LINEAGE
An unbroken line, three thousand years in the making.
The Importance of Lineage
Where does this actually come from?
We live in a world overflowing with spiritual information, and if you have spent any time looking for a real teacher, you will already know that not everything on offer actually leads anywhere. So before you hand over your time, your trust, your inner life to a teaching, it is worth asking a plain question. Where does this actually come from?
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A lineage, in the truest sense of the word, is a living tradition, carried from teacher to student in an unbroken chain that has already served thousands of years of people before you, and can go on serving you today. It is not passed down through books, or borrowed in pieces from older systems the way so much of modern spirituality tends to be. It is carried through something older and more deliberate, a holy process of initiation, and teachings protected, generation after generation, exactly as they were first given.
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The word itself comes from the Latin linea, simply meaning a line, and that is really all lineage is. A line, unbroken, running all the way back to where the teaching began, and reaching all the way forward to you.
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In the case of the Modern Mystery School, that line runs back over three thousand years, to the time of King Salomon himself. The wider Mystery School tradition is older still, but what sets this particular lineage apart from so much of what passes for ancient wisdom today is that it can actually be traced. Verified, rather than simply claimed. Passed hand to hand, teacher to student, in a way that has quietly preserved the virtue and honour of the tradition since its beginning, holding what has always been described as the secrets of God, the universe, and the keys to real spiritual power, waiting for anyone willing to genuinely seek them, and to honour their sacred nature by walking the Path of Initiation.
That combination, initiation held inside an unbroken lineage, is what has always empowered the Adept to take part in what this tradition calls the Great Work.
Building a better world, and living in real accordance with your own purpose and potential, rather than a life assembled from other people's expectations. Every great master this tradition has ever produced walked that same Path of Initiation, and it was that path, more than anything else, that allowed them to fulfil their purpose while they were here on Earth.
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This is also why lineage matters so much more than most people realise when they first go looking for a teacher. It is not only about history, though the history is real enough, over three thousand years of it, with more than 44,000 initiates walking this path worldwide today. It is about accountability. Teachers within the Modern Mystery School are trained, certified, and held to real standards, protected by the safeguards the School maintains, and by the Lineage Holders, the key holders entrusted specifically with keeping the purity of these teachings intact. So much of modern spirituality borrows fragments of older systems without their original context, and while there can be real value in that, it rarely offers what a true lineage does. Depth, accuracy, and a kind of power that only comes from something proven over centuries, not invented last year. Walking a real lineage means walking an actual path of progression, one initiation building on the last, rather than simply collecting practices as they happen to appeal to you.
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That integrity is protected quite deliberately. Through initiation into Adepthood and the stages of progression that follow it, through annual professional development for certified Life Activation Practitioners, Healers, Teachers, and Guides, through apprenticeship training for Guides, Master Teachers, International Instructors, and Program Leaders, and through ongoing training offered several times a year to initiates at every level, so that what is being taught today remains exactly as true as what was first given.
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Being part of this lineage has always meant being part of something larger than any single teaching or any single teacher. The Modern Mystery School is, in a real sense, a global family. Brothers and sisters across the world, all quietly dedicated to the same thing. The empowerment and betterment of humanity, through spirituality, and through service to one another.
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And this lineage does not only live in the past. It is carried, right now, by the people entrusted to hold it. The living link between three thousand years of teaching and whatever you choose to do next.
3,000
Years of teaching
44,000
Initiates worldwide
One
Unbroken Line
Lineage Holders Today
Who holds the lineage today?
Every lineage carries key holders, entrusted with a real responsibility, to anchor it here on the planet, and to hold the authority that keeps the Mystery School open to the public. In our lineage, that responsibility rests with three, known together as the Third Order. They work directly alongside twelve women in leadership, the Council of 12, who help discern the direction the lineage takes. Beyond them, other leaders each hold specific keys to particular areas, Kabbalah, Alchemy, Shamanism, among others, much the way someone might spend years training to become a doctor. These individuals carry titles such as Sovereign or Ipsissimus, earned through their own years of study, mastery, and the responsibility they now hold within the lineage.
The Third Order
Three who anchor the lineage.
Founder Gudni Gudnason opened the doors of this lineage to the public in 1997, after decades spent training within the Mystery School tradition himself.
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Sovereign Ipsissimus Dave Lanyon, who leads the Warriors of Light training within the school, has been instrumental in its growth since joining the lineage in 2004.
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Sovereign Ipsissimus Hideto Nakagome, trained in esoteric Buddhism and raised within a Samurai family lineage, has stood alongside Founder Gudni since the year 2000.
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Together, these three anchor the lineage on Earth today.
The Ipsissimi Council
The pillars of the lineage.
The individuals who have reached the pinnacle initiation of Ipsissimus, for their years of dedication, service, and mastery, are the leaders of their respective areas of expertise. As pillars of the lineage, who have served in unmatched capacity, these specific keys of knowledge and power are held by those initiated into the lineage of King Salomon as Ipsissimus. These are the Governing Ipsissimas and Ipsissimus that anchor immense Light for the Modern Mystery School.
Ipsissima Divina Franca Lanyon
Ipsissima of Alchemy
Ipsissima Divina Theresa Bullard-Whyke
Ipsissima of Kabbalah
Ipsissima Divina Luisa Nakagome
Ipsissima of Shamanism
Ipsissima Divina Eiko Gudnason
Ipsissima of the Royal Arts
Ipsissima Divina Tsukiko Kimura
Ipsissima of the Ensofic Arts
Ipsissima Divina Kate Bartram-Brown
Ipsissima of the Noble Arts
Ipsissima Divina Liza Rossi
Ipsissima of the Divine Arts
Ipsissima Kathleen Lanyon
Ipsissima of the Governance of the Light
Ipsissima Azusa Yoda
Ipsissima of the Grand Oracle
Honorary Ipsissima Sandra Reed
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Honorary Ipsissima Verla Wade
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Ipsissima Divina Hitomi Shibuya
Ipsissima of the Goethian Arts
Ipsissimus Kimio Iwaki
Ipsissimus of the Occult Arts
Ipsissima Yoko Watanabe
Ipsissima of the Psychic Arts
Honorary Ipsissima Suzuko Kitamura
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The Council of 12 Women.
In 2017, when the Third Order was initiated, the Council of 12 was also activated. The Council of 12 is a group of 12 women, high-level initiates from all over the world who serve as leadership for the Modern Mystery School. There are 6 women in the west and 6 women in the east.
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The Council of 12 work directly with the Third Order to execute the directives of the Hierarchy of Light for service to humanity on this earth. The 12 women provide council, confirmation and conference to the members of the Third Order about the various projects and missions of the Modern Mystery School.
The six women of the west
Ipsissima Divina Franca Lanyon
Ipsissima Divina Theresa Bullard-Whyke​
Ipsissima Divina Kate Bartram-Brown
Ipsissima Divina Liza Rossi
Divina Rita van den Berg
Divina Ann Donnelly
Alchemy
The magick of making things better.
Alchemy. The mysterious medieval art and science of turning lead to gold. Is it real? Is it something you can do, too?
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The Modern Mystery School's Ipsissima of Alchemy, Franca Lanyon, teaches the magick of making things better. This is Alchemy. We all have the ability to heighten our vibration and improve our current state. We all have the ability to transform ourselves.
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Alchemy is about change. The change for the better, change for the Light. The Modern Mystery School and the path of initiation truly and deeply changes those who walk upon it.