Freemasonry A Mystery School

Freemasonry is the modern day equivalent of the ancient Mystery Schools often refered to as the Ancient Mysteries or simply the Mysteries.

"Freemasonry is modeled on the plan of Ancient Mysteries," - Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry By R. Swinburne Clymer pg. 40

"Even the casual observer must realize that the true wealth of Freemasonry lies in its mysticism. The average Masonic scholar, however, is fundamentally opposed to a mystical interpretation of his symbols, for he shares the attitude of the modern mind in its general antipathy towards transcendentalism. A most significant fact, however, is that those Masons who have won signal honors for their contributions to the Craft have been transcendentalists almost without exception. It is quite incredible, moreover, that any initiated Brother, when presented with a copy of Morals and Dogma upon the conferment of his fourteenth degree, can read that volume and yet maintain that his order is not identical with the Mystery Schools of the first ages.....  for whichever way the Mason turns he is confronted by these inescapable issues of philosophy and the Mysteries. Yet withal he dismisses the entire subject as being more or less a survival of primitive superstitions." -Lectures on Ancient Philosophy—An Introduction to the Study and Application of Rational Procedure: The Hall Publishing Company, Los Angeles, First Edition 1929, Manly P. Hall pp 413-414

"The true Masonic Lodge is a Mystery School,.."–Manly P. Hall, “Lost Keys of Freemasonry” page 18

"All Masonry deals largely with ethics and symbolism of the Ancient Mysteries." - Ancient  Oriental Masonry By R. Swinburne Clymer pg. 35

"The identity of the Masonic Institution with the Ancient Mysteries  is obvious from the striking coincidences found to exist between them."  - Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry By R. Swinburne Clymer pg.  117

"The Masonic-order is founded in the Secret Schools of the pagan antiquity, many of the symbols of which are preserved to this day in the various degrees of the Blue Lodge and the Scottish Rite.”- Melchizedek And the Mystery of Fire by Manly P. Hall pg. 33

"Masonry's ceremonies, symbols and the celebrated legend of Hiram in the Master Mason's degree were directly borrowed from the "Ancient Mysteries", or the secret worship of Baal, Osiris or Tamuz." Edmond Ronayne - "The Master's Carpet" [p.7]

"From Egypt the Mysteries went to Phonecia and were celebrated at Tyre. Osiris changed his name and became Adonai or Dionusus, still the representative of the Sun. In Greece and Sicily, Osiris took the name of Bacchus." Albert Pike 33°: "Morals and Dogma" [p. 363]

"Ancient secret doctrine which is concealed in Masonic allegory and sybolism ... It was but to preserve these truths for future generations that Masonry was perpetuated."
George Steinmetz, "Freemasonry: It's Hidden Meaning" [p.80,81]

 "This uninterrupted chain (modern Freemasonry chain from the Knights Templar) leads us back to the important Initiatic Schools of Egypt in which certain adherents had attained the highest degree of initiation; among them Moses, Pythagoras and Plato are believed to be among these high initaties." - The Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis-Misraim Grand Lodge Untied States pg.9

"Though Masonry is identical with the Ancient Mysteries, it is so in this qualified sense; that it presents but an imperfect image of their brilliancy; the ruins only of their grandeur, and a system that has experienced progressive alterations, the fruits of social events and political circumstances. Upon leaving Egypt, the Mysteries were modified by the habits of the different nations among whom they were introduced. Though originally more moral and political than religious, they soon became the heritage, as it were, of the priests, and essentially religious, though in reality limiting the sacerdotal power, by teaching the intelligent laity the folly and absurdity of the creeds of the populace. -Albert Pike 33°: "Morals and Dogma" [p. 624-625]

 "The christian religion and Masonry have one and the same common origin: both are derived from the worship of the Sun. The difference between their origin is, that the christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun, as I have shown in the chapter on the origin of the Christian religion." - Origin of Free-Masonry by Thomas Paine

"There is no question therefore that the work to be done in familiarising the general public with the nature of the Mysteries is of paramount importance at this time. These Mysteries will be restored to outer expression through the medium of the Church and the Masonic Fraternity, if those groups leave off being organisations with material purpose, and become organisms with living objectives ." -
Alice Baily, "The Externalisation" of the Hierarchy [p.514]

"Few monarchs have more thoroughly protected the Mystery Schools within the Masonic body than
Frederick II., King of Prussia, well named 'The Great'. Not only did he protect them, but he also actively sympathized with them. " - Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry By R. Swinburne Clymer pg. 70

"the substance of the Kabalah is the basis upon which Masonry is bulit, since modern Masonry is undeniably the dim and hazy reflection of primeval Occult Masonry of the teaching of those Divine Masons who established the Mysteries of prehistoric and prediluvian Temples of Initiation, raised by truly superhuman Builders.” - The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy By H. P. Blavatsky, Annie Besant pg. 165