WHAT IS A MYSTERY SCHOOL?

By Daniel Giamario, Founder of the Turning of the Ages Mystery School

The “Mystery” in the expression “Mystery School” originally and traditionally refers to a special gnosis, or a secret wisdom.  Such schools have been dedicated to explore the secrets of Life and to learn the secrets of this hidden knowledge.  Only sincere students displaying a desire for this knowledge and then meeting certain tests were considered worthy of being introduced to these “Mysteries”.  Historically there has always been an initiatory dimension to a Mystery School.  Clearly a Mystery School is NOT a secular or mainstream form of education.

The Turning of the Ages Mystery School (TOTAMS) has been founded on this perennial understanding of a Mystery School, with the concept of “Great Mystery”, as the suggested and preferred way of designating the Ultimate Reality of Existence.  Hermeticists often use the terms “the One Reality”, or sometimes, ‘The Pattern” to refer to this same “Great Mystery”. In India, the well known Mantram “I Am THAT, Thou art THAT, all THIS is THAT” also refers to this same “Great Mystery”.

In these times, at the Turning of the Ages, a considerably larger percentage of people can gain access to the knowledge and experience of “Great Mystery”, as global humanity is moving beyond class, class, and hierarchy.  The requirement to have special priest/priestess elites high above everyone else and keeping secrets for no other reason than dominance and control is being rightfully exposed in these times.  Nevertheless, sincerity, intelligence, a willingness to study, and the courage to undergo an initiatory process remain integral parts of the Turning of the Ages Mystery School.