The Eleusinian Mysteries
I found Dr. Keller's work on the Eleusinian Mysteries very interesting. I tried to do more research on Dr. Keller, but most of what was available was a Linkedin profile and her own website which did not appear to be fully functional. The majority of information available online was also available in the first paragraph of "The Ritual Path Of Initiation Into The Eleusinian Mysteries". What I did find striking though, is that she believes that the freedom of religion to worship goddesses is a social justice issue. I thought freedom of religion has been relatively standard in America and that the need to differentiate between monotheistic and polytheistic traditions is not necessary.
While reading Keller's article, I could only think of how important the ritual must have been to the people of ancient Greece that there would be a truce for two months in order to allow the people traveling to the Eleusinian Mysteries to have safe passage. Part of the Mysteries, which happens on Days 7 and 8, involves the initiates drinking kykeon. This drink is made from boiled barley water and mint, according to Dr. Keller. In the other Eleusinian Mysteries reading though, it has also,"... been suggested that this drink was infused by the psychotropic fungus ergot and this, then, heightened the experience and helped transform the initiate" (The Eleusinian Mysteries: The Rites of Demeter, pg2). This is an important detail that Dr. Keller did not state in her article. I am unsure if she did not mention this because, it would seem to discredit the original Mysteries, she did not include the fungus or anything similar in her recreations, or, she did include the fungus/something similar and did not want to call attention to it.
Lastly, I want to bring up the cartouche that is on every odd numbered page in Keller's article. A cartouche is an oval or oblong figure in Egyptian hieroglyphics, enclosing characters expressing royal or divine names or titles http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/28319?redirectedFrom=cartouche#eid . I did not know that the article was from a Rosicrucian journal, but I did recognize the scarab at the bottom of the cartouche. In Egypt, the scarab was a very important creature and hieroglyph. The scarab represents great power of protection, but also represents new life. This relates to the Eleusinian Mysteries because for the Greeks, these rituals were a sense of rebirth, and helped the initiates not to fear death, but see it as a new beginning.
While reading Keller's article, I could only think of how important the ritual must have been to the people of ancient Greece that there would be a truce for two months in order to allow the people traveling to the Eleusinian Mysteries to have safe passage. Part of the Mysteries, which happens on Days 7 and 8, involves the initiates drinking kykeon. This drink is made from boiled barley water and mint, according to Dr. Keller. In the other Eleusinian Mysteries reading though, it has also,"... been suggested that this drink was infused by the psychotropic fungus ergot and this, then, heightened the experience and helped transform the initiate" (The Eleusinian Mysteries: The Rites of Demeter, pg2). This is an important detail that Dr. Keller did not state in her article. I am unsure if she did not mention this because, it would seem to discredit the original Mysteries, she did not include the fungus or anything similar in her recreations, or, she did include the fungus/something similar and did not want to call attention to it.
Lastly, I want to bring up the cartouche that is on every odd numbered page in Keller's article. A cartouche is an oval or oblong figure in Egyptian hieroglyphics, enclosing characters expressing royal or divine names or titles http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/28319?redirectedFrom=cartouche#eid . I did not know that the article was from a Rosicrucian journal, but I did recognize the scarab at the bottom of the cartouche. In Egypt, the scarab was a very important creature and hieroglyph. The scarab represents great power of protection, but also represents new life. This relates to the Eleusinian Mysteries because for the Greeks, these rituals were a sense of rebirth, and helped the initiates not to fear death, but see it as a new beginning.
I agree that for the ritual to be important enough to warrant a country-wide truce, it would have to be very important indeed. We already know from Oedipus and other reading that the Greeks really respected their gods, and they felt like if they were not pleased then many bad things would happen. This is most likely the case of these mysteries, as since Demeter was the goddess of the harvest, she would have been quite important to the well-being of every Greek, because in their eyes she could simply make the fields not produce crops. This is backed up by the reading of the Eleusinian Mysteries in the Encyclopedia of the Ancient World, which hypothesizes that "the `doctrine` of the mysteries was probably very simple: thanksgiving for Demeter’s gift to the living". It is clear that they value their harvest, because they are having the mysteries in the first place, and thus ensuring a good harvest would probably be good reason for a truce.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly astounding that ancient Greece was able to stop its infighting to celebrate the mother Goddess and the important familial relationships she represents. The importance of the mother in Ancient Greece is also surprising to me given that Greece was a very patriarchal society.
ReplyDeleteI also can understand Keller's claim that the freedom to worship is a social justice issue because many religions, although able to be practiced, are underrepresented and are negatively views by society. An easy example in modern society is Islam. In addition, I don't agree that America has reached a state where all religions are seen on an equal platform, but we have certainly progressed towards a nation with true freedom of religion.
The cartouche is a very interesting touch to your post, and I am curious as to why Keller didn't dress it in her article!