In 2014 I received an invitation from the Cyprus College of Art to write about Ονειροκριτικον/ Oneirocriticon, an art-critical practice I had invented in the 90s for incubating (dreaming with) artworks. On my way to Cyprus I stopped in Athens, picked up a rental car and drove 400 kilometers to the oldest Oracle in the West, found in Epirus, Greece.
I asked a number of questions on topics which Goddess seemed to regard with some ennui, responding with a couple of pro forma answers. I decided to stop pestering Her, and walked from the ancient amphitheater, past the oracular Oak, and to the small enclosure of Her Naos.
Seated on the mossy green stones of Dodona, I was musing the relationship between oracular utterance and incubation, when the phrase 'Eleusian Epiphanies' rolled through my mind. Having not the first idea what that meant, I made a note, doodling the two E’s back to back.
Seated on the mossy green stones of Dodona, I was musing the relationship between oracular utterance and incubation, when the phrase 'Eleusian Epiphanies' rolled through my mind. Having not the first idea what that meant, I made a note, doodling the two E’s back to back.
At that point I had only a cursory awareness of the Eleusinian Mysteries, so it took a while to grasp what Eleusian Epiphanies might comprise. During the next nine years, seven journeys back to the Eastern Mediterranean, and dozens of oracular consultations, the Eleusian Epiphanies evolved into a syncretic spiritual project, blending archaic Greco-Pelasgian and Indo-Tibetan traditions.
As my academic background is in art, aesthetics and cognitive sciences, I prefer to call these practices 'art forms.' Or at least experimental ontologies. Four of the five are (loosely) compiled.
The first one to take shape was the 33 Names of Goddess, a hypnogogic practice. I taught the 33Names in workshops through 2018-19; then family health crises (plural) called my attention elsewhere. I do stay connected with the 30 or so women still doing it, which takes 3 minutes before they are even awake.
The second was the Demetæra, an actual seated sadhana/ meditation, which I passed along to a half-dozen people in a workshop on Feb. 13, 2020. Turned out this would be the last in-person workshop I could give for awhile (pandemic ensued).
Next up: A men's practice to pacify anger. Initially called the 'TriSattva,' in February of 2022, I took it to three men I trust and asked them to road-test it for a year. It is now back in the crucible, cooking for a while longer. At that time I also introduced my gentlemen to the YPS -- Yoga of the Purified Senses. I have been doing some form of this yoga since 2004, long before the EE came into focus, but the Oracles had some advice on how to soup it up. I have taught this yoga to 11 people so far, mostly in private settings.
After the Mother's Day launch of the YPS, I slept for 36 of the following 48 hours. Ruh-roh.
As I mentioned above, there's a 5th Eleusian Epiphany, and while I have a pretty good idea of where it is to be written, the when is still murky. Before I expire, one would hope. Ditto: teaching the EEpiphanies again. Hah.
For now, all are drawn back to my heart-center. As everything began in 2017, I will be taking a hiatus through 2024 --you might think of it as a sabbatical ["and in the 7th year, she rested"]. That will involve finding one quiet spot to do cycles of closed retreat. The neighbors will have to be able to withstand gusts of vertigo (levity happens, y'all...), so that's a thing...
I can't say definitively *when* I will start teaching again; but as soon as I know, so will you.
The first one to take shape was the 33 Names of Goddess, a hypnogogic practice. I taught the 33Names in workshops through 2018-19; then family health crises (plural) called my attention elsewhere. I do stay connected with the 30 or so women still doing it, which takes 3 minutes before they are even awake.
The second was the Demetæra, an actual seated sadhana/ meditation, which I passed along to a half-dozen people in a workshop on Feb. 13, 2020. Turned out this would be the last in-person workshop I could give for awhile (pandemic ensued).
Next up: A men's practice to pacify anger. Initially called the 'TriSattva,' in February of 2022, I took it to three men I trust and asked them to road-test it for a year. It is now back in the crucible, cooking for a while longer. At that time I also introduced my gentlemen to the YPS -- Yoga of the Purified Senses. I have been doing some form of this yoga since 2004, long before the EE came into focus, but the Oracles had some advice on how to soup it up. I have taught this yoga to 11 people so far, mostly in private settings.
After the Mother's Day launch of the YPS, I slept for 36 of the following 48 hours. Ruh-roh.
As I mentioned above, there's a 5th Eleusian Epiphany, and while I have a pretty good idea of where it is to be written, the when is still murky. Before I expire, one would hope. Ditto: teaching the EEpiphanies again. Hah.
For now, all are drawn back to my heart-center. As everything began in 2017, I will be taking a hiatus through 2024 --you might think of it as a sabbatical ["and in the 7th year, she rested"]. That will involve finding one quiet spot to do cycles of closed retreat. The neighbors will have to be able to withstand gusts of vertigo (levity happens, y'all...), so that's a thing...
I can't say definitively *when* I will start teaching again; but as soon as I know, so will you.
Still Alethia/Αλεθια:
Despite the ubiquity of screens, the Eλeuσian Eπiφanieς will be continue to be conveyed in-person only. Flesh is so much more informative than the X-Y axis of the audio(pseudo)view, I promise.
