The Internet Is a Mystery Cult

What ancient religions have in common with modern conspiracy theories

A plate depicting the goddess Cybele, 3rd century BCE (public domain)

I suppose the practitioners of ancient mystery cults would be pleased.

Mystery religions were an important part of Mediterranean belief systems for over 1,000 years. Both of the roots of the word mystery — from mystēs, which means “one who has been initiated,” and myein, meaning “to close, shut” — applied. These religions were closed off from the general public, and their secrets were available only to members.

It seems that they were successful in concealing their mysteries. Historians today only have a vague understanding of many of their beliefs because the initiates of these religions took their secrets to the grave with them.

There were many mystery cults in the ancient world. One, worshipping the goddess Isis, had roots in Egypt. Out of Persia came the bull-sacrifice rituals associated with Mithras. Some Romans worshipped the “Great Mother” goddess Cybele, participating in rituals that may have involved self-castration (if you’re interested, I wrote about her a while back). And some Greeks gained initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries, which centered on the kidnapping of Persephone by Hades. The Christians even got into the game a bit, as a “gnostic” branch of the faith came to believe that…