#emeter

Out of pure morbid curiosity, I bought a Mark VII Scientology E-Meter. I know it's based on bullshit but I still always wanted one.

eMeter : Una aplicación para la gestión eficiente del consumo eléctrico

eMeter es  un proyecto desarrollado por jóvenes nequinos que surgió con la intención de contribuir a la gestión eficiente del consumo eléctrico.

Durante la próxima edición de Neuquén Innova, a desarrollarse del 21 al 23 de octubre, se expondrá el dispositivo que es capaz de medir el consumo energético en tiempo real y de forma acumulada,el cual podría ser muy útil para enfrentar los aumentos en…

Mythologically, the foundations of the Eleusinian mysteries can be found in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Within the hymn, Demeter travels the globe in her grief over losing Her daughter. She eventually settles at the home of Keleus (Κελεός), husband of Metaneira, father of several children, who are called Kallidice, Demo, Kleisidice, Kallithoe, Triptolemos, and Demophon, his youngest son by Metaneira. The daughters of Keleus find a disguised Demeter near a well and bring Her home. Keleus hires Her to take care of Demophon. He treats her well, with every courtesy, and as a gift to Keleus, because of his hospitality, Demeter plans to make Demophon immortal by burning his mortal spirit away in the family hearth every night. Before she can complete Her work, Metaneira interrupts Her and pulls Demophon from the fire prematurely. This ruins any chance Demophon would have had at immortality. Demeter, furious, shouts the following:

"Witless are you mortals and dull to foresee your lot, whether of good or evil, that comes upon you. For now in your heedlessness you have wrought folly past healing; for — be witness the oath of the gods, the relentless water of Styx — I would have made your dear son deathless and unaging all his days and would have bestowed on him everlasting honour, but now he can in no way escape death and the fates. Yet shall unfailing honour always rest upon him, because he lay upon my knees and slept in my arms. But, as the years move round and when he is in his prime, the sons of the Eleusinians shall ever wage war and dread strife with one another continually. Lo! I am that Demeter who has share of honour and is the greatest help and cause of joy to the undying gods and mortal men. But now, let all the people build be a great temple and an altar below it and beneath the city and its sheer wall upon a rising hillock above Callichorus. And I myself will teach my rites, that hereafter you may reverently perform them and so win the favour of my heart."

 It is also said that Demeter, after She could no longer take care of Demophon, nor save him from his own mortality, She instead taught Triptolemos the secrets of agriculture—a valuable gift, because the art was unknown to mankind until then. This is not reflected in the hymn, however, where the people already rely on Demeter to make the grain grow. At any rate, Keleus did built the sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, and followers of the Mysteries came there to celebrate them for a little over two millennia. King Keleus is said to have been one of the first people to learn the secret rites and mysteries of Demeter’s cult, and he was also one of Her original priests, along with his son Triptolemos.

 Throughout the whole of Hellas, the originally Eleusian practice was picked up. Athens even built its own temple to Demeter where She could be honoured for successful grain production. A very large portion of all grain produced by Athens (1/600), as well as a slightly less large portion of first fruit (1/1200) was gifted to the temple of Demeter at Athens, where is was sold on, providing great wealth to the temple. The Athenians believed firmly that Triptolemos had taught the people agriculture, and thanked Demeter for Her lessons this way. Seeing as most of the rest of Hellas did not believe this claim, they refused to promise large portions of their grains and first fruits to Demeter at Her temple in Athens, although Demeter most certainly received these sacrifices at local temples and at Eleusis—just not in set portions.

 The Mysteries were obviously celebrated to honour Demeter—Demeter Eleusinia, specifically. Yet, as we have seen, there was more to the Mysteries; through the honouring of Demeter, the ancient Hellenes prayed for a good harvest, and through the worship of Persephone—Kore—those who were initiated in the Mysteries assured they would be looked upon favourably in the Afterlife. Isocrates, a famous orator, said:

 "When Demeter came into the country in her wandering, after the rape of Persephone, and was kindly disposed to our forefathers on account of the services they rendered her, which can be told to none but the initiated, she bestowed two gifts which surpass all others: the fruits of the earth, which have saved us from the life of wild beasts, and the mystic rite, the partakers in which have brighter hopes concerning the end of life and the eternity beyond."

 The ancient Hellenes believed the Underworld was a neutral place. One did not desire to go there in the least, but it was part of life, and as far as the afterlife went, it was dull and sunless but nothing like the hell of Christianity. Through it runs Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, and all who come to the Underworld are eventually forced to drink from it and forget their old lives. Those who were initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries, however, could drink from the fountain (or well) of Mnemosyne (memory) and were allowed to remember. In short, initiation into the mysteries helped you built kharis with Demeter in life, as well as with Persephone—and Hades, in a way—for in the afterlife. It was not odd that large portions of the population were initiated into the mysteries.

 The Eleusinian mysteries consisted mostly of two festivals, but the worship of Demeter and Persephone consisted of a cycle of seven: the Greater Mysteries (13-23 Boedromion), Proerosia (6 Pyanepsion), Stenia (9 Pyanepsion), Thesmophoria (11-13 Pyanepsion), Haloa (26 Poseideon), the Lesser Mysteries (20-26 Anthesterion),  and the Skiraphoria (12 Skirophorion). These are placed in sequence of the Athenian year.

 Greater Mysteries

The Greater Mysteries were the main event of the whole of the mysteries and lasted ten days, celebrated every five years in the beginning, but celebrated every year from ‘before the time of Herodotos’. The Greater Mysteries most likely commemorated either Persephone’s original kidnapping by Hades, her descent to the Underworld, or her return to the surface. The Hellenic agricultural season would lead one to assume Persephone returned to the surface world during or around the time of the Greater Mysteries, but there is a reference in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter which indicated Persephone returned in the Spring. As such, the Greater Mysteries might also have focussed on Persephone’s descent into the underworld:

 "But when the earth shall bloom with the fragrant flowers of spring in every kind, then from the realm of darkness and gloom thou shalt come up once more to be a wonder for gods and mortal men. And now tell me how he rapt you away to the realm of darkness and gloom, and by what trick did the strong Host of Many beguile you?"

 The other, major, focus was the initiation of the mystai, who were prepared at the Lesser Mysteries. On the thirteenth of the month, epheboi (youths) traveled to Eleusis, and back to Athens the day after, to bring the Ta Hiera (the Holy Things) to Athens, where they were received at the shrine to Demeter (Eleusinion) on the Acropolis.

 On the first, actual, day of the Mysteries, the mystai were called forward by a herald (the Kerukes), and names were taken to ensure all who came to be innitiated, would be innitiated during the festival. The rest of the day, the innitiates would have spent preparing through spiritual exercises. On the second day, they would be purified by bathing in the sea, along with an offering to Demeter. In early times, this was a pig, supplied by the state, which would be sacrificed that night. The mystai would be sprinkled with the pig’s blood after the animal was killed.

 Day three is recorded as a day of sacrifice to both Demeter and Persephone, and day four was spent preparing for receiving the mysteries. This day was called the Epidauria. Sacrifices to Asklepius and Hygieia would also have taken place on this day. On day five, the Ta Hiera were transported back to Eleusis by the mystai and their guides, the initiated mystai known as ‘mystagogoi’. The procession would have started from the shine of Iakkhos, and Iakkhos was invited to come along to Eleusis by those in the procession. The mystai would sacrifice at all shrines along the way. The mystai would arrive in darkness, or at least guided by torchlight, as Demeter searched for Her daughter with a torch in hand. Upon arrival, sacrifices were made to Demeter.

 On days six and seven, the initiation took place. There was a fast in the daylight hours, and the initiation itself took place at night. The mystai were given a kykeon to drink (see Proerosia below) which possibly contained some form of drug to heighten the experience. What happened during the initiation was regarded as the biggest secret, and the penalty of revealing this information was death. In the daylight hours of the seventh day, the last of the sacrifices were completed by the mystai: the tipping out of two water-filled amphorai, while reciting a spell or verse known only to those initiated. We are unsure about the eighth day.

Days nine and ten were used to round off the festival, make personal sacrifices, pack up belongings and go. There were state meetings both at Eleusis as in Athens, perhaps to evaluate how the ceremonies went. During these days, people left Eleusis and travelled back to Athens or their home much further away.

 Proerosia

The Proerosia (Προηροσία) was a festival for Demeter’s blessings in preparation for the ploughing and sowing at the beginning of the agricultural season. In ancient times it was held at Eleusis. The name serves to convey the essence of the rites: ‘sacrifice before ploughing’.

 The myth goes that the whole of Hellas was suffering from a terrible famine or plague, and the oracle of Delphi was visited to ask how to stop this terrible affair, and the Delphic Oracle said that Apollon ordered a tithe to Demeter of the first harvest on behalf of all Hellenes. Except for disruptions during the Peloponnesian War, offerings arrived annually at Eleusis from all over Hellas. While Athens wasn’t a big contributor to the rites—perhaps because they already made their own offerings of grain and first fruits to Demeter—most other city-states contributed generously, and the Athenians were welcome during the rites. For His help, Pythian Apollon also receives an offering during the Proerosia.

 There is some confusion over the dating of the festival. Many modern sources date the festival on the fifth of Pyanpesion, but new research shows that, because of the placement of the Pyanepsia festival, in honor of Apollon and Theseus, the Proerosia could only have been celebrated in the daylight hours of the fifth.

 The festival can be celebrated with first fruit-offerings, any offering related to grains (like bread, cakes, or pancakes), or a kykeon libation. The kykeon was made of barley, water, herbs, and ground goat cheese. Sometimes honey was added. Herbs that are described as part of the kykeon are mint, pennyroyal and thyme, although it seems any herb that was found to flavor the drink, was acceptable.

 Stenia

This festival was dedicated solely to Demeter and Persephone and was held three days before the Thesmophoria. During the Stenia, women came together and begun the extensive purification rituals needed to partake in the Thesmophoria. How, exactly, the women purified themselves is unknown but it is known that the women engaged in Aiskhrologia, insulting each other and using foul language, in honor of Iambe, who cheered up a grieving Demeter by either lifting her skirts or making a dirty joke. 

 At the Stenia, some women, called ‘Bailers’, hiked to the chasm where the piglets had been thrown into months ago. Then, in a gruesome display of devotion, the women hauled out the rotting corpses of the piglets and carried them to the Thesmophorion, a site probably on the hillside of the Pnyx.

 Thesmophoria

During the Thesmophoria, there was a male and female encampment at the Thesmophorian and the division was clearly set; no men were allowed in the female encampment, and no women in the male encampment. Sex was not allowed. All free women, except for maidens, were allowed to participate.

 On the first day, called Anodos (‘ascent’) and Kathodos (‘descent’), the women sacrificed the rotting piglets to Demeter and Persephone. The remains were mixed with seeds and would be ploughed into the earth after the festival to assure a good harvest. The second day was called Nēsteia (‘feast of lamentation’). On this day, the women did not eat. They recreated the time before Demeter taught humankind to cultivate the fields. The third day, Kalligeneia (‘she who is of beautiful birth’), was a happy one. The women prayed to Demeter and Persephone for fertility for themselves, their loved ones and the earth. They celebrated the magic of new life, fertility and the kindness of the Gods.

 Haloa

This ancient Hellenic festival was held in honor of Demeter, Dionysos and a little bit in honor of Persephone. Like all festivals of Demeter and Persephone’s ‘Kore’ persona, women were the only ones who were allowed to handle the religious and sacrificial side of it. For the men, the Haloa might have had an extra ritual part; honoring Poseidon as an agricultural Theos.

 It was a rural festival, meaning it wasn’t state-organized and widely spread, so most details are incredibly fuzzy. The Haloa is assumed to be a celebration of the pruning of the vines and the tasting of the wine after its first fermentation, or it may be to encourage the growth of corn from the seed. It is named after the hálōs (ἅλως), which means both threshing floor and garden. Since the first sense of the word would be inapplicable to a festival celebrated in January, scholars—including Nilsson in his ‘Greek Popular Religion’—insist it must have been a gardening festival.

 Some time during the festival, the entire population was invited by the priests of Dionysos and the priestesses of Demeter and Kore to give sacrifice to these Theos; to Demeter and Kore for the fertility of the earth in which the grapevines grew, and to Dionysos in remembrance of Ikários, who was such a fine winemaker that he could produce wine so strong, those who drank it appeared to be poisoned. Women danced, ate and drank together, and afterwards, the men who had been waiting outside of Eleusis were admitted to the grounds, and the women were encouraged by each other—including the priestesses—to take secret lovers for the night. A priest and priestess—with torches representing Demeter and Persephone—apparently sat watch on chests as they presided over the fertility celebration.

 Lesser Mysteries

In ancient texts, the rituals of the Lesser Mysteries were often referred to as ‘myesis’, as opposed to the rites of the Greater, which were referred to as ‘epopteia’. The word myesis means ‘to teach’, as well as ‘to initiate’, while epopteia has a similar meaning, but with an important difference; it means ‘to witness’, as well as ‘to be initiated’. This difference equates the major difference between the two rites: in the Lesser Mysteries, candidates underwent a teaching course. They were educated on the gifts of Demeter, on the mythology surrounding Her and Her daughter, and on the mysteries. They went through a rite of purification—possibly in the river, and made sacrifices to Demeter and Persephone. Upon completion of the Lesser Mysteries, participants were deemed mystai (‘initiates’) worthy of witnessing the Greater Mysteries.

 Skiraphoria

The Skiraphoria was one of the few days when the women of ancient Athens would gather in public to honour Demeter and bless the harvest. They refused to sleep with the men on this day and took part in a very odd tradition: casting piglets down into a chasm where they were left to rot until the Stenia.

 As for Eleusis; the temple complex at Eleusis was one of the most elaborate and widely used sanctuaries around in ancient Hellas. It was the home of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and thus served as the cult’s sanctuary. Like many—if not all—ancient monuments, the ancient temple site of Eleusis has not withstood the test of time and humanity particularly well; foundations remain, but much of the grand complex is completely gone

 One of Eleusis’ grand features was a large hall, capable of housing thousands by the 5th century BC. The hall, known as the Telesterion served as the key hall for the Mysteries; here the initiates were shown a reenactment of the events that led to the founding of the Eleusinian Mysteries in the form of an elaborate dance, and they were shown the sacred relics. Anything that happened at the Telesterion was considered especially secret, and the punishment for revealing what went on in the hall was death.

 The Telesterion was destroyed by the Persians after the Battle of Thermopylae, and was rebuilt some time later by Pericles. In AD 170, during the rule of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, if was destroyed again by an ancient tribe called the Costoboci, who launched an invasion of Roman territory south of the Danube. Marcus Aurelius had the Telesterion rebuilt. In AD 396, the forces of Alaric the Visigoth invaded the Eastern Roman Empire and ravaged Attica, destroying the Telesterion, after which it was never rebuilt.

 At Eleusis is also a shallow cave, the Cave of Hades, or as it was known then, the Precinct of Plouton. The would-be initiates of the Mysteries would have visited this cave as part of their preparation. Most likely, there were sacrifices made here, and perhaps rites of purification. The cave was considered the exact place where Kore was abducted, and for the initiates, it would have been a place to of death, from which only the purified would return to ‘live again’, like Persephone.

Trip Report: The Atlantic's Sponsored Post by the Church of Scientology

My eMeter was working overtime today. Hey mofos, when I clicked on this link over here, I felt like jumping on a couch and screaming about my love for The Atlantic! They really just GOT me as a reader by letting the Church of Scientology pay bajillions of dollars to sponsor this article on their site. On this article, I learned that David Miscavige is a playa who is taking scientology to NEW FREAKING HEIGHTS! LIKE EXPLODING LIKE THAT VOLCANO THEY SHOW IN DIANETICS ADS! Tom Cruise, Jason Lee, John Travolta, they all finally have a place to celebrate on the internet! It's this ad!

But, you know, the best part? It was going down to the comments, where everyone (except the most recent comments, which seemed confused for some reason) seemed so EXCITED that The Atlantic was giving Scientology the love it deserved, as if they had finally seen the light and had written a glowing critical reassessment of Battlefield Earth in a 20,000-word magazine piece where the lede was "We were wrong." We get it. L. Ron Hubbard was a visionary. All they had to do was pay The Atlantic a boatload of money to admit it. The Thetans now have a place to play. The haters will go away. All I have to do is reload the page and see the moderators work.

(Seriously, though: What the hell, Atlantic Media?)

EDIT: The Atlantic, clearly catching onto the controversy, took the ad down.

SECOND EDIT: In case you want to see the article in full, here's a screenshot, taken by Gawker. As it's a large file, we're hosting on Dropbox.