this is Annabelle here reporting live
from Pepper World HQ. If you enjoy the podcast, it
would help so much if you could follow me.
You could write a comment. Give me 5 stars perhaps.
Also, I would love to hear from you. e-mail in at
esotericaandnonsense@gmail.com. I'd love to hear about your
(19:39):
stories. I'd love to hear about
suggestions. I would love to hear about any
kind of weird, freaky thing thatcomes to your mind.
Also, if you would like to support my podcast, you can
follow me on Patreon. It's Patreon back slash
esoterica and nonsense. I will also have a YouTube page
coming at you so soon. And I also sell merch.
(20:02):
You can look up my merch. It's in the show notes for every
single episode as well as the show notes for my show.
I appreciate you so much. I made this podcast to connect
with cool freaky people like you.
So thank you so much and we're back.
Yes darling. OK, so here we are.
(20:26):
We're in the ancient world. We're in the Bronze Age.
Olives are being grown all around the Mediterranean.
Everyone's eating them. The Egyptians are importing
them. Imagine just beautiful hot women
laying on their side and just eating olives in the warm
Mediterranean sun. Take me there on top of that now
(20:50):
all of the become a a huge booming industry because of the
oil we talked about it. The olive oil is a huge
commodity, especially as the Roman and Byzantine empires are
growing. Olive oil is used in oil lamps.
So this is light. This is this is what's kind of
(21:11):
extending the productivity of every empire being able to stay
up at night with lanterns, with light, right?
So now in the Bronze Age, olivesare being heavily taxed and
regulated, right? Olives are money.
There was these ceramic oil containers known as amphorae,
(21:35):
which were marked and tracked like gold.
We're talking serial numbers. We're talking tracking numbers.
We are talking liquid gold, right?
Olive oil is money, and cities and ports were built around the
olive trade, such as Pompeii, Carthage, and Athens.
In some regions, olive oil was used instead of money to pay
(21:59):
taxes and debts. In Rome specifically, control
over olive oil production was ascrucial as control over grain.
Losing access to olive oil couldde establish entire populations.
Let that sink in. And of course there are.
This is just the economic significance.
(22:22):
And if we know anything about Rome, if they have something
regulated in tax, there's also esoteric power with that object.
Whatever's being taxed is also amagical object.
And let me remind you that the tree of Delphi is an olive tree.
So let's get into the mythical and royal powers of olives and
(22:44):
the practices around it, becausethat's why we're really here.
So in the ancient Near East, this would be what we now call
the Middle East. Olive oil was used to anoint
kings and priests. The olive oil itself symbolized
divine favor. In the Hebrew Bible, there are
(23:08):
passages that speak of kings andprophets being anointed with
oil. Interestingly, this is actually
where the word Messiah comes from.
Messiah comes from the Hebrew word mash, Mashiac.
I'm probably saying that wrong, but it's in my English brain.
(23:30):
This looks like Mashiac, and this word means anointed 1
specifically anointed with oil, specifically olive oil.
So now you can whip that out at a party.
Party. The word Messiah means anointed
with olive oil. In Greece, olive wreaths were
(23:52):
given to Olympic victors. The paneth.
I can say this word, I can say it.
The Panatheonic Games, in honor of Athena, awarded one of those
giant ceramic vessels full of sacred olive oil as a as a
(24:14):
prize. So basically if you won these
games, they were kind of like a small Olympics in Athens.
You would win this giant ceramicVAT of olive oil and it would be
worth a small fortune. It's like winning a prize, like
a $20,000 prize. In Christianity, olive branches
(24:35):
and olive oil symbolize peace, light, and divine presence.
They are used in sacraments suchas baptisms, confirmations, and
last rites. So because of this, olives are
kind of center stage in society,right?
(24:55):
You're using them to baptize your children.
You're using them in ceremonies,and they're also now being
controlled by the government andtaxed.
So in ancient Athens, the original olive tree was said to
be a gift of Athena. So Athena allegedly gave an
(25:17):
olive tree to the city that became Athens, and it was said
to have sprung from the ground during her battle with Poseidon.
And so this olive tree was protected by law.
Harming it would lead to either exile from the city and very
possibly death. Athens wealth was partially
(25:39):
built on olive oil exports, and olive oil supported both local
economy and religious diplomacy in parts of Rome and Carthage.
Carthage in North Africa controlled a huge part of North
Africa because of their monopolyon olive oil.
(26:02):
After the Punic Wars, Rome claimed Carthage and its Groves
and created a supply line that helped Rome dominate for
centuries. Like, let that sink in.
The olive industry was financingRome.
And I just think this is so interesting.
There are so many parallels to the sugar industry, the tobacco
(26:23):
industry, and the cotton industry, right?
European countries colonizing other lands and growing a cash
crop and using it to fund whatever they want.
And really what they wanted was to spread their empire to keep
colonizing. And how interesting, right?
This is the same business model.This is a fucking business
(26:46):
model, and it's really bad for the Earth and it's really bad
for humanity. I just like it, really.
It really does get me going. I'm sorry.
Like we're literally repeating the same cycles again and again,
and it's kind of embarrassing but also fascinating because why
aren't we talking about this? I feel like in school, when I
(27:09):
learned about ancient Rome, it was all very like learning about
each emperor. You know, we like learn about
the emperor and like what he did, but we're not really
thinking about the day-to-day life of a regular person.
And I, and this is just my opinion, but I think if you
(27:32):
actually study the day-to-day life of a person in any given
civilization, that is the opportunity to learn so much
more. You know, for example, what
would a regular person in Rome be eating for lunch?
And that's that begs the question in the city of Rome or
the empire of Rome, because Romewas at a certain point massive.
(27:56):
But olives, olives are a center point of the culture and
economy. And I think it's like a missing
link that we don't talk about enough.
Rome was being funded by the olive industry and the wine
industry. And that my friend, that is
huge. OK so moving on, in the Islamic
(28:19):
world, the Quran mentions the blessed olive tree.
Many Muslim empires cultivated olives widely, especially in
Spain as they eventually obviously the Moors colonized
Spain and they used Spain as an olive orchard essentially.
(28:46):
Olive oil was also vital in the Islamic world because it was
used in sciences, particularly in creating medicine and it was
used in mysticism during the Islamic golden age.
It kind of makes me think of like Zoroastrians and ritual
(29:08):
rites and and healing. Of course now in the modern day
world, olives are still a huge player in the economies of
Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco.
They are still huge olive producers.
And of course Palestine had someof the oldest living olive trees
(29:34):
in the world and they were destroyed by the IDF using
phosphorus bombs. These trees were over 2000 years
old and they were priceless. Just I just want that to sink in
for you. Of course, to this day, olive
(29:57):
oil is still seen as a luxury good and a sacred offering.
We all know about virgin extra virgin standards echoing really
the ancient world and old purityrituals.
Olive Groves are protected as cultural heritage in parts of
(30:17):
the Mediterranean, especially trees over 1000 years old.
And sadly the olive trees in Palestine we did not protect and
they have been destroyed. So for this reason olives have a
multi dimensional power and presence.
(30:39):
Obviously there is a political power within olives.
Whoever controlled olive oil andolive production controlled
lighting. They controlled food, they
controlled healing. Obviously there's also a
mystical power. Allegedly the olive trees were
gifts from the gods. They were wept from the
(30:59):
goddesses, anointed upon kings. They were even used in sacred
rites, from death into birth, war into peace.
And then of course, the economicpower, empires growing from
olive production itself, olives being the lifeblood of trade and
(31:20):
commerce. It's crazy, am I right?
It's fucking crazy. OK, so now let's get deeper.
I teased you and I teased you, and let's really get into the
mysticism, baby. So of course, the myth that
we've already touched on is the myth of Athena and the olive
(31:42):
tree. Athena and Poseidon competed to
be the patron of Athens, and they went through many tasks.
They were fighting. They were trying to kill each
other. They both wanted to be the
patron of Athens. And of course, at this point, it
wasn't even called Athens. Athens is named after Athena.
So this is an unnamed city. Athena and Poseidon are
(32:03):
fighting. Poseidon offers salt water in
some versions of the story, or offers a horse to the city.
Athena offers an olive tree, andthe people of the city chose the
olive tree, and because of that they accepted Athena as their
patron goddess and named the city Athens.
(32:25):
The olive tree thus became a symbol of wisdom, of
civilization, and a feminine creation.
Her sacred tree grew on the Acropolis.
The olive became central to Athenian economy and worship.
Then of course, over in Rome there was packs, there was
(32:48):
victory and virginity. There was wreaths that they
would make of olive branches that were worn by the victors
and emperors. So anytime somebody won a
contest or won in a in the Olympic Games or an emperor
became anointed, they would weara wreath, a little crown of
(33:09):
olive branches. It was also used in religious
purification rites and in the lamps of Vestal Virgins.
So of like of temple girls, theywould use the highest grade
olive oil in their lamps. Interestingly, there's also a
lot of crossover in Judaism and Christianity.
(33:32):
But of course olive oil is used in the anointings of kings and
priests. Like I mentioned messiahs in
Judaism and there is a little snippet of Psalm 52, eight.
I am like a green olive tree in the House of God.
(33:52):
And of course, in Christianity, olive branches are seen as the
sign of peace and reconciliationbecause on Noah's Ark, a dove
leaves his ship and returns withthe leaf of an olive.
And that is literally where we get this symbol of the dove
carrying the olive branch. It comes from the Bible with
(34:14):
Noah. Also, Jesus himself prayed under
an olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Gethsemane. I don't really know how to say
that. Geth, Gethsemane.
Interestingly, this word gets a man means olive press.
(34:39):
Think about that. So Jesus was literally in a
place that was called olive press.
So it was most likely a huge olive oil producer, most likely
in Palestine, and he prayed under an olive tree.
This could very possibly be the olive Grove that was recently
destroyed in Palestine. That's 2000 years old.
(35:00):
Jesus was there praying under those trees.
Let that sink in bitch. Olive oil was also used in
sacraments, baptisms, confirmations.
Olives were a part of the ancient world and of course they
are mentioned in the Quran as well.
(35:22):
The Quran references that the quote blessed olive tree as a
cosmic symbol of divine light lit from the oil of a blessed
olive tree. Neither of the east nor of the
West. The olive tree is considered
sacred. It represents guidance,
(35:42):
nourishment and light. The Prophet Muhammad said eat
olive oil and anoint yourselves with it, for it is from a
blessed tree, literally. I could cry, I could cry, it's
so beautiful. Also, its influence, of course,
(36:04):
spread all throughout the ancient world.
In parts of the western Mediterranean and the Balkans,
olive branches hung on doors andon baby cradles to ward off the
evil eye. In Crete, brides would circle an
olive tree before the wedding. In parts of Spain and southern
(36:26):
Italy, folk healers used Folk healers used olive oil.
In diagnostic rituals they woulduse oil drops to scry and detect
curses. If you don't know, scrying is
when you look at a surface and kind of go into a Tran state so
you can look at a mirror or the surface of water.
(36:47):
So they would use oil to scry with.
They would also use olive oil for anointing bodies, to break
hexes or to invoke protection. In the Sufi and Gnostic
traditions, olive oil is used inmeditative rituals.
(37:07):
It is seen as a carrier of subtle divine intelligence.
It's just, it's just so magical.And I think we forget this.
I really think that we forget this.
Even in the even in parts of theancient world that were fully
colonized, there were still so much more interaction with the
(37:32):
world around them, specifically with things like plants and
animals. They are magic.
They're alive. And I think about over the
course of the last 2000 years how societies have become almost
(38:00):
like wage prisons and that everyday people aren't really
engaging in ceremony. They aren't engaging in plants
and animals unless they are a part of a working religion.
(38:22):
And even still, it seems that the the meaning behind these
things have been lost. And I don't think it's a
coincidence. I obviously think it's a symptom
of colonization. I'm just really sad by it.
I'm I'm really sad. Plants are magical and I talk to
plants and I love plants and plants have changed my life.
(38:47):
Specifically smoking weed. When I started smoking weed, it
changed my life because I forgotthat I could talk to plants.
And when I started getting stoned in high school, I started
talking to plants again. And if you listen, they, they
talk to you. They know so much and they're so
kind and they're so special. And I just, I have a longing to,
(39:09):
to live in a world where we together communicate with plants
and communicate with nature. I, I wish that I was raised in a
society where my elders were anointing me with magical oils
and my elders were teaching me about the secrets of the plant
world and teaching me how to communicate with them.
(39:30):
I wish I lived in a society likethat.
Let's take a quick break. Planet Earth can be a terrifying
place sometimes. Why is that?
Because of humanity, Human beings.
However, I would like to remind you that planet Earth is a
(39:51):
beautiful planet, and a big reason why is because of plants.
Plants are amazing. Plants are so magical.
Plants are the original OG life force on this planet.
Plants can heal us and plants necessitate our health.
(40:15):
This is your reminder. Maybe you should plant a plant
this year. If you're worried about plants,
maybe you can have a succulent like an agave.
Agave are amazing because it's almost impossible to kill agave
and you can use them on your skin.
You can use them if you have a sunburn.
(40:36):
You can use them for moisturization.
You can actually drink the pulp if you ever have a cold.
Plants are incredible. The list goes on and you already
know, but research some plants. Plant a house and plant a house.
No Plant a plant within your house.
Maybe plant a tree outside of your house.
Everyone on earth planted a treetoday.
(40:58):
That would be almost 8 billion more trees.
Let's do this as a teen baby. And we're back, darling.
OK, let's let's talk about some some really cute magical
aspects, some deities, and some folk tales about olives because
(41:21):
I feel like this has been so much academic info and we're all
here for the stories. So some honorable mentions
before we get into our folk tales.
Obviously we talked about Athena.
Athena is an olive goddess, but also Demeter and Persephone have
(41:41):
some olive crossover. Demeter is obviously more
associated with grain and being the goddess of the grain
harvest. However, during the festivals
that people would celebrate for Demeter and Persephone, they
would often use olive oil in their anointing rituals, both to
(42:02):
burn their lanterns but also to anoint each other.
And olives were a specific part of the Illusion Mysteries
offering. We did talk about that in a
previous episode. I highly recommend you listening
to the Persephone episode if youhave not.
But olives were very present anda part of the offering.
(42:23):
And that's worth noting. Also, Minerva, who was a Roman
goddess, she was the Roman equivalent of Athena, of course,
is depicted with olives as well.And another honorable mention
would be Mary, who is known as the mother of Jesus Christ.
Mary is sometimes symbolized as an olive tree.
(42:45):
She is a symbol of righteousnessand of mysticism.
And olive oil is used in Marian anointing rituals in certain
Catholic traditions. Worth noting.
OK, but now let's get into the meat.
This is what we're really here for.
So this is a folk tale from Greece known as the cursed olive
(43:10):
tree. Long ago in a small village on a
sun soaked island in ancient Greece.
This village was located by the Aegean Sea and there stood A
gnarled silver leaved olive treeat the edge of the town square.
(43:34):
The elder said that it happened,oh, that it had been planted by
Athena herself. Each year the villagers held a
small festival beneath its shade, lighting oil lamps and
offering honeyed bread and gratitude.
But one year a man named Deodorus returned to the village
(43:55):
and embittered by years of misfortune.
His crops had failed, and he hadgrown suspicious of the old
ways. He scoffed at the offerings and
mocked them in a tree. This old stump brings no coin,
no crop. If the goddess cared, she would
have spared my suffering, he spat.
(44:18):
One night, drunk on homemade wine and fury, he took his axe
and chopped the sacred olive tree down.
Stupid boy. The next morning, the
townspeople found the tree. Fallen birds had vanished from
the square. The air felt hollow.
Deodorus laughed and he said nowwe can plant something useful.
(44:44):
But the curse was already at work.
This fucking idiot. That spring, his fields bore no
grain. His goats fell.
I'll rain refused to fall over his land while his neighbors
thrived. Yeah, bitch, that's right.
Each night he dreamed of a womanin a bronze helmet, her Gray
eyes watching him in silence, disappointment heavy in her
(45:07):
gaze. Oh my God, that's so Kunti.
She's literally visiting him in his dreams and just giving him a
the the stare of shame. Yes, this fucking idiot.
Jesus. Like if there's an ancient tree,
be nice to it you fucking loser.Do you know what this is
(45:33):
reminding me of? Like, this is kind of reminding
me of the Christmas ritual. Like, yeah, if you haven't
listened to the Christmas episode, I highly recommend.
But basically in parts of Europe, they would decorate
trees and leave offerings at trees during the darkest time of
the year as like a prayer to like, bring a meaningful harvest
(45:57):
and to bring good luck and to basically, like, worship the
trees because the trees give life and they give food and they
give shelter. And like, how crazy is it that
that became a fad? And then like, basically what
I'm getting at is like how feminine, how obviously a woman
(46:17):
came up with this idea of like leaving offerings at trees and
like decorating them and treating them with love.
And then only a man could think of turning that into an industry
where you chop the fucking tree down to decorate it in your
house and then throw the tree away.
Like, you know what I mean? It's like, tell me a man did it
without telling me a man did it like the modern Christmas tree
(46:37):
industry. And that's what this is
reminding me of. This like fucking idiot guy is
like all this beautiful, sacred ancient tree in my village.
It's not making me money. I'm going to just cut it down
'cause it's useless to me. Like you fucking idiot.
Meanwhile, this goddess is just disgusted with him in his
dreams. I'm living for this story.
Have modern men learned? No.
(47:03):
OK, so now he's being visited inhis dreams.
And he withered like the tree hehad destroyed.
Yes. Eventually the man vanished.
Some say he wandered into the hills seeking forgiveness.
Others say he was turned into stone.
The villagers planted a new olive tree in the same spot, and
(47:24):
to this day they say it leaves whisper warnings in the wind.
Do not mock the sacred. The old spirits remember even
when we forget. That's right, bitch, stop
killing the olive trees. I don't even want to think about
(47:45):
the amount of bad fortune they've amassed by murdering all
those olive trees. Jesus, let's just be nice to the
trees. We should be decorating them and
telling them we love them and bleeding onto them with our
menstrual blood and talking withthem asking what they want.
(48:05):
Be nice. It's really, it's really not
that hard. It's literally so much easier to
be kind and love plants. Also, if you listen to them,
their advice is really good. It usually has to do with
relaxing and focusing more on listening and planting more
(48:27):
plants. Have you seen that theory that
like plants are actually farmingus because we give them carbon
dioxide and we fertilize them when we die, and that we're
actually basically like, we justspread their seeds and cultivate
(48:47):
them and that's what they want? I should actually do a whole
episode. I have.
I have a whole crazy like theoryabout how plants are farming us.
So stay tuned. OK?
Folk tale #2 This is an Italian folk tale called the Olive Girl.
Oh my God, can't wait. I'm an olive girl.
(49:08):
I'm actually, I don't know if you're watching this on YouTube,
but I am wearing my olive green dress.
So I am an olive girl. Today.
This story takes place in southern southern Italy in the
rural countryside in a place that cultivated olive.
So here we are in the countryside in an ancient olive
(49:30):
Grove. There once was a farmer named
Lupo who lived alone after his wife passed away.
Every year he tended his ancientolive Grove, but the trees no
longer bore fruit. One day, while pruning a knot of
(49:51):
a knotted OLED olive tree, he found a strange shiny olive
unlike any he had seen before. It was large, glistening, and
seemed seemed to hum in his palm.
He was moved by instinct. He planted it into the soil
beneath the tree. Weeks passed and one morning he
(50:15):
returned to the spot and he saw a small girl sitting where the
olive had been planted. Her eyes were the color of green
gold. Her hair was the shade of olive
leaves. Ah, get out of town.
This is, this is reminding me ofKaguya.
Who are you? He said.
I am from the tree, she replied simply.
(50:40):
Oh my God, I'm going to cry. He took her in and raised her
like his own. She never ate, munched, she
never ate much. She only sipped dew and olive
oil. Get out of town.
Wherever she walked, trees blossomed.
The Grove returned to life. I'm in love with her.
(51:03):
Oh my God. But she had one condition.
No one was to ever try to take her photo or capture her
likeness. Hmm.
Years pass and people began to talk.
She must be a fairy, they said. Taurus offered Lupo money to see
her. One day, a stranger sneaked a
(51:25):
photograph. Come on, you fucking bitches.
The next morning, she was gone. Yeah, no, like, come on.
In her place, an olive tree stood.
It strung slender and youthful. From its branches hung golden
green olives unlike any other. They say her spirit lives in
(51:48):
that tree and that the oil from its fruit can heal broken
hearts. Some beings belong to the land.
To try to own them is to lose them.
That is so true. That is too true.
I love the olive girl. I want to be the olive girl.
(52:12):
These are so precious, these olive stories.
I could cry. Next we have a Berber legend.
The Berbers are from North Africa.
This legend is called the Goddesses Tears.
Oh my God, I could already tell.I'm going to love this story.
(52:33):
The olives born of sorrow. This takes place in the Atlas
Mountains. Long long ago, in the time
before time there was a goddess named Tislet.
Sake. Tislet.
(52:53):
I love that name, Tislet, who watched over the mountains and
the desert people. She walked among them unseen,
blessing the herders and singingto the stars.
But alas, war came, Tribes turned against each other and
blood soaked the earth. Tislet was heartbroken.
(53:16):
She stood atop the highest mountain and she wept.
Her tears fell on to the rocky soil, and from each tier a small
dark fruit sprang. The people, desperate and
starving, saw these fruits and ate them, though they were very
bitter. Then one night an old woman
(53:38):
dreamed of the goddess, pressed the fruit and light it.
She told them she woke. She pressed the olives and
placed a drop of oil in a clay lamp.
It burned for seven days and seven nights.
This is sounding a little bit like Hanukkah, baby.
(54:01):
She woke, pressed the olives. Oh, I already read that.
Oh, pause. Some people believe that in the
Hanukkah myth, olive oil was used, and I just want to bring
that up. OK, carry on.
Peace slowly returned the land. The olive became sacred, a gift
(54:22):
born of grief but transformed into light.
Today, Berber women still sing songs to Tislet during the olive
harvest, and some say if you cryunder the olive tree in grief,
your tears will never be wasted.Even in sorrow, when honored,
(54:46):
can become a blessing. This is so fresh.
I want to grow olive trees. OK, And lastly, we have a Balkan
folk tale. The olive tree that remembered
(55:06):
this takes place in Montenegro in a coastal village.
There once was a woman named Mila whose husband was lost at
sea. Each day she walked to the
ancient olive Grove by the cliffs and lit a candle under a
tree they had carved their initials into.
Years passed and she grew old, but she never stopped visiting
(55:30):
the tree. Oh, and she missed her husband.
He was lost at sea. 1 winter. She fell ill and could no longer
walk. The villages carried her to the
olive Grove, and she placed her head on the tree.
That night a great storm struck,but the tree remained standing
(55:52):
while the others fell. In the morning her body was
gone. In its place new branches had
grown in the shape of arms. Reaching skyward that spring,
the tree bore thousands of olives for the first time in 70
years. They say the tree remembered her
(56:13):
love, her ritual, her grief, andgave fruit in return.
Trees remember those who love them.
They bloom not just with the sun, but with the devotion of
its loved ones. I'm telling you, and that's why
I'm trying to tell you, love thetrees.
(56:35):
Love is the most powerful thing,and if when you love the trees,
the trees will bloom extra. We can literally heal the world
with love. It sounds like it's corny.
It sounds like it's a fantasy, but it's so fucking true.
Love is the most powerful spell in existence.
(56:55):
People. Come on, come on.
Oh yeah. Let's take a quick break, baby
girl. Hello, traveller.
Have you forgotten that you are an incredible one-of-a-kind?
(57:17):
Pepper? There is no one on planet Earth
like you. Do you know how incredible that
is? Never forget it.
It might take time, it might take practice, but whatever your
dreams are, you can attain them.Yes, you can, and you know that
it's true. I believe in you.
(57:38):
I'm so proud of you. One step at a time and you're
going to make it. And we're back.
Darling. Let's get into the most exciting
of all. Let's talk about the sensual and
spicy legacy of olives and oliveoil.
(57:58):
Yeah, babe, we're going there. This is a shout out to my
curious Carnal and pervy listeners.
I'm just kidding. I don't mean to call you pervy.
I'm just reaching out to my sensual and sexual baby girls.
Let us talk about olive oil, orgies and Greco Roman body
(58:23):
worship. Let's talk about it.
Olive oil was the original body gloss babe.
In ancient Greece, especially during festivals like the
Dionysia and the Panathenia, young men and women would anoint
their bodies with oil before participating in ritual dances,
(58:43):
athletic contests, and erotic revels honoring gods such as
Dionysus, Aphrodite, and Arrows.Yes, people would rub each other
down with olive oil and have giant orgies and or have
exercising competitions or have a dance party or have all three.
(59:06):
I'm telling you, Greek athletes especially, well, let's just say
nude athletes, they would often compete naked.
They would cover themselves in olive oil to show off their
physique and to symbolize their divine favor.
(59:28):
And after wrestling or racing, they would scrape the olive oil
from their body, combined with their sweat and dust, and they
would put them into little containers.
And they called them glowyos. And so these athletes would then
sell these like little vials of the oil in their sweat and dust
(59:52):
and sell them to fans. And they said that this would be
a potent love or healing charm. How's that for merge?
That's hot. That is fucking hot.
Also, olive oil was considered to be an aphrodisiac and it was
used as a sensual massage oil during.
(01:00:13):
Or basically orgy festivals. And they were dedicated to both
Pan and Dionysus. How hot is that?
Also, in the secret rites of Bacchus in Rome, known as the
Bacchanalia, participants would be bathed in oil before
(01:00:34):
aesthetic dancing and sometimes orgies.
How fun is that? You just get covered in oil and
have a dance party and then an orgy like that.
This is how it's done, people. It, this is how it's done.
And olive oil is so good for your skin.
I'm telling you like we can we bring this back?
(01:00:57):
Interestingly, olive oil was also a very common funeral rite.
It accompanied the dead on theirjourney across time and space in
Egypt. Interestingly, tombs were often
found containing olive oil vessels.
(01:01:18):
These would be offerings for theafterlife.
The oil was believed to preservethe soul, which they called the
ka, and it ensured that the deceased would smell sweet in
the afterlife. Also, in ancient Greece and
Rome, corpses were anointed witholive oil during preparation for
burial, symbolizing purification, divine favor and
(01:01:42):
beauty. Even in death, Oil lamps were
lit in tombs and kept burning toguide the human soul home.
In some funeral games held to honor the dead, winners were
awarded olive oil vats these offerings of the spirit of the
(01:02:03):
deceased. Wait, I'm so sorry my my brain
right now. This offering the spirit of the
deceased wealth and glory in thenext life.
So basically you could win oliveoil that you would take to you
take with you into your afterlife.
Also in Christianity there is the last rites, also known as
(01:02:28):
the extreme Unctium and they would use olive oil to anoint
the sick or dying, sealing the soul with divine light.
In early Christian catacombs they contain graffiti of olive
branches and olive vessels, which was a prayer for eternal
peace. How magical is that?
(01:02:50):
Also like I mentioned olive oil has been used.
For scrying, it has been used tomix with herbs to create
tinctures, candles to put over doorways to anoint lovers for
love spells in Sicilian magic, olive oil was rubbed on the skin
(01:03:12):
to invoke love and ward off spirits.
It has been used for protection and exorcisms.
It's even mentioned in the Bibleand the Kabbalah that olive oil
was used to cast out demons and to anoint holy warriors and
prophets. Moroccan women would speak,
(01:03:33):
would soak rose petals and cinnamon bark in olive oil and
create love potions and pleasureoils.
The oil was warmed and used in sensual massages and they would
prepare the body for ritual sex and fertility rites.
Olive oil was not just sensual, it was supernatural, a divine
(01:03:59):
lubricant between worlds. How hot is that?
Also worth mentioning that in a lot of Greek and Arab myths, the
olive tree was a symbol of love and union.
Lovers would often consummate their union under an olive tree,
(01:04:22):
believing that the spirit of thetree would bless their union
with fertility. In Sapphic poetry also the olive
Grove is a sacred lesbian love site.
We love that lesbians for olivesin the Song of Songs.
In the Hebrew Bible, the belovedis described with metaphors of
(01:04:44):
olive, of oil and trees. Quote, Your name is like perfume
poured out. Your body is a garden of
pomegranates and olive shoots. Kill me.
That is so beautiful. In both Lebanon and Palestine,
there's folklore that says couples married under ancient
(01:05:04):
olive trees would stay bound forseven generations.
That's so beautiful. It's also interesting to note
that the olive pit is seen as a symbol of a womb or a vaginal
symbol, and the oil is often seen in its viscous, golden and
(01:05:27):
slow moving state. It's seen as sexual fluid.
Like quite literally a symbol ofsexual fluids and compared to
sexual fluids. In the Sufi, Gnostic and Tantric
traditions, the pressing of olives became symbolic of divine
ecstasy through pressure and surrender.
(01:05:49):
The metaphor of love, labor, transformation, fertility.
Olives have had a huge impact onhuman culture and though today
we may not think about them or be using them, it is important
to note how big of an impact that olives have had on human
(01:06:12):
culture. The fact that even now you can
look at a symbol of an olive branch and know that it means
peace. You can see a white dove
carrying an olive branch and these seem to just be symbols
that we all know and they come from rituals and beliefs that
are 10,000 years old. Olives helped shape the modern
(01:06:33):
world. Olives are an integral part of
our human history and they are magical.
They are medicinal and they are special.
And let us not forget that thereare still olive trees alive
right now that are thousands of years old and they are worth
saving. Let's not be like that idiot in
(01:06:54):
that one story who chopped down ancient olive trees.
We're doing it around the world.We're chopping down ancient
trees and not thinking about it sometimes because we're just
being silly and negligent, and sometimes it's out of hatred.
It's unacceptable. Let's start planting trees.
Let's start protecting trees. Let us go back into union of
(01:07:19):
communicating with the plants and animals, enjoying the plants
of animals, worshipping the plants of animals.
This is a magical paradise planet.
We have everything we need here.We need to get over ourselves.
We need to end human on human violence and enjoy the beautiful
paradise that is planet Earth. Olives are magical.
(01:07:42):
You are magical. We can do this.
I love you. Thank you so much for listening
to the podcast. I deeply, deeply appreciate you.
And I'm reminding you. Please e-mail in, send me some
stories. Send me some weird stories that
you heard as a kid. Tell me about a weird dream you
(01:08:04):
have, Tell me about some weird visions you've had, Tell me
about aliens that you saw once. I want to hear it all.
I appreciate you. I love you, I adore you.
Please take good care of yourself.
You are an important asset to planet Earth.
We're all here to love and enjoyand grow.
(01:08:24):
Keep up the good work babe. I'll see you next time.
Over and out.
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