The Eleusinian
Mysteries:
Healing and
Transformation
Purification & Sacrifice
The Sacrifice and The
Pig
The pig is the sacrificial animal most often
related in several different interpretations of the Mysteries at
Eleusis. In one presentation, Euboleus was a swineherder, and when
the earth gaped open to swallow Persephone, he was near the sight and
his herd was swallowed up with the virgin. Their screams most closely
resemble the sound of human cries than any other animal. It, along
with the Brazen Gong and the Tympana Drum were the sounds of
Eleusis.
It was also related that in ancient times,
the Mystai enroute to Eleusis carried a piglet to be purified in the
sea, and then taken to sacrifice in the pits prepared, and later
these remains were retrieved to use as fertilizer for the next years
crop. A later tradition was recounted that after the sacrifice, the
entire region of Eleusis smelled of roasting pork and the meat may or
may not have been consumed as part of the sacrifice. One common theme
pervades in each of these interpretations - the pigs were
sacrificed.
The pig was sacred to both mother and
daughter and represented the Great Sacrifice, it's blood being
charged with a portion of their divinity. To eat the flesh of a
sacrifice is to become one with it - the very resurrection of life
from death. The Sow Goddess acts as an epiphany of the Lady of the
Plants. Demeter often carries a torch and under her arm a small
terra-cotta pig; thereby her connections to the underworld are
explicit. On the coins of Eleusis a pig stands upon a flaming
torch.
The sacrifice is a gift of commitment to the
new, and an atonement for the past in relating to our lives and
aspirations. Therefore, it must come from the heart. It's essence is
symbolic of a small death to past fear or regret. As it is killed, or
sacrificed so is the sacrificer to the past from which he wishes to
transcend. The things to be considered would be those which restrict
movement of the spirit to the divine fire of rebirth, wherein all
dross is burned away. The fire which burns, but does not
consume.
"The initiate at Eleusis was vividly reminded
of her own death, to be sure, when she (or he) was obliged to
sacrificially slaughter a pig, whose body was thrown into a noisesome
pit with scores of others. Anyone who has ever bred pigs will
appreciate not only their uncanny, almost human intelligence but also
the horrendous shrieks they let out when they sense impending death.
The sacrificial pig stood as a chilling ritual substitute for the
human initiate who would, of course, die one day herself. Doubtless
it was intended as part of a ritual meditation on the attendant
terrors of death, but perhaps, too, it contained an inescapable
reminder of the transformational mysteries of the Earth Mother. The
great Renaissance physician and alchemist Paracelsus, who understood
the power of nature (which he called lumen naturae, or the "light of
nature") may help us understand the mystery in the following
extraordinary passage: "Decay is the beginning of all birth...It
transforms shape and essence, the forces and virtues of
nature...Decay is the midwife of very great things! It causes many
things to rot, that a noble fruit may be born; for it is the
reversal, the death, and destruction of the original essence of all
natural things. It brings about the birth and rebirth of forms a
thousand times improved. .......And this is the highest and greatest
mysterium of God, the deepest mystery that He has revealed to mortal
man."
Risk
To laugh is to risk
appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk
appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk
involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk
exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams
before the crowd is to risk
their loss.
To love is to risk
not being loved in return.
To live is to risk
dying.
To hope is to risk
despair.
To try is to risk
failure.
But, risk must be taken,
because
the greatest hazard in life
is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing,
does nothing,
has nothing and is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he
simply cannot
learn, feel, change, grow,
love....live.
Chained by his certitude's,
he is a slave,
he has forfeited freedom.
Only a person who risks....is
free.