TYPE 4

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

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