Embodied in these festivals of art, music and theater she hoped to promote a balanced sense of enlightenment that would further the goals of peace and harmony in Greece and beyond.
Barney likened Palmer to a medieval virgin, an homage to her ankle-length red hair and fair countenance.
[7] She left the school before completing a degree, choosing rather to join her brother Palmer Jr. in Rome for a year and to study independently.
[9][10] Palmer occupied herself fine-tuning her fluency of the French language, attending theater as well as participating in impromptu theatrical performances at fetes in Natalie Barney's backyard garden.
Due to labor unrest in Paris in 1905, the married couple and their baby came to stay with Palmer at her small house in Neuilly.
With the hopes of reproducing the quality of authentic Greek robes, the trio fashioned a loom to create several garments for themselves.
As her dress departed from the more typical and Parisian fashions dramatically, the New York newspapers found in Palmer, an heiress of her father's infamous reputation, ample material to write upon.
Additionally, using her own funds as well as organizing donation drives, she and Psachos would raise the money necessary to commission the creation of a specialized harmonium.
The relationship between Eva and Angelos is described by Takis Dimopoulos, a very close friend of Angelos and person that understood his work, in his article titled "The poet and Eva" Dimopoulos, initially deals with their relationship as secretly prepared for a long time and almost predetermined by fate.
Angelos (who, at the time he met Palmer was in his prime both spiritually and mentally, “a young bull”, a young Dionysus and fabulous Adonis” from the "warm bosom of Mother Earth") and Eva, both urged to mate by the poet’s sister Penelope, are considered as two symbols: "[...] we have [...] the man, whose bowels are burning with desire for the Eternal female [...] and the woman who, like a crystal interacts with the "Male Speech" in many levels.
"Sikelianos, after their acquaintance, travels to Egypt (where he writes his work “Alafroiskiotos" (The Light-Shadowed) and, when he returns to Lefkada, he gets into a relationship with her, which would soon lead to marriage.
Eva as the new "Homeric Penelope", due to the waiting for his return, changes her spiritual targeting and recognizes the priority that a loyal attitude and focus on the vision of the great poet has: she becomes the "thirsty receiver" of unrestrained "bacchic" erotic and mystic intoxication, sets aside every obstacle that gets in his way (material or otherwise), guides him and supports him in difficult times (death of Penelope), in a word, she is trying to assure that he will remain undisturbed from anything will could stand in his course.
He, in turn, tries to understand the Greek tradition, he knows the "great Mystics" of all cultures and times and is increasingly developing his "innate secretive mood" and the "first image of Mother Nature" in him.
Eva plays a very important role in this quest and essentially manages to become a “true Greek Bacchant”, she deals with all the organizational, practical and material aspects of the Festivals, allowing Angelos to be devoted to his vision.
Her offer, however, is very important (she composes music for the chorus of the tragedies and sews the dresses for the dancers according to ancient Greek standards).
Angelos, influenced by her absence (which resulted in the cancellation of their wedding in 1934 and their separation), turned to another 'first image’" of the "Mother", trying to divert somewhere else his torrential Dionysian vision which is "affected" by the existential questions that have begun to torture him.
Ultimately, she turned back to her "spiritual home", Greece, only when her Dionysus had returned to his Mother, so that she would stay forever in Delphi.
These included a production of the Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound, performed amid the ruins of the theater at Delphi, an athletic competition at the stadium, and an assembly of local handicrafts in the nearby village.
Palmer's primary task was the production of Prometheus Bound, which involved directing the play, training the Greek chorus, and weaving all of the costumes from scratch.
[25] While she did not consider herself the sole source of accuracy and authenticity on Greek tragedy and chorus, she felt she had learned enough on the topics to know that there was no one alive who was.
Finding enough dedicated men to perform this dance, as well as creating the breastplates, helmets, swords and spears, was a monumental task.
[27] Press reports throughout Greece and Europe wrote positively of the festival and many previously disposed as skeptical of the idea were convinced otherwise.
She was asked to lecture at various schools, colleges and universities and wrote several papers on the topics embodied in the festival and the Delphic Idea.
Tourism and the export of Greek wares could infuse the economy, whereas the studious pursuit of the Delphic Idea would not, in the eyes of the government, garner any returns in the foreseeable future.
[35] Palmer would again return to America with hopes of stirring interest in the Delphic Idea and the lessons of Greek Tragedy and Drama.
She was invited to join the Federal Theater Project in New York, a New Deal program to employ out-of-work artists, writers and directors.
It was Palmer's desire to produce such a play that featured male dancers and singers, believing that such participation furthered the precepts of the Delphic Idea.
The competing agendas and in-fighting between committees and sub-committees of the Federal Theater Project, as well as an uneven participation and dedication by a motley crew of tap-dancers, vaudeville stars and circus performers she was given to work with, undermined Palmer's efforts.
In the spring of 1938 she would give a lecture to a Greek society group called Philiko where she announced her intention on teaching The Persians.
The autobiography was assembled and edited by John P. Anton, Professor of Greek Philosophy and Culture at the University of South Florida.