THE HIEROPHANT & THE ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES

I•ero•fante ⁠

Italian via late Latin from Greek hierophantēs, ⁠

from hieros ‘sacred’ + phainein ‘reveal’⁠

The Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece, the oldest of their kind, were celebrated annually for at least a thousand years, until 329 CE. The festival started in early September in Eleusis, a town 14 miles from Athens, and was known as the most mysterious of the ancient Greek world.

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The major multi-day rites of the Mysteries were closely related to the myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. The sacred story of their bitter separation and joyful reunion served as catalysts for the spiritual enlightenment of the initiates and the rituals intended to evoke an overwhelming and ineffable experience.

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The Eleusinian priests who guarded the sanctity of the mysteries were called hierophants, and they knew how to induce a feeling of awe in the initiates. Experience the hierophant, Experience IEROFANTE.

 original artwork by Rafael Santiago