Christopher Vogler The Writers Journey
Kore/Persephone s return was celebrated at festivals called the Lesser Eleus-
inia in February, marking the return of spring.
Every five years, the Greater Eleusinia, the greatest festival in the Greek calen
dar, was held in September. Some of the carvings from the pediment of the Parthe
non depict these jubilant ceremonies, when the young horsemen of Athens would
fetch the sacred objects from the temple of Demeter and march them to a special
shrine, the Eleusinion, at the base of the Acropolis. T h e story of Demeter and Kore
was acted out in secret ceremonies of great emotional impact for a select group of
initiates, using all the effects of lighting, music, dance, ritual, and staging to bring
about the desired catharsis.
Nowadays we may use the term catharsis more broadly to mean any kind
of emotional release or breakthrough. Catharsis was adopted by the psychological
annaabi.ee 
