mystagogue means A person who prepares an initiate for entry into a mystery cult, or who teaches mystical doctrines. It carries an Arena rating of 1713, earned across 36 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, mystagogue ranks #1,093 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #1,696 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #1,961 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #2,366 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say.
Why “mystagogue” is a great word
MYSTAGOGUE — [Noun] A guide who initiates others into the secret rites and esoteric doctrines of a mystery cult. From the Latin mystagōgus, from the Ancient Greek μυσταγωγός (mustagōgós), from μύστης (mústēs, "initiate into mysteries") + ἀγωγός (agōgós, "guide, leader"). First attested in English in the 1550s. Unlike a "guru," a general spiritual teacher in plain sight, or a "hierophant," the specific high priest who displayed the sacred objects at Eleusis, the mystagogue is the shadowed conductor through veiled chambers. He is the whisper in the torch-lit anteroom, the hand that places the blindfold before the final door, the voice explaining the sacred symbol in a room lit by a single flame—a broker of the sacred whose power lies in the controlled and solemn act of unveiling.
Etymology
From Latin mystagōgus, Ancient Greek μυσταγωγός (mustagōgós). By surface analysis, mystic + -agogue.
noun
- A person who prepares an initiate for entry into a mystery cult, or who teaches mystical doctrines.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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