As it has already been said before there are practically no Mystery School in existence today. The only ones left are small and very secretive. As a result nothing much is known about their recruiting methods, rituals, ceremonies and initiatory rites. They become known only when they do something spectacular that attract the attention of the media. This generally means murder of an individual member, or collective suicide/murder of the whole sect.
These Mystery Schools, known these days as sects, do not allow their members to leave, afraid as they are that they will reveal the sect’s secrets, in particular the names of the members. If, however, a member decides to leave, his life is in danger and he has better to hide himself well because his ex-sect members will try to kill him.
These sects, like the Old Mystery Schools before them, possess what they describe as “secrets” which are explained to new members after a period of initiation. Very often, from what little is known, these secrets relate to a so-called knowledge of the date of the end of the world. That date can be fixed -like the beginning of a new millennium- or linked to a special event (earthquake, war, etc.). It often happens that on these occasions the whole sect decides to commit a collective suicide, those refusing to participate being murdered.
The present sects generally have a founder that has a strong personality, and who is able to influence and attract a certain number of followers. Generally the followers must put their personal wealth in a common chest and renounce to all material possessions -that now belongs to the sect or directly to the leader- and they are not supposed to leave the sect for any reasons whatsoever. In order to keep the members in the sect the leader(s) use force and blackmail. These sects generally have a very limited number of members but there are some larger ones too.