Orpheus and the Greek Mysteries

Ancient legends of Greece mention Orpheus, who was born of Oiagros, king of Thrace, and Calliope, the Muse of sweet harmonies. Calliope taught her son the arts of music, poetry and song, in which Orpheus became so proficient that his father gave him a 7-stringed lyre, or heptacord, which Apollo taught Orpheus to play. Orpheus spent much time singing and playing his lyre in the wooded mountains of Thrace where he charmed men, animals, birds, trees, fish in pools and even stones with his inspired music and singing. Like Hermes and Zoroaster, Orpheus is a generic name for multiple individuals.

Orpheus was an adept of the Ancient Wisdom, a master of healing, an astrologer, an inaugurator of magical ritual, a prophet, an interpreter of fates, a diviner, an instructor of the secret language, and a maker of symbols and talismans. As the patron of music, hymns and poetry, Orpheus used the power of sound, harmony and melody to purify, heal, strengthen, and balance the physical, astral, emotional and mental bodies of his disciples and followers. At times, Orpheus materialized living astral images created musically to instruct his students.

An Initiate of the Mystery Schools of both India and Egypt, Orpheus is credited with the bringing the Sacred Mysteries to Greece. The Orphic Mysteries were the original Greek Mysteries, later branches included the Eleusinian Mysteries, Pythagorean Mysteries, Mysteries of Delphi, and the Rites of Dionysus, which Orpheus was the reformer of. The most famous were the Eleusinian Mysteries, with its greater and lesser mysteries, that included Plato, Proclus and Cicero among its Initiates. The primary symbol of the Orphic Mysteries was the serpent-entwined egg.

The Orphic Mysteries, seen as the “Perfection of Virtue”, were a system of purest morality and severe asceticism based on theology from India. The central doctrine of Orphic philosophy states that all deific orders and powers are aspects of the One. Members of the Orphic Brotherhood were vegetarians, wore white linen garments and had ceremonies similar to those of the Brahmans. The exquisite hymns of Orpheus held many esoteric truths including- Natural Laws, sacred ceremonial rites, and the secrets of magic. Unfortunately, nearly all of the original works of Orpheus are lost, with only their titles remaining for us to view.

Some surviving titles of Orphic works- The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus, The Laws of the Stars, Divine Emanation, The Enthronings of the Great Mother, Orphic Poems, The Twelve Year Cycles, On Precious Stones, The Theogony, Sacred Sayings, The Earth- Regions, Oomancy, The Descent into Hades, On Earthquakes, The Argonauts, Agriculture, The Art of Names, Incensing, The Bacchic Rites, The Veil, The Orphic Oaths, Songs of Deliverance, The Sphere, On Plants, The Mystic Rites, Temple-Building, The Cup, Twin Natures, The Triads, The Physics and The Oracles.

Orpheus was well known for utilizing the occult properties of lodestone, including influencing an entire audience with lodestone. The highly-magnetic lodestone, also known as heraclion, was originally found on Mount Ida in Greece by a shepherd. Lodestone consists of octahedrons of magnetite, and can be used in the creation of talismans, amulets or charms. Beneficial qualities attributed to lodestone by the ancients include- healing properties, unfolding clairaudience, protection against evil spirits, stimulating vitality and health, attracting love, and revealing the future. Both magnets and lodestone seem worthy of further research.