CABIRI

or CABEIRI. A group of minor Greek, deities (the name signifying great Gods) having the protection of sailors and vessels at sea. Worshipped at Lemnos, Samothrace, Thessalia, Bocotia, etc., as early as the fifth century. Initiation into their mysteries portrayed passage through death to a higher live. Many of the ancient deities believed to have been members of the Cabiri such as Pluto, proserpine, Mercury, the sons of Vulcan, the sons of Jupiter, etc. (see An Encyclopedia of occultism, Lewis Spence, New York, 1920, page 83).