Subject: Ancient Mystery Religions, Paul Gillingwater
Ancient Mystery Religions
A. Based on a talk titled "The Still-functioning Greater and
Lesser Mysteries", given by Geoffrey Hodson at Krotona
Institute, Ojai, California on 1st October, 1977
B. Union with God, or mystic awareness, can be attained through
various means. Although no longer public, the ancient
mystery tradition survives, and is fully active, although
somewhat more secret. The purpose for the establishment and
function of the ancient mysteries, and the purpose of
meditation, has the same objective, namely, development of
spiritual awareness.
C. Both occult ceremonial and spiritual contemplation were
founded for the fulfilment of timeless human aspirations
towards the gaining of direct personal experience of union
with the divine presence within and thoughout all nature and
all beings.
D. The touch of the rod of power (thyrsus) on the head, which
formed part of the ancient ceremony, in the hand of the
initiating hierophant, always had the same effect -- the
attainment of spiritual illumination.
E. Hierophant (Greek: one who explains sacred things) was the
title bestowed upon the highest adepts in the temples of the
mysteries of old. They were the teachers and initiators of
the candidates who were admitted to those temples.
F. Consciousness can be opened by regular meditation and
contemplation of the divine. This can also be brought about
through external assistance, the bringing of power, invoked
from on high, through the initiator, through the touch of
the thyrsus, directly upon the crown of the head of the
candidate, who was thus brought into the divine presence.
A survival of this exists in the dubbing with a sword as
seen in some ceremonial orders of chivalry.
G. It is recorded that when that event occured, the touch of
the rod of power would often cause the candidate to lose
physical consciousness. Awareness of the higher self would
then be freed, and enabled to enter more fully into the
great realization for which the ceremony was performed.
H. The mysteries (Greek: muo, to close the mouth) were very
secret. Little is now known of what actually occured. It
is known that very solemn vows of absolute secrecy had to be
repeated. No-one is known to have broken these vows.
I. They were established and enacted from remotest times, in
Egypt, Chaldea, Crete and Greece. They lasted for at least
1,000 years in Greece, and also functioned in the earliest
days of the Roman empire. The sacred mysteries were enacted
in the ancient temples by various ritual officials for the
benefit and instruction of the candidates.
J. Every symbol connected with the ceremonies had a profound
hidden meaning, beneath its objective meaning.
K. They consisted of a series of dramatic performances, in
which the mysteries of cosmogony (creation) throughout the
universe, and nature in general, were personified by
hierophants and neophytes.
They enacted the part of various divine powers, gods and
godesses, meaning superhuman and archangelic officials.
[Lost some text. Sorry - Tyagi]
In Egypt, they were depicted in robes, with strange animal
headdresses, e.g., ram, ibis, vulture, serpent. Each of
these headdresses and other ornaments were symbolic of the
creative power which the particular official represented.
The regalia, and associated dramatic actions, were explained
in their hidden meanings to the candidates for initiation.
L. There were several different enactments of the mysteries in
Greece:
1. Cretan
2. Dyonisian (Bacchic)
3. Orphic
4. Samothracian
5. Aesculathean
Hippocrates (related to healing)
6. Eulysinian
Found in the city some 12 miles south east of Athens.
M. Agri was another smaller town where the lesser mysteries
were performed. Every September, for 7 days, the citizens of
Greece and other countries (particularly from Rome) gathered
on the Athenian Acropolis. They travelled 14 miles to the
city and temples of Elusis. All who came were permitted to
participate in the preliminary ceremonies, but only a select
few were permitted to participate in the inner ceremonies.
N. What happened in the sacred ceremony? Initiation into the
mysteries, which brought about a spiritual birth, thus
regenerating the whole individual. This was intended to
reunite the personal self with the divine spirit of the
kosmos as a whole. It was often accompanied by and aided
the bringing about of enlightened comprehension. It also
led to the development of intuitive insight and spiritual
will-power as well as a deepening realization of oneness
with all that exists, as well as a growing power to draw
upon that oneness for the benefit of others.
O. The rites of Eleusis overshadowed the civilization of that
time, absorbing other smaller schools, and influencing the
development of democracy, culture and the arts.
P. Every year at Agree in the month of Boadroanian (September)
there were celebrated the lesser mysteries. This sacred
month was highly respected -- even if a war was on, it would
be halted to allow its members to attend the mysteries. A
truce was proclaimed, and fighting would cease, for example
in Sparta, Thracia, and the Peloponesus, to allow
participation. This also occured, incidentally, with the
Olympic games.
Q. The great processions gathered on the Acropolis, and made
their way on foot to the sacred temples in Eleusis. Those
who were to be initiated into the ceremonies which followed,
came to the gateways of the temple precincts. After a long
walk, the doors of the telestrion (the outer temple) were
reached. They passed through, and the doors closed behind
them. If they then proved worthy of further advancement,
they were taken to a more secluded smaller temple, the
Anaktoron (holy of holies), which is where the sacred rite
itself was performed in the greatest secrecy.
R. What actually were the revelations made is entirely unknown.
The solemn vows, under the penalty of death, ensured that
secrecy was maintained. Archaeologists and historians have
speculated on these secrets, but no-one disclosed what
occured and what was revealed in the Anaktoron. Some
contemporary writers however have provided hints as to what
was revealed.
1. Philo Judeas wrote: "The mysteries were known to unveil the
secret operations of nature."
2. Cicero wrote in De Legibus: "Though Athens brought forth
numerous divine things, yet she never created anything
nobler than these sublime mysteries, through which we have
become gentler, and have advanced from a barbarous and
rustic life, to a civilised one, so that we not only live
more joyfully, but also die with a better hope."
3. Pindar the poet (522-543 BC) said "Happy is he who has seen
the mysteries before being buried underneath the earth. He
knows the end of life, and he knows its beginning, even by
Zeus."
4. Sophocles, the Athenian dramatist (494-406 BC) wrote:
"Thrice happy are the mortals who depart to the abode of
Hades, after having seen the mysteries. They only will have
life there. For others there will be nothing but
suffering."
5. Plato, the great Greek philospher, who was known to be an
initiate of the Eleusinia, wrote: "He who arrives in Hades
without having been initiated, and without having taken part
in the mysteries, will be plunged into darkness, but he who
has been purified and initiated will abide with the Gods."
6. Plutarch, the Greek biographer, (46-120 AD) wrote" "Those
who are initiated into the great mysteries perceive a
wonderous light. Purer regions are reached, and fields
where there is singing and dancing, sacred words and divine
visions, inspire a holy awe. Then the man, perfected and
initiated, free and able to move superphysically, without
constraint, celebrates the mysteries with a crown on his
head. He lives among pure men and saints. He sees on earth
the many who have not been initiated and purified, buried in
the darkness, and through fear of death, clinging to their
ills for want of belief in the happiness of the beyond."
7. Scriptural evidence does exist that St. Paul was an
initiate, as confirmed by H.P. Blavatsky. Occult tradition
suggests that he was an initiate of the Greater mysteries
supported by his use of certain terms:
a) As a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation. Know
ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of
God dwelleth in you. Let a man so account of us as the
minister of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
b) Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not
the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world,
that come to naught. How that by revelation, be made known
to us the mystery of the Kingdom.
c) 2 Corinthians XII, v1-4: I knew a man in Christ, about 14
years ago, whether in the body or out of the body I cannot
tell, God knoweth. And such a one, caught up into the third
heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out
of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. How that he was
caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which
it is not lawful for a man to utter.
8. Jesus was asked about his custom of teaching allegorically:
Matthew 13. "Because it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not
given."
S. It appears that the mystery of death was solved for the
candidate, allowing them to have personal knowledge of the
after-death state.
T. Around the year 400 AD, all of these mystic ceremonies
disappeared. Now we have only the ruins of their temples,
in places like Luxor, Karnak, Delphi, Corinth, Epidiarus,
Eleusis.
U. The deeply occult procedure of initiation has continued unto
today, and will ever do so, for it is a law of the occult
life that no single individual ever reaches the stage at
which such minisatrations could be helpful without receiving
them in full.
V. Unfortunately, the rise of the fanatical aspects of
Christianity, as well as the cruel martyrdom of Hypatia in
the 4th century, caused their public manifestation to cease.
It is suggested that the need is greater today than ever for
the actual presence of the mysteries. Some traces of the
lesser mysteries exist even today in various forms. These
include:
1. Certain Christian rituals, especially the episcopal rites,
the mass and eucharist, may be viewed as beautiful
unconscious continuations of the mystery tradition.
2. The Theosophical Society was thought to be an Adept-founded
movement, and may be considered to be one of the modern
expressions of the mysteries. Its adept-inspired literature
might include Isis Unveiled, The Secret Doctrine and the
Mahatma Letters.
3. The world-wide brotherhood of Freemasonry is also thought by
some to be a relatively modern expression of the mysteries.
In particular, the French order "Le Droit Humain", which has
adopted a more occult form of the traditional ceremony, as
well as admitting women on equal terms.
4. There is also a children's Order of the Round Table which
seems to offer a survival of some elements of the mysteries,
in which the chivalric ideas of knighthood are used to
invoke spiritual powers through ceremony.
W. In Alfred Lord Tennyson's "Idylls of the King", he wrote:
"Then the King, in low deeps tones, and simple words of
great authority, bound them by so strait vows to his own
self, that when they rose, knighted from kneeling, some were
pale as at the passing of a ghost, some flushed, others
dazed, as one who wakes half blinded at the coming a light.
But when he spake, and cheered his table round with large
divine and comfortable words beyond my tongue to tell thee,
I beheld from eye to eye through all their order flashed a
momentary likeness of the King."
X. It is taught that every single person thus aroused to
altruistic service and thoughts of the divine, finds
themselves drawn to a still existing form of the ancient
mysteries, suitable to their religious or philosophical
temperament, and thus to the feet of the Master whose
blessing they seek. Thus, the way is kept ever open. A
quote from Brother Lawrence: "He who is possessed with the
gale of the Holy Spirit goes forward, even in sleep."
Y. How can we be worthy of admission to the mystery tradition?
The ideal is wonderfully defined by the Lord Buddha. In
Pali, "Parinamana", which means declaration of altruism and
self-denial, in which the individual is called upon to apply
wholly one's merit to the welfare of others. The aspirant
says: "Whatever good I have acquired by doing all this, may
I appease and assuage all the pains and sorrows of all
living beings. May I be like a healing drug for the sick.
May I be a physician for them, and also tend them, until
they are whole. May I allay the pain of hunger and thirst,
by showers of food and drink. And may I myself be food and
drink during the intermediate aeon of famine. May I be an
inexhaustible treasure for poor creatures. May I be
foremost in rendering service to them with manifold and
various articles and requisites."
"The golden keys to the portal of the temple of the
mysteries. The seven paramitas (perfections):
1. Dana -- the key of charity and love immortal
2. Sila -- key of harmony in word and act, the key that
counterbalances the cause and the effect
3. Shanti -- patience sweet that naught can ruffle
4. Vairagya -- indifference to pleasure and pain, illusion
conquered, truth alone perceived
5. Virya -- the dauntless energy that fights its way to the
supernal truth out of the mire of the terrestrial
6. Dhyana -- whose golden gate, once opened, leads to a sinless
being. The golden gate, once opened, leads towards the
realm of bliss eternal, and its ceaseless contemplation
7. Prajna -- wisdom, the key which makes of man a God, creating
him a Boddhisattva, son of the Dhyanis.
Z. "Such are the golden keys to the portals, before thou canst
approach the last, oh weaver of thy freedom, thou hast to
master these paramitas of perfection, the virtues
transcendental." -- H.P. Blavatsky.
--
paul@actrix.co.at (Paul Gillingwater)
Home Office in Vienna, Austria