The Sacred Kykeon

Kykeon , a drink closely associated with the mysteries at Eleusis, has over the years caused a great deal of speculation – especially from those who wish to solve its secrets.  Many believe that it was a psychoactive drink, which may have aided the initiates to experience the ceremonies and the Gods during such rites.   The actual recipe was a closely guarded secret, held by two priestly families who held offices at Eleusis for many generations – and even the exact role the drink played in the mysteries at Eleusis is only speculation, as very little of the secret rites which took place there for many hundreds of years are known.  The “mysteries” at Eleusis will probably remain exactly that, as the initiates who took their oaths at this sanctuary honoured the vows of secrecy they took.

“I fasted, I drank the kykeon” (Clement of Alexandria, writing on the Eleusian mysteries, 2nd century CE)

 This statement of course is two-fold, and provides us with an additional clue.  Fasting has long been a part of religious rites in many cultures, it renders an individual into a more receptive state for spiritual experiences, and has the additional purpose of purifcation (depending on the period of the fast, as well as the nature of the fast, ie. what is excluded), thus combined with a sacred drink, the effects of that drink would be amplified.  Even drinking a simple glass of wine after spending just a day fasting, can cause the effects of that one glass to be significantly different from what it would have been like if you drank it with a three-course meal.

So what do we know about the ingredients that Kykeon might have contained?   From the Homeric Hymn we know that it was made from barley, water and pennyroyal (a variety of mint, with strong carminative, which is also used as a muscle relaxant for such things as menstrual complaints and tummy upsets.  It is also known for its properties as an abortive and should be used by caution by pregnant women, or those trying to conceive.   The fact that it was an abortive would have been known to the priesthood of Eleusis who were thought to be well versed in the use of pharmakeia, the use of herbs for healing and poisoning.

That wonderfully quaint herbal, Culpepper says of this herb:

‘Drank with wine, it is good for venomous bites, and applied to the nostrils with vinegar revives those who faint and swoon. Dried and burnt, it strengthens the gums, helps the gout, if applied of itself to the place until it is red, and applied in a plaster, it takes away spots or marks on the face; applied with salt, it profits those that are splenetic, or liver grown…. The green herb bruised and putinto vinegar, cleanses foul ulcers and takes away the marks of bruises and blows about the eyes, and burns in the face, and the leprosy, if drank and applied outwardly…. One spoonful of the juice sweetened with sugar-candy is a cure for hooping-cough.’

Hardly an ingredient which is likely to lead to hallucinations then. 

Barley mixed with water will soon ferment and create an alcoholic drink, which is the simplest explanation for the theory that the drink encouraged an altered state of mind.  The theory that the barley may have contained ergot, which may have caused psychoactive effects is highly unlikely as ergot is very difficult to control and administer in a safe manner, so if this was used one would expect that there would have been many accounts of initiates not returning from Eleusis, or many people dying or at the least convulsions or illnesses, but this does not seem to be the case.  Where as a sweet minty alcoholic drink might account for the fact that the drink seems to have been viewed as something very pleasant.  Also, with Gods such as Iachhus, who was often equated to Dionysus, leading the processions at Eleusis with Hekate (both these gods were depicted with twin torches), the idea of an alcoholic drink seems to be more likely.

The other suggestion which, though also just speculation, might be more likely, is that opium was added to the kykeon.  This is based on the numerous depictions of poppies and poppy-heads in depictions of both Demeter and Persephone associated with Eleusis.  Opium would have been easier to administer and control, and would certainly have caused an altered state of mind.   Or perhaps, as some have suggested, the secret psychoactive ingredient may have been psilocybin mushrooms, which would also account for the idea that the drink was psychoactive.

But just as likely as the above, it might have contained no psychoactive ingredients at all, and may have been just a very pleasant drink!  And why ever not?  Just because it is a drink associated with an ancient mystery cult, does not necessarily mean that it had to be psychoactive at all – it might just have been a pleasant drink!

Wine Betwixt their Horns

When the sibyl Deiphobe invoked Hekate to guide the heroes in Virgil’s Aeneid she (the priestess) makes offerings to the Goddess:

“The Priestess pours the wine betwist their horns,
Then cuts the curling hair, that first oblation burns,
Invoking Hecate hither to repair,
A powerful name in hell and upper air…”
(Dryden Translation)

This is just one example of sacrifice being made to the Goddess Hekate, which we discussed in Hekate Liminal Rites.  Hekate was, amongst other things, a cthonic goddess, and when cthonic deities were invoked a fire was usually made to burn offerings on, whereas a pit would be dug when dealing with daimones and ghosts.  An example of where this is recorded can be found in Seneca’s Medea:

“Now call on Hecate.  Prepare the death-dealing rites; let altars be errected, and let now their fires resound within the palace…”

Medea later hears the sound of barking dogs, which she takes as a sign of success from Hekate that her invocations and offerings had been successful.

Further references to such fire pits in association with the mysteries of Hekate can be found in the writings of Pausanias (2nd century BCE) and also in that of the Roman lyric poet Horace (1st century BCE).   We discuss these and many other examples of offerings in chapter 18 ‘Offerings’ of Hekate Liminal Rites so I will not repeat too much of that here, but instead I wish to dwell today on when and how offerings can be made today, and also on what might constitute suitable offerings.

It is well known that Hekate Suppers were prepared and left at the crossroads in the ancient world on the first of the month.  I have seen this misinterpreted by some modern pagan writers who believe that somehow this ‘first of the month’ would equate to the first day of each of our modern months, this is of course very very far from the truth!  Instead, the first of the month refers to the first day of a lunar calendar, ie. the time of the Dark / New Moon.  This is an auspicious time for magic today, just like it was in ancient times.  The offerings left at the crossroads at the Hekate Suppers often took the form of special cakes which were prepared for the occasions, but these were not the only offerings left at the crossroads for Hekate.

In addition to the cakes of the Hekate Suppers, we know that there were at least three types of offerings – katharmata (offscourings), katharsia (cleansings) and oxuthumia (sharp anger).

• Katharmata = leftovers of the portions of a sacrifice which were not used in a ceremony, ie. such things as blood and water.  These were often burnt.  It is also a term which could be applied to a scapegoat, a human who might have been offered as a sacrifice.
• Katharsia = the actual sacrifices, which for Hekate included such things as eggs, the bodies of dogs.
• Oxuthuma = baked clay censer which was used to fumigate the house for protection, and then taken and left at the crossroads.  It also describes the rubbish which was taken and burnt on the censer.

Where as I would personallly not engage in animal sacrifices, nor that of humans, I think that the third type of offering can still be used very effectively in the modern world.  We can burn sweet smelling and protective herbs and resins in the home, on a home made censer, clean our homes on a monthly basis and ceremonially burn the sweepings asking for Hekate’s protection on the home.  Likewise, there are many reasons why wine offerings make a suitable sacrifice to Hekate still today, and wine can be offered directly into the ground, or onto a fire (if you are able to make a fire directly onto the ground in a hole in the ground, it doesn’t have to be a large fire!).  By offering wine in this manner you are offering it both into the ground, and up to the sky – which is very appropriate for a goddess who holds sway over a portion of the Earth, Sky and Oceans …

Hekate and Dreams

Here in the Northern Hemisphere we are slowly nearing the Spring Equinox, after which the days will again be longer than the nights as the Sun grows in his power and strength. I am looking forward to the summer, with the hope that this year here in the UK we will have a better one than we have done for the last couple of years when wet and cold predominated even on the Summer Solstice!  The dark half of the year however does hold its own magic, when I see the Earth cold and frosted, covered in snow I cannot help but think of the Cailleach, who is of course the primordial Celtic Crone of Winter.  On a more personal level I find that the colder, darker months also awakens the need for more psychic and astral work, and especially dream work.  And this is of course also another area where the Goddess Hekate holds sway.

The function of Dream Oracle is one which Hekate shared with her mother (according to Hesio) Asteria, Goddess of the Night Sky.   There is some evidence to suggest that an alternative name for Asteria was Brizo and that the following passage from Pausanius (2nd century BCE)  refers to the Oracle of this goddess:

“From Oitylos to Thalamai [in Lakedaimonia] the road is about eighty stades long. On it is a sanctuary of Ino and an oracle. They consult the oracle in sleep, and the goddess reveals whatever they wish to learn, in dreams. Bronze statues of Pasiphae and of Helios (the Sun) stand in the unroofed part of the sanctuary. It was not possible to see the one within the temple clearly, owing to the garlands, but they say this too is of bronze. Water, sweet to drink, flows from a sacred spring. Pasiphae is a title of Selene (the Moon), and is not a local goddess of the people of Thalamai.”  
[Jones translation quoted here from Theoi.com]

There are many examples linking Hekate to spells and charms related to sleep.  In one such example from the PGM (Greek Magical Papyri) the charm given could be used both for revealing answers during sleep, or to cause someone else to not sleep.  These types of spells can be found in many different magical traditions and a very similar one occurs in the Jewish Sepher ha-Razim (Book of Mysteries) in which the head of a black dog which had never seen the light is used.  This spell which dates to the fourth century CE echoes not only the connection to dream oracles of Hekate, but of course that of the black dogs which were sacrificed to her, as well as a further connection to iron (a metal sacred to Hekate).  There are many examples of cross fertilisation from Greek magic into later systems, reminding us that viewing any system of magic, ancient or modern, in isolation, is a mistake when your quest is for knowledge and understanding. 

Another fragment, which we discussed in Hekate Liminal Rites in chapter 16 (From Sleep) is that from the fifth century BCE Greek poet Aeschylus who is sometimes known as the ‘father of tragedy’  as he also refers to Hekate’s influence on the realm of dream, when he wrote:

“but either thou art frightened of a spectre beheld in sleep and hast joined the revel-rout of nether Hekate …”
(Smyth translation)

From the same period in history we also have a reference to Hekate in a similar role from Hippocrates’  On the Sacred Disease:

“If the patient is attended by fears, terrors, and madnesses in the night, jumps up out of his bed and flees outside, they call these the attacks of Hecate or the onslaughts of ghosts”
(Ogden translation)

I hope you find these little glimpses in the world of dreams and of Hekate interesting, I know I do, especially in the light of how many people I have met over the years who had their first vivid experience of this goddess in a dream, or in a waking dream (sleep paralysis, cataplexy) often leading to very dramatic changes in their lives.  

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To find out more about Hekate Liminal Rites – click here
To find out more about the Goddess Asteria – click here

Hekate in Macbeth

One has to ask questions of art and literature in order to gain an understanding of it.  Sometimes you have to ask the same question again and again, before the veil is lifted to reveal something beautiful.  I was rereading Shakespeare’s Macbeth last night, as part of the research I am doing for an article on the Goddess Hekate and maybe it was because I was tired and it was well past the witching-hour but, I could hear the words being spoken in my head, words which must have been uttered on stages around the world many multiple thousands of times over the past four hundred years since it was first performed in the early 1600′s.  

HECATE: Have I not reason, beldams as you are,
Saucy and overbold? How did you dare
To trade and traffic with Macbeth
In riddles and affairs of death;
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all harms,
Was never called to bear my part
Or show the glory of our art?
And, which is worse, all you have done
Hath been but for a wayward son,
Spiteful and wrathful, who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you.
But make amends now: get you gone
And at the pit of Acheron
Meet me i’ th’ morning. Thither he
Will come to know his destiny.
Your vessels and your spells provide,
Your charms and everything beside.
I am for th’ air. This night I’ll spend
Unto a dismal and a fatal end.
Great business must be wrought ere noon.
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vap’rous drop profound;
I’ll catch it ere it come to ground:
And that, distilled by magic sleights,
Shall raise such artificial sprites
As by the strength of their illusion
Shall draw him on to his confusion.
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes ‘bove wisdom, grace, and fear:
And you all know security
Is mortals’ chiefest enemy.
[Music, and a song.]
Hark! I am called. My little spirit, see,
Sits in a foggy cloud and stays for me.

And in these words I realised were contained so many of the mysteries of Hekate, so many of the misconceptions too.  I have always held the belief that deities who had strength and power would find ways of preserving their own mysteries by inspiring poets, artists, writers and mystics in each generation to keep their memory alive, and very few managed this with the same command and elequence of Hekate. 

Read that monologue again, does it really portray a dark, evil Hekate?

Unintentional Silence!

The last six weeks have been incredible on so many levels.  David and I completed the manuscript for our forthcoming book “Coming out of Exile” which will be published, in due course, by our US publishers Llewellyn.  We are now working on completing the fourth title in our series of books which incorporates material from our own archives, being PRACTICAL ASTRAL MAGICK, which will be published by Avalonia and we hope will be available in May.  

For the last few years I have been preparing to undertake a series of workings which I hope will result in a workable fusion of Solomonic, Planetary, Graeco-Egyptian and Hellenic inspired ceremonial magic and philosophies.  This is now (finally) underway and as I progress I might share some of my ideas on it with readers of this blog.  It is going to be a long process of study and experimentation and I would love to hear from others who might be undertaking similar amalgamates. 

I hope to be blogging more often again from as this week – and will be sending out updates on the various projects we have been working on at Avalonia; as well as a number of exciting journals which are being launched in different parts of the world just about now.  It seems that the occult revival hasn’t quite suffocated under the strains of the inconsistent, improvident and  ill-considered strands of the pop-culture traditions. 

Hooray, for the bearers of the Torches and Thyrsus!