The Mysteries

Yeah...if its all about self exploration, you don't need a mystery school or any guru/teacher for that, all you need is your questions and yourself to find the answers.

The Mysteries to me, were basically the early ritualistic forms of science. I would consider shamanism in the same light, but a more primitive form of ritual science, where as mysticism is more cultivated...but still fundamentally outdated if you interpret them as man's early attempts to understand the mystery of what on earth we're doing here and the reasons for existence.

The word mysteries, borrowed from the French in the Norman era, denoted "craft" in old English. Hence the archaic expression arts and mysteries, meaning arts and crafts. Etymologically speaking, there was initially confusion among the meanings of the word ministerium (a variant of mistere, from the twelfth century), meaning "function" or "service" in Latin, largo sensu, meaning "craft," and mysterium, meaning "religious mystery."

p. 181, "The Secret History of Freemasonry: Its Origins and Coonections to the Knights Templar," by Paul Naudon.

As regards the brethren, who made all this shit up to confound oursiders, the "Mysteries" means "The Craft."

it could also mean a trade like carpentry, architecture, engineering etc

AdePT
One fully skilled or well versed in any art; from the Latin word "AdePTus," having obtained, because the AdePT claimed to be in the possession of all the secrets of his peculiar mystery. The Alchemists or Hermetic philosophers assumed the title of AdePTs. Of the Hermetic AdePTs, who were also sometimes called Rosicrucians, Spence thus writes in 1740, to his mother: "Have you ever heard of the people called AdePTs? They are a set of philosoPHers superior to whatever appeared among the Greeks and Romans. The three great points they drive at, is to be free from poverty, distempers, and death; and if you believe them, they have found out one secret that is capable of freeing them from all three. There are never more than twelve of these men in the whole world at a time; and we have the happiness of having one of the twelve at this time in Turin. I am very well acquainted with him, and have often talked with him of their secrets, as far as he is allowed to talk to a common mortal of them." (Spencer's Letter to his Mother, in Singer's Anecdotes, p. 403.) In a similar allusion to the possession of abstruse knowledge, the word is applied to some of the high degrees of Masonry.

Masonic Encyclopedia

gwap360 wrote:it could also mean a trade...

Which is what the quote refers to also.

yeah I heard that on your blog profile

Extant wrote:

The word mysteries, borrowed from the French in the Norman era, denoted "craft" in old English. Hence the archaic expression arts and mysteries, meaning arts and crafts. Etymologically speaking, there was initially confusion among the meanings of the word ministerium (a variant of mistere, from the twelfth century), meaning "function" or "service" in Latin, largo sensu, meaning "craft," and mysterium, meaning "religious mystery."

p. 181, "The Secret History of Freemasonry: Its Origins and Coonections to the Knights Templar," by Paul Naudon.

As regards the brethren, who made all this shit up to confound oursiders, the "Mysteries" means "The Craft."

Knights, craft, trade, sciences, etc...

However, they do worship the leader—the chain of command, military. It’s a military set-up, you see, like The Knights of Malta or the Knights Templars or all the other knights. Knight when you speak it, is "K" (a silent K), but if you speak it, you've got K-night; and that's no coincidence, because the allegorical figure of Cain, which has multiple allegories contained within, is their system; their system putting into allegorical form through religion, for themselves to understand, while the elite worship the exoteric. Cain went on to supposedly found cities, and so he was also Nimrod, really—all allegories. Also, he was the First Artificer, the scientist who made things, weaponry. As Nimrod, he creates the first city, the first artificial bee-hive, where you recruit and train the people into what you call a "civilization"; and the civilization runs on money because it can't support itself any other way. It doesn't grow its own food even. It must make sure that everyone else uses that money. Therefore, they get an army. Pay the army with the money and go out and conquer the little people around them and tax all their labor from them. It’s an old, old system. - Alan Watt (source)

its an interesting quote there, but I don't think its even totally right and does more to go into myth than reality.

And honest reality, I feel is the inner most secret.

But if you take the word mystery, I think its obvious that it implies "concealment from the others" or the public or whatever. If you think about an early trade guild; keeping secrets of their art would have been useful to keep their trade or business prosperous.

Think about the trade of magicians in modern history. How the art of the craft and magic tricks are only passed onto the members of its inner most circles. And their craft itself is designed to cause confusion and mystify their audience, as they profit from the audience's ignorance who enjoys being stupefied

All the magician is doing is working with a form of physics or science that the public doesn't understand

they were guilds the operatives(dr.ones) received esoteric architectural instructions from saints etc. and these cathedrals were actually communication devices like many other things around us.

what type of communication device was it?

I think the cathedrals function as a ritual gathering place, and are architecturally structured as celestial and solar observatories. A throwback to the early esoteric astronomically embedded religions

Extant wrote:

gwap360 wrote:it could also mean a trade...

Which is what the quote refers to also.

That's true, knowledge and experience are crucial for any craft. I guess the imbalance comes from caring more about the craft than the self. I have a family member suffering from this delusion.

Lucid Memes wrote:its an interesting quote there, but I don't think its even totally right and does more to go into myth than reality.

Do you mean the quote I used? If so I'd say that it doesn't delve into myth whatsoever. It basically only points to the eymology of the term mysteries as regards masonic guilds. What you say about the mysteries is almost certainly correct, the various guilds, or crafts, used inscutable esoteric language, passwords, and other private sigantures to maintain the veil over their activities.

But in all the obfuscation and overly complex explanations proferred about masons I feel that demystification and simplification is a better way often enough. Just not going too far into oversimplification.

Extant wrote:

Lucid Memes wrote:its an interesting quote there, but I don't think its even totally right and does more to go into myth than reality.

Do you mean the quote I used?

no, not your quote. i meant the watt quote i posted.