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" With those teachings, though, von List blended popular notions about the superiority of the white race and of Germanic
peoples in particular. From his work sprang a movement that called itself Ariosophy-
"the wisdom of the Aryans"-that borrowed
heavily from Theosophy but reworked it to
support an agenda of pan-German racism.
In the years before his death in 1919, von List proclaimed that a mighty leader, "the Strong One from Above," would soon arise and unite the Germanic peoples. He was, of course, quite correct; the year he died, an Austrian veteran named Adolf Hitler, who was strongly influenced by Ariosophy, began his political career. "
― John Michael Greer , The Occult Book: A Chronological Journey from Alchemy to Wicca
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" For two thousand years, maybe more,
the ceremonies had been celebrated every autumn in the small town of Eleusis near Athens, becoming more famous and elaborate with the passing years. By Roman times, the mystery temple at Eleusis was a huge building half the size of a foot- ball field, and people came there from the far corners of the ancient world.
All new initiates had to go through preliminary ceremonies at the river Ilissos in the month of Anthesterion, our February, in which they offered sacrifices, cleansed them-
selves in the water, and listened to instruction. A year and a half later, in Boedromion (our September), they marched to Eleusis, arriving at dusk. They entered the temple, and the ceremony of initiation was enacted. No one today knows what it was, but ancient writers agreed that those who passed through it had no fear of death afterward. "
― John Michael Greer , The Occult Book: A Chronological Journey from Alchemy to Wicca
