A Re-Vision of the Hellenic Mystery Tradition

by
E. Rigakis

This paper is written primarily as a report on the revival of the ancient Mystery tradition through the creation of a Greek Thelemic tradition. Included is mention of the condition of occultism (thelema, paganism, magick, freemasonry, etc.) in present day Greece.

When I first began my quest for Self , though I knew of the Hellenic tradition, I chose to follow other traditions and systems. On the one hand I knew very little of the tradition, limited to it's mythology in fact. And on the other hand, I found what I did know to be too plain, not appealing enough for me at that age. It was not until about 1989e.v., having moved from Canada to Greece two years earlier, that I began to seriously look at my heritage and so it's mystery tradition. It was at this time that a few Greek books found their way into my hands, among them the Orphic Hymns. I soon found that much of the Orphic, as well as Pythagoric, tradition agreed with the Thelemic philosophy I had been following. This was the spark that lit and continues to fuel the fire that drives me in my research and workings of the Hellenic Mysteries. Little did I know then what awaited me. Now, eight years later, I find myself on the foundation of a new tradition, evolved into the New Aeon. This just means that the tradition is seen in a different perspective, and this then makes the tradition appear anew. And really it is new, as the state of the tradition demanded refreshing. Beyond the fact that the tradition was abandoned completely a little over 1500 years ago, leaving nothing but faint remnants of it's existence, the tradition cannot and should not be revived in the same form that it was in ancient times. The tradition must be a living entity, growing and evolving. Therefore, to be true to that ancient tradition, it must be "modernized" per se, still keeping it's fundamental context and blending it with contemporary thought. No longer do we celebrate with ancient rites, but evolve new ones from them. In such a way the tradition, though anew, remains loyal to it's ancient ancestor.

To evolve a thing, one must know well that thing. So in 1989e.v. I also began my great hunting adventures for works/studies on the Mysteries. Though there was much available on the Hellenic tradition, there was not on the Mysteries themselves (beyond ancient text). The unfortunate reality of studying the mystery traditions is that they are a mystery, kept in the strictest secrecy, the ancients never wrote the mysteries themselves. They would write of the mysteries, in poetry, theater and especially in philosophy. This leaves open the way for speculations and theories from scholars. Still there are notably few works written about the Mysteries. By being able to read Greek and live in Greece I was able to go beyond published materials, and conduct my research first-hand. I found that to understand the Mysteries, one had to learn all the different aspects of the Hellenic culture, traditions, even the ancient's way of life and way of thinking.

An important key, though, is that one's studies should include a wide range of information, and types of publications, especially archaeological studies of excavations, and the like. Up until the late 1930's e.v., the Hellenic Mystery tradition had been one of vagueness and misrepresentation. There are many reasons for this, the greatest, perhaps, being from the suppression and persecution of the Mystery tradition from the Christian church. Another of which comes from limited academic knowledge and vague evidence. Excavations in Greece began just after the mid 1800's but were few, sporadic, and in some cases not even catalogued. It was not until the 1920's that more excavations began to flourish. Still it took archaeologists nearly ten years to begin systematic excavations. Therefore, studies written on the mysteries before 1933e.v. cannot be considered proper for study. Though these studies are useful for references to specific ancient text about the mysteries, their theories and speculations have long been falsified. Unfortunately, these studies (and works based on these studies) make up about 75% of the material available today to the student of the Mysteries.

This mis-representation caused a general disregard of the Mysteries, as being simply a copy of some other tradition (usually Egyptian). Some had even gone as far as to say it was not a serious tradition (barbaric), nothing more than a religious farce. Though today we have a very different view and clearer understanding of the mystery tradition, stemming from the aborigines of Greece. Especially with new evidence from excavations during the past 20 years or so, our knowledge of the ancients has changed dramatically and caused a split in the academic community. More so because some of these discoveries have been labeled strange and even unexplainable.

Strange as it seemed to me then I found the greatest reference to the procedures of the Mysteries was to be found in the ceremonies of the Orthodox church. It is known that many of the first fathers of Christian church were themselves initiates of the Mysteries, specifically of the Eleusinian tradition. I therefore began to study the Greek Orthodox church more closely, in the light of the Mysteries. I easily began to see matters that explained many things about the mysteries. For instance, the ancient temples did not have pews/benches, which meant the worship was made standing. In an Orthodox church there are no pews/benches (or at least not supposed to, but modernism has brought in the bench), it seems Greeks have always stood at worship. It is also known that ancient Greek wasn't exactly spoken but sort of sung, and the ceremonies of the Greek Orthodox church are sung by the priest (of course, it's not exactly a singing but a vibrating). The associations were astonishing, even to the regalia of the church are a mimic of the mysteries (in Athens, at least). Although this enlightenment is very important, it still only represents the basis of the work in creating this tradition.

Evolving a tradition is a whole different matter, as it also involves a catalyst to give it direction. The catalyst that I found to evolve the tradition was Thelema in the light of the New Aeon. Though there may be many definitions of Thelema going around these days, when I think of thelema , individualism comes to mind. Thelema is a personal path, a unique path to each initiate. Therefore there is a certain meaning behind calling the mysteries thelemic. Thelemic-mysteries are the initiate's own mysteries, the mysteries of his/her psyche/soul. Through his/her studies of the ancient mysteries (the mysteries of nature), the initiate discoveries, and in so doing creates his/her own mysteries, mysteries of his/her own nature. The initiate of the mysteries is presented with the formulae of nature, that if formulated will cause an inner awakening in the initiate. I suppose some might call this personally tailoring the mysteries to suit one's own purposes, and perhaps in some respect it is. But to tailor the mystery, one must know what to tailor it too ; one must know his/her True Will, which is not so easy. In the Book of the Law, the law of thelema, we read : Behold! The rituals of the old time are black. Let the evil ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet! Then shall this Knowledge go aright. Which means the initiate must choose the good rituals, those rituals that express him/her Self most and purge them, make new ones. Everything is anew ! Each one of us is the prophet of our own God-head/Daemona. To discover/create your own mysteries means that you have awakened too them, realizing that the mystery is the Daemona. With the communion of initiate with Daemona comes the unveiling of the company of heaven, the unveiling of the Mysteries and the initiate is a disciple no-more, he/she is the prophet who reveals the mysteries of past, present and future.

A new tradition calls for many things, a new way of doing things, a new way of explaining things, a new way of expressing these things. New feasts and festivals, new
rites. Even to the creation of a new mythology, something like a continuation of the
ancient myths. I full heartedly believe in a new mythology, Crowley perhaps being the
first to indicate the idea of new aeon deities with Babalon and the Beast. This past year I have begun a work I entitle the Neomythos which is to be exactly that ! a new
mythology. Indeed the new mythology is never completed because it is really made up
of everyones own mythologies. This whole current of creation, this ideal of creating anew is the fundamental theme of this new aeon, symbolized by an image of a Child -
the next generation. This creating ideal is perfectly depictive of the most ancient deities of Greece, the Kabiri. The Kabiri were infact primitive deities, from the time man lived in caves, and were responsible for leading man out of the cave with the knowledge of fire. They remained the most secret of all the deities throughout all of history, until their mysteries faded out about the second century a.d. Their mysteries were centered round the ideal of creation in all it's many guises.

If we were to take this further even and follow the succession of the ruler of the world, Kronos, Zeus and after Zeus, the fifth ruler was Dionysos. Dionysos is, of course, the Christ, but now we are faced with the time for the sixth ruler. The ancients are extremely vague about the sixth ruler, and there is no mention of the sixth, except for the indication of the next ruler being the child of Dionysos. So off I marched in search of the child, son or daughter, of Dionysos but without luck. Those I did find were not in any way related to the theme of the next ruler, until I found the Kabiri. In Boeotia they worshipped Dionysos in the form of a Kabiro. The Kabirian mysteries in Boeotia celebrated marriage and wine, and Dionysos was called simply Kabiro. Kabiro or Dionysos is known here to have a child called Pais, which literally means child. In the museum of Thiva (Thebes) there is a vase painting depicting the mysteries, Dionysos is shown reclined with arm extended, instructing or commanding Pais, who pours libation before the practitioners. But there is absolutely nothing said about Pais, not a word about who he was and what he did. Being presented without any myth except for his connection to Dionysos, leaves us open to either discard the deity as unnecessary baggage or create our own interpretation, per se. If anything, Pais gives us the incentive to create anew, by giving us no other solution to define him. Pais is, therefore the perfect representation of the new aeon, and indeed, in the Greek tradition, the true Lord of the New Aeon is Pais. A child, though bares a mix of certain characteristics from both parents, has it's own personality, character, and free will. The child must find his/her own way in life, and for this reason a child is a Thelemite. This child is really each one of us, sifting through all traditions in search of our own way.

What I find myself doing, really, is breathing new life into the Hellenic tradition by making it thelemic. After all, Thelema is a Greek word. There must be a reason for
Will being expressed in Greek. In the Book of the Law, the word is even written in
Greek. The whole book is written in English, even Hebrew and Egyptian names are
written with Latin/English characters. Only the word of the Law, Thelema, is written in its own script. Perhaps the reason that is, is to indicate the Hellenic nature of Thelema. This is one of many reasons I thought it worth taking another look at the mystery tradition. My findings and development I concentrate into book format, hopefully to be released soon enough.

For the past five years or so, we have also been witnessing a renewed interest in ancient Greece by the United States, among other countries. Both in American movies and television, things like Hercules: the legendary journeys, Xena: The warrior princess, and even a Walt Disney production of Hercules but most notably the television production of Homer's Odyssey. This has stirred the rest of the world, to a greater or lesser extent, in this renewed attention. Even among the occultic community there seems to be a Greek under current that is steady and slowly growing. It has effected modern day Greece as well, and for the past two years awakened a noticeable change in Greek's interest in their own roots, especially their religious roots. We find Greek publishers printing all the more ancient texts (both in ancient and modern Greek), ancient studies by Greek researchers & scientists and many translations into Greek of very notable books. Works such as Carl Kerenyi's, the series on ancient Greek religions by Jane Ellen Harrison, and works of Thomas Taylor are just some of the works that have been translated. In fact, today, you could find ten times more publications on the tradition in Greek than English.

This is a far cry from the situation I found when I arrived in Greece in 1987e.v. At that time Greeks were limited by what was available, in print and in their own language, even with publications of ancient texts. Thelema was literally non-existent in Greece then, though Crowley was known by those few who read the few magick books that were translated and in print. One of the O.M.I.'s first projects then, was to translate Crowley into Greek and get the works published. The first work I translated was the Book of the Law, and though I offered it to every Greek publisher I could find, none would take it. One publisher even told me that, as a publisher in Greece, Crowley's works are considered dangerous. Crowley's reputation as a Satanist etc. was the status quo for Crowley in Greece. Even today, among the occult community in Greece, Crowley is still frowned upon, very few are they who see beyond the mask. Though in these ten years the O.M.I. has been successful in raising a Thelemic awareness in the Occult community. We have even seen a big Greek publisher translate and publish, Crowley's Book 4 (Parts I & II) and The Book of Thoth (along with the Taro deck).

Ten years ago the Occult community in Greece consisted of mostly Masonry (Scottish Rite), but it really was an elitist club for business men, and very political. There were a couple of small groups from bookstores and publishers, groups like a study group of the Society of the Inner Light (Dion Fortune) in Greece. These groups, though, were very secretive, for the influence of the Christian church upon the people is very severe. The Christian conditioning has taught the people to see all that is not Christian to be Satanic, even if that means their own heritage. But in these past ten years we have been witnessing great changes, especially in religious tolerance in Greece. Today we have nearly all traditions in Greece, Eastern and Western centers, Orders, such as Rosicruscians and Templars, who advertise in national magazines. It is remarkable to think that all these Orders, groups, ashrams, and centers are located in Athens, but beyond Attica, these groups are not. This is because Athens has an enormous tolerance by the people, whereas in the rest of Greece this tolerance is not so greatũn Athens everything goes, all is permitted. Still no public organizations with the stamp of Crowley, such as the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis), have anything organized in Greece. So far the only outlet of Thelema in Greece is the O.M.I. and now the Order of Threskia, Agape Prophet House. Beyond Attica one will find a more pagan and nature worship attitude in groups and individuals. There are some pagans scattered throughout different parts of Greece, but they tend to be private groups, a lot of them not even knowing of the others existence. There is one pagan group that is organized in Athens who are dedicated to the Dodecatheon (Twelve Gods) Tradition and call themselves Societas Hellenica Antiquariorum. Some Greek groups have also made themselves known through the Net, as the S.H.A. has. Hellenic Paganism though, has a great presence on the web, some very cool links can be found at Pythia's Page. But nearly all these Hellenic Paganism sites are not located in Greece.

Even though the occult community in Greece is growing and becoming very noticeable, it is still seen as there being a rise in Satanism in Greek media. Today's Greeks are still very superstitious and their Christian conditioning runs very deep. This is why all serious groups are secretive and remain in the Greek underground. Actually, that's quite fitting now that I think of it..

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