What are these religions about?

This system of metaphysical thought which emerges from the readings of Edgar Cayce is a Christianized version of the mystery religions of ancient Egypt, Chaldea, Persia, India, and Greece. It fits the figure of Christ into the tradition of one God for all people, and places Him in His proper place, at the apex of the philosophical structure; He is the capstone of the pyramid - the Stone the builders rejected.

The mysteries were concerned with man's problem of freeing his soul from the world. In the mystery symbologies the earth was always represented as the underworld, and the soul was lost in this underworld until freed from it by wisdom, faith, and understanding. In the Greek mysteries, Persephone, was abducted by Pluto, Lord of Hades. Persephone is the soul of man, whose true home is in the heavens.

Jesus said He came to fulfull the law, and part of that law was the Cabala, the secret doctrine of the Jews - their version of the mysteries.

It is interesting to speculate on the fact that Edgar Cayce was raised in strict nineteenth centry Bible tradition, and suffered the greatest mental and emotional shock of his life when he discovered that in his spiritual readings he declared the truth of the mysteries and acclaimed Jesus as their crowning glory. Edgar Cayce had only a seventh grade education and consciously knew nothing of what he said under hypnosis. He was only versed in the Bible and had no high school or college background of any kind. Up until his revelations, Cayce had never heard of the mystery religions. Yet his readings check with everything about them that is known to be authentic.

The mystery religions were, then, a preparation for the coming of Jesus. He was the fruit of their efforts, and His message was a fuller revelation to the people at large of the mysteries themselves. In the scramble which Christianity made to establish itself as the dominant religion of the decaying Roman Empire, the mysteries were denied their proper place, since to grant that they had truth in them would justify their further existence.

The complex symbology employed by the mystery religions has survived fragmentarily in Christianity, notable in church architecture and in the sacrifice of the Mass. The early Christians used every means possible to conceal the pagan origin of their symbols, doctrines, and rituals. They either destroyed the sacred books of other peoples among whom they settled, or made them inaccessible to students of comparative philosophy, apparently believing that in this way they could stamp out all record of the pre-Christian origin of their doctrines. The doctrine of reincarnation and the Gnostic mysteries of Christ were thrown out by the Church in 553 A.D.

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