Theos-Talk Archives (January 2005 Message tt00110)

Jan 6, 2005

Re Ancient Mysteries and Initiation – and our present

Dear Friend:

The restrictions of Pythagoras’ School are most interesting and valuable,
and can be used to mature thought processes – which appears to be their
intention.

It also appears that in the intervening years some of the restrictions have
been relaxed owing to the change in the general spirit of freedom and
inquiry we now enjoy for a while. Much can be done with the wisdom now
being made available, by those who seize the opportunity.

The Mystery School he administered was for those pupils who viewed
themselves as immortals living in a world of changes – changes, that were
(then as now) tests of the integrity and growing intelligence that builds
pupils (Acousticoy) into the Wise, (Epoptai) – a self-guided course that
takes years and lives. Now, in this era, we have an “entry-port” through
the teachings of THEOSOPHY -- it appears.  

In our modern world with the current immense spread and issue of information
concerning everything, including some of the ancient rites, concepts and
spiritual, secret practices, we have a freedom to inquire that is unique –
accordingly, we can read, study, inquire and advance on our own initiative.
There are many students in the world, and we have now an opportunity (the
Internet appears to be one of them) for joint work, inquiry and progress. 

Let me offer you to consider the following:

-----------------------------------

ISIS UNVEILED II 90 – 94 ( written in 1877) 

“Another proof that Paul belonged to the circle of the "Initiates" lies in
the following fact. The apostle had his head shorn at Cenchrea (where
Lucius, Apulcius, was initiated) because "he had a vow." The nazars — or set
apart — as we see in the Jewish Scriptures, had to cut their hair which they
wore long, and which "no razor touched" at any other time, and sacrifice it
on the altar of initiation. And the nazars were a class of Chaldean
theurgists. We will show further that Jesus belonged to this class. 

Paul declares that: "According to the grace of God which is given unto me,
as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation." § 
This expression, master-builder, used only once in the whole Bible, and by
Paul, may be considered as a whole revelation. 
In the Mysteries, the third part of the sacred rites was called Epopteia, or
revelation, reception into the secrets. In substance it means that stage of
divine clairvoyance when everything pertaining to this earth disappears, and
earthly sight is paralyzed, and the soul is united free and pure with its
Spirit, or God. But the real significance of the word is "overseeing," from 
optomai — I see myself. In Sanscrit the word evβpto has the same meaning, as
well as to obtain. * The word epopteia is a compound one, from  Epi  — upon,
and  ovptomai — to look, or an overseer, an inspector — also used fora
master-builder. The title of master-mason, in Freemasonry, is derived from
this, in the sense used in the Mysteries. Therefore, when Paul entitles
himself a "master-builder," he is using a word pre-eminently kabalistic,
theurgic, and masonic, and one which no other apostle uses. He thus declares
himself an adept, having the right to initiate others. 

If we search in this direction, with those sure guides, the Grecian
Mysteries and the Kabala, before us, it will be easy to find the secret
reason why Paul was so persecuted and hated by Peter, John, and James. The
author of the Revelation was a Jewish kabalist pur sang, with all the hatred
inherited by him from his forefathers toward the Mysteries.† His jealousy
during the life of Jesus extended even to Peter; and it is but after the
death of their common master that we see the two apostles — the former of
whom wore the Mitre and the Petaloon of the Jewish Rabbis — preach so
zealously the rite of circumcision. In the eyes of Peter, Paul, who had
humiliated him, and whom he felt so much his superior in "Greek learning"
and philosophy, must have naturally appeared as a magician, a man polluted
with the "Gnosis," with the "wisdom" of the Greek Mysteries — hence,
perhaps, "Simon ‡ the Magician." 
As to Peter, biblical criticism has shown before now that he had probably no
more to do with the foundation of the Latin Church at Rome, than to furnish
the pretext so readily seized upon by the cunning Irenζus to benefit this
Church with the new name of the apostle — Petra or Kiffa, a name which
allowed so readily, by an easy play upon words to connect it with Petroma,
the double set of stone tablets used 

——————————————————————————————

* In its most extensive meaning, the Sanscrit word has the same literal
sense as the Greek term; both imply "revelation," by no human agent, but
through the "receiving of the sacred drink." In India the initiated received
the "Soma," sacred drink, which helped to liberate his soul from the body;
and in the Eleusinian Mysteries it was the sacred drink offered at the
Epopteia. The Grecian Mysteries are wholly derived from the Brahmanical
Vedic rites, and the latter from the ante-vedic religious Mysteries —
primitive Buddhist philosophy. 

† It is needless to state that the Gospel according to John was not written
by John but by a Platonist or a Gnostic belonging to the Neo-platonic
school. 

‡ The fact that Peter persecuted the "Apostle to the Gentiles," under that
name, does not necessarily imply that there was no Simon Magus individually
distinct from Paul. It may have become a generic name of abuse. Theodoret
and Chrysostom, the earliest and most prolific commentators on the
Gnosticism of those days, seem actually to make of Simon a rival of Paul,
and to state that between them passed frequent messages. The former, as a
diligent propagandist of what Paul terms the "antitheses of the Gnosis" (1st
Epistle to Timothy), must have been a sore thorn in the side of the apostle.
There are sufficient proofs of the actual existence of Simon Magus. 
----------------------------------------------------

 92  ISIS UNVEILED.

by the hierophant at the initiations, during the final Mystery. In this,
perhaps, lies concealed the whole secret of the claims of the Vatican. As
Professor Wilder happily suggests: "In the Oriental countries the
designation rTp , Peter (in Phœnician and Chaldaic, an interpreter) appears
to have been the title of this personage (the hierophant). . . . There is in
these facts some reminder of the peculiar circumstances of the Mosaic Law .
. . and also of the claim of the Pope to be the successor of Peter, the
hierophant or interpreter of the Christian religion." * 

As such, we must concede to him, to some extent, the right to be such an
interpreter. The Latin Church has faithfully preserved in symbols, rites,
ceremonies, architecture, and even in the very dress of her clergy, the
tradition of the Pagan worship — of the public or exoteric ceremonies, we
should add; otherwise her dogmas would embody more sense and contain less
blasphemy against the majesty of the Supreme and Invisible God. 

An inscription found on the coffin of Queen Mentuhept, of the eleventh
dynasty (2250 B.C.), now proved to have been transcribed from the
seventeenth chapter of the Book of the Dead (dating not later than 4500
B.C.), is more than suggestive. This monumental text contains a group of
hieroglyphics, which, when interpreted, read thus: 

PTR.     RF.     SU.
peter-               ref-                su.

Baron Bunsen shows this sacred formulary mixed up with a whole series of
glosses and various interpretations on a monument forty centuries old. "This
is identical with saying that the record (the true interpretation) was at
that time no longer intelligible. . . . We beg our readers to understand,"
he adds, "that a sacred text, a hymn, containing the words of a departed
spirit, existed in such a state about 4,000 years ago . . . as to be all but
unintelligible to royal scribes." † 

That it was unintelligible to the uninitiated among the latter is as well
proved by the confused and contradictory glossaries, as that it was a
"mystery"-word, known to the hierophants of the sanctuaries, and, moreover,
a word chosen by Jesus, to designate the office assigned by him to one of
his apostles. This word, PTR, was partially interpreted, owing to another
word similarly written in another group of hieroglyphics, on a 

——————————————————————————————
* "Introd. to Eleus. and Bacchic Mysteries," p. x. Had we not trustworthy
kabalistic tradition to rely upon, we might be, perhaps, forced to question
whether the authorship of the Revelation is to be ascribed to the apostle of
that name. He seems to be termed John the Theologist. 

93
 THE TRUE INTERPRETATION OF "PETRUM." 

stele, the sign used for it being an opened eye.* Bunsen mentions as another
explanation of PTR — "to show." "It appears to me," he remarks, "that our
PTR is literally the old Aramaic and Hebrew 'Patar,' which occurs in the
history of Joseph as the specific word for interpreting; whence also Pitrum
is the term for interpretation of a text, a dream."† In a manuscript of the
first century, a combination of the Demotic and Greek texts, ‡ and most
probably one of the few which miraculously escaped the Christian vandalism
of the second and third centuries, when all such precious manuscripts were
burned as magical, we find occurring in several places a phrase, which,
perhaps, may throw some light upon this question. One of the principal
heroes of the manuscript, who is constantly referred to as "the Judean
Illuminator" or Initiate,  Teleiotes , is made to communicate but with his
Patar; the latter being written in Chaldaic characters. Once the latter word
is coupled with the name Shimeon. Several times, the "Illuminator," who
rarely breaks his contemplative solitude, is shown inhabiting a  Krupte
 (cave), and teaching the multitudes of eager scholars standing outside, not
orally, but through this Patar. The latter receives the words of wisdom by
applying his ear to a circular hole in a partition which conceals the
teacher from the listeners, and then conveys them, with explanations and
glossaries, to the crowd. This, with a slight change, was the method used by
Pythagoras, who, as we know, never allowed his neophytes to see him during
the years of probation, but instructed them from behind a curtain in his
cave. 

But, whether the "Illuminator" of the Grζco-Demotic manuscript is identical
with Jesus or not, the fact remains, that we find him selecting a
"mystery"-appellation for one who is made to appear later by the Catholic
Church as the janitor of the Kingdom of Heaven and the interpreter of
Christ's will. The word Patar or Peter locates both master and disciple in
the circle of initiation, and connects them with the "Secret Doctrine." The
great hierophant of the ancient Mysteries never allowed the candidates to
see or hear him personally. He was the Deus-ex-Machina, the presiding but
invisible Deity, uttering his will and instructions through a second party;
and 2,000 years later, we discover that the Dalai-Lamas of Thibet had been
following for centuries the same traditional programme during the most
important religious mysteries of lamaism. 

—————————————————————————————

* See de Rougι : "Stele," p. 44; PTAR (videus) is interpreted on it "to
appear," with a sign of interrogation after it — the usual mark of
scientific perplexity. In Bunsen's fifth volume of "Egypte," the
interpretation following is "Illuminator," which is more correct. 

 94  ISIS UNVEILED.

If Jesus knew the secret meaning of the title bestowed by him on Simon, then
he must have been initiated; otherwise he could not have learned it; and if
he was an initiate of either the Pythagorean Essenes, the Chaldean Magi, or
the Egyptian Priests, then the doctrine taught by him was but a portion of
the "Secret Doctrine" taught by the Pagan hierophants to the few select
adepts admitted within the sacred adyta. 

But we will discuss this question further on. For the present we will
endeavor to briefly indicate the extraordinary similarity — or rather
identity, we should say — of rites and ceremonial dress of the Christian
clergy with that of the old Babylonians, Assyrians, Phœnicians, Egyptians,
and other Pagans of the hoary antiquity. “
ISIS UNVEILED II 90-94

-------------------------------------

2
ISIS UNVEILED II 98-101

“The Mysteries are as old as the world, and one well versed in the esoteric
mythologies of various nations can trace them back to the days of the
ante-Vedic period in India. A condition of the strictest virtue and purity
is required from the Vatou, or candidate in India before he can become an
initiate, whether he aims to be a simple fakir, a Purohita (public priest)
or a Sannyβsi, a saint of the second degree of initiation, the most holy as
the most revered of them all. 

After having conquered, in the terrible trials preliminary to admittance to
the inner temple in the subterranean crypts of his pagoda, the sannyasi
passes the rest of his life in the temple, practicing the eighty-four rules
and ten virtues prescribed to the Yogis. 

"No one who has not practiced, during his whole life, the ten virtues which
the divine Manu makes incumbent as a duty, can be initiated into the
Mysteries of the council," say the Hindu books of initiation. 

These virtues are: "Resignation; the act of rendering good for evil;
temperance; probity; purity; chastity; repression of the physical senses;
the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures; that of the Superior soul (spirit);
worship of truth; abstinence from anger." These virtues must alone direct
the life of a true Yogi. "No unworthy adept ought to defile the ranks of the
holy initiates by his presence for twenty-four hours." The adept becomes
guilty after having once broken any one of these vows. Surely the exercise
of such virtues is inconsistent with the idea one has of devil-worship and
lasciviousness of purpose! 

And now we will try to give a clear insight into one of the chief ob- 
—————————————————————————————

 99 THE WHISPERED SECRETS OF INITIATION. 

jects of this work. What we desire to prove is, that underlying every
ancient popular religion was the same ancient wisdom-doctrine, one and
identical, professed and practiced by the initiates of every country, who
alone were aware of its existence and importance. To ascertain its origin,
and the precise age in which it was matured, is now beyond human
possibility. A single glance, however, is enough to assure one that it could
not have attained the marvellous perfection in which we find it pictured to
us in the relics of the various esoteric systems, except after a succession
of ages. 

A philosophy so profound, a moral code so ennobling, and practical results
so conclusive and so uniformly demonstrable is not the growth of a
generation, or even a single epoch. Fact must have been piled upon fact,
deduction upon deduction, science have begotten science, and myriads of the
brightest human intellects have reflected upon the laws of nature, before
this ancient doctrine had taken concrete shape. The proofs of this identity
of fundamental doctrine in the old religions are found in the prevalence of
a system of initiation; in the secret sacerdotal castes who had the
guardianship of mystical words of power, and a public display of a
phenomenal control over natural forces, indicating association with
preterhuman beings. 

Every approach to the Mysteries of all these nations was guarded with the
same jealous care, and in all, the penalty of death was inflicted upon
initiates of any degree who divulged the secrets entrusted to them. We have
seen that such was the case in the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries, among
the Chaldean Magi, and the Egyptian hierophants; while with the Hindus, from
whom they were all derived, the same rule has prevailed from time
immemorial. We are left in no doubt upon this point; for the Agrushada
Parikshai says explicitly, "Every initiate, to whatever degree he may
belong, who reveals the great sacred formula, must be put to death." 

Naturally enough, this same extreme penalty was prescribed in all the
multifarious sects and brotherhoods which at different periods have sprung
from the ancient stock. We find it with the early Essenes, Gnostics,
theurgic Neo-platonists, and mediaeval philosophers; and in our day, even
the Masons perpetuate the memory of the old obligations in the penalties of
throat-cutting, dismemberment, and disemboweling, with which the candidate
is threatened. As the Masonic "master's word" is communicated only at "low
breath," so the selfsame precaution is prescribed in the Chaldean Book of
Numbers and the Jewish Mercaba. When initiated, the neophyte was led by an
ancient to a secluded spot, and there the latter whispered in his ear the
great secret. * The Mason swears, under the most frightful penalties, that
he will not communicate the secrets of 

——————————————————————————

 100  ISIS UNVEILED.

any degree "to a brother of an inferior degree"; and the Agrushada Parikshai
says: "Any initiate of the third degree who reveals before the prescribed
time, to the initiates of the second degree, the superior truths, must be
put to death." Again, the Masonic apprentice consents to have his "tongue
torn out by the roots" if he divulge anything to a profane; and in the Hindu
books of initiation, the same Agrushada Parikshai, we find that any initiate
of the first degree (the lowest) who betrays the secrets of his initiation,
to members of other castes, for whom the science should be a closed book,
must have "his tongue cut out," and suffer other mutilations. 

As we proceed, we will point out the evidences of this identity of vows,
formulas, rites, and doctrines, between the ancient faiths. We will also
show that not only their memory is still preserved in India, but also that
the Secret Association is still alive and as active as ever. That, after
reading what we have to say, it may be inferred that the chief pontiff and
hierophants, the Brahmβtma, is still accessible to those "who know," though
perhaps recognized by another name; and that the ramifications of his
influence extend throughout the world. But we will now return again to the
early Christian period. 

As though he were not aware that there was any esoteric significance to the
exoteric symbols, and that the Mysteries themselves were composed of two
parts, the lesser at Agrζ, and the higher ones at Eleusinia, Clemens
Alexandrinus, with a rancorous bigotry that one might expect from a renegade
Neo-platonist, but is astonished to find in this generally honest and
learned Father, stigmatized the Mysteries as indecent and diabolical.
Whatever were the rites enacted among the neophytes before they passed to a
higher form of instruction; however misunderstood were the trials of
Katharsis or purification, during which they were submitted to every kind of
probation; and however much the immaterial or physical aspect might have led
to calumny, it is but wicked prejudice which can compel a person to say that
under this external meaning there was not a far deeper and spiritual
significance. 

It is positively absurd to judge the ancients from our own standpoint of
propriety and virtue. And most assuredly it is not for the Church — which
now stands accused by all the modern symbologists of having adopted
precisely these same emblems in their coarsest aspect, and feels herself
powerless to refute the accusations — to throw the stone at those who were
her models. When men like Pythagoras, Plato, and Iamblichus, renowned for
their severe morality, took part in the Mysteries, and spoke of them with
veneration, it ill behooves our modern critics to judge them so rashly upon
their merely external aspects. Iamblichus explains the worst; and his
explanation, for an unprejudiced mind, ought to be 

101 THE MYSTERIES ENNOBLING IN TENDENCY. 


perfectly plausible. "Exhibitions of this kind," he says, "in the Mysteries
were designed to free us from licentious passions, by gratifying the sight,
and at the same time vanquishing all evil thought, through the awful
sanctity with which these rites were accompanied." * "The wisest and best
men in the Pagan world," adds Dr. Warburton, "are unanimous in this, that
the Mysteries were instituted pure, and proposed the noblest ends by the
worthiest means." † 

In these celebrated rites, although persons of both sexes and all classes
were allowed to take a part, and a participation in them was even
obligatory, very few indeed attained the higher and final initiation. The
gradation of the Mysteries is given us by Proclus in the fourth book of his
Theology of Plato. "The perfective rite teleth , precedes in order the
initiation — Muesis — and the initiation, Epopteia, or the final apocalypse
(revelation)." Theon of Smyrna, in Mathematica, also divides the mystic
rites into five parts: "the first of which is the previous purification; for
neither are the Mysteries communicated to all who are willing to receive
them; . . . there are certain persons who are prevented by the voice of the
crier ( Kerux ) . . . since it is necessary that such as are not expelled
from the Mysteries should first be refined by certain purifications which
the reception of the sacred rites succeeds. The third part is denominated
epopteia or reception. And the fourth, which is the end and design of the
revelation, is the binding of the head and fixing of the crowns  ‡ . . .
whether after this he (the initiated person) becomes . . . an hierophant or
sustains some other part of the sacerdotal office. But the fifth, which is
produced from all these, is friendship and interior communion with God." And
this was the last and most awful of all the Mysteries. 
ISIS UNVEILED II 98 - 101

-----------------------------------

Hope this is lf some help


Dallas

========================

-----Original Message-----
From: E J
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 10:18 AM
To: study@blavatsky.net

Subject: [bn-study] RE: NEW YEAR 

Pythagoras was a more than a friend, I always am amazed at the wisdom of
silence in Sicily that he claimed – for a new pupil was silent I am told for
over three-years prior to asking anything bold.  Early Greek-mythology
graces us today for who really knows what was meant in that yesterday, and
it is said Athena was even born of brains or could it be  thought-in-Zeus
was the way she came.
 
By best to all, and being silent as a pupil indeed,