Myth and cult
To honour the gods, give thanks to them or to pacify the monstrous amongst them was to be the pursuit of man whose belief had shaped the myth.
None of this seemed possible to him other than through external works.
But soon he believed to feel that the form of the ritual was important when carrying out these acts.
Not every custom when making sacrifices, giving thanks or singing praises seemed to have the same value in the estimation of the gods.
Therefore he rejected the forms of reverence and sacrifice which failed to meet with the approval of the gods, and practised other forms which would, as he believed, bring their favour.
Providing a greater guarantee for the fulfilment of his own wishes led him to adhere strictly to apparently secure, tried and tested customs.
The cult of the gods had found its established form.
And so man believed that he was duty bound to everything heavenly he had once created in myth, until those first Luminaries appeared who illuminated the myth.
They were the ones who first freed the cult of the gods from the fetters of oppressive superstition, using it to awaken man’s inherent magic power.
They were aware of man’s capacity for arousing the invisible to make it act according to his will and serve him.
But they also knew that only ultimate inner confidence can bring this work to fruition; they therefore consciously connected magical deeds to the beliefs they found firmly rooted at the time.
In this way what man owed to his own magical power entered his consciousness as the grace and benevolence of gods…
He was still not mature enough – nor is he today – to test the effect of this exalted power independently.
Indeed, immediate magical effects did not occur in this way, but the imagined ‘granting’ of wishes was demonstrated to be far more certain.
Following the illumination of the myth, the cult developed into sublime occurrence, and most profound spiritual echoes were awoken in the faithful.
It was only with a later age of decay and ossification that what lived within it was destroyed, leaving behind just the external form like a sterile shell.
But the memory of earlier occurrence, richer in benefits, remained – nourished by legend.
The desire to conquer nature without strenuous labour produced legends showing the ‘magical powers’ possessed by man’s forbears raised to gigantic dimensions, as well as the gods he could no longer reach, walking among men…
Besides the suspicion existed that cults preserving the ancient legacy flourished in secret.
But since those living in secret did not profane what was holy to them, deceit exploited curiosity everywhere in order to gain respect for itself.
The story of the deceit of priests begins in those prehistoric times!
What history today knows about ancient cults originates, at the very earliest, from the final period of their existence!
Earlier millennia would have to be accessible to research, if that research were to be able to give a reliable account of the genesis of ancient cults!
Yet even if weighty matters of utmost value have been buried under rubble: – sparse remains of what once existed were still preserved up to the time history began to be written; even in our own times, not everything those men of ancient days once knew has vanished from the earth.
A cult apparently ‘newly founded’ barely two thousand years ago in Europe, has transported much of this patrimony into current times; it knows full well why it is protecting this patrimony from all profane hands. On the other hand, a much more recent cult in the heart of Asia – with good reason very similar to the one that once came to fruition in Europe – was no less successful in giving new form and interpretation to the ancient patrimony. – –
It would be folly to create a new cult today which owed its viability, like those mentioned here, to a myth.
The greatest folly would be: arbitrarily to form a new cult for the myth which already has its cult.
Who would prevent new believers in the myth, who once abandoned its cult, from accepting it again now that it has been freed from later accretions in the same way as it had once been accepted in ancient times, transformed for the sake of the then new myth, when the need for a cult, based on the myth they most faithfully revere, should be alive within them again today?! –
An age perhaps no longer too far from current times will surely have no further need of myth to create its cult. –
Its cult will be based on the essence of all ancient cults; it will be the purest cult magic and serve man’s innermost being! –
Yet this coming cult will not be created by arbitrary will nor by longing.
First of all, the powers in man which it presupposes must be awoken everywhere in many, and be pure in their influence!
Then it will certainly arise, scorning all obstacles.
For an age the seed has rested in the lap of the invisible earth from which it will one day grow, sprouting forth its powerful shaft, into a tree!
An approaching culture will nourish itself from its fruits! –
The yearning of the many who long for it will increasingly arouse the impulse of the seed from which it will rise up…
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