Persephone Unveiled: Seeing the Goddess and Freeing Your Soul

by Charles Stein

Persephone Unveiled reveals the goddess in all her guises, as the daughter of Demeter; the Queen of the Underworld; the archetypal female healer; and as a central figure in the Eleusinian Mysteries, where celebrants experienced sacred visions through secret rituals fueled by an LSD-like substance. The author examines the known details about the psychoactive agent and explores the Mysteries' influence on, and relationship to, early Christianity. Guided meditations, using active imagination techniques, help readers summon an experience with the goddess.

Genres: Nonfiction, Witchcraft, Spirituality, Occult, Mythology

260 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2006

Reviews

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A weighty and (sorry!) often dull read. Complex concepts and in-depth historical and literary analysis, which is good, but I was seeking what the subtitle suggests and did not find that represented within. This book is definitely geared towards those interested in a scholarly exploration of aspects of ancient Greece, rather than those interested in goddess oriented practices and spirituality. Well researched, thorough, conceptually challenging, and deep.

[Maranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so interesting. It analyzes the myths associated with Persephone and her mother Demeter. There is much examination of how they were worshipped and even an overview of the Elysian mysteries!

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely more academic read. If you're interested in Greek history then it's worth a read but I felt it covered more about Demeter than Persephone and at some points it was just plain dull.

[Ragnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one took me a while to finish mainly because anytime anyone asked me about it, I would launch into a detailed account of everything in the book.

It's absolutely fascinating stuff. The book takes a look at the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, historical accounts of Eleusis, the Odyssey and Illiad, the work of the Philosopher Parmenides, and some historical information on Ancient Greek Pharmocology to piece together as much as he can about the Eleusinian Mysteries. His theory? The initiates were treated to a vision of the goddess Persephone that shook their identities to the core. He goes by the theory that there was a psychoactive chemical in the potion the initiates drank, and that the training and ritual actions of the participants led them to this... but rather than deny the effect of the experience as a result of explaining it, he enthusiastically treats it as life-shaking, valid, and sacred. Half of the book delves deeply into philosophy and legend to pin down what the relationship between identity, self-worth, and death were, and how the experiences at Eleusis could take a person beyond these fears.

And he introduces the idea of Transform Space as a part of Ritual Space, which is simply a beautiful way to consider alignment in rituals.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed and focused exploration of the ancient Greeks' autumnal festival of Persephone and Demeter and the initiation of the mystai into the Eleusinian Mysteries. In addition to the image of the thespians or Bridge Jests, in one of the final stages of the journey, who via clown-like humor and horror caused the celebrants to shed a final layer of mental and physical protection against the great unknown they are about to encounter, I found the discussion of the ancient Greeks' understanding of identity (a fixed definition of which one was always searching for during life, yet once saddled with in death, was considered the ultimate horror) and the Parmenidean Secret, both provocative. So interested too in the mention of 'incubation,' a healing practice in which guidance was sought in dream space. Not a light read.

[Kay Baird · Rating 5 out of 5]

A persuasive exposition of the nature of the Eleusinian Mysteries. This vision of Persephone integrates a shifting kaleidoscope of aspects of the Goddess, going beyond my concern with her relationship to sexuality; she embodies and effects a noncognitive experience of Being, much as Yeshey Tsogyel does, according to Anne Carolyn Klein in Meeting the Great Bliss Queen.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, so I'm a bit biased.

[Dominique · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of this book is the Homeric Hymn to Demeter at the end of the book.