-Caveat Lector- The great-great-great-etc-granddaddy of "secret societies" -- the "Mystery" cults. Quoting from source documents, with a commentary describing the communal rites practiced by Greeks much like Christians during high holy days in their churches. http://www.san.beck.org/Eleusis-3.html The Lesser Mysteries had as their central character Hercules, who in Greek RELIGION as opposed to "myth" went through a "catharsis" resembling the saga of Gilgamesh. The Greater Mysteries, celebrated at the autumn equinox (when the sun was in the sign of Virgo, near the star Spica, "sheaf of wheat"), were dedicated to the grain-goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, abducted to the underworld in a roles-reversed updated version of the Sumerian myth of Inanna and Dumuzi and Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris (the "resurrected" one, symbolically reborn in the person of infant Horus). The Mysteries were in the hands of the King, alongside the hereditary mystagogue, and the main officers in charge of the rites were chosen from families of aristocratic lineage. Indeed, the protagonist of the Mysteries seems originally to have been the King himself, who like Hercules wore a "royal" solar lion-skin while others wore the skins of SHEEP. The priestesses of the Greater Mysteries lived chaste, secluded communal lives, just like nuns in the Church. The King-initiate, like the Sumerian "lugal" (land-lord, trustee of the soil), may have been symbolically wed to, "slain" by (see myth of Hercules and bride Deianira's "poisoned" cloak, which caused his death -- and ascent to Olympus), and "resurrected" by the Goddess, as with the older Near Eastern Inanna and Dumuzi, explaining the link between Lesser and Greater Mysteries, the "noble" and "popular." The ultimate source of the Christianized fable of King Arthur, Merlin, Morgana le Fay, and the Holy Grail is --beyond early Celtic forerunners-- most likely the ancient GREEK Mysteries, which in turn were certainly derived from more ancient Near Eastern myth. Keep in mind the fact that the "classic" Mysteries --Orphic, Pythagorean, etc-- were products of a more "philosophical" (and less "spiritual") era in Greek history, not much earlier than 600 BC (the time of the Ionian philosophers who migrated from Asia Minor), while the Mysteries described herein are something like a thousand years older, going back to the first incursions of Indo-European peoples into the western Mediterranean. Forget what you may THINK you know about "Mystery Cults" and ponder the picture painted in this website from the careful study of very old source materials. Enjoy! DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
