The tradition of the Ancient Mysteries is rooted in a divine feminine principle, expressed through the worship of the Goddess, whose origins can be traced back to the figure of the Great Mother—an ancient creator deity at the heart of a millennia-old spiritual tradition. Present since the Paleolithic era, her worship endured for thousands of years until the rise of Christianity. Spanning the Mediterranean and beyond—from Egypt to Mesopotamia, from Ancient Greece and its colonies to Italy and Anatolia—this cult is initially evidenced by thousands of female figurines found throughout Asia Minor and Europe. From Paleolithic Venuses to Neolithic and Bronze Age depictions, these images bear witness to a belief system centered on womanhood and the Great Mother, also known as the Goddess of 432 Names, reflecting the multiplicity of her manifestations in myths and spiritual traditions. She is no longer merely a maternal figure, but one who administers justice, holds knowledge, and reveals the laws of the universe. Hers is not a femininity confined to creation and then shaped by a civilizing masculine force, but a regenerative and regulating principle—a celestial, terrestrial, and chthonic Goddess.

Thanks to new 20th-century approaches to prehistoric studies and the excavations led by archaeologists such as Marija Gimbutas, considered the founder of archaeomythology, it has been possible to rediscover the existence of peaceful, matrifocal cultures, where the masculine and feminine coexisted in harmony. These civilizations predated the Indo-European invasions of the Bronze and Iron Ages and the rise of warlike, androcentric cultures that progressively erased ancient memories and knowledge. Dominant historiography later placed the origins of our civilization in Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures—civilizations that contributed to the loss of the sacred feminine by replacing it with a system of values rooted in oppression, violence, dominance, and the denial of otherness. Today, the deep yearning to reconnect with that lost wisdom is more alive than ever, bringing ancient myths, rituals, and cults back into the light, and restoring a feminine perspective on the profound mysteries of life.

It is within this context that the work of Alessandra Di Gesù takes shape. A guide and priestess of the tradition of the Ancient Mysteries, and a shaman of the Mediterranean lineage, she has, together with her husband Federico Luglio—shaman of music and producer of ecstatic sound—founded The Arcana Society: an international spiritual community dedicated to the transmission of the Mysteries and the worship of the Goddess. Through an initiatory school focused on the study of runes and pathways into the sacred feminine, Alessandra and Federico lead spiritual journeys, shamanic retreats in the sacred sites of Ancient Europe, and ceremonies aligned with the festivals of the Wheel of the Year. Their mission is to make the path of the Ancient Mysteries accessible—a soul journey to rediscover one’s divine essence through sensory experience and to open the gates to earthly paradise in this lifetime.

This reportage is the testimony of an ongoing search. At a time of deep personal grief, I began to question how, both as individuals and as a collective, we can understand and confront oppression, suffering, and death. I found myself in a mental state resembling an inferno: anger, fear, and despair alternated within an inner landscape that felt like a punishment—as if I had been cast into it without even having to die. And yet, in that soulscape, I was not alone: beside me were all the people around me, likewise trapped in beliefs, habits, and taboos imposed by a patriarchal and capitalist culture. It was then that I understood how every human being is caught in an inner war—a conflict between the authentic self and a collective amnesia.

With this work, I hope to offer a point of reflection: an invitation to remember who we truly are, to rediscover the sacred that dwells within us, and to reconnect with our roots. It is a journey of exploration within an ancient tradition that offers practical tools for reclaiming balance and meaning in our lives, helping us to better understand—with greater awareness—the mysteries of life and death.