Eleusinian Mysteries
The Mystery of the Mysteries - Part Two with Craig San Roque
A talk in honour of Glenda Cloughley, following on from The Canberra Jung Society/Chorus events, November 7 and 8, 2025 and Angelika Yiassemides October 10, Sydney theme on Carl Jung & Hans Bender’s conversation on Participation Mystique and Synchronicity.
The ancient Grecian Mysteries of Eleusis revolved around communal ceremonies and a theme of Demeter’s loss and Persephone’s descent and return. They were also secret. The themes and conduct of the Mysteries were an inspiration to Glenda.
I will especially take up one theme - that of internal, subtly intuitive, concentrated participations among people and with the forces of generative nature.
This is an ethos which, looking back, I can see as very close to Glenda’s heart; especially in her dedication to the Temenos group, to the Chorus of Women’s activism and to her psychotherapeutic ethic. I see this as a contemporary expression of a secret of the Mysteries, something so apparent: yet so unseen.
My thoughts about the Mysteries are also influenced by actual visits to the sites of Eleusis and Delphi, and by community theatre productions of the Persephone myth given in Central Australia and Santorini with Miriam Pickard - who embodied the role of Persephone.
Craig San Roque has practiced Jungian Analytic Psychology for over 40 years (London, Sydney, Canberra and central Australia). A former president and co-director of training for ANZSJA. He has taught Anthropology/ Performance studies, Social Ecology and Jungian Cultural Psychology at University of Western Sydney. He is credited with many publications - including in – the recent and timely Cultural Complexes and the Soul of America and in Placing Psyche with Amanda Dowd and David Tacey. Also, the Sydney Jung Society book on climate change, The Green Book and graphic novels; A Long Weekend in Alice Springs and Sydney/ Purgatorio with Joshua Santospirito.