The Classical Mysteries

Orpheus descends to the underworld and returns — the original katabasis. Psyche's trials lead to union with Eros — the soul's journey to the divine, as Apuleius tells it. Circe transforms men with her pharmakeia. Prometheus steals fire from the gods.

These myths are not decorative — they are the narrative theology of the ancient mystery traditions. Every Renaissance Neoplatonist read them as allegories of spiritual transformation. Ficino translated the Orphic Hymns. Apuleius's Golden Ass encodes an Isiac initiation. The paintings here visualize the same philosophical arguments Source Library's texts make in words.