From the book
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
R. Swinburne Clymer · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAdytum and sacellum designate an inner sacred place or sanctuary in the comparative accounts of initiation.
- In Ancient Mystic Oriental MasonryThe candidate's passage through darkness ends in a chamber of light and instruction.
- In this editionThe Latin and Greek-derived terms are explained through their function in this book; they are not used to identify all ancient sanctuary arrangements as identical.
- A place to readS.23: … “his trials by an admission to the splendidly-illuminated sacellum, or sanctuary, where he was said to” …
Meaning
Adytum and sacellum designate an inner sacred place or sanctuary in the comparative accounts of initiation.
Use in the book
The candidate's passage through darkness ends in a chamber of light and instruction. In another comparison, pillars support the adytum and a new birth is imagined as delivery from between them. Interior architecture becomes the setting for a change of spiritual condition.
Places to read
- Masonic Symbolism · Block 23… “his trials by an admission to the splendidly-illuminated sacellum, or sanctuary, where he was said to have attained pure and perfect light, and where he received the necessary instructions which were” …
- Masonic Symbolism · Block 89… “danger, the doors of the seventh vault, or Sacellum, were thrown open, and his darkness was changed into light. He was admitted into the spacious and lofty cavern already described, which” …
- Masonic Symbolism · Block 105… “of the Lodge. In the British Mysteries the Adytum or lodge was actually supported by three stones or pillars, which were supposed to convey a regenerating purity to the aspirant, after” …
In this edition
The Latin and Greek-derived terms are explained through their function in this book; they are not used to identify all ancient sanctuary arrangements as identical.
Reading the argument
The described place serves a narrative and pedagogical function. Its elaborate decoration and terrors should not automatically be treated as a contemporary eyewitness record of an ancient sanctuary.
Adytum
“Adytum” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: S.105.
sacellum
“sacellum” — 3 occurrences in 3 text blocks: S.23, 86, 89.
sanctuary
“sanctuary” — 2 occurrences in 2 text blocks: S.23, 86.
sacred grotto
“sacred grotto” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: S.89.