Telete, Myesis, Epopteia

Thomas Taylor, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky · Confusing Words Series · 5 pages

Three Greek words that all get rendered "initiation", separated here into the stages they actually name. Hermeas is cited for the derivation of telete from rendering the soul perfect — the soul having once been perfect, and being here divided and unable to energise wholly by itself. Telete is then analogous to what is preparatory, belonging with the purifications. Myesis, so called from closing the eyes, is more divine, since to close the eyes in initiation is to receive the divine mysteries no longer by sense but with the pure soul itself. Epopteia is to be established in the mysteries and become a spectator of them.

Two ancient authorities are given for the order. Proclus, in the fourth book of the Theology of Plato, puts it plainly: the perfective rite precedes initiation in order, and initiation precedes the final apocalypse, epopteia. Theon of Smyrna divides the mystic rites into five parts rather than three, the first being previous purification — for the mysteries are not communicated to all who are willing to receive them, and certain persons are prevented by the voice of the crier, since those not expelled must first be refined by purifications; after purification comes the reception of the sacred rites, and the third part is denominated epopteia. Thomas Taylor, whose translation this is, refers readers to his own dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries.

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