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Mystery Schools and Religious Movements Catalogue Ancient to Today
Mystery Schools and Religious Movements: a Catalogue from Antiquity to Today lists, as fully as we can, the initiatory schools, mystery cults, esoteric orders and unusual religious movements of history and of the present — each with its dates, founder or centre, core teaching and status today. It is a catalogue, described neutrally in each movement's own terms; describing a group is not endorsing it, and groups that ended in harm are named as such. For the themes behind them, see Mystery Schools. Alpha — additions welcome.
1. Mystery cults of the ancient world
| Name | Where / when | Centre of the teaching | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eleusinian Mysteries | Eleusis, Greece; c. 1500 BCE?–392 CE | Demeter and Persephone; initiates promised a better lot after death; the rite was never revealed | ended under Theodosius |
| Samothracian Mysteries | Samothrace; Archaic–4th c. CE | the Great Gods (Kabeiroi); protection at sea | ended |
| Orphic mysteries | Greece, S. Italy; 6th c. BCE– | Dionysus–Zagreus myth, the soul's purity, gold leaves for the dead | ended; texts survive (Derveni papyrus, gold tablets) |
| Dionysian / Bacchic mysteries | Greek and Roman world | ecstatic rites of Dionysus; suppressed in Rome 186 BCE (Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus) | ended |
| Pythagorean brotherhood | Croton, S. Italy; 6th c. BCE | number as the order of the cosmos, transmigration, silence and diet rules | ended; revived as Neopythagoreanism |
| Mysteries of Isis | Egypt → Roman world; 3rd c. BCE–4th c. CE | initiation as death and rebirth (Apuleius, Metamorphoses 11) | ended |
| Magna Mater (Cybele and Attis) | Phrygia → Rome 204 BCE | the mother goddess, the dying Attis, the taurobolium | ended |
| Mysteries of Mithras | Roman Empire; late 1st–4th c. CE | seven grades, the bull-slaying, cave temples | ended |
| Hermeticism | Egypt (Greek texts, 1st–3rd c. CE) | Corpus Hermeticum; knowledge (gnosis) of the divine mind | revived from 1463 (Ficino) to today |
| Gnostic schools | Mediterranean; 2nd–4th c. CE | Valentinians, Sethians, Basilideans; salvation by gnosis; the Nag Hammadi library | ended (texts found 1945) |
| Neoplatonist theurgy | Syria, Athens; 3rd–6th c. CE | Iamblichus, Proclus: ritual union with the gods | ended (school closed 529) |
| Essenes and Therapeutae | Judaea; Egypt; 2nd c. BCE–1st c. CE | communal purity, a solar calendar; the Dead Sea Scrolls community (debated link) | ended |
2. Living traditions with closed or initiatory cores
| Name | Since | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Mandaeans | 1st–3rd c. CE (Iraq, Iran) | Gnostic baptists who honour John the Baptist; priestly initiation; still living, now largely in diaspora |
| Yazidis | 12th c. (roots older) | Kurdish faith around Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel; hereditary castes (sheikhs, pirs, murids); still living |
| Druze | 11th c. (Egypt, Levant) | a closed faith: no converts since 1043; the uqqal (initiated) and juhhal; still living |
| Alawites and Nusayris | 9th–10th c. | initiatory Shi'i esoteric tradition; still living |
| Nizari Ismailis | 1094– | the Alamut castles ("Assassins" of legend); today led by the Aga Khan |
| Sufi orders (tariqas) | 12th c.– | initiation by a master; Mevlevi (whirling), Naqshbandi, Qadiri, Chishti; living |
| Kabbalah circles | 12th c. Provence; 16th c. Safed (Isaac Luria) | Jewish mystical tradition; living |
| Zoroastrian priesthood (mobeds) | ancient | hereditary priesthood with initiation (navar); living |
3. Medieval and early modern Europe
| Name | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bogomils | 10th–15th c. (Balkans) | dualist; crushed |
| Cathars | 12th–14th c. (Languedoc) | dualist Perfecti; destroyed in the Albigensian Crusade and Inquisition |
| Brethren of the Free Spirit | 13th–15th c. | mystical freedom from sin; persecuted |
| Knights Templar | 1119–1312 | military order, dissolved by the Pope; its "secret teachings" are later legend |
| Rosicrucians | manifestos 1614–1617 | a legendary brotherhood of Christian Rosenkreuz; inspired many later orders |
| Freemasonry | first Grand Lodge 1717 | initiatory degrees using the builders' guild and Solomon's Temple; living worldwide |
| Bavarian Illuminati | 1776–1785 | Enlightenment secret society; banned; later the stuff of conspiracy legend |
| Martinism / Élus Coëns | 1760s– | Martinez de Pasqually, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin; living |
| Swedenborgians (New Church) | 1787– | Emanuel Swedenborg's visions of heaven and the spiritual sense of Scripture; living |
4. The nineteenth century
| Name | Founded | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shakers | 1774 (America) | celibate communal sect, ecstatic dance; a few members remain |
| Harmony Society, Ephrata Cloister, Oneida | 1732–1880 | celibate or communal utopian sects; ended |
| Latter-day Saints | 1830 (Joseph Smith) | temple endowment rites; living worldwide |
| Spiritualism | 1848 (Fox sisters) | contact with the dead through mediums; living |
| Theosophical Society | 1875 (Blavatsky, Olcott, Judge) | Ascended Masters (Mahatmas), root races, synthesis of religions; living |
| Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn | 1888 | ritual magic grades; split by 1903; successor orders living |
| Ordo Templi Orientis | c. 1904 | later led by Aleister Crowley (Thelema, 1904); living |
| Baháʼí Faith | 1863 | progressive revelation; living worldwide |
| Mazdaznan | c. 1890s (Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish) | neo-Zoroastrian diet and breathing; small |
5. The twentieth century
| Name | Founded | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Antoinism | 1910, Belgium (Louis-Joseph Antoine) | healing by faith; temples in Belgium and France; still living |
| Anthroposophy | 1912 (Rudolf Steiner) | spiritual science; Waldorf schools, biodynamic farming; living |
| Universal White Brotherhood | 1900s, Bulgaria (Peter Deunov) | sunrise prayers, Paneurhythmy dance; living |
| AMORC (Rosicrucian Order) | 1915 (H. Spencer Lewis) | mail-order Rosicrucian lessons; living |
| Moorish Science Temple of America | 1913/1925 (Noble Drew Ali) | Moorish identity and Islam for Black Americans; living |
| Self-Realization Fellowship | 1920 (Paramahansa Yogananda) | Kriya Yoga; living |
| Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way" | 1910s–1949 | self-remembering, sacred dances; groups living |
| Builders of the Adytum | 1922 (Paul Foster Case) | Tarot and Qabalah; living |
| Caodaism | 1926, Vietnam | a synthesis faith honouring Victor Hugo among its saints; millions of followers |
| Fraternitas Saturni | 1926, Germany | Saturnian magic lodge; living |
| Nation of Islam | 1930 (W. D. Fard, Elijah Muhammad) | see Origin Myths of Race and Ancestry Yakub Blumenbach and the Aryan Myth; living |
| Rastafari | 1930s, Jamaica | Haile Selassie as messiah, Ital diet, sacramental ganja; living |
| "I AM" Activity | 1930s (Guy and Edna Ballard) | Ascended Masters, Saint Germain met on Mount Shasta, decrees; the Ballards' 1944 fraud case (United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78) set the rule that courts may not judge the truth of religious beliefs; still active |
| Santo Daime | 1930s, Brazil (Mestre Irineu) | ayahuasca sacrament; living |
| Native American Church | 1918 (incorporated) | peyote sacrament; protected by federal law |
| Umbanda | 1908, Brazil | African, Indigenous, Catholic and Spiritist; living |
| Wicca | 1954 (Gerald Gardner) | initiatory witchcraft; living |
| Aetherius Society | 1955 (George King) | messages from cosmic masters; living |
| União do Vegetal | 1961, Brazil | ayahuasca (hoasca) sacrament; won Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita (2006) under RFRA |
| Summit Lighthouse / Church Universal and Triumphant | 1958 (Mark and Elizabeth Clare Prophet) | from the "I AM" line; Ascended Masters; diminished, still active |
| Eckankar | 1965 (Paul Twitchell) | soul travel; living |
| Raëlism | 1974 (Claude Vorilhon) | creation by extraterrestrial Elohim; living |
| Unarius | 1954 | UFO and past-life teachings; living |
6. Movements that ended in harm
Named so the record is complete:
- Peoples Temple (Jim Jones) — over 900 dead at Jonestown, 1978.
- Branch Davidians — Waco siege, 1993.
- Order of the Solar Temple — murders and suicides, 1994–1997.
- Aum Shinrikyo — sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, 1995.
- Heaven's Gate — 39 suicides, 1997.
7. Esotericists who influenced politics
Influence, not endorsement — several of these fed movements that did great harm, and that is stated.
- John Dee (1527–1608) — mathematician, astrologer and angel-magician; adviser to Elizabeth I on navigation and empire (he popularised the phrase "British Empire").
- Freemasonry and the American founders — Washington, Franklin and many signers were Masons; Masonic ideals of fraternity and reason ran through the Enlightenment, though claims of a Masonic plot are legend.
- Grigori Rasputin (1869–1916) — mystic healer at the Russian court; his influence over the Tsarina damaged the monarchy before 1917.
- Annie Besant (1847–1933) — President of the Theosophical Society; founded the All-India Home Rule League (1916) and presided over the Indian National Congress (1917).
- Ariosophy — Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels (Ostara) mixed occultism with racial mythology in Austria and Germany; the Thule Society (1918) was among the circles around the early Nazi party. The SS Ahnenerbe (1935) later sponsored pseudo-archaeology. The "Vril society" is a later fiction.
- René Guénon (1886–1951) — founder of the Traditionalist school: a primordial Tradition behind all religions and a modern world in decline.
- Julius Evola (1898–1974) — Italian esotericist; led the UR Group (Ur, Krur, 1927–29) on magic and initiation; his Revolt Against the Modern World (1934) and writings on race and the state were read in Fascist circles, though Mussolini kept him at a distance; after the war he influenced the Italian and European far right.
- Nicholas Roerich (1874–1947) — painter and Theosophist; the Roerich Pact (1935) to protect cultural monuments; his circle's letters with Henry Wallace (U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, later Vice President) — the "guru letters" — became a scandal in 1948.
- Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) — founder of Thelema; claims that he worked for British intelligence are debated.
8. Patterns
- Initiation in grades (Mithras' seven, Masonic degrees, Golden Dawn grades) mirrors a journey of the soul.
- Teachings attributed to hidden masters (Mahatmas, Ascended Masters, the Secret Chiefs) recur from Theosophy to the "I AM" line.
- Sacraments — kykeon at Eleusis, peyote, ayahuasca, ganja — sit at the centre of several, and some now have legal protection (see Religious Sacraments RFRA and the Temple of True Inner Light).
- Many claim descent from ancient Egypt or a lost temple lineage — see The Temple Lineage Hypothesis (Van Kush Ancestry).
Sources
- Burkert W., Ancient Mystery Cults (1987). Meyer M. (ed.), The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook (1987).
- Hanegraaff W. (ed.), Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism (2005). Melton J. G., Encyclopedia of American Religions (8th ed., 2009).
- United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78 (1944). Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418 (2006).
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