ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how listening to the sacred place of Eleusis with a terrapsychological ear reveals insight into cultural and personal conditions and may lead to mutual healing of people and place. As the site of the mysteries of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone, Eleusis was one of the most sacred places in ancient Greece. The myth and the mysteries honored the divinity of the feminine, the richness of the underworld, and the need for experiences of psychological death and rebirth. Despite the considerable impact the mysteries had on the lives of the ancient people, they have laid dormant for centuries, and the place of modern-day Eleusis is surrounded by one of the most industrialized and polluted areas of Greece. Listening to Eleusis by tending its images revealed that Eleusis’ decline reflects the loss of the divine feminine and the underworld in modern culture. Engaging with the ecotransference aspect of terrapsychological inquiry, the researcher realized that the experiences of Eleusis reflected many of her own, creating a deep tie binding researcher to place. The researcher’s engagement with Eleusis seemed to encourage a mutual healing.
