and here's some more, FM.
http://archaeologica.boardbot.com/viewt ... ght=#50787
Sunday 3 August
As mentioned in my previous post, the Eleusinian Mysteries were shut down by Theodosius, a post-Constantine emperor of Rome, because he didn’t want these rites infecting Christianity.
I would suggest that it had already infected Christianity to the point of inventing it – and that it was more likely that Theodosius didn’t want anyone finding that out and starting to ask him awkward questions about a second initiation that purported to give a real face-to-face experience of God.
He was probably already annoyed enough that that one line had been left in Matthew where J the B mentions it ... but it was too late now because it had gone to press.
So his only remedy was to try to cover it up by ordering the destruction of the sacred Mystery groves of Eleusis, as he had done the year before with the Library of Alexandria.
So what were the Eleusinian Mysteries?
The Eleusinian Mystery schools began around 1700 BC as a way of initiating a small, select group of initiates into deeper spiritual, mystic practices by which they could have a direct experience of God/gods.
In other words, this is where they moved from having faith in God/gods to having a practical experience of said same.
Personally, I think it was only a couple of steps removed from shamanism, when people could actually commune with the gods/spirits as equals, and not have to fall flat on their faces in the dirt to worship them.
As time went on, the popularity of these Mysteries grew and grew until they were initiating huge numbers of people into, at least, the Lesser Mysteries – the first (water or baptism) initiation which was held every year on the Spring Equinox.
Some of these, but probably only a few in comparison, were then invited to go on to the Greater Mysteries – the second (fire/light) initiation, which was held yearly on the Autumn Equinox. The proceedings lasted for nine days and culminated in a climatical experience of spiritual ecstasy, possibly (although we don’t know for sure) somewhat induced by a barley drink that may or may not have been fermented.
Now, in my experience in these debates, we usually have to go off on a tangent about now, as we try to reconcile two genetically irreconcilable points of view. Either you see these ritual ceremonies involving psychotropic aids (like soma or peyote) as a means to help open the doors of perception to other realities. Or you see them as just a pathetic excuse used by all sorts of socially undesirable types to get completely off their faces and imagine all sorts of strange things.
I would just like to point out the Beatles used the term Magical Mystery Tour, so maybe they knew something we didn't.
However, I would prefer not to get into that whole debate here as it will detract from the main issue - which is whether the Mystery religions are at the root of Christianity.
So I would like to start examining now the common features of what we know about these second, fire initiations, which is piss-poor thin, admittedly. We are constrained not only because the Holy Roman Empire destroyed whatever it could get its grubby little hands on about it. But also because the initiates themselves were on pain of death to not reveal a thing.
However, we do have some snippets that made it through all that, which I will post next.
Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 10:20 am
One way great writers, poets and artists have used to convey the teachings of Mysteries is by coding it into their work – Leonardo da Vinci being a case in point, Shakespeare/Francis Bacon being another. Mozart would hide cryptic allusions to Freemasonry in his works, notably The Magic Flute ... and the list goes on and on...
So in this tradition, a second century Roman writer called Lucius Apuleius wrote a novel called the The Metamorphosis (or The Golden Ass) where he has his hero undergo one of these initiations.
He is thought to have derived the story from a Greek, Lucius of Patrae. The Greek text has been lost but, according to Wiki, there is a similar tale of unknown authorship that is possibly an abridgement or epitome of Lucius of Patrae's text, wrongly attributed in ancient times to Lucian of Samosata, a contemporary of Apuleius.
Anyway,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Ass
`
Quote:
...Lucius calls for divine aid, and is answered by the goddess Isis. Eager to be initiated into the mystery cult of Isis, Lucius abstains from forbidden foods, bathes and purifies himself [first water initiation - Ish]. Then the secrets of the cult's books are explained to him and further secrets revealed, before going through the process of initiation which involves a trial by the elements in a journey to the underworld.
Here is his description of the climax of the initiation:
“I approached to the confines of death [the Underworld], and having trod on the threshold of Prosperpine [Persephone], I returned from it, being carried through all the elements. At midnight, I saw the sun shining with a splendid light; and I manifestly drew near to the gods beneath and to the gods above, and proximately adored them.”
So just hold that thought about the sun shining with a splendid light at midnight and now, I’m sorry, but I need to jump to India. That’s because these words of Lucius are not a million miles from Arjuna’s after he is granted a vision of the ‘true form’ of his god, Krishna, on the battlefield in the Bhagavad Gita, and I’m pretty sure that this is also an allegorical description of the second fire initiation:
If the light of a thousand suns
should suddenly burst forth in the sky
it would be like the light
of that exalted one.
The whole world there united,
And divided many-fold,
the son of Pandu then
beheld in the God of Gods' body
A mass of radiance, glowing on all sides,
I see Thee, hard to look at, on every side
With the glory of flaming fire and sun, immeasurable.
Without beginning, middle or end, of infinite power,
of infinite arms, whose eyes are the moon and sun,
I see thee, whose face is flaming fire,
Burning this whole universe with Thy radiance.
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Ishtar :
