The Lesser Mysteries & Greater Mysteries

The 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.

Eleusinian Mysteries (Greek: Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια) was the name of the mysteries of the city Eleusis.

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.

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 such sciences and arts were studied from their causal rather than their effectual aspect.

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.

Ra means sun, and he is linked to the constellation libra or “scales” from the rising SUN.

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.

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 symbolized passing from Earth to Heaven—the password Ragrit needs to be more sketchy.

The W.M. or High Priest was placed in his chair with the exact grip and token as we use in the present day, except that it was the other arm and the word was “ Maat-Heru,” meaning “One whose voice must be obeyed.” The present is a substituted one, the meaning of which correctly is “ Stone squares.’’

The Jewel representing the forty-seven Problems of the First Book of Euclid worn by the Master has no meaning, as it is explained to him. With the old Brotherhood, the correct purpose was the triangle of Horus, and the three squares represented the three Grand or Great Originals of the Primary Trinity. With the Operative Masons, the three squares represent the first, second, and third Masters of the Lodge.

Apophis (also known as Apep) is the Great Serpent, the enemy of the sun god Ra, in ancient Egyptian religion. The sun was Ra’s great barge, which sailed through the sky from dawn to dusk and descended into the underworld. As it sailed through the darkness, it was attacked by Apophis, who sought to kill Ra and prevent sunrise.

Notice the Lionheaded entity, the “Lion’s Paw grip” ding ding ding......overcoming darkness or death each day.

The illustrated picture shows how the grip of the Lion’s Paw was given in the Pyramid Mysteries. The priest wore over his head the mask of a lion. By this grip, the spirit in man, long buried in the tomb of substance, is raised to life, and the candidate goes forth as a builder entitled to the wages of an initiate. The origin of this illustration can be found in a depiction copied from a ‘bas-relief’ in an ancient Kemetic temple at Denderah, which sheds light on the ORIGIN of the Lion’s grip.

The candidate, lying on the floor, is about to be ‘raised’ by the powerful grip of the Lion’s paw. The lion is carrying in his right hand the Ankh, a symbol of life and reincarnation, or regeneration. The “X” on the man’s chest tells us this is Ausar/ Osiris, the Sun God who was slain but arose from the dead, being pieced together by his beautiful Queen, Auset/Isis. The Black God is represented first as a mummy lying flat on his back. Bit by bit, he raises himself in a series of positions till he rises between the outstretched wings of Auset/Isis. This is the same raising of Heru, who was introduced to live in This world and not in the world to come.

Now I ask this: if Apep is said to be the result of Ra or comes from Ra, then that would mean the Egyptians believe that the darkness comes from the light.

Combined with its absence from Egyptian creation myths, this has been interpreted as suggesting that Apep was not a primordial force in Egyptian theology but a consequence of Ra’s birth. This means that evil in Egyptian theology results from an individual’s struggles against non-existence.

He even asks why we start with our “left.” To defile apep is to use the left foot along with other means described in The Books of Overthrowing Apep (or the Book of Apophis, in Greek)

In your Masonic career, you have often been called a Candidate. This term, derived from the Latin word candidatus [kan-dih-DAH-toos], means “to be clothed in white,” for in many of the ancient ceremonies, the initiates were clothed with a white robe following their lustration.

Lustration (from Latin lustratio, “purification by sacrifice”) is any of various processes in ancient Greece and Rome whereby individuals or communities rid themselves of ceremonial impurity (e.g., bloodguilt, pollution incurred by contact with childbirth or with a corpse) or simply of the profane or ordinary state, which made it dangerous to come into contact with sacred rites or objects. The methods varied from sprinkling with or washing in water, through rubbing with various substances, such as blood or clay, to complicated ceremonies, some of which involved confession of sins. Fumigation was also used.

The secret worship, or Mysteries, of the ancients, were always divided into the lesser and the more significant, the former being intended only to awaken curiosity, to test the capacity and disposition of the candidate, and by symbolical purifications to prepare him for his introduction into the greater Mysteries.

“The candidate was at first called an aspirant, or seeker of the truth, and the initial ceremony which he underwent was a lustration or purification by water. In this condition, he may be compared to the Entered Apprentice of the masonic rites, and it is here worth advertising the fact (which will be hereafter more fully developed) that all the ceremonies in the first degree of masonry are symbolic of internal purification.

In the lesser Mysteries, the candidate took an oath of secrecy, which was administered to him by the mystagogue, and then received a preparatory instruction, which enabled him afterward to understand the developments of the higher and subsequent division. He was now called a Mystes, or initiate, and may be compared to the Fellow Craft of Freemasonry.

In the greater Mysteries, the whole knowledge of the divine truths, which was the object of initiation, was communicated. Here we find, among the various ceremonies which assimilated these rites to Freemasonry, the aphorism, which was the disappearance or death; the pastos, the couch, coffin, or grave; the enuresis, or the discovery of the body; and the autopsy, or full sight of everything, that is, the complete communication of the secrets.

The candidate was here called an epopt, or eye-witness because nothing was now hidden from him; hence, he may be compared to Master Mason, who has discovered the knowledge of God and his salvation and been redeemed from the death of sin and the tomb of pollution and unrighteousness.” - Albert G. Mackey, The Ancient Mysteries.■

R.W. Akoni S. Vaughans, Sr. 33° Editor in Chief, The Light Magazine

References

• The Lesser Mysteries. Part 2 - the mystery schools. (n.d.). https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/mysterys/mystsch2.htm

• Esoteric_Christianity (no date) Esoteric Christianity or the lesser mysteries by Annie Besant. Available at: https:// www.anandgholap.net/Esoteric_Christianity-AB.htm (Accessed: 30 October 2023).

• Pike, A., & Schulz, C. (2020). Morals and dogma - Albert Pike das Lehrbuch der Freimaurerei. Tradition.

• Mackey, A. G., Clegg, R. I., Hawkins, E. L., & Hughan, W. J. (1929a). Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and Kindred Sciences: Comprising the whole range of the arts, Sciences, and Literature of the Masonic institution. The Masonic History Company.

• Crowley, A., Regardie, I., & Crowley, A. (1996). 777 and other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley: Including Gematria & Sepher Sephiroth. Samuel Weiser.

• Marrs, T. W. (2013). Codex Magica secret signs, mysterious symbols, and hidden codes of the Illuminati. Rivercrest Pub.