# 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…

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Section: Religion and practice
Last updated: 2026-10-01
Publisher: Library of Ashurbanipal (Van Kush Family Research Institute), https://wiki.soapbox.community

**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

{| class="wikitable"
! 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

{| class="wikitable"
! 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

{| class="wikitable"
! 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

{| class="wikitable"
! 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

{| class="wikitable"
! 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).