Mysteria - history of the secret doctrines
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| Mysteria |
and mystic rites of ancient religions and medieval and modern secret orders
Excerpt from the translator preface:
the interesting, half fabulous, half historical episode of Pythagoras and the Pythagorean League in Magna Graecia; the mystic, ascetic, and semi-monastic communities of the Therapeutae and the Essenes in Palestine a century before the birth of Jesus Christ; the later developments of Mysticism in the time of the Roman Empire, as seen in the history of Apollonius of Tyana and in Isis worship, Mithras worship, worship of the Great Mother, etc.; the secret creed and rites of the Knights Templar and the usages of the lodges .of the Stonemasons in the Middle Age; the constitution and procedure of the Femgerichte of Westphalia in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; the origin and history and the aims of Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Illuminism, and a swarm of honest and fraudulent secret organizations in modern' times: all these topics have before been made subject-matter of numerous learned tractates or of popular compends; but hitherto these doctrines, rites, associations, have not been studied in their unity,
One service which the author of this work renders to the student of this particular phase of human psychology the longing for mystery and secret associations is that he develops this relationship, thus enabling the reader to get a clear understanding of the whole subject.
But the author does very much more than coordinate the facts of mystic associations. He is both a scholar and an artist. Having amassed whatever information regarding the Mysteries and allied phenomena is accessible in universal literature, he handles his materials with the skill of a consummate master of style and of the art of popular exposition.
The result is a history of the ancient Mysteries and of their counter-parts and imitations in later times, as authentic as the most painstaking research could make it, yet possessing all the charm and grace of a literary masterpiece.
In all ages, the mystery has had a special attraction for mankind. Curiosity is innate in us. The child asks about everything, What is this, what is it for, why is it made so, or so?
The child fairly harries its parents with questions, never wearies of raising new ones, often so unexpected and so difficult, that it would puzzle the wisest philosopher to answer them. And this instinct of inquiry is dominant in the adult, too.
The grown man wants to know what is to be found behind every curtain, every locked door, in every sealed letter. And when sated with such trifles he must push inquiry further, into the infinite; must lift the veil that hides the wondrous image at Sais; must pluck from the forbidden tree of knowledge the tempting golden fruit. He would with the Titans storm heaven, and ascend to heights "where stirs no breath of air, where stands the boundary-stone of creation."
At last when Faust, after manifold crosses and disappointments, sees that "we can know nothing," the thought "consumes the heart within him."
And so we must ever be worried by the reflection
And so we must ever be worried by the reflection
Some contents:
PART FIRST. MYSTERIES OF THE EAST AND OF BARBAROUS NATIONS.
1. Introduction I
2. The Gods 5
3- Egypt 9
4. The Higher Development of Egyptian Religion 12
5. A Reformation in the Land of Nile 16
6. The Egyptian Realm of the Dead 18
7. The Secret Teaching of the Priests of Nile-land 20
8. Babylon and Ninive 26
9. Zoroaster and the Persians 32
10. Brahmans and: Buddhists 33
11. Secret Leagues of Barbarous Peoples 36
PART SECOND. THE GRECIAN MYSTERIES
AND THE ROMAN BACCHANALIA..
1. Hellas 38
2. Hellenic Divine Worship 41
3. The Hellenic Mysteries 45
4. The Eleusinian Mysteries 49
5. The Mysteries of Samothrace 57
6. The Mysteries of Crete - 59
7. The Dionysia 60
8. The Roman Bacchanalia 62
9. Debased Mysteries from the East 65
1. Introduction I
2. The Gods 5
3- Egypt 9
4. The Higher Development of Egyptian Religion 12
5. A Reformation in the Land of Nile 16
6. The Egyptian Realm of the Dead 18
7. The Secret Teaching of the Priests of Nile-land 20
8. Babylon and Ninive 26
9. Zoroaster and the Persians 32
10. Brahmans and: Buddhists 33
11. Secret Leagues of Barbarous Peoples 36
PART SECOND. THE GRECIAN MYSTERIES
AND THE ROMAN BACCHANALIA..
1. Hellas 38
2. Hellenic Divine Worship 41
3. The Hellenic Mysteries 45
4. The Eleusinian Mysteries 49
5. The Mysteries of Samothrace 57
6. The Mysteries of Crete - 59
7. The Dionysia 60
8. The Roman Bacchanalia 62
9. Debased Mysteries from the East 65
PART THIRD. THE PYTHAGOREAN LEAGUE AND OTHER SECRET ASSOCIATIONS.
1 . Pythagoras 72
2. The Pythagoreans. . . * 79
3. The Orphic 84
4. Mysterious Personages of Ancient Times. ... 86
1 . Pythagoras 72
2. The Pythagoreans. . . * 79
3. The Orphic 84
4. Mysterious Personages of Ancient Times. ... 86
PART FOURTH. SON OF MAN. SON OF GOD.
1. Hellenism and Judaism 91
2. The Essenes 94
3. Christianism 96
4. Jesus 102
5. The Early Christians 107
6. The New Testament no
7. The Elements of the Church 114
PART FIFTH. A PSEUDO-MESSIAH. A LYING PROPHET.
1. Apollonius of Tyana 117
2. Alexander, the False Prophet 124
PART SIXTH. THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR.
1. The Middle Age 129
2. The Templars 132
3. The Secrets of the Templars 136
4. The Downfall of the Knights Templar 140
PART SEVENTH. THE FEMGERICHTE.
1. Courts of Justice in the Middle Age 147
2. The Secret Tribunal 152
3. The End of the Feme 16