Victoria LePage

The difficulty of writing about Mystery religions is that they are indeed mysterious, and have left behind little to no explicit description of their beliefs and practices, particularly those of the higher grades. Despite that, LePage sets out on am ambitious attempt to weave together a variety of esoteric sects of the Near East at the time Jesus lived, esoteric Judaism, the Gnostics, the work of later esotericists, Kabbalah, and the more ancient practices of the hieros gamos of ancient Sumer -- setting for the claim that Jesus was an adept of these Mysteries, and his central message was not about salvation from sin, but about experiencing union with the ultimate divine through the "initiation of the bride chamber."

It is impossible for a lay person like me to prove or disprove LePage's claims. She cites a wide range of authorities (some of whom may or may not be entirely reliable) to support her hypothesis, and for the most part it hangs together. There is definitely a pattern to be seen in these ancient texts, one which is still recognized and used as a basis for spiritual development in modern Western Mystery schools.

The frustrating thing is that the reader is left with a sense of "And. . . .?" The Mysteries of the Bridechamber remain just that: mysteries. LePage can not describe the rituals of initiation, nor the practices which would have prepared a novice for initiation.

On the positive side, her writing was vivid enough, and the visions she offers of the results of the attainment of initiation, for one's self as well as for the world at large, to have inspired me to dig more deeply into the ancient texts and to integrate some of her ideas into my current spiritual practices.

That is what I base my four-star rating on: the fact that this book inspired me to dig deeper into its themes and test them for myself.… (mehr)