The ancient Mysteries have long attracted the interest of scholars, an interest that goes back at least to the time of the Reformation. After a period of interest around the turn of the twentieth century, recent decades have seen an important study of Walter Burkert (1987). Yet his thematic approach makes it hard to see how the actual initiation into the Mysteries took place. To do precisely that is the aim of this book. It gives a ‘thick description’ of the major Mysteries, not only of the famous Eleusinian Mysteries, but also those located at the interface of Greece and Anatolia: the Mysteries of Samothrace, Imbros and Lemnos as well as those of the Corybants. It then proceeds to look at the Orphic-Bacchic Mysteries, which have become increasingly better understood due to the many discoveries of new texts in the recent times. Having looked at classical Greece we move on to the Roman Empire, where we study not only the lesser Mysteries, which we know especially from Pausanias, but also the new ones of Isis and Mithras. We conclude our book with a discussion of the possible influence of the Mysteries on emerging Christianity. Its detailed references and up-to-date bibliography will make this book indispensable for any scholar interested in the Mysteries and ancient religion, but also for those scholars who work on initiation or esoteric rituals, which were often inspired by the ancient Mysteries.

In a concise study, Rudolf Steiner presents an inspirational sketch of the evolution of the Mysteries – from ancient Persia through Egypt and Greece, to the Christian era and the present day. He traces the line of initiates from Egyptian divinities Isis and Osiris to Moses, King Arthur’s Round Table and the Holy Grail in the twelfth century. Steiner focuses on the process of initiation as a historical topic: how initiation worked in ancient Egypt and in the late Middle Ages. But his presentation is also inspirational, leading to the question: How can we advance to initiation now? He underscores the potential for achieving enlightenment today without a teacher in the flesh, and explains the four stages of the process towards initiation. He also highlights the need for strenuous efforts to overcome the subtle power of evil – in the form of Lucifer and Ahriman – through selfless work. The four lectures collected here form an important landmark in Rudolf Steiner’s biography: the first being delivered on 3 February 1913 – the very day that the Anthroposophical Society was founded. First published in English under the title The Mysteries of the East and of Christianity and unavailable for many years, this edition has been re-edited by Professor Frederick Amrine and features appendices, an index as well as an introduction by Robert McDermott.

In a concise study, Rudolf Steiner presents an inspirational sketch of the evolution of the Mysteries – from ancient Persia through Egypt and Greece, to the Christian era and the present day. He traces the line of initiates from Egyptian divinities Isis and Osiris to Moses, King Arthur's Round Table and the Holy Grail in the twelfth century. Steiner focuses on the process of initiation as a historical topic: how initiation worked in ancient Egypt and in the late Middle Ages. But his presentation is also inspirational, leading to the question: How can we advance to initiation now? He underscores the potential for achieving enlightenment today without a teacher in the flesh, and explains the four stages of the process towards initiation. He also highlights the need for strenuous efforts to overcome the subtle power of evil – in the form of Lucifer and Ahriman – through selfless work.The four lectures collected here form an important landmark in Rudolf Steiner's biography: the first being delivered on 3 February 1913 – the very day that the Anthroposophical Society was founded. First published in English under the title The Mysteries of the East and of Christianity and unavailable for many years, this edition has been re-edited by Professor Frederick Amrine and features appendices, an index as well as an introduction by Robert McDermott.

Organizing data from cultures the world over, Mircea Eliade, one ofthe preeminent interpreters of world religion in the twentieth century, lays out the basic patterns of initiation: group puberty rites, entranceinto secret cults, shamanic instruction, individual visions, and heroicrites of passage. The vast information assembled here transcendsusual scholarship. Eliade always affirms the greater experience in allinitiation - the indissoluble tie between humans and the cosmos ofgods, spirits, animals, ancestors, and nature.As Michael Meade writes in his foreword, Eliade "fervently workedat keeping the doors of perception open to the world of sacred symbolsand creative ritual. Through his insistence that we are each thenecessary inheritors of a vast sacred heritage, he has acted as a spiritualelder and distant mentor to me and many students of myth andritual. Like an archeologist of symbols, he has unearthed, preserved, and found new meanings in the rites of our ancestors."

Details the process of spiritual initiation from aspirant to the highest Adept • Explains the characteristics of each stage of initiation, including the associated psychological issues that need to be faced to move to the next stage • Explores the long history of the Mystery traditions from ancient Egypt, Babylonia, and India to the modern Theosophy of Blavatsky and Bailey • Reveals how the Brotherhood of Spiritual Adepts is increasing global tensions to prepare humanity for the Age of Aquarius and spiritual revelation As the precessional cycle transits from Pisces to Aquarius, great shifts in spiritual evolution are on the horizon--not for all of humanity as many in the New Age movement have generously hypothesized but for those who have undertaken the necessary spiritual preparation and initiatory work. Drawing from his deep immersion in the Mystery traditions of both East and West, author J. S. Gordon investigates the initiatic path from ancient times to modern day, detailing the step-by-step process of initiation and the sequence from spiritual aspirant to the highest Adeptship. He explains the natural logic and characteristics of each stage of initiation, including the associated problems and psychological issues that need to be faced in order to move forward to the next stage. He shows how humanity is naturally inclined to spiritual evolution and the development of higher consciousness. We are part of the overall evolutionary process of Nature, a system guided by the most highly evolved Adepts and extending beyond Earth to the entire kosmos. Exploring the long history of the Mystery schools beginning with ancient Egypt, Babylonia, and India, Gordon examines the sacred metaphors and allegories of esoteric philosophy, metaphysics, occult science, and the Science of the Seven Rays as well as the Adept-inspired theosophical works of H. P. Blavatsky and A. A. Bailey. He looks at the Adept Hierarchy of the Great White Himalayan Brotherhood and considers in detail two much-discussed mysteries: The Jesus-as-Christ mystery and the Maitreya-Buddha mystery. Revealing how advancement--spiritual, scientific, and cultural--erupts out of tension, he explains how the Adepts have been increasing local and global tensions to prepare humanity for the Age of Aquarius, thereby creating the ideal preconditions for spiritual evolution and an eventual restoration of the Mysteries in our own modern era.

An examination of the early, mysterious Essene community at Qumran that links it with John the Baptist, Jesus, and the beginnings of Christianity • Offers an eyewitness account of the final burial place of John the Baptist • Makes the case that Christianity grew out of a form of monotheism first formulated by the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten • Includes physical and photographic evidence never before published In his earlier book The Mystery of the Copper Scroll of Qumran, Robert Feather analyzed the Dead Sea Scroll engraved on copper that is considered the work of the secretive, devout Jewish sect known as the Essenes, who lived at Qumran around the time of Jesus. To continue his research into the Essene community's way of life and how its beliefs may have influenced the beginnings of Christianity, he met with Father Jozef Milik, one of the scholars who worked on deciphering the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1950s. Feather learned that during Milik's work somewhere near the Qumran ruins, he had excavated a headless corpse that he believed to be that of John the Baptist. Feather presents persuasive, powerful evidence illustrating the strong link between the Qumran Essenes and New Testament teachings and showing that both John the Baptist and Jesus were intimately involved with this community at Qumran. He further supports the claim that early Christians continued a belief system centered on a form of monotheism first formulated by the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten and uniquely espoused by the Essenes at Qumran.

Jesus was an initiate and adept of the ancient Judaic mysteries who strove to reinstate the tradition of the bridechamber sacrament in his time • Shows that Jesus sought to establish equity of masculine and feminine in both spiritual practice and social traditions, particularly in the sacrament of marriage • Reinterprets Jesus’ key teachings in light of the ancient tradition of sacred consortship • Reveals what happened to the gnostic heart of Christianity that Jesus embodied Jesus was a high-initiate and master adept of the ancient Judaic mysteries who strove to free people from the dead hand of the ritualists. He was trained in a dissident Jewish brotherhood that arose in Egypt before he was born, which sought to bring back the ancient Judaic mysteries outlawed by the Jerusalem temple. At the heart of this movement was a yogic-based practice known in the apocrypha as the Gnosis of the Heart, which espoused the union of both sexes in a secret initiatic teaching. As a fearless social reformer, Jesus wanted to restore the authority of the feminine principle, including asserting the equality of man and woman in the social contract of marriage. He reinstated in his own life the tradition of sacred consortship--a rite known to early Church fathers as the bridechamber sacrament, whereby the marriage of the masculine and feminine energies was effected. This rite, Victoria LePage suggests, was the primary focus of Jesus’ teachings, the very heart of his exhortations to love thy neighbor, and the source of his healing power. Mysteries of the Bridechamber explains how, as a master adept of the Temple of Solomon, Jesus derived these teachings directly from ancient Judaic mystery traditions, revealing both a life story for Jesus that differs markedly from the version the Church has offered as well as a spiritual practice based on a mystical wisdom tradition of self-initiation and transformation.