The Magus H.R. Giger Buy This Poster At AllPosters.com

Epirus - Thesprotia              Where the two ancient rivers meet, Acheron and Pyriflegethon, there is one of the many entrances to Hades, the Underworld, the Kingdom of the Dead. Next to it a Necromandeion was built, an Oracle of the Dead, where the souls of the dead people were thought to come out of Hades and give predictions for the future. Powerful earth deities were summoned there to assist the brief passage of the dead to the world of the living, the protection of the priests and the interpretation of the prediction. Such oracles were spread througout the ancient greek world but Ephyra's Necromandeion was the most important of all.              17 km away from Parga lies the huge undergaround champer, the entrance to Hades. On the surface and on top of it there is a small christian chapel. It reached its peak between 1300-1000 BC but the date of its fountation is unknown. People from all over the known world would arrive with gifts for the Gods and the priests

             First the pilgrim would offer choes to the gods, sucrifices of milk, honey, wine, water, wheat and animal blood. Then they would spend some time in isolation in special buildings following a strict diet so as to clean their bodies and their minds and prepare for their journey to the Underwarld's entrance. The asigned day he had to take a bath in a sacred spring and then before he enter the east corridor that was leading to the interior of the oracle he had to throw a stone on his right "to drive away the evil energy". Inside the orace, and in a rather dark room he had to do the cleansing process all over again for another period of time and only after the permission of the priests he was allowed to walk deeper inside the Necromandeion. From this point on a dark mystagogic journey would begin that would eventually strip them from any sence of direction or rational thinking, They were lead by a group of priests and chanders through a daedalous maze of completely dark passages lit only by the torches of the priests. At the same time incantations to gods and deamons were sang and amazing stories of creatures and monsters were narrated. The pilgrim had to pass through three immense gates symbolising the three Gates of Hades. In each of them he had to sacrifice a sheep, flour and a stone. Finally he would reach the last champer where God Pluto and his wife Persephone were thought to inhabit.

The Way of the Magician H.R. Giger Buy This Art Print At AllPosters.com

When the immense gate leading to the last dark champer was opened one could here the howling of the Hade's sacred dog, Cerberus, echoing to the corridors of the Necromandeion. Inside the darkness the priest would call the souls of the dead and the frightful deities of Dark Hecate and Terrible Persephone. Ghostly images of the Gods would be lowerd from the ceiling with machines and the deem light of the torches would get reflected on the surface of the underground lake and the two rivers streaming from it. The pilgrim had to be tottaly silent or the souls of the dead would take his voice away. Then, inside the darkness and the low incantations of the priests the souls would whisper their prediction. Then the pilgrim had to ascent again to the outside world. he would leave from another exit and he would pass the reverse process before he was ready to get out in the light. From this point on he was bound with an oath of secrecy for what had happened inside the oracle. The reveaing of the God's secrets was punished with death.

             Inside the dark corridors of the Necromandeion the pilgrims would experiense the loss of their consience and the change of their personality through a process similar to that of a second birth. Inside the underground champer they would relax emotionally and physically having to spend large amounds of time with no external stimuli. In other words they would do what the Europeans called a lot later a "Freudian Psychoanalysis". Eventually the Necromandeion closed during the christian times becaused it was accused of practicing black magic.