Letter from the Editor
The Lesser Mysteries & Greater Mysteries
T
he Lesser Mysteries were a celebration of Persephone’s return from the Underworld and the rebirth of the earth through the miracle of spring. People participating in the Lesser Mysteries were taught the theology of the two Goddesses, Demeter and Persephone, and the meaning of the rites of the Mysteries.
such sciences and arts were studied from their causal rather than their effectual aspect.
Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek: Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια) was the name of the mysteries of the city Eleusis.
Ra means sun, and he is linked to the constellation libra or “scales” from the rising SUN.
The name of the city Eleusis is Pre-Greek and may be related to the name of the goddess Eileithyia.[9] Her name Ἐλυσία ( Elysia) in Laconia and Messene, probably tells her with the month Eleusinos and Eleusis, but this is debated.
Khepri, the scarab beetle god, represented the sun in the morning. The Egyptians believed that he rolled the sun across the sky as scarab (dung) beetles roll dung across the ground. His name, Khepri, comes from an Egyptian word that means “to develop,” so in a way, it’s the sun’s way of developing as it crosses the sky in the morning, getting to full height. Also, the Egyptian word Kheper could mean “to come into being,” which goes back to the belief that Khepri created himself by saying his name.
The ancient Greek word “mystery” (μυστήριον) means “mystery or secret rite” and is related to the verb mueō (μυέω), which means initiation into the mysteries, and the noun mustēs (μύστης), which means one initiated. The word mustikós (μυστικός) means “connected with the mysteries” or “private, secret” (as in Modern Greek) The Lesser Mysteries prepare the neophyte for initiation into the Greater Mysteries through various degrees of purification and discipline combined with training in intellectual and spiritual perception. As indicated in the previous chapter, seven were the degrees usually reckoned, the first three comprising the Lesser Mysteries. The fourth degree is the turning or deciding point where those who underwent the discipline and training of the preliminary stages are put to the test of experience in self-identification. If the candidate passes this fourth trial successfully, he enters upon more stringent discipline and purification and a more intimate relationship between teacher and pupil. Henceforth, he is a pledged disciple; his will is set firmly to pass successfully the fifth, sixth, and seventh degrees, which comprise the Greater Mysteries. Many branches of the arts and sciences were taught in the Lesser Mysteries, notably geography, astronomy, chemistry, physiology, psychology, geology, meteorology, as well as music, the “most divine and spiritual of arts” (Mahatma Letters, Letter XXIVb, p. 188); similarly, art and architecture were studied, whose lost “canon of proportion” immortalized the Greek temples. These sciences were held as secret studies of the Mysteries, not because they would not have been understood if taught as schools and universities teach them today, but because 4
Ra ordered the other gods to stand back while he whispered his secret name to Isis. ‘Now the power of the secret name has passed from my heart to your heart,’ said Ra wearily.
Re, the Egyptian falcon god, was seen as the sun at midday. Re embodied the sun at its most potent and its height. This was the time of the day when the sun’s heat was the most oppressive and where it reached its zenith. This was thought to represent Re’s power and might with the sun at its fullest potential. Atum, one of the oldest gods of Ancient Egypt, was seen as the personification of the afternoon sun before it set for the evening. The name Atum came from an Egyptian word that meant “to finish,” signifying both his personification as the sun at the finish of the day and probably signifying his greater importance as the finisher of the world, bringing it back to its watery chaos after the creation cycle that the Egyptians lived in. Here, we have the three officers of the lodge. The Candidate had a hood or thick veil placed over his eyes so that he could not see and was led by a Brother, called in Egyptian An-er-f, to the door of the Temple or Lodge, which appeared as a blank wall. At the door or entrance was a ‘’Watcher” armed, who said to the Candidate, “ I will not open to thee,” ‘’ I allow thee not to pass by me unless thou tellest me my name.” The word was ‘’ Shu- Si-Ra.” (The answer, translated from the Egyptian, was “ The Kneeler,” i.e., Shu.) He was then given a password, v/hich in Egyptian is “ Ra-gririt “—” The door of stone.” The door was an equilateral triangle, a symbol typical of Heaven, and a square stone underneath on which he trod was a symbol distinctive of Earth. The whole
The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Maryland - THE LIGHT - November 2023
