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Home , Adonis, Agdistis, Attis, Cybele

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Volume 17 | Issue 2 Article 8

7-1-1998 , , and the Mysteries of the "Suffering Gods" A Transpersonal Interpretation Evgueni A. Tortchinov Department of Oriental Philosophy and Culture St. Petersburg State University

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Recommended Citation Tortchinov, E. A. (1998). Tortchinov, E. A. (1998). Cybele, Attis, and the mysteries of the ’’suffering gods": A transpersonal interpretation. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 17(2), 149–159.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 17 (2). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol17/iss2/8

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cybele, Attis, and the Mysteries of the ''S UITertng.cc "' G o d s " A Transpersonal Interpretation

Evgueni A. Tortchinov Department of Oriental Philosophy and Culture St. Petersburg State University St. Petersburg, Russia

This study offers a transpersonal interpretation of the ancient cults of the Phrygian (Minor ) gods Great Mother Cybele and her lover Attis. Because of its contradictions, the classical interpretation of Frazer, who considered these mysteries to be magical cults offertility or agricultural cults, is rejected. The author prefers a transpersonal and psychological interpretation of the mysteries of Cybele and Attis as a cathartic act of spiritual death and rebirth closely related to the Basic Perinatal Matrixes (BPM) described by Grof. The study analyzes in detail the cults of the suffering gods of the ancient Near East and compares the mysteries of the Phrygian gods with other contemporary cults (mysteries of , Osiris, etc.).

HIS STUDY offers a psychological the Frazerian interpretation and the correctness T interpretation of some cults and rites of Frazer's methodology. The first critic who heretofore researched in detail by evaluated the theory sceptically was the religious specialists in the field of religious studies. These thinker and Russian writer of symbolistic are the so-called cults of dying and resurrecting orientation Merezhkovsky (1865-1941), who lived gods of the ancient Near East, such as Attis, in the West as a refugee since 1920. In his essay Adonis, and Osiris. Here, I shall limit the borders "The Secret of the West: Atlantis-Europe," of this research to the cults and mythologies of Merezhkovsky criticized Frazer rather sharply. the Great Mother, Cybele, and her lover-youth, It must be noted that Merezhkovsky felt the core Attis, and some related rites (e.g., the Syrian rites of the problem extremely deeply, and though his of Adonis). interpretations are not always scientific or The cults mentioned were analyzed in detail rigorously academic, his intuitions were by J. Frazer in his classic work, The Golden surprising, and I consider them to be of essential Bough, through which his understanding of these importance. For example, after gathering data cults and mythologies became widely known. about an abundance of ritual in these Briefly speaking, Frazer regarded the cults of cults and characterizing their " spirit," these gods as agricultural cults of fertility, the Merezhkovsky, rather venomously, debunks the foundation of which was the agricultural cycle and interpretation of the cults of the suffering gods stages in the living cycles of agricultural plants; as the cults of fertility: he also connected them with archaic agricultural If all the religion of the suffering God-the magic. The Frazerian point of view, due to his primordial religion of all humankind-is an scholarly authority, still predominates in religious "agricultural cult of fertility" and nothing studies, though some thinkers and scholars have more, how can we understand the myth, raised serious doubts about the completeness of preserved by , about the god

The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 1998, Vol. 17, No.2, 149-159 149 © 1999 by Panigada Press , Adonis of Canaan, who castrated who see the prototype of all Near Eastern cults of himself ... so as to be safe from the loving chase the suffering gods as the Mesopotamian cult of of the goddessAstronoya-Stellar , the Tammuz (Dumu-zi, Dumu-zi Absu). That is why same as Celestial, ? Here the false "god offertility" transforms into the comparison of Hellenistic and Roman sources the real god of eunuchs, Attis. Is it possible to with the Mesopotamian materials is useful imagine something more different from the enough for the reconstruction of the basic cult. cult of fertility? (Merezhkovsky, 1991, No. 4, The Roman variety ofthe cults and mysteries of pp. 70-71) the suffering gods was described in detail by the Belgian scholar, F. Cumont, in his book Oriental The question Merezhkovsky raised against the in Roman (1956). The Frazerian perspective is very acute. Definite materials therein are very important for the scepticism is also found in the words of the present study. Russian mythologist 0. M. Freidenberg (lectures In this paper, I will first of all analyze the in Leningrad State University, 1939/1940): mystery cults ofthe ancient Near East using the This school treats religion even more example of the cults of the Great Mother Cybele unsatisfactorily than it does with the folklore and Attis, the standard and best known ones. [italics added]. The English School regarded Some description of their myths and related rites every religion as descended from primitive magic and in this sense the religions of will be given, also comparing them with similar antiquity, the Mexican religion, or the cult of cults of other Eastern gods (Osiris, Adonis, etc.). Our Lady had no differences among them. The critical analysis of the Frazerian approach is (Freidenberg, 1978, pp. 10-11) also important in this case. Then, I would like to suggest a new psychological interpretation of the It is, of course, impossible to speak about the material based on the theories, approaches, and mystery cults of antiquity without Frazerian experimental data of transpersonal psychology. material and without evaluating Frazerian The cult of the Phrygian (region in Asia Minor, concepts: every attempt to speak of something contemporary ) godAttis has been closely new in this field is still connected with the connected with the cult of the Great Mother Frazerian point of view and its reevaluation. I, (Magna Mater), the goddess Cybele, the mother too, cannot escape such a link. Therefore, one of of all the gods, symbol of the ever-feminine the tasks of this paper is a critical reevaluation principle of the world. During the second Punic of Frazer's classic theory of religious studies and War, this cult was established (with some ethnology. limitations eliminated later by Emperor ) Our knowledge of the Near Eastern cults of in as an official one: Cybele became the the suffering gods is generally based on data of protectress of the Eternal City. This cult, which Hellenistic or Roman sources. From IV-III B.C., became popular, to the exclusion of all others, from these cults became widespread through the the beginning of the Imperial Period, flourished Hellenistic world, entering into a syncretic in Rome and its Empire until the end of IV A.D. relation with the religion of the Greeks; from the (i.e., until the complete victory of ). beginning of the Imperial () Period they We have three varieties oftheAttis myth. Two began their spread into the Western part of the of them were given by (one of these (with the exception of the cults of two was also repeated by Emperor the Cybele and Attis, which were venerated by the Apostate in his philosophical poem about Cybele), Romans since the second Punic War, 218-201 and one has been told by the Christian author B.C.). On the one hand, this situation makes the , who pointed to a pagan priest task of the researcher easier because it provides Timotheus Eumolpides (Egypt, IV-III B.C.) as his detailed and rather understandable sources ofthe primary source. Arnobius declares that Timotheus narrative type, but on the other hand, it prevents found the myth of Attis in ancient secret books us from reconstructing the basic myths and the and sacred mysteries of antiquity. related rites (the exception is the cult ofisis and The first version (according to Julian the Osiris because of the abundance of the ancient Apostate):Attis was an orphan left by his mother Egyptian materials). But there are many scholars on the bank of a river. He became a handsome

150 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 1998, Vol. 17, No.2 youth, who was in love with Cybele, who forbade immortal. Resurrected Attis, together with him to love any other woman. Nevertheless, Attis Cybele-, ascends into the celestial world fell in love with the river nymph Sangaria (apotheosis). (Sangarios) and had sexual intercourse with her This myth has many common features with the in a cave. Cybele caused him to go mad, and Syrian myth about Adonis (ancient semitic during this time of madness he castrated himself. Adon-the Lord; compare with the biblical title Then he was pardoned by Cybele, who caused him of God as Adonai-Our Lord, or more literally, to ascend to the celestial worlds. My Lords). Pausanias also practically equates The second version of Pausanias tells us that Attis with Adonis. Attis was an earthly youth who was by birth Let us now return to Attis. In the Roman unable to have a sexual life. Then he became period, texts appeared glorifying Pileatus (i.e., god famous owing to his mystery services to the Great in a Phrygian hat) as Pantheos (the All-god) or Mother. became angry that the fame ofAttis Shepherd of the Glimmering Stars. He was exceeded his own. So Zeus sent the monstrous equated not only with Adonis or Osiris, but with to kill him. (This myth is akin to the and Mythras as well. His images included Syrian myth about Adonis.) the crown of the solar rays with a lunar disc and The version ofArnobius-Timotheus is the most numerous other attributes. A question, previously interesting one: According to it, Zeus finds his formulated by Cumont, appears here: Why did a mother Cybele sleeping in the mountains. Zeus, weak and unhappy of a primitive love-story filled with incestuous desire, tries to possess her (as Attis of the myth) become transformed into but fails. His semen flows out on a mountain rock, the Omnipotent God and Lord of the Universe which becomes pregnant and bears the (Cumont, 1956, p. 71)? I think that Cumont androgynousAgdistis (Agdestis), a being of male/ himself answers this question quite correctly in female nature. ThisAgdistis, like the androgynes what he says about the cult of Isis and of Plato, is extremely mighty and has strong (1956, p. 93). The cult ofAttis had a very primitive sexual feelings toward both and women. The and elementary morals, much more gods are afraid ofAgdistis' debauchery and so they elementary than the ethical doctrines of the Greek send to him the god Bacchus the Liberator. He and Roman philosophers. Nevertheless, it enjoyed gives wine to Agdistis, and when this creature, great success and popularity. Why? The answer Agdistis, is asleep from drunkenness, Bacchus is that neither myth nor theology nor ethics can castrates him. Agdistis thus loses his male nature explain the success ofthe suffering gods cults; only and changes into a womanly nature-the Earthly reference to the rites and mysteries of these (the second) Cybele. But the drops of the blood divinities can. The ritual is the strongest side of from Agdistis nourish the soil and it bears a such cults and beliefs. So, let us leave the myths blooming and fragrant tree. The nymph (the and mythologems and look at the mysteries of daughter of the river god Sangarias) puts the Attis, the central point of which is his bloody death branch of the tree under her clothes. She then and . becomes pregnant and bears a son, who is Attis, The mysteries of Attis have been described in the bearer of the male sex ofAgdistis. The earthly detail by Frazer (1984, pp. 328-331), Cumont Cybele then meets Attis and falls in love with him, (1956, pp. 56-59), and Merezhkovski (1991, No. because in reality he is the other half of herself. 5, p. 41) so I need not repeat the material here. It But the relatives of Attis want him to be the is enough to point out the most important husband of the daughter of the king. During the elements of these rites. wedding party, Cybele-Agdistis enters the palace; The most essential of all is the ecstatic and she is in a fury. Everybody feels horror. The king bloody forms of sorrow regarding the murdered castrates himself; the princess cuts her breasts god. The day of sorrow (23 March of the Roman off. Attis runs to the forest and there castrates calendar) was even called by the Romans, Dies himself, too. Then he dies from loss of blood. The Sanguinis, that is, "The Bloody Day." During the earthly Cybele is full of repentance. She prays to service held on this day the priests wounded Zeus (Phrygian Sabasius or Papas?) to resurrect themselves (the priests of Cybele and Attis were Attis and make him eternally youthful and eunuchs) and were dancing and crying, being in

Cybele, Attis, and the Mysteries ofthe "Suffiring Gods" 151 an ecstatic state of mind. The novices were feeling realized through experience of death­ castrated on this day of sorrow, too. Then the rebirth. The psychopractical effect of the mystery figure of Attis was buried in the grave and the rite was the magic power which changed the lovely ecstatic mood of the preceding part of service boy-shepherd, the lover of two sacred female changed into the silent mood of mourning. Then persons, into the Omnipotent Lord, Shepherd of fire appeared, and in its light, the priest declared Stars and the King of the Space beyond the world. the resurrection of the god. The figure of Attis But this interpretation of the rites and myths was then erected from the grave and the priest of the Phrygian god in itself cannot explain the promised eternal life to all participants of the rite structure and construction of the mystery ofAttis and believers. The next day was a holiday of (or the mysteries of other "suffering gods"). In enormous joy, sounds of happiness and carnival, order to explain them we must recognize the suggesting the different kinds of excessive incompleteness of the traditional agricultural behavior of its participants. The last day of the theory as well as further interpret some festival was a day of rest and silence. substantial aspects of the myths and rite (first of We can see in the foregoing, four different but all, the theme of self ) and some features interrelated stages: (1) ecstatic sorrow of pain with found only in the myth, which is the code of rite the bloody orgies and ritual castrations; (2) silence (the theme of incest). Before I proceed to attempt of mourning; (3) excitement and joy of excessive a psychological interpretation of these points, character; and ( 4) silent rest and quietness of however, I should like to say something about a catharsis and purification. cult related to that ofAttis, that is, the cult of the Below I shall also describe the mystery rite of Syrian god Adonis. taurobolia (the bull-killing rite), one of the most The mysteries ofAdonis took place everywhere popular and sacred rites of the Great Mother in the Hellenistic Orient (Syria, , Egypt), Cybele. But first I shall make some notes on the in (from a rather ), and in occasion of ritual castration in the mysteries of Roman Italy. There were large variations in the the "suffering gods." details of the :rite, but its essence was one and The cults involving ritual castration were the same. This was, as in the case of Attis, the widespread in the ancient Near East and were mystery of the death and resurrection of the god connected with the veneration of the great (the theme of secondary importance for the myth). , such as Astarte-Aphrodite or Sometimes this mystery was preceded by the fest of -Oriental goddess with the Greek of hierogamia of Adonis and Aphrodite. The name, etc. In Hellenistic Syria there were also mystery of death-resurrection had the same many ritual castrations; one of the kings had even stages as the mystery of Attis. It is interesting prohibited them, but with no success. that the rite of mourning in the mystery ofAdonis Note that the myths are not very attentive to was served as a rule by women (according to the the resurrection of Attis; this moment is not Bible [Ezekhiel, 14] the participants of the :rite of accented by the myth. Even the version of the mourning ofTammuz in Jerusalem were also Arnobius-Timotheus only mentions it briefly. The women). :rite greatly stresses nothing but suffering, death, The interesting moment of Adonis' :rite was and the rising of the god; here lies the central preparing the so called "gardens ofAdonis" (boxes point of the rite. This point lies in the very or jugs with sprouts of different plants. When the foundation of the cult ofAttis itself and is the main plants faded, the women threw them (as well as cause of its popularity. So here it is correct to agree the images of the god) into the sea or streams. with Frazer, noting that myths have a secondary Curiously, Frazer used this rite to argue for nature in comparison with the :rites: the myths the agricultural character of the cult of Adonis. were invented to explain the rites and habits of Here I think it would be instructive to provide a the believers (Frazer, 1984, p. 327). I quite agree long citation from Merezhkovsky (1991, No. 4, with this statement, but seems to me better to it pp. 70-71): add to this opinion that the value ofthe rite itself was determined by its psychopractical aspect or All the religion of Adonis is only an intention, the purpose of which was the cathartic "agricultural cult of fertility," (this

152 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 1998, Vol. 17, No. 2 blasphemous nonsense is unchangeable from (March 23rd-26th) is the time of the spring V until XX A.D. Certainly, Adonis is a dying equinox. Such self-contradicting preconceptions and resurrecting cereal, but quite not in the clearly demonstrate the weakness of the Frazerian sense of the "naturalists" from St. Hieronymus up to Frazer, but in the sense of St. Paul: "The and any other "naturalistic" explanation, and the seed you sow has to die before it is made artificial character of such theories. And what can alive ... That is how it will be when the dead we do with the practice of self-castration and its are raised ... Now I will tell you the mystery" mythical counterpart? Is it not too strange to be (1 Cor. 16:36, 42,51). Unfortunately, this regarded as an "agricultural cult of fertility"? It "mystery" has been revealed in vain and not is very difficult to believe that the agricultural only in the ancient mysteries of Adonis. If all of the religion of the suffering god­ myth about seed, its death in the soil and the primordial religion of all humankind-is resurrection in the sprout, can affect human only an "agricultural cult of fertility" and feelings to such a degree that the male believers nothing more, why were cups ofpottery ... with would wish to cut off their testicles and become cereals, put under the very sun rays near the eunuchs. And how can fertility increase as a result walls of the houses and why were they watered in abundance so that the sprouts appeared and of castration? It is far more rational to presuppose faded as soon as possible? Why did the ancients that here we have something very different from use the plants, symbolizing death and an agricultural cult. sterility? ... Why did they throw the seeds and I shall try now to look at the mystery cults of sprouts not to the fertile soil, but into the the suffering gods from another angle: not from sterile sea and deep wells, the entrances into the side of the outer world, where flowers bloom the underworld? And how can we understand the myth, preserved by Damascius, about the and people take in the harvest, but from the god Eshmun, Adonis of Canaan, who castrated unconscious side of psyche, in which dwell all the himself... so as to be safe from the loving chase archetypes and all pre-images of all myths, of the goddessAstronoya-Stellar Astarte, the mysteries, and rites. First of all I shall argue that same goddess as Aphrodite Celestial, Urania? the mysteries of the suffering gods are closely Here the false "god offertility" transforms into related to the cathartic experience of death-and­ the real god of eunuchs, Attis. Is it possible to imagine something more different from the rebirth, with some distinctive perinatal cult offertility? (Merezhkovsky, 1991, No. 4, connotations. Of crucial importance here are the pp. 70-71). psychological states connected with Basic Perinatal Matrix (BPM) III, described in detail by Stanislav The doubts and questions ofMerzhkovsky are Grof(1993) in his work summarizing "almost thirty quite reasonable. Here, he also points out that years of research on nonordinary states of the "freethinking" and "atheistic" theory of Frazer consciousness induced by psychedelic drugs and a was in reality established by ancient Christian variety of nonpharmacological methods" (p. 12). authors (St. Hieronymus and others) with the self­ According to Grof, BPM's are patterns of confessed aim to differentiate between "false" prenatal and early postnatal experience preserved of the pagan divinities and the on the unconscious level of the human psyche. "true" resurrection of Christ. And it seems that BPM III reflects the prenatal experience of the the Frazerians do not notice a very strange foetus when it step by step moves along the contradiction: ifwe evaluate the nature ofAdonis channel of the uterus, suffering from exclusively by the "gardens," it would be the god of spring strong mechanical pressure and hypoxia. In the plants which dies under the hot rays of the perinatal experiences reported in transpersonal summer sun, but if we make our judgment on the sessions are such elements of a titanic struggle, basis of the season of the festival (in Alexandria), sadomasochistic intentions, sexual excitement, or if we rely on the words ofAmmian Marcellinus demonical scenes, scatological themes, and (historian ofiV A.D.), Adonis is the god of ripened fighting with fire in the constant process of death­ fruits and the autumn harvest. He (as well as and-rebirth. The corresponding archetypical Attis) could even be the god of the Moon-is it images are pictures ofthe Last Judgement, deeds not the Moon which permanently passes through of the great heroes, and battles of a cosmic scale. the cycle of death and rebirth? And Attis can be Constant themes are also bloody , self­ as well the solar god~ the time of his mysteries sacrifices, killings, sadomasochism, and rapes, the

Cybele, Attis, and the Mysteries ofthe "Suffiring Gods" 153 roots of which lie in the conjunction of the pain of personification in the figures of Christ, Osiris, the foetus suffered from the activity of the Adonis, , and other mythological beings. maternal reproductive system and the furious The abstract image of the god as the brilliant biological reaction of the foetus to hypoxia, pain, source oflight also can play the role oftheophany. and unrest. A number of the images, related to The experience of meeting and union with the the transpersonal states of BPM HI during the great goddesses-mothers (Isis, Lakshmi, , sessions, have the nature of religious ceremonies Cybele) or with the Virgin Maria can also take and rites in which sexuality is connected with the place. (phallic cults, rites of the Great As stated earlier, I consider the transpersonal Mother Goddess, etc.). A classical symbol of the interpretation of the cults of the suffering gods to passage from BPM HI to BPM IV (i.e., the be more natural that the agricultural one. Not experience of the passage from prenatal state to the strange cult of fertility, but the religious, the postnatal one, climax of psychotherapeutic procedure the process of birthing) is leading to catharsis and the the Phoenix bird, burning in feeling of release is the the fire and rebirthing from understanding of the ancient the ashes, and then flying to mysteries that seems more the sun. The experience of correct to me. Let me give the struggle between death one simple but clear example. and rebirth according to There exists a well­ Grof is on the border known image of the dead between agony and ecstasy, Egyptian god, Osiris (U sir/ the unification of both. Ousir), or, more correctly, The battle between death the mummy of Osiris, which and rebirth finds its gives life to the sprouts of completion in the stage of cereals. This image was BPM IV. On the very eve of considered to be one of liberation, the subject feels the arguments for the the coming of a catastrophe agricultural character of of great scale, destruction, this god. Nevertheless, the absolute defeat, and death. Russian edition of Grof's The dissolution of the old "ego" Beyond the Brain (Grof, comes about, precipitated 1993, p. 335) contains a by the annihilation of all picture, inspired by a previous worldviews. From psychedelic session, and the experience of total presenting the cycle of destruction, death, and a fall beyond the limits of death-and-rebirth. In the picture, reproduced being, there follows the vision of the brightest here, we can see the coffin with the skeleton which flash of white or golden light of gives birth to the mighty tree. From the skull of brilliance and beauty and the vision ofthe spring the skeleton a carnation flower is growing and a nature after the storm. The person experiences a little girl is running to it (here we have a play of profound feeling of spiritual salvation, liberation, words: carnation as the name of the flower and and purification of all sins. The subject's world the related word "carnal," "made of flesh," with seems to be a very good and safe place, and the connotation ""). Who can interest in life increases greatly (Grof, 1993, pp. believe that the author of this picture has 140-141). expressed the idea of an agricultural or botanical Grof points out that the symbolism of the cycle? But it is also well known that myths ofAttis experience of death-and-rebirth is extremely :rich, and Adonis use the image of the pine or another appearing from different regions and strata of the big tree in their imagery to express the idea of collective unconscious. For example, the death of the death of the god killed (or who committed the ego is experienced in the form of self- suicide) under the huge tree or the idea of the

154 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 1998, Vol. 17, No. 2 divine transfiguration (the tree as the remember that in antiquity matter was often transubstantiated body of the god-martyr)-as, thought of as the primordial waters, this for example, in the myth ofthe nativity of Adonis interpretation can be of relevance. This his mother was transformed into the tree. circumstance once again underlines the close Let me now try to interpret the myths and rites relation between myths, archetypes, and the of Attis and Adonis from an approach of speculative thinking of the ancient epoch. transpersonal psychology and to explain some Sallustius also stressed the archetypism of the specific details of the cults of these divinities. Here mythological narrative: the subject of the myth I should like to stress some special features of "is not appearing in the past, but existing in these cults, such as castration and the theme of eternity, forever." incest. "The passions" ofAttis come to an end with his I will begin by looking at theAttis myths again. resurrection and apotheosis, that is, the ascension First of all, it must be noted that the image of to the celestial kingdom of Cybele. Cybele (Mother of the gods) here shows the Note that perinatal themes of the ancient conformity of the myth to the themes of maternity myths are often in the form of descending to the and birth. Cybele is the archetypal expression of depths of the earth, to the grave, to the the idea of maternity. But in the myths, no one underworld (the correspondence between the but Cybele (Cybele-Agdistis) is the cause of the images of the grave and the maternal womb is castration and death ofAttis, as well as the cause well known to scholars of mythologies). This of his resurrection and apotheosis. It is quite archetype has been presented not only in the understandable, because in the perinatal famous mysteries of and , but experience nothing but the maternal reproductive in the most ancient myth of Tammuz. system is the source of the pain of the foetus as To complete the analysis of the perinatal theme well as of the bliss of birthlrebirthing. If we add in the mysteries ofAttis, it would be useful to look that the prenatal experience of the blissful state at another Phrygian rite of the cult of Cybele, of the foetus in the womb, along with the related which probably is the simplified variety of the "oceanic" feelings, quite correspond to the peaceful mysteries of death/rebirth of Attis. I mean the love of Attis and Cybele before Attis was seduced taurobolia, the rite of bull-killing. by the nymph, the function ofthe image ofCybele The taurobolias were at first mentioned in I B.C. is very clear. She is the Mother. The image of the The main source is the description of Prudentius, nymph is not so clear, but the presence of the who presented his own version. The bull was theme of water (river) is closely connected with killed by knife on an open platform. His blood the prenatal symbolism of the "ocean" of the flowed down and washed the participant of the maternal waters of the womb. It is possible that mystery, who stood in a hole excavated beneath the seduction of Attis by the nymph symbolizes the platform: his wish of not being born: he does not want to Through thousands of hollows in the wood­ leave the primordial waters and experience the the Roman poet says-the drops of the blood sufferings of birth/resurrection. This desire, of fall through the hole and wash the head, the course, could be a cause of Cybele's wrath. Then clothes, and the body of the neophyte. He tries the passions ofAttis begin, culminating in his self­ to use the blood to color his ears, lips, and castration (see below). The same theme of the nostrils. He washes by the bloody liquid his maternal archetype has been presented in the eyes, and even his mouth is not dry, because he washes his tongue with blood and willingly myth ofAdonis in the image of Aphrodite-Astarte drinks it. (Cumont, 1956, pp. 66-68) (but in a much milder form). It is interesting that the Emperor Julian the After this bloody shower, the myst (participant Apostate and the neoplatonist Sallustius, who of the mystery) went out from underneath the hole were engaged in the purely philosophical and was enthusiastically received by the believers. interpretation of the Attis myth, explain the It was considered that such a person, due to this "sinful" love of Attis and the nymph as his bloody baptism, had been liberated from all his attraction to matter and his departure from the sins and all impurities and became equal to the absolute unity of the spiritual principle. If we god himself. Cumont (1956) considers this rite to

Cybele, Attis, and the Mysteries ofthe "Suffiring Gods" 155 be the result of the syncretism of the Phrygian But Christianity preserved the tradition of the mysteries and the ceremonies of the Iranian god watery baptism. Mithras. If this is so, it must be noted that in the The strong cathartic effect of the taurobolia cult of Mithras the mystical bull (or ox) was explains its enormous attraction to the Hellenistic thought to be the source of creation and and Roman worlds. Passing through it was resurrection; so the rite described may be seen as considered to be "in the eternal rebirth" (in a means of the temporal or even eternal aeternum renatus), the expression known to us purification and rebirth of the soul. by numerous inscriptions. It is clear that the myst in taurobolia represents Now let us return to the rites of Attis and the god Attis himself. The descension to the hole Cybele. The version of their myth by Timotheus­ is analogous to death and the embryonic state as Arnobius has much more complex structures than well (grave as womb). The blood of the bull the versions which were analyzed above, but its renovates the dead and prepares them for a new contents may still be reduced to the more simple and more perfect life. The neophyte experiences versions. I should like to draw attention to some death and rebirth; he obtains a new birth, passing of its specific elements: through all the pains and sufferings ofthe process (1) The theme of the divine incest appears here of birthing (the rite concentrates, first of all, on in its quite distinctive form. It is known also from BPM III) and the blood of the bull is nothing other the myths ofisis (Iset) and Osiris (here it may be than the maternal blood of the archetypal explained by the real matrimonial practice of the Mother-the goddess Cybele (the bloody baptizing reigning families of ancient Egypt) and the marks the borderline between BPM III and BPM mystery myths of Dionysus and Demeter. So this IV, between prenatal existence in the hole, or pit, theme must be analyzed in detail. and the postnatal state ofthe born/reborn subject). (2) The interesting aspect ofthis version is the Then the mystery ends with the experience of the functional identity of Bacchus the Savior (the cathartic renewal and rebirthing of the adept Liberator) and Attis himself. The first, by the through this bloody mystery ceremony. castration of Agdistis objectivized or explicated A parallel between taurobolia and the his/her male sex, that is, Att:is. The second (Attis) Christian mystery of baptizing, it seems to me, is being in the sacred horror produced by Agdistis/ that in their inner, trans personal sense, both rites Cybele, castrated himself and returned to are quite similar (though from the moral fundamental bisexuality, but in its subtle, standpoint, the bloodless baptizing is certainly potential form, transcending human sexual preferable): the baptizing also supposes new duality. The self-castration was the precondition spiritual birth. Baptizing is a mystery rite, too, of his resurrection and apotheosis. but here the blood is changed by water, i.e., (3) In this version, the nymph was not a lover, orgiastic BPM III is changed into the oceanic but a mother (of the secondary type; the mother serenity ofBPM I (blissful prenatal state offoetus of the primary type was Celestial Cybele herself) in the maternal womb). It is important to note of Attis. This circumstance shows the connection that the first Christians were baptizing adults, between this river nymph and the prenatal or even the aged (not infants like the Catholic and symbolism of water. Greek Orthodox churches today), preserving the It is now time to try to explain the themes of understanding of this act as a mystery of rebirth self-castration and incest. Freud wrote about a (but not as a purely symbolic act of entering the complex he called "fear of castration," but he community of the faithful, as in the majority of could not give a satisfactory explanation of it. Protestant churches). The baptizing, rooted in the Transpersonal psychology sees the roots of this Judaic practices of the Essenes (who were complex in the perinatal impressions; firstly, the probably connected with John the Baptist) would, shock from cutting the umbilical cord, which is a in the aeon of the New Testament (as St. John great trauma for the baby, then the psychedelic pointed out), be changed into baptizing "with the session reproduces it by the painful feelings in Holy Spirit and fire" (Matt. 3:11), which probably the lower part of abdomen of the patient (as had to replace the oceanic waters of the safe testified to by the experiments and clinical womb, describing the rebirth for new godlike life. practice of Grof). So the fear of castration is rooted

156 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 1998, Vol. 17, No.2 in the subconscious recollection about this aspect wild sensual passion and desire. Here love is the of the birth trauma (Grof, 1993, pp. 233-234; on same as hate, the agony of death is the joy of birth trauma, see also Share, 1994, pp. 86-116). rebirth, apocalyptic horror is the excitement of The fear of castration must however be the creation, and so on. distinguished from the will to castration or the A person feels the coming ofthe great event­ desire for castration, a phenomenon which is of spiritual liberation or unio mystica. But even limited not only to the cult of Attis. We can note if this feeling is of great force, it cannot attain its here the desire for castration of the Russian realization and the completion of the dramatic peasant Kondraty Selivanov, who on the border sequence of death and rebirth: Volcanic ecstasy of 18th-19th centuries established the sect of the corresponds to BPM HI, the states of which need castrates or eunuchs (skoptsy ), and which has for their realization the transition to the experience been preserved almost up to the present time ofBPM I or BPM IV (Grof, 1993, p. 337). (some old representatives of this sect are still The feelings and images of religious nature alive, but they have no young followers). This which correspond to the Volcanic ecstasy are Russian sect and its practice is of interest for the bloody sacrifices, the Black Sabbath of the evaluation of the mysteries of Attis. One point witches, Dionysian orgies, and so on. here is of special importance: Russian sectarians, To me, the rites of the suffering gods like believers in the Phrygian god, have a cult of (especially as explicitly given in the mysteries of an extremely ecstatic ("Dionysian") character, Attis with their flagellations, bloody wounds, and which at first glance may seem rather strange self-castrations) represent this type of ecstasy for the religion of the castrates. The Russian sect with the passage to the illuminating ecstasy of of the skoptsy gradually separated itself from its BPM IV But why is this kind of ecstasy especially maternal group-the sect of the Christ-believers related to masochism and self-castration? or the so called "flagellants" (hristovovery; It has been noted by Grof, a transpersonal hlysty )-which in the beginning of the 19th psychologist, that the recollections about pain century still existed as a mixture, "ships" in the perinatal experience during psychedelic (communities) offlagellants and eunuchs. And the sessions (the most painful impressions are sect of the eunuchs preserved the ecstatic prayer related with BPM HI) express themselves in the meetings (radeniye) of the flagellants with their patient's striving to be rescued from pain through ecstatic dances, singing, and trances. following pain to the source of pain (i.e., to the The ecstatic character of such cults (the place of suffering in the body or the painful extreme form of which is orgiastic trance) is rather organ). widespread in different mystery cults, for Note here another important detail. The example, in the mysteries of Dionysus, which experience of BPM III is rooted in that stage of the included the excessive worship of , the birth process when synergism ofthe mother-and-child female votaries of this god, who in their wild takes on the character of struggling and even hostility. ecstasy tore apart the bodies of animals and even The associations with the feelings of the victims of human beings. rape are rather widespread in this case (the feeling Here I must mention the transpersonal of fear, hypoxia, the attempts to obtain freedom, the phenomenon which Grof called the "Volcanic" or enforced sexual excitement, etc.). This painful "Dionysian" ecstasy. It is distinctly opposite to the experience has some common features with the "Apollonic" or "Oceanic" ecstasy corresponding experience of BPM IH (this circumstance increases with BPM I and its feelings of quietude, serenity, the psychic trauma ofthe victim of a real rape-Grof, and unity with all forms of existence. 1993, p. 237). Recall the fight between Zeus and his The Volcanic ecstasy has been characterized mother Celestial Cybele, when Zeus tried to take her by Grof as having extreme physical and emotional by force (the beginning of the version of Timotheus­ expression, a high degree of aggression, destructive Amobius). In addition, subjects who have experienced impulses of inner and outer orientation, powerful BPM HI in psychedelic sessions often compare the impulses of a sexual nature, and rhythmical birth process with the process ofthe sexual (especially, orgiastic movements. It is a unique mixture of enforced) act. But what in such cases does the self~ emotional and physical suffering together with castration mean?

Cybele, Attis, and the Mysteries ofthe "Suffering Gods" 157 I think that its basis consists of a complex of one example, I can mention the new Russian sect experiences grounded in the ecstatic states of "Marianic Church of Russia" (previously­ BPM III: the attempt to counteract the pain Bogorodichnyi Centr, the "Centre of the God's caused by the situation of the synergetic conflict Mother") founded by I. Bereslavsky about seven with the maternal body and the attitude about years ago. In the teaching of this sect, Lady Maria the negation of the birth process associated with has nothing common with the Virgin Maria of sexual intercourse, It is a physical expression of Christianity. She became the :real Goddess-Mother the negation of the birth process (which is the like Cybele or Isis. The moral doctrine of the sect process of the extrusion of the foetus from the includes the veneration of the Lady as the highest maternal body) or through the coming back to the female principle of the Universe and the blissful synergism of BPM I (this way is condemnation of real earthly mothers (and then impossible for the rite, or myth as can be seen all other women) as the sources of sin and from the above-told story about Attis' adultery seduction; their attitude toward sex is also purely with a river nymph, and Cybele's wrath on this negativistic-intercourse with a woman is occasion), or through the completion of this disgusting. The most interesting point here, process in the birth/rebirth which leads to though, is the principal coexistence of the cult of establishing of a principally new unity with the the Eternal Female with practical misogyny. mother (myth clarifies this reestablished unity We can therefore say that the mysteries of in the image of the apotheosis ofAttis and Cybele Attis and Adonis have one and the same sense: after the death and resurrection of Attis). The that of obtaining a more integrated psyche, same idea lies in the meaning of the theme of sacralized in religion, through the mystery incest, which is especially clear in the mystery experience of death-and-rebirth due, as in solving myths of the Dionysian cycle. The myth rejects of the conflicts of BPM III and entering the incest: Zeus, in the version of Timotheus­ experience of BPM IV, to a cathartic experience Arnobius, cannot overcome his mother Celestial of a new spiritual birth-renewal. The purely Cybele. Here, therefore, the mystery attitude is mystical (transpersonal in a strict sense) not coming back to the womb, but to rebirth. experience in the process of experiencing death­ Nevertheless, implicitly, the incest has some and-rebirth at the turning points ofBPM I as well support in the myth: Agdistis has been born from as BPM IV cannot be excluded. the semen of Zeus fallen on the stone, which is It can be supposed that the same idea was also the ancient symbol of . So, the incestual the sense of the little-known mysteries oflsis and theme of the myth also has the meaning of Serapis, coming back to the :rites of the ancient returning to the maternal womb. A:rchetypically, Egyptian divinities Isis (I set) and Osiris (U sir). incest rejects the birth process as some And, of course, mention must be made of the progressive act: in incest this process turns to its phenomena of early Hellenistic Christianity, source signaling the attitude of coming back to which had transformed the psychopractical the womb to restore the basic synergetic unity archetype of death-rebirth into the majestic with the maternal body to attain the perfect union doctrine of universal corporeal resurrection due with the female/maternal principle archetypically to the incarnation and intrahumanization of the represented in the image of Cybele as Magna Logos, His physical death and physical Mater, as Mother par excellence. resurrection. Herein lies the principal difference Here, we can recollect some ideas of the between Christianity and late Biblical and Russian religious thinker V V Rozanov (1856- intertestamental Judaic religion, where the 1919), who wrote about the extremely feminine universal resurrection was not connected with character of the founder of the Russian sect of self- and passion of the only God-Man. eunuchs (skoptsy ), Kondraty Selivanov, for whom And here, to my mind, is an unquestionable self-castration was like cutting off an unuseful influence of the ancient mysteries of the suffering and alien detail so as to realize the perfectly gods of Syria, , and other parts of the feminine type of personality (Rozanov, 1914). Hellenistic world, Moreover, we have the same "complex ofAttis" in the basis of some new religious movements, As

158 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 1998, Vol 17, No, 2 Notes This paper is an abbreviated version of a chapter from my book, Religions of the World-Experience of Transcendence: Psychopractices and Transpersonal States, 1997, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Centre for Oriental Studies (in Russian).

References

Cumont, F. (1956). Oriental religions in Roman paganism. New York: Dover Books. Frazer, J. J. (1984). Zolotaya vetv' [The golden bough]. Mos­ cow: Izdatel'stvo politicheskoi literatury. Freidenberg, 0. M. (1978). Mifi literatura drevnosti [Myth and literature in antiquity]. Moscow: Nauka. Grof, S. (1993). Za predelami mozga. Rozhdenie, smert' i transtsendntsiya v psikhoterapii [Beyond the brain: Birth, death and transcendence in psychotherapy]. Moscow: Izdatel' stvo Transpersonal'nogo Instituta. Merezhkovski, D. S. (1991). Taina Zapada: Atlantida-Europa [The secret ofthe West: Atlantis-Europe]. Kodry (Moldova Literaturnaja [Literature of Moldavia]), Nos. 4-7. Kishinev: Union of Writers of Moldavia. Rozanov, V. V. (1914). Apokalipticheskaya sekta (hlysty i skoptsy) [Apocalyptical sects (the Flagellants and the Eu­ nuchs)]. St. Petersburg: F. Vaisberg & P. Gershunin. Share, L. (1994). If someone speaks, it gets lighter: Dreams and the reconstruction of infant trauma. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.

Cybele, Attis, and the Mysteries ofthe ''Suffiring Gods" 159 One ofthe Faces of Science Mikhail Zlatkovsky

160 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 1998, Vol. 17, No. 2