One of the reasons for our trip to Greece was to learn about the ancient religions and, in doing so, to discover that those religions are not very different from the religions of today, especially the Mystic or Gnostic churches or spiritual schools of today.  The early Christians desired, perhaps even needed, to separate themselves from these Pagan religions, so often depicted them in a rather negative way.  To a large extent, the writings of those early Christians provide much of our accepted history about ancient religions and beliefs.  Those of us who are now involved with the more mystical and spiritual aspects of Christianity as taught by the early Gnostics, the Essenes, and others, can see how the teachings of these ancient spiritual schools was heavily distorted and many of the true teaching of these ancient schools are just as true today as they were thousands of years ago.