The Ineffable

Guard the Mysteries; constantly reveal them.
~From a poem by the late Lew Welsh, now a popular Craft saying

The Great Mysteries of Eleusis were, in large party, archetypical of the Mystery religions. According to Karl Kerenyi, when Athens annexed Elesis about 600 B.C.E. and made its Mysteries the state religion of Attica, the Athenians passed a law to protect the secrecy of the Mysteries. This law, however, distinguished two types of secrets, the "Lower" and the "Higher." The "Lower secrets" were those that could be told to another person by word, genture, or whatever; these were called ta aporrheta, "the forbidden," and the law applied only to them -- hence their name. Why didn't the law apply to the "Higher secrets"? The latter were called ta arrheta, "the ineffable," and it was recognized in the law itself that these secrets could not be communicated except by the Mysteries themselves; hence they needed no protection by a mere law.

~From Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler