Cosmopoulos at Eleusis
Professor Cosmopoulos' interview with Bettany Hughes
Professor Cosmopoulos' interview with Bettany Hughes
(no subject)
With permission from Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, I forward the following on to let you know of some dreadful news from one of the dear hearts of our community. I know I would not be here if it wasn't for her, and I bet there are many among you who feel the same.
Dear Friends,
I just got home from being with Morning Glory at the hospital since yesterday afternoon. They rolled out a little cot for me to sleep on. I thought she'd be coming home yesterday or today, but they're still keeping her in there. This morning her surgeon did a chyphoidplasty on her to inject some hard dental filler into the breakage in her sacrum. She felt much better this afternoon, after the operation. Her weight is now distributed more evenly, taking the pressure off the spinal nerve, so she can walk with less pain. We're hoping they'll let her come home tomorrow.
She spent some time writing a message in her journal which she asked me to transcribe and send out to everyone, so here it is…
Please feel free to pass this on to anyone whom you think should know…
Blessings,
Oberon
( X-Posted all over...Collapse )
Dear Friends,
I just got home from being with Morning Glory at the hospital since yesterday afternoon. They rolled out a little cot for me to sleep on. I thought she'd be coming home yesterday or today, but they're still keeping her in there. This morning her surgeon did a chyphoidplasty on her to inject some hard dental filler into the breakage in her sacrum. She felt much better this afternoon, after the operation. Her weight is now distributed more evenly, taking the pressure off the spinal nerve, so she can walk with less pain. We're hoping they'll let her come home tomorrow.
She spent some time writing a message in her journal which she asked me to transcribe and send out to everyone, so here it is…
Please feel free to pass this on to anyone whom you think should know…
Blessings,
Oberon
( X-Posted all over...Collapse )
godothemonth
"The Theoumênos Koinon ("God of the Month Club") is a group set up to further knowledge and devotion to the Gods. We accomplish this through a three-pronged system: study of a particular God's cult, myths, associations, and history; contemplation, both of the God's essential nature and of its relevance in the individual's life; and acts of worship and devotion. Each month participants will chose a new deity through divination and begin the process all over again. This community has been established to share our discoveries, help with any questions that may arise or resources that may be needed, and to provide fellowship for those interested in exploring this new approach to Hellenic Polytheism, which is a novel blending of Reconstructionism and UPG."
godothemonth
godothemonthWell, hello
I don't recall actally joining this community but I know I would have. Imagine my surprise to find it on my friends' list.
In any case, I'm happy to be here. I'm Leni, I'm an eclectic Witch and magickian, I've studied Alexandrian and Gardnerian Wicca extensively, and have been very much drawn to the Hellenic traditions and deities since childhood. I have a deep affinity with Athena and Demeter, and have a strong atraction to the Eleusinia that I believe may be past-life based. I'm interested in both Reconstructionist and Re-Imagined ways of approaching religion and serving the Mystery.
I look forward to hearing from others in this community.
In any case, I'm happy to be here. I'm Leni, I'm an eclectic Witch and magickian, I've studied Alexandrian and Gardnerian Wicca extensively, and have been very much drawn to the Hellenic traditions and deities since childhood. I have a deep affinity with Athena and Demeter, and have a strong atraction to the Eleusinia that I believe may be past-life based. I'm interested in both Reconstructionist and Re-Imagined ways of approaching religion and serving the Mystery.
I look forward to hearing from others in this community.
Hello
Hi everyone! I'm utterly astonished to find this community. I joined because I would like to gain more knowledge of the Mysteries. I know next to nothing of this, but I have been fascinated since I first read about them a few years ago. Many of you may be aware of some mythological deity role-playing journals on LJ. Particularly those belonging to pantheon_dot_co. I happen to have one of those journals, for the goddess Ceres/Demeter. My journal is 
ceres_dot_com, in which I have merged Demeter & Ceres as the same deity, for the sake of ease and avoidance of confusion. Some people use these journals for fun and creative writing. I enjoy participating in the role-play for a deeper sense of satisfaction that I can't quite explain. I feel as though I "become one" (for lack of a more appropriate term) with my carefully-selected character. My personality type is such that my character and myself will often bleed into one, with many facets from both intergrating into the play. It is on this note that I join you.
Demeter is a large part of the Mysteries, but can I safely assume that her counterpart Ceres is looked upon as an equivalent?? I have been holding off on playing with any of the Mystery details on my character journal because I really don't feel I know enough and I don't want to be incorrect. I struggle with playing the character of Ceres in a modern setting, but I love it and it makes me very happy to exercise my creativity and use the knowledge I have acquired. Hopefully learning about the Eleusian Mysteries will not only increase my knowledge of a deity that I've grown fond of, but will also provide more intelligent and thorough repertoire for the character. So, I've come to you great people to learn from you about something I know hardly anything of, would love to learn more about, and am excited to utilize as a creative tool!
Feel free to contact me through either journal if you would like! I hope no one is offended by the use of Ceres/Demeter as a role-playing character on LJ. I try to maintain the dignity of the deity, for the sake of posterity. I'll be honest, I don't even know what the Eleusian Mysteries are, beyond the fact that it pertains to Demeter & Persephone, it is a ritual of some form, and probably has something to do with the changing of the seasons since it includes Demeter & Persephone. So please allow me to sit by and take in your knowledge :)
pantheon_dot_co. I happen to have one of those journals, for the goddess Ceres/Demeter. My journal is ceres_dot_com, in which I have merged Demeter & Ceres as the same deity, for the sake of ease and avoidance of confusion. Some people use these journals for fun and creative writing. I enjoy participating in the role-play for a deeper sense of satisfaction that I can't quite explain. I feel as though I "become one" (for lack of a more appropriate term) with my carefully-selected character. My personality type is such that my character and myself will often bleed into one, with many facets from both intergrating into the play. It is on this note that I join you.Demeter is a large part of the Mysteries, but can I safely assume that her counterpart Ceres is looked upon as an equivalent?? I have been holding off on playing with any of the Mystery details on my character journal because I really don't feel I know enough and I don't want to be incorrect. I struggle with playing the character of Ceres in a modern setting, but I love it and it makes me very happy to exercise my creativity and use the knowledge I have acquired. Hopefully learning about the Eleusian Mysteries will not only increase my knowledge of a deity that I've grown fond of, but will also provide more intelligent and thorough repertoire for the character. So, I've come to you great people to learn from you about something I know hardly anything of, would love to learn more about, and am excited to utilize as a creative tool!
Feel free to contact me through either journal if you would like! I hope no one is offended by the use of Ceres/Demeter as a role-playing character on LJ. I try to maintain the dignity of the deity, for the sake of posterity. I'll be honest, I don't even know what the Eleusian Mysteries are, beyond the fact that it pertains to Demeter & Persephone, it is a ritual of some form, and probably has something to do with the changing of the seasons since it includes Demeter & Persephone. So please allow me to sit by and take in your knowledge :)
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calm
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Delighted to find this community
Brief intro: I'm Melissa Mears, an elder in the NROOGD tradition of Wicca. We're eclectic, bardic and often referred to as "boot-strap, hippy-dippy Wicca" due to our founding in the '60's by Aidan Kelly (a controversial figure on his own) and friends. NROOGD has a Hellenic bent as opposed to the more typical Celtic drift of other eclectic traditions.
I'm a web designer and studying to be an RN so when it comes to relevant academic credentials, I have bupkis. I've read a number of books on the topic (Kerenyi's "Eleusis" and Milius' "The Metamorphosis of Baubo" to name two), and within the tradition we talk about it quite extensively - happily we have a few scholars among us.
Why does the NROOGD talk about it extensively? Well, I've joined this community because, from the beginning, NROOGD's public Autumn Equinox ritual has been the Rites of Eleusis as initially crafted by that same founding group of San Francisco university students. It's a dog and pony show which includes original music and dance, loads of participatory theater, a hunt for Kore ending with a plunge into the ocean for Demeter, a trip to the Underworld for all, a mysterious birth, and lots of food at the end :) The ritual has morphed a bit over the years, but over all, it remains a peculiar balance of research, inspired creativity, and out and out strangeness. I spearheaded it for a few years in the late-90's, due to my own Grecophilia and a desire to add my own vision to what was currently being presented.
As a ritualist and priestess, my approach to this initiatory event has always been two-fold: (1) to maintain the integrity of the "flavor" of the Mysteries, as much as we are able based on the research that has been done, and (2) to implement the tools of ritual to touch modern-day people in a way that evokes the state-of-mind and imparts the initiatory experience as communicated in days of old. And the latter, of course, is inevitably a guessing game.
Oh, and we try to do all of this in a few hours, while endeavoring to avoid the ever-present specter of the bottleneck that looms over every public ritual celebration. :)
A tough order, and a balancing act of substance.
Have we succeeded? Darned if I know. We've been doing it for over 30-years and people keep coming back, but that doesn't say anything except that we put on a good show and people get at least *something* from the experience.
I'd be very interested in what others have done with the Mysteries as modern ritual and to hear their thoughts on effectiveness and whether or not they thought it was a good idea.
Blessings,
-M
I'm a web designer and studying to be an RN so when it comes to relevant academic credentials, I have bupkis. I've read a number of books on the topic (Kerenyi's "Eleusis" and Milius' "The Metamorphosis of Baubo" to name two), and within the tradition we talk about it quite extensively - happily we have a few scholars among us.
Why does the NROOGD talk about it extensively? Well, I've joined this community because, from the beginning, NROOGD's public Autumn Equinox ritual has been the Rites of Eleusis as initially crafted by that same founding group of San Francisco university students. It's a dog and pony show which includes original music and dance, loads of participatory theater, a hunt for Kore ending with a plunge into the ocean for Demeter, a trip to the Underworld for all, a mysterious birth, and lots of food at the end :) The ritual has morphed a bit over the years, but over all, it remains a peculiar balance of research, inspired creativity, and out and out strangeness. I spearheaded it for a few years in the late-90's, due to my own Grecophilia and a desire to add my own vision to what was currently being presented.
As a ritualist and priestess, my approach to this initiatory event has always been two-fold: (1) to maintain the integrity of the "flavor" of the Mysteries, as much as we are able based on the research that has been done, and (2) to implement the tools of ritual to touch modern-day people in a way that evokes the state-of-mind and imparts the initiatory experience as communicated in days of old. And the latter, of course, is inevitably a guessing game.
Oh, and we try to do all of this in a few hours, while endeavoring to avoid the ever-present specter of the bottleneck that looms over every public ritual celebration. :)
A tough order, and a balancing act of substance.
Have we succeeded? Darned if I know. We've been doing it for over 30-years and people keep coming back, but that doesn't say anything except that we put on a good show and people get at least *something* from the experience.
I'd be very interested in what others have done with the Mysteries as modern ritual and to hear their thoughts on effectiveness and whether or not they thought it was a good idea.
Blessings,
-M
(no subject)
Hello all, I'm new to the group so this is my obligatory introductory post. I've always been very interested in the Eleusinian Mysteries, although I feel more personally drawn to Persephone than Demeter. I'm a practicing Wiccan/Pagan with a fair amount of experience in the generalities of that under my belt, but very little experience with Hellenic Reconstructionism. However, I'd like to learn more and that's a large part of why I'm here. I recently picked up a book titled The Mysteries of Demeter which only fueled my enthusiasm more. :) It's great. So, anyway, hi there everyone!
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Homeric Hymn to Demeter
My preferred translation is by Gregory Nagy. It's relatively recent (c) 2000 and I believe it best keeps hold to the Ancient Hellenic Culture as well as retaining some of the words that are NOT directly translatable...
So, here's y'all's homework... Read This Bookmark it... Read it again... Print it out... Read it again...
This is the CORE Myth for my tradition of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Once you've all got this under your belts, then we can proceed, so please reply to this entry letting me know that you've read this and are ready to move on...
So, here's y'all's homework... Read This Bookmark it... Read it again... Print it out... Read it again...
This is the CORE Myth for my tradition of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Once you've all got this under your belts, then we can proceed, so please reply to this entry letting me know that you've read this and are ready to move on...
The Basics
Well, from my perspective, here are some of the basics needed for us all to move forward together.
What Constitutes an Initiation? For me, I believe in three types of initiatory experiences: (1) In which one is guided by experienced Clergy/Priesthood; (2) One in which one works in solitary work to achieve a connection with the Gods; and (3) One in which The Gods, by Their will, choose to provide an initiation unto a Mortal. I personal work within the confines of the first example, but accept all of the above initiatory experiences as possible truths.
What is Hellenic Paganism Today? This is a complex answer for me. There is a group of individuals who identify them selves as Hellenic Reconstructionists. There are a few amongst the membership of this community, and I invite them to speak to the benefits of this path.
What is a Mystery? This is a hard question to answer, because in actuality a Mystery is something in which you cannot speak, either through oath or through the limitations of spoken language. There is a wonderful group out there exploring the concept of Greek Mystery Cults and it is called Ai Mystai, and likewise there are members of AM here in this community whom I invite to speak to this group. Please remember that the Eleusinian Mysteries are but ONE of many possibly Mystery Cults available.
What were The Eleusinian Mysteries? In Ancient Greece, in the city of Eleusis, an annual festival was held providing for initiation into the Mysteries that legend tells us were given to us by the Grain Goddess, Demeter.
What are the Eleusinian Mysteries Today? Another tough answer. There are a few groups enacting the Mysteries in varying degrees from a two year initiatory program, to a simple dramatic presentation of the myth of the Descent of the Goddess Into the Underworld. I, personal, work in a group following the former methodogy.
At this point I would like to invite some of the other learnerd members of this community to bring forth their opinions on where some of our neophytes might begin there journey.
What Constitutes an Initiation? For me, I believe in three types of initiatory experiences: (1) In which one is guided by experienced Clergy/Priesthood; (2) One in which one works in solitary work to achieve a connection with the Gods; and (3) One in which The Gods, by Their will, choose to provide an initiation unto a Mortal. I personal work within the confines of the first example, but accept all of the above initiatory experiences as possible truths.
What is Hellenic Paganism Today? This is a complex answer for me. There is a group of individuals who identify them selves as Hellenic Reconstructionists. There are a few amongst the membership of this community, and I invite them to speak to the benefits of this path.
What is a Mystery? This is a hard question to answer, because in actuality a Mystery is something in which you cannot speak, either through oath or through the limitations of spoken language. There is a wonderful group out there exploring the concept of Greek Mystery Cults and it is called Ai Mystai, and likewise there are members of AM here in this community whom I invite to speak to this group. Please remember that the Eleusinian Mysteries are but ONE of many possibly Mystery Cults available.
What were The Eleusinian Mysteries? In Ancient Greece, in the city of Eleusis, an annual festival was held providing for initiation into the Mysteries that legend tells us were given to us by the Grain Goddess, Demeter.
What are the Eleusinian Mysteries Today? Another tough answer. There are a few groups enacting the Mysteries in varying degrees from a two year initiatory program, to a simple dramatic presentation of the myth of the Descent of the Goddess Into the Underworld. I, personal, work in a group following the former methodogy.
At this point I would like to invite some of the other learnerd members of this community to bring forth their opinions on where some of our neophytes might begin there journey.
What would you like to do?
It's been about a week to bring people together into this new Community. I know some of you from other communities, some I have found on AIM and/or Yahoo! IM's and chatted, others I still have yet to meet. There are a few people that I gave personal invitations to and some that have declined. The latter, of course, I am bummed about because they included two initiates from my tradition who tell me they do not have 'time' for another list.
But before we get any further, please let me say what I DO NOT want this community to be about: ME. I didn't make this community to be a place for me to just spew out what I think I know about the Mysteries and for y'all to just go, oooo....ahhh!!! I can't believe a list like this could ever come close to replacing real, honest work. No one could, in my opinion, receive an initiation into the Eleusinion Mysteries simply by reading this community, but that is not for me to decide. If Demeter wishes to reveal Her mysteries to you, in whatever fashion She feels, I, as Her Priest, will be the last to say anything about that!
O.K. Those are my boundaries stated.
Well, be that as it may, in the opening post and in the bio section, I posted what *I* would like this community to be about, and now let's hear from y'all.
What do YOU want to do with this new Community???
But before we get any further, please let me say what I DO NOT want this community to be about: ME. I didn't make this community to be a place for me to just spew out what I think I know about the Mysteries and for y'all to just go, oooo....ahhh!!! I can't believe a list like this could ever come close to replacing real, honest work. No one could, in my opinion, receive an initiation into the Eleusinion Mysteries simply by reading this community, but that is not for me to decide. If Demeter wishes to reveal Her mysteries to you, in whatever fashion She feels, I, as Her Priest, will be the last to say anything about that!
O.K. Those are my boundaries stated.
Well, be that as it may, in the opening post and in the bio section, I posted what *I* would like this community to be about, and now let's hear from y'all.
What do YOU want to do with this new Community???