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Mysteries
Secret
pagan religious
cults that flourished during the Hellenistic period, involving adoration of various
deities and rites of spiritual transformation and rebirth.
In a broader sense, the term
'mysteries' also is applied to esoteric teachings and the rites of secret societies
outside of the classical world. 'Mystery' derives from the Greek myein, ‘to close', and refers to
the closing of the lips or the eyes. The mystes, or initiate, was required to keep the
secrets of the cult. The content of the rites remains a secret, but the large numbers who
underwent the initiation, often lasting several days, were promised eternal life in the
after-world, through rebirth or redemption. These
initiations consisted of cleansing rites, fasting, and the consecration
itself. Sometimes they were accompanied by orgiastic rites, such as wild
dances, self-mutilation, or castration like the priests in the cult of
Cybele. The sacral meal is often also a part of the initiation.
The Eleusinian mysteries, the most
popular and influential of the Greek cults, centered on the worship of Persephone and her
mother, Demeter, the grain goddess. The rites were intimately linked to the cycle of
fertility of the Earth.
The Dionysian mysteries, the second
most important Hellenistic cult, centered on Dionysus (Bacchus), the Thracian bull-god and
ruler of the dead and souls, who became the god of the vine and vegetation. Immortality
could be obtained through communion with him in ecstatic rites apparently involving
consumption of wine and the raw flesh of a sacrificed animal, and sex.
In the mysteries of Isis and Osiris,
the Egyptians observed a mystery play of succession, the death of a pharaoh and the succession of another, with a funeral
ritual of mummification and burial in which the dead would be mystically joined in the
underworld by Osiris.
The Mithraic mysteries were a male cult
of Persian origin centered on the slaying of a bull by Mithra,
god of light and beneficence, which guaranteed the fruitfulness of the earth. The
initiates consumed bread and water, representing the body and blood of the divine bull.
Initiates were believed to be under the divine protection of Mithra, who would protect
their souls from darkness.
Other well-known examples are the mystery cults of Cybele
and Attis (Phrygia).
There were also Judaic and Christian mysteries. Rites of
circumcision, baptism, and anointing the forehead with oil may be seen to have
similarities with the ancient mystery rites of initiation into a select religious
community. The Jewish holy meal of Seder reenacts a religious drama, the Exodus from
Egypt. The primary Christian mysteries are the Eucharist, the Cross, and the baptism. The
rite of the Eucharist involves the consumption of bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ, a means of seeking salvation through
union with Christ. Goddess or Great Mother remains a hidden part of these rites, as the
cup which holds the blood and wine, and the womb in which the rebirth of baptism takes
place. The Cross represents the scheme of the universe, the entire history of the cosmos
before and after the crucifixion of Christ; it foreshadows the coming of the transfigured
Christ. The baptism, the fundamental mystery, represents initiation into the divine life
of the resurrected Christ.
The elements and purpose of the ancient mysteries —
resurrection to eternal life — have been preserved in the rites of various secret
societies such as the Freemasons and Rosicrucians. See
Aporrheta and Mysticism.
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