worldzone.net
The Legend of Mithras
December 25th is the date we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, but if the accounts in the Bible are correct, His birth would have been around mid-summer for this is the time when "shepherds tended their flocks in the field" and the new lambs were being born.
The date was actually taken from the ancient pagan religion of Mithrasism, which pre-dates Christianity by 2000 years, the followers of which celebrated the birth of their "saviour" on that date.
According to the "Book of Origins", the Canon of the Mithrasic faith, "the universe was created through Mithras, and Mithras was born into the world to save humanity from the attacks of the evil one, Ahriman, who had a hatred of human beings. Mithras released the goodness that had been stolen by Ahriman, and then died in this earthly realm, going into the underworld to bind Ahriman there forever and to distroy his servants.
He then returned to earth to teach humanity his commandments and to begin the Mysteries and Rites to help them to remember the acts he performed on our behalf.
Due to his intervention and because of his acts in defeating Ahriman, we can choose good over evil, even though evil can still exert influence over us, and still seem powerful, because our minds believe it is.
Because of his teachings we know that the purpose of our lives is to serve other in the name of Mithras.
His followers refered to him as the "Light of the world", a phrase also adopted by Christians when referring to Christ.
The Persian legends of Mithras state that he was the son of the Sun God and his mother conceived him whilst she was a virgin and she is called the "Mother of God." The legends also say that he was born on the 25th. of December.
They saw him as a symbol of justice, truth and loyalty, and he was considered the saviour of mankind, with many stories about the miracles performed by him, including; healing the sick, raising the dead, making the blind see and the lame to walk. Throughout his life time he was seen as the protector of human souls, as a mediator between Heaven and earth, and was even associated with a "holy trinity". Throughout his life he preached the virtues of ethics, moral behaviour and goodwill. He remained celibate until he died at the age of 64.
The Persians believed in the sanctity of contracts and the name Mithras comes from the Persian word for contract. They regarded him as the guardian of contracts, the promise keeper and the keeper of the covenant with mankind. To break a contract, they believed, would bring bad luck to the entire land.
The Ancient Persians held the belief that there was a "celestial Heaven and hell" and that they would be judged by their god and granted the justice of eternal salvation. On Judgement Day light would triumph over darkness, and the faithful dead would be resurrected. The took part in ritual purification or baptism, held Sundays sacred, ate bread and drank wine as symbols of the body and blood of their "saviour", and had ritulistic purging rites, such as flagellation.
According to their legends, Mithras had a earthly mission to accomplish. He was then put to death on a cross and buried in a cave,(some versions saying to be reborn once a year). He then "rose from the dead" and took part in a last supper wiyh his twelve disciples ~ often associated with the twelve signs of the zodiac ~ and then ascended to Heaven to watch over his flock from above.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally published at Lughnasa 1999
The last state pagan religion in Europe was Mithraism. The worship of Mithras, the Invincible Sun god was practised all over the Roman Empire, including the British Isles. The Temples in London and along Hadrian Wall can still be seen today as well some remains in Wales and York. There is no written formal documentation of the Western style of Mithraic Mysteries, the Roman 'Cult of Mithras'. The underground Temples and their paintings, statues and few anti-pagan documents by early Christian are all that remain.
Mithra/Mitra is the prototype to Roman Mithras to whom there are several hymns in Hindu and Zoroastrian holy texts. This gives us some insight into the energy of this deity before it became fused with the great mass of Graeco-Roman magical ideas. The evolution of this deity from god of the green land, wild pastures and the solar light to one of that Invincible Sun god, who moves the cosmos by slaying constellation Taurus, has been the subject of much interest to historians and magicians.
Roman Mithras was perhaps the greatest rival to early Christianity for many reasons. As well as being a popular pagan religion practised by the Roman Army, Mithraism had many similarities to Christianity. Mithras was born of a virgin, remained celibate, his worship involving baptism, the partaking of bread marked with a cross and wine as sacrificial blood, held Sundays sacred and Mithras was born on 25th of December. Mithraist called themselves 'brother' and were led by a priest called 'father' (Pater). The symbol of the father were a staff, a hooked sword, a ring and hat.
These similarities frightened the early Christian leaders - that almost 500 years before arrival of Christ all of the Christian mysteries were already known. To combat this, Christian witters said that the Devil knew of the coming of Christ in advance and had imitated them before they existed in order to denigrate them. As Christianity gained strength and became the formal religion of the Roman Empire, the 'Cult of Mithras' was one of the first pagan cults to come under attack in the fifth century; Temples of Mithras, like most other pagan Temples, were destroyed and Churches build on them.
Mithras in Britain
The Mysteries of Mithras remained in Britain for sometime after the Christianisation of Rome, and in his 'Song of the Macrocosm' (Canu y byd mawr) the Bard Taliesin (6th century A.D.) demonstrates his initiatory knowledge of the 'Cult of Mithras'.
Sir James Frazer proposed that indeed Taliesin the Bard (6th century AD) was a Mithraic initiate. The 'Song of the Macrocosm' certainly contains some Mithraic Lore and Taliesin the historical figure was versed in many of the magical lores of the British Isles. Therefore its not surprising that he was also familiar with Mithraic Mysteries. Another interesting connection between the Invincible Sun god and Celtic lore is proposed by John Matthews in 'Taliesin: Shamanism and the Bardic Mysteries in Britain and Ireland'.
In the Language of trees, the Ogham alphabet could be accreditated to god Ogma Cermait (Honey-Mouthed), Grain-aineach (Sun faced), or Trenfher (Strongman, Champion), a son of the great god Dagda and Goddess Danu. In Gaul he was called Ogmios and was worshipped as a god of light and learning. "In an inscription found at Richborough, Ogmios is depicted with rays of light coming from his head and holding the whip of Sol Invictus". All three titles of Ogma certainly do link in with the rites of Mithras and the inscription in Richborough also supports a link. However what is not clear is if the link derives from the original Mithra, that is with the spread of Indo-European people or from the introduction of Mithras with the Roman Empire, that is Ogma possibly gained some Mithraic characteristic during the Roman Empire as he already showed some parallels with Mithras.
A special grade was created as the movement went underground at the end of 4th century AD. The grade of 'Chryfii' meaning "hidden ones" is inscribed in a Mithraeum in Rome. This was to insure the lore was not totally lost, and it is during this time we see the Mithraic lore return to the Middle East with all of its new Greeco-Roman based knowledge. The spread amazingly went all the way to Korea and finally reached Japan in 612AD. By modifying it to fit local customs and adapting to each new culture, the lore survived and Mithras was worshiped from Hadrian's Wall in England in the West all the way to Japan in the East. The Invincible Sun God lived up to its title and survived all ihis adversaries.
The possibility of Taliesin the Bard (6th century) being a Mithraic initiate also adds weight to the way lore was preserved by fusion with local customs and remained hidden by being one with the masses.
Findings of local Goddess statues and other Celtic religious artifactsin the Mithraic Temples (Mithraeums) along Hadrian's Wall suggest the male-only imagery of the cult had shifted and was again fusing with local custom and deities. It is perhaps a romantic notion to think that as Christianity overcome paganism within Britain, the remaining pagans of different traditions gathered in the well -rotected walls of the underground Mithraeums to pull together - Druids (or proto-druids) alongside Mithraists invoking their gods of solar lights to stop the destructions.
One way of unlocking the mysteries that have been lost is perhaps by looking at the where it started, the old land of Persia. In the same way Christianity overcame Mithraic mysteries and all paganism in the west, what was left of the original Mithra was dissolved by rise of Islam in the East. However the magical current of the Invincible Sun god survived despite the rise of Christianity and Islam. In the East Mithra was fused with Islamic lore and became part of mystical branch of Islam, Sufisim.
The Myths of Mithras and iconography
Deciphering the meaning of the paintings and statues that survived in Europe has been a challange to many academics in the field and the works of Speidel and Ulansey have shed light to much of the iconography. The various interepretations of the iconography all point to a deep cosmology within the tradition.
Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
Birth of the Invincible Sun God:
According to Persian traditions, the god Mithras was actually incarnated into the human form of the Saviour expected by Zarathustra. Mithras was born of Anahita, an immaculate virgin mother once worshipped as a fertility goddess before the hierarchical reformation. Anahita was said to have conceived the Saviour from the seed of Zarathustra preserved in the waters of Lake Hamun in the Persian province of Sistan. Mithra's ascension to heaven was said to have occurred in 208 B.C., 64 years after his birth. This birth took place in a cave or grotto, where shepherds attended him and regaled him with gifts, at the winter solstice. This is based on a older myth about birth of Mithra, that his magical birth at the dawn of time was from a rock from which he formed himself using his Will. He holds in his hand a dagger and a torch. A statue from Housesteads shows Mithras being born from the rock while the twelve signs of the zodiac surround him, showing his image as a stellar god who rules the cosmos even at his birth. A serpent sometimes shown to be coiled around of the Mithras or birth stone/egg.
After his birth he challenged other forces when the world was young. His battle with the Sun resulted in the formation of a friendship and Mithras was bestowed with rays/crown of the Sun. Christians adopted this date as Christ's birthday in the Fourth century of the common era, according to Sir J.G. Frazer in his work The Golden Bough: "the festival of Christmas, which the church seems to have borrowed directly from its heathen rival. In the Julian Calendar, the 25th of December was reckoned as the winter solstice, and was regarded as the nativity of the Sun, because the day begins to lengthen and the power of the Sun increases from that turning point of the year. ... Mithras was regularly identified by his worshippers with the Sun... The [Christian] Gospels say nothing of the day of Christ's birth, and accordingly the early church did not celebrate it."
The New Catholic Encyclopaedia records: "The birth of Christ was assigned the date of the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian calendar, January 6 in the Egyptian), because on this day, as the Sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithras celebrated the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Birthday of the Invincible Sun). On December 25, 274, [Roman Emperor] Aurelian had proclaimed the Sun God the principal patron of the Empire and dedicated a temple to Him in the Campus Martius. Christmas originated at a time when the cult of the Sun was particularly strong at Rome." (Vol. III, p.656, 1967 ed.).
The Hunt
Some images survive with Mithras on horseback with bow and arrow in hand hunting a stag whose horn is the crescent moon. Mithras is accompanied by a lion, snake and a dog.
Tauroctony ( Bull-slaying scene)
Mithras presides over the changing of the seasons and the movement of the heavens themselves. In the ancient cult Mithras was represented by the constellation Persus, who changes the position of the celestial sphere by 'slaying' the constellation Taurus (the Bull). At the spring equinox Mithras moves the earth back into Aries, raising lots of energy and power. At the autumn equinox this position is reversed bringing Scorpio back into Libra and balancing sexual energies.
The Bull Slaying was the central icon within the Western form of Mithraism and was present within every Temple. Here all the mystery of this tradition comes togethers, showing its Persian origins and the incorporation of Roman astrology and Greek mythology, giving rise to a esoteric path that must have had an everlasting impression on those who were prepared to follow its path. The Bull that Mithra kills is his ego, which is the aim of all followers of Mithra. "The lower self or ego (nafs ammare in sufisim) is symbolised by a Bull or cow which must be sacrificed in order that the spirit may come to life by Sohravadi in his treaties "on reality of Love" and by Mawlana in Masnavi and Qoran 2:67" (Dr. Masoud Homayouri, Origin of Persian Gnosis).
The scene shows Mithras facing away from the Bull with one foot on the back of the bull, one hand holding the bull's head and other hand stabbing the bull in the neck where blood pours forth. Around him there is a dog, a raven, a scorpion, a snake, a lion and a cup and an ear of wheat is growing from the tip of the bulls tail. The cloak of Mithras is the night sky with stars and the signs of the zodiac surround the whole scene. The symbols of the seven planets are present. The two torch bearers of Mithras stand at either side of the bull slaying scene. The central mystery represents the constellation Persus (Mithras), Taurus (Bull), Canis Minor (dog), Hydra (snake), Corvus (raven), Scorpio (scorpio). The wheat is the star Spica (the brightest star in Virgo). The blood is the Milky Way. The two torchbearers Cautes and Cautopates symbolise the equnioxes; Cautes torch is pointing upward - the spring equniox, while Cautopates torch is pointing down -autumn equniox.
The meaning of the this star map lies within the procession of equnioxes. At the present time the spring equinox occurs when the sun leaves the constellation of Pisces; in time, the equinox will be in the constellation of Aquarius, bringing the Age of Aquarius. In Graeco-Roman times the spring equniox was in Aries, and the autumn equinox in Libra. Before that, the spring equinox was in Taurus and the autumn equinox in Scorpio, 4000BC-2000BC. This also means the summer solstice was in Leo (lion) while the winter solstice was in Aquaries (cup).
The whole Bull slaying scene is therefore the representation of the 'heavens' as we moved from Age of Taurus to Age of Aries. That is, the constellation Persus, which is above constellation Taurus, leads to the image of Mithras killing the bull, bringing an end to Age of Taurus by moving the entire universe. In a time when magic and science was based on a geocentric cosmos, with earth fixed in space and everything going around it, the procession could only be understood as a movement of the entire cosmos rather than earth. Mithras therefore became the Kosmokrator (cosmic ruler). The blood of bull is the Milky Way, the pathway which souls ascend and decend to genesis. The slaying of the constellation Taurus by the constellation Persus is perhaps one of the greatest star maps left to us. It shows the gnostic notion of overcoming of ego and uniting with the subconscious, a whole new dimension and one that can be observed in the cosmos. Mithras presides over the changing of the seasons and movement of heavens themselves.
Mithras is asked by the sun to kill the Bull, but his reluctant to do this. The Raven, messenger of the Sun, comes to him again with the message. Mithras goes into the field and captures the Bull and with his strength lifts the back legs of the bull over his shoulder and drags him to the cave of his birth. The crescent moon over the bull suggests its connection to the moon. When Mithras kills the bull, from his blood comes the wine and all plants that cover the earth. The tail became wheat which gives our bread. The seed and the genitals of the bull are taken to the moon goddess and purified giving rise to all animals. By slaying the first Bull, life comes onto the earth.
That Mithras looks away from the bull while slaying it is significant. Persus, too, looked away from the Gorgon when he decapitated her for whoever looked upon the Gorgon would turn to stone. That is, the ego would turn the heart and the soul of into stone. In order to overcome the ego(nafs) one has turn the head (intellect) away as the intellect is unable to overcome the ego. It is only when we look with our hearts, that is Mithra is my only crown, that the battle can fought. It is only on the path of Mithra (love) with the guidance of the Father who has already slayed the Bull that we can decapitate our own Gorgon, before it turns us to stone. The Tauroctony demonstrate literally that Love moves the Universe. This is perhaps one of the greatest mystery within the Cult of Mithras.
Sol and Sol Invictus
The new life on earth was growing slowly due to drought and Mithras as the mediator between heaven and earth was asked to resolve this. However this meant a conflict with the sun who was burning the land. The battle between the sun and Mithras results with Mithras overcoming the sun and becoming the Invincible Sun. Sol kneels in front of Sol Invictus while Mithras holds constellation the Great Bear in one hand, emphasising his power as the stellar god who moves the cosmic pole as well being responsible for the procession of equinoxes. They then become friends and shake hands.
The Miracle of the Rock
Mithras was a archer god and by firing an arrow into the a rock face of a mountain, causes water to pour forth. The drought ends. The rock represents the clouds and the clouds the cave or the universe.
The Sacred meal
The remains of the bull is brought by the torchbearers of Mithras, Cautes (dawn, spring equinox) and Cautopates (dusk, autumn equinox) to a meal where sun and Mithras sit together, and this was imitated by the followers of Mithras where Pater represented Mithras, Heliodromus the sun and other initiates sat around and shared the sacred meal.
The Ascension
After the meal Mithras gets into the Sol's horse drawn chariot and heads to the sky or the ocean to fulfil his role as the comsic ruler (Kosmokrater).
Origins of Mithraic Mysteries
"The oldest source of Persian Gnosis is to be found in Mithraism, an ancient Persian spiritual path, which began in Eastern Iran many thousands of years ago". (Dr. Masoud Homayouri, Origin of Persian Gnosis). Mithra is an Indo-Iranian god, worshipped at least as early as 1400BC. In Hinduism he is praised as the binomial Mitra-Varuna. A hymn is also dedicated to him alone in Rig Veda (3.59). He is the Lord of Heavenly Light, protector of truth, and is invoked when a contract or oath is taken.
In Persia Mithra was the protector god of the tribal society until the Zoroastar's reformation of Persian polytheism (628-55BC). Mithra, like the rest of the gods and goddess of the Iranian Pantheon, was stripped of his sovereignty, and all his powers and attributes were bestowed upon Ahura Mazda. However due to his popularity we see in the Avesta (Mehr Yasht) Ahura Mazda saying to Zoroster: "Verily, when I created Mithra, the Lord of Wide Pastures, I created him as worthy of sacrifice, as worthy as prayer as my self Ahura Mazda."
In the Avesta, Mithra or Mehr (translation: love, sun) is the protector of the Aryan nation, giving victory to those who lie not unto Mithra. He is the warrior deity carrying the hundred knotted mace from whom all demons flee in fear. In a Yashet 6 during a prayer to sun Mithra is mentioned again and referred to as a friend: "...I will sacrifice unto that friendship, the best of all friendships, that reigns between the moon and the sun"
Mithra is also found in Chinese mythology, where he is known as The Friend. Mithra is represented as a Military General in Chinese statues, and is considered to be the friend of man in this life and his protector against evil in the next.
In the west Mithra is best known as cult of Mithras which had an immense popularity among the Roman Legions, From late 1st century BC until 4th century AD. During which it came under the influence of Greek and Roman mythologies. However like other mystery traditions of that period (the Eleusinian mysteries and Isian mysteries) the Mithraic cult maintained secrecy and its teaching were only revealed to initiates. Remains of Mithraic temples can be found through out the Roman empire, from Palestine across north of Africa, and across central Europe to North of England. |
