Olympian God Apollo, Patron God of Paradise, Reunion and Reincarnation
Summary of Contents: Apollo in Mythology | Arrival and Appearance | Welcome to Paradise | No Venom. Only Dangerous Fruit | Garden of Singles | How to Survive Paradise | Reunion and Reincarnation
Festival Day - 24 January
God Apollo in Mythology
God Apollo is listed by Hesiod in Theogony as son of goddess Leto and god Zeus. Brother of Artemis and father of the Muses, the goddess patrons of the sciences and arts. In Homer's Iliad he and Ares take the side of the Trojans.
Apollo’s most famous temple stood in Delphi city, near Athens, Greece, on the mountainside of Parnassus. Site of one of the seven great oracles in the ancient world. Mythology often links him as the god of sunlight, prophecy, medicine, and the arts and sciences.
Olympian God Apollo Mythological References
Goddesses, Gods and You
What kind of Heaven do you expect. Soft fluffy paradise of eternity, or oblivion of nothingness? Out-of-body survival expert Margo Williams discovered a surprisingly simple system of management and afterlife recycling.
There are many goddesses and gods in the community. Speaking their name aloud evidently sends a signal; creates a link to wherever they are at any given moment. If it works for you as it worked for Margo, and they respond, be respectful but be yourself. Honesty and thoughtfulness are appreciated.
Sacrifice nothing but your time. Most of them seemed approachable and appreciated being remembered.
The ancient temples that still can be found in some places, although mostly broken, are huge monumental structures; impressive sacred spaces, their scale designed to impress, to be worthy of divine visitation.
However, it is not the size and splendour of any sacred space but the sincerity of the person seeking contact.
"Is Apollo, the son of Zeus?" Nick Hammond asked out-of-body survivalist Margo Williams.
Olympian God Apollo's Arrival and Appearance
"Apollo gave me no indication of family relationship with Zeus, in all our time together; though that does not confirm there isn’t a connection. However, so far as I can tell, Apollo coordinates an important consequence for us all - happiness.
His arrival was gentle and genial, and very pink.
A young good-looking god; dark eyes, mid length curly hair. Wore a white tunic, aged mid twenties I guessed. The whole room glowed with his pink radiance.
He gestured to the altar. "I feel honoured, there is wine, which I enjoy. The red rose, I know is not solely for me, but it is a symbol of love. I bring love with me into this room and hope love will always remain."
Apollo stepped close, placed his hand on my shoulder. "You are very fortunate to have the gift of hearing and seeing." Then backed away and vanished.
First encounters always were brief. Second were always challenging. Even Apollo.
Welcome to Paradise
The following Sunday night he returned with information on something else. "Come." We arrived in a bright-lit marble-floored chamber. I followed him across the cool stone and out through a doorway into a formal-looking garden of green hedge and flower border.
Several stone steps led up to a two-person bower seat half enclosed by a semi-circle of fragrant rose bloom hedge. Apollo climbed the steps alone and then sat on one side of the seat. Gestured to the other. "Will you come and sit beside me?"
I came to a stop several steps below, and for some reason could not take another step up toward him. I tried to move my feet. "I cannot," I said.
"Why not?"
"Don’t know," I replied. "Something is stopping me. I can’t."
"Try." Apollo watched as I struggled but neither foot would extend in any movement. He stood and walked down the steps toward me. "Wisdom is stopping you. It was a test. If you had sat beside me, you would have stayed in this garden and not returned. You were wise to refuse." Apollo smiled, and then vanished.
I waited to be lifted back to my body but that didn’t happen, so set off exploring a path away from the bower; it led to a field-sized grassy area. I was surprised to see lots of people, and a marble-lined swimming pool in which a young couple swam.
I sat on the edge, dabbled my feet in the water and noticed with some surprise how my feet looked perfect, not twisted at all. I was quite absorbed examining this happy discovery. The couple swam round and stepped out of the pool then sat beside me, one either side.
"You shouldn’t be here," said the woman. It was a friendly warning but a warning nonetheless.
"You should be in the other garden," said the man.
"I am only visiting," I replied, hoping that to be true.
The couple looked to each other for explanation but found none. The woman shrugged. "We have only recently arrived." They said nothing more, so I stood and walked away. My feet looked perfect but so did everything else; there were no weeds and no dead flowers.
No Venom. Only Dangerous Fruit
The garden seemed populated with wildlife, lots of birds though only small; butterflies and bees curiously bigger than normal size. Another young couple walked by, amused to see me stare at everything. The woman put out her finger and lightly touched a bee on a flower.
"See? No sting." She pointed to something in the bushes. I saw a small snake, mottled green and yellow in colour. "No venom, either." She reached down and touched it.
A hornet landed on my arm; sunlight illuminated the iridescent colours in its wings. I thought to try and touch it and did so, gently. No sting. It stayed a moment then flew away.
Another couple greeted me. I mentioned how perfect everything seemed to be.
"YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE!" yelled a man, he ran toward me. "Get out!" He pointed across the garden, to somewhere in the distance. The woman beside him pulled at his arm to hush him.
"I can go where I like," my reply more irritable than intended due to hunger, for suddenly I felt ravenous. Another couple came close, so I asked if they could help me find food but their answer was of no assistance at all. They told me it was not necessary to eat.
The woman pointed across the field toward a tree with big juicy-looking pears within easy reach. I thanked them for their kindness, walked over and picked one. It smelt delicious, soft and ripe. I brought it to my mouth, but instead of biting into its juicy flesh, I dropped it on the ground even though hunger gnawed in my belly.
"Wise." Apollo appeared beside me.
The fruit, like the seat was death.
Garden of Singles
The garden of pairs, as I came to call it for obvious reasons, was a place of blissful happiness, evident on the face of everyone there but I discovered it was also a place where sweet sorrow came to pass.
The following Sunday Apollo returned, and again deposited me in the garden. "Now you know the secret," he said. Again he vanished soon after our arrival, let me free-roam though as always I sensed him watching but this time he left me in an unfamiliar place, near a gate in a hedge.
"Where does that go?" I asked a nearby couple, sat together.
They didn’t speak but the man stood and walked over and opened the gate. He seemed keen for me to go through; tilted head in a 'That way' gesture. I guessed where I should be was on the other side of that gate.
"Thank you," I said and stepped through as he held it open.
I entered an identical garden except for one obvious difference. Like the garden of pairs it was huge, with tall leafy trees, lush green lawns, pools and people, but no couples. They walked alone, not in pairs; lots of people aged in their middle years, some looked quite elderly but nowhere near as many young people as on the other side of the gate.
A man approached me, asked who I was looking for. "No-one," I replied.
"Have you come to join us?"
"No, just visiting," I told him.
How Best to Survive Paradise
Every Sunday I returned to the gardens. Apollo didn’t accompany me but I sensed he allowed me access to wherever I wanted. He let me discover things, but things changed as the months passed.
Sometimes people I had seen and spoken to and even made friendships with, had disappeared from both gardens. I discovered how unhappiness haunted the idyllic garden of pairs and those who waited in the garden of singles did in time find the happiness they desired.
The way it worked was simple: what everyone awaited in the garden of singles was their reunion moment with a lost partner. Sometimes the person for whom they waited walked in through the main gate and into the garden.
Sometimes he or she materialised inside, and that sudden appearance often caused screams of happiness. They then were permitted into the garden of pairs where a sweet transformation happened, their age visibly reduced.
People in the garden of singles seemed willing to chat with me, perhaps for obvious reasons, but some expressed impatience. I wondered why they didn't all just go and join everyone else in the other garden. "Are you happy here?" I asked a single woman on a swing seat on a tree.
"Happiness is a state of mind," she replied. "If you think happy, you are happy. And I always think happy. Does that answer your question?"
"Yes," I said.
"I do not have much longer to wait," said another. So I asked if she knew how long she had waited. "Not long," she replied.
"Weeks or months?" I asked but she looked blankly at me.
"I have never known such peace," said another.
As my visits in the gardens continued, I realised the people were using my appearances as a time-measure.
"I am pleased you have come," said a bald white man with a French accent. "It means more time has passed, a shorter time to wait."
Reunion and Reincarnation
Invariably I was left to explore on my own but from time to time Apollo accompanied me, although those occasions were rare.
"You shall walk beside me," he said. We travelled deep into the garden of pairs; some couples knelt as Apollo passed, the men bowed low. Apollo smiled to them all. If any walked on the path, they drew back to either side and bowed to him.
Near the gate into the singles garden we met a couple; they bowed but I noticed unhappiness in their expressions, so I asked what troubled them.
"We are about to reincarnate," said one, he forced a smile. "And it will be some years before we will meet up again."
Apollo stopped but said nothing. He gazed at them interestedly, as if he understood their feelings, then continued to the singles gate which opened as he approached.
We walked in peaceful silence among the dead. In fact the dead were everywhere to be found in those gardens, though “dead” was not how I would have described them.
If anything they looked more healthy and alive than any people I had ever seen before. Resurrection happens quicker than expected, and since their laying to rest they had not in fact rested for long; and in all probability had been elsewhere, living other lives, short and long, good and bad, whatever; and probably been buried again once or twice.
Each person in the garden of singles lived in hope that one day sooner rather than later they would be reunited. In the garden of pairs most, I guessed, lived in dread that one day far too soon they would be parted, not by death but by life.
Thank you for your company on this short introduction to god Apollo and the gardens. If you would like to know more about Margo Williams' experiences and suggestions for how to survive in the hereafter, read this book. Now available from Amazon.
