Rites of Eleusis

September 18, 2013 — 2 Comments

On September 21 the ancient Greek feast celebrating life, beauty, death, and rebirth began. The Rites of Eleusis resembled All Saints/Thanksgiving/Christmas is some obvious ways.  Harvest celebrations started on the equinox and continued until the end of September, with ritual and a secret sacred mystery school.  The drama of Demeter and Persephone was reenacted to symbolize the descent of  the queen of the underworld every fall, and her rebirth every spring.  These celebrations were well attended by people from all over Europe who came to participate in a secret initiation.  Rituals celebrating goddess power continued day and night until September 30 when the last of the initiations were performed, deep in caves of the temple.

The British occultist Aleister Crowley produced his own version in 1910 in London, which later seems to have become a rock opera:

Rites of Eleusis

How do you celebrate the end of summer and the return of darkness? Octoberfest?