Pagan Festival Shout Out : Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries

Old Greek festival celebrating the marriage of Goddess Kore and God Dionysos, following their return from Elysium. Devotees dedicated themselves to service of Goddess and God after being purified by water and fire. Dionysos was identified with Plouton at Eleusis. While Demeter believed Her daughter to have been abducted and raped by Dionysos-Plouton, from the perspective of Kore-Persephone and Dionysos-Plouton, it was an elopement. [Anthesterion 20-26]

The Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek: Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια) were initiations held every year forthe cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are the "most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece". Their basis was an old agrarian cult, and there is some evidence that they were derived from the religious practices of the Mycenean period. The mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases: the descent (loss), the search, and the ascent, with the main theme being the ascent (άνοδος) of Persephone and the reunion with her mother. It was a major festival during the Hellenic era, and later spread to Rome.

The rites, ceremonies, and beliefs were kept secret and consistently preserved from antiquity. For the initiated, the rebirth of Persephone symbolized the eternity of life which flows from generation to generation, and they believed that they would have a reward in the afterlife. There are many paintings and pieces of pottery that depict various aspects of the Mysteries. Since the Mysteries involved visions and conjuring of an afterlife, some scholars believe that the power and longevity of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a consistent set of rites, ceremonies and experiences that spanned two millennia, came from psychedelic drugs