Myth, Ritual, and Initiation in the Eleusinian Mysteries

 

Presented by
Bradley A. TePaske, Ph.D.

Saturday, February 8, 2003, 9:30 am ~ 1:00 pm

 

Countless millions of ancient Greek speaking peoples experienced the numinous power of the divine mother-daughter dyad, Demeter and Persephone, in the ritual cycle at Eleusis. Sadly forgotten today, the Eleusinian Mysteries celebrated the Soul's transport deep into the chthonic underworld and its spectral return-an archaic religious experience remote from the eccentricity of transcendental spirituality. Seminar participants will read aloud and carefully explore the foundational myth, the archaeological record, and the elusive visionary experience of the mystes.

 

Bradley A. TePaske, Ph.D. is a Jungian analyst trained at the C.G. Jung Institute of Zurich. He also holds an MFA in Printmaking and Art History from the University of Massachusetts. In addition to private analytic practice in Pacific Palisades, Dr. TePaske is a Clinical Staff Psychologist with VIP Community Mental Health Center in East Los Angeles, where he treats children and adult victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

 

It is suggested that participants read in advance The Hymn to Demeter-ideally, the translation by Charles Boer in The Homeric Hymns, (Spring Publications, Inc., 1979). A good version also appears in the text:The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook, (Marvin W. Meyer, Harper & Row, l987). It would also be helpful to read Demeter stories and The Rape of Persephone in books by Kerenyi, or Graves.