Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries [Paperback]

Thomas Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1993

These mysteries once represented the spiritual life of Greece, and were considered for 2,000 years the appointed means for regeneration through an interior union with the Divine Essence. Details on the secret mysteries of the Adytums of ancient Greece. Annotated by Dr. Alex Wilder. Appendix, glossary.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Kessinger Publishing reprints over 1,500 similar titles all available through Amazon.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing; annotated edition edition (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564599760
• ISBN-13: 978-1564599766
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,536,492 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I'm dead, and they're talking about wheat.", July 19, 2000

By 

John McConnell (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries (Paperback)

Crudely put, the major thrust of Joseph Campbell's and CG Jung's work was the unity of the human psyche throughout the world - that the ancient religions and traditions are psychologically relevant. Neither man, however, was an adept of these systems, ie, neither pursued these systems to their obviously implied conclusions, instead contenting themselves with the (what is now) noncontroversial conclusion of psychological relevance. Jung was obviously at a loss to understand alchemical terms coherently, contenting himself with interpreting alchemy in Freudian and his own terms. Campbell maintained that God no longer speaks to mankind because He never DID speak to mankind.

Thomas Taylor, on the other hand, "the Great English Pagan", was thoroughly versed in the Platonic and Neoplatonic traditions and although he lacked the benefits of twentieth century scholarship, not only approached the essentially same conclusions as Campbell and Jung, but further concluded that there did exist at one time a religion of magical invocation. (See my review of Iamblichus on the Mysteries.) However incredible this idea might seem to us moderns, there are numerous examples from reliable, trustworthy witnesses (Plato, Plutarch, Iamblichus, Proclus) and other ancient sources - the Bible included (eg, the Witch of Endor summoning the spirit of Samuel for King Saul) that argue for this conclusion. Modern Rosicrucians and Golden Dawn adepts apparently concur, arguing for a sober reappraisal of what we understand by the term "religion". Taylor concurs with Campbell that the Christian religion has inadvertently charted strange and unknown seas by its insistence on the historicity of its symbolism. Unlike Campbell, he is virulently anti-Christian, not only in the Nietzschean sense that Christianity has undermined true Spirituality by its insistence on the fallen nature of the physical world, but also because he considers it a selfishly motivated and bizarre perversion of high paganism. It is a characterization convincingly assaulted by many Christian scholars and authors: eg, see GK Chesterton's The Everlasting Man.

Nevertheless, this translation is to be highly commended as it is Taylor's. Second, as usual, Taylor provides voluminous footnotes that are very helpful in acquiring a basic understanding of the Mysteries of Eleusis with its central sacrament of wheat analogous to the Eucharist of the Catholic mass and symbolic of the spiritually dead rising from the tomb of the body.

A very good and engaging Taylor volume, but like all his works it tends to raise more questions than it answers. If you enjoy this, again, you will want to read Taylor's Iamblichus on the Mysteries.