mystery cult

English

Noun

mystery cult (plural mystery cults)

1. Any of various ancient religious movements in which initiates undergo secret rites to achieve unification with the godhead.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 210:

     The mystery cult of Isis in Roman Egypt was an attempt to harken back to the religion of the New Kingdom, which itself was trying to harken back to the religion of the Old Kingdom.