To further stress the seriousness of his study program, Pythagoras lectured while standing behind a curtain, thereby denying all personal contact with his students until they had achieved progress on a ladder of initiatory degrees that allowed them to reach the higher grades. Ancient Mystery Cults. During the crusades, the Christian "intelligencia" that accompanied the crusading soldiers gained initiation from their Arabic and Persian counterparts. While sorting through some 280,000 artifacts excavated from land reserved for a highway construction project running from Cambridge to the village of Huntingdon in eastern England, archaeologists affiliated with the Museum of London Archaeology discovered a miniature comb that was incredibly ancient and also made from a most unusual material. Western Esotericism, A Brief History of Secret Knowledge. Tarnas, Richard. Eliade, Mircea. Inverness, CA: The Golden Sufi Center. Cumont, Franz. For thousands of years, these mystery schools have quietly existed, nurturing the skills and talents of the many men and women who have passed through its hallowed doors to become leaders of their respective fields. //. The Oracle. Ed. The Modern Mystery School is the only school open to the public. In the 8th century A.D. the Moors, i.e., natives of Mauritania in North Africa, invaded Spain and took with them, the Egyptian culture which they had preserved. In ancient Egypt, a rather explicit inscription in the Temple of Edfu, dedicated to the god Horus, reported by the Egyptologist mile Chassinat, states: Do not reveal in any way the Rites you see in the Temples, in the most absolute Mystery. The Modern Mystery School believes in giving everyone the right to choose to pursue the path of initiation into the Light, by creating the opportunity and opening its doors to all who seek it. Next to the Eleusinian mysteries in importance and popularity were the Dionysian, which were centered around Dionysus (Bacchus), a god of life, vegetation, and the vine who, because all things growing and green must one day decay and die, was also a divinity of the underworld. Aristophanes. trans. Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts, The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt. Monet, Jefferson. Harper & Row: San Francisco, 1987. His symbol was the winged serpent staff. The Perseus Project, Tufts University. new york: harper and row, 1961. The Mystical Life of Jesus. Trying to guess what it cannot see, and pursuing it with its inner actions, before reaching it, it is full of ardent aspiration to find, and, when it has achieved it, the soul is full of love for what it has done . And the Turba Philosoforum , a collection of ancient alchemical and hermetic texts of different origins, that had a lot of influence inside many mystery religion societies during the Renaissance states: He who has ears, should open them to listen. ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES . Sometime in the month of September, the Eumolpedie removed the Eleusinian holy objects from Eleusis and carried them to the sacred city of Athens, where they were placed in the Eleusinion temple. As we shall see later, it is no coincidence that the greatest philosophers, the greatest physicians, and the greatest scientists of antiquity were initiated into mystery religions, and into the Eleusinian Mysteries in particular. Gale Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained. Translation by Michelle Ziebel. Anthology. gordon, stuart. n.d. In Sacred Geometry 2, you will be handed down sacred and powerful methods of crystal healing and space protection using crystal layouts. c.270 AD. There are 7 ancient Mystery Schools of Earth which have kept intact the tools of human knowledge, understanding, empowerment, and wisdom for thousands of years. They manifest themselves and teach only to the initiated, who can perceive them, to see them and to receive their message. New York: Harper & Row, 1958. These schools taught the nature and destiny of mankind, the magical universe in which we reside, and revealed powerful secrets regarding universal natural laws. n.p. Lucy Kurland offers to step in to replace the murdered schoolmistresseven as she suspects the woman of sending her an anonymous letter accusing Lucy of witchcraft. In my opinion, one of the most beautiful metaphors about initiation comes from Diodorus Siculus, who, in his Bibliotheca Historica (Library of History ), speaking of the Muses: Men have given the Muses their name from the word muein, which signifies the teaching of those things which are noble and expedient and are not known by the uneducated. The sacred Eleusinian mysteries of the Greeks date back to the fifth century b.c.e. The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Part Two. There will be an opportunity to find out what other classes are offered through the Modern Mystery School. Top image: Representation of a mystery school. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. 2005. The Orphic Mysteries and the Greek Spirit. The Closing of the Mystery Schools 66 11. Plato (left) and Aristotle in Raphael's 1509 fresco, The School of Athens. The mystery religions are an extremely complex and articulated phenomenon. As the great Irish esotericist John Heron Lepper wrote, one could say that the existence of secret or closed societies [namely mystery schools] in which certain teachings or practices are passed on to chosen individuals who must undergo a series of tests responds to a very general predisposition of human nature. The Mystery School is dedicated to the advancement of love, service, cooperation, and understanding, in relation to all beings and all dimensions of society. AtAncient Origins, we believe that one of the most important fields of knowledge we can pursue as human beings is our beginnings. new york: the philosophical library, 1950. fox, robin lane. 7 Ancient Mystery Schools Presentation Wednesday, December 17th, 2014 at 7:00 pm Presented by: Alex Hill Free with donation of a non-perishable food item, or toy for the holidays! Plato. Chassinat, E. 1966. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1987/1995. As the Hermetic texts continued to influence the growth of European alchemy, astrology, and magic, the author of the books was said to have been Adam's grandson, who built the great pyramids of Egypt; or an Egyptian magician who lived three generations after Moses; or a magus from Babylonia who instructed Pythagoras. The rites took place in the city of Eleusis, a small community 14 miles west of Athens, but it was the ruler of Athens, together with a specially selected committee, who was in charge of the general management of the annual event. Later, in Medieval Europe, we hear about secret societies associated with the Wild Hunt, Odin, and the Einherjar. Each mystery school has its own origins (such as Lemuria, Middle Earth, Atlantis, the Gods of Space, the Northern Gods or the Lineage of King Solomon), lineage and mission but are all dedicated to bringing in more light to the world for the progression of our planet and all of its inhabitants. london: headline book publishing, 1994. walker, barbara g. the woman's encyclopedia of myths and secrets. Mystery School is an inter-spiritual experience of total immersion with 10 Master Teachers from the Hawaiian, African, Native American, Spiritual Psychology, Sufi, esoteric Christian, Hindu, Sound Healing, Kabbalah, and Buddhist wisdom traditions.
