Mystery Schools Adopted in theosophical literature from Classical writings, to designate centers which were consecrated to the teaching of the truths of cosmic Being to those who were found fit and ready for their reception; and this body of teaching or instruction and training is imbodied in the ancient wisdom which is the heritage of humanity.

This wisdom was originally given to mankind during the infancy of the human race by celestial teachers. "The mysteries of Heaven and Earth, revealed to the Third Race by their celestial teachers in the days of their purity, became a great focus of light, the rays from which became necessarily weakened as they were diffused and shed upon an uncongenial, because too material soil. With the masses they degenerated into Sorcery, taking later on the shape of exoteric religions, of idolatry full of superstitions, and man-, or hero-worship" (SD 2:281).

Despite this almost universal degeneration of the original wisdom into dogmatic religious or philosophical forms, the heart of the teaching has always been preserved on earth, and the guardians of this heart have from that immemorial age kept the ancient wisdom whole and undefiled. From this heart esoteric centers were during the ages instituted from time to time in different parts of the earth where the holy truths were taught by hierophants, to use the Greek expression. "Alone a handful of primitive men -- in whom the spark of divine Wisdom burnt bright, and only strengthened in its intensity as it got dimmer and dimmer with every age in those who turned it to bad purposes -- remained the elect custodians of the Mysteries revealed to mankind by the divine Teachers. There were those among them, who remained in their Kumaric condition from the beginning; and tradition whispers, what the secret teachings affirm, namely, that these Elect were the germ of a Hierarchy which never died since that period" (ibid.).

Thus was formed the Great Brotherhood or Great White Lodge, which has remained on earth to this day in its secret retreat, known in Hindu legends as Sambhala. From time to time messengers are sent forth from this Brotherhood into the world, and these emissaries impart the holy doctrine of which they are the carriers to those who prove themselves ready, fit, and worthy to receive it. Such centers of esoteric training and communication have always been called the Mysteries, or Mystery schools; and the emissaries establish new centers or Mystery schools when and where it is found proper to do so.

Every race and nation has had its teachers and their esoteric centers; the one fundamental doctrine of the heart was taught alike in them all, albeit after different manners, in different languages, and by different approaches, according to the psychological readiness and the needs of the people to whom these emissaries came. In later times, when these Mystery schools had to a greater or less degree lost the original impress and inspiration of the first communication, they were called sacerdotal colleges, or even temple-colleges or in ancient Greece the Mysteries. Such esoteric centers, where the original and archaic doctrine is taught, exist even today.

(See also: Mystery Schools, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Betrayal of the Mysteries Ancient writers affirm that the prime requisite of every candidate seeking entrance into the Mysteries was a pledge of utter secrecy. Persons guilty of the betrayal of the Mysteries were rigidly excluded from participation in the celebration of the rites. Likewise those were debarred who accidentally were guilty of homicide or any major crime, or who had been proved guilty of sorcery. If merely unfortunate mediums, they were taken care of in hospitals maintained for that purpose in the neighborhood of temples, and if possible restored to health; if consciously traitorous or wicked, they were dealt with in other ways.

Thus it is clear that even in the degenerate days dating from before Plato's time in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean, abuse of occult power was considered one of the most heinous of human offenses, for it struck directly at the roots of society, and it was for this last reason that betrayal of the Mysteries, sorcery, or similar offense was punished by the State itself.

The rules governing betrayal of the secrets were of the utmost severity, the common penalty for such infringement being death. Yet this was a sign of degeneration from the original purity of the Mysteries, for "never in any circumstances has the power or the force of the Lodge, has the hand of a Teacher, been raised in violence or in hatred against a betrayer, against the unfaithful, no matter how grave the crime might have been.

Their punishment was in this: they were left strictly to themselves; and the inner penalty was the withdrawal of the Deathless Watcher, the higher self within, which had been consciously and successfully invoked upon entrance into the Mysteries, and in the higher degrees of initiation had been faced, literally face to face. The early and automatic penalty was inner death by the soul-loss. The betrayer lost his soul" (Fund 254-5).

(See also: Betrayal of the Mysteries, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Corybantes, Mysteries of the. These were held in Phrygia in honour of Atys, the youth beloved by Cybele. The rites were very elaborate within the temple and very noisy and tragic in public. They began by a public bewailing of the death of Atys and ended in tremendous rejoicing at his resurrection. The statue or image of the victim of Jupiter’s jealousy was placed during the ceremony in a pastos (coffin), and the priests sang his sufferings. Atys, as Visvakarma in India, was a representative of Initiation and Adeptship. He is shown as being born impotent, because chastity is a requisite of the life of an aspirant. Atys is said to have established the rites and worship of Cybele, in Lydia. (See Pausan., vii., c. 17.)

(See also: Mysteries of the Corybantes, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

mystery school

A place where teachings and techniques prepare individuals for the process of inner development. No outer structure can assure inner success, but such an environment is constructed and assistance rendered in specific ways to facilitate progress in expansion of consciousness

(See also: Mystery school, Body Mind and Soul)

Mystery School:

In theory, a group of magicians and/or mystics who have gathered together to share their wisdom and secrets with each other and with new seekers. In practice, usually a group of would-be “enlightened masters” who are primarily interested in impressing each other and in fleecing the gullible. After all, “there’s a seeker born every minute!”

(See also: Mystery School, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

In the language of the early Christians the mysteries were those religious teachings that were carefully guarded from the knowledge of the profane. An example is the Secret Gospel of Mark, which was preserved from profane view in Alexandria, and is now known only through chance references in a letter of Clement of Alexandria. The "sayings" Gospel of Thomas expresses mysteries that were confided by Jesus to Thomas alone, according to the manuscript, and the traditions of early Christian Gnosticism were based ...

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Mystery religion, Mystery religion - Mystery religion, Mystery religion - Components, Mystery religion - Recorded histories, Mystery religion - Initiation, Mystery religion - Early Christians, Mystery religion - Other religious forms, Mystery religion - Examples of current mystery religions, Mystery religion - Examples of mystery religions no longer practised

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Dionysian Paraphernalia: The Kantharos, a drinking cup with large handles, originally the Rhyton, a drinking horn (from a bull), and later a Kylix, or wine goblet; the Thyrsos, a long wand with a pine cone on top, carried by initiates, and those possessed by the god; the Stave, once cast into ground to mark ritual space; the Krater, or mixing bowl, the Flagellum, or scourge; the Minoan Double Axe, once used for sacrificial rites, later replaced by the Greek Kopis, o ...

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Dionysian Mysteries, Dionysian Mysteries - The Mysteries Unveiled, Dionysian Mysteries - A Brief History of the early Dionysos Cult, Dionysian Mysteries - The Emergence and Evolution of the Dionysian Mysteries, Dionysian Mysteries - The Mystery Rites, Dionysian Mysteries - The Public Rites, Dionysian Mysteries - The Temple and its Officers, Dionysian Mysteries - Ritual Miscellanies, Dionysian Mysteries - Some primary texts on Dionysianism, Dionysian Mysteries - Secondary texts

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Mac's recording of "For Your Love" replaced a Bob Welch song "Good Things (Come To Those Who Wait)" on the album at a very late stage in production. Some albums came with a lyric inner sheet showing "Good Things" instead of "For Your Love". Although Fleetwood Mac's version was never released, "Good Things" was later re-recorded by Bob Welch for one of his solo albums. "Hypnotized" was a minor US hit, and a staple of AOR (Album Oriented Rock) radio stations of the 1970's and 1980's. ...

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Mystery To Me, Mystery To Me - Track listing, Mystery To Me - Personnel, Mystery To Me - Production

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Book of Concealed Mystery. See SIPHRA DI-TSENI`UTHA'

(See also: Book of Concealed Mystery, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

The Mystery Hunt was started in 1980 by then-graduate student Brad Schaefer. The first Hunt consisted of 12 subclues on a single sheet of paper including a Vigenere cipher, a short runaround, and an integral. The answers to the subclues detailed the location of an Indian Head penny hidden on campus. The individuals who found the coin were allowed to take their pick of a $20 gift certificate to the school bookstore, a $50 donation to the charity of their choice, and a keg of beer. The hunt was organized again by Brad Schaefer for the next two years. After he graduated, the winners were given ...

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MIT Mystery Hunt, MIT Mystery Hunt - Structure, MIT Mystery Hunt - Types of puzzles, MIT Mystery Hunt - History, MIT Mystery Hunt - Memorable puzzles, MIT Mystery Hunt - Memorable events, MIT Mystery Hunt - Be noisy, MIT Mystery Hunt - Jofish's Pants, MIT Mystery Hunt - Spinoffs

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The Western mystery tradition traditionally started in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Rome and Israel, while it contains many characteristics from the Pagan people of Ancient Britain and Scandinavia, such as the Celts. Ancient figures associated with the Western tradition include Plato, Pythagoras and other Greek philosophers, Hermes Trismegistus, Akhenaten and other pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece were the most known sources of what we currently call Western Mystery Tradition. Egypt was considered more advanced in mysticism, and thus many Ancient Greek philosophers t ...

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Western mystery tradition, Western mystery tradition - History, Western mystery tradition - The Dark Ages, Western mystery tradition - The European Enlightenment, Western mystery tradition - The Second World War, Western mystery tradition - The Collapse of the Soviet Union, Western mystery tradition - Today, Western mystery tradition - Philosophy, Western mystery tradition - Initiation, Western mystery tradition - The Main Themes, Western mystery tradition - The Teachings, Western mystery tradition - Organisations, Western mystery tradition - People, Western mystery tradition - Texts

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Ivan Igor (Lionell Atwill) is a sculptor who operates a wax museum in 1921 London. When the business fails, Igor's investment partner, Joe Worth (Edwin Maxwell) burns the museum down for the insurance money, leaving Igor for dead. Igor is not killed, however, and reemerges 12 years later in 1933 New York City, reopening a new wax museum. He has been badly crippled in the fire, and must rely on assistants to create his new sculptures. Meanwhile, reporter Florence Dempsey is investigating the possible murder of a model named Joan Gale, ...

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Mystery of the Wax Museum, Mystery of the Wax Museum - Plot, Mystery of the Wax Museum - History

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Modern people who are related to the Western mystery tradition include: Aleister Crowley, occultist Dion Fortune, magician Harvey Spencer Lewis, founder of AMORC Max Heindel, author of The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception S. L. MacGregor-Mathers, founding member of the 1888's Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Historical individuals who are related to the Western mystery tradition include: Hermes Trismegistus, ancient mythical figure Akhenaten, Ancient Egy ...

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Western mystery tradition, Western mystery tradition - History, Western mystery tradition - The Dark Ages, Western mystery tradition - The European Enlightenment, Western mystery tradition - The Second World War, Western mystery tradition - The Collapse of the Soviet Union, Western mystery tradition - Today, Western mystery tradition - Philosophy, Western mystery tradition - Initiation, Western mystery tradition - The Main Themes, Western mystery tradition - The Teachings, Western mystery tradition - Organisations, Western mystery tradition - People, Western mystery tradition - Texts

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Today, the Western mystery tradition is a mixture of ancient philosophy, paganistic and Christian thought, medieval ideas, and also contains some imports from Asia and modern Science. However, the true Tradition, seems to focus on individual spiritual progress through initiation into some sort of brotherhood, group rituals, study of philosophy and the cosmic laws and their practical application with the aims of alchemy, meditation, divination and ritual magic. ...

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Western mystery tradition, Western mystery tradition - History, Western mystery tradition - The Dark Ages, Western mystery tradition - The European Enlightenment, Western mystery tradition - The Second World War, Western mystery tradition - The Collapse of the Soviet Union, Western mystery tradition - Today, Western mystery tradition - Philosophy, Western mystery tradition - Initiation, Western mystery tradition - The Main Themes, Western mystery tradition - The Teachings, Western mystery tradition - Organisations, Western mystery tradition - People, Western mystery tradition - Texts

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The team running the Hunt can make any changes they desire, and the structure changes to some degree from year to year. However, the general form has been constant since at least the mid-nineties. At noon on the Friday before Martin Luther King Day participants gather in the lobby of Building 7 at MIT. Recent Hunts have had around 20-25 teams participating, with each team containing as few as five and as many as one hundred puzzle solvers (larger teams usually send a small delegation to the opening festivities). Nowadays, the organize ...

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MIT Mystery Hunt, MIT Mystery Hunt - Structure, MIT Mystery Hunt - Types of puzzles, MIT Mystery Hunt - History, MIT Mystery Hunt - Memorable puzzles, MIT Mystery Hunt - Memorable events, MIT Mystery Hunt - Be noisy, MIT Mystery Hunt - Jofish's Pants, MIT Mystery Hunt - Spinoffs

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Eleusinia or Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek) (from eleusinia things that are to come)

The most famous Mysteries in ancient Greece and, next to those of Samothrace, the most ancient. Even the Christian writer Epiphanius traces them to the days of Inachos (which some writers place so close to our time as 1800 BC, which is far too near), while others make the founder Eumolpos. Both these founders are described as at once kings and of divine parentage.

The Greater Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated at the time of the autumnal equinox, the time of grape gathering, and the Mysteries were in honor of Demeter -- in Latin Ceres and in one range of mythologic thought also the Egyptian Isis -- the Earth-Mother, presiding over fertility.

The celebration of the complete Eleusinia consisted of Less and Greater Mysteries. In the former the produce of the earth was given a part, while in the latter emphasis was laid on its higher correspondences in connection with Mystery-teaching. As its name implies, at Eleusis were taught the doctrines concerning what will happen to man after death.

Iacchos, the god of wine in more senses than one, plays an important part in these Mysteries. Demeter's daughter Persephone, goddess of the underworld, was also honored. The usual accounts, vague and fragmentary only, describe the dramatic representations of the adventures of these deities, the esoteric meaning of which was given in the Greater Mysteries.

(See also: Eleusinia, Eleusinian Mysteries, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

The sacred loci of the Dionysian Mysteries have varied over time and place, just like the rites themselves. The earliest rites took place in the wilderness - in the forests and woods, the marshes, and particularly high in the mountains, where the lower oxygen content was suitable for trance induction. Later the 'priest' would simply cast their staff into the ground, at any suitable location, and hang a mask and an animal skin from it, the circle drawn around this centre becoming the sacred precinct for however long the staff remained. This p ...

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Dionysian Mysteries, Dionysian Mysteries - The Mysteries Unveiled, Dionysian Mysteries - A Brief History of the early Dionysos Cult, Dionysian Mysteries - The Emergence and Evolution of the Dionysian Mysteries, Dionysian Mysteries - The Mystery Rites, Dionysian Mysteries - The Public Rites, Dionysian Mysteries - The Temple and its Officers, Dionysian Mysteries - Ritual Miscellanies, Dionysian Mysteries - Some primary texts on Dionysianism, Dionysian Mysteries - Secondary texts

Read more here: » Dionysian Mysteries: Encyclopedia II - Dionysian Mysteries - The Temple and its Officers

The genre has its beginning in the riddles told in Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Similar stories were told in the middle ages, but the genre didn't really begin to develop until the detective stories of Edgar Allan Poe. The first true mystery novel is considered to be The Woman in White (1860) by Wilkie Collins. Collins wrote several more in this genre, including The Moonstone (1868) which is thought to be his masterpiece. The genre began to expand near the turn of century with the development of dime novels and pulp ...

See also:

Mystery fiction, Mystery fiction - Early beginnings

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Orphic Mysteries or Orphica (Ancient Greek). These followed, but differed greatly from, the mysteries of Bacchus.

The system of Orpheus is one of the purest morality and of severe asceticism. The theology taught by him is again purely Indian. With him the divine Essence is inseparable from whatever is in the infinite universe, all forms being concealed from all eternity in It. At determined periods these forms are manifested from the divine Essence or manifest themselves.

Thus through this law of emanation (or evolution) all things participate in this Essence, and are parts and members instinct with divine nature, which is omnipresent. All things having proceeded from, must necessarily return into it; and therefore, innumerable transmigrations or reincarnations and purifications are needed before this final consummation can take place. This is pure Vedanta philosophy. Again, the Orphic Brotherhood ate no animal food and wore white linen garments, and had many ceremonies like those of the Brahmans.

(See also: Orphic Mysteries, Orphica, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Critics have labeled the claims of The Jesus Mysteries far-fetched and based on insufficient research. For example, David Allan Dodson, a reviewer for CNN, found the book to be interesting, he stated that "while the authors discuss many examples of elements of Osiris/Dionysus in the Jesus story, they virtually ignore the more direct ties to Jewish tradition and prophecy. This oversight undermines the credibility of many of their arguments, and could have the tendency to mislead the novice reader in this subject". (CNN.c ...

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The Jesus Mysteries, The Jesus Mysteries - Criticism and Support, The Jesus Mysteries - More reviews

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Orphism, Orphic Mysteries [from Greek orphikos]

Orphism originally taught of the Causeless Cause on which all speculation is impossible; the periodical appearance and disappearance of all things, from atom to universe; reimbodiment; cyclic law; the essential divinity of all beings and things; and the duality in manifestation of the universe. It postulated seven emanations from the Boundless: aether (spirit) and chaos (matter), from which two spring the world egg, out of which is born Phanes, the First Logos; then Uranus (and Gaia) the Second Logos, with Kronos (and Rhea, mother of the Olympian gods) a later phase of the Second Logos; and Zeus, the Third Logos or Demiurge -- who starts a minor sevenfold hierarchy of emanation by begetting Zagreus-Dionysos the god-man, the divine son.

Characteristic of Orphic cosmogony is the important place given to the number seven. "The rise of the Orphic worship of Dionysos is the most important fact in the history of Greek religion, and marks a great spiritual awakening. Its three great ideas are (1) a belief in the essential Divinity of humanity and the complete immortality or eternity of the soul, its pre-existence and its post-existence; (2) the necessity for individual responsibility and righteousness; and (3) the regeneration or redemption of man's lower nature by his own higher Self" (F. S. Darrow).

The Orphic teachings were kept intact by the Golden or Hermetic Chain of Succession down to the days of the Neoplatonists after which (as symbolically told in the archaic story of Eurydice) they were killed -- obscured or lost, so far as the public was concerned. Their keynote was consecration to the mandates of the god within: perfect purity, perfect impersonal love, perfect understanding, and devotion to the interests of humanity.

The three Orphic mystery-gods were Zeus, the divine All-father; Demeter-Kore, the earth goddess as both mother and maid; and Zagreus-Dionysos, the divine son. This trinity finds its counterpart in Egyptian, Indian, Chaldean, Christian, and other religions. There were two forms of baptism, one purification by water, later adopted into the Christian ritual; and the other a ceremony in which the face of the neophyte was cleansed with a mixture of earth and bran, symbolizing the washing away of stains from the soul.

The ceremony of the Eucharist was also adopted by the Christians and as Orphic ritual forbade the use of wine (substituting for it a mead of honey and milk), in the rite as adopted by the primitive Christians the neophyte drank not only wine but also milk and honey. Under Orphism, the honey symbolized not only purification and preservation, or endless life and bliss, but the secret knowledge obtained during initiation. Bees, the gatherers of honey, were emblems of the reincarnating soul, as was the butterfly; and as the bees gathered the nectar from flowers and made it into honey, so the human soul in its various peregrinations gathers from the beings and things of life the mystic experience and stores it away in the chambers of the soul. Milk symbolized knowledge, which fed the inner man, as a child of eternity, just as milk feeds the human child.

Orphism flourished from before the 14th until the 6th century BC, and again, after some five centuries of obscuration, during the first four centuries of the Christian era. Plato, Empedocles, the Pythagorean teachings, some of the Greek dramatists and poets are our main source material for the earlier period, as well as the various Orphic fragments including the Orphic Tablets.

These Tablets, with the Orphic Hymns, consist of eight gold plates containing inscriptions, dating from about the 4th century BC. They consist of instructions given to the soul for its journey through the afterdeath worlds or states very reminiscent of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. The keynote is spoken by the soul: "I am a child of earth and of starry Heaven, but my race is of Heaven (alone). . . . Lo, I am parched with thirst . . ." For the later period we have the writings of the Neoplatonists and their opponents, the early Christian Fathers.

That the entire Orphic mythogony is intentionally allegorical does not invalidate that a great prehistoric religious reformer named Orpheus lived, worked, taught, and founded a religion as the outgrowth of a genuine Mystery school.

(See also: Orphism, Orphic Mysteries, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

The recitation of the Rosary is traditionally dedicated to one of three sets of "Mysteries" to be said in sequence, one per night: the Joyful (sometimes Joyous) Mysteries; the Sorrowful Mysteries; and the Glorious Mysteries. Each of these three sets of Mysteries has within it five different themes to be meditated on, one for each decade of ten Hail Marys. Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (October 2002), reccomended an additional set called the Luminous Myst ...

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Rosary, Rosary - Origins of the Rosary, Rosary - Rosary beads, Rosary - The Mysteries, Rosary - Joyful, Rosary - Luminous optional, Rosary - Sorrowful, Rosary - Glorious, Rosary - Days of recitation, Rosary - Types of Rosaries, Rosary - One frequently used form, Rosary - A regularly used alternative, Rosary - Single-decade Rosaries, Rosary - Rosaries in other faiths, Rosary - Rosaries worn outside of religion

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