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Article ¦ .. «¦¦' THE ANCIENT M:tS:TElIlS. ¦ ' ← Page 5 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
¦ .. «¦¦' The Ancient M:Ts:Telils. ¦ '
Herodotus , breaks off his narration , and says he can only relate such things as he may divulge without sacrilege ; and after some omission , says in continuation , that at day-break , the solemnities being concluded , he seated him self by order of the presiding priest on a raised seat in the middle of the temple , robed in a garment of fine linen , striped with white , purple , blue and scarlet , before the image of Isis .
Behind him hung from shoulders to feet , a rich mantle embroidered with dragons and griffins ( figures emblematical of the sun at his highest altitude in the summer solstice ; for the one is the symbol of the burning Hydra , which taints the air with his pestiferous breath during the dog-days , the other of the lion of the solstice united to the eagle of Jupiter , or to the hawk of Osiris , which always accompanies the sun ) . The consecrated persons , or those who presided
over the mysteries , commonly called this robe the " Olympian stole " —( that is to say divine , or used by the gods of Olympus ) . In his right hand he bore a lighted torch ( in the Eleusinian mysteries , the reader may remember , there was always an officer called the Aahv- ^ oc , dadoucJios , or torch-bearer ; and a ceremony in Ereemasonry , in a portion of winch the honours of the ofiice-bearer are temporarily transferred to the candidate may not escape his recollection ) , while
his head was arrayed with a chaplet of white palm , whose leaves were extended like rays of light . The novice being thus attired , with his head resembling the sun , and in attitude immovable as the god Osiris , the ministering priest drew aside the veil or curtain which separated the sanctuary from the rest of the temple , and presented him to the people . On his retiring he once more paid his adoration to the goddess Isis , raid again prostrating himself before her shrine ,
remained for a time in silent prayer . The next process w ^ hich the novice underwent was that of washing , figuratively to purify the soul from all pollution of the external world ; £ o * perfect initiation , the Egyptians held , is the entire end of the life of the profane or uninitiated , which they considered as animal ; love of virtue and duty were from that period to take the place of all carnal passions in all who were admitted to the mysteries . A priest called the hydranos now approached the novice , and after having questioned him as to the tests through which he had
passed , he made him strip to the waist , and plunge his head , shoulders , and arms into a vessel filled with water from the sea or from the Nile , into which were thrown salt , barley , and leaves ol laurel , saying as he did so : —
" May this water , the symbol of purity , remove all which can have defiled your flesh , and in restoring you to your primitive innocence , purify your body , as also may virtue purify your soul . " This address oyer , the novice was clothed in a robe of fine linen ; he was then suddenly left alone , and in darkness , and at the same
time a crowd of hideous spectres were presented to his view , a faint and glimmering artificial light spreading itself through the temple . The ceremony usually terminated with a chip of thunder violent enough to shake the vaulted roof of the temple ; profound silence
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
¦ .. «¦¦' The Ancient M:Ts:Telils. ¦ '
Herodotus , breaks off his narration , and says he can only relate such things as he may divulge without sacrilege ; and after some omission , says in continuation , that at day-break , the solemnities being concluded , he seated him self by order of the presiding priest on a raised seat in the middle of the temple , robed in a garment of fine linen , striped with white , purple , blue and scarlet , before the image of Isis .
Behind him hung from shoulders to feet , a rich mantle embroidered with dragons and griffins ( figures emblematical of the sun at his highest altitude in the summer solstice ; for the one is the symbol of the burning Hydra , which taints the air with his pestiferous breath during the dog-days , the other of the lion of the solstice united to the eagle of Jupiter , or to the hawk of Osiris , which always accompanies the sun ) . The consecrated persons , or those who presided
over the mysteries , commonly called this robe the " Olympian stole " —( that is to say divine , or used by the gods of Olympus ) . In his right hand he bore a lighted torch ( in the Eleusinian mysteries , the reader may remember , there was always an officer called the Aahv- ^ oc , dadoucJios , or torch-bearer ; and a ceremony in Ereemasonry , in a portion of winch the honours of the ofiice-bearer are temporarily transferred to the candidate may not escape his recollection ) , while
his head was arrayed with a chaplet of white palm , whose leaves were extended like rays of light . The novice being thus attired , with his head resembling the sun , and in attitude immovable as the god Osiris , the ministering priest drew aside the veil or curtain which separated the sanctuary from the rest of the temple , and presented him to the people . On his retiring he once more paid his adoration to the goddess Isis , raid again prostrating himself before her shrine ,
remained for a time in silent prayer . The next process w ^ hich the novice underwent was that of washing , figuratively to purify the soul from all pollution of the external world ; £ o * perfect initiation , the Egyptians held , is the entire end of the life of the profane or uninitiated , which they considered as animal ; love of virtue and duty were from that period to take the place of all carnal passions in all who were admitted to the mysteries . A priest called the hydranos now approached the novice , and after having questioned him as to the tests through which he had
passed , he made him strip to the waist , and plunge his head , shoulders , and arms into a vessel filled with water from the sea or from the Nile , into which were thrown salt , barley , and leaves ol laurel , saying as he did so : —
" May this water , the symbol of purity , remove all which can have defiled your flesh , and in restoring you to your primitive innocence , purify your body , as also may virtue purify your soul . " This address oyer , the novice was clothed in a robe of fine linen ; he was then suddenly left alone , and in darkness , and at the same
time a crowd of hideous spectres were presented to his view , a faint and glimmering artificial light spreading itself through the temple . The ceremony usually terminated with a chip of thunder violent enough to shake the vaulted roof of the temple ; profound silence