Persephone and the Lesser Greek Mysteries Part 2:

 

Persephone and the Lesser Greek Mysteries Part 2:

 

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

 

“We may observe farther concerning these dramatic shows of the Lesser Mysteries, that as they were intended to represent the condition of the soul while subservient to the body, we shall find that a liberation from this servitude, through the purifying disciplines, potencies that separate from evil, was what the wisdom of the ancients intended to signify by the descent of Hercules, Ulysses, etc., into Hades, and their speedy return from its dark abodes.”

Thomas Taylor: The Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries

 

Perhaps not servitude or imprisonment as the Platonist would have us believe, but rather, an imbalance of the Nephesh, from which the aspirant has become unable to find satisfying expression, that leads to frustration, and indeed, in some cases, especially in the coward’s or the Buddhist’s case, perceived as imprisonment. The Platonic and Buddhist negation of the material world is easily comprehendible when considering the plight of most humans, although, as we are told in Liber AL vel Legis, existence is pure joy, so, one must therefore conclude that there has to be some trouble afoot with this type of nihilistic mysticism. If the Nephesh is ignored, how can one truly attain to the most complete realization and experience the beauty and fullness of life, and cause change to occur through the expression of one’s True Will? I guess the nature of reality answers the question for us, hence, the material world is not a prison, it is an unhealthy relationship in most cases which needs to be worked on and rehabilitated, but never excluded as entirely incongruent with the path towards attainment--when harmony within and without may successfully be established. Hence, we find here--at the opening of the play, all the elements of the initiation, the Cave and Persephone during incarceration is the Nephesh and Animus obscured in darkness, and Cerberus symbolizes that which is to be attained, these qualities of the psyche are hidden from the aspirant and a journey of heroism is required to put these qualities to work and is the aim of the initiation. Thus, Persephone in her servitude to Hades is bound within as confronted by this three-headed-devil-dog---Cerberus, who keeps her paralyzed and in place while she pines for her release. One can easily envision the form that such a play would have taken; to imagine oneself bound and blind in a damp, dark, secluded cave is rather easy, and the only comfort to be found was the wailing of longing from beyond an imperceptible threshold, all the while, being confronted by the tormenting howls of some demon in the dark on the opposite end of the cave. Persephone was given a pomegranate which comforted her, and the story of beauty and the beast was told for the first time, she manages to see another side of Hades and indeed falls in love. Here is the first indication of both the Bacchic and Apollonian natures present within the play, as the victim becomes the hero and as a result sees herself for the first time, this acknowledgment is thus what enlivens her will, and fortifies her for the journey ahead. It is love that strengthens her; but how this was enacted is anyone’s guess, although, I assume, there may have been some touching involved and perhaps even drugs, which would have led to fullness of the experience and the capacity--for her, to find peace in the underworld.

 

“Love is the law, love under will.”