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Eleusinian Mysteries: Difference between revisions
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<blockquote>The ceremonies opened with a preliminary purification or [[baptism]] in the waters of the Ilissus [river], during which certain ritual formulas were recited; they were continued in the secrecy of the temple, in which representations of the astral world were shown to the candidate, and instruction given upon results of certain courses of action in the life after death.... Besides this teaching upon the exact results in astral life of physical thought and action, much instruction was given in cosmogony, and the evolution of man on this earth was fully explained,... with the aid of illustrative scenes and figures, produced at first by materialization, but later imitated in various ways.<ref>C. W. Leadbeater, ''Freemasonry and its Ancient Mystic Rites'' (New York: Gramercy Books, 1926, 1998), p. 86.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>The ceremonies opened with a preliminary purification or [[baptism]] in the waters of the Ilissus [river], during which certain ritual formulas were recited; they were continued in the secrecy of the temple, in which representations of the astral world were shown to the candidate, and instruction given upon results of certain courses of action in the life after death.... Besides this teaching upon the exact results in astral life of physical thought and action, much instruction was given in cosmogony, and the evolution of man on this earth was fully explained,... with the aid of illustrative scenes and figures, produced at first by materialization, but later imitated in various ways.<ref>C. W. Leadbeater, ''Freemasonry and its Ancient Mystic Rites'' (New York: Gramercy Books, 1926, 1998), p. 86.</ref></blockquote> | ||
[[File:Hades e | [[File:Hades e Persefone.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Ancient Greek relief depicting Hades and Persephone]] | ||
<blockquote>The myths of the exoteric religion of Greece were taken up and studied.... Among those relating to the life after death was that of Tantalus, who was condemned to suffer perpetual thirst in Hades: water surrounded him on all sides, but receded from him whenever he attempted to drink; over his head hung branches of fruit which receded in like manner when he stretched out his hand to touch them. This was interpreted to mean that everyone who dies full of sensual desire of any kind finds himself after death still full of desire, but unable to gratify it.<ref>Ibid., p. 87</ref>...</blockquote> | <blockquote>The myths of the exoteric religion of Greece were taken up and studied.... Among those relating to the life after death was that of Tantalus, who was condemned to suffer perpetual thirst in Hades: water surrounded him on all sides, but receded from him whenever he attempted to drink; over his head hung branches of fruit which receded in like manner when he stretched out his hand to touch them. This was interpreted to mean that everyone who dies full of sensual desire of any kind finds himself after death still full of desire, but unable to gratify it.<ref>Ibid., p. 87</ref>...</blockquote> | ||