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Eleusian Mysteries:
(Elysian,
Eleusinian)
It is an ironic testimony to the loyalty of the initiates that
there is little, if any agreement, on exactly what the inner
meaning of the Eleusian mysteries was.
The Elysian
fields were written by the Greeks as existing in the
�underworld� and were said to be the final resting place for the
souls of the worthy, but the truth is that the actual meaning of
the mysteries themselves has been lost to us.
Virgil wrote
mysteriously that '...the region has a sun and stars of its
own...' and connects them with the sibyls to the underworld
through Aeneas quest to find his dead father, and we are reminded
by Bulfinch
(5),
that Homer believed that the Elysian plain existed physically 'on
the western margins of the earth, by the stream of ocean', and
that the Elysium of Hesiod was on the 'Fortunate islands'
or the 'Isles of the blessed' in the western ocean, which
became the longitude used by both Marinus of Tyre and
Plato as the Meridian for their world maps.
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The Origin of the Mysteries: |
According to Diodorus Siculus, the Cretans professed that they
received the 'mysteries' from the Egyptians, and that they
passed them on to the Greeks. Eleusia (Eleusis)
was the home of the earth-mother Demeter, but she has older
origins that can be seen in the Egyptian mythologies. Diodorus
siculus also wrote that the mysteries of Isis were the same as
those of Demeter and that the mysteries of Osiris were the same as
Dionysus.
Herodotus also mentioned that Osiris was named Dionysus
by the Greeks (4), and in fact, there are several convincing
enough parallels between the Roman (Demeter and Dionysus), Greek
(Ceres, Bacchus), Egyptian (Isis and Osiris), and Babylonian
(Tammuz and Ishtar) mythologies to consider them as having all
originated from a common ancestral myth.
In all these myths, the
male character is variously referred to as having more than one
family connection to the female character, (i.e. Osiris was the
son of Isis, at the same time as being her husband and Father),
but more importantly, we also see that all these deities have
inherently similar qualities, namely that they are associated with
agriculture, the advent of civilisation, serpents and perhaps most
importantly, the underworld...(qualities we have seen as being
common to the oracle centres of ancient Greece).
In
Greece, Demeter's great festival was called the Eleusina
and was celebrated at Eleusis, which was chosen as a site
following Demeter�s search for her lost daughter Persephone who
was taken by Pluto to Hades (the underworld). The distraught earth
goddess eventually retired to Eleusia, where she became the nurse
to the kings sons and, in strikingly similarity to the myth of
Isis (who thrust the son of the king of Byblos into a fire, during
her search for Osiris), Demeter places one of the kings sons
Demophon, into a fire in order to make him immortal. However, the
screams of his mother break the spell and he perishes. In this
myth, Demeter compensates the parents by giving their other son
Triptolemus seeds, the art of agriculture, and a chariot
with winged dragons. Pausanias wrote that she instructed
Triptolemus and his father in the performance of her �rites and
mysteries�
(4). Eventually, Persephone is released for one third
of each year, while having to spend the rest in the underworld
(analogous to a seed of corn).
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The Eleusian
Mysteries and the Oracle Centres: |
As well as the
traditional association between Oracle centres
the Eleusian mysteries, it is perhaps curious that the centre of the Eleusian mysteries
themselves - Eleusis, appears to have been geodetically located,
in accordance with the same system of 360� as seen in Egypt, the Middle east and
Europe. In the Greek myth we see that Demeter makes an apparently
random stop at Eleusis, and are given no further clues to explain
her decision. However, it is particularly noteworthy in relation to
this that Santillana
(6), records Eleusis as having had a
well-spring in it covered by a navel-stone, as suggested by Cornford, who says that �one of these phreata (=wells) in
Eleusis was closed at its mouth by the agelastos petra,�
i.e. the laughter-less rock; and that Demeter was agelastos
because of the loss of Persophone. He adds that the place-name was
understood by the Greeks as �Advent�, a word used in the New
Testament in reference to the �advent of Christ� (26). The same
theme as seen to be repeated in the mythology of
Mecca and other earth-navels.
(More about Navel-Stones)
Eleuse Alaise: Xavier Guichard
 Livvio
Stecchini demonstrated a clear connection between the location of
Oracle centres and a knowledge of longitude and latitude.(7) The similarity between the myths
and traditions of the oracle centres and the Eleusian mysteries
implies that they too should show evidence of specific placement
of Eleusian sites, and that is exactly what we find through the
work of the famous French detective Xavier Guichard who remains
relatively unnoticed today regardless of (or due to), his astonishing
claims regarding the level of prehistoric geometric abilities. Guichard claimed to have discovered two prehistoric 'rose des
vents' covering France and extending into other parts of Europe,
based on 24 landscape alignments (corridors of incidence), all
orientated so as to pass through a common centre-point (called
Alaise). Secondly, he identified three European 'root' names;
Burgos,
Antium, and Alaise, which he believed (similar to
his UK counterpart, Alfred Watkins) had different meanings. He
suggested that the 'Alesian' 'rose des vents', were
associated with ancient mineral sources but more controversially,
that the 'Alesian' locations had been placed according to
their longitude and latitude.
(More about the geodetic
placement of oracle centres)
Guichard also claimed to have found evidence of a separate
'solstice rose des vents' at Alesia, based on solar observations,
creating a valuable connection between prehistoric geometry and
astronomy, and from which it may still be possible to date such a
formation. He concluded that he had uncovered the vestiges of
what had been called the 'Eleusian mysteries' by the Greeks. It is
perhaps just a coincidence that both Stecchini and Guichard
(supported by Manias), independently concluded that the true
secret of the mysteries involved the application of longitude in
relation to the placement of ancient and sacred sites.
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Eleusis - (38� 00� N, 18� 00� E)
Alaise - (47� 00' N. 5� 58' E)
A
separation between sites of 9� Latitude and (almost exactly) 6�
Longitude.
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As well as the astronomical 'Rose-des-Vents' Guichard realised
that his research had, in his own words;
'revealed the existence of geodesic lines that converge on the
'alesia' of Alaise, and of other alignments that appear on modern
maps...These alignments belong to a geodetic system completely
different from those that make up the line that converge into two
'rose des vents'. And it is only through satisfying their
existence out of necessity that the lines which cross through
Alaise were analyzed in the first place'.
(1)
He continues...
'These new lines are those that run parallel and perpendicular to
the Equator, their trace reproduced therefore, on a map as
latitudes and longitudes...'
Strange as it may seem now, supporting evidence for Guichard's
theory of France holding the key to the 'mysteries' can still be
seen in the official centre of the French capital Paris, which was
suggested (by J. Michell) to have been named Par-Isis, in relation to an
ancient temple of Isis (at Versaille), and where the 'Champs-Elys�es'
which literally translated means 'Elysian-fields', can be seen to point directly in line
with the midsummer sunrise at 52� . We will see later that
this particular orientation is shared by other French sites such
as at Versailles cathedral and Mont St. Michel,
also both orientated along the azimuth of the mid-summer sun, but
at an angle of 26�. The importance of the 52nd latitude can
be seen in the location of the 'Great Decagon' in England, which
unites both Glastonbury,
Stonehenge and
Avebury (along with several other
significant sites), was centered at Whiteleaved Oak
(52˚ 01' 20" N)
(More about the Great decagon)
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(More about Xavier Guichard)
An
Independent study of Guichard's original data (Click here to
view),
confirms the accuracy of his report. It is noticeable however that
that there is a fundamental difference between Stecchini's Oracle
centres and Guichard's Alaise locations in that the 'Alaisian'
sites are all situated on exact lines of latitude and are
therefore all separated by multiples of complete degrees (i.e. 1�,
2�, 3�..), while
the oracle centers still being separated by exact degrees, are
situated at latitudes of X� +30' (i.e. 1� 30', 2� 30', 3� 30'),
although both are still based on a global division of
360�.
At almost exactly the same time as Xavier Guichard was researching the �Alaise�
alignments in
France,
Alfred Watkins was independently in the process of uncovering the
network of ley-lines that covers the UK. Watkins originally
named his alignments 'ley' lines because of the frequency
of place-names containing 'ley' (A 'ley' or 'lea' is variously
translated as a clearing or glade). The similarities in
place-names is of interest as there is no suggestion that the two
men had any idea of each others existence, and both men provide
good reasons for naming their findings as they did. This
reinforces the suggestion by Guichard that a system of placement
once existed that stretched across
Europe
(and one which shows evidence of a common unit of measurement - as
later suggested by Prof. A. Thom). The relevance of both Thom and
Watkins work is considered in more detail in the next section.
(Prehistoric British Geodesy)
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(Prehistoric Egyptian Geodesy)
In conclusion then, we can see in ancient Greece a tradition of
placing oracle centres and other prominent sacred sites according
to the same geometric principles as the Egyptians displayed before
them. The research by Manias and Guichard suggests that latitude
was calculable at this time but not as a common knowledge
and such abilities are not seen again in
Europe until around 1600 AD (except perhaps in the
Piri-reis map and
associated Portolano's). Although mythology cannot be regarded as
proof absolute, there is a strong suggestion that the Eleusian
mysteries were connected both to the oracle centres and to a
primitive form of earth-mother
worship, which included several �mysteries�, including the
apparent ability to calculate
longitude and latitude as evidenced by the location of Eleusis,
the home of the mysteries themselves. Several earlier cultures
offer themselves as potential �donors� of this information, both
through similarities in earth-mother mythologies and the placement
of associated sacred sites according to geometric principles, as
evidenced by the pre-Hellenic Greeks, Cretans (Minoans),
Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and finally by the megalithic
Europeans, as realised by Guichard, Watkins and Thom.
(More
about the World-Grid) ۞
(More
about Prehistoric Geometry)
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The Eleusian Mysteries and Psychoactive Drugs: |
'Some scholars believe that the power
of the Eleusinian Mysteries came from the kykeon's functioning as a
psychedelic agent. (20)
Barley may be parasitized by the fungus ergot, which contains the
psychoactive alkaloids lysergic acid amide (LSA), a precursor to LSD and
ergonovine. It is possible that a psychoactive potion was created using
known methods of the day. The initiates, sensitized by their fast and
prepared by preceding ceremonies, may have been propelled by the effects
of a powerful psychoactive potion into revelatory mind states with
profound spiritual and intellectual ramifications'.
(20)
'While modern scholars have presented
evidence supporting their view that a potion was drunk as part of the
ceremony, the exact composition of that agent remains controversial.
Modern preparations of kykeon using ergot-parasitized barley have
yielded inconclusive results, although Shulgin and Shulgin describe both
ergonovine and LSA to be known to produce LSD-like effects.
(22) Terence
McKenna argued that the mysteries were focused around a variety of
Psilocybin mushrooms, and various other entheogenic plants, such as
Amanita muscaria mushrooms, have also been suggested but at present
no consensus has been reached. (24) The size of the event may rule out
Amanita or Psilocybe mushrooms as active ingredient, since it is
unlikely that there would have been enough wild mushrooms for all
participants. However a recent hypothesis suggests that Psilocybe
cultivation technology was not unknown in ancient Egypt,
(25)
from which it could easily have spread to Greece'.
'Another theory is that the kykeon was
an Ayahuasca analog involving Syrian Rue (Peganum harmala), a
shrub which grows throughout the Mediterranean and also functions as a
monoamine oxidase inhibitor. The most likely candidate for the DMT
containing plant, of which there are many in nature, would be a species
of Acacia. (26) Other scholars however, noting the lack of any solid
evidence and stressing the collective rather than individual character
of initiation into the Mysteries, regard entheogenic theories with
pointed skepticism'. (27)
(More about the role of drugs in
prehistory)
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