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The Mystery Schools and the

Rosicrucian Order, AMORC


Julie Scott, SRC
The Mystery Schools were centers of study and mystic initiation in the ancient Western world
where the mysteries of the Universe, of Nature, and of Humanity were explored. These spiritu-
al centers educated students in natural laws and principles so they could better live in harmony
with them; encouraged introspection in order to know oneself better; and engendered within
a feeling of connection with the Great Mystery of the Universe.
Today, the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC perpetuates many of the traditions of these ancient
Mystery Schools and the philosophies that sprang from them. In this article, Grand Master
Julie Scott leads us on a journey through these inspiring ancient sources to Rosicrucianism
today. Each of the traditions described below has been the focus of one of the past sixteen is-
sues of the Rosicrucian Digest, beginning with mysterious Atlantis to modern Martinism.
This issue of the Digest concludes this seventeen-part series, culminating with the Rosicrucian
Order, AMORC.

o begin, let’s define the word and the Mystery Schools associated with

T “mystery.” Mystery comes from


mysteria—which is made up of the
verb, muo, meaning “to close”, as in to close
Akhnaton and his great, great grandfather,
Thutmose III, as well as the Pythagorean
School in Italy.
the mouth (in secrecy) or to close the eyes, What do we know about these ancient
and teria meaning festival. According to Mystery Schools?
Carl Kerenyi, one of the leading experts on
the Eleusinian Mysteries, the word mysteria In some cases, we don’t know a lot,
means, “the festival at which the secret is and even if we did, I shouldn’t tell you ev-
communicated.”1 erything. Secrecy and ambiguity are con-
sistent with these ancient traditions. The
The Dictionary of Philosophy and Reli- ancient Mystery Schools often required an
gion defines the Mystery religions as “The oath of secrecy from its initiates (usually
name given to a group of religious cults under the penalty of death) and lessons or
popular in Hellenic and Roman periods. answers were often presented in the form
The mystery religions were characterized of riddles or paradox, as with the famous
by a body of esoteric knowledge and ritual oracles at Delphi.
that allegedly had the power to purify the There is also a lot that has not yet been
initiate and guarantee union with God discovered. Egyptology, for example, is
and personal immortality. Virtually all of a relatively new field. Champollion, the
the mysteries centered around dying and French linguist and father of Egyptology,
rising saviors.”2 only first announced the deciphering of the
These include the Eleusinian and Or- ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1822. For
phic Mysteries of ancient Greece and the centuries before then, no one knew what
Rosicrucian Roman Mithraic Mysteries. Added to the hieroglyphs meant. Egyptologists did
Digest this list in the Rosicrucian tradition are not recognize Akhnaton as a pharaoh until
No. 2 the Egyptian mysteries of Osiris and Isis about 100 years ago because his name had
2014
Page 2
been expunged from the ancient records. and shamans. However, we can piece to-
Also, although there are some inscriptions gether the general themes and purposes of
and texts available to us related to some of the ancient Mystery Schools by studying
these traditions (such as the descriptions of their context, the available inscriptions,
the rituals associated with the Cult of Isis, temples, texts, etc., and by attuning to
recorded by the ancient writers Iamblichus the spirit of the ancient Egyptian, Greek,
and Apuleuis) definitive texts or inscrip- and Roman people thereby opening our-
tions are rare. selves up to other ways of perceiving be-
There is also the challenge of being yond just intellectual understanding. We
able to accurately interpret them with our can reach beyond our own time and space
more modern minds and biases. Many of to step into the shoes of the ancient mys-
the interpretations of the texts that have tics, students, and initiates, as they did in
been found were presented through the their time. Finally, and most importantly,
perspectives of ar- we can study and
chaeologists and re- experience the wis-
searchers who were dom of these ancient
often influenced traditions as it has
by their Victorian been passed down
upbringings or the through the Western
dominant cultural esoteric tradition.
or academic theories Christopher Mc-
of their day. Intosh, Ph.D. writes
For example, for in his book, The
years the prevailing Rosicrucians, “The
view in Egyptol- Rosicrucian move-
ogy has been that ment is part of a way
the Pyramid texts of thinking whose
were only funerary roots go far back into
texts, a guide for the antiquity and which
pharaoh as he trav- can be described as
eled to the afterlife. the Western esoteric
What if, instead, tradition. This tra-
these texts were in- dition, drawing on
terpreted from a sha- many sources, has
manic perspective, run through Euro-
guiding not the dead king, but the shaman pean history exercising a strong influence,
initiate to another plane, from which he sometimes underground, at other times
returned with the ability to heal and to flourishing in the open…A great revival
communicate with those on other planes of this tradition began in Italy during the
of existence? Renaissance and opened up a new phase
Definitive knowledge of what hap- in the development of esoteric thought.
pened in the ancient Mystery Schools From then on it had an assured, if still
therefore is limited by; secrecy over the somewhat underground, place in Western
ages, a dearth of texts and artifacts available thought.”3
for research, and the limits of our under- McIntosh traces the Rosicrucian move-
standing of the perspectives of the ancient ment beginning with Gnosticism, a move-
peoples, especially their priests, priestesses, ment, which had Egypt as its focal point
Page 3
of development, and Hermetism; through the cultural and spiritual home of new-
NeoPlatonism, including the Pythagorean born antiquity.
strain that greatly appealed to Renaissance
scholars; to Kabbalah; to the Esoteric Tra- Dynastic Egypt
dition in Germany that set the conditions (ca. 3000 to 30 BCE)
for the release of the Rosicrucian manifes- Legend tells us that the first King of
tos in the early 1600s; up to modern Rosi- Egypt was chosen from among the Atlan-
crucian movements. teans. Later, Thutmose III (1473 – 1425
The Rosicrucian Order, AMORC trac- BCE), in addition to serving as Pharaoh,
es its tradition back to a “Primordial Tradi- directed the mystery school at Karnak and
tion.” “This concept first appeared in the organized the mystery schools together as
Renaissance, especially after the rediscov- a single Order. His great, great grandson,
ery of the Corpus Hermeticum, a group of Akhnaton, (ca. 1353 – ca.1335 BCE) was
mysterious texts attributed to an Egyptian responsible for introducing monotheism to
priest, Hermes Trismegistus.”4 Below is the ancient Egypt and inspiring an artistic rev-
timeline tracing the Rosicrucian tradition olution. After Alexander the Great’s con-
from some of its most ancient sources to quest in 332 BCE, Egyptian culture and
today. spirituality blended with Greek Hellenism
and was highly influential throughout the
Rosicrucian Order, AMORC Mediterranean. Through many historical
Time Line paths this ancient tradition finds a modern
manifestation in the Rosicrucians.
Atlantis (Prehistory)
Plato (ca. 428 – ca. 348 BCE) described Essenes
Atlantis in detail in his books, Critias and (Second century BCE to 100 CE)
Timaeus. He stated that his knowledge on The Essenes were mystics who came
this subject was reported to him by Solon together in spiritual communities through-
(ca. 640 – 558 BCE) who, according to out Egypt and Israel; one of these centers
his own words, obtained it from Egyptian was most probably Qumran, where the
priests. Some people believe that Atlantis Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Jesus is be-
actually existed and is the cradle of the lieved by many to have been a member
Primordial Tradition, which flows through of the Essene community. Many of their
the Rosicrucian tradition. This highly so- practices paralleled those of the Pythago-
phisticated and spiritual civilization flour- reans. Among the different groups of Es-
ished for millennia, until it declined into senes were the Theraputae near Alexan-
corruption, warmongering, and supersti- dria, specializing in healing, as described
tion, and finally ended in a cataclysm in by Philo. Health of body, soul, and spirit
9564 BCE. Others believe that Atlantis always figures prominently in the Rosicru-
merely symbolizes the unknown source of cian tradition and its antecedents.
the Primordial Tradition, representing a
previous “Golden Age.” Orphic Mysteries
(ca. sixth century BCE to 391 CE)
Predynastic Egypt The Orphic mysteries were associated
(ca. 10000 to ca. 3000 BCE) with the life of the greatest of all musicians
Rosicrucian According to the Primordial Tradition, – Orpheus. Some mystical texts describe
Digest the Atlanteans chose Egypt as the place to him as being an initiate who actually ex-
No. 2 lay the foundation for what was to become isted. According to these texts, he spent
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Page 4
The Pythagorean School.

twenty years in Egypt and was a mem- It is difficult to separate the Orphic and
ber of the mystery school associated with Pythagorean traditions.
Memphis. However, by the sixth century Delphic Mysteries
BCE, Orpheus was definitely a mythical (1700 BCE to 391 CE)
figure. It was said that Orpheus’s music
could move even inanimate objects and Delphi served as the spiritual center
his sacred songs told the greatest secrets of Greece for over 2,000 years. The Pyth-
of the universe. Orphism stressed a strict ias (priestesses) played a fundamental role
standard of ethical and moral conduct. in the oracles of Delphi. They were said
Initiates purified themselves and adopted to have the power to commune with the
ascetic practices for the purpose of purg- invisible world and to speak on behalf of
ing evil and cultivating the Dionysian (Di- the god, Apollo. The temple of Delphi ex-
vine) aspect of human behavior. The Or- erted a tremendous influence in antiquity
phics abstained from eating meat and were not only because of the oracles, but also
known to wear white, symbolic of purity. because it housed a prestigious mystery
school. Above the portal of the temple of
Apollo in Delphi was inscribed the injunc-
tion, “Know Thyself.” This is ever the pur-
pose of each Rosicrucian.

Pythagorean School
(Mid-sixth century to 492 BCE)
Pythagoras taught about relationships,
especially between seemingly disconnected
elements of the universe, such as mathe-
matics and the physical world, and music
and mathematics. Pythagoreans studied
Delphi. the laws of the universe in order to bring

Page 5
their minds into harmony with Cosmic ity. Many suggest that the Isis-Horus pair
reality, thereby becoming one with the continues in images of the Virgin and
universe. This was their sacred goal in life. Child. The ancient writers, Apuleius, in
Following five years of silence, if found his book, The Golden Ass, and Iamblichus
worthy, Pythagorean postulants (men and in The Egyptian Mysteries, described in de-
women) were considered for instruction tail the rituals of the Isis Mysteries. These
into the Mysteries, presented in three de- Mysteries addressed the desire for personal
grees—the first, dedicated to the science transcendence and salvation and presented
of numbers; the second, to moral and po- a powerful image of the protective, nurtur-
litical laws; and the third, to esoteric doc- ing, and victorious Divine Feminine.
trines. The Pythagorean mystical under-
standing of the universe has far outlived Mithraic Mysteries
the actual school, including many Greek (Second century BCE to fifth century CE)
philosophers following Pythagoras, and The Mithraic Mysteries were an ini-
has influenced much of Western thought tiatic mystery school in which students
in one form or another. Rosicrucian phi- were gradually introduced to astronomi-
losophy embodies many of these concepts. cal truths through symbol, and how this
knowledge could lead the seeker to union
Eleusis with the power behind all existence. The
(1800 BCE to 500 CE) Mithraic Mysteries included a series of
The Eleusinian Mysteries arose in Ele- seven initiations in which the candidates
usis (12 miles from Athens) before spread- underwent trials. This combination of sci-
ing to all of Greece and beyond. The mys- entific study, symbolic initiation, and cos-
teries were based on the myth of Demeter, mic union is a feature of Rosicrucian work.
the goddess of fertility, and her daughter,
Persephone. Their story symbolizes the
human soul’s return, after the death of
the body, to its universal origin or loving
source. The Eleusinian initiations were
presented in three stages: the minor ex-
pression; the major expression (lasting nine
days); and the highest of the three – the ep-
opteia (meaning “the state of having seen”).
These Mysteries were so important that
during antiquity the whole Greek world
held a 55-day truce to permit travel to and
from Eleusis. The progressive concept of
initiation and its effect on the individual is
continued in Rosicrucian Initiation.

Isis Mysteries
(Fourth century BCE to sixth century CE)
As the Hellenized Egyptian myster-
ies of Isis spread throughout the Mediter-
Rosicrucian ranean world, from the Middle East to
Digest Britain, they soon became one the most
No. 2 widespread exports of Egyptian spiritual-
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Page 6
Hermetism ing the individual yearning for salvation
(First century BCE to the present day) from a philosophical viewpoint. Neopla-
Based on the writings attributed to tonism posits a single source from which
Hermes Trismegistus (the Hellenized form all existence emanates and with which an
of the Egyptian God, Thoth) the Hermetic individual soul can be mystically united.
tradition was honored by practitioners of This philosophical school provided ways
Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Jewish, Chris- that the individual could ascend the ladder
tian, and later Islamic religions, and many of being through theoria – contemplation
believe it represents a continuity of the of the Divine. Neoplatonic approaches
teachings in the Egyptian Temples and have continued to be of tremendous im-
Mystery Schools. Hermetism inspired portance in Jewish, Eastern and Western
many Renaissance mystics and scholars, Christian, and Islamic Mysticism, as well
and modern evolutions of this tradition as the esoteric schools, including Rosicru-
are often referred to as Hermeticism. Her- cian thought.
metism emphasizes the organic connection Kabbalah
of the Divine with the earthly (“As above, (From the beginning of Judaism to the
so below”) and points the way of return to present day)
the source of being. Rosicrucian philoso- The word Kabbalah means “tradition”
phy is heir to the Hermetic tradition. or “received tradition.” At the beginning
Gnosticism it was taught only by word of mouth and
(First century CE to fourteenth century CE) in the greatest secrecy. The primary books
One of the early varieties of the Judeo- that make up the foundational writings
Christian spiritual tradition, the various of Kabbalah include a meditation manual
groups we call “Gnostics” today empha- called the Sepher Yezirah, or “Book of For-
sized the individual coming to personal mation,” whose first date of appearance in
and interior experiential knowledge (Gno- written form is unknown, but whose oral
sis) of the transcendent Divine One which teachings date back before the first cen-
is within the innermost being. This Gnosis tury; and the Zohar, known as the “Book
then allows the person to enter into union of Splendor”, first printed in the late thir-
with the source of all existence. Persecuted teenth century. There are strong Kabbalis-
in the Mediterranean in the fourth to fifth tic connections to Neoplatonism, Rosicru-
centuries CE, Gnostics continued their cianism, and Martinism.
spiritual practice, moving to Eastern Eu- Alchemy
rope, the Middle East, Northern Italy, and
finally Southern France, where they were (Originated in or through Egypt, first
driven underground in the fourteenth cen- written documents in third century CE to
tury CE. The interior center of knowledge the present day)
is a familiar theme that manifests in Rosi- It is said that Hermes Trismegistus, to
crucian studies and practice. whom the “Emerald Tablet” is attributed,
instituted alchemy so as to “manifest on
Neoplatonism Earth the power and wisdom of the dei-
(Third – sixth centuries CE, influential to ties.” The goal of the alchemist is to trans-
the present day) mute that which is base to that which is
The last flowering of the Classical pure. Dr. Carl Jung understood alchemy
Greek philosophical tradition, the Neopla- to represent the process of self-realization.
tonists synthesized the approaches of Plato, Alchemy includes physical alchemy (for
Aristotle, Pythagoras, and others, address- example, turning lead into gold) and spiri-
Page 7
tual alchemy (personal transformation.) Its Martinism
concepts are part of the Rosicrucian cur- (Eighteenth century to the present day)
riculum. From a historical perspective, the
origins of Martinism go back to an eigh-
teenth century organization known as the
Order of the Élus-Cohen, founded by
Martinès de Pasqually (1717-1774). The
Traditional Martinist Order is an initiatic
Order and a school of moral chivalry based
essentially on Judeo-Christian mysticism.
Its name is derived from that of Louis-
Claude de Saint-Martin (1743-1803), the
French mystic and author, who wrote un-
der the pseudonym of “the Unknown Phi-
losopher.” It was formed into an Order by
Gérard Encausse, MD, known in esoteric
circles as Papus, and Augustin Chaboseau
Rosicrucianism in the late nineteenth century, and is now
(1614 to present day) conducted under the auspices of the Rosi-
The Rosicrucian tradition emerged in crucian Order, AMORC.
Europe with the publication of the three
Rosicrucian manifestos, Fama Fraternita- Rosicrucian Order, AMORC
tis, Confessio Fraternitatis, and Chymical (1915 to the present day)
Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz; pub- In 1909 Harvey Spencer Lewis trav-
lished in 1614, 1615, and 1616. For years, eled to France where he accepted from the
Europe had been embroiled in religious, Masters of the Order the charter to rees-
political, and social strife and many longed tablish the Rosicrucian tradition in Amer-
for a “new Reformation” aimed at disarm- ica in 1915. Since then the Ancient and
ing the superstition and religious intol- Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, also known
erance of the time. The manifestos were as the Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, has
most likely the work of “the Tubingen served as a spiritual path to hundreds of
Circle,” a group of thirty German scholars thousands of women and men through-
and students who were passionate about out the world and continues to perpetuate
alchemy, Hermeticism, Kabbalah, astrol- many of the traditions of the ancient Mys-
ogy, naometry, and Christian Mysticism. tery Schools and the important philoso-
The manifestos enjoyed considerable suc- phies that sprang from them.
cess and circulated throughout Europe.
Many philosophers of the time became
aware of their message; among them Fran- ENDNOTES
cis Bacon and John Amos Comenius are 1. Carl Kerenyi, Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and
mentioned most often. In 1623, the Rosi- Daughter. Translated by Ralph Manheim (New York:
Schocken Books, 1967/1977), 46.
crucians posted placards on the walls of 2. William L. Reese, Dictionary of Philosophy and Reli-
Paris announcing that the Brothers of the gion (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press Inter-
Rose Cross were staying “visible and invis- national, 1996), 501.
3. Christopher McIntosh, The Rosicrucians (York Beach,
ible” in their city. Today, the Rosicrucian ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1997).
Rosicrucian
Digest Order, AMORC perpetuates the Rosicru- 4. Christian Rebisse, Rosicrucian History and Mysteries
No. 2 cian tradition worldwide. (San Jose, CA: Grand Lodge of the English Language
2014 Jurisdiction, AMORC, 2005), 3.
Page 8

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