Eleusinian Mysteries and Astral Projection: The Secret Knowledge

It is a subject that often fascinates those who research it and intrigues the dreamers. Sceptics view it with suspicion, while scholars of esotericism regard it with certainty. Is it possible that ancient people knew something we do not? Did they possess practises that could truly separate the soul from the body? if so, how did the Eleusinian Mysteries-perhaps the supreme religious festival of the ancient Greeks-relate to this? This article will provide answers to some of these questions. 

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Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia

In ancient Egypt, a fundamental element of religious belief was the faith in the 'Ba', which was depicted as a bird with a human head. The Ba lived within the body, yet it possessed the ability to detach from it during sleep or after death, wandering through both the material and spiritual worlds. It is considered likely that priests practised techniques for the conscious release of the Ba to communicate with the gods.

In ancient Mesopotamia, on the other hand, there was a darker perception of the underworld; however, numerous references suggest they were familiar with the phenomenon we today call Astral Projection. There is a specific term in their belief system, 'Zaqiqu', which was of their many deities-the god of dreams. Yet, this same word also referred to a part of the human body, described as a breath or a ghostly wind that left the body during sleep. Kings and priests would often sleep in sacred places so that breath could consciously depart, in the hope of speaking with the gods.

The myth of Inanna is also well-known; it tells of the goddess descending into the underworld, a journey that modern teachers of esotericism believe refers to a form of astral wandering. In this context, her descent is viewed not merely as a physical or mythical journey, but as a symbolic representation of the consciousness leaving the earthly realm to explore the deeper dimensions of the spirit.

The Eleusinian Mysteries

The Eleusinian Mysteries were perhaps the longest-lived and most significant celebration of the ancient Greek world. They were dedicated to the goddesses Demeter and Persephone. Archaeological excavations reveal traces of worship dating back to the Mycenaean era, while there are indications suggesting a connection with Minoan Crete. Today, historians argue that the core of Demeter's worship originated in the Minoan period. In the Homeric hymn, the goddess herself-appearing to the inhabitants of Eleusis as an elderly woman-claims to have come from Crete.

In Crete, the statue of the 'Poppy Goddess' was also discovered. It depicts a deity wearing three poppies upon her head. The connection between Demeter and the poppy at Eleusis is direct, reinforcing the theory that techniques similar to those employed in the final stages of the Eleusinian Mysteries originated in Minoan Crete. 

A second elementthat appears to straighten such a connection is the Kernos vessel. This is a unique ritual container with small receptacles for grain offerings, used exclusively at Eleusis. Archaeological findings indicate that this object seems to have its roots in Prepalatial Crete. Later, returning to the Mycenaean era, the famous 'Megaron B' was discovered at the site of the Telesterion-the building that played a central role in the imitation rites. Dating to around 1500 BC, it is believed to be one of the earliest places of worship dedicated to Demeter. 

For many centuries, it appears to have been primarily an agricultural festival. Later, however, when Eleusis was annexed by Athens around 6th century BC-during the era of Peisistratus and Solon-the fame of the Mysteries grew to Panhellenic proportions, and initiation into them became the ultimate religious event. Following, the rapid spread of Christianity, the Mysteries began to lose their former glory, until their definitive end came with the edicts of Emperor Theodosius I, which prohibited pagan worship and mandated the closure of ancient temples. 

The Secret Knowledge

What truly took place there? Initiation was conducted under conditions of strict secrecy, and the initiates themselves took a vow of silence; anyone who dared to reveal what occurred, or who intentionally attempted to observe without the right to do so, faced the sole punishment of dishonour and death. Several incidents show that the Athenians were so sensitive to this matter that they did not hesitate to turn against great personalities of the time when they believed they had dared to disclose parts of the final stages of the Mysteries. 

A classic example is the case of Aeschylus, the famous tragic poet, whom spectators even attempted to lynch during a performance, accusing him of revealing aspects of the sacred mysteries through his play. The famous dramatist found refuge at the altar of Dionysus and defended himself by claiming he had never been initiated into the mysteries. Another case is that of the general Alcibiades, who was accused by his political rivals of mocking the sacred mysteries by reenacting them during a symposium at his house.

For all these reasons, the final stages of initiation remain a matter of theory even today. However, various authors seem to have left clues in their writings, leading to the theory that initiates gained a form of knowledge, through direct experience, regarding the existence of the soul after death. They underwent a characteristic death, as it commonly said, and through this, they ceased to fear the end of life. Many proponents of astral projection argue that the process could only be achieved through an out-of-body experience.

Many factors contribute to the wind spread belief that the initiates had to experience a form of symbolic death and rebirth. Scientifically, this process could have occurred through the use of psychotropic substances that would make such an experience more accessible. After a system of multi-month fasting and trials, the initiates would drink the sacred portion containing the substance and live through this experience; thus, they would realise, seeing with their own eyes, that the soul is immortal and can exist independently of the physical body.

Aristotle characteristically wrote, ''The initiated are not required to learn anything, but rather to experience and be affected.''

Punishment vs Gain

Indeed, if one looks closely at the punishment compared to what was gained from the Mysteries, a certain contradiction becomes apparent. If the ultimate goal was the abolition of the fear of death, why would an initiate fear to speak under the threat of the death penalty? The answer lies not in the fear of losing one's life, but in the sanctity of the vow, in social isolation, and in the nature of the experience itself.

For someone who had completed the initiation, the death of the body was not the end; however, betraying the Mysteries carried spiritual consequences. They believed that if one revealed what they had seen, they would lose the favour of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone, which they had just earned. Initiation ensured a privileged position in the afterlife; betraying the oath meant becoming an outcast in the next world, which for them was far worse than a swift death in the material world. Another reason was perhaps the fact that the experience lived by the initiate could not be conveyed through words but had to be experienced firsthand.

In ancient Athens, participation in the Mysteries acted as a connecting link for society. The revelation of secret knowledge was considered an act of impiety-a crime not only against the gods but against the city-state itself. A violator faced not only death but also the confiscation of their property and the dishonour of their family for generations. Thus, even if an individual did not fear for their own life, they cared for the reputation and future of their descendants. 

The Stages of the Mysteries

The initiation process was hierarchical and took place over a long period. It was divided into the Lesser Mysteries, which a large part of the population had undergone as a form of preparation, and the Greater Mysteries, which served as the final stage of initiation. The Lesser Mysteries were held in the spring, focusing on purification. Ritual washings in the Ilisos river and various teachings took place. Without this preliminary stage, the final experience was considered dangerous.

The Greater Mysteries took place in September and lasted for nine days. Purification in salt water was mandatory, alongside ritual processions where central honour were paid to Demeter and Persephone. The fasting, which had lasted for months, was broken by consuming the famous drink, Kykeon. The final experience took place within the Telesterion, likely involving a reenactment of the myth of Demeter and Persephone. The initiates were not mere spectators but active participants. The final stage was called Epopteia, meaning 'the act of having seen'; it is said that at this stage, the separationof the soul from the body occurred. 

Writers and their Writings

Evidence of what the initiates truly encountered, what they experienced-or at least what they believed they were experiencing-comes to us through fragments from various authors. Today, it is almost certain that these writers also participated in the final stages of the Greater Mysteries.

• Aeschylus (525-456 BC): Although the charges against him were eventually dropped after he claimed he had never taken part in the rites, it is considered almost certain today that the great tragic poet was indeed initiated into them. Aeschylus was born in Eleusis-the spiritual centre of the time for the worship of Demeter and Persephone-and came from an affluent family. For a native of Eleusis, such participation was not merely an option but a core part of their identity. According to Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics, the poet was accused of revealing secrets of the rituals through movements or speech within his tragedies. Aeschylus did not deny that what he depicted resembled the Mysteries, but he argued that he was unaware they were secret. The tragedies of Aeschylus are governed by concepts that lie at the very core of the Mysteries, such as the moral order of the Universe and the idea that knowledge comes through suffering-a concept closely resembles the process of initiation.
• Sophocles (496-406 BC): The life of the tragic poet was deeply religious. He served as a priest of Asclepius and even hosted the deity's cult in his own home until the Asclepeion was built. In his work Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles writes some of the most powerful lines, which many link to his experience with the Eleusinian Mysteries: 'Thrice-blessed are those mortals who, having seen these rites, depart to Hades; for them alone there is life there, while for the rest, all is evil.' Here, we witness the core belief of the Mysteries and the sense-or promise-of an afterlife that the initiated attained. 
• Euripides (480-406 BC): Although he often questioned popular religion and anthropomorphic gods, his connection to the Mysteries is evident in his work. In the Bacchae, he describes ecstasy and initiation with details that only someone who had experienced them could convey. In this work, he characteristically writes: 'Blessed is he who, having the good fortune to know the rites of the gods, sanctifies his life and joins his soul with the god's procession.' He also describes a state where the believer feels their body becoming light and their consciousness expanding into nature.
• Thucydides (460-400 BC): He was a scion of an illustrious family, a relative of Miltiades and Cimon, and it is highly probable that he had been initiated, as it was common practice for those of his social standing. However, as a historian, he never referred to his personal experience. This is consistent throughout his entire work. Yet, while discussing political and historical events, he recounted the profanation of the Mysteries by Alcebiades and how this accusation was used by his political opponents to recall him from the Sicillian Expedition. 
• Aristophanes (446-386 BC): Although a comic poet whose duty to satirise every part of society, the way he handled the subject of the Eleusinian Mysteries reveals a man who knew the experience from the inside and respected it deeply. In his play The Frogs, the god Dionysus descends into the underworld, where he encounters the chorus consisting of the souls of the blessed initiates-those who had been initiated into the mysteries during their lifetime. He represents the sacred procession of the Mysteries upon the stage. The chorus signs hymns to Iachus, the divine guide of the procession. Aristophanes has the initiates sign  that only for them 'is the sun and the light joyful in Hades.'
• Plato (427-347 BC): He is perhaps the author from whom we derive the most information regarding the highest point of the Mysteries. In his dialogue Phaedrus, he employs technical terms of the Mysteries (such as Epopteia) and describes the state of the soul before it falls into the body, using words that an uninitiated person would hardly know. His 'Theory of Forms' (or ideas) appears to be, in essence, the philosophical encoding of the experience of the Mysteries. The concept that the material world is but a shadow and that true reality is the light aligns perfectly with the initiate's journey from the darkness of the Telesterion to the Epopteia. In the Republic, he recounts the Myth of Er, a soldier who lost his life on the battlefield and returned to life after twelve days. His description of the soul's journey through the universe, the observation of celestial bodies, and the return to the body is considered by many to be the first recorded description of an astral journey in Greek literature. 
• Aristotle (384-322 BC): Having lived in Athens for decades, initiation for a man of his social and intellectual stature was a fundamental part of integrating into Athenian life. In his work On Philosophy, of which only fragments survive, he speaks of initiation in a manner that betrays inner knowledge. As a tutor of Alexander the Great, he belonged to a circle where the Mysteries held immerse significance; the Macedonian dynasty, and specifically Alexander's mother, Olympias, where devoted followers of the Orphic and Dionysian Mysteries. It is inconceivable that the king's tutor would not have shared these experiences. Aristotle was primarily interested in how the body and mind react to such states, and he criticised those who relied sorely on visions rather than logical proof.
• Plutarch (46-120 AD): A follower of Platonic philosophy, Plutarch was not merely an author but served for many years as a priest at Delphi. During that period, priestly families and officials of the great sanctuaries were almost invariably initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. There was also a close spiritual alliance between Delphic Oracle and Eleusis; thus, it is historically improbable that he had not been initiated. In his work Consolation to His Wife, he writes 'You know well, from the sacred symbols of the Dionysian and Eleusinian Mysteries, that the soul is immortal...' In this passage, the author addresses his wife regarding the death of their daughter, using their shared initiation as an argument for consolation. Furthermore, there is a famous fragment from his lost work On the Soul, where he describes the moment of death by equating it with initiation. As a Platonic philosopher, for Plutarch, philosophy was inextricably linked to his initiation. For them, philosophy was the preparation of death, and the mysteries were the practical application of this theory. His own writings describe what is known today as astral projection. In his work, he describes how the initiates feel a sharp blow to the neck, after which the soul leaps forth from the body. Most accounts of the phenomenon of astral projection mention a sudden jolt or a sound in the head at the moment of consciousness detaches from the nervous system. The description continues, noting that the soul 'opened up' and could see in all directions simultaneously-another common element reported by proponents of astral projections.                               

Scientific Approach

Astral projection, or the out-of-body experience (OBE), is approached by science primarily through neurology, and cognitive psychology. While science does not accept the existence of an astral body, it does acknowledge the accounts of people reporting these experiences, categorizing them as specific brain functions. In other words, it accepts the reality of the experience itself but views it as an illusion generated by specific brain regions. More specifically, it points to the temporoparietal  junction (TPJ), the area responsible for processing visual, auditory, and proprioceptive stimuli (the sense of where the body is in space). When this function is disrupted, the brain becomes confused and creates the sensation that the self is located outside the physical body. Furthermore, correlations are made with REM sleep or sleep paralysis, states where the individual retains a degree of environmental consciousness. 

Summary

The connection between the Mysteries and astral projection was likely based on the initiates attempt to undergo a symbolic death and rebirth. This had to be an actual experience, not merely teaching; the only way to achieve this was through the liberation of the soul from the body. The Kykeon, the sacred potion of the Mysteries, famous throughout ancient Greece, likely contained an additional ingredient to facilitate this experience. various substances have been proposed, such as poppy opium or a fungus (ergot) that grows on barley, the main ingredient of Kykeon. The ingestion of such substances, combined with prolonged fasting, exhaustion, and physical trials, may have been sufficient to trigger such profound experiences. 

'To die is to be initiated into the Great Mysteries'- Plutarch. 

Author: Theocharis George Paterakis

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