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Article ¦ .. «¦¦' THE ANCIENT M:tS:TElIlS. ¦ ' ← Page 6 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
¦ .. «¦¦' The Ancient M:Ts:Telils. ¦ '
followed the frightful noise , the gates opened , and the initiated entered through them into the inmost penetralia or the sanctuary of the temple , in the midst of an immense retinue of priests and hierophants . : And now , before being admitted to a participation of tlie secrets
themselves of the worship of Isis , the novice had to undergo the painful and wearisome test of a fast of forty days . After this fest , he was again conducted into the inner part of the temple ^ and the hierophants after having delivered an address relative to the sacred engagements he was about to enter upon , instructed him in the duties he would have to perform , and the laws which he would be expected to obey . He then consecrated him as a proselyte to Isis , the mother of nature , and goddess of wisdom ; to Osiris , the benefactor of the human race ; and to Horus , the god of reason and silence . After this consecration , the initiated was presented with a white girdle , striped with blue and purple , and was at the same time put in possession of certain signs , by which those who had received ike sacred initiation , were known to each other . \ A grand procession followed , known by the name of the " Manifestation " or triumph of the initiated . The new proselyte was clothed in a robe of fine white
linen , striped with blue , scarlet , and purple , and was crowned with a wreath of myrtle and palm leaves . On his return to the sacerdotal college , lie returned his thanks to the gods , and was entertained with banquets and songs for three days . At this point terminated the rites to which strangers and such as were not Egyptians , were admitted . The French author , from "whose pages we have abridged the foregoing account , says nothing however of those further mysteries into which natives of Egypt , and more especially the priests , were admitted . Moore , in his "Epicurean , " breaks off at about the same point , indeed his account of the Isiac mysteries so nearly tallies , in many respects with the above description , that we may easily imagine the source from which he derived it , His language indeed is loftier , and
the scenic effects he introduces are of a far more dramatic nature , than anything in the foregoing narrative . Eor the machinery at the top of the staircase , set in motion by the act of taking hold of the two rings in the door , ho substitutes the following
account" At length" he says , " just as my strength was nearly exhausted , I saw , outstretching towards me into the water , a light double balustrade , with a flight of steps between , ascending almost perpendicularly from the wave , till they seemed lost in a dense mass of clouds above . This glimpse ( for it was nothing more ^ as my light expired in giving it ) lent new spring to my courage . Having now both hands at liberty , so desperate -were my efforts ,
that after a few minutes' struggle , 1 felt my brow strike against the stairway , and in another instant my feet were on the steps , " Rejoiced at my rescue from the perilous Hood , though 1 knew not whither this stairway led , I promptly ascended the steps . But this feeling of confidence was of short duration : 1 had not mounted far , when , to my
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
¦ .. «¦¦' The Ancient M:Ts:Telils. ¦ '
followed the frightful noise , the gates opened , and the initiated entered through them into the inmost penetralia or the sanctuary of the temple , in the midst of an immense retinue of priests and hierophants . : And now , before being admitted to a participation of tlie secrets
themselves of the worship of Isis , the novice had to undergo the painful and wearisome test of a fast of forty days . After this fest , he was again conducted into the inner part of the temple ^ and the hierophants after having delivered an address relative to the sacred engagements he was about to enter upon , instructed him in the duties he would have to perform , and the laws which he would be expected to obey . He then consecrated him as a proselyte to Isis , the mother of nature , and goddess of wisdom ; to Osiris , the benefactor of the human race ; and to Horus , the god of reason and silence . After this consecration , the initiated was presented with a white girdle , striped with blue and purple , and was at the same time put in possession of certain signs , by which those who had received ike sacred initiation , were known to each other . \ A grand procession followed , known by the name of the " Manifestation " or triumph of the initiated . The new proselyte was clothed in a robe of fine white
linen , striped with blue , scarlet , and purple , and was crowned with a wreath of myrtle and palm leaves . On his return to the sacerdotal college , lie returned his thanks to the gods , and was entertained with banquets and songs for three days . At this point terminated the rites to which strangers and such as were not Egyptians , were admitted . The French author , from "whose pages we have abridged the foregoing account , says nothing however of those further mysteries into which natives of Egypt , and more especially the priests , were admitted . Moore , in his "Epicurean , " breaks off at about the same point , indeed his account of the Isiac mysteries so nearly tallies , in many respects with the above description , that we may easily imagine the source from which he derived it , His language indeed is loftier , and
the scenic effects he introduces are of a far more dramatic nature , than anything in the foregoing narrative . Eor the machinery at the top of the staircase , set in motion by the act of taking hold of the two rings in the door , ho substitutes the following
account" At length" he says , " just as my strength was nearly exhausted , I saw , outstretching towards me into the water , a light double balustrade , with a flight of steps between , ascending almost perpendicularly from the wave , till they seemed lost in a dense mass of clouds above . This glimpse ( for it was nothing more ^ as my light expired in giving it ) lent new spring to my courage . Having now both hands at liberty , so desperate -were my efforts ,
that after a few minutes' struggle , 1 felt my brow strike against the stairway , and in another instant my feet were on the steps , " Rejoiced at my rescue from the perilous Hood , though 1 knew not whither this stairway led , I promptly ascended the steps . But this feeling of confidence was of short duration : 1 had not mounted far , when , to my