Persephone Unveiled: Seeing the Goddess and Freeing Your Soul

This is a magical book. Author Charles Stein takes us on a journey into the heart of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a spiritually transformative process that culminated in a rite at temple in Eleusis, a village near Athens after a week-long festival dedicated to Persephone and her mother Demeter.The Mysteries were famous in the ancient world and mentioned by many people. However, the initiates who went through this process were sworn to secrecy as to the exact nature of the experience, so it has been hard to reconstruct what may have happened. Using ancient sources and modern scholarship, Stein has attempted to penetrate the veil of secrecy.The mysteries were popular because they promised relief from the terrors of the afterlife, pictured in the ancient Greek mind as the terrors of Hades. Each initiate had to undergo an eighteen-month process of preparation, which culminated at the festival dedicated to Persephone and Demeter, which was held every year for thousands of years. In this festival, the initiates participated in dietary restrictions. On the last day of the week-long festival they marched the 14 miles from Athens to Eleusis. Along the way, they were each given a potion to drink which may have contained chemicals similar to LSD. On arriving at the temple there, they engaged in sacred dancing and were then ushered into the temple to witness the rite, which took place at night by the light of torches. It is not know exactly what happened then, but the whole experience ended with the "appearance" of Persephone.To those of you who view the world primarily in scientific and rationalistic terms, this book may make your eyes roll. But if you are looking for something else, such as an evocation of what it may actually have been like to be there, then this book contains some wonderful descriptions to help you picture it in your mind's eye. Five stars.

I bought this book because I thought it would use the Eleusinian Mysteries, in particular the story of Persephone's descent into the underworld, as a way to become whole or bring your soul to another level...but that is not at all what this book is about. This book is a SCHOLARLY look at the Mysteries at Eleusis, looking at the rituals that may have taken place, the archaeological evidence, and what we know about Greek culture. In the appendice is a wonderful translation of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (the best I've read). The author is truly a poet, historian and scholar, so it departs from your normal academic text by speculating on what it would have been like to be present at the Mysteries. I found myself agreeing with his scholarship (he quotes the best!) and inspired for my own pagan practices, but this book is better suited for scholars with a spiritual bent, not spiritual people with a scholarly bent.

FINALLY! A depiction of Persephone that stands up to the experience of her! This book is beautiful and well-researched; both academic and mystical. It is an absolute must for those who love Persephone, Parmenides, the Orphic and Eleusinian Mysteries and the Underworld! A treasured addition to my library, no doubt!

I loved the book. ;) Btw, Stephen King used that name in his novel, Lisey's Story. ;)

great

Book as described. Very happy :)

One of few Pagan books that I've ever found worth reading. "Persephone Unveiled" gives us insight into the Ancient's views on ontology, myth, ritual, ecstasy, and death. A the centre of this scholarly and well-written work is the the Void, the Eternal Mystery and Charles Stein takes us on a whirlwind dance around this unknowable heart of the Eleuisian Mysteries, said to be so powerful and mind-altering that those who participated would no longer fear death.If you are looking for Wicca 101 or a guidebook for play acting the Eleuisian Mysteries, Stein has no answers. Persephone, and her mother Demeter are terrible and untameable goddesses. Their way is one of danger and of violent transformation -- of an almost Buddhist annihilation of the self. There is nothing safe and comforting about these goddesses.An incredible read for any serious scholar of Pagan religion or Ancient Greece who wants to delve into the heart of the Goddess.

I haven't gotten through the book yet, I pick it up here and there and read it. I was mostly just interested in understanding the mythology about Persephone. Its good.