Eleusis

1.

I'm not much of a card player,

but that's not to say I haven't been one

in my past. My problem these days

is that I know no one who likes

to play.

If I had some player friends, I'd try this game:

 (from neweleusis )

Eleusis

Eleusis gives players the

chance

to make up rules and impose them

on other players.

Players watch the cards,

seeking to determine the pattern

inductively.

The object is to guess the rule.  Those who think they can

declare themselves

Prophet

but then test the rule for awhile

to see if it works.

I like the idea of this game

because this is how

I approach life.

2.

Am I a prophet?

Probably not,

unless prophets are folks

who look closely

and read the clues.

 (from istotemdias)

What I do know

is that I like to solve puzzles.

Especially big puzzles

that the world gives me

to solve.

I rediscovered an intriguing puzzle

on my trip to Greece, which is also called

Eleusis.

But it proceeded the card game.

3.

Eleusis

is a site, some 20 km west

of Athens.

Today it is nestled amidst fields

of oil refineries,

but in ancient times,

it was a destination on a holy pilgrimage

that traveled from

Athens to Eleusis

once a year.

The pilgrimage honored the goddess

Demeter

and her daughter

Persephone

(aka: Kore)

At the heart of the ceremony was a

ritual ceremony, the contents of which remain a mystery

today.

This secret was so important

that initiates were threatened

with death

if they told what they witnessed there.  Great men like

Aeschylos

suffered brushes with death

for revealing too much

of the secret.

All we know today is that the mystery

had something to do

with the meaning of life

and death.

Now if that isn't intriguing, I don't know what is.

A fellow by the name of Edward A. Beach

has written a very nice online article about

Eleusis, so I won't tell the entire story here,

since he does it so well,

But the essence of the story is

a century's old mystery,

a puzzle whose solution

has been lost

both to the months and minds

of the ancient dead

and to the censoring spirit

of the Early Church,

for they caused the ultimate destruction

 of this incredible site

CLUE #1:

Those who were

initiated experienced

an eight day fast before the ritual.

This included a communion

at which they consumed kykeon:

"Meal and water mixed with fresh

pennyroyal mint leaves. . . ."

The grain in the drink is the symbol

of Persephone who -- according to myth --

dies, goes under the ground, than comes

back to life again.

The drink - kykeon -

may have contained a hallucinogenic

which was derived from

the extract of grain.

Kykeon might well have been one powerful

hallucinogenic, containing both the extract of

grain, and the fermentation of wine.

A communion of bread and wine pales next to that.

For sure.

CLUE #2:

The mysterious ceremony at Eleusis

in some way

brought the initiate

in direct contact with a semblance

of the experience of

life, death

and resurrection.

Notably the ancient

commemoration

was of a Goddess --

the Goddess of the harvest

and of earth itself -

Demeter --

and of her attempts to reclaim

the life of her daughter

Persephone -

who had been stolen

by Hades and taken

into Hell.  She is restored with a bargain,

more or less,

a deal with the devil to always return

to Hades

during the winter months, than

resurrect

in spring.

CLUE #3:

Dr. Beach even goes so far

as to suggest a trinity

played a key role,

in the figures adored at Eleusis:

Demeter (the mother: aka creator)

Persephone (the daughter)

Dionysus (the god of wine, sex, celebration

and theatre!)

Dionysus - the god of Eros.

In Classical Rhetoric, Eros would refer to the erotic appeal,

which is just as powerful as the other appeals -

Logos (the logical appeal)

Ethos (the ethical appeal)

Pathos (the emotional appeal)

Aristotle,

as we know him today,

belittled Eros as a strong appeal,

favoring the other three

(another trinity)

Anyway,

Dionysus, the Erotic,

may have played an essential role

at Eleusis.   Keep in mind,

that the Bacchanal

is closely associated

with Dionysus.

Dionysus  is also the god of theatre

and representation.

It makes perfect sense to me that he

had to be

present if the goal was to reproduce

a reality only truly accessible

to the non-human.

(from Hestia)

CLUE #4:

Women,

women,

women,

sex,

and pigs.

The sacrifice made at Eleusis

was a pig

because the pig

signified plenty.

Pigs -

the animal forbidden

by two of the monotheistic,

Abramic religions

were the sacred sacrament

at the ceremony at Eleusis.

Pigs,

that creature which we now know

is a close relative to humans

genetically.

~ ~ ~

How does one end such an entry?

There is no end;

only mystery,

and a puzzle that far outshines

a 

card game.

If you've read my other entries,

you can probably see

why it intrigues me.