‘Mysteryplaces and ways of initiation’ is -as the title suggests- about the parth of initiation. Steiner begins in times long past (before Lemuria) and especially speaks with the rites of the myteries of Efeze (ancient Greece) and Hibernia (Ireland) in detail. The information he got with his clairvoyant abilities, he has been watching the rites instead of reading about them. This is -of course- very interesting if you take it that Steiners information is correct. Lateron Steiner also speaks about the Rosicrucian school and some of its literature.
The lectures were given before Christmas 1923 in a difficult time for the Antroposophical Society. The first Goetheanum had just burned down and Steiner wanted to reform the Society.