After so many years of contemplation and study about this sacred site, I am here at Eleusis. Sanctuary of Demeter ~ Ancient ruins of the Eleusinian mysteries. Believe me, I am almost as surprised to be here now as some of you may be.
A lovely Greek woman befriended me on the bus and told me the story of the landscape as we drove, and for those of you that have taken the city bus to Elefesina, you will know it ain’t all pretty. It’s a story of abandoned factories, polluted skies, and littered waterways on what was once called “the sacred way”.
The woman seem to be retelling an age old story that has been told and retold again and again throughout human history. It’s a tale of the hoarding of goods, the commandeering of the collective commons, and a few making money off the many. It’s a story not unique to Greece - it’s epidemic and unfortunately now somewhat Global. It often portends a change of times and, hopefully, a change of hands and a fresh cycle yet to begin. The Mysteries that once played out here for over 2000 years were in an initiation. The irony was that those who went through the mysteries were sworn to secrecy by penalty of death yet were said to come out of the experience having overcome the fear of death! Interesting paradox. It makes one wonder why no one ever gave away the secrets. We do know that there were “things said,” “things shown,” and “things done”. The Mysteries were based on the myth of Demeter and Persephone beloved Grain Mother and her maiden daughter. It’s a myth of many layers that ultimately lead us towards learning to be in greater harmony with life’s cycles.
There is birth, growth, fruition, dissolution, death.
There are feasting times, fallow fields, psychic abduction and exile, followed by return and rejoicing and again rebirth and growth...These cycles accompany everything and everyone along with the grief and joyous celebrations that come and go with all of it.
And so this next leg of my journey begins... How’s your summer going?