In this continuation of his research following The Road to Eleusis, classical scholar Carl A.P. Ruck explores the entheogenic origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries and their link to the worship of the Great Goddess.
He decodes ancient iconography and linguistic traces that reveal the sacred mushroom as a vehicle of divine communion, symbol of death and rebirth, and embodiment of the Feminine Mystery.
Through comparative mythology and philological analysis, Ruck argues that the Eleusinian sacrament — the Kykeon — contained psychoactive elements that allowed initiates to directly experience the presence of the Goddess, not as myth but as living reality.

This compilation gathers original source texts and historical commentary on the major ancient mystery traditions—particularly Eleusis, Dionysian rites, Orphic fragments, Hermetic teachings, and early Gnostic initiations. The volume offers a direct window into the sacred rituals of death and rebirth that shaped the spiritual worldview of antiquity and left an imprint on Renaissance esotericism.