In August and September, I am going to be doing a few things.
Traditionally, this festival was held every two years with every other festival being especially grand and was called The Great Eleusinia, this was not connected to the Great Eleusinian Mysteries. The Eleusinia was a thanksgiving festival in honor of Demeter, the goddess who gifted mankind with grain and the techniques for harvesting it. I am going to make an offering of rice and barley at the river near me, and at the end, will make certain promises to the goddess which I will keep to myself.
An evening libation of milk and honey for Hekate, goddess of the cross roads and leader of the procession of the dead. A deipnon is a feast, a dinner, held normally at night, and in this case, it is a sacred feast.
I am doing this libation in preparation for my personal celebration of the Mysteries of Eleusis.
At sunset, I am going to light two candles, both will be scented for the autumn, that’s something like Pumpkin or Squash. Then I will walk to the river, and there pour milk into a small hole in the ground, which I will scoop out gingerly. Then I will light incense around it and sit in meditation, my hope is to elicit some inspiration for my celebration of the Mysteries.
Don’t be fooled by people who claim to know what the mysteries were, we do not, but there are lots of clues to most of the ritual and pomp that surrounded them, including fasting, the drinking of the Kykeon and a long procession from Athens to Eleusis. I am not in Athens, and as such there are no sacred ways or temples I can use to make my way to the goddess, rather, I will refrain from meat, from drinking wine during the entire time and will fast on the day of the Equinox as a show of respect. At sunset, I will feast and make merry, and thank the goddesses for their blessings.
August 17 - 20: Eleusinia.
Traditionally, this festival was held every two years with every other festival being especially grand and was called The Great Eleusinia, this was not connected to the Great Eleusinian Mysteries. The Eleusinia was a thanksgiving festival in honor of Demeter, the goddess who gifted mankind with grain and the techniques for harvesting it. I am going to make an offering of rice and barley at the river near me, and at the end, will make certain promises to the goddess which I will keep to myself.
August 31: Hekate’s Deipnon
An evening libation of milk and honey for Hekate, goddess of the cross roads and leader of the procession of the dead. A deipnon is a feast, a dinner, held normally at night, and in this case, it is a sacred feast.
September 13: A Libation to Demeter and Persephone
I am doing this libation in preparation for my personal celebration of the Mysteries of Eleusis.
At sunset, I am going to light two candles, both will be scented for the autumn, that’s something like Pumpkin or Squash. Then I will walk to the river, and there pour milk into a small hole in the ground, which I will scoop out gingerly. Then I will light incense around it and sit in meditation, my hope is to elicit some inspiration for my celebration of the Mysteries.
September 15 - 22: Eleusinia ta Megala, the great Eleusinian Mysteries.
Don’t be fooled by people who claim to know what the mysteries were, we do not, but there are lots of clues to most of the ritual and pomp that surrounded them, including fasting, the drinking of the Kykeon and a long procession from Athens to Eleusis. I am not in Athens, and as such there are no sacred ways or temples I can use to make my way to the goddess, rather, I will refrain from meat, from drinking wine during the entire time and will fast on the day of the Equinox as a show of respect. At sunset, I will feast and make merry, and thank the goddesses for their blessings.