Monotonous Rhythms to Induce Trance and Men's Initiation into the Feminine Mysteries

(Part 2) The Ancient Mediterranean Sistrum

Part of the reconstruction of the Cup Bearers’ fresco in the “Corridor of Procession,” Knossos, 1500-1450 BC, Heraklion Museum.

In the ancient world, rituals were often re-enactments of myths. And so we can gain more understanding on ancient rituals by studying the myths.

The clashing of the Kouretes’ armour in the Birth of Zeus myth offers an insight into this use of sound to induce trance, while highlighting another ancient rite: the yearly renewal of the vegetation god. 

Every year, at a certain time, a great light streamed forth from the cave where Zeus was born announcing the blood from the birth of the Divine Child had fallen upon the earth.

Writer Jules Cashford suggests that this rite was linked to the Bee-Goddess of the Minoan seals and her rites of renewal. According to the myth, Rhea, the mother of all the gods, gave birth to Zeus in a cave known as the Cave of Bees. Here he was nursed on milk and honey by the nymphs Melissa and Amalthea; Melissa being a bee and Amalthea a goat.