Who is, or rather: who wás Castalia?
The name comes from the ancient Greek mythology
Castalia was a naiad-nymph (water nymph) who lived at the foot of Mount Parnassus, near Delphi.
The mountain was the home of the muses: goddesses, sisters of Apollo, who were the personification of the fine arts: poetry, rhetoric, music, … Translating from Wikipedia: “They were the symbol of the inspiration. The concept of muse which still stands for inspiration has been derived from these muses. A temple in honour of the muses was called museion, in Greek. This is where the word museum comes from. Also music comes from the muses.”
Nymphs, on the other hand, were half-goddesses, represented by the Greek as graceful young women. They were the personification of life and of the restless nature. The naiad-nymphs were the nymphs of the springs, fountains, rivers, etc.
The story
At a certain point in time, according to the mythology, Apollo noticed Castalia and admired her. But that was not appreciated by Castalia and she changed into a source or fountain. There are two versions of the story. Either Apollo had punished her because she was resistant to him, or Castalia had transformed herself in order to escape from Apollo’s amorous advances. In any case, whoever drank of the water or listened to its beautiful sounds was much inspired and could produce wonderful poetry and music. The muses have certainly benefitted from Castalia’s source!
So, while the muses are still symbolically triggering inspiration, Castalia was literally the “source of inspiration”!
Inspiration is the springboard for our ánd your future!
We hope that our Foundation can also trigger some inspration now and then, and in more than one sense: for musicians and other artists and scientists, by bringing them together, but also to allow for ideas in other people’s minds when they conclude from our initiative that indeed, things are not aways about money or profit. You can present and offer something freely and altruisticly and ask to do something freely for other people. Such example we wish to be.
We are always interested in such ideas of yours because, who knows, they could be relevant for the Castalia Foundation. In this way, also YOU can be a source of inspiration for us!