History Main / MysteryCult

* The real-life cult of Mithras has featured in several historical novels, among them RosemarySutcliff's ''Literature/TheEagleOfTheNinth'' and JohnMFord's ''The Dragon Waiting'', which each have a protagonist who's a member.

* There is a serious scholarly debate about whether the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_of_the_Mysteries Villa of the Mysteries]] in Pompeii shows initiation into a Dionysian cult, or an allegory for marriage/rite of passage. The rest of us just look at the pretty pictures.

* In ''CallOfCthulhu'' the cults that worship the CthulhuMythos deities are like this. They're intensely secretive because their abhorrent practices would get them imprisoned or executed in any civilized country. By the time a new member finds out what the cult is really up to they've probably been driven insane.

* ''BattlestarGalactica'': Mithras apparently has an analog in the Twelve Colonies of Man, but given that they're referred to as "Mithrasaries" it's possible they're not as secretive as the followers of Mithras on Earth. Apparently, old-school religious Gemenon considers them something of a protected minority.

* ''The Silence'' in ''{{Doctor Who}}'' is portrayed as a Mystery Religion dedicated to stopping the asking of a Question - though really it is more of a SinglePreceptReligion than anyting.

* While the Secret Societies in ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' play with this trope to various degrees, with the Illuminati being the textbook example. Members know almost nothing about the group, and typically their only contact are random visits in the middle of the night by a single masked stranger delivering inexplicable orders.

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* {{Futurama}}: The league of robots - a secret society of well-to-do wealthy robots[[spoiler: (that somehow ends up having Bender as a member)]], that ostensibly exists to mastermind the robot dream of killing all humans, [[spoiler: but in actuality, turns out to be more like a stagnant gentleman's social club.]]
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* ''The Silence'' in ''{{Doctor Who}}'' is a Mystery Religion dedicated to stopping the asking of a Question.

* {{Futurama}}: The league of robots - a secret society of well-to-do wealthy robots[[spoiler: (that somehow ends up having Bender as a member)]], that ostensibly exists to mastermind the robot dream of killing all humans, [[spoiler: but in actuality, turns out to be more like a stagnant gentleman's social club.]]

* The real-life cult of Mithras has featured in several historical novels, among them RosemarySutcliff's ''TheEagleOfTheNinth'' and JohnMFord's ''The Dragon Waiting'', which each have a protagonist who's a member.

Popular in ancient Greece and Rome, {{Mystery Cult}}s are ultra-exclusive 'clubs' that require total secrecy on the part of participants and may tell new members little or nothing about their ethos before they join, and often long after. Generally speaking only long-time members will know what the cult is actually about, and even then the 'Inner Circle' will be the only ones who know everything. In this respect they are theopposite of some religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, which are more evangelical and make materials relating to their beliefs freely available and are happy to explain what they believe.

* ''SkulduggeryPleasant'' features so many that they might as well be the entire premise.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraic_mysteries The Mithraic Mysteries]] was a cult dating to about the first-fourth centuries. Because of their mysterious nature we know almost nothing about them, beyond that they believed their god emerged from a lump of solid stone as a fully formed adult. Other than that it's pretty vague. A popular myth rose up about hundred years ago in connection with the cult which says that Christianity was based on it. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithras_in_Comparison_With_Other_Belief_Systems The short answer is that it was very definitely not]].

* Mithras (See:Real Life) apparently has an analog in [[BattlestarGalactica the Twelve Colonies of Man]], but given that they're referred to as "Mithrasaries" it's possible they're not as secretive as the followers of Mithra on Earth. Apparently, old-school religious Gemenon considers them something of a protected minority.

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraic_mysteries The Mithraic Mysteries]] was a cult dating to about the first-fourth centuries. Because of their mysterious nature we know almost nothing about them, beyond that they believed their god emerged from a lump of solid stone as a fully formed adult. Other than that it's pretty vague. A popular myth rose up about hundred years ago in connection with the cult which says that Christianity was based on it. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithras_in_Comparison_With_Other_Belief_Systems The short answer is that it was very definitely not]].

* ''ThatHideousStrength'' features a weird, atheistic version of this. The National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments is ostensibly a scientific research group, but it becomes clear that no one besides the NICE's inner circle knows what the point of the research is. It's eventually revealed that said inner circle takes orders from literal demons (who present themselves as SufficientlyAdvancedAliens).

!!!Examples:

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* In ''CallOfCthulhu'' the cults that worship the CthulhuMythos deities are like this. They're intensely secretive because their abhorrent practices would get them imprisoned or executed in any civilized country. By the time a new member finds out what the cult is really up to they've probably been driven insane.
* The same is said of some Chaos cults in ''Warhammer 40000''. Genestealer "cults" are the opposite due to their hive-minded nature, but their main ''modus operandi'' is to manipulate ''other'' cults which will fit the trope as a consequence.

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* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraic_mysteries The Mithraic Mysteries]] was a cult dating to about the first-fourth centuries. Because of their mysterious nature we know almost nothing about them, beyond that they believed their god emerged from a lump of solid stone as a fully formed adult. Other than that it's pretty vague. A popular myth rose up about hundred years ago in connection with the cult which says that Christianity was based on it. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithras_in_Comparison_With_Other_Belief_Systems The short answer is that it was very defiantly not]].

Popular in ancient Greece and Rome, {{Mystery Cult}}s are ultra-exclusive 'clubs' that require total secrecy on the part of participants and may tell new members little or nothing about their ethos before they join, and often long after. Generally speaking only long-time members will know what the cult is actually about, and even then the 'Inner Circle' will be the only ones who know everything. In this respect they are the absolute opposite of religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, who make materials relating to their beliefs freely available and are happy to explain what they believe.

As a general rule initiates don't have a clue what they have gotten themselves into and the inner circle won't be keen on telling. This is often a lead in to a really obvious ReligionOfEvil. Oddly enough [[YouFailReligiousStudiesForever they are occasionally used as Christian analogs]]. Compare and contrast AncientConspiracy.

* ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'' features so many that they might as well be the entire premise.

* ''SkullduggeryPleasant'' features so many that they might as well be the entire premise.

Popular in ancient Greece and Rome, MysteryCults are ultra-exclusive 'clubs' that require total secrecy on the part of participants and may tell new members little or nothing about their ethos before they join, and often long after. Generally speaking only long-time members will know what the cult is actually about, and even then the 'Inner Circle' will be the only ones who know everything. In this respect they are the absolute opposite of religions such as Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, who make materials relating to their beliefs freely available and are happy to explain what they believe.