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the secret teachings of all ages
The Ancient Mysteries
and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced
Modern Masonic Symbolism
CHAPTER I
manly p. hall
WHEN confronted with a problem
involving the use of the reasoning faculties, individuals of strong
intellect keep their poise, and seek to reach a solution by obtaining
facts bearing upon the question. Those of immature mentality, on the
other hand, when similarly confronted, are overwhelmed. While the former
may be qualified to solve the riddle of their own destiny, the latter
must be led like a flock of sheep and taught in simple language. They
depend almost entirely upon the ministrations of the shepherd. The
Apostle Paul said that these little ones must be fed with milk, but that
meat is the food of strong men. Thoughtlessness is almost
synonymous with childishness, while thoughtfulness is symbolic of
maturity.
There are, however, but few
mature minds in the world; and thus it was that the
philosophic-religious doctrines of the pagans were divided to meet the
needs of these two fundamental groups of human intellect--one
philosophic, the other incapable of appreciating the deeper mysteries of
life. To the discerning few were revealed the esoteric, or
spiritual, teachings, while the unqualified many received only the
literal, or exoteric, interpretations. In order to make simple
the great truths of Nature and the abstract principles of natural law,
the vital forces of the universe were personified, becoming the gods and
goddesses of the ancient mythologies. While the ignorant multitudes
brought their offerings to the altars of Priapus and Pan (deities
representing the procreative energies), the wise recognized in these
marble statues only symbolic concretions of great abstract
truths.
In all cities of the ancient
world were temples for public worship and offering. In every community
also were philosophers and mystics, deeply versed in Nature's lore.
These individuals were usually banded together, forming seclusive
philosophic and religious schools. The more important of these groups
were known as the Mysteries. Many of the great minds of antiquity
were initiated into these secret fraternities by strange and mysterious
rites, some of which were extremely cruel. Alexander Wilder defines the
Mysteries as "Sacred dramas performed at stated periods. The most
celebrated were those of Isis, Sabazius, Cybele, and Eleusis." After
being admitted, the initiates were instructed in the secret wisdom which
had been preserved for ages. Plato, an initiate of one of these sacred
orders, was severely criticized because in his writings he revealed to
the public many of the secret philosophic principles of the
Mysteries.
Every pagan nation had (and
has) not only its state religion, but another into which the philosophic
elect alone have gained entrance. Many of these ancient cults vanished
from the earth without revealing their secrets, but a few have survived
the test of ages and their mysterious symbols are still preserved. Much
of the ritualism of Freemasonry is based on the trials to which
candidates were subjected by the ancient hierophants before the keys of
wisdom were entrusted to them.
Few realize the extent to which
the ancient secret schools influenced contemporary intellects and,
through those minds, posterity. Robert Macoy, 33°, in his General
History of Freemasonry, pays a magnificent tribute to the part
played by the ancient Mysteries in the rearing of the edifice of human
culture. He says, in part: "It appears that all the perfection of
civilization, and all the advancement made in philosophy, science, and
art among the ancients are due to those institutions which, under the
veil of mystery, sought to illustrate the sublimest truths of religion,
morality, and virtue, and impress them on the hearts of their
disciples.* * * Their chief object was to teach the doctrine of one God,
the resurrection of man to eternal life, the dignity of the human soul,
and to lead the people to see the shadow of the deity, in the beauty,
magnificence, and splendor of the universe."
With the decline of virtue,
which has preceded the destruction of every nation of history, the
Mysteries became perverted. Sorcery took the place of the divine magic.
Indescribable practices (such as the Bacchanalia) were introduced, and
perversion ruled supreme; for no institution can be any better than the
members of which it is composed. In despair, the few who were true
sought to preserve the secret doctrines from oblivion. In some cases
they succeeded, but more often the arcanum was lost and only the empty
shell of the Mysteries remained.
Thomas Taylor has written, "Man
is naturally a religious animal." From the earliest dawning of his
consciousness, man has worshiped and revered things as symbolic
of the invisible, omnipresent, indescribable Thing, concerning
which he could discover practically nothing. The pagan Mysteries opposed
the Christians during the early centuries of their church, declaring
that the new faith (Christianity) did not demand virtue and integrity as
requisites for salvation. Celsus expressed himself on the subject in the
following caustic terms:
"That I do not, however, accuse
the Christians more bitterly than truth compels, may be conjectured from
hence, that the cryers who call men to other mysteries proclaim as
follows: 'Let him approach whose hands are pure, and whose words are
wise.' And again, others proclaim: 'Let him approach who is pure from
all wickedness, whose soul is not conscious of any evil, and who leads a
just and upright life.' And these things are proclaimed by those who
promise a purification from error. Let us now hear who those are that
are called to the Christian mysteries: Whoever is a sinner, whoever is
unwise, whoever is a fool, and whoever, in short, is miserable, him the
kingdom of God will receive. Do you not, therefore, call a sinner, an
unjust man, a thief, a housebreaker, a wizard, one who is sacrilegious,
and a robber of sepulchres? What other persons would the cryer nominate,
who should call robbers together?"
It was not the true faith of
the early Christian mystics that Celsus attacked, but the false forms
that were creeping in even during his day. The ideals of early
Christianity were based upon the high moral standards of the pagan
Mysteries, and the first Christians who met under the city of Rome used
as their places of worship the subterranean temples of Mithras, from
whose cult has been borrowed much of the sacerdotalism of the modem
church.
The ancient philosophers
believed that no man could live intelligently who did not have a
fundamental knowledge of Nature and her laws. Before man can obey, he
must understand, and the Mysteries were devoted to instructing man
concerning the operation of divine law in the terrestrial sphere. Few of
the early cults actually worshiped anthropomorphic deities, although
their symbolism might lead one to believe they did. They were moralistic
rather than religionistic; philosophic rather than theologic. They
taught man to use his faculties more intelligently, to be patient in the
face of adversity, to be courageous when confronted by danger, to be
true in the midst of temptation, and, most of all, to view a worthy life
as the most acceptable sacrifice to God, and his body as an altar sacred
to the Deity.
Sun worship played an important
part in nearly all the early pagan Mysteries. This indicates the
probability of their Atlantean origin, for the people of Atlantis were
sun worshipers. The Solar Deity was usually personified as a beautiful
youth, with long golden hair to symbolize the rays of the sun. This
golden Sun God was slain by wicked ruffians, who personified the evil
principle of the universe. By means of certain rituals and ceremonies,
symbolic of purification and regeneration, this wonderful God of Good
was brought back to life and became the Savior of His people. The secret
processes whereby He was resurrected symbolized those cultures by means
of which man is able to overcome his lower nature, master his appetites,
and give expression to the higher side of himself. The Mysteries were
organized for the purpose of assisting the struggling human creature to
reawaken the spiritual powers which, surrounded by the
flaming ring of lust and degeneracy,
lay asleep within his soul. In other words, man was offered a way by
which he could regain his lost estate. (See Wagner's
Siegfried.)
A FEMALE HIEROPHANT OF THE
MYSTERIES.
From Montfaucon's Antiquities.
This illustration shows Cybele,
here called the Syrian Goddess, in the robes of a hierophant. Montfaucon
describes the figure as follows: "Upon her head is an episcopal mitre,
adorned on the lower part with towers and pinnacles; over the gate of
the city is a crescent, and beneath the circuit of the walls a crown of
rays. The Goddess wears a sort of surplice, exactly like the surplice of
a priest or bishop; and upon the surplice a tunic, which falls down to
the legs; and over all an episcopal cope, with the twelve signs of the
Zodiac wrought on the borders. The figure hath a lion on each side, and
holds in its left hand a Tympanum, a Sistrum, a Distaff, a Caduceus, and
another instrument. In her right hand she holds with her middle finger a
thunderbolt, and upon the same am animals, insects, and, as far as we
may guess, flowers, fruit, a bow, a quiver, a torch, and a scythe." The
whereabouts of the statue is unknown, the copy reproduced by Montfaucon
being from drawings by Pirro Ligorio.
In the ancient world, nearly
all the secret societies were philosophic and religious. During the
mediæval centuries, they were chiefly religious and political, although
a few philosophic schools remained. In modern times, secret societies,
in the Occidental countries, are largely political or fraternal,
although in a few of them, as in Masonry, the ancient religious and
philosophic principles still survive.
Space prohibits a detailed
discussion of the secret schools. There were literally scores of these
ancient cults, with branches in all parts of the Eastern and Western
worlds. Some, such as those of Pythagoras and the Hermetists, show a
decided Oriental influence, while the Rosicrucians, according to their
own proclamations, gained much of their wisdom from Arabian mystics.
Although the Mystery schools are usually associated with civilization,
there is evidence that the most uncivilized peoples of prehistoric times
had a knowledge of them. Natives of distant islands, many in the lowest
forms of savagery, have mystic rituals and secret practices which,
although primitive, are of a decided Masonic tinge.
THE DRUIDIC MYSTERIES OF BRITAIN AND
GAUL
"The original and primitive
inhabitants of Britain, at some remote period, revived and reformed
their national institutes. Their priest, or instructor, had hitherto
been simply named Gwydd, but it was considered to have become necessary
to divide this office between the national, or superior, priest and
another whose influence [would] be more limited. From henceforth the
former became Der-Wydd (Druid), or superior instructor, and [the latter]
Go-Wydd, or O-Vydd (Ovate), subordinate instructor; and both went by the
general name of Beirdd (Bards), or teachers of wisdom. As the system
matured and augmented, the Bardic Order consisted of three classes, the
Druids, Beirdd Braint, or privileged Bards, and Ovates." (See Samuel
Meyrick and Charles Smith, The Costume of The Original Inhabitants of
The British Islands.)
The origin of the word
Druid is under dispute. Max Müller believes that, like the Irish
word Drui, it means "the men of the oak trees." He further draws
attention to the fact that the forest gods and tree deities of the
Greeks were called dryades. Some believe the word to be of
Teutonic origin; others ascribe it to the Welsh. A few trace it to the
Gaelic druidh, which means "a wise man" or "a sorcerer." In
Sanskrit the word dru means "timber."
At the time of the Roman
conquest, the Druids were thoroughly ensconced in Britain and Gaul.
Their power over the people was unquestioned, and there were instances
in which armies, about to attack each other, sheathed their swords when
ordered to do so by the white-robed Druids. No undertaking of great
importance was scatted without the assistance of these patriarchs, who
stood as mediators between the gods and men. The Druidic Order is
deservedly credited with having had a deep understanding of Nature and
her laws. The Encyclopædia Britannica states that geography,
physical science, natural theology, and astrology were their favorite
studies. The Druids had a fundamental knowledge of medicine, especially
the use of herbs and simples. Crude surgical instruments also
have been found in England and Ireland. An odd treatise on early British
medicine states that every practitioner was expected to have a garden or
back yard for the growing of certain herbs necessary to his profession.
Eliphas Levi, the celebrated transcendentalist, makes the following
significant statement:
"The Druids were priests and
physicians, curing by magnetism and charging amylets with their fluidic
influence. Their universal remedies were mistletoe and serpents' eggs,
because these substances attract the astral light in a special manner.
The solemnity with which mistletoe was cut down drew upon this plant the
popular confidence and rendered it powerfully magnetic. * * * The
progress of magnetism will some day reveal to us the absorbing
properties of mistletoe. We shall then understand the secret of those
spongy growths which drew the unused virtues of plants and become
surcharged with tinctures and savors. Mushrooms, truffles, gall on
trees, and the different kinds of mistletoe will be employed with
understanding by a medical science, which will be new because it is old
* * * but one must not move quicker than science, which recedes that it
may advance the further. " (See The History of Magic.)
Not only was the mistletoe
sacred as symbolic of the universal medicine, or panacea, but also
because of the fact that it grew upon the oak tree. Through the symbol
of the oak, the Druids worshiped the Supreme Deity; therefore, anything
growing upon that tree was sacred to Him. At certain seasons, according
to the positions of the sun, moon, and stars, the Arch-Druid climbed the
oak tree and cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle consecrated for that
service. The parasitic growth was caught in white cloths provided for
the purpose, lest it touch the earth and be polluted by terrestrial
vibrations. Usually a sacrifice of a white bull was made under the
tree.
The Druids were initiates of a
secret school that existed in their midst. This school, which closely
resembled the Bacchic and Eleusinian Mysteries of Greece or the Egyptian
rites of Isis and Osiris, is justly designated the Druidic
Mysteries. There has been much speculation concerning the secret
wisdom that the Druids claimed to possess. Their secret teachings were
never written, but were communicated orally to specially prepared
candidates. Robert Brown, 32°, is of the opinion that the British
priests secured their information from Tyrian and Phœnician navigators
who, thousands of years before the Christian Era, established colonies
in Britain and Gaul while searching for tin. Thomas Maurice, in his
Indian Antiquities, discourses at length on Phœnician,
Carthaginian, and Greek expeditions to the British Isles for the purpose
of procuring tin. Others are of the opinion that the Mysteries as
celebrated by the Druids were of Oriental origin, possibly
Buddhistic.
The proximity of the British
Isles to the lost Atlantis may account for the sun worship which plays
an important part in the rituals of Druidism. According to Artemidorus,
Ceres and Persephone were worshiped on an island close to Britain with
rites and ceremonies similar to those of Samothrace. There is no doubt
that the Druidic Pantheon includes a large number of Greek and Roman
deities. This greatly amazed Cæsar during his conquest of Britain and
Gaul, and caused him to affirm that these tribes adored Mercury, Apollo,
Mars, and Jupiter, in a manner similar to that of the Latin countries.
It is almost certain that the Druidic Mysteries were not indigenous to
Britain or Gaul, but migrated from one of the more ancient
civilizations.
The school of the Druids was
divided into three distinct parts, and the secret teachings embodied
therein are practically the same as the mysteries concealed under the
allegories of Blue Lodge Masonry. The lowest of the three divisions was
that of Ovate (Ovydd). This was an honorary degree, requiring no special
purification or preparation. The Ovates dressed in green, the Druidic
color of learning, and were expected to know something about medicine,
astronomy, poetry if possible, and sometimes music. An Ovate was an
individual admitted to the Druidic Order because of his general
excellence and superior knowledge concerning the problems of
life.
The second division was that of
Bard (Beirdd). Its members were robed in sky-blue, to represent harmony
and truth, and to them was assigned the labor of memorizing, at least in
part, the twenty thousand verses of Druidic sacred poetry. They were
often pictured with the primitive British or Irish harp--an instrument
strung with human hair, and having as many strings as there were ribs on
one side of the human body. These Bards were often chosen as teachers of
candidates seeking entrance into the Druidic Mysteries. Neophytes wore
striped robes of blue, green, and white, these being the three sacred
colors of the Druidic Order.
The third division was that of
Druid (Derwyddon). Its particular labor was to minister to the religious
needs of the people. To reach this dignity, the candidate must first
become a Bard Braint. The Druids always dressed in white--symbolic of
their purity, and the color used by them to symbolize the
sun.
In order to reach the exalted
position of Arch-Druid, or spiritual head of the organization, it
was necessary for a priest to pass through the six successive degrees of
the Druidic Order. (The members of the different degrees were
differentiated by the colors of their sashes, for all of them wore robes
of white.) Some writers are of the opinion that the title of
Arch-Druid was hereditary, descending from father to son, but it
is more probable that the honor was conferred by ballot election. Its
recipient was chosen for his virtues and integrity from the most learned
members of the higher Druidic degrees.
THE ARCH-DRUID IN HIS
CEREMONIAL ROBES.
From Wellcome's Ancient
Cymric Medicine.
The most striking adornment of
the Arch-Druid was the iodhan moran, or breastplate of judgment,
which possessed the mysterious Power of strangling any who made an
untrue statement while wearing it. Godfrey Higgins states that this
breastplate was put on the necks of witnesses to test the veracity of
their evidence. The Druidic tiara, or anguinum, its front
embossed with a number of points to represent the sun's rays, indicated
that the priest was a personification of the rising sun. On the front of
his belt the Arch-Druid wore the liath meisicith--a magic brooch,
or buckle in the center of which was a large white stone. To this was
attributed the power of drawing the fire of the gods down from heaven at
the priest's command This specially cut stone was a burning glass, by
which the sun's rays were concentrated to light the altar fires. The
Druids also had other symbolic implements, such as the peculiarly shaped
golden sickle with which they cut the mistletoe from the oak, and the cornan, or scepter, in the form of a crescent, symbolic of the
sixth day of the increasing moon and also of the Ark of Noah. An early
initiate of the Druidic Mysteries related that admission to their
midnight ceremony was gained by means of a glass boat, called Cwrwg
Gwydrin. This boat symbolized the moon, which, floating upon the
waters of eternity, preserved the seeds of living creatures within its
boatlike crescent.
According to James Gardner,
there were usually two Arch-Druids in Britain, one residing on
the Isle of Anglesea and the other on the Isle of Man. Presumably there
were others in Gaul. These dignitaries generally carried golden scepters
and were crowned with wreaths of oak leaves, symbolic of their
authority. The younger members of the Druidic Order were clean-shaven
and modestly dressed, but the more aged had long gray beards and wore
magnificent golden ornaments. The educational system of the Druids in
Britain was superior to that of their colleagues on the Continent, and
consequently many of the Gallic youths were sent to the Druidic colleges
in Britain for their philosophical instruction and training.
Eliphas Levi states that the
Druids lived in strict abstinence, studied the natural sciences,
preserved the deepest secrecy, and admitted new members only after long
probationary periods. Many of the priests of the order lived in
buildings not unlike the monasteries of the modern world. They were
associated in groups like ascetics of the Far East. Although celibacy
was not demanded of them, few married. Many of the Druids retired from
the world and lived as recluses in caves, in rough-stone houses, or in
little shacks built in the depths of a forest. Here they prayed and
medicated, emerging only to perform their religious duties.
James Freeman Clarke, in his
Ten Great Religions, describes the beliefs of the Druids as
follows: "The Druids believed in three worlds and in transmigration from
one to the other: In a world above this, in which happiness
predominated; a world below, of misery; and this present state. This
transmigration was to punish and reward and also to purify the soul. In
the present world, said they, Good and Evil are so exactly balanced that
man has the utmost freedom and is able to choose or reject either. The
Welsh Triads tell us there are three objects of metempsychosis: to
collect into the soul the properties of all being, to acquire a
knowledge of all things, and to get power to conquer evil. There are
also, they say, three kinds of knowledge: knowledge of the nature of
each thing, of its cause, and its influence. There are three things
which continually grow less: darkness, falsehood, and death. There are
three which constantly increase: light, life, and truth."
Like nearly all schools of the
Mysteries, the teachings of the Druids were divided into two distinct
sections. The simpler, a moral code, was taught to all the people, while
the deeper, esoteric doctrine was given only to initiated priests. To be
admitted to the order, a candidate was required to be of good family and
of high moral character. No important secrets were intrusted to him
until he had been tempted in many ways and his strength of character
severely tried. The Druids taught the people of Britain and Gaul
concerning the immortality of the soul. They believed in transmigration
and apparently in reincarnation. They borrowed in one life, promising to
pay back in the next. They believed in a purgatorial type of hell where
they would be purged of their sins, afterward passing on to the
happiness of unity with the gods. The Druids taught that all men would
be saved, but that some must return to earth many times to learn the
lessons of human life and to overcome the inherent evil of their own
natures.
Before a candidate was
intrusted with the secret doctrines of the Druids, he was bound with a
vow of secrecy. These doctrines were imparted only in the depths of
forests and in the darkness of caves. In these places, far from the
haunts of men, the neophyte was instructed concerning the creation of
the universe, the personalities of the gods, the laws of Nature, the
secrets of occult medicine, the mysteries of the celestial bodies, and
the rudiments of magic and sorcery. The Druids had a great number of
feast days. The new and full moon and the sixth day of the moon were
sacred periods. It is believed that initiations took place only at the
two solstices and the two equinoxes. At dawn of the 25th day of
December, the birth of the Sun God was celebrated.
The secret teachings of the
Druids are said by some to be tinctured with Pythagorean philosophy. The
Druids had a Madonna, or Virgin Mother, with a Child in her arms, who
was sacred to their Mysteries; and their Sun God was resurrected at the
time of the year corresponding to that at which modern Christians
celebrate Easter.
Both the cross and the serpent
were sacred to the Druids, who made the former by cutting off all the
branches of an oak tree and fastening one of them to the main trunk in
the form of the letter T. This oaken cross became symbolic of their
superior Deity. They also worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. The moon
received their special veneration. Caesar stated that Mercury was one of
the chief deities of the Gauls. The Druids are believed to have
worshiped Mercury under the similitude of a stone cube. They also had
great veneration for the Nature spirits (fairies, gnomes, and undines),
little creatures of the forests and rivers to whom many offerings were
made. Describing the temples of the Druids, Charles Heckethorn, in
The Secret Societies of All Ages & Countries,
says:
"Their temples wherein the
sacred fire was preserved were generally situate on eminences and in
dense groves of oak, and assumed various forms--circular, because a
circle was the emblem of the universe; oval, in allusion to the mundane
egg, from which issued, according to the traditions of many nations, the
universe, or, according to others, our first parents; serpentine,
because a serpent was the symbol of Hu, the Druidic Osiris; cruciform,
because a cross is an emblem of regeneration; or winged, to represent
the motion of the Divine Spirit. * * * Their chief deities were
reducible to two--a male and a female, the great father and mother--Hu
and Ceridwen, distinguished by the same characteristics as belong to
Osiris and Isis, Bacchus and Ceres, or any other supreme god and goddess
representing the two principles of all Being."
Godfrey Higgins states that
Hu, the Mighty, regarded as the first settler of Britain, came
from a place which the Welsh Triads call the Summer Country, the
present site of Constantinople. Albert Pike says that the Lost Word of
Masonry is concealed in the name of the Druid god Hu. The meager
information extant concerning the secret initiations of the Druids
indicates a decided similarity between their Mystery school and the
schools of Greece and Egypt. Hu, the Sun God, was murdered and,
after a number of strange ordeals and mystic rituals, was restored to
life.
There were three degrees of the
Druidic Mysteries, but few successfully passed them all. The candidate
was buried in a coffin, as symbolic of the death of the Sun God. The
supreme test, however, was being sent out to sea in an open boat. While
undergoing this ordeal, many lost their lives. Taliesin, an ancient
scholar, who passed through the Mysteries, describes the initiation of
the open boat in Faber's Pagan Idolatry. The few who passed this
third degree were said to have been "born again," and were instructed in
the secret and hidden truths which the Druid priests had preserved from
antiquity. From these initiates were chosen many of the dignitaries of
the British religious and political world. (For further details, see
Faber's Pagan Idolatry, Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma,
and Godfrey Higgins' Celtic Druids.)
THE RITES OF MITHRAS
When the Persian Mysteries
immigrated into Southern Europe, they were quickly assimilated by the
Latin mind. The cult grew rapidly, especially among the Roman soldiery,
and during the Roman wars of conquest the teachings were carried by the
legionaries to nearly all parts of Europe. So powerful did the cult of
Mithras become that at least one Roman Emperor was initiated into the
order, which met in caverns under the city of Rome. Concerning the
spread of this Mystery school through different parts of Europe, C. W.
King, in his Gnostics and Their Remains, says:
"Mithraic bas-reliefs cut on
the faces of rocks or on stone tablets still abound in the countries
formerly the western provinces of the Roman Empire; many exist in
Germany, still more in France, and in this island (Britain) they have
often been discovered on the line of the Picts' Wall and the noted one
at Bath."
Alexander Wilder, in his
Philosophy and Ethics of the Zoroasters, states that
Mithras is the Zend title for the sun, and he is supposed to
dwell within that shining orb. Mithras has a male and a female aspect,
though not himself androgynous. As Mithras, he is the ford of the sun,
powerful and radiant, and most magnificent of the Yazatas (Izads,
or Genii, of the sun). As Mithra, this deity represents the
feminine principle; the mundane universe is recognized as her symbol.
She represents Nature as receptive and terrestrial, and as fruitful only
when bathed in the glory of the solar orb. The Mithraic cult is a
simplification of the more elaborate teachings of Zarathustra
(Zoroaster), the Persian fire magician.
THE GROUND PLAN OF
STONEHENGE.
From Maurice's Indian
Antiquities.
The Druid temples of places of
religious worship were not patterned after those of other nations. Most
of their ceremonies were performed at night, either in thick groves of
oak trees or around open-air altars built of great uncut stones. How
these masses of rock were moved ahs not been satisfactorily explained.
The most famous of their altars, a great stone ring of rocks, is
Stonehenge, in Southwestern England. This structure, laid out on an
astronomical basis, still stands, a wonder of antiquity.
According to the Persians,
there coexisted in eternity two principles. The first of these,
Ahura-Mazda, or Ormuzd, was the Spirit of Good. From
Ormuzd came forth a number of hierarchies of good and beautiful spirits
(angels and archangels). The second of these eternally existing
principles was called Ahriman. He was also a pure and beautiful
spirit, but he later rebelled against Ormuzd, being jealous of his
power. This did not occur, however, until after Ormuzd had created
light, for previously Ahriman had not been conscious of the existence of
Ormuzd. Because of his jealousy and rebellion, Ahriman became the Spirit
of Evil. From himself he individualized a host of destructive creatures
to injure Ormuzd.
When Ormuzd created the earth,
Ahriman entered into its grosser elements. Whenever Ormuzd did a good
deed, Ahriman placed the principle of evil within it. At last when
Ormuzd created the human race, Ahriman became incarnate in the lower
nature of man so that in each personality the Spirit of Good and the
Spirit of Evil struggle for control. For 3,000 years Ormuzd ruled the
celestial worlds with light and goodness. Then he created man. For
another 3,000 years he ruled man with wisdom, and integrity. Then the
power of Ahriman began, and the struggle for the soul of man continues
through the next period of 3,000 years. During the fourth period of
3,000 years, the power of Ahriman will be destroyed. Good will return to
the world again, evil and death will be vanquished, and at last the
Spirit of Evil will bow humbly before the throne of Ormuzd. While Ormuzd
and Ahriman are struggling for control of the human soul and for
supremacy in Nature, Mithras, God of Intelligence, stands as mediator
between the two. Many authors have noted the similarity between mercury
and Mithras. As the chemical mercury acts as a solvent (according to
alchemists), so Mithras seeks to harmonize the two celestial
opposites.
There are many points of
resemblance between Christianity and the cult of Mithras. One of the
reasons for this probably is that the Persian mystics invaded Italy
during the first century after Christ and the early history of both
cults was closely interwoven. The Encyclopædia Britannica makes the
following statement concerning the Mithraic and Christian
Mysteries:
"The fraternal and democratic
spirit of the first communities, and their humble origin; the
identification of the object of adoration with light and the sun; the
legends of the shepherds with their gifts and adoration, the flood, and
the ark; the representation in art of the fiery chariot, the drawing of
water from the rock; the use of bell and candle, holy water and the
communion; the sanctification of Sunday and of the 25th of December; the
insistence on moral conduct, the emphasis placed on abstinence and
self-control; the doctrine of heaven and hell, of primitive revelation,
of the mediation of the Logos emanating from the divine, the atoning
sacrifice, the constant warfare between good and evil and the final
triumph of the former, the immortality of the soul, the last judgment,
the resurrection of the flesh and the fiery destruction of the
universe--[these] are some of the resemblances which, whether real or
only apparent, enabled Mithraism to prolong its resistance to
Christianity,"
The rites of Mithras were
performed in caves. Porphyry, in his Cave of the Nymphs, states
that Zarathustra (Zoroaster) was the first to consecrate a cave to the
worship of God, because a cavern was symbolic of the earth, or the lower
world of darkness. John P. Lundy, in his Monumental Christianity,
describes the cave of Mithras as follows:
"But this cave was adorned with
the signs of the zodiac, Cancer and Capricorn. The summer and winter
solstices were chiefly conspicuous, as the gates of souls descending
into this life, or passing out of it in their ascent to the Gods; Cancer
being the gate of descent, and Capricorn of ascent. These are the two
avenues of the immortals passing up and down from earth to heaven, and
from heaven to earth."
The so-called chair of St.
Peter, in Rome, was believed to have been used in one of the pagan
Mysteries, possibly that of Mithras, in whose subterranean grottoes the
votaries of the Christian Mysteries met in the early days of their
faith. In Anacalypsis, Godfrey Higgins writes that in 1662, while
cleaning this sacred chair of Bar-Jonas, the Twelve Labors of Hercules
were discovered upon it, and that later the French discovered upon the
same chair the Mohammedan confession of faith, written in
Arabic.
Initiation into the rites of
Mithras, like initiation into many other ancient schools of philosophy,
apparently consisted of three important degrees. Preparation for these
degrees consisted of self-purification, the building up of the
intellectual powers, and the control of the animal nature. In the first
degree the candidate was given a crown upon the point of a sword and
instructed in the mysteries of Mithras' hidden power. Probably he was
taught that the golden crown represented his own spiritual nature, which
must be objectified and unfolded before he could truly glorify Mithras;
for Mithras was his own soul, standing as mediator between Ormuzd, his
spirit, and Ahriman, his animal nature. In the second degree he was
given the armor of intelligence and purity and sent into the darkness of
subterranean pits to fight the beasts of lust, passion, and degeneracy.
In the third degree he was given a cape, upon which were drawn or woven
the signs of the zodiac and other astronomical symbols. After his
initiations were over, he was hailed as one who had risen from the dead,
was instructed in the secret teachings of the Persian mystics, and
became a full-fledged member of the order. Candidates who successfully
passed the Mithraic initiations were called Lions and were marked
upon their foreheads with the Egyptian cross. Mithras himself is often
pictured with the head of a lion and two pairs of wings. Throughout the
entire ritual were repeated references to the birth of Mithras as the
Sun God, his sacrifice for man, his death that men might have eternal
life, and lastly, his resurrection and the saving of all humanity by his
intercession before the throne of Ormuzd. (See Heckethorn.)
While the cult of Mithras did
not reach the philosophic heights attained by Zarathustra, its effect
upon the civilization of the Western world was far-reaching, for at one
time nearly all Europe was converted to its doctrines. Rome, in her
intercourse with other nations, inoculated them with her religious
principles; and many later institutions have exhibited Mithraic culture.
The reference to the "Lion" and the "Grip of the Lion's Paw" in the
Master Mason's degree have a strong Mithraic tinge and may easily have
originated from this cult. A ladder of seven rungs appears in the
Mithraic initiation. Faber is of the opinion that this ladder was
originally a pyramid of seven steps. It is possible that the Masonic
ladder with seven rungs had its origin in this Mithraic symbol. Women
were never permitted to enter the Mithraic Order, but children of the
male sex were initiates long before they reached maturity. The refusal
to permit women to join the Masonic Order may be based on the esoteric
reason given in the secret instructions of the Mithraics. This cult is
another excellent example of those secret societies whose legends are
largely symbolic representations of the sun and his journey through the
houses of the heavens. Mithras, rising from a stone, is merely the sun
rising over the horizon, or, as the ancients supposed, out of the
horizon, at the vernal equinox.
John O'Neill disputes the
theory that Mithras was intended as a solar deity. In The Night of
the Gods he writes: "The Avestan Mithra, the yazata of light, has
'10,000 eyes, high, with full knowledge (perethuvaedayana), strong,
sleepless and ever awake (jaghaurvaunghem).'The supreme god Ahura Mazda
also has one Eye, or else it is said that 'with his eyes, the sun, moon
and stars, he sees everything.' The theory that Mithra was
originally a title of the supreme heavens-god--putting the sun
out of court--is the only one that answers all requirements. It will be
evident that here we have origins in abundance for the Freemason's Eye
and 'its nunquam dormio.'" The reader must nor confuse the Persian
Mithra with the Vedic Mitra. According to Alexander Wilder, "The
Mithraic rites superseded the Mysteries of Bacchus, and became the
foundation of the Gnostic system, which for many centuries prevailed in
Asia, Egypt, and even the remote West."
MITHRAS SLAYING THE BULL.
From Lundy's Monumental
Christianity.
The most famous sculpturings
and reliefs of this prototokos show Mithras kneeling upon the recumbent
form of a great bull, into whose throat he is driving a sword. The
slaying of the bull signifies that the rays of the sun, symbolized by
the sword, release at the vernal equinox the vital essences of the
earth--the blood of the bull--which, pouring from the wound made by the
Sun God, fertilize the seeds of living things. Dogs were held sacred to
the cult of Mithras, being symbolic of sincerity and trustworthiness.
The Mithraics used the serpent a an emblem of Ahriman, the Spirit of
Evil, and water rats were held sacred to him. The bull is esoterically
the Constellation of Taurus; the serpent, its opposite in the zodiac,
Scorpio; the sun, Mithras, entering into the side of the bull, slays the
celestial creature and nourishes the universe with its blood.
THE BIRTH OF
MITHRAS.
From Montfaucon's
Antiquities
Mithras was born out of a rock,
which, breaking open, permitted him to emerge. This occurred in the
darkness of a subterranean chamber. The Church of the Nativity at
Bethlehem confirms the theory that Jesus was born in a grotto, or cave.
According to Dupuis, Mithras was put to death by crucifixion and rose
again on the third day.
The entire history of Christian
and pagan Gnosticism is shrouded in the deepest mystery and obscurity;
for, while the Gnostics were undoubtedly prolific writers, little of
their literature has survived. They brought down upon themselves the
animosity of the early Christian Church, and when this institution
reached its position of world power it destroyed all available records
of the Gnostic cultus. The name Gnostic means
wisdom, or knowledge, and is derived from the Greek
Gnosis. The members of the order claimed to be familiar with the
secret doctrines of early Christianity. They interpreted the Christian
Mysteries according to pagan symbolism. Their secret information and
philosophic tenets they concealed from the profane and taught to a small
group only of especially initiated persons.
Simon Magus, the magician of
New Testament fame, is often supposed to have been the founder of
Gnosticism. If this be true, the sect was formed during the century
after Christ and is probably the first of the many branches which have
sprung from the main trunk of Christianity. Everything with which the
enthusiasts of the early Christian Church might not agree they declared
to be inspired by the Devil. That Simon Magus had mysterious and
supernatural powers is conceded even by his enemies, but they maintained
that these powers were lent to him by the infernal spirits and furies
which they asserted were his ever present companions. Undoubtedly the
most interesting legend concerning Simon is that which tells of his
theosophic contests with the Apostle Peter while the two were
promulgating their differing doctrines in Rome. According to the story
that the Church Fathers have preserved, Simon was to prove his spiritual
superiority by ascending to heaven in a chariot of fire. He was actually
picked up and carried many feet into the air by invisible powers. When
St. Peter saw this, he cried out in a loud voice, ordering the demons
(spirits of the air) to release their hold upon the magician. The evil
spirits, when so ordered by the great saint, were forced to obey. Simon
fell a great distance and was killed, which decisively proved the
superiority of the Christian powers. This story is undoubtedly
manufactured out of whole cloth, as it is only one out of many accounts
concerning his death, few of which agree. As more and more evidence is
being amassed to the effect that St, Peter was never in Rome, its last
possible vestige of authenticity is rapidly being dissipated.
That Simon was a philosopher
there is no doubt, for wherever his exact words are preserved his
synthetic and transcending thoughts are beautifully expressed. The
principles of Gnosticism are well described in the following verbatim
statement by him, supposed to have been preserved by Hippolytus: "To
you, therefore, I say what I say, and write what I write. And the
writing is this. Of the universal Æons [periods, planes, or cycles of
creative and created life in substance and space, celestial creatures]
there are two shoots, without beginning or end, springing from one Root,
which is the power invisible, inapprehensible silence [Bythos]. Of these
shoots one is manifested from above, which is the Great Power, the
Universal Mind ordering all things, male, and the other, [is manifested]
from below, the Great Thought, female, producing all things. Hence
pairing with each other, they unite and manifest the Middle Distance,
incomprehensible Air, without beginning or end. In this is the Father
Who sustains all things, and nourishes those things which have a
beginning and end." (See Simon Magus, by G. R. S. Mead.) By this
we are to understand that manifestation is the result of a positive and
a negative principle, one acting upon the other, and it takes place in
the middle plane, or point of equilibrium, called the pleroma.
This pleroma is a peculiar substance produced out of the blending
of the spiritual and material æons. Out of the pleroma was
individualized the Demiurgus, the immortal mortal, to whom we are
responsible for our physical existence and the suffering we must go
through in connection with it. In the Gnostic system, three pairs of
opposites, called Syzygies, emanated from the Eternal One. These,
with Himself, make the total of seven. The six (three pairs) Æons
(living, divine principles) were described by Simon in the
Philosophumena in the following manner: The first two were
Mind (Nous) and Thought (Epinoia). Then came Voice
(Phone) and its opposite, Name (Onoma), and lastly, Reason
(Logismos) and Reflection (Enthumesis). From these primordial
six, united with the Eternal Flame, came forth the Æons (Angels)
who formed the lower worlds through the direction of the Demiurgus. (See
the works of H. P. Blavatsky.) How this first Gnosticism of Simon Magus
and Menander, his disciple, was amplified, and frequently distorted, by
later adherents to the cult must now be considered.
The School of Gnosticism was
divided into two major parts, commonly called the Syrian Cult and the
Alexandrian Cult. These schools agreed in essentials, but the latter
division was more inclined to be pantheistic, while the former was
dualistic. While the Syrian cult was largely Simonian, the Alexandrian
School was the outgrowth of the philosophical deductions of a clever
Egyptian Christian, Basilides by name, who claimed to have received his
instructions from the Apostle Matthew. Like Simon Magus, he was an
emanationist, with Neo-Platonic inclinations. In fact, the entire
Gnostic Mystery is based upon the hypothesis of emanations as being the
logical connection between the irreconcilable opposites Absolute Spirit
and Absolute Substance, which the Gnostics believed to have been
coexistent in Eternity. Some assert that Basilides was the true founder
of Gnosticism, but there is much evidence to the effect that Simon Magus
laid down its fundamental principles in the preceding
century.
The Alexandrian Basilides
inculcated Egyptian Hermeticism, Oriental occultism, Chaldean astrology,
and Persian philosophy in his followers, and in his doctrines sought to
unite the schools of early Christianity with the ancient pagan
Mysteries. To him is attributed the formulation of that peculiar concept
of the Deity which carries the name of Abraxas. In discussing the
original meaning of this word, Godfrey Higgins, in his Celtic Druids,
has demonstrated that the numerological powers of the letters forming
the word Abraxas when added together result in the sum of 365. The same
author also notes that the name Mithras when treated in a similar manner
has the same numerical value. Basilides caught that the powers of the universe were
divided into 365 Æons, or spiritual cycles, and that the sum of all
these together was the Supreme Father, and to Him he gave the
Qabbalistical appellation Abraxas, as being symbolical,
numerologically, of His divine powers, attributes, and emanations.
Abraxas is usually symbolized as a composite creature, with the
body of a human being and the head of a rooster, and with each of his
legs ending in a serpent. C. W. King, in his Gnostics and Their
Remains, gives the following concise description of the Gnostic
philosophy of Basilides, quoting from the writings of the early
Christian bishop and martyr, St. Irenæus: "He asserted that God, the
uncreated, eternal Father, had first brought forth Nous, or Mind; this
the Logos, Word; this again Phronesis, Intelligence; from Phronesis
sprung Sophia, Wisdom, and Dynamis, Strength."
In describing Abraxas, C. W.
King says: "Bellermann considers the composite image, inscribed with the
actual name Abraxas, to be a Gnostic Pantheos, representing the Supreme
Being, with the Five Emanations marked out by appropriate symbols. From
the human body, the usual form assigned to the Deity, spring the two
supporters, Nous and Logos, expressed in the serpents, symbols of the
inner senses, and the quickening understanding; on which account the
Greeks had made the serpent the attribute of Pallas. His head--that of a
cock--represents Phronesis, that bird being the emblem of foresight and
of vigilance. His two arms hold the symbols of Sophia and Dynamis: the
shield of Wisdom and the whip of Power."
The Gnostics were divided in
their opinions concerning the Demiurgus, or creator of the lower worlds.
He established the terrestrial universe with the aid of six sons, or
emanations (possibly the planetary Angels) which He formed out of, and
yet within, Himself. As stated before, the Demiurgus was individualized
as the lowest creation out of the substance called pleroma. One
group of the Gnostics was of the opinion that the Demiurgus was the
cause of all misery and was an evil creature, who by building this lower
world had separated the souls of men from truth by encasing them in
mortal vehicles. The other sect viewed the Demiurgus as being divinely
inspired and merely fulfilling the dictates of the invisible Lord. Some
Gnostics were of the opinion that the Jewish God, Jehovah, was
the Demiurgus. This concept, under a slightly different name, apparently
influenced mediæval Rosicrucianism, which viewed Jehovah as the Lord of
the material universe rather than as the Supreme Deity. Mythology
abounds with the stories of gods who partook of both celestial and
terrestrial natures. Odin, of Scandinavia, is a good example of a deity
subject to mortality, bowing before the laws of Nature and yet being, in
certain senses at least, a Supreme Deity.
The Gnostic viewpoint
concerning the Christ is well worthy of consideration. This order
claimed to be the only sect to have actual pictures of the Divine
Syrian. While these were, in all probability, idealistic conceptions of
the Savior based upon existing sculpturings and paintings of the pagan
sun gods, they were all Christianity had. To the Gnostics, the Christ
was the personification of Nous, the Divine Mind, and emanated
from the higher spiritual Æons. He descended into the body of Jesus at
the baptism and left it again before the crucifixion. The Gnostics
declared that the Christ was not crucified, as this Divine Nous
could not suffer death, but that Simon, the Cyrenian, offered his life
instead and that the Nous, by means of its power, caused Simon to
resemble Jesus. Irenæus makes the following statement concerning the
cosmic sacrifice of the Christ:
"When the uncreated, unnamed
Father saw the corruption of mankind, He sent His firstborn, Nous, into
the world, in the form of Christ, for the redemption of all who believe
in Him, out of the power of those that have fabricated the world (the
Demiurgus, and his six sons, the planetary genii). He appeared amongst
men as the Man Jesus, and wrought miracles." (See King's Gnostics and
Their Remains.)
The Gnostics divided humanity
into three parts: those who, as savages, worshiped only the visible
Nature; those who, like the Jews, worshiped the Demiurgus; and lastly,
themselves, or others of a similar cult, including certain sects of
Christians, who worshiped Nous (Christ) and the true spiritual
light of the higher Æons.
After the death of Basilides,
Valentinus became the leading inspiration of the Gnostic movement. He
still further complicated the system of Gnostic philosophy by adding
infinitely to the details. He increased the number of emanations from
the Great One (the Abyss) to fifteen pairs and also laid much emphasis
on the Virgin Sophia, or Wisdom. In the Books of the
Savior, parts of which are commonly known as the Pistis
Sophia, may be found much material concerning this strange doctrine
of Æons and their strange inhabitants. James Freeman Clarke, in speaking
of the doctrines of the Gnostics, says: "These doctrines, strange as
they seem to us, had a wide influence in the Christian Church." Many of
the theories of the ancient Gnostics, especially those concerning
scientific subjects, have been substantiated by modern research. Several
sects branched off from the main stem of Gnosticism, such as the
Valentinians, the Ophites (serpent worshipers), and the Adamites. After
the third century their power waned, and the Gnostics practically
vanished from the philosophic world. An effort was made during the
Middle Ages to resurrect the principles of Gnosticism, but owing to the
destruction of their records the material necessary was not available.
Even today there are evidences of Gnostic philosophy in the modern
world, but they bear other names and their true origin is not suspected.
Many of the Gnostic concepts have actually been incorporated into the
dogmas of the Christian Church, and our newer interpretations of
Christianity are often along the lines of Gnostic
emanationism.
THE MYSTERIES OF ASAR-HAPI
The identity of the
Greco-Egyptian Serapis (known to the Greeks as Serapis and the
Egyptians as Asar-Hapi) is shrouded by an impenetrable veil of
mystery. While this deity was a familiar figure among the symbols of the
secret Egyptian initiatory rites, his arcane nature was revealed only to
those who had fulfilled the requirements of the Serapic cultus.
Therefore, in all probability, excepting the initiated priests, the
Egyptians themselves were ignorant of his true character. So far as
known, there exists no authentic account of the rites of Serapis, but an
analysis of the deity and his accompanying symbols reveals their salient
points. In an oracle delivered to the King of Cyprus, Serapis described
himself thus:
''A god I am such as I show to
thee,
The Starry Heavens are my head, my trunk the sea,
Earth
forms my feet, mine ears the air supplies,
The Sun's far-darting,
brilliant rays, mine eyes."
Several unsatisfactory attempts
have been made to etymologize the word Serapis. Godfrey Higgins
notes that Soros was the name given by the Egyptians to a stone
coffin, and Apis was Osiris incarnate in the sacred bull. These
two words combined result in Soros-Apis or Sor-Apis, "the
tomb of the bull." But it is improbable that the Egyptians would worship
a coffin in the form of a man.
Several ancient authors,
including Macrobius, have affirmed that Serapis was a name for the Sun,
because his image so often had a halo of light about its head. In his
Oration Upon the Sovereign Sun, Julian speaks of the deity in
these words: "One Jove, one Pluto, one Sun is Serapis." In Hebrew,
Serapis is Saraph, meaning "to blaze out" or "to blaze up." For
this reason the Jews designated one of their hierarchies of spiritual
beings, Seraphim.
The most common theory,
however, regarding the origin of the name Serapis is that which
traces its derivation from the compound Osiris-Apis. At one time
the Egyptians believed that the dead were absorbed into the nature of
Osiris, the god of the dead. While marked similarity exists between
Osiris-Apis and Serapis, the theory advanced by Egyptologists that
Serapis is merely a name given to the dead Apis, or sacred bull of
Egypt, is untenable in view of the transcendent wisdom possessed by the
Egyptian priestcraft, who, in all probability, used the god to symbolize
the soul of the world (anima mundi). The material body of Nature
was called Apis; the soul which escaped from the body at death
but was enmeshed with the form during physical life was designated
Serapis.
C. W. King believes Serapis to
be a deity of Brahmanic extraction, his name being the Grecianized form
of Ser-adah or Sri-pa, two titles ascribed to Yama,
the Hindu god of death. This appears reasonable, especially since there
is a legend to the effect that Serapis, in the form of a bull, was
driven by Bacchus from India to Egypt. The priority of the Hindu
Mysteries would further substantiate such a theory.
Among other meanings suggested
for the word Serapis are: "The Sacred Bull," "The Sun in Taurus,"
"The Soul of Osiris," "The Sacred Serpent," and "The Retiring of the
Bull." The last appellation has reference to the ceremony of drowning
the sacred Apis in the waters of the Nile every twenty-five
years.
THE LION-FACED
LIGHT-POWER.
From Montfaucon's
Antiquities.
This Gnostic gem represents by its serpentine
body the pathway of the Sun and by its lion head the exaltation of the
solar in the constellation of Leo.
A SYMBOLIC
LABYRINTH.
From Montfaucon's
Antiquities.
Labyrinths and mazes were
favored places of initiation among many ancient cults. Remains of these
mystic mazes have been found among the American Indians, Hindus,
Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks. Some of these mazes are merely involved
pathways lined with stones; others are literally miles of gloomy caverns
under temples or hollowed from the sides of mountains. The famous
labyrinth of Crete, in which roamed the bull-headed Minotaur, was
unquestionably a place of initiation into the Cretan
Mysteries.
There is considerable evidence
that the famous statue of Serapis in the Serapeum at Alexandria was
originally worshiped under another name at Sinope, from which it was
brought to Alexandria. There is also a legend which tells that Serapis
was a very early king of the Egyptians, to whom they owed the foundation
of their philosophical and scientific power. After his death this king
was elevated to the estate of a god. Phylarchus declared that the word
Serapis means "the power that disposed the universe into its
present beautiful order."
In his Isis and Osiris,
Plutarch gives the following account of the origin of the magnificent
statue of Serapis which stood in the Serapeum at Alexandria:
While he was Pharaoh of Egypt,
Ptolemy Soter had a strange dream in which he beheld a tremendous
statue, which came to life and ordered the Pharaoh to bring it to
Alexandria with all possible speed. Ptolemy Soter, not knowing the
whereabouts of the statue, was sorely perplexed as to how he could
discover it. While the Pharaoh was relating his dream, a great traveler
by the name of Sosibius, coming forward, declared that he had seen such
an image at Sinope. The Pharaoh immediately dispatched Soteles and
Dionysius to negotiate for the removal of the figure to Alexandria.
Three years elapsed before the image was finally obtained, the
representatives of the Pharaoh finally stealing it and concealing the
theft by spreading a story that the statue had come to life and, walking
down the street leading from its temple, had boarded the ship prepared
for its transportation to Alexandria. Upon its arrival in Egypt, the
figure was brought into the presence of two Egyptian Initiates--the
Eumolpid Timotheus and Manetho the Sebennite--who, immediately
pronounced it to be Serapis. The priests then declared that it was
equipollent to Pluto. This was a masterly stroke, for in Serapis the
Greeks and Egyptians found a deity in common and thus religious unity
was consummated between the two nations.
Several figures of Serapis that
stood in his various temples in Egypt and Rome have been described by
early authors. Nearly all these showed Grecian rather than Egyptian
influence. In some the body of the god was encircled by the coils of a
great serpent. Others showed him as a composite of Osiris and
Apis.
A description of the god that
in all probability is reasonably accurate is that which represents him
as a tall, powerful figure, conveying the twofold impression of manly
strength and womanly grace. His face portrayed a deeply pensive mood,
the expression inclining toward sadness. His hair was long and arranged
in a somewhat feminine manner, resting in curls upon his breast and
shoulders. The face, save for its heavy beard, was also decidedly
feminine. The figure of Serapis was usually robed from head to foot in
heavy draperies, believed by initiates to conceal the fact that his body
was androgynous.
Various substances were used in
making the statues of Serapis. Some undoubtedly were carved from stone
or marble by skilled craftsmen; others may have been cast from base or
precious metals. One colossus of Serapis was composed of plates of
various metals fitted together. In a labyrinth sacred to Serapis stood a
thirteen-foot statue of him reputed to have been made from a single
emerald. Modern writers, discussing this image, state that it was made
of green glass poured into a mold. According to the Egyptians, however,
it withstood all the tests of an actual emerald.
Clement of Alexandria describes
a figure of Serapis compounded from the following elements: First,
filings of gold, silver, lead, and tin; second, all manner of Egyptian
stones, including sapphires, hematites, emeralds, and topazes; all these
being ground down and mixed together with the coloring matter left over
from the funeral of Osiris and Apis. The result was a rare and curious
figure, indigo in color. Some of the statues of Serapis must have been
formed of extremely hard substances, for when a Christian soldier,
carrying out the edict of Theodosius, struck the Alexandrian Serapis
with his ax, that instrument was shattered into fragments and sparks
flew from it. It is also quite probable that Serapis was worshiped in
the form of a serpent, in common with many of the higher deities of the
Egyptian and Greek pantheons.
Serapis was called Theon
Heptagrammaton, or the god with the name of seven letters. The name
Serapis (like Abraxas and Mithras) contains seven letters. In
their hymns to Serapis the priests chanted the seven vowels.
Occasionally Serapis is depicted with horns or a coronet of seven rays.
These evidently represented the seven divine intelligences manifesting
through the solar light. The Encyclopædia Britannica notes that
the earliest authentic mention of Serapis is in connection with the
death of Alexander. Such was the prestige of Serapis that he alone of
the gods was consulted in behalf of the dying king.
The Egyptian secret school of
philosophy was divided into the Lesser and the Greater Mysteries, the
former being sacred to Isis and the latter to Serapis and Osiris.
Wilkinson is of the opinion that only the priests were permitted to
enter the Greater Mysteries. Even the heir to the throne was not
eligible until he had been crowned Pharaoh, when, by virtue of his
kingly office, he automatically became a priest and the temporal head of
the state religion. (See Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the
Egyptians.) A limited number were admitted into the Greater
Mysteries: these preserved their secrets inviolate.
Much of the information
concerning the rituals of the higher degrees of the Egyptian Mysteries
has been gleaned from an examination of the chambers and passageways in
which the initiations were given. Under the temple of Serapis destroyed
by Theodosius were found strange mechanical contrivances constructed by
the priests in the subterranean crypts and caverns where the nocturnal
initiatory rites were celebrated. These machines indicate the severe
tests of moral and physical courage undergone by the candidates. After
passing through these tortuous ways, the neophytes who Survived the
ordeals were ushered into the presence of Serapis, a noble and
awe-inspiring figure illumined by unseen lights.
Labyrinths were also a striking
feature in connection with the Rice of Serapis, and E. A. Wallis Budge,
in his Gods of the Egyptians, depicts Serapis(Minotaur-like) with
the body of a man and the head of a bull. Labyrinths were symbolic of
the involvements and illusions of the lower world through which wanders
the soul of man in its search for truth. In the labyrinth dwells the
lower animal man with the head of the bull, who seeks to destroy the
soul entangled in the maze of worldly ignorance. In this relation
Serapis becomes the Tryer or Adversary who tests the souls of those
seeking union with the Immortals. The maze was also doubtless used to
represent the solar system, the Bull-Man representing the sun dwelling
in the mystic maze of its planets, moons, and asteroids.
The Gnostic Mysteries were
acquainted with the arcane meaning of Serapis, and through the medium of
Gnosticism this god became inextricably associated with early
Christianity. In fact, the Emperor Hadrian, while traveling in Egypt in
A.D. 24, declared in a letter to Servianus that the worshipers of
Serapis were Christians and that the Bishops of the church also
worshiped at his shrine. He even declared that the Patriarch himself,
when in Egypt, was forced to adore Serapis as well as Christ. (See
Parsons' New Light on the Great Pyramid.)
The little-suspected importance
of Serapis as a prototype of Christ can be best appreciated after a
consideration of the following extract from C. W. King's Gnostics and
Their Remains: "There can be no doubt that the head of Serapis,
marked as the face is by a grave and pensive majesty, supplied the first
idea for the conventional portraits of the Saviour. The Jewish
prejudices of the first converts were so powerful that we may be sure no
attempt was made to depict His countenance until some generations after
all that had beheld it on earth had passed away."
THE ALEXANDRIAN
SERAPIS.
From Mosaize Historie der
Hebreeuwse Kerke.
Serapis is often shown standing
on the back of the sacred crocodile, carrying in his left hand a rule
with which to measure the inundations of the Nile, and balancing with
his right hand a curious emblem consisting of an animal with the heads.
The first head--that of a lion--signified the present; the second
head--that of a wolf--the past; and the third head--that of a dog--the
future. The body with its three heads was enveloped by the twisted coils
of a serpent. Figures of Serapis are occasionally accompanied by
Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Pluto, and--like Jupiter--carry
baskets of grain upon their heads.
Serapis gradually usurped the
positions previously occupied by the other Egyptian and Greek gods, and
became the supreme deity of both religions. His power continued until
the fourth century of the Christian Era. In A.D. 385,
Theodosius, that would-be exterminator of pagan philosophy, issued his
memorable edict De Idolo Serapidis Diruendo. When the Christian
soldiers, in obedience to this order, entered the Serapeum at Alexandria
to destroy the image of Serapis which had stood there for centuries, so
great was their veneration for the god that they dared not touch the
image lest the ground should open at their feet and engulf them. At
length, overcoming their fear, they demolished the statue, sacked the
building, and finally as a fitting climax to their offense burned the
magnificent library which was housed within the lofty apartments of the
Serapeum. Several writers have recorded the remarkable fact that
Christian symbols were found in the ruined foundations of this pagan
temple. Socrates, a church historian of the fifth century, declared that
after the pious Christians had razed the Serapeum at Alexandria and
scattered the demons who dwelt there under the guise of gods, beneath
the foundations was found the monogram of Christ!
Two quotations will further
establish the relationship existing between the Mysteries of Serapis and
those of other ancient peoples. The first is from Richard Payne Knight's
Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology: "Hence Varro
[in De Lingua Latina] says that Cœlum and Terra, that is
universal mind and productive body, were the Great Gods of the
Samothracian Mysteries; and the same as the Serapis and Isis of the
later Ægyptians: the Taautos and Astarte of the Phœnicians, and the
Saturn and Ops of the Latins." The second quotation is from Albert
Pike's Morals and Dogma: "'Thee,' says Martianus Capella, in his
hymn to the Sun, 'dwellers on the Nile adore as Serapis, and Memphis
worships as Osiris: in the sacred rites of Persia thou art Mithras, in
Phrygia, Atys, and Libya bows down to thee as Ammon, and Phœnician
Byblos as Adonis; thus the whole world adores thee under different
names.'"
THE ODINIC
MYSTERIES
The date of the founding of the
Odinic Mysteries is uncertain, some writers declaring that they were
established in the first century before Christ; others, the first
century after Christ. Robert Macoy, 33°, gives the following description
of their origin: "It appears from the northern chronicles that in the
first century of the Christian Era, Sigge, the chief of the Aser, an
Asiatic tribe, emigrated from the Caspian sea and the Caucasus into
northern Europe. He directed his course northwesterly from the Black sea
to Russia, over which, according to tradition, he placed one of his sons
as a ruler, as he is said to have done over the Saxons and the Franks.
He then advanced through Cimbria to Denmark, which acknowledged his
fifth son Skiold as its sovereign, and passed over to Sweden, where
Gylf, who did homage to the wonderful stranger, and was initiated into
his mysteries, then ruled. He soon made himself master here, built
Sigtuna as the capital of his empire, and promulgated a new code of
laws, and established the sacred mysteries. He, himself, assumed the
name of Odin, founded the priesthood of the twelve Drottars (Druids?)
who conducted the secret worship, and the administration of justice,
and, as prophets, revealed the future. The secret rites of these
mysteries celebrated the death of Balder, the beautiful and lovely, and
represented the grief of Gods and men at his death, and his restoration
to life." (General History of Freemasonry.)
After his death, the historical
Odin was apotheosized, his identity being merged into that of the
mythological Odin, god of wisdom, whose cult he had promulgated. Odinism
then supplanted the worship of Thor, the thunderer, the supreme deity of
the ancient Scandinavian pantheon. The mound where, according to legend,
King Odin was buried is still to be seen near the site of his great
temple at Upsala.
The twelve Drottars who
presided over the Odinic Mysteries evidently personified the twelve holy
and ineffable names of Odin. The rituals of the Odinic Mysteries were
very similar to those of the Greeks, Persians, and Brahmins, after which
they were patterned. The Drottars, who symbolized the signs of the
zodiac, were the custodians of the arts and sciences, which they
revealed to those who passed successfully the ordeals of initiation.
Like many other pagan cults, the Odinic Mysteries, as an institution,
were destroyed by Christianity, but the underlying cause of their fall
was the corruption of the priesthood.
Mythology is nearly always the
ritual and the symbolism of a Mystery school. Briefly stated, the sacred
drama which formed the basis of the Odinic Mysteries was as
follows:
The Supreme, invisible Creator
of all things was called All-Father. His regent in Nature was Odin, the
one-eyed god. Like Quetzalcoatl, Odin was elevated to the dignity of the
Supreme Deity. According to the Drottars, the universe was fashioned
from the body of Ymir, the hoarfrost giant. Ymir was formed from
the clouds of mist that rose from Ginnungagap, the great cleft in chaos
into which the primordial frost giants and flame giants had hurled snow
and fire. The three gods--Odin, Vili, and Ve--slew Ymir and from him
formed the world. From Ymir's various members the different parts of
Nature were fashioned.
After Odin had established
order, he caused a wonderful palace, called Asgard, to be built on the
top of a mountain, and here the twelve Æsir (gods) dwelt together, far
above the limitations of mortal men. On this mountain also was Valhalla,
the palace of the slain, where those who had heroically died fought and
feasted day after day. Each night their wounds were healed and the boar
whose flesh they ate renewed itself as rapidly as it was
consumed.
Balder the Beautiful--the
Scandinavian Christ--was the beloved son of Odin. Balder was not
warlike; his kindly and beautiful spirit brought peace and joy to the
hearts of the gods, and they all loved him save one. As Jesus had a
Judas among His twelve disciples, so one of the twelve gods was
false--Loki, the personification of evil. Loki caused Höthr, the blind
god of fate, to shoot Balder with a mistletoe arrow. With the death of
Balder, light and joy vanished from the lives of the other deities.
Heartbroken, the gods gathered to find a method whereby they could
resurrect this spirit of eternal life and youth. The result was the
establishment of the Mysteries.
The Odinic Mysteries were given
in underground crypts or caves, the chambers, nine in number,
representing the Nine Worlds of the Mysteries. The candidate seeking
admission was assigned the task of raising Balder from the dead.
Although he did not realize it, he himself played the part of Balder. He
called himself a wanderer; the caverns through which he passed were
symbolic of the worlds and spheres of Nature. The priests who initiated
him were emblematic of the sun, the moon, and the stars. The three
supreme initiators--the Sublime, the Equal to the Sublime, and the
Highest--were analogous to the Worshipful Master and the junior and
Senior Wardens of a Masonic lodge.
After wandering for hours
through the intricate passageways, the candidate was ushered into the
presence of a statue of Balder the Beautiful, the prototype of all
initiates into the Mysteries. This figure stood in the center of a great
apartment roofed with shields. In the midst of the chamber stood a plant
with seven blossoms, emblematic of the planers. In this room, which
symbolized the house of the Æsir, or Wisdom, the neophyte took his oath
of secrecy and piety upon the naked blade of a sword. He drank the
sanctified mead from a bowl made of a human skull and, having passed
successfully through all the tortures and trials designed to divert him
from the course of wisdom, he was finally permitted to unveil the
mystery of Odin--the personification of wisdom. He was presented, in the
name of Balder, with the sacred ring of the order; he was hailed as a
man reborn; and it was said of him that he had died and had been raised
again without passing through the gates of death.
Richard Wagner's immortal
composition, Der Ring des Nibelungen, is based upon the Mystery
rituals of the Odinic cult. While the great composer took many liberties
with the original story, the Ring Operas, declared to be the grandest
tetralogy of music dramas the world possesses, have caught and preserved
in a remarkable manner the majesty and power of the original sagas.
Beginning with Das Rheingold, the action proceeds through Die
Walküre and Siegfried to an awe-inspiring climax in
Götterdämmerung, "The Twilight of the Gods."
THE NINE WORLDS OF THE ODINIC
MYSTERIES.
The Nordic Mysteries were given
in nine chambers, or caverns, the candidate advancing through them in
sequential order. These chambers of initiation represented the nine
spheres into which the Drottars divided the universe: (1) Asgard,
the Heaven World of the Gods; (2) Alf-heim, the World of the
light and beautiful Elves, or Spirits; (3) Nifl-heim, the World
of Cold and Darkness, which is located in the North; (4) Jotun-heim, the World of the Giants, which is located in the
East; (5) Midgard, the Earth World of human beings, which is
located in the midst, or middle place; (6) Vana-heim, the World
of the Vanes, which is located in the West; (7) Muspells-heim,
the World of Fire, which is located in the South; 8) Svart-alfa-heim, the World of the dark and treacherous Elves,
which is under the earth; and (9) Hel-heim, the World of cold and
the abode of the dead, which is located at the very lowest point of the
universe. It is to be understood that all of these worlds are invisible
to the senses, except Midgard, the home of human creatures, but during
the process of initiation the soul of the candidate--liberated from its
earthly sheath by the secret power of the priests--wanders amidst the
inhabitants of these various spheres. There is undoubtedly a
relationship between the nine worlds of the Scandinavians and the nine
spheres, or planes, through which initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries
passed in their ritual of regeneration.
THE most famous of the ancient
religious Mysteries were the Eleusinian, whose rites were celebrated
every five years in the city of Eleusis to honor Ceres (Demeter, Rhea,
or Isis) and her daughter, Persephone. The initiates of the Eleusinian
School were famous throughout Greece for the beauty of their philosophic
concepts and the high standards of morality which they demonstrated in
their daily lives. Because of their excellence, these Mysteries spread
to Rome and Britain, and later the initiations were given in both these
countries. The Eleusinian Mysteries, named for the community in Attica
where the sacred dramas were first presented, are generally believed to
have been founded by Eumolpos about fourteen hundred years before the
birth of Christ, and through the Platonic system of philosophy their
principles have been preserved to modern times.
The rites of Eleusis, with
their Mystic interpretations of Nature's most precious secrets,
overshadowed the civilizations of their time and gradually absorbed many
smaller schools, incorporating into their own system whatever valuable
information these lesser institutions possessed. Heckethorn sees in the
Mysteries of Ceres and Bacchus a metamorphosis of the rites of Isis and
Osiris, and there is every reason to believe that all so-called secret
schools of the ancient world were branches from one philosophic tree
which, with its root in heaven and its branches on the earth, is--like
the spirit of man--an invisible but ever-present cause of the
objectified vehicles that give it expression. The Mysteries were the
channels through which this one philosophic light was disseminated, and
their initiates, resplendent with intellectual and spiritual
understanding, were the perfect fruitage of the divine tree, bearing
witness before the material world of the recondite source of all Light
and Truth.
The rites of Eleusis were
divided into what were called the Lesser and the Greater Mysteries.
According to James Gardner, the Lesser Mysteries were celebrated in the
spring (probably at the time of the vernal equinox) in the town of Agræ,
and the Greater, in the fall (the time of the autumnal equinox) at
Eleusis or Athens. It is supposed that the former were given annually
and the latter every five years. The rituals of the Eleusinians were
highly involved, and to understand them required a deep study of Greek
mythology, which they interpreted in its esoteric light with the aid of
their secret keys.
The Lesser Mysteries were
dedicated to Persephone. In his Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries,
Thomas Taylor sums up their purpose as follows: "The Lesser Mysteries
were designed by the ancient theologists, their founders, to signify
occultly the condition of the unpurified soul invested with an earthy
body, and enveloped in a material and physical nature."
The legend used in the Lesser
rites is that of the abduction of the goddess Persephone, the daughter
of Ceres, by Pluto, the lord of the underworld, or Hades. While
Persephone is picking flowers in a beautiful meadow, the earth suddenly
opens and the gloomy lord of death, riding in a magnificent chariot,
emerges from its somber depths and, grasping her in his arms, carries
the screaming and struggling goddess to his subterranean palace, where
he forces her to become his queen.
It is doubtful whether many of
the initiates themselves understood the mystic meaning of this allegory,
for most of them apparently believed that it referred solely to the
succession of the seasons. It is difficult to obtain satisfactory
information concerning the Mysteries, for the candidates were bound by
inviolable oaths never to reveal their inner secrets to the profane. At
the beginning of the ceremony of initiation, the candidate stood upon
the skins of animals sacrificed for the purpose, and vowed that death
should seal his lips before he would divulge the sacred truths which
were about to be communicated to him. Through indirect channels,
however, some of their secrets have been preserved. The teachings given
to the neophytes were substantially as follows:
The soul of man--often called
Psyche, and in the Eleusinian Mysteries symbolized by
Persephone--is essentially a spiritual thing. Its true home is in the
higher worlds, where, free from the bondage of material form and
material concepts, it is said to be truly alive and self-expressive. The
human, or physical, nature of man, according to this doctrine, is a
tomb, a quagmire, a false and impermanent thing, the source of all
sorrow and suffering. Plato describes the body as the sepulcher of the
soul; and by this he means not only the human form but also the human
nature.
The gloom and depression of the
Lesser Mysteries represented the agony of the spiritual soul unable to
express itself because it has accepted the limitations and illusions of
the human environment. The crux of the Eleusinian argument was that man
is neither better nor wiser after death than during life. If he does not
rise above ignorance during his sojourn here, man goes at death into
eternity to wander about forever, making the same mistakes which he made
here. If he does not outgrow the desire for material possessions here,
he will carry it with him into the invisible world, where, because he
can never gratify the desire, he will continue in endless agony. Dante's
Inferno is symbolically descriptive of the sufferings of those
who never freed their spiritual natures from the cravings, habits,
viewpoints, and limitations of their Plutonic personalities. Those who
made no endeavor to improve themselves (whose souls have slept) during
their physical lives, passed at death into Hades, where, lying in rows,
they slept through all eternity as they had slept through
life.
To the Eleusinian philosophers,
birch into the physical world was death in the fullest sense of the
word, and the only true birth was that of the spiritual soul of man
rising out of the womb of his own fleshly nature. "The soul is dead that
slumbers," says Longfellow, and in this he strikes the keynote of the
Eleusinian Mysteries. Just as Narcissus, gazing at himself in the water
(the ancients used this mobile element to symbolize the transitory,
illusionary, material universe) lost his life trying to embrace a
reflection, so man, gazing into the mirror of Nature and accepting as
his real self the senseless clay that he sees reflected, loses the
opportunity afforded by physical life to unfold his immortal, invisible
Self.
An ancient initiate once said
that the living are ruled by the dead. Only those conversant with the
Eleusinian concept of life could understand that statement. It means
that the majority of people are not ruled by their living spirits but by
their senseless (hence dead) animal personalities. Transmigration and
reincarnation were taught in these Mysteries, but in a somewhat unusual
manner. It was believed that at midnight the invisible worlds were
closest to the Terrestrial sphere and that souls coming into material
existence slipped in during the midnight hour. For this reason many of
the Eleusinian ceremonies were performed at
midnight. Some of those sleeping spirits who had failed to awaken their
higher natures during the earth life and who now floated around in the
invisible worlds, surrounded by a darkness of their own making,
occasionally slipped through at this hour and assumed the forms of
various creatures.
THE RAPE OF
PERSEPHONE.
From Thomassin's Recucil des
Figures, Groupes, Themes, Fontaines, Vases et autres
Ornements.
Pluto, the lord of the underworld,
represents the body intelligence of man; and the rape of Persephone is
symbolic of the divine nature assaulted and defiled by the animal soul
and dragged downward into the somber darkness of Hades, which is here
used as a synonym for the material, or objective, sphere of
consciousness.
In his Disquisitions upon the
Painted Greek Vases, James Christie presents Meursius' version of
the occurrences taking place during the nine days required for the
enactment of the Greater Eleusinian Rites. The first day was that of
general meeting, during which those to be initiated were questioned
concerning their several qualifications. The second day was spent in a
procession to the sea, possibly for the submerging of a image of the
presiding goddess. The third day was opened by the sacrifice of a
mullet. On the fourth day the mystic basket containing certain sacred
symbols was brought to Eleusis, accompanied by a number of female
devotees carrying smaller baskets. On the evening of the fifth day there
was a torch race, on the sixth a procession led by a statue of Iacchus,
and on the seventh an athletic contest. The eighth day was devoted to a
repetition of the ceremonial for the benefit of any who might have been
prevented from coming sooner. The ninth and last day was devoted to the
deepest philosophical issues of the Eleusinia, during which an urn or
jar--the symbol of Bacchus--was exhibited as an emblem of supreme
importance.
The mystics of Eleusis also
laid stress upon the evil of suicide, explaining that there was a
profound mystery concerning this crime of which they could not speak,
but warning their disciples that a great sorrow comes to all who take
their own lives. This, in substance, constitutes the esoteric doctrine
given to the initiates of the Lesser Mysteries. As the degree dealt
largely with the miseries of those who failed to make the best use of
their philosophic opportunities, the chambers of initiation were
subterranean and the horrors of Hades were vividly depicted in a
complicated ritualistic drama. After passing successfully through the
tortuous passageways, with their trials and dangers, the candidate
received the honorary title of Mystes. This meant one who saw
through a veil or had a clouded vision. It also signified that the
candidate had been brought up to the veil, which would be torn away in
the higher degree. The modern word mystic, as referring to a
seeker after truth according to the dictates of the heart along the path
of faith, is probably derived from this ancient word, for faith is
belief in the reality of things unseen or veiled.
The Greater Mysteries (into
which the candidate was admitted only after he had successfully passed
through the ordeals of the Lesser, and not always then) were sacred to
Ceres, the mother of Persephone, and represent her as wandering through
the world in quest of her abducted daughter. Ceres carried two torches,
intuition and reason, to aid her in the search for her lost child (the
soul). At last she found Persephone not far from Eleusis, and out of
gratitude taught the people there to cultivate corn, which is sacred to
her. She also founded the Mysteries. Ceres appeared before Pluto, god of
the souls of the dead, and pleaded with him to allow Persephone to
return to her home. This the god at first refused to do, because
Persephone had eaten of the pomegranate, the fruit of mortality. At
last, however, he compromised and agreed to permit Persephone to live in
the upper world half of the year if she would stay with him in the
darkness of Hades for the remaining half.
The Greeks believed that
Persephone was a manifestation of the solar energy, which in the winter
months lived under the earth with Pluto, but in the summer returned
again with the goddess of productiveness. There is a legend that the
flowers loved Persephone and that every year when she left for the dark
realms of Pluto, the plants and shrubs would die of grief. While the
profane and uninitiated had their own opinions on these subjects, the
truths of the Greek allegories remained safely concealed by the priests,
who alone recognized the sublimity of these great philosophic and
religious parables.
Thomas Taylor epitomizes the
doctrines of the Greater Mysteries in the following statement: "The
Greater (Mysteries) obscurely intimated, by mystic and splendid visions,
the felicity of the soul both here and hereafter when purified from the
defilement of a material nature, and constantly elevated to the
realities of intellectual (spiritual) vision."
Just as the Lesser Mysteries
discussed the prenatal epoch of man when the consciousness in its nine
days (embryologically, months) was descending into the realm of illusion
and assuming the veil of unreality, so the Greater Mysteries discussed
the principles of spiritual regeneration and revealed to initiates not
only the simplest but also the most direct and complete method of
liberating their higher natures from the bondage of material ignorance.
Like Prometheus chained to the top of Mount Caucasus, man's higher
nature is chained to his inadequate personality. The nine days of
initiation were also symbolic of the nine spheres through which the
human soul descends during the process of assuming a terrestrial form.
The secret exercises for spiritual unfoldment given to disciples of the
higher degrees are unknown, but there is every reason to believe that
they were similar to the Brahmanic Mysteries, since it is known that the
Eleusinian ceremonies were closed with the Sanskrit words "Konx Om
Pax."
That part of the allegory
referring to the two six-month periods during one of which Persephone
must remain with Pluto, while during the other she may revisit the upper
world, offers material for deep consideration. It is probable that the
Eleusinians realized that the soul left the body during steep, or at
least was made capable of leaving by the special training which
undoubtedly they were in a position to give. Thus Persephone would
remain as the queen of Pluto's realm during the waking hours, but would
ascend to the spiritual worlds during the periods of sleep. The initiate
was taught how to intercede with Pluto to permit Persephone (the
initiate's soul) to ascend from the darkness of his material nature into
the light of understanding. When thus freed from the shackles of clay
and crystallized concepts, the initiate was liberated not only for the
period of his life but for all eternity, for never thereafter was he
divested of those soul qualities which after death were his vehicles for
manifestation and expression in the so-called heaven world.
In contrast to the idea of
Hades as a state of darkness below, the gods were said to inhabit the
tops of mountains, a well-known example being Mount Olympus, where the
twelve deities of the Greek pantheon were said to dwell together. In his
initiatory wanderings the neophyte therefore entered chambers of
ever-increasing brilliancy to portray the ascent of the spirit from the
lower worlds into the realms of bliss. As the climax to such wanderings
he entered a great vaulted room, in the center of which stood a
brilliantly illumined statue of the goddess Ceres. Here, in the presence
of the hierophant and surrounded by priests in magnificent robes, he was
instructed in the highest of the secret mysteries of the Eleusis. At the
conclusion of this ceremony he was hailed as an Epoptes, which
means one who has beheld or seen directly. For this reason also
initiation was termed autopsy. The Epoptes was then given certain
sacred books, probably written in cipher, together with tablets of stone
on which secret instructions were engraved.
In The Obelisk in
Freemasonry, John A. Weisse describes the officiating personages of
the Eleusinian Mysteries as consisting of a male and a female hierophant
who directed the initiations; a male and a female torchbearer; a male
herald; and a male and a female altar attendant. There were also
numerous minor officials. He states that, according to Porphyry, the
hierophant represents Plato's Demiurgus, or Creator of the world;
the torch bearer, the Sun; the altar man, the Moon; the herald, Hermes,
or Mercury; and the other officials, minor stars.
From the records available, a
number of strange and apparently supernatural phenomena accompanied the
rituals. Many initiates claim to have actually seen the living gods
themselves. Whether this was the result of religious ecstasy or the
actual cooperation of invisible powers with the visible priests must
remain a mystery. In The Metamorphosis, or Golden Ass, Apuleius
thus describes what in all probability is his initiation into the
Eleusinian Mysteries:
"I approached to the confines
of death, and having trod on the threshold of Proserpine I, returned
from it, being carried through all the elements. At midnight I saw the
sun shining with a splendid light; and I manifestly drew near to, the
gods beneath, and the gods above, and proximately adored
them."
Women and children were
admitted to the Eleusinian Mysteries, and at one time there were
literally thousands of initiates. Because this vast host was not
prepared for the highest spiritual and mystical doctrines, a division
necessarily took place within the society itself. The higher teachings
were given to only a limited number of initiates who, because of
superior mentality, showed a comprehensive grasp of their underlying
philosophical concepts. Socrates refused to be initiated into the
Eleusinian Mysteries, for knowing its principles without being a member
of the order he realized that membership would seal his tongue. That the
Mysteries of Eleusis were based upon great and eternal truths is
attested by the veneration in which they were held by the great minds of
the ancient world. M. Ouvaroff asks, "Would Pindar, Plato, Cicero,
Epictetus, have spoken of them with such admiration, if the hierophant
had satisfied himself with loudly proclaiming his own opinions, or those
of his order?"
The garments in which
candidates were initiated were preserved for many years and were
believed to possess almost sacred properties. Just as the soul can have
no covering save wisdom and virtue, so the candidates--being as yet
without true knowledge--were presented to the Mysteries unclothed, being
first: given the skin of an animal and later a consecrated robe to
symbolize the philosophical teachings received by the initiate. During
the course of initiation the candidate passed through two gates. The
first led downward into the lower worlds and symbolized his birth into
ignorance. The second led upward into a room brilliantly lighted by
unseen lamps, in which was the statue of Ceres and which symbolized the
upper world, or the abode of Light and Truth. Strabo states that the
great temple of Eleusis would hold between twenty and thirty thousand
people. The caves dedicated by Zarathustra also had these two doors,
symbolizing the avenues of birth and death.
CERES, THE PATRON OF THE
MYSTERIES.
From a mural painting in
Pompeii.
Ceres, or Demeter, was the
daughter of Kronos and Rhea, and by Zeus the mother of Persephone. Some
believe her to be the goddess of the earth, but more correctly she is
the deity protecting agriculture in general and corn in particular. The
Poppy is sacred to Ceres and she is often shown carrying or ornamented
by a garland of these flowers. In the Mysteries, Ceres represented
riding in a chariot drawn by winged serpents.
THE PROCESSIONAL OF THE BACCHIC
RITES.
From Ovid's Metamorphosis.
In the initiation, of the Bacchic
Mysteries, the rôle of Bacchus is played by the candidate who, set upon
by priests in the guise of the Titans, is slain and finally restored to
life amidst great rejoicing. The Bacchic Mysteries were given every
three years, and like the Eleusinian Mysteries, were divided into two
degrees. The initiates were crowned with myrtle and ivy, plants which
were sacred to Bacchus.
In the Anacalypsis, Godfrey
Higgins conclusively establishes Bacchus (Dionysos) as one of the early
pagan forms of the Christos myth, "The birthplace of Bacchus, called
Sabazius or Sabaoth, was claimed by several places in Greece; but on
Mount Zelmisus, in Thrace, his worship seems to have been chiefly
celebrated. He was born of a virgin on the 25th of December; he
performed great miracles for the good of mankind; particularly one in
which he changed water into wine; he rode in a triumphal procession on
an ass; he was put to death by the Titans, and rose again from the dead
on the 25th of March: he was always called the Saviour. In his
mysteries, he was shown to the people, as an infant is by the Christians
at this day, on Christmas Day morning in Rome."
While Apollo most generally represents
the sun, Bacchus is also a form of solar energy, for his resurrection
was accomplished with the assistance of Apollo. The resurrection of
Bacchus signifies merely the extraction or disentanglement of the
various Parts of the Bacchic constitution from the Titanic constitution
of the world. This is symbolized by the smoke or soot rising from the
burned bodies of the Titans. The soul is symbolized by smoke because it
is extracted by the fire of the Mysteries. Smoke signifies the ascension
of the soul, far evolution is the process of the soul rising, like
smoke, from the divinely consumed material mass. At me time the Bacchic
Rites were of a high order, but later they became much degraded . The
Bacchanalia, or orgies of Bacchus, are famous in
literature.
The following paragraph from
Porphyry gives a fairly adequate conception of Eleusinian symbolism:
"God being a luminous principle, residing in the midst of the most
subtile fire, he remains for ever invisible to the eyes of those who do
not elevate themselves above material life: on this account, the sight
of transparent bodies, such as crystal, Parian marble, and even ivory,
recalls the idea of divine light; as the sight of gold excites an idea
of its purity, for gold cannot he sullied. Some have thought by a black
stone was signified the invisibility of the divine essence. To express
supreme reason, the Divinity was represented under the human form--and
beautiful, for God is the source of beauty; of different ages, and in
various attitudes, sitting or upright; of one or the other sex, as a
virgin or a young man, a husband or a bride, that all the shades and
gradations might be marked. Every thing luminous was subsequently
attributed to the gods; the sphere, and all that is spherical, to the
universe, to the sun and the moon--sometimes to Fortune and to Hope. The
circle, and all circular figures, to eternity--to the celestial
movements; to the circles and zones of the heavens. The section of
circles, to the phases of the moon; and pyramids and obelisks, to the
igneous principle, and through that to the gods of Heaven. A cone
expresses the sun, a cylinder the earth; the phallus and triangle (a
symbol of the matrix) designate generation." (From Essay on the
Mysteries of Eleusis by M. Ouvaroff.)
The Eleusinian Mysteries,
according to Heckethorn, survived all others and did not cease to exist
as an institution until nearly four hundred years after Christ, when
they were finally suppressed by Theodosius (styled the Great), who
cruelly destroyed all who did not accept the Christian faith. Of this
greatest of all philosophical institutions Cicero said that it taught
men not only how to live but also how to die.
THE ORPHIC
MYSTERIES
Orpheus, the Thracian bard, the
great initiator of the Greeks, ceased to be known as a man and was
celebrated as a divinity several centuries before the Christian Era. "As
to Orpheus himself * * *, " writes Thomas Taylor, "scarcely a vestige of
his life is to be found amongst the immense ruins of time. For who has
ever been able to affirm any thing with certainty of his origin, his
age, his country, and condition? This alone may be depended on, from
general assent, that there formerly lived a person named Orpheus, who
was the founder of theology among the Greeks; the institutor of their
lives and morals; the first of prophets, and the prince of poets;
himself the offspring of a Muse; who taught the Greeks their sacred
rites and mysteries, and from whose wisdom, as from a perennial and
abundant fountain, the divine muse of Homer and the sublime theology of
Pythagoras and Plato flowed." (See The Mystical Hymns of
Orpheus.)
Orpheus was founder of the
Grecian mythological system which he used as the medium for the
promulgation of his philosophical doctrines. The origin of his
philosophy is uncertain. He may have got it from the Brahmins, there
being legends to the effect that he got it was a Hindu, his name
possibly being derived from ὀρφανῖος, meaning "dark." Orpheus was
initiated into the Egyptian Mysteries, from which he secured extensive
knowledge of magic, astrology, sorcery, and medicine. The Mysteries of
the Cabiri at Samothrace were also conferred upon him, and these
undoubtedly contributed to his knowledge of medicine and
music.
The romance of Orpheus and
Eurydice is one of the tragic episodes of Greek mythology and apparently
constitutes the outstanding feature of the Orphic Rite. Eurydice,
in her attempt to escape from a villain seeking to seduce her, died from
the venom of a poisonous serpent which stung her in the heel. Orpheus,
penetrating to the very heart of the underworld, so charmed Pluto and
Persephone with the beauty of his music that they agreed to permit
Eurydice to return to life if Orpheus could lead her back to the sphere
of the living without once looking round to see if she were following.
So great was his fear, however, that she would stray from him that he
turned his head, and Eurydice with a heartbroken cry was swept back into
the land of death.
Orpheus wandered the earth for
a while disconsolate, and there are several conflicting accounts of the
manner of his death. Some declare that he was slain by a bolt of
lightning; others, that failing to save his beloved Eurydice, he
committed suicide. The generally accepted version of his death, however,
is that he was torn to pieces by Ciconian women whose advances he had
spurned. In the tenth book of Plato's Republic it is declared
that, because of his sad fate at the hands of women, the soul that had
once been Orpheus, upon being destined to live again in the physical
world, chose rather to return in the body of a swan than be born of
woman. The head of Orpheus, after being torn from his body, was cast
with his lyre into the river Hebrus, down which it floated to the sea,
where, wedging in a cleft in a rock, it gave oracles for many years. The
lyre, after being stolen from its shrine and working the destruction of
the thief, was picked up by the gods and fashioned into a
constellation.
Orpheus has long been sung as
the patron of music. On his seven-stringed lyre he played such perfect
harmonies that the gods themselves were moved to acclaim his power. When
he touched the strings of his instrument the birds and beasts gathered
about him, and as he wandered through the forests his enchanting
melodies caused even the ancient trees with mighty effort to draw their
gnarled roots from out the earth and follow him. Orpheus is one of the
many Immortals who have sacrificed themselves that mankind might have
the wisdom of the gods. By the symbolism of his music he communicated
the divine secrets to humanity, and several authors have declared that
the gods, though loving him, feared that he would overthrow their
kingdom and therefore reluctantly encompassed his
destruction.
As time passed on the
historical Orpheus became hopelessly confounded with the doctrine he
represented and eventually became the symbol of the Greek school of the
ancient wisdom. Thus Orpheus was declared to be the son of Apollo, the
divine and perfect truth, and Calliope, the Muse of harmony and rhythm.
In other words, Orpheus is the secret doctrine (Apollo) revealed through
music (Calliope). Eurydice is humanity dead from the sting of the
serpent of false knowledge and imprisoned in the underworld of
ignorance. In this allegory Orpheus signifies theology, which wins her
from the king of the dead but fails to accomplish her resurrection
because it falsely estimates and mistrusts the innate understanding
within the human soul. The Ciconian women who tore Orpheus limb from
limb symbolize the various contending theological factions which destroy
the body of Truth. They cannot accomplish this, however, until their
discordant cries drown out the harmony drawn by Orpheus from his magic
lyre. The head of Orpheus signifies the esoteric doctrines of his cult.
These doctrines continue to live and speak even after his body (the
cult) has been destroyed. The lyre is the secret teaching of Orpheus;
the seven strings are the seven divine truths which are the keys to
universal knowledge. The differing accounts of his death represent the
various means used to destroy the secret teachings: wisdom can die in
many ways at the same time. The allegory of Orpheus incarnating in the
white swan merely signifies that the spiritual truths he promulgated
will continue and will be taught by the illumined initiates of all
future ages. The swan is the symbol of the initiates of the Mysteries;
it is a symbol also of the divine power which is the progenitor of the
world.
THE BACCHIC AND
DIONYSIAC RITES
The Bacchic Rite centers around
the allegory of the youthful Bacchus (Dionysos or Zagreus) being torn to
pieces by the Titans. These giants accomplished the destruction of
Bacchus by causing him to become fascinated by his own image in a
mirror. After dismembering him, the Titans first boiled the pieces in
water and afterwards roasted them. Pallas rescued the heart of the
murdered god, and by this precaution Bacchus (Dionysos) was enabled to
spring forth again in all his former glory. Jupiter, the Demiurgus,
beholding the crime of the Titans, hurled his thunderbolts and slew
them, burning their bodies to ashes with heavenly fire. Our of the ashes
of the Titans--which also contained a portion of the flesh of Bacchus,
whose body they had partly devoured--the human race was created. Thus
the mundane life of every man was said to contain a portion of the
Bacchic life.
For this reason the Greek
Mysteries warned against suicide. He who attempts to destroy himself
raises his hand against the nature of Bacchus within him, since man's
body is indirectly the tomb of this god and consequently must be
preserved with the greatest care.
Bacchus (Dionysos) represents
the rational soul of the inferior world. He is the chief of the
Titans--the artificers of the mundane spheres. The Pythagoreans called
him the Titanic monad. Thus Bacchus is the all-inclusive idea of
the Titanic sphere and the Titans--or gods of the fragments--the
active agencies by means of which universal substance is fashioned into
the pattern of this idea. The Bacchic state signifies the unity of the
rational soul in a state of self-knowledge, and the Titanic state the
diversity of the rational soul which, being scattered throughout
creation, loses the consciousness of its own essential one-ness. The
mirror into which Bacchus gazes and which is the cause of his fall is
the great sea of illusion--the lower world fashioned by the Titans.
Bacchus (the mundane rational soul), seeing his image before him,
accepts the image as a likeness of himself and ensouls the likeness;
that is, the rational idea ensouls its reflection--the irrational
universe. By ensouling the irrational image it implants in it the urge
to become like its source, the rational image. Therefore the ancients
said that man does not know the gods by logic or by reason but rather by
realizing the presence of the gods within himself.
After Bacchus gazed into the
mirror and followed his own reflection into matter, the rational soul of
the world was broken up and distributed by the Titans throughout the
mundane sphere of which it is the essential nature, but the heart, or
source, of it they could not: scatter. The Titans took the dismembered
body of Bacchus and boiled it in water--symbol of immersion in the
material universe--which represents the incorporation of the Bacchic
principle in form. The pieces were afterwards roasted to signify the
subsequent ascension of the spiritual nature out of form.
When Jupiter, the father of
Bacchus and the Demiurgus of the universe, saw that the Titans were
hopelessly involving the rational or divine idea by scattering its
members through the constituent parts of the lower world, he slew the
Titans in order that the divine idea might not be entirely lost. From
the ashes of the Titans he formed mankind, whose purpose of existence
was to preserve and eventually to release the Bacchic idea, or rational
soul, from the Titanic fabrication. Jupiter, being the Demiurgus and
fabricator of the material universe, is the third person of the Creative
Triad, consequently the Lord of Death, for death exists only in the
lower sphere of being over which he presides. Disintegration takes place
so that reintegration may follow upon a higher level of form or
intelligence. The thunderbolts of Jupiter are emblematic of his
disintegrative power; they reveal the purpose of death, which is to
rescue the rational soul from the devouring power of the irrational
nature.
Man is a composite creature,
his lower nature consisting of the fragments of the Titans and his
higher nature the sacred, immortal flesh (life) of Bacchus. Therefore
man is capable of either a Titanic (irrational) or a Bacchic (rational)
existence. The Titans of Hesiod, who were twelve in number, are probably
analogous to the celestial zodiac, whereas the Titans who murdered and
dismembered Bacchus represent the zodiacal powers distorted by their
involvement in the material world. Thus Bacchus represents the sun who
is dismembered by the signs of the zodiac and from whose body the
universe is formed. When the terrestrial forms were created from the
various parts of his body the sense of wholeness was lost and the sense
of separateness established. The heart of Bacchus, which was saved by
Pallas, or Minerva, was lifted out of the four elements symbolized by
his dismembered body and placed in the ether. The heart of Bacchus is
the immortal center of the rational soul.
After the rational soul had
been distributed throughout creation and the nature of man, the Bacchic
Mysteries were instituted for the purpose of disentangling it from the
irrational Titanic nature. This disentanglement was the process of
lifting the soul out of the state of separateness into that of unity.
The various parts and members of Bacchus were collected from the
different corners of the earth. When all the rational parts are gathered
Bacchus is resurrected.
The Rites of Dionysos were very
similar to those of Bacchus, and by many these two gods are considered
as one. Statues of Dionysos were carried in the Eleusinian Mysteries,
especially the lesser degrees. Bacchus, representing the soul of the
mundane sphere, was capable of an infinite multiplicity of form and
designations. Dionysos apparently was his solar aspect.
The Dionysiac Architects
constituted an ancient secret society, in principles and doctrines much
like the modern Freemasonic Order. They were an organization of builders
bound together by their secret knowledge of the relationship between the
earthly and the divine sciences of architectonics. They were supposedly
employed by King Solomon in the building of his Temple, although they
were not Jews, nor did they worship the God of the Jews, being followers
of Bacchus and Dionysos. The Dionysiac Architects erected many of the
great monuments of antiquity. They possessed a secret language and a
system of marking their stones. They had annual convocations and sacred
feasts. The exact nature of their doctrines is unknown. It is believed
that CHiram Abiff was an initiate of this society.
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