The Myth of the Eleusinian Mysteries — Persephone’s Abduction to the Underworld
The once-upon-a-time is also a now, what was is also a living event.
Only in its twofold unity of then and now does a myth fulfil its true essence. The cult is its present form, the re-enactment of an archetypal event, situated in the past but in essence eternal. And the moment when this myth is realized is the festival of the gods, the holy day, recurring at a fixed interval.
-Walter Otto[1]
In the second part of this series about the Eleusinian Mysteries, we will delve into the myth of Demeter and Persephone (Find the First Article Here). The myth tells the drama of Persephone’s abduction to the underworld by Hades and the sorrowful search of her mother, Demeter. It gave the mysteries their meaning and was reenacted by the initiates, called Mystes, during the 9-day celebration. On the last night of the ceremonies then, as a culmination of the mysteries, the Mystes experienced the joyous reunion of Demeter and her daughter Persephone.
The myth of Demeter, the chthonic earth and mother goddess of fertility and agriculture, and her daughter Persephone, also known as Kore, literally “the maiden”, goes back to early Greek history.[2] Versions of this story were told across the Greek world, but the earliest written account can be found in a poem directly associated with Eleusis, the so-called Homeric Hymn to Demeter (Homeric because it was written in the style of, not by, Homer himself), probably written in the 7th century BC.[3] Some scholars speculate that the Mysteries may have even been inherited from earlier cultures, possibly Mycenae or Crete, as its themes, fertility, death, and rebirth seem truly universal and represent the cycle of life and nature.[4] Moreover, Demeter was considered the archetypal representation of the goddess of the earth and nature, often known as “mother earth”, and can be found in many cultures around the world.[5]
The Myth of Demeter and Persephone
One day, amidst peacefully picking flowers in an idyllic meadow, Persephone, the cherished daughter of Zeus and Demeter, was captured by Hades (also called Pluto), the god of the underworld. As she was gone without a trace, her mother Demeter fell into inconsolable despair. She wandered the earth for nine days before learning the truth from Helios, the Greek god of the sun, on the tenth day of her ordeal.
Enraged by Zeus’s compliance in this monstrous deed, she turned away from the divine gatherings on Mount Olympus and assuming the guise of an elderly woman she descended to the realm of the mortals. In such a manner, restlessly wandering the earth, Demeter came to Eleusis where King Keleos and his queen, Metaneira, offered her hospitality and solace.
They also provided her with wine, but as the goddess of the grain she refused this gift, originally given to the people by Dionysos’s. Instead, she asked them to mix barley with water and mint, to create a special potion, the Kykeon, with which she then broke her fast.
At some point, as her hosts were already suspicious of her marvelous abilities, Demeter disclosed her identity. Her disclosure was followed by a specific command: “Now, let all the people build me a great temple and an altar below it beneath the citadel […]. And I myself will teach my rites, that thereafter you may reverently perform them and so win the favor of my heart.”[6]
Upon its completion, Demeter retreated into the temple. And in her fury against the gods, she withdrew her blessings from the world, causing a devastating drought to ravage the earth so that people starved as crops withered and famine loomed.
As people’s offerings and faith in the gods steadily declined, the gods pled Demeter to relent. Under pressure from both mortals and immortals alike, Zeus had to act and so he commanded his brother Hades to release Persephone. Hades had no choice but to agree, thus mother and daughter were finally reunited. Yet, the great joy of reunification was tempered. Crafty and cunning, Hades had ensured Persephone’s return would not be permanent. By tricking her into consuming the seeds of a pomegranate, he had obliged her to return to the underworld as all those who have eaten the food of the underworld remain bound to Hades’ realm. It is said these were 4 seeds for the 4 months of winter.
From then on Persephone, now queen of the underworld, would spend two-thirds of the year in the world of the living but had to return to the depths of the nether world for the remaining time. During this phase, Demeter becomes once again afflicted by anguish and sorrow, leaving the plants to wither and retreat into the bowels of the earth.
Before Demeter returned to the other gods on Olympus, she instructed the kings of Eleusis, Keleos and Triptolemus, how to celebrate the rites in her temple. These were secret precepts, Mysteries to be closely guarded. Divulging or profaning them was punishable by death. In appreciation of the propitious outcome of the drama of Eleusis, Demeter bestowed upon Triptolemus, the first initiate of Eleusis, a sprig of grain and bade him instruct humankind in agriculture.[7]
Hence, as the rites of Eleusis were founded, Demeter chose to instruct Triptolemos, a young hero and central figure in the rites, how to grow crops. In this way, all of Greece received the gift of the grain. Triptolemos, also called Iamblichus or Iakchos, is the only prominent male character to complete the triad of gods in Eleusis and is often equated with Dionysus, who is also depicted as the son of Persephone and Zeus in some mythological texts. As Carl Ruck points out, “they both travel throughout the world on winged chariots drawn by serpents, spreading their respective gospels of the vine plant and the grain.”[8]
The Interpretation
In a first reading of the myth in the context of the Mysteries, we can assume that Demeter symbolizes the chthonic “Mother Earth” and Persephone the grain of corn. Persephone’s abduction then represents the cycle of death and decay, beginning in fall with the harvest and lasting throughout the winter. When the crops have disappeared from the face of the earth Persephone has been taken to the underworld. The subsequent spring then marks a phase of rebirth and new beginnings, when the life cycle of nature begins anew.
But the myth has an even deeper symbolic meaning, as the Mystes takes part in Persephone’s journey by entering the underworld to either personally encounter Persephone there, or directly experience the cycle of death and rebirth in some form. The reports differ on what exactly was experienced, but these two elements are commonly mentioned. This seems to have been the central experience and culmination of the initiation, through which the aspirant became an epoptes (literally ‘one who has seen’).
Further Layers of Interpretation
It should be noted that this interpretation is still only scratching the surface. Therefore, let’s dive a little deeper.
Much of the references and rich symbolism are lost to us today. Unless one is profoundly steeped in Greek mythology and other writings of the time while also being able to read these texts in their original language, it is very hard to interpret all the minute details in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. A scholar who was able to track down and present us with many strange and fascinating connections within this myth is Carl Ruck who, alongside Gordon Wasson and Albert Hoffman, wrote The Road to Eleusis, the original daring work proposing a psychedelic sacrament at the heart of the Mysteries.
He points to an intriguing detail, the Homeric Hymn tells us, Persephone was abducted in Nysa. Nysa was known in the ancient world as the hometown of Dionysos, as his name could literally be translated as the “god (dio) from Nysa (Nysus)” as Brian Muraresku points out in The Immortality Key.[9] Dionysos was also famously known as the god of inebriation, which did not necessarily have to refer to alcohol by any means. (In Chapter 7 we will discuss the evidence that strongly suggests that the Greeks were quite casually consuming all kinds of psychoactive beer and wine.) Apart from that, he was also famous for his own rites, the Dionysian Mysteries. They were quite similar to the Eleusinian Mysteries in some regard but not bound to a single time or place[10]. Instead, they have been celebrated all over the Mediterranean until they were brutally suppressed by the Roman state in 186 BC.[11]
There are other fascinating details in the myth of Demeter that may escape the casual reader. Ruck points out that “[t]he marital abduction or seizure of maidens while gathering flowers is […] a common theme in Greek myths and Plato records a rationalized version of such stories in which the companion of the seized maiden is named Pharmaceia or, as the name means, the ‘use of drugs.”[12] What Ruck doesn’t mention is that farmakon was simultaneously the word for drug and medicine; the dose and the setting then decided what it would be.
There were no footnotes in this chapter, but I tracked down the reference and indeed, in Phaedrus 229d, Plato’s Socrates refers to a myth in which Orethyia was abducted by Boreas, symbolizing the north wind in Greek mythology, while playing with her friend Pharmaceia. This is the same text in which Plato’s Socrates tells us that “our greatest blessings come to us by way of mania, provided it is given to us by divine gift” (244: a).
We also know of Plato that he loved allegory and held the Mysteries in very high regard as mentioned multiple times in the Phaedo, a well-known dialogue about the immorality of the soul. Furthermore, there is quite an intriguing line of evidence suggesting Plato saw the Mysteries and the experience connected to them as an important way to gain self-knowledge and engage in true philosophy. Yet this exploration will have to wait until a later chapter, stay tuned.
Ruck continues:
Further confirmation is found in Aristophanes’ Clouds, where a mystery initiation is parodied as a search for bulbs, while groping into the underworld. We might remember too that Eurydice, Creusa, and Helen were all picking flowers when they also experienced the sacred marriage with death. Such ecstatic rituals associated with flowers formed a very ancient tradition in Greek religion and can be traced back to precedents in the Minoan Period.[13]
It does indeed seem that “picking flowers” could be interpreted as a code for using drugs (or medicine) as sacraments to encounter death or enter the underworld as, traditionally, this was where the Greeks believed their visionary journeys would take them.
Apart from that, experiencing death in some form is an archetypal theme in initiations and psychedelic journeys alike. This discussion will also receive its own chapter later in this series.
This is just a small list of some of the striking references. But I think it becomes clear how all the hints are there, it is rather the question how we choose to interpret them. We can deny that there is any connection and argue that all of this is quite a stretch, just another coincidence, or we can see these instances as deliberate thematic references in the carefully crafted literary works of some of the greatest writers and poets of antiquity.
Let’s briefly recap the last findings. According to the myth:
· Persephone was picking flowers in Nysa, the hometown of Dionysos,
· and picking flowers is a common theme in Greek mythology, seemingly connected with drugs (or medicine)
· as well as, independently of that, death and journeys to the underworld.
· These trips into the underworld were generally associated with visionary journeys of all sorts across all of antiquity.
To me this apears like consciously planted references to anyone who knew about the true nature of the Mysteries. After all, Mysterion became just another word for that which is hidden or secret and it was strictly forbitten to spill the “secret”; but hinting at it wasn’t.
Let’s keep this in mind when we explore the other elements of the Eleusinian Mysteries because there is much more to come. The next chapter will talk about what happened on the physical plane, looking at the preparations and the other events leading up to of the initiation and the ceremeny in the temple. In Chapter 4 we will then explore what we know about the direct and ineffable nature of the initiatory experience and what can be said about its implications. Chapter 5 will go through the speculations about the content of the Kykeon as well as different lines of evidence and chapter 6 will extend this to a more general inquiry into psychedelic beer and wine in antiquity and the rich findings proving this practise.
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[1] Walter Otto, The Meaning of the Eleusinian Mysteries, 1932.
[2] c.f. Walter Burkert: Ancient Mystery Cults, p. 8, 1987
[3] c.f. Hugh Bowden: Mystery Cults in the Ancient World, 2023, 30
[4] c.f. Hoffman, Wasson, Ruck: The Road to Eleusis, 49, 2008 (first edition 1978)
[5] c.f. Walter Burkert: Ancient Mystery Cults, p.80, 1987.
[6] George E. Mylonas: Eleusis and the Eleusinian Mysteries, p. 5, 1961.
[7] Albert Hoffman, The Message of the Eleusinian Mysteries for today’s world, in: Entheogens and the Future of Religion, 33, 1997.
[8] c.f. Hoffman, Wasson, Ruck: The Road to Eleusis, 123, 2008 (first edition 1978)
[9] Brian Muraresku, The Immortality Key, p. 200, 2020.
[10] c.f. Walter Burkert: Ancient Mystery Cults, p. 5, 1987
[11] c.f. Brian Muraresku, The Immortality Key, p. 242, 2020.
[12] Hoffman, Wasson, Ruck: The Road to Eleusis, p. 48, 2008 (first edition 1978).
[13] Hoffman, Wasson, Ruck: The Road to Eleusis, p. 97, 2008 (first edition 1978).
