"24th Degree - Prince of the Tabernacle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Albert)

The main features of the Druidical Mysteries resembled those of the Orient. The ceremonies commenced with a hymn to the sun. The candidates were arranged in ranks of threes, fives, and sevens, according to their qualifications; and conducted nine times around the Sanctuary, from East to West. The candidate underwent many trials, one of which had direct reference to the legend of Osiris. He was placed in a boat, and sent out to sea alone, having to rely on his own skill and presence of mind to reach the opposite shore in safety. The death of Hu was represented in his hearing, with every external mark of sorrow, while he was in utter darkness.
He met with many obstacles, had to prove his courage, and expose his life against armed enemies; represented various animals, and at last, attaining the permanent light, he was instructed by the Arch-Druid in regard to the Mysteries, and in the morality of the third Degree
was a life of seclusion, after the Initiate's children were capable of providing for themselves; passed in the forest, in the practice of prayers and ablutions, and living only on vegetables. He was then said to be born again.

The fourth was absolute renunciation of the world, self-contemplation add self-torture; by which Perfection was thought to be attained, and the soul merged in the Deity. In the second Degree, the Initiate was taught the Unity of the Order, incited to act bravely in war, taught the great truths of the immortality of the soul and a future state, solemnly enjoined not to neglect the worship of the Deity, nor the practice of rigid morality; and to avoid sloth, contention,
and folly.

The aspirant attained only the exoteric knowledge in the first two Degrees. The third was attained only by a few, and they persons of rank and consequence, and after long purification, and study of all the arts and sciences known to the Druids, in solitude, for nine months. This was the symbolical death and burial of these Mysteries.

The dangerous voyage upon the actual open sea, in a small boat covered with a skin, on the evening of the 29th of April, was the last trial, and closing scene, of initiation. If he declined this trial, he was dismissed with contempt. If he made it and succeeded, he was termed thrice-born, was eligible to all the dignities of the State, and received complete instruction in the philosophical and religious doctrines of the Druids.

The Greeks also styled the, Epopihz Tigo, thrice-born and in India perfection was assigned to the Yogi who had accomplished many births. The general features of the initiations among the Goths were the same as in all the Mysteries. A long probation, of fasting and mortification, circular
processions, representing the march of the celestial bodies, many fearful tests and trials, a descent into the infernal regions, the killing of the God Balder by the Evil Principle, Lok, the placing of his body in a boat and sending it abroad upon the waters and in short, the Eastern Legend, under different names, and with some variations.

The Egyptian Anubis appeared there, as the dog guarding the gates of death. The candidate was immured in the representation of a tomb and when released, goes in search of the body of Balder, and finds him, at length restored to life, and seated upon a throne. He was obligated upon a naked sword (as is still the custom in the Rit Moderne) and sealed his obligation by drinking mead out of a human skull.

Then all the ancient primitive truths were made known to him, so far as they had survived the assaults of time and he was informed as to the generation of the Gods, the creation of the world, the deluge, and the resurrection, of which that of Balder was a type. He was marked with the sign of the cross and a ring was given to him as a symbol of the Divine Protection and also as an emblem of Perfection from which comes the custom of giving a ring to the
Aspirant in the 14th Degree.

The point within Circle and the Cube, emblem of Odin, were explained to him; and lastly, the nature of the Supreme God, "the author of everything that existeth, the Eternal, the Ancient, the Living and Awful Being, the Searcher into concealed things', the Being that never changeth" with whom Odin the Conqueror was by the vulgar confounded and the Triune God of the Indians was reproduced, as Odin, the Almighty FATHER, FREA, (Rhea or Phre), his wife (emblem of universal matter), and Thor his son (the Mediator). Here we recognize Osiris, Isis, and Hor or Horus. Around the head of Thor, as if to show his eastern origin, twelve stars were arranged in a circle.

He was also taught the ultimate destruction of the world, and the rising of a new one, in which the brave and virtuous shall enjoy everlasting happiness and delight as the means of securing which happy fortune, he was taught to practise the strictest morality and virtue. The Initiate was prepared to receive the great lessons of all the Mysteries, by long trials, or by abstinence and chastity. For many days he was required to fast and be continent, and to drink liquids calculated to diminish his passions and keep him chaste. Ablutions were also required, symbolical of the purity necessary to enable the soul to escape from its bondage in matter. Sacred butts and preparatory baptisms were used, lustrations, immersions, lustral sprinklings, and purifications of every kind. At Athens they bathed in the Ilissus, which thence became a sacred river; and before enteringthe Temple of Eleusis, all were required to wash their hands in a vase of lustral water placed near the entrance. Clean hands and a pure heart were required of the candidates.

Apuleius bathed seven times in the sea, symbolical of the Seven Spheres through which the Soul must reascend ; add the Hindus must bathe in the sacred river Ganges.

Clement of Alexandria cites a passage of Meander, who speaks of a purification by sprinkling three times with salt and water Sulphur, resin, and the laurel also served for purification as did air, earth, water, and fire. The Initiates at Heliopolis, in Syria, says Lucian, sacrificed the sacred lamb, symbol of Aries, then the sign of the Vernal Equinox; ate his flesh, as the Israelites did at the Passover and then touched his head and feet to theirs, and knelt upon the fleece. Then they bathed in warm water, drank of the same, and slept upon the ground.

There was a distinction between the lesser and greater Mysteries. One must have been for some years admitted to the former, before he could receive the latter, which were but a preparation for them, the Vestibule of the temple, of which those of Eleusis were the Sanctuary. There, in the lesser Mysteries, they were prepared to receive the holy truths taught in the greater. The Initiates in the lesser were called simply Mystic, or Initiates; but those in the greater, Epopts) or Seers. An ancient poet says that the former were an imperfect shadow of the latter, as sleep is of Death. After admission to the former, the Initiate was taught lessons of morality, and the rudiments of the sacred science, the most sublime and secret part of which was reserved for the
Epopt, who saw the Truth in its nakedness, while the Mystic only viewed it through a veil and under emblems fitter to excite than to satisfy his curiosity.

Before communicating the first secrets and primary dogmas of initiation, the priests required the candidate to take a fearful oath never to divulge the secrets. Then he made his vows, prayers, and sacrifices to the Gods. The skins of the victims consecrated to Jupiter were spread on the ground, and he was made to set his feet upon them. He was then taught some enigmatic formulas, as answers to questions, by which to make himself known. He was then enthroned,
invested with a purple tincture, and crowned with flowers, or branches of palm or olive.

We do not certainly know the time that was required to elapse between the admission to the Lesser and Greater Mysteries of Eleusis. Most writers fix it at five years. It was a singular mark of favor when Demetrius was made Mystic and Epopt in one and the same ceremony. When at length admitted to the Degree of perfection, the Initiate was brought face to face with entire nature, and learned that the soul was the whole of man; that earth was but his place of exile; that Heaven was his native country; that for the soul to be born is really to die; and that death was for it the return to a new life. Then he entered the sanctuary; but he did not receive the whole instruction at once. It continued through several years. There were, as it were, many apartments, through which be advanced by degrees, and between which thick veils intervened.

There were Statues and Paintings, says Proclus, in the inmost sanctuary, showing the forms assumed by the Gods. Finally the last veil fell, the sacred covering dropped from the image of the Goddess, and she stood revealed in all her splendor, -surrounded by a divine light, which, filling the whole sanctuary, dazzled the eyes and penetrated the soul of the Initiate. Thus is
symbolized the final revelation of the true doctrine as to the nature of Deity and of the soul, and of the relations of each to matter. This was preceded by frightful scenes, alternations of fear and joy, of light and darkness; by glittering lightning and the crashed thunder, and apparitions of specters, or magical illusions, impressing at once the eyes and ears. This Claudian describes, in his poem on the rape of Proserpine, where he alludes to what passed in her Mysteries. "The temple is shaken," he cries; fiercely gleams the lightning, by which the Deity announces his presence. "Earth trembles; and a terrible noise is heard in the midst of these terrors. The Temple of the Son of Cecrops resounds with long-continued roars; Eleusis uplifts her sacred torches; the serpents of Triptolemus are heard to hiss; and fearful Hecate appears afar."

The celebration of the Greek Mysteries continued, according to the better opinion, for nine days. On the first the Initiates met. It was the day of the full moon, of the month Boedromion ; when the moon was full at the end of the sign Aries, near the Pleiades and the place of her exaltation in Taurus. The second day there was a procession to the sea, for purification by bathing. The third was occupied with offerings, expiatory sacrifices, and other religious rites, such as fasting, mourning, continence, etc. A mullet was immolated, and offerings of grain and living animals made. On the fourth they carried in procession the mystic wreath of flowers, representing that which Proserpine dropped when seized by Pluto, and the Crown of Ariadne in the Heavens. It was borne on a triumphal car drawn by oxen; and women followed bearing mystic chests or boxes, wrapped with purple clothe, captaining grains of sesame, pyramidal biscuits, salt, pomegranates and the mysterious serpent, and perhaps the mystic phallus. On the fifth was the superb procession of torches, commemorative of the search for Proserpine by Ceres; the Initiates marching by trios, and each bearing a torch; while at the head of the
procession marched the Dadoukos.

The sixth was consecrated to Iakchos, the young Light-God, son of Ceres, reared in the sanctuaries and bearing the torch of the Sun-God. The chorus in Aristophanes terms him the luminous star that lights the nocturnal initiation. He was brought from the sanctuary, his head crowned with myrtle, and borne from the gate of the Ceramicus to Eleusis, along the sacred way, amid dances, sacred songs, every mark of joy, and mystic cries of Iakchos.

On the seventh there were gymnastic exercises and combats, the victors in which were crowned and rewarded. On the eighth was the feast of AEsculapius. On the ninth the famous libation was made for the souls of the departed. The Priests, according to Athenaus, filled two vases, placed one in the East and one in the West, toward the gates of day and night, and overturned them,
pronouncing a formula of mysterious prayers. Thus they invoked Light and Darkness, the two great' principles of nature.

During all these days no one could be arrested, nor any suit brought, on pain of death, or at least a heavy fine and no one was allowed, by the display of unusual wealth or magnificence, to
endeavor to rival this sacred pomp. Everything was for religion. Such were the Mysteries; and such the Old Thought, as in scattered and widely separated fragments it has come down to us.