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)

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)

You are a living magnet; you invariably attract into your life the people, situations and circumstances that are in harmony with your dominant thoughts.

This is one of the great laws that explain much of success and failure in business and personal life. It has been written about as far back as the ancient Egyptian mystery schools, 3000 years before Christ. It is so powerful, pervasive and all encompassing that it affects everything you do or say, or even think or feel.

(See also: Law of Attraction, Brian Tracy, Law of Attraction, Practising Law of Attraction, Law of Attraction for Prosperity, Law of Attraction for Love, Law of Attraction - Obstacles)

The long-developing, prepubescence ramping toward the kundalini spinal puberty is known as pranotthana ("intensified, uplifted life energy," perhaps emergent within cellular mitochondria). This is clearly the same force of quivering uprightness active in Quakerism, Shakerism, Judaic davening (torso-rocking prayer), charismatic Holy Ghost phenomena, the swaying zikr and whirling dervish of Islam, the quiverings of the Orthodox hesychast, the Goddess-worshipping circle dance, the Dionysian revel of the Greek mystery schools, the flowing movements of tai chi, the ecstatic shamanic dance, the yogically derived Andalusian flamenco, the Middle-Eastern belly dance, and the orgonic quivering-streamings of bioenergetics

Read more here: » Postgenital Stirrings: A Spiritual Prepubescence

From Akasha Mystery School:

I bring to you some information shared by our Beloved Asun regarding the gifts of the eclipse coming on June the 8th, transcribed from Wednesday evenings discourse, June 2nd 2004:

“I will say now Dear Hearts as we acknowledged only a week ago. You have a very, very important event that is coming to you in that which is the solar eclipse on June the 8th. Venus dances between the Sun and the Earth. What we did not share in the past is that every eclipse holds back that which is termed a hidden spectacle.”

Read more here: » Venus Transit: Venus Dances between the Sun and the Earth

B.O.T.A. (Builders of the Adytum), which is registered as a non-profit tax-exempt religious organisation, is a worldwide mystery school based in Los Angeles. B.O.T.A. members receive lessons covering subjects such as self-awareness, esoteric psychology, Tarot, Qabalah, Astrology, and meditation techniques. These symbolic systems are explained as representing parts of the Self, a more reasoned use than tra ...

Including:

• Builders of the Adytum - What is an Adytum and why build one?
• Builders of the Adytum - Regional organizations
• Builders of the Adytum - Study Groups
• Builders of the Adytum - Group Ritual

Read more here: » Builders of the Adytum: Encyclopedia - Builders of the Adytum

In Greek mythology, Tartarus, or Tartaros, is both a deity and a place in the underworld — even lower than Hades. In ancient orphic sources and in the mystery schools Tartaros is also the unbounded first-existing "thing" from which the Light and the cosmos is born. The Greek poet Hesiod asserts that a bronze anvil falling from heaven would fall 9 days before it reached the Earth. The anvil would take 9 more days to fall from Earth to Tartarus. In The Iliad, Jove asserts that Tartarus is "as far beneath Hades as heaven ...

Including:

• Tartarus - Tartarus in Neopaganism
• Tartarus - Tartarus in the New Testament

Read more here: » Tartarus: Encyclopedia - Tartarus

The Rosicrucian Fellowship was founded in 1909/11 by Max Heindel as herald of the Aquarian Age and with the aim of promulgating the Rosicrucian teachings of the Mystery School of the West, the invisible Rosicrucian Order (which, according to Max Heindel, is an Order in the inner worlds, having no direct connection to physical organizations which call themselves by this name). The Rosicrucian Fellowship conducts Spiritual Healing Services and offers correspondence courses in Esoteric Christianity Philosophy, Spiritual Astrology, and Bi ...

Including:

• Rosicrucian Fellowship - Origins & foundation
• Rosicrucian Fellowship - Philosophy teachings
• Rosicrucian Fellowship - Life as a School: doctrine of Rebirth and Law of Cause and Consequence
• Rosicrucian Fellowship - Evolution
• Rosicrucian Fellowship - The Seven-fold constitution of Man
• Rosicrucian Fellowship - The Seven Worlds & the Seven Cosmic Planes
• Rosicrucian Fellowship - The Ten-fold constitution of Man
• Rosicrucian Fellowship - Death as a Birth
• Rosicrucian Fellowship - the Cosmic Christ and the Christ Within
• Rosicrucian Fellowship - Rosicrucian mission

Read more here: » Rosicrucian Fellowship: Encyclopedia - Rosicrucian Fellowship

A Theosophical definition of Hermetic Chain :

Hermetic Chain

Among the ancient Greeks there existed a mystical tradition of a chain of living beings, one end of which included the divinities in their various grades or stages of divine authority and activities, and the other end of which ran downwards through inferior gods and heroes and sages to ordinary men, and to the beings below man.

Each link of this living chain of beings inspired and instructed the chain below itself, thus transmitting and communicating from link to link to the end of the marvelous living chain, love and wisdom and knowledge concerning the secrets of the universe, eventuating in mankind as the arts and the sciences necessary for human life and civilization. This was mystically called the Hermetic Chain or the Golden Chain.

In the ancient Mysteries the teaching of the existence and nature of the Hermetic Chain was fully explained; it is a true teaching because it represents distinctly and clearly and faithfully true and actual operations of nature. More or less faint and distorted copies of the teaching of this Hermetic Chain or Golden Chain or succession of teachers were taken over by various later formal and exoteric sects, such as the Christian Church, wherein the doctrine was called the Apostolic Succession.

In all the great Mystery schools of antiquity there was this succession of teacher following teacher, each one passing on the light to his successor as he himself had received it from his predecessor; and as long as this transmission of light was a reality, it worked enormous spiritual benefit among men. Therefore all such movements lived, flourished, and did great good in the world. These teachers were the messengers to men from the Great Lodge of the Masters of Wisdom and Compassion. (See also Guru-parampara)

See also: Hermetic Chain, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Iamblichus (255?-333) Neoplatonic theurgist, mystic, and reviver of the practical mysteries outside of Mystery schools or temples. Student of Porphyry and founder of the Syrian Neoplatonic school.

(See also: Iamblichus, 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 ...

See also:

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

Read more here: » MIT Mystery Hunt: Encyclopedia II - MIT Mystery Hunt - History

A Theosophical definition of Mysteries :

Mysteries

The Mysteries were divided into two general parts, the Less Mysteries and the Greater.

The Less Mysteries were very largely composed of dramatic rites or ceremonies, with some teaching; the Greater Mysteries were composed of, or conducted almost entirely on the ground of, study; and the doctrines taught in them later were proved by personal experience in initiation. In the Greater Mysteries was explained, among other things, the secret meaning of the mythologies of the old religions, as, for instance, the Greek.

The active and nimble mind of the Greeks produced a mythology which for grace and beauty is perhaps without equal, but it nevertheless is very difficult to explain; the Mysteries of Samothrace and of Eleusis  - the greater ones  - explained among other things what these myths meant. These myths formed the basis of the exoteric religions; but note well that exotericism does not mean that the thing which is taught exoterically is in itself false, but merely that it is a teaching given without the key to it. Such teaching is symbolic, illusory, touching on the truth  - the truth is there, but without the key to it, which is the esoteric meaning, it yields no proper sense.

We have the testimony of the Greek and Roman initiates and thinkers that the ancient Mysteries of Greece taught men, above everything else, to live rightly and to have a noble hope for the life after death. The Romans derived their Mysteries from those of Greece.

The mythological aspect comprises only a portion  - and a relatively small portion  - of what was taught in the Mystery schools in Greece, principally at Samothrace and at Eleusis. At Samothrace was taught the same mystery-teaching that was current elsewhere in Greece, but here it was more developed and recondite, and the foundation of these mystery-teachings was morals. The noblest and greatest men of ancient times in Greece were initiates in the Mysteries of these two seats of esoteric knowledge.

In other countries farther to the east, there were other Mystery schools or "colleges," and this word college by no means necessarily meant a mere temple or building; it meant association, as in our modern word colleague, "associate." The Teutonic tribes of northern Europe, the Germanic tribes, which included Scandinavia, had their Mystery colleges also; and teacher and neophytes stood on the bosom of Mother Earth, under Father Ether, the boundless sky, or in subterranean receptacles, and taught and learned. The core, the heart, the center, of the teaching of the ancient Mysteries was the abstruse problems dealing with death. (See also Guru-parampara)

See also: Mysteries, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Mysteries. Greek teletai, or finishings, celebrations of initiation or the Mysteries.

They were observances, generally kept secret from the profane and uninitiated, in which were taught by dramatic representation and other methods, the origin of things, the nature of the human spirit, its relation to the body, and the method of its purification and restoration to higher life. Physical science, medicine, the laws of music, divination, were all taught in the same manner.

The Hippocratic oath was but a mystic obligation. Hippocrates was a priest of Asklepios, some of whose writings chanced to become public. But the Asklepiades were initiates of the Esculapian serpent-worship, as the Bacchantes were of the Dionysia; and both rites were eventually incorporated with the Eleusinia. The Sacred Mysteries were enacted in the ancient Temples by the initiated Hierophants for the benefit and instruction of the candidates.

The most solemn and occult Mysteries were certainly those which were performed in Egypt by "the band of secret-keepers", as Mr. Bonwick calls the Hierophants. Maurice describes their nature very graphically in a few lines. Speaking of the Mysteries performed in Phile (the Nile-island), he says that "it was in these gloomy caverns that the grand and mystic arcana of the goddess (Isis) were unfolded to the adoring aspirant, while the solemn hymn of initiation resounded through the long extent of these stony recesses".

The word "mysteries" is derived from the Greek muo, "to close the mouth", and every symbol connected with them had, a hidden meaning. As Plato and many other sages of antiquity affirm, the Mysteries were highly religious, moral and beneficent as a school of ethics.

The Grecian mysteries, those of Ceres and Bacchus, were only imitations of the Egyptian; and the author of Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought, informs us that our own "word chapel or capella is said to be the Caph-El or college of El, the Solar divinity".

The well-known Kabiri are associated with the Mysteries. In short, the Mysteries were in every country a series of dramatic performances, in which the mysteries of cosmogony and nature, in general, were personified by the priests and neophytes, who enacted the part of various gods and goddesses, repeating supposed scenes (allegories) from their respective lives. These were explained in their hidden meaning to the candidates for initiation, and incorporated into philosophical doctrines.

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

Mysteries, The [from Greek mysteria Mysteries from mystes one initiated into the Mysteries from mueo to initiate from muo to close the eyes or lips]

Applies chiefly to Greece, but once extended to Asiatic cults of religio-philosophical character, it acquired a wider range under the Romans, and is used in The Secret Doctrine in reference to equivalent institutions in any part of the world. The most celebrated in Greece were those of Eleusis pertaining to Demeter and Persephone, which gave rise to many branches and influenced schools of older foundation.

Others were those of Samothrace, the Orphic Mysteries, and the Festivals devoted to Dionysos. Schools like that of Pythagoras diffused their influence, as did Academies such as that of Plato. The history of Greece furnishes notable examples of great men who had been initiated into such Mysteries. The Mysteries came into Greece from India and Egypt, and their origin goes back to Atlantean times. They were in historic times, what remained of the means whereby man's divine ancestors communicated truths concerning the mysteries of cosmos and of human nature and of the communion divinity and man.

In times when sacred knowledge was whole and not divided into sacred and profane, the human body, not yet desecrated, was held as sacred as any other part of function of human nature; so that the teaching embraced medicine, hygiene, singing, dancing, the useful arts and crafts; and the teachers of religion, philosophy, science, and of crafts, the founders of cities, and great artists derived their powers from this source.

The Mysteries were divided into the Greater and Less, inner and outer, esoteric and partly exoteric; and, as the former were guarded by well-observed secrecy the sources of ordinary information are mostly based on the latter. The more recondite Mysteries could not, from their very nature, be publicly divulged; they were revelations, appreciable only by an awakened spiritual perception and incommunicable to anyone not thus awakened. The Greater Mysteries were successive initiations for prepared candidates. The Less consisted of symbolic and dramatic representations for the public, in which, among other things, the profound symbology of the Greek mythology was employed.

The elevating and unifying influence of these institutions was acknowledged by Greek and Roman authorities and is apparent from a study of Greek history. With the advance of a cycle of materialism, the Mysteries became degraded, especially in Asia Minor in Roman times; the symbolism was perverted and even made to palliate licentious practices. What little was left to abolish was formally abolished by Justinian, who closed the mystic and quasi-esoteric Neoplatonic School of Athens in 529.

In a recognition of the ancient Mysteries we find a clue to the meaning of the universal prevalence, among peoples fallen into a degenerate and falsely called primitive state of life, of strange rites and black magical practices. These are the very dregs and distortions of the ancient holy teachings; but even here unprejudiced inquirers find that, when sympathetically approached, the existence of secret cults which preserve at least remnants of some of the essential teachings of the ancient wisdom.

As formal institutions, the Mysteries had their earliest origin during the fourth root-race, Atlantis, after its fourth subrace. Indeed, the still more primitive roots of the Mysteries can be traced to a much earlier time, probably during the third subrace of the Atlanteans, when the rapid degeneration of mankind into the worship of matter had brought about the absolute need of segregating the nobler and finer spirits of the human race into groups or schools where they could, under the vows of inviolable secrecy, study the deeper mysteries of nature and their own oneness with the divine. From that time the Mysteries became with every subrace more and more secret and entrance into them became ever more difficult. After the fifth root-race came upon the scene, the Mysteries had become well established in all countries of the globe, and their rites and functions, both of the Greater and the Less, were conducted as functions of the State.

Even from the time of the incarnation of the manasaputras in the third root-race, there has been an unbroken line, stream, or succession of lofty spiritual teachers guarding the ancient god-wisdom received in primordial ages from the dhyanis; and the Mysteries, even in their heyday of splendor and in their most secret lines of work, were the outer side of clothing of this inner stream of inspiration and sublime teaching. The light has not yet died from off the earth, and the spiritual stream still exists and does its work in the world, although for ages it has been acting more secretly and esoterically than ever. However, the time is coming when the Mysteries will again be reestablished and will receive the common reverence and respect from mankind that in former ages they universally had.

(See also: Mysteries, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

601 Girls Town (1959, B&W, MGM) (7/16/94) A mysterious death lands a teenage girl in a reform school headed by a group of good-hearted nuns, but the girl's sister is in trouble. Includes Mamie Van Doren as Silver, Mel Tormé as Fred, and Paul Anka as crooner Jimmy. 602 Invasion U.S.A. (1952, B&W, Columbia) (7/23/94) (Short: A Date with Your Family) Cautionary tale of a group of ordinary Americans facing the consequences of failing to support their government in fighting Communism, when the Soviets invade t ...

See also:

List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON KTMA / KTMA-TV Minneapolis 1988-89, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 1 / Comedy Channel 1989-90, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 2 / Comedy Channel 1990-91, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 3 / Comedy Central 1991-92, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 4 / Comedy Central 1992-93, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 5 / Comedy Central 1993-94, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 6 / Comedy Central 1994-95, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 7 / Comedy Central 1995-96, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: THE MOVIE / Gramercy Pictures 1996, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 8 / Sci-Fi Channel 1996-97, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 9 / Sci-Fi Channel 1997-98, List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 10 / Sci-Fi Channel 1998-99

Read more here: » List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes: Encyclopedia II - List of Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes - SEASON 6 / Comedy Central 1994-95

Samothrace An island in the north Aegean celebrated for a school of the Mysteries, more profound than the Mysteries of Eleusis, "perhaps the oldest [Mysteries] ever established in our present race" (TG 287). The island is of volcanic formation and connected with traditions of a deluge.

Its Mysteries were related to the worship of the kabiri, the holy fires of the most occult powers of nature, which legend says formed on the seven localities of the island the kabir born of the Holy Lemnos sacred to Vulcan. It was colonized by Phoenicians and before them by the mysterious Pelasgians who came from the East, which indicates its connection with the ancient Mysteries of India. Here was enacted every seven years the Mysteries -- what the Shemitic peoples of Asia Minor called the Sod. The sacred fire preserved at Samothrace was communicated to the candidates of initiation, who thus began a new life -- the real meaning of baptism by fire and the spirit.

The Mysteries of Samothrace and of Eleusis were the two most famous in ancient Greek civilization, and it would be difficult to find which was held in greater reverence. Those at Samothrace were more scientific and philosophic, while those celebrated at Eleusis were more of a mystical and religious character.

(See also: Samothrace, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Justinian (483-565) Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, who preserved Roman law for future Europeans, and who closed the last Mystery schools at Athens. (Fund 486)

(See also: Justinian, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Gnosis (Ancient Greek) Lit., "knowledge". The technical term used by the schools of religious philosophy, both before and during the first centuries of so-called Christianity, to denote the object of their enquiry. This Spiritual and Sacred Knowledge, the Gupta Vidya of the Hindus, could only be obtained by Initiation into Spiritual Mysteries of which the ceremonial "Mysteries" were a type.

(See also: Gnosis, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

The series was designed to teach reading and writing skills to elementary and middle school children. Each mystery was presented as a story arc, covering four or five thirty-minute episodes; children were encouraged to follow each mystery, and use the reading and writing clues given to attempt to solve them just as the Ghostwriter team does in the show. Ghostwriter was critically acclaimed and honored for presenting a realistic, racially diverse world in its two-hour mystery stories. By the end of its third season, Ghostwrit ...

See also:

Ghostwriter television series, Ghostwriter television series - Overview, Ghostwriter television series - Characters, Ghostwriter television series - Ghostwriter, Ghostwriter television series - The Ghostwriter team, Ghostwriter television series - Other cast members, Ghostwriter television series - Episodes, Ghostwriter television series - The first season, Ghostwriter television series - The second season, Ghostwriter television series - The third season, Ghostwriter television series - Merchandising, Ghostwriter television series - Awards and nominations, Ghostwriter television series - After cancelation and The New Ghostwriter Mysteries

Read more here: » Ghostwriter television series: Encyclopedia II - Ghostwriter television series - Overview