Noon Star

The Mysteries of Eleusis

"When we realize that the liknon is, as it were, a cornucopia that for human fruit becomes a cradle, we naturally expect that, in its mystical sense, it will be a symbol of new birth, that Liknites will be connected with a doctrine of palingenesia, a sort of spiritual resurrection. The Orphics had their doctrine of palingenesia, but the symbolism of the liknon was to them mainly of purification, to which they added that of rebirth.... It is remarkable that the liknon in this representation, unlike those previously discussed, contains no fruits. This can scarcely, I think, be accidental. When the artist wishes to show fruits in a sacred vessel, he is quite able to do so. The absence of the fruits is best, I think, explained on the supposition that the liknonThe transition from the oral to the literate apparatus is seen in Plato's use of a primary symbolic object of the Eleusinian mysteries--the liknon or winnowing basket-- as a metaphor for his new metaphysical category, chora is by this time mysticized. It is regarded as the winnowing fan, the 'mystic fan of Iacchos,' rather than as the basket of earth's fruits. It is held empty over the candidate's head merely as a symbol of purification." www.drugwar.com/orpheus.shtm