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On The Ancient Lodges, Or Places Of Initiation Into The Cabiric Mysteries.
machinery ; and so far secluded from all possible intercouse with mankind , that the uninitiated were kept in the most profound darkness with respect both to the doctrines and ceremonies of these mysterious institutions . Spelunca alta fuit , vastonue immanis hiatu .
Scrupea , tuta laeu ingro nemorumque tenebris . J * The pyramids of Egypt are amongst the most ancient edifices in the world which remains that were appropriated to this purpose . They were doubtless erected very soon after the Dispersion , as copies of the great phallic Tower , built by Nimrod ; and as the latter was designed for initiation , so also were the former . We are told by an acute
observer , that the second pyramid has two elaborate pieces of cavern architecture attached to the north and west sides , thirty feet in depth and fourteen hundred feet in length , hewn out of the solid rock on which the pyramid rests , and hallowed into an extensive range of apartments . The entrance is narrow , and the construction of the cells intricate , all involved in darkness , and many of them closed up with an
accumulation of dust and rubbish . They had a communication with the interior of the pyramid , which cannot now be discovered , as many of the cells are entirely choked up t ; and it may be added , that perhaps the only entrance was from the caverns beneath , into which the egress from the pyramid was by a shaft or well , for we know that pits or wells were occasionally used in the mysteries % , and a well did actually exist
in the pyramid , the use of whicli is otherwise unknown . " At the extremity of one of the passages , " says Sir R . Wilson , " is a well , the depth of which was never ascertained § . " Mr . Greaves thinks that these apartments were for the priests to lodge in ; but independently of the consideration that such extensive excavations would never have been made out of the hard rock with the chisel for mere dwellings , when
buildings on the surface ivould have been erected at one hundredth part of the labour and expense , it is clear from the internal construction of these spacious caverns , that they were intended to contain the apparatus of initiation into the mysteries ; and it is highly probable that they were exclusively devoted to this important purpose || . We are assured that " wherever the rites of the Cabiri prevailed ,
they were always in some manner or other connected with caverns . Thus Rhea , who was exposed at sea in an ark , brought forth her son Anius in a cave ; Bacchus , who was also exposed in an ark , was nursed in a cave ; Typhon , or the diluvian ocean , was produced from a cave ; Jupiter was born in the Dictean cave of Crete ; the statue of Ceres—Hippia—Cabiria was placed by the Phigalensians in an artificial cave ;
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Ancient Lodges, Or Places Of Initiation Into The Cabiric Mysteries.
machinery ; and so far secluded from all possible intercouse with mankind , that the uninitiated were kept in the most profound darkness with respect both to the doctrines and ceremonies of these mysterious institutions . Spelunca alta fuit , vastonue immanis hiatu .
Scrupea , tuta laeu ingro nemorumque tenebris . J * The pyramids of Egypt are amongst the most ancient edifices in the world which remains that were appropriated to this purpose . They were doubtless erected very soon after the Dispersion , as copies of the great phallic Tower , built by Nimrod ; and as the latter was designed for initiation , so also were the former . We are told by an acute
observer , that the second pyramid has two elaborate pieces of cavern architecture attached to the north and west sides , thirty feet in depth and fourteen hundred feet in length , hewn out of the solid rock on which the pyramid rests , and hallowed into an extensive range of apartments . The entrance is narrow , and the construction of the cells intricate , all involved in darkness , and many of them closed up with an
accumulation of dust and rubbish . They had a communication with the interior of the pyramid , which cannot now be discovered , as many of the cells are entirely choked up t ; and it may be added , that perhaps the only entrance was from the caverns beneath , into which the egress from the pyramid was by a shaft or well , for we know that pits or wells were occasionally used in the mysteries % , and a well did actually exist
in the pyramid , the use of whicli is otherwise unknown . " At the extremity of one of the passages , " says Sir R . Wilson , " is a well , the depth of which was never ascertained § . " Mr . Greaves thinks that these apartments were for the priests to lodge in ; but independently of the consideration that such extensive excavations would never have been made out of the hard rock with the chisel for mere dwellings , when
buildings on the surface ivould have been erected at one hundredth part of the labour and expense , it is clear from the internal construction of these spacious caverns , that they were intended to contain the apparatus of initiation into the mysteries ; and it is highly probable that they were exclusively devoted to this important purpose || . We are assured that " wherever the rites of the Cabiri prevailed ,
they were always in some manner or other connected with caverns . Thus Rhea , who was exposed at sea in an ark , brought forth her son Anius in a cave ; Bacchus , who was also exposed in an ark , was nursed in a cave ; Typhon , or the diluvian ocean , was produced from a cave ; Jupiter was born in the Dictean cave of Crete ; the statue of Ceres—Hippia—Cabiria was placed by the Phigalensians in an artificial cave ;