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In ancient times there were secret societies of unknown origin in all parts of the world. They were/are called the Mystery Schools. Mystery Schools were basically religious cults that protected sacred knowledge and one had to become an initiate to partake in that knowledge. Seekers of this knowledge are initiated into the Mysteries through a series of symbolic rites. Then, they begin their journey towards "illumination" by being taught the symbolism of the Mysteries. Those who made it to the upper levels of the Mysteries are called Adepts and the masses of the people are referred to as the Profane. The Mystery Schools still thrive today, and their symbols are everywhere.
There are usually three degrees of initiation [though this depends on the School, but is usually three], and each degree would take many years of devotion to accomplish. The symbols of the Mystery School would be taught to the initiates, but it would not be until they had reached the highest levels that they would be bestowed the true teachings of the Mystery School. From this comes the term "mystic," or one who is versed in the Mysteries. Most of the great ancient philosophers were initiates of the Mystery Schools. These Mysteries of ancient times rather than contended with mainstream religions were actually complementary, and taught the inner symbolic meanings of the gods that the masses worshiped.
The Mystery Schools existed everywhere, from the Brahman School of India, to the Egyptian Mysteries, to the Chaldeans, the Greeks, Eleusinians, the Eastern Schools, the Babylonians, and so on. The Mystery System even existed in the cultures of the Amerindians. In fact, even Christianity began as a Mystery School [Christian Mysticism, such as the Gnostics]. Though there are many Mystery Schools all over the world, their teachings were fundamentally very similar [I will explain why in part 2].
The religion of the Mystery Schools is astrotheology and the worship of the natural. The main object of their worship was the Sun, the Light of the World, the Giver of Life. The unfathomable state of existence is called the Absolute, or "God". The Sun is considered an emblem of God's love, in that all life on Earth depended upon the Sun. The Sun, often referred to as "the Risen Savior", rose every morning and vanquished the cold and the darkness.
The most important thing to the Mystery Schools is symbolism. The Symbol is a powerful force. Everything we know is in terms of symbols. For example, words and language are all symbols. The Mystery Schools held symbolism to be the best way to convey their knowledge, for contained within a seemingly simple icon is immense amounts of meaning which only the initiated would have knowledge of [because they are taught].
For example, we can take a look at a familiar symbol, the six sided star.
This symbol nowadays is commonly known as the Star of David. It is also considered a Jewish symbol. However, there is no evidence that shows this symbol to be of Jewish origin. In fact, the traditional symbol of the Jews was the Menorah [which has it's own sacred meaning], but the 'Star of David' was more so imposed on the Jews during the Medieval period to identify them for persecution. In fact, it only became popular as a Jewish symbol in the past 200 years [which is very recent, historically speaking], especially after having been adopted as the symbol of the flag of Israel.
The true name of the symbol is the Double Interlaced Triangle of Solomon, or the Seal of Solomon [it is also the sign of Vishnu, a god of GENERATION]. To show the depth of Mystery School symbolism, I will broadly describe its meaning.
There was never a real "King Solomon." The word Solomon is to be broken down into three parts, Sol, meaning SUN in latin, Om, a sacred word in Hindu/Buddhist/Vedic traditions also meaning the SUN, and On, which is the ancient Egyptian word for their city of the SUN (also known as Heliopolis). The symbol is consisting of two equilateral triangles, one pointed up, and the other pointed down. The triangle pointing up represents FIRE and the MALE principle [dominant, control, make things happen, etc.]. The triangle pointing down represents WATER and the FEMALE principle [submissive, spontaneous, let things happen, etc]. Thus we say, men are from MARS [FIRE] and women are from VENUS [WATER].
The two triangles together form a SIX sided star. The number SIX is extremely important to the Mystery Schools, who held it to be the number of MANIFESTATION or GENERATION. This is because SIX is the number of sides of a cube [the Sacred Geometrical figure of FOUNDATION], SIX is the number of fundamental forces [to the ancients], SIX is the only number in which it's factors are three consecutive numbers [the first three numbers!] which add up to itself [6=1x2x3=1+2+3=6]. In the Bible, God takes SIX days to create the world, and creates man on the SIXTH day. Even today we use the word "sex" to describe the GENERATIVE act.
Thus, the Seal of Solomon is a symbol of the SUN and it's GENERATIVE powers. The bonding of male and female is not meant literally as in sex but metaphorically to represent the universal principle of DUALITY as well as the androgynous nature of the Absolute/Creator [both male and female, fire and water, everything and nothing]. To the Mystery Schools, gender is a quality of imperfection, as by definition, each gender is lacking in something that the other has. In order to create life, it is reasoned that the Creator must have both male and female properties. Anyway, this can go on and on as we can delve into the intricacies of the symbol [it also represents ETERNITY], so for all points and purposes, just know that it is a symbol of the SUN and it's GENERATIVE powers.
It is adopted as the symbol of the flag of Israel to symbolize the power of the Cult of the SUN [Mystery School] and the GENERATION of a New World Order. Note that I am not saying that Jewish people are taking over the world or anything like that, but rather the Jewish people are being used by those who are, unknowingly. The nation of Israel is the planting of the seed to disrupt the Old Arabic Order. I will go into this in detail in a later installment. Please know that I am not an anti-semite, but the Illuminati [the Adepts of the Mystery Schools] likes to hide from criticism behind the shield of anti-anti-semitism. Obviously, this symbol is not limited to Israel. You will find this symbol on the Great Seal of the US as well, and if you pay attention, you will begin to see it in a lot of unexpected places [especially those that relate to the secret societies].
What does it spell? MASON!
Anyway, that was to show just how deep the meaning behind a symbol as seemingly simple as a hexagram can be. The purpose of this part 1 is to offer a general understanding of the Mystery Schools.
All of the Mystery Schools also taught of an ancient progenitor society that we now know as Atlantis from which all of their teachings [as well as high human civilization/culture] originated. It is a society of extremely high culture that transmuted other cultures that came in contact with it. It existed in what the ancients referred to as ancient times, meaning that it was ancient even to them. Atlantis was described to be a place where its inhabitants knew the use of "magic" which some interpret as "high technology". However, their misuse of "magic" was the cause of their downfall, and the city/island/continent of Atlantis was destroyed suddenly in a great deluge, and much of its knowledge and culture was lost. The Mystery Schools believe that they are the preservers of the Atlantean tradition and that the Mystery system originated in Atlantis. They believe Atlantis to be a Utopia and that it is their duty to establish the New Atlantis. This is referred to as the Great Work.
Part two will mainly deal with Atlantis and the New Atlantis.
some further readings/sources, if you would like to research:
http://books.google.com/books?id=1WB3g0dcJz8C&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq#PPP7,M1
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/etg-hp.htm
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/sd/sd-hp.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/
