DIONYSIAC MYSTERIES.  In addition to what is said in the text, I add the following, slightly condensed, from the pen of that accomplished writer, Albert Pike:  “The initiates in these Mysteries had preserved the ritual and ceremonies that accorded with the simplicity of the earliest ages, and the manners of the first men.  The rules of Pythagoras were followed there.  Like the Egyptians, who held wool unclean, they buried no initiate in woollen garments.  They abstained from bloody sacrifices, and lived on fruits or vegetables.  They imitated the life of the contemplative sects of the Orient.  One of the most precious advantages promised by their initiation was to put man in communion with the gods by purifying his soul of all the passions that interfere with that enjoyment, and dim the rays of divine light that are communicated to every soul capable of receiving them.  The sacred gates of the temple, where the ceremonies of initiation were performed, were opened but once in each year, and no stranger was allowed to enter.  Night threw her veil over these august Mysteries.  There the sufferings of Dionysus were represented, who, like Osiris, died, descended to hell, and rose to life again; and raw flesh was distributed to the initiates, which each ate in memory of the death of the deity torn in pieces by the Titans.”

DIONYSUS.  Or Bacchus; mythologically said to be the son of Zeus and Semele.  In his Mysteries he was identified with Osiris, and regarded as the sun.  His Mysteries prevailed in Greece, Rome, and Asia, and were celebrated by the Dionysiac artificers—­those builders who united with the Jews in the construction of King Solomon’s temple.  Hence, of all the ancient Mysteries, they are the most interesting to the masonic student.

DISSEVERANCE.  The disseverance of the operative from the speculative element of Freemasonry occurred at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

DISCALCEATION, RITE OF.  The ceremony of uncovering the feet, or taking off the shoes; from the Latin discalceare.  It is a symbol of reverence.  See Bare Feet.

DRUIDICAL MYSTERIES.  The Celtic Mysteries celebrated in Britain and Gaul.  They resembled, in all material points, the other mysteries of antiquity, and had the same design.  The aspirant was subjected to severe trials, underwent a mystical death and burial in imitation of the death of the god Hu, and was eventually enlightened by the communication to him of the great truths of God and immortality, which it was the object of all the Mysteries to teach.

DUALISM.  A mythological and philosophical doctrine, which supposes the world to have been always governed by two antagonistic principles, distinguished as the good and the evil principle.  This doctrine pervaded all the Oriental religions, and its influences are to be seen in the system of Speculative Masonry, where it is developed in the symbolism of Light and Darkness.

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