The Eleusian Mysteries

Is Christianity founded on the Mysteries of Greek Priestess initiation ceremonies?

The Myth

The story of Demeter and Persephone is the most significant myth of ancient Greece, as this story offered something which other myths could not - a vision of eternal life and triumph over death.

Demeter, the goddess of nature, had a daughter - Kore (which means 'maiden'), who was kidnapped by Hades, lord of the underworld. Demeter searched for Kore all across the earth in vain. Disguised as a human, she arrives at Eleusis and the city takes her in as a nurse. She feels obliged to reward the city for its hospitality and reveals herself. She then shares her secret rites, which consequently become the central theme of the Eleusian Mysteries.

While the people built her a temple in Eleusis, Demeter taught the Queen's son Triptolemos, the art of agriculture. Zeus, King of the gods, persuaded Hades to return Kore to her mother, as with Demeter's grief, the crops were dying, people were starving and the gods were not receiving their accustomed tributes. Hades agreed but had tricked Kore into eating some pomegranate seeds and, if one ate in the land of the dead, one remained with the dead.

As she had only eaten a few, however, it was agreed she would spend half the year with Hades in the underworld and half with her mother on Earth. Kore emerged from the underworld as Persephone - 'she who brings doom' - Queen of the Dead. And while she remained on Earth, Demeter caused the world to be fruitful while when Persephone was in the underworld, the plants withered and died thus the seasons were explained.

Most importantly, this myth reflected the concept of the transformation and the cyclical nature of life. One's existence did not end with death because there was no death - there was only change from one state of being to another.

The Mysteries

The Eleusian Mysteries are the secret rituals of the Mystery School of Eleusis. They were one of the most important religious rites of Ancient Greece with The Sacred Way - the road from Athens to Eleusis - being the only road that was not a goat path in all of central Greece until the Romans arrived.

They were shrouded in secrecy and provided initiates profound spiritual insights with a connection the the Divine. Those who participated in the Mysteries were forever changed for the better and they no longer feared death.

The Mysteries were centred around the honouring and symbolic reading of the story of Demeter and Persephone, reflecting themes of fertility, agriculture, midwifery and the cyclical nature of life, death and re-birth. But initiation to these rites was no simple task. Participants had to prepare for at least half of the year or more by nurturing themselves spiritually to embrace the secret revelation.

The initiates were given a vision of the afterlife so powerful that it changed the way they saw the world and their place in it. They were freed from a fear of death through the recognition that they were immortal souls, temporarily in mortal bodies. In the same way that Persephone went down to the land of the dead and returned to that of the living each year, so would every human being die, only to live again on another plane of existence or in another body. The concept of anados (ascent or way up), the myth of the return of Persephone from the underworld every year in Spring symbolized the renewal (re-birth) of life after the Winter.

The Eleusian Mysteries were divided into two parts: the Lesser Mysteries - that was for preparation and preliminary initiation, were held in Spring. And the Greater Mysteries - that were the culmination of the initiation process, were celebrated in Autumn around the Equinox.

The day before the start of the Mysteries in early September, the Priestesses of Demeter and Persephone commenced walking towards the temple of the Goddess in Athens. Each took a basket full of Demeter's sacred objects of carry on their heads along The Sacred Way.

The Mysteries then began with the march of the Mystai (initiates) in a procession along the stream of Ilissos outside of Athens. According to the myth, Demeter searched for her daughter for nine days in agony. Similarly, the time frame of the initiation rites took nine days to complete A series of purification rituals, fasting, sacrificial offerings, and honouring to Demeter were performed, and when the Grand Procession started, the Priestesses with their sacred baskets began their walk with thousands of initiates behind them.

They walked a distance of 14 miles, re-enacting Demeter's search for her lost daughter. At Eleusis they would rest by the well Demeter had sat down by and fast for 3 days. They would then drink a barley and mint beverage called 'Kykeon'. It has been suggested that this drink was infused by the psychotropic fungus ergot, or by ayahuasca, and that this drink heightened the experience and helped transform the initiate. After taking the Kykeon, the Mystai entered the sacred building, the Telesterion, an underground 'theatre' where the secret ritual took place.

There is no clear evidence of what the final rites actually were, although distorted, misrepresented information was given by later Christian writers who tried to condemn the Mysteries as pagan abominations.

Most likely it was a symbolic re-enactment of the death and re-birth of Persephone which the Mystai watched and possibly took some part in. Whatever happened in the Telesterion, those who entered would come out the next morning radically changed.

A belief in the transmigration of souls - reincarnation - seems to have been central to the vision of the Mysteries and this provided people with a sense of peace in that they would have another chance to experience life on Earth in other forms.

The Eleusian Mystery school existed in Greece for nearly two thousand years - well before Christianity - during the Mycenaean period between 1600 - 1100 BC (possibly with roots in earlier agricultural rituals) and became a religious festival in the 7th Century BCE. The Mysteries were banned in 392CE by Roman Emperor Theodosius when Christianity was being forced onto the people, and in 396 the sanctuary at Eleusis was destroyed by the Visgoths led by King Alaric.

Originally, only women were invited into these initiation ceremonies, and when men were welcomed, the women (priestesses) remained in charge of who was worthy of the initiation.

The re-telling

Christianity didn't appear suddenly. It was a slow methodically planned process that encroached upon, consumed and regurgitated anew, ancient traditions that had been well established and firmly accepted for thousands of years. The recipe may be new, but the ingredients are ancient.

The themes in modern Christianity correspond directly to the Eleusian Mysteries through their central focus on resurrection and life after death . The story of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, and Persephone's descent and return from the underworld both reflect the concepts of death and re-birth. The Christian idea of being born again where the soul is transformed and re-acquainted to the Divine, holds the same theme of the spiritual awakening and illumination that initiates undergo in the Eleusian Mysteries.

The ritualistic elements of Christianity can also be seen as remnants of the sacred rites of the Eleusian Mysteries, particularly the Eucharist, to which early Christians found an abomination. Sacraments are thought to bestow grace and establish a channel of communication between believers and the Divine. Christians seeking personal contact with God through these sacraments correspond with the Mystai's experience of a profound intimate encounter with the Divine after drinking the Kykeon.

Christianity took the most powerful and agreeable parts of these ancient traditions, reconstructed, then embodied them into the represented figure of Christ. It took the parts that resonated the most with civilization at the time and discarded what it determined as unacceptable. It poured them into the figure of a 'Holy Man' who walked the Earth, made them tangible, which in-turn allowed them to seem more believable. All while keeping the mystery alive to convince the doubters.

The act of consecration - to make something holy - is the initiation into the mysteries of the religion. While the Eleusian Mysteries were not about making a person or a thing 'holy' as such, the initiation concept still manifests from within this act.

There are multiple examples of Christianity taking on the concepts of other Mystery religions to form its storyline.

One of these is Cybele - the Great Mother who gave birth to Attis without union. When he was slain, Cybele mourned so wildly that he rose from the dead. The celebration of Attis's rebirth was March 22 - 25. On March 22 an effigy of Attis was fastened to the trunk of a pine tree, depicting him as slain and hanged on a tree. This effigy was later buried in a tomb.

On March 24, known as the Day of Blood, the High Priest, impersonating Attis, drew blood from his own arm and offered it up in place of a human sacrifice, thus, as it were, sacrificing himself. That night to priests went back to the tomb and found it empty. Attis, having risen from the dead, and on the 25th the resurrection was celebrated with great rejoicing. During this great celebration a sacramental meal was taken, and initiates were baptised with blood, whereby their sins were washed away and they were said to be 'born again'. The worship of Attis was enacted in a sanctuary on the Vatican Hill, which was taken over by Christians, and today the church of St Peter stands on that very spot.

In essence, with some digging, it's easy to see where Christianity got its roots. It's not an origin story, and has slowly over time removed all of what made these Mystery rites a holy sacred experience. It has severed peoples connection to the Divine and has resulted in a society that is lost and continuously searching for home.

This is such a deep topic with so many layers, and is so very interesting!

Hon