The Eleusinian mysteries & rites. - The Masonic Trowel

60 ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES AND RITES
Tis thine in earth's profoundities to dwell.
Fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell.
Jove's holy offering, of a beauteous mien,
Avenging goddess, subterranean queen.
The Furies' source, fair-hair'd, whose frame proceeds
From Jove's ineffable and secret seeds.
Mother of Bacchus, sonorous, divine.
And many form'd, the parent of the vine.
Associate of the Seasons, essence bright.
All-ruling virgin, bearing heav'nly light.
With fruits abounding, of a bounteous mind,
Horn'd, and alone desir'd by those of mortal kind.
O vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight.
Sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight
Whose holy forms in budding fruits we view,
Earth's vig'rous offspring of a various hue :
Espous'd in autumn, life and death alone
To wretched mortals from thy pow'r is known :
For thine the task, according to thy will,
Life to produce, and all that lives to kill.
Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase
Of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace ;
Send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life
With blest abundance, free from noisy strife
Last in extreme old age the prey of death,
Dismiss me willing to the realms beneath.
To thy fair palace and the blissful plains
Where happy spirits dwell, and Pluto reigns.
Ninth Day.—The ninth day was known as the
Day of Earthen Vessels, because it was the custom
on that day to fill two jugs with wine. One was
placed towards the East and the other towards
the West, and after the repetition of certain mystical
formulae both were overthrown, the wine being
; :