review
by Janice Van Cleve
With these words, the festivalgoers at Aquarian Tabernacle Church's Sixteenth Annual Spring Mysteries Festival transported themselves back in time and space to a tiny Greek city called Eleusis. Situated on a bay just 20 miles northwest of Athens, Eleusis became the home of the rites of Demeter and Kore sometime before 1500 BCE. Over the years, the temple complex that grew at the base of the acropolis became a religious center for the entire ancient world. The mighty and the lowly, from Greek hero Herakles to Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, visited the shrine.
They came as humble initiates called mystai who, having purified and sacrificed, were allowed to see the Lesser Mysteries. When they returned after a year, they became epoptai and were allowed to witness the Greater Mysteries. What the mysteries were exactly cannot be known. All initiates were sworn to secrecy, nor did any break their oath. The same process is repeated today at the Spring Mysteries Festival. Newcomers are allowed to see the "lessers," as they are known, and returning seekers are admitted to the "greaters." As in ancient times, all are sworn to secrecy.
The festival is held every year at an abandoned military base that has been converted into a state park. The barracks and dining halls have been refurbished to house events like this festival, and the frowning buildings make perfect settings for scary trips to the underworld. Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC), a state-recognized religious institution, puts on the Spring Mysteries every year as a service to the growing community of people returning home to their pagan roots.
That community is indeed growing. Over 325 people attended this year, which speaks to the success of the festival but which also strained its capacity. Registration was choked, space was limited, and the kitchen ran out of food. The first night the supplies did not even arrive, so the crafty kitchen crew had to rely on ingenuity to feed the people. It's amazing what you can do with a few bat wings and a little magick!
Magick did not prevent a few Christians from coming on the grounds to harass us, but the security crew kept cool heads and dealt with them. As a member of the Interfaith Council, the ATC has legal standing to take the issue up with the state parks department to prevent reoccurrences. The festival also experienced its own internal diversity issues. One ritual placed lesbians and gays in very uncomfortable circumstances when the facilitator insisted on heterosexual images and groupings. This, too, was addressed by the organizers, and corrections are under way.
Sylvan Grove played a major role in setting up most of the shrines, providing classes and leading a ritual on the rites of Aphrodite. Members also provided the serving staff for the great feast on Saturday night. Prominent at the event also was our own Widdershins newspaper, which was snapped up by folks who had not seen it before. Here's hoping that many will take advantage of Widdershins by subscription!
This year's festival from April 12 through 15 was the culmination of many months of rehearsing and preparation. There are costumes, sets, new actors and veterans and a revised script each year to weld into a compelling drama of Kore's abduction and transformation. It was transforming as well. This was my third year, yet the mysteries are ever-new, continuing to delight with wonder and deeper truths. My deepest truth, however, came not in the temples or in the shrines, but rather in the hugs and greetings of so many friends. They started on the Edmonds ferry dock as we recognized each other from our medallions and witchy bumper stickers. They continued with warm hugs from the Canadians, bright new contacts with the South Africans and delicious loving bonds with wonderful pagans from Poulsbo, Seattle, Everett, Renton and all over the Northwest. They blossomed finally in shared phone numbers and tearful good-byes as we parted on the final day.
Next month, I shall be in Greece, and I shall actually walk the Sacred Way where ancients trod in centuries past. I shall be in Eleusis itself! In that moment, I shall remember our Spring Mysteries and invest them with new meaning.
The best resource currently in print for information about the Mysteries at Eleusis is a book by Carl Kerényi entitled Eleusis, available at many of the bookstores that advertise in this paper. For more information about Spring Mysteries and ATC, visit the ATC's Web site at www.aquatabch.org.