AboutIrulan Serena Expertise Able to answer any question dealing with Greco-Roman mythology. Experience comes from teaching classical literature in all levels of the school curriculum from middle school to university level for thirty-eight years.
Question Do you know anything about the signifigance of the penis in the eleusinian mysteries or in greater greek mythology? Thanks for the time
Answer Hello Matt,
Do you know anything about the significance of the penis in the Eleusinian mysteries or in greater Greek mythology?
The Eleusinian Mysteries are in honor of Demeter and Persephone. The secret of the Mysteries is the moment of the reunion, the appearance of Persephone as she emerges from the underworld. At this moment the initiate feels the emotional release from the dark night of the soul and is reborn to the light. The journey of the maiden is the human journey from it's grain-gathering nomadic ways to the paralyzing darkness and cold of the underworld only to return again to the light and fecundity of his earthly paradise, a garden of Eden still occupied by the ancient Gods.
Demeter is the Goddess of fertility in humans plants and animals, so the symbols for fertility for humans are the penis [phallus] and the vagina, therefore both are very important and strong symbols in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
The Ancient symbols of phallus and vagina are timeless and universal, they are also symbols of fertility in cultures as diverse as the ancient Celtics, Greece, Scandinavia, Africa, Polynesia, Egypt and India.
