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Eleusinian Mysteries: Difference between revisions
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We have previously mentioned the myth of Demeter and Persephone as the foundational myth of the Eleusinian mysteries. In the Greater Mysteries the initiates continued to receive instruction on the meaning of the various myths. Leadbeater continues: | We have previously mentioned the myth of Demeter and Persephone as the foundational myth of the Eleusinian mysteries. In the Greater Mysteries the initiates continued to receive instruction on the meaning of the various myths. Leadbeater continues: | ||
<blockquote>The Minotaur, which was slain by Theseus, was the personality in man, “half animal and half man”. Theseus typifies the higher self, who had been gradually developing and gathering strength until at last he can wield the sword of his divine father, the Spirit. Guided through the labyrinth of illusion which constitutes these lower planes by the thread of occult knowledge given him by Ariadne (who represents intuition), the higher self is enabled to slay the lower and escape safely from the web of illusion; yet there remains for him the danger that, developing intellectual pride, he may neglect intuition, even as Theseus neglected Ariadne, and so failed for the time to reach his highest possibilities. The legend of the slaying of Bacchus [Dionysus] by the Titans, the tearing of his body into fragments and his resurrection from the dead, was also taught, with the same interpretation as that given to the legend of [[Isis and Osiris|Osiris]] in the Mysteries of Egypt—the descent of the One to become the many, and the reunion of the many in the One through suffering and sacrifice.<ref>Ibid., pp. 92–93.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>The Minotaur, which was slain by Theseus, was the personality in man, “half animal and half man”. Theseus typifies the higher self, who had been gradually developing and gathering strength until at last he can wield the [[sword]] of his divine father, the Spirit. Guided through the labyrinth of illusion which constitutes these lower planes by the thread of occult knowledge given him by Ariadne (who represents intuition), the higher self is enabled to slay the lower and escape safely from the web of illusion; yet there remains for him the danger that, developing intellectual pride, he may neglect intuition, even as Theseus neglected Ariadne, and so failed for the time to reach his highest possibilities. The legend of the slaying of Bacchus [Dionysus] by the Titans, the tearing of his body into fragments and his resurrection from the dead, was also taught, with the same interpretation as that given to the legend of [[Isis and Osiris|Osiris]] in the Mysteries of Egypt—the descent of the One to become the many, and the reunion of the many in the One through suffering and sacrifice.<ref>Ibid., pp. 92–93.</ref></blockquote> | ||
=== Instruments and symbols of initiation === | === Instruments and symbols of initiation === | ||