This article does not have any sources. You can help Wikipedia by finding good sources, and adding them.(March 2024)
Mystery religions or mystery cults were religions or cults where the teachings were only known to a small group of people. These people were called mystai. Such groups were common in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
Mystery religions have the following properties:
Exclusive spiritual experience: Those that are initiated gain speciual (secret) knowledge, and are the only ones that are able to make certain spiritual experiences
The cult or religion coexists with other (official) cults or religions for the same deity
Religious syncretism; there are other secret teachings that are added to the official teachings about the cult of a given deity.
Today, analyzing these mystery religions is difficult, because most of them kept their mysteries.
Common motives in such cults are a dying goddess that is resurrected and becomes immortal, venerating the ancestors, venerating the mother.