For a year now, I’ve been fascinated by the spiritual customs and teachings of the ancient world—a tapestry woven through death cults and mystery traditions spanning the Ancient Near East, Egypt, Asia, Europe, and Meso-America. Spiritual philosophies, shamanic practices, hermitic wisdom, and mystery cults were not fringe curiosities; they were prominent across human history and culture. For countless initiates and societies, they formed a foundation of spirituality and community, from helping the masses with their daily ailments to offering pathways to higher knowledge. These same systems were also turned into religion and propagandized, just as anything can be weaponized.
On my journey, as I dove into diverse rabbit holes and existential tangents, early paleo-Christianity—through its radical departure from the ego posturing and domination of the Greco-Roman world—embraced and reinterpreted these mystical elements that seem taboo to many Westerners. Case in point: a church planter friend is using some basic Christian mystic meditative practices with his church and having to deal with concerns about heresy. Today, “syncretism” has been turned into heresy by modern Christianity attempting to protect its familiarity.
“Christianity did not arrive in a vacuum but emerged within a complex religious landscape where the boundaries between different cults and beliefs were far more permeable than modern religious boundaries.”
— Karen Armstrong, A History of God
Syncretism: More Than Simple Combination
Syncretism is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. I take a partial issue with this definition as it reduces the process to simply “combining” – not that it’s entirely wrong. However, in combination, there is process, filtering, and logic, even if irrational, distorted, or flawed. In the merging of ideas, ideas also must be lost. Plus, we’re talking about humans–it’s messy. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several elements while also letting go of the past beliefs formally justified by desyncretized belief systems.
One such example is the privilege of tribal identifications. For example, if Christian denominations weren’t so hell-bent on being “right,” they could get over a lot of the particular postulates that they use to justify their divisions. However, it’s the divisions that prop up their unique systematic theologies. Freud commented on this, that when two groups of people are similar and close enough, they will fight over smaller and smaller things.
In Linguistics, the definition for syncretism captures it a bit better: it is “the merging of different inflectional varieties of a word during the development of a language.” Some make a distinction between doctrinal syncretism, which is seen as altering the essential message of the original starting material, and cultural contextualization, which is seen as adapting the presentation of the Gospel without changing its core. I’d like to suggest something a little bit different. The Gospel is sycrenistic for any cultural context. It was intentionally designed to be so until “the time of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24, Romans 11:25: c.f. Galatians 4:4) had come to an end: when even Christ would be made subject to God (1 Corinthians 15:24-28), and Heaven and Earth would be unified (Revelation 21:1-4) – “that God may be all in all.“
In consciousness studies–stick with me–the apparent disagreement between theories was an illusion rooted in semantics (i.e., linguistics), and what they were debating between was the different terms or phrases for the same concepts that they did already agree upon. Perhaps the way a particular theory was constructed differed in structure but was in form and function the same. After comparing and analyzing existing Consciousness theories, and realizing this, they are now closer to a unified theory of consciousness…a topic I’ve only glanced into, but it has neuroscience implications. I wonder what the impact of such things will be in 20 years, as it has time to spread through the human world. Oftentimes, humans disagree on semantics, even when it comes to consciousness.
“The history of religions is the history of syncretism. Religions are not hermetically sealed entities, but complex cultural formations engaged in constant negotiation with other traditions.”
— Jonathan Z. Smith, Drudgery Divine
Back to the point, syncretism is often assumed to be intellectual laziness and a lack of critical thinking: fair point. It often is, and why I take issue with how it is defined in contrast to how it actually works. It can be intellectually lazy and lack critical thinking, but it doesn’t have to be, nor is it always. My assumption is that every human who adopts or changes a worldview or religion would do so in some way that felt rigorous and unlazy to them. The alternative, to hold assumptions not based on Truth, also makes no logical sense. It’s more about ego and takes additional energy to prop up, draw lines, and build echo chambers where cognitive ease and bias can be sustained.
Ironically, syncretism is exactly what the Gospel was radically attempting to accomplish…and did. Paleo-Christians recognized enough Truth universal to all humanity and had the worldview, teachings, and relationships that worked. It was a lot less about the What’s and more about the How’s – less about doing and more about being – and a whole lot of forgiveness. Of course, paleo-Christianity was able to spread through the diverse cultures, practices, and languages–it was and still is syncretistic. In doing so, Christianity transformed what was once the guarded dominion of elites into an open invitation for every seeker eager to encounter the Divine. It undermined the entire Greco-Roman world and then attempted to be controlled by the powerful. It was unbabeling the World–something we can’t avoid any longer.
In a very real sense, mysticism has never been a relic or a passing phase in history. The innate spirituality all humans have means mysticism has been around as long as humanity has been. It is a vibrant and liberating legacy of humanity that continually resurfaces in a multitude of modern practices, deeply affirming that hidden wisdom still calls out to those who long for meaning beyond the mundane.
The Secret Rites of the Ancient World: Foundations for Transformation
Before the flowering of Greek philosophy, local death cults and secret initiations existed as powerful channels through which communities unlocked hidden realms of experience. These rituals, often carried out in shadowed caverns and supplemented by psychoactive substances, acted as experiential bridges to the divine. With modern science, archeobotany has begun testing ancient sites and vessels, finding evidence of psychoactive and psychedelic chemicals pre-existing the rise of Greece1. In fact, it was from this that civilizations like Greece, Persia, Egypt, and even Babylon rose up from and incorporated these spiritual elements into their government and religious propaganda.
Consider the Eleusinian Mysteries as just one example of a mystery cult, whose rites celebrated the myth of Demeter and Persephone. Ancient sources suggest that these ceremonies transformed initiates by revealing esoteric secrets of life, death, and rebirth. This was one of the longest-running (over a thousand years from 1600 BC to 392 AD) and most famous mystery traditions in the ancient world.
The Eleusinian Mysteries began with a procession from Kerameikos (the Athenian cemetery) to Eleusis along the Sacred Way, during which participants carried branches called bacchoi and honored Lambe, the figure who had once lifted Demeter’s sorrow by cracking dirty jokes. Upon reaching Eleusis, an all-night vigil was held—possibly commemorating Demeter’s search for her daughter Persephone—and initiates drank kykeon, a mixture of barley that included the psychedelic ergot. On the following day, the initiates entered the Telesterion, a large hall containing the Palace (Anaktoron), accessible only to hierophants and used for storing sacred objects.
Before entering, they recited an oath affirming that they had fasted, consumed the kykeon, handled specific items, and returned them to a sacred box. The rites within the Telesterion comprised three elements: dromena (“things done” – a dramatic reenactment of the Demeter/Persephone myth), deiknumena (“things shown” – the display of sacred objects) with a key role played by the hierophant, and legomena (“things said” – accompanying oral commentaries). Collectively known as the aporrheta, these secrets were so guarded that their disclosure was punishable by death.
This is but one in a long history. They’ve found Dionysian mystery cult rites depicted in private quarters of Pompeii (destroyed in 79 AD). There’s evidence of shamanic and spiritual activities from all over the world and history, including Isreal (and again). St. Augustine noted in his time, “In every town there was knowledge of these sacred rites.” Mysteries and sacred rites were interwoven into the very fabric of societal life, preexisting before written language.
“The mysteries were not simply theatrical performances but transformative experiences that fundamentally altered one’s perception of existence. Initiates reported a profound sense of connection with the divine and a loss of fear regarding death.”
— Walter Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults
Roman society was not Greek. It co-opted Greek and assimilated it. Rome was much like the Assyrians but better in this approach. It was a strategy begun by Alexander the Great, who used Hellenism, culture, and the mysteries, visiting the temples of the gods he conquered and participating in their sacred rites while constructing cities and temples–from Greece to Persia. It was also snycheristic. Alexander was tutored by Aristotle, who also went through the mysteries; Alexander knew what he was doing.
While in Egypt, he went out of his way to visit the famed Oracle of Siwa at the Temple of Amun, who apparently declared him to be a son of Zeus (i.e., “son of god”). Frequently, Alexander would meet with priests and oracles of these foreign gods. Alexander, particularly after conquering Persia, displayed respect for the religious practices of the Persians, including the Zoroastrian religion. He honored the Persian gods and even adopted some of their cultural practices. All the while, Alexander the Great would celebrate Dionysus with his men, which was also the context of his death.
Imported Gods and Syncretistic Evolution
Dionysus may not have originally been in the Greek pantheon, like Aphrodite, but could have been imported from Thrace or the East and presented to the king of Greece. Some accounts suggest a more specific origin in Libya or even Egypt. And still, there’s evidence he could have already existed in Mycean Greece. While the exact timing is debated, it’s generally believed that he was integrated into the Greek pantheon relatively late compared to other major deities.
Similarly, Aphrodite was not a part of the original Greek Pantheon. Possibly during the Bronze Age or the Mycenaean period (around 1500-1100 BC), the cult of Aphrodite in Greece was imported from, or at least influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia, which, in turn, was influenced by the cult of the Mesopotamian goddess known as “Ishtar” to the East Semitic peoples and as “Inanna” to the Sumerians.
These are “big” examples–there are numerous examples of small gods and societies merging and evolving their mythologies and spirituality as humanity was also doing the same thing. The Greek and Roman pantheons and corresponding mythologies frequently changed. Simultaneously, civilizations combated against competing religious thoughts. There was a constant ebb and flow. Syncretism has been happening all along.
“The ancient Mediterranean world was not divided into sealed religious compartments. Rather, there was a constantly flowing exchange of ideas, rituals, and divine figures across cultural boundaries.”
— Marvin Meyer, The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook of Sacred Texts
There were “mystery cults” all over the world before Greece. By the time Rome assimilated the Greek empire, it was steeped in mystical systems and philosophies. It was a part of the typical repertoire of kings and governments. Augustus built 82 temples and used religious propaganda to secure power away from the Senate. In doing so, he portrayed himself as the Son of God (divi filius) and the embodiment of Jupiter. He also used reforms on culture and marriage, kind of like a culture war, as a part of securing his control.
Past human civilizations also had the tension of state vs. religion. However, the spiritual inclinations and hunger of the people naturally produced communities and created schools of philosophy and disciplines. Mystery cultism was everywhere by the time Jesus arrived on the scene–in a culturally diverse and fragmented Roman occupied Israel with Hellenistic cities and establishments all over. Historically, Jesus would have been aware of such things and engaged with them in some capacity.
Cicero, in his dialogues on the mysteries, remarked that they “transformed from a rough and savage way of life to the state of humanity.” These secret rites naturally arose from humanity and then became organized. Later, governments used culture and religion to assert control or reinforce social hierarchies rather than to invite practitioners into an intimate, internal liberation—a transformative experience that altered the very essence of the self. These rites, the cultures around them, and their teachings were often the target of military and political campaigns. The burning of Alexandria, the desecration of the Jewish temple, the execution of Socrates, the decimation of the Druids, and the Inquisition all share common threads.
It was not until 400 years later, after Christianity had spread throughout the world and after Constantine “converted” the Roman empire, that Rome banned its old mysteries, having a new replacement for them. Wrought with civil wars and a failing Roman empire, Theodosius I issued the Theodosian Decrees starting in 391 AD. These decrees restricted and prohibited pagan practices, including mystery religions. It also was the Establishment of Nicene Christianity as the sole and official religion of the empire–a one up on Constantine.
Their kingdoms still failed while Jesus’ kept on.
“The tyrant dies and his rule is over; the martyr dies and his rule begins.”
— Søren Kierkegaard
Secret Teachings in Scripture: An Invitation into Hidden Reality
Jesus did more than deliver another set of moral guidelines or religion. He employed the language of mystery and mysticism—a spiritual language steeped in the symbolic imagery of secret rites and Greco-Roman pop culture. Christianity assumed mysticism. Religious boundaries are illusions; true spiritual exploration shatters dogmatic divisions to reveal a unified quest for Truth.
“The Christians have their mysteries like all other religions; that is to say, doctrines which they do not publish indiscriminately to everyone… They derive from these secret teachings strange powers that allow them to perform wonders that exceed those of other mystery cults, expelling demons and healing diseases through the mere invocation of names.”
— Celsus, as quoted in Origen’s Contra Celsum, Book I, 7 (circa 248 CE)
In John 8:32, the promise that “the truth shall set you free” beckons not organizations to mandate and govern Truth but for individuals to pull toward an inward honesty, one in which truth is not simply handed down in dogma but experienced personally and intimately, sort of like the transformative experience of ancient initiation ceremonies. Jesus showed “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and invited everyone who would hear His story to do the same (see the post “What Does John 14:6 Mean?“).
Jesus employed both Jewish and Greco-Roman language to make points that cut across humanity and could never be killed. The Gospels made sure to capture as much of the nuances in a singular narrative so that it could be understood by their target audience and used the same syncretistic methods and tools as Jesus: “to the Jews first then the Gentiles.” In the ancient and modern world, whoever controls the story controls power. Jesus’ story was better than Alexander’s, Augustus’, or Constantine’s. His mysteries and narrative, His “myth” was more True than that of Satan, Dionysus, Bael, Venus, Osiris, or Sol Invictus.
“Early Christianity was not defined by theological propositions but by participation in a mystery – the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection, which was believed to confer new life and immortality on its initiates.”
— Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels
The Gospel of John replicates a polemic against the pagan mysteries and their philosophies. As Brian C. Muraresku insightfully observed in The Immortality Key, “If you read The Bacchae and the Gospel of John side by side, it’s kind of funny. The same scenes show up, sometimes even the same words.” He’s not the only one – even Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a paper on Christianity’s similarities with the ancient mysteries (King, “The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity”). Christian gatherings were never intended to serve as mere public displays for asserting status; rather, they were carefully orchestrated, intimate “secret societies” of disciples, united in their pursuit of a life-changing encounter with God. They competed with the other mysteries for “converts” (or initiates) and offered the same kind of promises (“salvation,” “rebirth,” “god living in you,” “Truth,” “peace,” etc.).
The Mysteries of God
The Jews were “mystery cultists,” too. The Temple had initiates, and the pronunciation of the name of God (YHWH) was only pronounced out loud once a year by the High Priest on Yom Kippur. That system was decimated by the Romans. Scholars have no idea how YHWH was pronounced but have some general guesses. The Temple system had its rites and ceremonies, complete with schools of study and practices. People came to the Temple just as they did others. What is different from one ancient temple to the next is, particularly in this case, the philosophies and underlying purpose of it. The Jewish one was meant to be a polemic against the world systems of its day. It also employed the language of spirituality, faith, and mysticism.
Sidenote: Acacia was a primary wood used in the temple. It also was one of the plants known during that time to contain psychedelic properties (DMT and the same chemical as in Ayahuasca).2
“The Jerusalem Temple was not simply a place of sacrifice but a complex symbolic universe where cosmic and social orders converged. Its rituals enacted mysteries that connected heaven and earth, making it a focal point of Jewish mystical thought.”
— Rachel Elior, The Three Temples: On the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism
Consider Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things which are revealed and disclosed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may do all of the words of this law.” The implications are profound: that which has been revealed is now ours—an eternal inheritance that carries the power of transformation. The Hebrew word for “secret,” satar, may not be identical to the notion of mystery but carries an undercurrent of concealed truth that recurs throughout Scripture. In the context of my own spiritual journey, this idea resonates with the concept that what appears hidden or forbidden may, in fact, be the gateway to a more profound understanding of divine truth.
Let’s define “mystery” in a way that bridges both our ancient past and our contemporary experience. In its simplest form, mysteries are those experiences and phenomena that defy easy explanation—elements of life that, despite our best efforts, resist full encapsulation in language or thought. They are present in the birth of our children, in the sorrowful passing of loved ones, and in every moment where the scientific pursuit of truth only unearths more profound questions.
In an era when our technological advances edge us toward the Singularity, we must recall that what we deem mysterious is often tied to our own limited perceptions. A shoe may be an enigma to an ant, and today’s technology will be laughable to the next generation. Yet, in the realms of spirituality and philosophy, understanding a mystery implies an experience—a journey that demands effort, openness, and the willingness to embrace pain as a catalyst for transformation. We can’t “know” the mystery of God or Christ in us without experiencing the mystery and the mystical.
“The mystery is not a truth that is difficult to grasp but an experience that is difficult to express. It is not a puzzle to be solved but a reality to be entered into.”
— Jean Vanier, Becoming Human
An example from my personal experience, the ongoing process of radical acceptance has been an unfolding mystery—one that has gradually revealed deeper layers of truth. Every stage of my personal evolution has brought with it revelations and epiphanies. I first learned acceptance in my second rehab, three and a half years ago. Since then, it’s been a daily deepening—an ongoing discovery of new areas where acceptance is still needed. Each time I thought I understood acceptance, something else would arise to show me just how much more there was to learn. That’s what the mystery of acceptance has been like for me—and, I believe, how mysteries work with us: when we can’t yet understand something, but must experience it in order to arrive at understanding.
Replace my experience with “acceptance” with any deep, transformative insight drawn from Scripture or ancient mysticism, and we begin to sense the profound depth held within these texts—and what the Gospels were always meant to invite us into.
It’s important to note that, as a society, many people remain skeptical of mystical experiences, often dismissing them as mere psychological phenomena or outdated superstitions. Yet, the persistence of mystical traditions across cultures and throughout history suggests that they speak to something fundamental in human experience—a longing for connection with the transcendent that mere rationalism cannot satisfy.
The Ongoing Journey: Mysticism in Modern Faith
The syncretistic nature of early Christianity did not diminish its power but rather enhanced its ability to speak across cultural boundaries. As modern believers, we have much to learn from this legacy of openness to truth wherever it might be found. The mysteries that once transformed ancient initiates continue to offer pathways to deeper spiritual understanding for those willing to engage with them authentically.
“The mystical element of religion is not a transient phase but a vital principle that gives life to religious structures and prevents them from becoming empty shells of dogma and ritual.”
— William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience
In our contemporary world, where religious institutions often seem more concerned with maintaining boundaries than facilitating transformation, perhaps it’s time to reconsider the syncretistic wisdom of our spiritual ancestors. Their willingness to recognize truth across traditions and to incorporate diverse symbolic languages into a coherent whole offers a model for addressing the spiritual hunger of our fragmented age.
The journey through mystery is not a rejection of reason but its fulfillment—an acknowledgment that our most profound human experiences transcend the categories we create to contain them. In this spirit, the ancient mystery traditions and their Christian reinterpretations invite us not to abandon critical thinking but to extend it beyond the merely rational into the transformative realms of the soul.
“…how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”
– Ephesians 3:3-6
*Footnotes
- One of the most surprising features of Scripture is its lack of overt condemnation of altered states of consciousness or ritual intoxicants. The Old Testament offers no explicit prohibition of psychoactive plants, and visionary states—dreams, trances, prophetic ecstasy—are treated as legitimate and sometimes normative.
The New Testament is more guarded. The clearest rebuke comes from Paul, who includes “pharmakeia” in his list of “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5:20. This Greek word is often translated as sorcery or witchcraft, but it also carries a broader connotation involving the use of potions, poisons, or mind-altering substances in manipulative, malevolent, or occult practices.
Modern Christians often project this word onto recreational drug use, but its biblical usage more accurately describes ritualistic or exploitative uses of substances for control, spellcasting, or escapism. It’s not about plants—it’s about how and why they’re used.
For more context on pharmakeia in Galatians and its potential meanings, see this breakdown: What does “Pharmakeia” mean in Galatians 5:20? (Verse Meaning) ↩︎ - The Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant, as described in Exodus 25–30, were built with acacia wood. The inner sanctuary was often filled with thick ceremonial smoke. The incense burned before the mercy seat wasn’t merely ceremonial—it was prescribed by God to “cover the mercy seat” so the high priest wouldn’t die (Leviticus 16:13). The sacred incense blend included stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense (Exodus 30:34), which have different psychoactive properties. This mixture was exclusive: it was forbidden to replicate or use outside the sanctuary. The method and exact recipe were kept secret–perhaps there was a “secret” ingredient. Much like the blue dye used for the fringes (tzitzit) on Jewish prayer shawls (tallit) was traditionally a secret, and its origin is now linked to a specific sea creature.
Acacia trees are known to contain dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a potent psychedelic, in certain species. While not active orally without MAOIs, burning acacia resin alone in a smoke-heavy, enclosed space—like the Tent of Meeting—could introduce altered states of consciousness and visionary elements. Whether that was known or intentionally utilized remains unknown.
More interesting, perhaps, is the cultural and spiritual backdrop of these figures. Moses spent 40 years in Midian, married a pagan priest’s daughter (Exodus 2:16–21), and lived under Jethro, a priest of a non-Israelite tradition. His leadership journey was formed in a deeply Egyptian, syncretistic environment. Ezekiel’s visions (chapters 1 and 10), too—featuring wheels within wheels, living creatures, and fiery radiance—mirror visionary experiences described across ancient mystical traditions. Yet Ezekiel’s issue wasn’t with altered states or visions themselves—it was with Babylonian mystery cults. The visionary experience wasn’t condemned; it was the distortion of it toward selfishness, hedonism, power, manipulation, and empire religion that drew divine wrath.
This raises the possibility that Israelite ritual may have preserved intentionally sacred states of consciousness, even as they condemned the imperial sorcery and pagan practices of surrounding cultures. The issue wasn’t the vision—but its worldivews and the behavior coming from it. ↩︎
