Post by atarnaris on Jan 11, 2006 23:24:32 GMT
The Hellenic Mysteria
Now stands no more between Truth and me
Or reasoned demonstration
Or proof of revelation
Now, brightly blazing full, Truth's illumination
Each flickering, lesser light.
The last words of Mansur Al Hallaj, legendary Sufi master and martyr.
Initiation
The need for initiation was apparent to the ancient Hellenes, in Aristophanes' Peace, a character responding to a death threat says: "Then lend me three drachmas for a little piggy. Before I die I have to get initiated." During initiation, People were taught through experience things that cannot be put into words, and there lies the Mystery of the Mysteria.
The ancient Greeks invented many sacred rites in order to provide ways to communicate with the divine within. The true mystery being the way that they came to such attainment which enabled them to design such Mysteria as the Bacchic, Kaberia and Eleusinia.
The term Mysteria, finally came to signify the Eleusinian Mysteria, the most important initiation rites of the Hellenic world.
The Eleusinian Mysteria, like the Egyptian ones, were divided into lesser and greater, which were exoteric and esoteric respectively and which were also celebrated at different times and places. The Greater Mysteria took place at Eleusis, a small agricultural city about 30 km northwest of Athens whose name means happy arrival.
The effects of the initiation were considered profoundly transformative, so much so, that even the clothes worn by the Mystai were considered consecrated.
The Mythology
Most of the information we have about the Eleusinian Mysteria comes from the Homeric hymn to Demeter. The central myth of the Mysteria is the search of Demeter, goddess of fertility and agriculture for Persephone, her daughter who had been abducted by Hades, god of the underworld.
Demeter, stricken by this, took the guise of an old woman and clothed in black, made the earth barren and wandered the world in search of her daughter. This search ultimately brought Demeter to Eleusis (hence the name) where she volunteers to care for the Kings’ son. The king’s wife offered Demeter wine, but instead, she requested a drink which continued as an important part of the mysteries, the kykeon, made of barley, water, and pennyroyal. Demeter, secretly fed the boy the food of the gods and placed him in a flame that would have given him the status of a god, but Demeter was discovered and the goddess revealed herself in a grand epiphany and demanded that a temple be built in her honour where herself would establish the rites.
However, making the earth barren caused a great famine and the humans begun to waste away thus causing the gods to lose the offerings on which they depended. Finally, Zeus found a compromise whereby Persephone was restored to her mother on condition that she had not eaten anything from the underworld. Persephone had partaken of four pomegranate seeds which ensured that she would stay in the underworld for four of the twelve months of the year, winter; the Greeks had only three seasons and no autumn.
In a few words, the wise goddess of the earth bears a daughter of great beauty to the strongest of all gods, god of the sky. That daughter is lost to and her mourning mother searches for the lost daughter until she reaches the place of arrival and establishes her cult where she teaches men the secrets of life and death through revelation. Finally the supreme god intervenes and life is restored.
Here we can see the meaning of the Mysteria, which life is taken by death but finally has to be restored, that the earth contains great wisdom and power but reveals it when by some necessity it loses its innocence and beauty.
The etiology for this myth, as in many other Greek myths is love, Eros, of the darkest for the beautiful, the need for ascension created by awareness of the existence of a higher state.
The Lesser Rites
These were held in February, with the exact time not always fixed. They were in a sense preparatory for the full initiation in the Greater. The priests purified the candidates for initiation (Myesis) who first sacrificed a piglet to Demeter and then purified themselves.
The Greater Rites
The Greater Mysteria were held once a year in September, the first month of the Attic calendar for nine days. The activities began one day before the first day of the Mysteria, when a procession carried the Hiera (holy things of unknown nature) to Athens after preliminary sacrifices. The procession would stop to rest at the Sacred Fig Tree, where according to legend Demeter stopped to rest. The procession then would go into Athens to the city Eleusinion, the temple of Demeter in Athens at the base of the Acropolis.
The festivities were conducted by the high priest and four assistants, the two Hierophantes (Showers of the sacred) and two Torch Bearers. Present were also, the candidates and the Initiate Guides who had already been initiated.
The first day on the 15th, the Hierophants declared the start of the rites and messengers from Eleusis proclaimed a holy truce in Greek city-states lasting fifty-five days. The candidates for initiation, gather in the Market and the Herald called out that only those with “a soul conscious of no evil”, who have lived well and justly and not guilty of murder may proceed. Then it was ensured that each candidate had been initiated into the Lesser Mysteria and the rest of the day was spent in meditation.
The ceremonies began in Athens on the second day with the candidates walking to the sea at Phaleron near Piraeus to bathe, themselves and a piglet each which they sacrificed on return at the Eleusinion the next day. Those participants who arrived late were purified on the 18th while the rest mentally prepare for the initiation.
The Procession to Eleusis, involving the Hiera, the candidates and all the main functionaries began at Kerameikos, the Athenian cemetery on the 19th.
The candidates walked to Eleusis, along the Hiera Odos (Sacred Way), swinging branches along the way and shouting ‘Iah’.
At the bridge of the river Kefisos, men with covered heads, waited to hurl insults, jeers, mockery, and abuse at candidates. Upon reaching Eleusis, by torchlight, as Demeter is supposed to have been looking for Persephone by torchlight, festivities were held for the candidates who later would disperse to rest for the night.
On 20th September was the Teletai (perfecting). Offers of corn and flour were made to the goddesses. Fasting for the day in commemoration of Demeter's fasting while searching for Persephone, the fast was broken, at night, by drinking kykeon and the initiates entered a great hall called Telesterion where the priests revealed the visions of the holy night This was the most secretive part of the Mysteries and those who had been initiated were forbidden to ever speak of the events that took place in the Telesterion under penalty of death. An all-night feast followed and a bull was also sacrificed late that night or early the next morning.
The 21st was probably spent in preparation for the final night in the Telesterion and on the 22nd, two odd-shaped vessels with water were tipped out to the east and west by each initiate, who uttered a secret phrase and there were probably many festivities that day too.
The next day the Mysteries ended and the now Mystai (initiates) returned to Athens
On the following day, the High Priest and his assistants reported to the Athenian ruling assembly at the Eleusinion on the proceedings and recommended action against anyone who had acted impiously. After this, the Mystai had no further obligation.
A Third Initiation
A final stage of initiation, which only some achieved, was the Epopteia (viewing), which took place a year at least after initiation into the greater mysteries. There, the Mystai would see what Triptolemos, the first, initiated by Demeter herself saw, the Sacred Marriage of Demeter and Zeus.
The Mysteria in History
The Mysteries are believed to have begun about 1500 BCE, during the Mycenaean Age and they were held annually for about two thousand years. By the 5th century BCE, the Eleusinian Mysteria became pan-Hellenic and pilgrims flocked from all over the Greek and later, the Roman world. The Mysteria were open to any Greek speaker, man, woman, or slave.
The Roman emperor Theodosius I closed the sanctuaries by decree in 392 CE and the last remnants of the Mysteries were wiped out in 396 CE, when Alaric, King of the Goths, invaded and desecrated the old sacred sites.
In Conclusion
The Mysteria concentrated on life and death. To travel to Eleusis, would actually mean to actually travel west, searching for the lost Persephone and enter the Telesterion, the underworld where initiation was achieved into the mysteries of death before the initiate emerged to the light. Death and rebirth in this life, revelation of the self and liberation of the will, Plutarch writes: "to die is to be initiated".
The rites consisted of three things: things said, things done and things shown, the details of which will for ever remain secret, the deepest secret however, being the unique experience of each seeker from initiation.
If one looks at modern initiation rites like the ones in Freemasonry, one can see the role-play changing but the fundamental functions they serve remain the same and the answers and secrets remain known only to each initiate. And we should be proud of our human nature, which is such that we will journey in search for the lost Persephone in all aeons, until we find the geometry and the harmony of knowing oneself.
"Thrice-blessed are those mortals who have seen these rites and thus enter into Hades: for them alone there is life, for the others all is misery." Sophocles
Published with permission of a newly initiated Bro of Kirby Lodge 2818
Now stands no more between Truth and me
Or reasoned demonstration
Or proof of revelation
Now, brightly blazing full, Truth's illumination
Each flickering, lesser light.
The last words of Mansur Al Hallaj, legendary Sufi master and martyr.
Initiation
The need for initiation was apparent to the ancient Hellenes, in Aristophanes' Peace, a character responding to a death threat says: "Then lend me three drachmas for a little piggy. Before I die I have to get initiated." During initiation, People were taught through experience things that cannot be put into words, and there lies the Mystery of the Mysteria.
The ancient Greeks invented many sacred rites in order to provide ways to communicate with the divine within. The true mystery being the way that they came to such attainment which enabled them to design such Mysteria as the Bacchic, Kaberia and Eleusinia.
The term Mysteria, finally came to signify the Eleusinian Mysteria, the most important initiation rites of the Hellenic world.
The Eleusinian Mysteria, like the Egyptian ones, were divided into lesser and greater, which were exoteric and esoteric respectively and which were also celebrated at different times and places. The Greater Mysteria took place at Eleusis, a small agricultural city about 30 km northwest of Athens whose name means happy arrival.
The effects of the initiation were considered profoundly transformative, so much so, that even the clothes worn by the Mystai were considered consecrated.
The Mythology
Most of the information we have about the Eleusinian Mysteria comes from the Homeric hymn to Demeter. The central myth of the Mysteria is the search of Demeter, goddess of fertility and agriculture for Persephone, her daughter who had been abducted by Hades, god of the underworld.
Demeter, stricken by this, took the guise of an old woman and clothed in black, made the earth barren and wandered the world in search of her daughter. This search ultimately brought Demeter to Eleusis (hence the name) where she volunteers to care for the Kings’ son. The king’s wife offered Demeter wine, but instead, she requested a drink which continued as an important part of the mysteries, the kykeon, made of barley, water, and pennyroyal. Demeter, secretly fed the boy the food of the gods and placed him in a flame that would have given him the status of a god, but Demeter was discovered and the goddess revealed herself in a grand epiphany and demanded that a temple be built in her honour where herself would establish the rites.
However, making the earth barren caused a great famine and the humans begun to waste away thus causing the gods to lose the offerings on which they depended. Finally, Zeus found a compromise whereby Persephone was restored to her mother on condition that she had not eaten anything from the underworld. Persephone had partaken of four pomegranate seeds which ensured that she would stay in the underworld for four of the twelve months of the year, winter; the Greeks had only three seasons and no autumn.
In a few words, the wise goddess of the earth bears a daughter of great beauty to the strongest of all gods, god of the sky. That daughter is lost to and her mourning mother searches for the lost daughter until she reaches the place of arrival and establishes her cult where she teaches men the secrets of life and death through revelation. Finally the supreme god intervenes and life is restored.
Here we can see the meaning of the Mysteria, which life is taken by death but finally has to be restored, that the earth contains great wisdom and power but reveals it when by some necessity it loses its innocence and beauty.
The etiology for this myth, as in many other Greek myths is love, Eros, of the darkest for the beautiful, the need for ascension created by awareness of the existence of a higher state.
The Lesser Rites
These were held in February, with the exact time not always fixed. They were in a sense preparatory for the full initiation in the Greater. The priests purified the candidates for initiation (Myesis) who first sacrificed a piglet to Demeter and then purified themselves.
The Greater Rites
The Greater Mysteria were held once a year in September, the first month of the Attic calendar for nine days. The activities began one day before the first day of the Mysteria, when a procession carried the Hiera (holy things of unknown nature) to Athens after preliminary sacrifices. The procession would stop to rest at the Sacred Fig Tree, where according to legend Demeter stopped to rest. The procession then would go into Athens to the city Eleusinion, the temple of Demeter in Athens at the base of the Acropolis.
The festivities were conducted by the high priest and four assistants, the two Hierophantes (Showers of the sacred) and two Torch Bearers. Present were also, the candidates and the Initiate Guides who had already been initiated.
The first day on the 15th, the Hierophants declared the start of the rites and messengers from Eleusis proclaimed a holy truce in Greek city-states lasting fifty-five days. The candidates for initiation, gather in the Market and the Herald called out that only those with “a soul conscious of no evil”, who have lived well and justly and not guilty of murder may proceed. Then it was ensured that each candidate had been initiated into the Lesser Mysteria and the rest of the day was spent in meditation.
The ceremonies began in Athens on the second day with the candidates walking to the sea at Phaleron near Piraeus to bathe, themselves and a piglet each which they sacrificed on return at the Eleusinion the next day. Those participants who arrived late were purified on the 18th while the rest mentally prepare for the initiation.
The Procession to Eleusis, involving the Hiera, the candidates and all the main functionaries began at Kerameikos, the Athenian cemetery on the 19th.
The candidates walked to Eleusis, along the Hiera Odos (Sacred Way), swinging branches along the way and shouting ‘Iah’.
At the bridge of the river Kefisos, men with covered heads, waited to hurl insults, jeers, mockery, and abuse at candidates. Upon reaching Eleusis, by torchlight, as Demeter is supposed to have been looking for Persephone by torchlight, festivities were held for the candidates who later would disperse to rest for the night.
On 20th September was the Teletai (perfecting). Offers of corn and flour were made to the goddesses. Fasting for the day in commemoration of Demeter's fasting while searching for Persephone, the fast was broken, at night, by drinking kykeon and the initiates entered a great hall called Telesterion where the priests revealed the visions of the holy night This was the most secretive part of the Mysteries and those who had been initiated were forbidden to ever speak of the events that took place in the Telesterion under penalty of death. An all-night feast followed and a bull was also sacrificed late that night or early the next morning.
The 21st was probably spent in preparation for the final night in the Telesterion and on the 22nd, two odd-shaped vessels with water were tipped out to the east and west by each initiate, who uttered a secret phrase and there were probably many festivities that day too.
The next day the Mysteries ended and the now Mystai (initiates) returned to Athens
On the following day, the High Priest and his assistants reported to the Athenian ruling assembly at the Eleusinion on the proceedings and recommended action against anyone who had acted impiously. After this, the Mystai had no further obligation.
A Third Initiation
A final stage of initiation, which only some achieved, was the Epopteia (viewing), which took place a year at least after initiation into the greater mysteries. There, the Mystai would see what Triptolemos, the first, initiated by Demeter herself saw, the Sacred Marriage of Demeter and Zeus.
The Mysteria in History
The Mysteries are believed to have begun about 1500 BCE, during the Mycenaean Age and they were held annually for about two thousand years. By the 5th century BCE, the Eleusinian Mysteria became pan-Hellenic and pilgrims flocked from all over the Greek and later, the Roman world. The Mysteria were open to any Greek speaker, man, woman, or slave.
The Roman emperor Theodosius I closed the sanctuaries by decree in 392 CE and the last remnants of the Mysteries were wiped out in 396 CE, when Alaric, King of the Goths, invaded and desecrated the old sacred sites.
In Conclusion
The Mysteria concentrated on life and death. To travel to Eleusis, would actually mean to actually travel west, searching for the lost Persephone and enter the Telesterion, the underworld where initiation was achieved into the mysteries of death before the initiate emerged to the light. Death and rebirth in this life, revelation of the self and liberation of the will, Plutarch writes: "to die is to be initiated".
The rites consisted of three things: things said, things done and things shown, the details of which will for ever remain secret, the deepest secret however, being the unique experience of each seeker from initiation.
If one looks at modern initiation rites like the ones in Freemasonry, one can see the role-play changing but the fundamental functions they serve remain the same and the answers and secrets remain known only to each initiate. And we should be proud of our human nature, which is such that we will journey in search for the lost Persephone in all aeons, until we find the geometry and the harmony of knowing oneself.
"Thrice-blessed are those mortals who have seen these rites and thus enter into Hades: for them alone there is life, for the others all is misery." Sophocles
Published with permission of a newly initiated Bro of Kirby Lodge 2818