The Eleusinian
Mysteries:
Healing and
Transformation
Stations of Mythic or Spiritual
Journeys
The following "stations" or "events"
represent those typically found in any initiatory experience, whether
the initiation be brought on by "life's journey", or invoked
voluntarily by the initiate, himself in a formal or ceremonial
setting. The order may differ from one setting to another.
Paradise - Innocence
Abduction
Separation from
innocence/paradise/home/comfort zone
Separation from loved ones
Separation from community
Blindness
Bereftness-inconsolable grief
Entrance into the Underworld-Psychic
Unveiling
Fatigue-exhaustion-illness
Loss of possessions-including
identity
Abandonment-betrayal
Purification
Sacrifice
Contemplation
Lost-meaninglessness-futility-no
purpose-defeat
Barrenness
Disintegration
Confrontation with one's demons-fears and
history
Loss of illusions
Reduction to essence
Surrender
Fasting and preparation for ordeal
Ordeal
Prayer and meditation
Burning in the divine fire (that doesn't
burn)
Alliance with the Natural World
Alliance with Liminal figures, others, the
dead ( & honoring)
Dedication and devotion
Telling the story
Celebration and revelry
Alliance with the gods "Imitatio Dei vel
Deae"
Re-cognition
Dis-membering
Transformation:
- Fertility
- Ecstasy
- Understanding
- Prosperity
- Transmission
- Vision
- Receiving gifts
Unification:
- Conjunctio-Divine Marriage
- Birth of Divine Child
- Return to Community
- Re-membering
Healing and Restoration:
The elements listed below more
specifically relate to the Eleusinian Mysteries and to the Myth of
Kore [virginal Persephone] and Demeter. In the myth and
it's surrounding Psychology we find the classical Initiatory path
used in everyday Jungian work: the personal journey we all must
take: Innocence and it's loss to accomplish rebirth, or return to
essence.
- Paradise - Innocence
- Abandonment-betrayal
- Abduction
- Contemplation-Prayer and
meditation
- Dedication and devotion
- Entrance into the Underworld-Psychic
Unveiling
- Transmission
- Magickal Alliances with: Liminal and
other figures ( & honoring)The dead
The gods "Imitatio Dei vel
Deae"
The Natural World
Transformation:
- Compassion [identification with
Archetypal Suffering [of the Mother]
- Confrontation with one's demons-fears and
history
- Burning in the divine fire
- Understanding
- Gathering
- Celebration
- Feasting
- Procession
- Revelry
- Telling the story
Purification:
- Fasting and preparation for
ordeal
Sacrifice:
- Barrenness
- Bereftness-inconsolable grief
- Blindness
- Dis-membering
- Dis-integration
- Fatigue-exhaustion-illness
- Loss of possessions-including
identity
- Lost-meaninglessness-futility-no
purpose-defeat
- Ordeal
- Self-Satire, Scrutiny; Ego
breakdown
- Separation from
innocence/paradise/home/loved ones/community/comfort
zone
- Surrender
Vision:
- Collective Vision
- Personal Vision
- Bliss
- Ecstasy
- Loss of illusions
Receiving gifts:
Unification;
- Re-cognition
- Re-membering
- Conjunctio-Divine Marriage
- Fertility
- Birth of Divine Child
Healing and Restoration: Return to
Essence
"Blessed are they who have seen the
Mysteries, and descended into the Underworld: they know the end of
life and the beginning!"
"After the uterine illumination comes the
ordeal of rock out of which must be born the spark which is to fire
the world. I speak in broad, swift images because to move from place
to place in Greece is to become aware of the stirring, fateful drama
of the race as it circles from paradise to paradise. Each halt is a
stepping stone along a path marked out by the gods. They are stations
of rest, of prayer, of meditation, of deed, of sacrifice, of
transfiguration. At no point along the way is it marked FINIS. The
very rocks, and nowhere on earth has God been so lavish with them as
in Greece, are symbols of life eternal. In Greece the rocks are
eloquent: men may go dead but the rocks never."
Henry Miller, Colossus of
Marou
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