Aetherous Posted March 8, 2019 Every once in a while I find myself trying to figure out what the Eleusinian Mysteries were all about. Sometimes I find sources which are pretty informative - this thread is to collect those, and perhaps for people to discuss these Mysteries. Here's one:http://www.san.beck.org/Eleusis-4.html This book is quite good, considering that it explores other mystery cults alongside Eleusis:https://www.scribd.com/document/235729974/Jan-Bremmer-Initiation-Into-the-Mysteries-of-the-Ancient-World 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nungali Posted March 8, 2019 (edited) What they are all about is indeed the crux. We can get to that by looking at essential similarities in all initiation traditions - cross culturally - Then removing the non- essential local cultural dressing. But the Greek and Roman mysteries seemed to have set a pattern for what remains today in western mystery schools. But there are also things which are similar across the board ( time and culture) one is a 3 stage system - I have even found that in Australian Aboriginal initiation systems. In regard to modern expressions, I and my group did a few cycles of a modern system of 'The Rites of Eleusis'. It was a BIG effort ( re writing for relevance, temple set up, finding the right music , making costumes, learning pages of script for one off performance of 1 of 7 rites every 10 days, ) and we did them each year for about 6 years, but extremely rewarding. A common feature in this and in many ancient traditions is the acting out of certain events in a God's life or mythological stories . There are also other roles for related mythological or astrological characters. One thing about doing multiple series is one can do different roles and get varied perspectives from them, Or play a related role throughout one series ( eg, those related to variations of an astrological sign or planet.. We created some extra ones to go along with those below; Rite of Pluto; with the mythology of Demeter decent and rise from underworld and a 'Rite of earth' based on various Aboriginal stories. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rites_of_Eleusis Eg https://hermetic.com/crowley/the-rites-of-eleusis/luna . Edited March 8, 2019 by Nungali 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
