CHAPTER 1

MYSTERY SCHOOLS

 

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,

 neither cast ye your pearls before swine,

 lest they trample them under their feet.”

Matthew 7:6

 

To begin to understand the ancient wisdom concepts, a look at the system itself must be undertaken. A history of this place in the world is also required, but as you will soon see the standard historical chronology is far inaccurate to account for the secrets that I will later be revealing. As such I will at times have to explore this new chronology, as well as mention the standard concepts and ideas.

 

Name of Egypt

Egypt is an English word derived from the Greek “Aegyptus.” This was a corruption of the word Hi-Gi-Ptos, a Greek translation of the Egyptian word Het-Ha-Ptah (the Place of the Ka of Ptah) today known as Memphis. The Egyptians themselves used the word KMT frequently. Without written vowels in the Egyptian language modern Egyptologists add an e between the letters for easier modern reading. Kemet meant the ‘black land,’ a place of the fertile Nile Valley that allowed plants to grow. Black is also the first stage (Nigredo) of the alchemic process of transformation, which can create a shining gold. The word alchemy descended from Kemet with the Arabic article Al added. The Egyptians also used the word Ta-Meri (Beloved Earth, or Magnetic Earth) to refer to Egypt. The land acted like a magnet of love (mer) to bring down the powers of the Neteru (gods) to Ta (earth).[1]

            Ancient people believed Egypt was a very special place. The Corpus Hermeticum claimed Egypt was an “image of heaven…our land is the temple of the entire cosmos.” The Egyptians saw their country as the whole world. This is similar to Maya villages in 1970’s Guatemala who saw no real reason to leave their geographical area, because it was (or contained) the entire universe. The Hermetic axiom is that a human is a microcosm of the macrocosm, thus a human (or in fact any object in the world) contains the entire universe within them. There are special places on earth, like the Hopi believe of Hotevilla, that allow this connection to be more easily seen. The Hopi claim that if it happens in Hotevilla it is happening somewhere in the world. If the government begins to dump garbage in this village it is happening to the earth; clean up the garbage and the same will be happening to the earth.

Egypt was seen as the place where the wisdom of the cosmos could be best expressed. Perhaps it will be found that the earth’s energy grid system (similar to the meridians that run in the human body) have a greater focus in Egypt (as ours do at our particular organs). Egypt could have been the symbolic heart of the entire earth. The Egyptians believed they had an obligation, not just to other Egyptians but also to the entire created universe, to keep the land and people of Egypt in Maat (cosmic order, truth, and harmony). Just as the Egyptians would see every person, place or thing as a marvel of creation, the ancient mysteries would want us to begin our study with the person, place or thing we have the most access to…ourself. All great masters from Lao-Tzu to Socrates to Ficino have urged us to “know thyself,” because within us is the explanation of everything.

 

History

            Modern Egyptologists give a complete chronology of Egypt in their history books, so I will not bore you with similar lists. All that is really needed to be known is that periods of time are grouped together to form Dynasties, which are further broken down by the Pharaohs that ruled. This information comes mostly from the Tablet of Karnak, Tablet of Abydos, Tablet of Sakkara, Papyrus of Turin and chronology of Mantheo. The oldest dynasty is known as, no surprise, the Old Kingdom, followed by the Middle and New Kingdoms. Modern archaeologists claim that Egypt was a country of uncivilized savages until around 3100BC when a highly advanced civilization was formed under the unification of the first Pharaoh, Menes. They do not explain how civilization, writing, or pyramid building appears from uncivilized savages all of a sudden. The Egyptian writings themselves claim that their civilization dates back over 20,000 years to when the Neteru (gods) walked the earth in human form. This period was known as Zep (First) Tepi (Time). The First Time began after the water receded and light was given to civilization. Some believe this period refers to the time following the primeval ocean of Nun (see creation myths) or the period after the flooding of the last ice age around 10,500 BC. The period of Zep Tepi remained until the final god, Horus, ruled the earth. At the end of his reign he turned over his rule to humans knows as the Shem-Shu-Hor (Followers of Horus). Only recently did human Pharaohs become Kings.[2] With current archaeological questioning of sites like Giza in Egypt or Tiahuanaco in Bolivia, these ancient dates may in fact be correct.

            The Followers of Horus or “Those who know the Secrets of Horus,” were in fact the high priests of Egypt. Each priest was seen to be a Horus who was battling Set within themselves. Thus they were following the myth of Horus, his path to Light and wisdom. They lived from the heart and could be trusted to run Egypt in the proper manner for every citizen. The Egyptian viewed the First Time as a ‘Golden Age,’ a time before “strife, rage or uproar.” Egyptologists view this First Time as a myth. The Ancient Egyptians themselves gave actual figures for the length of the First Time, and not only do they not fit into the confines of the modern dates for Egyptian civilization, they do not fit into the confines of dates for human civilization! The Turin Papyrus puts the rule of the gods at 23,200 years, and the Shem-Shu-Hor at 13,420 for a total of 36,620 years; Diodorus Siculus listed the years for the gods as 33,000; Mantheo from the 3rd century BC arrived at a figure of non-human rule at 24,925 years and human kings for 12,000 years.[3] All of these dates were far beyond the Biblical date given for the creation of the earth (4004 BC), and early scholars of the 19th century changed the dates to fit the timeframe of the Bible. The other scholars at the time were Evolutionists who needed to prove the advancement of humanity. One group was looking to rewrite history, and the other only looking for signs that those in the past were inferior. Any evidence of great wisdom or a very old civilization was often ignored.

It must be noted that Mantheo’s numbers add up to 36,525, which is (with a change of decimal point) 365.25, the equivalent of the Sothic Year (our calendar). While history is included within myth, we must be careful not to take any myth or religious writing at face value. A myth is trying to explain key facts of the forces of the universe. The historical fact is less important than the message that the myth is trying to explain.[4] Mantheo for example may be saying that gods and humans ruled the earth for a complete circuit, perhaps a precessional age which lasts 25, 920 years.

Even if one accepts the current chronological timeline, it also leads to some problems. Egypt was a far different place in 3000 BC than it was in 1200 BC, much as the United States was very different in 1500 AD than in 2002 AD. In Egypt’s earliest stages the concept of Maat (order) was most established. It was a time when the wisdom priests and the ancient texts held the greatest sway in every aspect of Egyptian life. The process of spiritual awakening was taught more openly to the people, and in fact it seems there were rather few Neteru (gods) in the teachings similar to early forms of Taoism, Buddhism and Gnostic Christianity. As time advanced more deities were added to the pantheon of gods (see chapter 3 Neteru) which allowed certain teachings to be explained more completely and also the opportunity for groups to take advantage of the population due to confusion (see mummification).[5] Most of what is written about the Old Kingdom (the earliest periods of Egyptian history) has ideas superimposed on the period from the New Kingdom.

            For some unknown reason the period of peace, harmony, and great building that defined the Old Kingdom came to a sudden end over 4,000 years ago. Modern archaeologists usually claim the country was overrun by invaders, but have no explanation as to exactly who these invaders were, how long they stayed, or what the results were. They seem to think that Egyptian society, ideas and temple practices were exactly the same after these ‘invasions.’ It was not. It was during these periods of calamity that many of the orders of priests left Egypt and took their knowledge with them. Around 1500 BC as Egyptian wisdom was beginning to decline came the growth of the Mexican Maya, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Hermeticism, and the Old Testament? The Egyptian priests begin to leave to help keep the ancient wisdom alive, thus the reason to study other ancient cultures for they are markers of the Egyptian influence. There are reports that the priests went to places that they have not been credited such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and Rocky Mountains outside of Canmore, Alberta. Egyptian tombs were found in the Grand Canyon in 1909, then quickly covered up by the authorities, though the “find” did make the front page of the Phoenix Gazette in April, until they were “forced” to print a retraction. Other such Egyptian sites are waiting to be found all over the world. However many priests did stay, even though living the old ways of Maat and wisdom were becoming increasingly more difficult. As the decline began so too did the wisdom become misunderstood or used for personal gain and profit by a new group of priests not initiated in the old ways. The hieroglyphs stopped being used, mummification practices changed. This led to the way for the country to be taken over by the Greeks.

 

Greeks

 

“The names of all the gods came to Greece from Egypt…

for the names of all the gods have been known in Egypt from the beginning of time.”

Herodotus

 

            By 500 BC Egypt was in a great decline and was soon invaded by the Greeks and Alexander the Great. The Greeks had previously been forbidden in most cases from gaining access to the Mystery Temples, but with victory came the spoils. They forced their way in. The temple libraries of secret books were confiscated and taken to set up the new Greek library built at Alexandria. These Greek wisdom seekers, exemplified by Aristotle, came to the temples and demanded knowledge. Some temples at the time were run by a new group of priests who didn’t have all the mystical information, but didn’t mind selling what they knew. Few priests remained with all of the old connections to Gnosis. Since all the knowledge was passed on orally, and no Greek could read the hieroglyphs, the old Egyptian priests had an out. They could pass on some of the wisdom (hoping the Greeks would transform), but not all the wisdom.

            Plato wrote that the Egyptians referred to the Greeks as “children” in the ways of spirituality and religion, for they had only learned what the Egyptian sages decided to tell them. The Corpus Hermeticum warned to not let the Egyptian letters be changed into the Greek characters where they would lose all of their power. That is not to say that all the Greeks were excluded. A few were shown to be of such high moral character and intelligence that they were taught the full system with the hope that they could pass it on correctly. Solon was trained at Heliopolis where he learned the tales of Atlantis. Socrates, Plato, Homer and Pythagoras were all initiated into the Egyptian mysteries.[6]

            Greece was not the source of the arts, sciences or math that it has always been believed to be. The Greeks were merely the first to place it in books or use it for profit. Most Greeks focused on the exoteric (outer) intellectual knowledge of the conscious mind to explain the universe, ignoring the esoteric (inner) wisdom of the heart. Two distinct schools began in Greece. The Aristotle tradition, derived from Babylon and partial Egyptian knowledge was the way of science, the physical realm, desires, possessions and valuing your worth based on what you had or how you looked. The other school was of Plato and Pythagoras, who were trained in the Egyptian teachings of Gnosis (divine knowledge) and truth.

            The few priests in Egypt connected to gnosis realized that their civilization was at an end, and a new world age was coming. Many of the current surviving temples in Egypt were built during the Greek (known as Ptolemic) period. They were built over older temples on the same location. While these temples such as Edfu or Dendera are wonderful for us as they give us some sense of what completed Ancient Egyptian temples were actually like, they also offer us interesting hidden information as to what was occurring at the time of their construction. The reliefs here are often depicted very differently than in older temples, with the gods more humanized, and with a greater focus on the physical world. At Esna the depictions look “fleshy, human, old and fat,” not the way all-powerful Egyptian Neteru would ever be depicted unless this was showing that their “time was up…It is a perfect artistic impression of the state of Egypt during the building of these temples.”[7] It is said that the Egyptian priests were passing on information that the great period of spiritual teaching in Egypt, and of living from the heart was coming to an end for a new period (cycle) was beginning with a focus on the material world and the physical body. The earth was entering this phase that became Swiss bank accounts, face lifts, oil drilling in the rainforest, infomercials, the relation of every emotion to sex, and the forgetting that only God exists. These reliefs were the warning of what was coming.

            The Christian religion originated in Egypt from a group later called the Gnostics. With a new World Age approaching (Pisces) a group of Egyptian Hermeticists began a new series of teachings (based on the myth of Osiris, Isis and Horus) to create what evolved into the New Testament. The Christian religion was able to take hold in Egypt so rapidly because the population was easily able to recognise that it was just another form of their previous Egyptian Neteru (gods). At its root, Christianity keeps alive the Hermetic Egyptian wisdom.

            A great division was to happen between the Western Catholic Church, based in Rome, and the Eastern based in Constantinople. The Church of Rome wanted to use religion to control their empire, and eschewed the Gnostic teachings of Jesus as an allegory which when understood would lead the aspirant into personal Gnosis (divine knowing) and Oneness with God. They chose instead the literal translation of the texts. This decision created the end of wisdom teachings in Egypt. The Roman Catholic Church forbid worship in Egyptian temples and many were destroyed. In 389 AD Theodosius destroyed the great library at Alexandria claiming the books were of the devil, and started book burning all across the Middle East. The Roman Church realized that to institute their new teachings, they needed all of the old documents that showed its true origin to be eliminated. Thus the Gnostic, Hermetic, Greek and especially the Egyptian works had to be burnt, as well as the people who taught it. A few isolated priests kept teaching at the temple of Isis at Philae in southern Egypt until the 6th century when Justinian had the last people who could properly read and write the hieroglyphs burnt alive. In 640 AD the books of Alexandria that survived the previous burnings were destroyed by the new conquerors, the Islamic Arabs, who used the books unholy to the Koran to fuel their steam baths.[8]

            When all of the destruction was finished in Egypt, the Dark Ages spread across much of the world. True wisdom and knowledge were almost lost. Thankfully there were groups: Gnostic Christians, Hermeticists, Islamic Sufi’s, Native Indians, Mexicans, Australians and Africans kept the wisdom alive in spite of the most vile treatment. The wise men and women understood the wisdom was even more important than their life. People today still live hidden with the understanding that this wisdom must be kept alive, as the future of every human, plant, animal and object on the earth depends on it. This wisdom originated in the Egyptian temples through a teaching system known as the mysteries.

 

 

 

Mystery Schools

 

“Our soul has to be at the moment of death

as it is during the mysteries,

 free from any blemish, passion, envy or anger.”

Porphyry 3rd century AD[9]

 

The system of teaching the wisdom became known as the Mystery Schools. It was a secret order, with oral teachings, vows of secrecy and the forbidding of students to write what they had learned. Mystery comes from the Greek word Myein (to close) referring to the lips and the eyes. We must see the mysteries not with the outer eyes, but must close them to use our inner eyes. Our mouth must also remain closed for the experiences of the mystic are impossible to put into words. The need for secrecy in the teachings is not out of a sense of exclusion, that many scholars today believe, but because the experience cannot be explained. The mystery schools were about teaching the steps necessary for the student to have similar mystical experiences that they too could never properly explain.[10]

            It has been written that those who became proficient in the mysteries could read the future, heal with herbs, stones and music, could levitate, and even make themselves invisible. Anyone who has met a Native shaman or an Asian master knows this is all possible. Yet unlike today when most would want to learn these practices to gain the powers, the real reason for studying the mysteries was to gain access to the light of the soul and allow us to merge with Neter (God). The powers were just things that came along the way. If one was simply after the powers, they were usually not taught anything by the mystery teachers.         

            There were two sets of schools in Egypt. The first education was for the social needs of the people (what our modern elementary schools are supposed to be). The other schooling was the part of the Temple. The average citizen had little interest in learning mysticism and spiritual matters (as is still the case today). They lived a life according to the idea of immediate results: reward, punishment. Those who were admitted into the mysteries showed a desire to learn, a willingness to understand the cosmos and themselves, and most importantly they were willing to make these new teachings and understandings the complete basis of their life. As they progressed they became judges, governors, and architects that helped to run the country.[11]

            Women and men were both equally included in the mysteries, as the priests understood the Oneness of the universe. The concept of male or female has only a meaning in the physical world of duality, yet they taught the importance of a male to learn masculinity and a female to learn femininity. Usually female priests were initiated in the mysteries of a feminine Neteru like Isis, Hathor or Sekhemet, but not necessarily. There were male priests of Isis and female priests of Osiris. It is important to know that no one was ever refused admittance to the mysteries, but the aspirant may have to spend years of personal work and effort before they were admitted. They had to show the willingness, effort and moral character in every aspect of their day-to-day life to be allowed in. Even today most try to learn spiritual matters as concepts and ideas that can be added to their current life to make it better. They do not understand that to truly advance in the mysteries, one’s entire life, beliefs, and thinking will all have to be left behind. Only when the closet is empty can new clothes be brought in. Eliminating a shirt or two really makes no difference. All the old has to go to make room for the unbelievable new. One must “die” to their old self, or their spiritual work will have little effect and cause little change.

            The aspirant was closely watched, for to acquire wisdom was great power. Great tests were included in the teachings to see how the students would respond. Many students had their teachings stopped if they were found to be using the wisdom for improper uses. The initial part of the teachings was to learn about nature, and how the world interacts. A great deal of time would be spent learning to pay attention to the wisdom that surrounds us every day. Purifications would take place, as would healing to assist the body and soul to open to the new vibrations and energies they would be encountering. Living the teachings in one’s life became imperative for it was no sense going through the difficulties of purification if the next week one was going to go back to the same improper living patterns.

            The mystery teachings are the very foundation of our Western culture. Everything from theatre, to sports, to music, to art all had their basis in the Mystery temples. Books were available for students, but they were always written in symbol. Learning the mysteries is a personal experience, thus simply reading it from a book takes away the student’s own learning. To decipher and understand the symbol yourself was to gain personal wisdom of the mystery. There is an alchemic saying, “burn your books and whiten your latten.” The line refers to the idea that books are powerful learning tools along the way, but at some point we must decide that we are truly living and experiencing the knowledge thus we have no need for the books or notes of paper anymore. We must take a leap of faith and rid ourselves of them and have faith that we have indeed learned what we tried to learn.

            The temples were more than just teaching centres for the priests. While these priests often went into society to help keep Egypt in harmony, parts of the temple were open to the average person. The inner parts of the temple (where the god resided) were strictly off limits except to the highest of the initiated. However, the temples often put on theatre plays for the population that would help bring the teachings of myth to life. Many temples included healing areas (first hospitals) where those sick or unsure could come for help from priests who studied the healing arts. The troubled could also sleep the night in special dream areas, where the Neteru (god) of the temple would pass on information to them in the dream state.

 

Mystic

            Those who follow the mystery tradition are called mystics. A mystic is one who searches for the answers to such questions as who am I, what am I, what is God, or what is the universe? They seek out these answers through acquired knowledge, personal experience, and altered states of consciousness where they attempt to reach the truths beyond the physical world. The experience of mysticism is beyond words. It can never be explained, but the explanations entice others to follow a similar path and experience similar beauty. Mysticism is not religion, yet at the heart of all religion is mysticism. It is not concerned with beliefs, doctrines or rules, but with a beautiful state of knowing, love, and the realization of a deeper reality. Any event can suddenly create a mystical revelation: a car crash, love affair, foreign travel, luck or misfortune, illness, sex or war…anything that frees someone for a moment from the ego and opens us to our own soul.[12] Mystics will use specific exercises like mediation, prayer, dreaming etc. to help them to lock into these moments. In the beginning these mystical periods will be brief glimpses, yet each one is so peaceful and full of intense feeling and love that attaining this state becomes their focus. They then return to the physical to try and make some sense of what transpired, which is most often seen as a gift or miracle. The longer one spends in these places of joy and wonder, the longer one will want to be there the next time.

            The mystic is finding a deeper meaning to life beyond themselves. They arrive at a place of love, harmony and truth. They are still in the world, yet they are not here for now they live in a different way than everyone else. This state of Oneness is each human’s true destiny. Most mystics are usually not well accepted by the rest of modern society: Jesus, Pythagoras and Socrates were all killed by the reigning order. Regular society has developed a series of beliefs, rules and guidelines (even religion) that keep the average person in slavery. The mystic has managed to go beyond beliefs and opinions, for they have experienced personal Oneness with God. Since religious establishments do not want to show people how to do this personally (for they would no longer be needed) they attempt to do away with those who attempt to guide humans on the similar path. The mystic has found that all religions are at their heart the same, thus there is no need to argue which is better as they are all equal. At the same time they see religion as unimportant, only truth is important and truth can be found without religion.

            The true mystic lives a life based on service to others, to share their gift without asking for anything in return. They are serving God, thus what more could they need? They encourage people to stop believing what everyone else tells them about how they should live or think, but instead to believe in themselves and learn to go to their own heart to find the answers inside. Our heart will never lead us astray, it is just society has taught us how to ignore what it says. They help us believe in our own value and worth, and learn to love ourself and the life we want to live. Mystics are not the hermits that people believe them to be, for even in Egyptian times the mystery students spent time alongside the average population. “The true mystic is not a reclusive saint who avoids others. The true mystic lives alongside others: coming and going, eating and sleeping, buying and selling, marrying and chatting- but not for a moment does he forget God.”[13] The mystic has learned the importance of present awareness. In this state of being fully present they think only of the activity at hand, and the divine which is not only the object of their activity, but themselves as well.

 

Priests

            There were many levels and titles depending on a priest’s advancement and particular function (see Sacred Tradition in Ancient Egypt by Rosemary Clark for numerous titles for priests). Other than the highest priests of the temple, who would almost never leave, the rest of the priests were only there for certain periods of the year. They would come to the temple for three months a year for intense training and purification. For the other nine months they would be back in Egyptian society. The reason was twofold. Firstly their new higher knowledge and wisdom were needed to help run the society. The second reason was they needed to be outside of the calm temple environment to put their teachings to the test. It is like someone who today only studies on a mountaintop, where it is easier to find inner peace. At times they would have to return to the centre of the city to see if they could keep their level of peace and inner wisdom. It is a main reason why the average person was not allowed into the temple itself, for it needed to be a sanctuary where the students could learn and mediate in peace and calmness…they would get enough challenge during their nine months in the community.

            A good depiction of how the Egyptian mystery temples ran society in Egypt’s early days was described in the books Secrets of the Talking Jaguar and Honey in the Heart by Martin Prechtel. He described the tribal life of the Mayan villages that existed until the 1970’s until obliterated by government intrusion, Christian missionaries and big business. In the villages were two sets of government. The first was the individual shamans, the healers who worked with the villagers when they became sick or needed help. Each Egyptian village and city would have their own trained shamans. The second was a hierarchy of officials who ran the village, of which the shamans could be a part. They handled the initiations, the rituals to appease the gods and looked after the village’s welfare. This ruling hierarchy in Egypt was the temple elite. To become a part of the Maya village hierarchy, one first had to show great moral character, knowledge and often obtaining wealth and property.

            When a person was finally accepted as one of the village hierarchy, they had to give away all of their money and property. The idea was to show the entire community that they were beyond self-importance and personal gain. The gain of the whole community was all that was now important. This attitude angered the Christians and businesspeople who believed one should be acquiring more money and more power, not giving any of it away. Whatever the hierarchy actually needed, the temple provided. You see, if one in a place of running something like a village (or country) is doing it for personal gain, power, and wealth (like all modern politicians) then they can be bribed. People and groups can offer property, wealth or positions if the politicians just agree to what they want. Without the need for these things anymore the only decision made by leaders would be the one that benefits the entire community. The poorest to the richest villager would have just as much say and importance in any decision made by the hierarchy.

 

“When power is placed in the hands of men who are themselves not dominated by a superior force,

 its road will inevitably lead to evil.”

RA Schwaller de Lubicz[14]

 

            As the priests learned the mysteries they were also learning to lose their own self-importance. As our desires for things and money lessen, we can open our hearts to helping all, which in Egypt meant living Maat (cosmic harmony). An individual would submit to symbolic death and rebirth, and emerge with a new identity and often a new name. Such rituals were conducted under astrologically prosperous circumstances and could even correct supposed difficulties in one’s horoscope. The priests were said to be in extraordinary health (as are older shamans and oriental masters). “They spent their lives in good health and were energetic enough for all normal activities. For their duties they incurred in maintaining the cult of the gods were very onerous, and their labours surpassed the capacity of men of average strength. They divided the night for observation of the heavens, sometimes also for divine ritual. The daytime was for the adoration of the gods to whom they sang hymns 3-4 times a day. The rest of their time was spent in the study, and they were constantly searching for and discovering something new, caring nothing for reward for they had freed themselves from that bad master, luxury. This hard and increasing labour attests their endurance and their absence of desire attests to their self-control.”[15]

            The highest ranking priests wore a leopard skin (as was similar with the Maya) and shaved their head. They were in charge of teaching the adepts and taking care of the statue of the temple Neteru (god) that was kept in the Holy of Holies or Inner Sanctuary. They would be a being who had eliminated their conscious mind, and could live fully from the heart. They would live in a state of love and service, to the students they were teaching and to God. One would be a seer (or a Beholder in the Eleusian Mysteries) who could “see” the true reality beyond the dream of this physical world.

 

Grades

            There were different grades for the teachings, as still exist in our school system. One began by learning the lesser mysteries (mostly concerning nature and our connection with it) before they could advance to the greater mysteries. There was no time limit, the length of time needed at each level was as long as it took, not to just intellectually learn the teachings but to be living them. As a modern shaman would say, knowledge becomes wisdom when it becomes a part of them. It is no longer in a book, it is in their bones and blood because they have lived the teaching in their life. No longer is it an idea, but it is an experience. “Many devotees are so busy reading and researching that they never settle into serious inner exploration.”[16] Without experiences all the teachings and knowledge in the world is useless. It was through their daily work that the teachings would gain a new meaning for them, not in their head but in their heart. They were becoming the teaching.

            The initial students learned about awakening their consciousness (what the Buddhist would call mindfulness, or a shaman, awareness). They were expected to observe, take responsibility for their actions, and gain an understanding of their entire life through the process of recapitulation. They would begin to experience spirit on an even greater level, how it would speak to them in the sound of a bird, the rays of the sun, or the coolness of the wind. It was only with these initial teachings solidly under their belt were they ready to go further. The students were expected at the initial stages to live by particular codes of conduct. One of these is the famous ten virtues: control of thought, control of action, devotion of purpose, faith in your master, being free from resentment under experience of persecution, evidence of a mission in life, confidence in one’s ability to learn and to act with wisdom, confidence to learn right from wrong, confidence to learn the real from the unreal, faith to accept the truth, readiness for initiation “when the student is ready, the master will appear.”[17]

            For the lower priests chastity was not compulsory, many had a wife and children. The teachings did not try to stop sex but teach students the proper way (tantra) so as to not lose the powerful sexual energy. In fact it was not just the leakage of sexual energy that the initiates were taught how to contain, but all the ways that we leak out our vital energy from our bodies. The Corpus Hermeticum claimed how disappointing a man’s life is if he does not have children. Many have taken this to mean all Hermetic priests were expected to marry. However this passage is symbolic. As one advances to very high stages of teaching, they are at a level where to their students they are a father or mother; while the students are sons and daughters. These are the children that are truly expected. The meaning of the statement is that if one becomes an adult (full of the mystery wisdom) and does not have children (students to pass on the teaching) their life will be disappointing for the wisdom would stop with them. The Egyptian word Sebai meant “Illuminator of the mysteries.” The teachers understood that they were just the facilitator. The teachings were the real key.

            Only in the final stages of training would the students learn healing, as opposed to the new age way today were people take a weekend course and then begin ‘healing’ people. The ancients understood that all of us are suffering from very deep physical and emotional wounding. It is impossible to truly be able to heal another until we have worked on ourself. Thus the steps were focused on the healing of the individual student, and not on giving them knowledge to heal others. If we are spending our time trying to heal others when we should be spending time on ourself, we will become stuck at the place we are at. However once the required difficult work of cleansing was complete, the priest was expected to use their skills to help others. They had made themselves whole and were now able to allow the voice of spirit they had cultivated in their early training to step in and fill them with the wisdom of how to proceed with each individual patient. The greater mysteries would also teach the Books of Tehuti (Thoth), the sciences of hieroglyphic writing, symbolic artwork, architecture, sacred number and geometry, the deeper meanings of the myths, and the truth about what happens before birth and after death.

             

Initiations

“The rites of the mystery schools are called initiations…

we have gained the understanding not only to live happily,

 but also to die with better hope.”

 Cicero, Roman initiate[18]

 

            It was assumed much of the teaching came through the process known as initiations. Actually an initiation is either a marker point for one to gain a new level (like a birthday or a wedding) or is in fact a test to see what you have learned. There have been many books written on the Egyptian initiations, such as in Manly Hall’s Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians. The real understanding of what is an initiation and how it was performed are not that well understood today. 

            Certain initiations were performed along the way, such as the choosing of a new name. Native Indian cultures often still wait years before naming a child, until the child’s gifts and personality has developed. Often such a ceremony follows the young adult’s vision quest. Today most everyone takes the exact name they were given at birth, without ever questioning what that name means or how it affects them. Women even change their name to that of their husband, in effect becoming his property. In the mysteries the students would learn the power of words and sound and would begin to search for a name that exemplified the specific energies they wanted in their life. Think how many times a day your name is spoken, and each time it is creating a certain energy. This name change is also symbolic as to show our inner us that we are no longer the person we were before.

            Initiations were designed to find ways to help lift the Veil of Isis, the covering over our true sight. The teachings are not a bunch of books to be read, or an accumulation of information, but is an awakening of an inner connection to gnosis (divine wisdom of everything). The initiation does not give us great powers like people think, instead they open us to our own inner power and our soul. We have some deeper connection to the world around us, and at the same time seem farther away from everything. Each initiation helps bit by bit to free up our energy so we can connect to this source of gnosis.         The ancient initiations were very hard, often with death as a possible result. Initiation is always a one to one experience between the initiate and the power, energy or god they are attempting to understand. The difficult initiations that make their way into books were used in order to shock or scare the initiate into using all of their personal power gained within the training. The initiate does not realize until later that no challenge (including any initiation) is given to us if those spirit forces do not deem us to have the necessary power to be able to deal with it properly. Thus putting an initiate under the most severe consequences will force them to learn fast how to channel all the power and knowledge they have gained to this point, or perhaps die. Should they fail and remain alive, the initiation process will have revealed another part of their own beliefs that held them back. They will then have a first hand experience on what to work with.[19]

            Part of the reason for the hard initiation is the fact that teaching was done in a very serene and peaceful environment (the temple), but real tests had to be given to see how the initiate would respond. Today the need for such terrifying initiations are rare, as most are now training not in serene silence but in a modern world that is fraught with difficulty. Modern initiations will often be soft, and have a touch of nature. The idea of any initiation is to shake us up to a higher state of consciousness and knowing. One initiation I had occurred when the ibis bird of Tehuti, which does not live for thousands of miles from where I resided, appeared one night in nature while in a state of mediation. This experience touched my heart in ways that cannot possibly be explained.

            The ritual death was an important part of the ancient initiations. If we cannot become friends with our death, we will never have a life. Most today live with a fear of death or the belief that death is a long way off. They have lots of time to tell people they love them, or to work hard and acquire wealth. Yet in truth we could die in the next five minutes, thus the teachings of the ritual death are to learn the understanding that death is nothing to be feared. They focus on the immortality of the soul, and understand the lack of time in this body so the focus is on the present moment. Another ritual death had people buried to the head in the ground overnight, or forced to spend it in their own grave. They would help let go of the grip of the conscious mind and ego on our being. Actually a ritual death is a full life recapitulation, where one has fully relived every second of their life to regain their lost energy and let go of their previous false identity. This is called the “little death.”

Similar to ritual death were a series of exercises for the initiates to have out of body experiences to again reach the understanding we are more than just our body and mind. Some compared the ritual death to the mystical period known as the Dark Night of the Soul, where the mystic must encounter all of their fears and impure parts. Yet only by having this challenge can we examine our faults, and use our own power to overcome them and advance to greater heights.

 

“There is no way to understand the practices except by living them.”

 Muata Ashby[20]

 

Drama/Sports/Games

            Even today stage productions, movies and television shows can bring out great emotion. Shakespeare kept alive many aspects of the ancient mystery tradition when he revived plays during the Renaissance. In Egypt plays were used as a way to portray myths that would be better remembered by the initiates. In time the initiate themselves would also get to play a part in the play to help connect better with the god in the myth. The Greek word Catharsis means purification, and the plays were ways people could dig deep into their inner ailments which created a cleansing. Most of the theatres built during the Renaissance were constructed using sacred geometry. Thus the very place the play was being performed would allow the catharsis to happen. Our word personality comes from the Greek word ‘persona’ meaning a mask used during the ritual dramas. They were explaining that our personality is no more than a mask that hides our true being or true self. One must learn how to rid of the mask in order to let our true being shine through.[21]

            Sports are also a great way to connect with our true being and the wonders of the universe. Each temple included some sort of facility for sports. Just as the Maya ballgame was originally a teaching ground for enlightenment not the game of sacrifice it became for the Aztec, so too were sports used to teach higher wisdom. When participating in sports there is no time to think as a tennis ball is coming, football is thrown, or puck is shot. We cannot take time to predict, only react. This reaction is a connection to a deeper instinctual part of ourselves, that if done properly can help us to tap into this instinct when not involved in the activity. Sports help to teach patience, living in the moment, and open us to higher states of consciousness. Most long time athletes can remind themselves of a time when everything seemed perfect, or time slowed down while they were still moving at normal speed. They were in some way tapping into a power beyond their normal awareness.

True sport is not the way it has become. Today we, or as part of a team, take on an opponent that is seen as the enemy. This enemy must be defeated which will lead to conflict. Since the greatest joy is believed to come from winning, what happens when we don’t win? We feel sad. True sport is meant for each of us to participate to the best of our ability, to use the experience for joy and comradeship that we take with us when it is finished. When in this state of peace and detachment one can use the activity to reach deeper states of being. The mystics of India see all life as a game or sport that they call Leela. With this understanding there is no need to win, or to be better than anyone else, just to do your best and enjoy the experience.[22]

            On the walls of Egyptian temples many sports are depicted including: boxing, wrestling, bat/ball games and stick fighting. These sports when performed in the African way (as with dance) were exercise, martial arts, and ways to open consciousness. The actual competition was not as important compared to what each of the participants was learning from it. Sometimes sporting competitions would be held for the public, but usually opponents were delegated with being either Set or Horus. Of course Horus would always win, thus these competitions were more set up along the lines of a ritual play to use the skill of the participants to help teach a lesson. The best modern example of this I can give is the Harlem Globetrotters. They produce an event in which one side will always wind up winning (portraying the myth of good over evil) will showcase magnificent athletic skill in an environment that allowed the skill to occur. The Globetrotters also use humour and laughter so the entire audience goes home entertained and happy. This is the Egyptian way, with the crowd not choosing sides but simply entertained by the skills while laughing and receiving lessons. The players would be free of intense competition to allow altered states of consciousness that would lead to a greater display of skill.

            While there were many games in Egypt, the most famous was Senet, played on a board that symbolized the passage of the dead through the underworld. The object was to move pieces around a board of thirty squares (called houses) while avoiding hazardous squares and finding positive helping squares (similar to modern snakes and ladders). This game was often shown in chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead. The person is rarely shown playing an opponent, thus represents the meditative focus that the game demands. It is shown played in a hall or room, which is representative of our inner mind where we will play out the game symbolically. Its inclusion in such a work shows that Senet was far more than just a game, but was used as a teaching instruction of the mysteries.

Though few realize it, the game of chess is a powerful teaching tool of mysticism. The board is a square, which symbolizes the number four and the earth. It contains 64 squares, the same number of hexagrams in the I Ching or parts of human DNA. The alternating white and black squares can be seen as the yin and yang that constantly mesh together upon the board (earth). The pieces used become the energies of the universe, while the rules imposed on play are the laws of nature. The pieces allow for action or the movement of energy within the world. Each of the pieces, and their relationship to each other, are some aspect of ourselves.

We each have a male part and a female part, symbolized in chess by the king and the queen. The king, while the most important piece on the board for the entire game revolves around it, is rarely used and hidden or protected most of the time. This king symbolized our true essence that we mostly hide or keep protected in some way. Just like our soul, the king can never be captured or taken for the game ends when it can no longer move. Our soul will likewise end our game of life when it (our body) can no longer move. It also symbolizes the conscious mind, often depicted by alchemists as the ego king. The game ends with a check-mate, or shah-mata (the king is dead) in Persian. The queen meanwhile is the most powerful piece on the board. She can move unlimited squares in eight directions (the number of Tehuti and wisdom). The bishop must spend the entire game on a set of squares, white for intellect (mind) and black for the heart. The knight moves in what few notice as right angled triangles, while all of its moves could form an octagon. It represents the initiate who moves ahead by jumps using the power of sacred wisdom. The rook only moves in straight lines and is our ability to act in the physical world. The pawn is us. It attempts to cross the entire board (seven squares) which is actually the seven chakras we are trying to master. The pawn can only move one step at a time, or two in case of a first move perhaps signifying past life wisdom. It can never move backwards, explaining that we can only go forward on the path. The pawn has a very hard time as so many of the other pieces (energies) are waiting to stop us at our current place. If the pawn can reach the end, the 7th chakra, it becomes free to choose what it wants to be.[23]

 

Pharaoh/Male-Female

            The mystery temples actually ran the country of Egypt. In the Old Kingdom, Pharaohs were not sons of previous Pharaohs as became the case in later periods. The Pharaoh was originally a high priest of the mystery traditions. When the previous Pharaoh died, the high priests would gather (likely at Heliopolis) to elect a new King. This King would be deemed to be of the highest moral standing and have learned the secrets of the universe. Thus the Pharaoh reached a state of purity and knowledge that allowed them to take on a role that would for the rest of their lives require them to fulfil specific ritual on a daily basis that would keep Egypt, and in fact the earth, living with Maat (harmony). The Pharaoh represented every Egyptian person and he performed each aspect of his life for the benefit of every Egyptian. Some handled this task better than others, and if the choice was found to be a poor one, a change would be made.

            Just because a high priest was elected to be King did not necessarily mean this would come to pass. The rulership of Egypt went through the female bloodline of the previous King. The newly elected Pharaoh would have to marry the daughter of the previous one. The daughter had complete control of the situation, for she herself would be trained as a high priestess. All of her qualities of intuition and prophecy would be required. She could either accept or reject the elected choice of the priests. If she rejected, an entire new election was needed. The word Pharaoh comes from the word Per-Ah, which is the female word for seat. It is the seat Hathor gives for Horus to rest, or the throne Isis has that Osiris can become king by sitting in. The word means the seat of power (which is the female) not the male who sits in that seat. This system of rulership was based on a male-female balance to the rule of Egypt (only by balance could Maat be sustained). As the age of Aries came into being around 2000BC, new ideas based on male energy dominance and worship of only the sun (male) took over while the female energies (moon) were excluded. It is why God began to be seen as a male and called the Father, for they were in effect worshipping only the male energy. As this took over Egypt, the kingship began to be controlled and passed on from father to son. It was symbolic of the exclusion of the feminine all over the world. Yet at its heart, the Egyptian mystery tradition and rulership in its glory years was one of complete balance.

            The goal of the teachings was to combine our male and female parts into one. Just as a male and female must come together to create a new life form, so too must we internally to create a new consciousness. The combination is still understood in Oriental medicine where different channels and organs are Yin or Yang (male or female). Different ailments will require different remedies. In Egypt these teachings were expressed with the Eye of Horus where the right male eye of the sun was combined with the left feminine eye of Tehuti.

 

Purification

            The ideas of purification were very important in the mystery tradition. To purify means one first removes from our personal temple all of the impure things we have added to it from food, drink and the environment. Next one cleans the emotional impurities formed from our own mind. Finally we begin to purify our higher subtle bodies, our DNA (what was given to us from our parents), until we can reach our perfected soul. It is a hard concept to get across to students that everyone of us comes into the earth perfect, and is in fact still perfect. All of those parts of us that make us perfect never go away. The problem is that as we grow up we add all sorts of things that are not ours. We must think of ourselves as a garden that starts out with the perfect array of flowers, soil, insects etc. With time flowers we don’t need for our journey, weeds and other plants and animals are given to us. Thus we must remove all of the things that were not there in the first place. This is the essence of purification, the removing of all that we have acquired that takes us away from our true essence.

            Every ancient Egyptian temple had a sacred lake where the holy waters were used in purification ceremonies and the first baptisms were performed. Fasting was also a means of helping to purify the body and remove the toxins acquired. There were many ways to provide health, balance and inner power including specific energy extraction, cupping, massage, hands on healing, journeying, fire, sound, herbs and stones that would provide health, balance and inner power. Egyptian purifications were often shown in reliefs with two gods, usually Tehuti (wisdom) and Horus (that which overcomes opposition) pouring streams of water or ankhs over the head the individual. This symbolized the entire process of the ritual purification, but when the ankh, uas or djed were shown it symbolized more than just a physical purification.

            No one else can do the work for us. All the master or ritual object can do is help us become aware of these parts in us so that we can deal with them face to face. It can be as simple as dealing with the fact we like to smoke cigarettes, or to as heavy as beliefs acquired from a traumatic childhood incident. We are the ones who face the cleaning process, the purification is just a means to take the block out of its trapped state and put it right in front of our face to deal with. Through this process one would learn that the world out there is actually something that we are projecting. As our inner world changes so to will the outer.

 

Light

            The process of mystical training has been known by the term enlightenment. What is this Light the mystery students seek? It is echoed in the proper title of the Book of the Dead, which should read as the Teachings of How to Become Light. Light is the mind of God that comes to each created being just as a ray of the sun reaches all of the things on earth. When connected with this Light we reach our true mind in the heart. When we can merge with the Light we realize we are not what we always thought we were, but instead realize we are divine. It is the statement of Jesus that “I and the Father are One,” for once one merges with the Light they realize that nothing exits except God.

            The final goal of Buddhism is nirvana (to extinguish), where the separate self is blown out like a candle to find the emptiness that contains everything. When one becomes one with the Light, they realize there is no light…only nothing or darkness. When one reaches this state of nothing, they actually reach everything. The key is that the personal self cannot cease to be, because in truth it never really existed. This state of nothing is an inner state of peace that takes us beyond the physical world. It is exemplified in Egypt by Osiris, the god of the all-black. Everything is in fact black. Science teaches if there were only pure white light and nothing to illuminate, it would be totally dark thus the pure black is the pure light. Only because you yourself do not have enough light do you perceive colour. “Like God who can not be seen yet is everywhere bringing all things into existence, light reveals everything yet is in itself invisible.” Schwaller de Lubicz wrote, “Light the first phenomena- but it is known to us only through blackness.”[24] Thus to be enlightened, to reach the light, takes us to nothing. This of course has a different meaning than darkness which is something which keeps us from the light. However to reach the light, or COME into light, we have to admit our own current darkness!