Michael as Mithras
Ahura Mazdah spake to Zarathustra: “When I created Mithras, who possesses the cosmic intelligence, I created him to be as venerable, as praiseworthy as Myself: Ahura Mazda”.
Zarathustra looked into the brilliant light & declared: “Him, the powerful Yazata (= worthy of worship or veneration), the mighty Mithras towering above all creatures, I shall honor Him Who owns the wide fields of the intelligences, Who knows the right sayings, Who is silent, yet earnest, Who has a thousand ears, Who is fair, Who has ten thousand eyes, Who stands on a broad rampart, Who is mighty and sleepless and vigilant.
Mithras we look to: Him Who owns wide fields of eternity, the vigilant one, Whose dwelling is as wide as the universe. It is built within matter. It is spacious, exposed to no needs, radiant, and offering shelter all around. Eight helpers of Mithras are dwelling as his spies on all the mountains, on all the ramparts. …
Mithras, the owner of wide fields of light, drives around raising His arms for the sake of safety. He guides His fair chariot, able to withstand all dangers and encrested with golden ornaments, to the radiant House of Praise. The chariot is drawn by four white steeds which are immortal and enjoy the nourishment of the spirit. Their front hoofs are fashioned of gold, their hind ones of silver.”
Then are enumerated the hosts accompanying Mithras at the right and left as he descends. The story goes on: In the chariot of Mithras, who owns wide fields of universe, there are a thousand bows…Moving through the air they fly on the head of the Devas. In the chariot of Mithras, who owns wide fields of intelligences, there are a thousand arrows, golden-pointed, furnished with vulture feathers, set with barbs, beautifully fashioned…Moving through the air, they fly on the heads of the Devas. (The same is said of spears, axes, daggers, clubs, and clubs with a hundred studs.)
Sorely afraid is the evil-doing Anra Mainyav (=Ahriman) and all the other evil beings. Ahriman shivers in fear declaring: “Let us in no wise expose ourselves to the blows of Mithras, who owns wide fields of light, waxing and working earnest for our despair. Mayest thou not, O Mithras, wax furious and send blows against us, thou, who art the most valiant of the Yazata and ownest wide fields of light.”
– From the Avesta, the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism.
Zarathustra, Revealing the Sacred Names of Mithras in the fight against Ahriman: “Mayest thou bestow grace upon me, providence and destiny, when I am writing down these first transmitted Mysteries. I am writing them down for my child, Immortality, the Mystic worthy of this our might, which the great God Helios Mithras has given to me at the hands of his Archangel, so that I, an eagle, may enter Heaven and envisage all”. (Then it is said of Mithras:)
“O Lord, Who hast closed with the spirit-breath the fiery keys of Heaven, thou two-bodied One, reigning over the fire, the light’s creator and guardian, breathing light, invigorated by fire, spirit-radiant, fire-rejoicing, radiantly beauteous, light-dweller, flame-whirler, light-creating, fire-planting, fire-enraged, lightning-swept, light-glorified, light-expanded, light-supporting, star-conqueror: Reveal to me the names that have not been known to mortal nature; the names never pronounced by a human tongue in lucid language, never pronounced by a human sound, or a human voice. Reveal to me the eternally living and reverenced names of you O great servant of Ahura Mazda and of man. – From a Mithras Liturgy of the Avesta.
~adapted by hag
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1 October 2020 – “Speaking with the Stars”: The Full Harvest Moon 5:05 pm cdt TODAY! You can watch our beloved satellite clear the horizon & rise in the east just moments after sunset & remain visible in the sky all night. It’s the first of two Full Moons this month — the second -a Blue Moon will occur on All Hallows Eve October 31.
Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation (26° from the Sun) at 11 am CDT Today. You can spot the solar system’s smallest planet this evening, in the southwest 30 minutes after sunset, By then, some of the brightest stars should be popping out of the twilight: Arcturus, Vega, Deneb, Altair, and Fomalhaut. Jupiter & Saturn should appear about the same time.
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“History is a cyclic poem written by time upon the memories of humanity”. ~Percy Bysshe Shelley
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Rudolf Steiner’s Lectures on this day
286 -Feast Day of Saint Piatus, a Belgian saint, native of Benevento, Italy, Tradition states that he was ordained by Dionysios the Areopagite. He was martyred under Maximian by having the top of his skull sliced off. He may be recognized in depictions holding the sliced portion of his skull. Some of his relics can be found at Chartres Cathedral
331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela
1811 – The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans
1814 – Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw Europe’s political map after the defeat of Napoleon the previous spring
1847 – Birthday of Annie Besant a prominent British socialist, theosophist, women’s rights activist, writer, orator & supporter of Irish & Indian self-rule.
In 1890 Besant met Helena Blavatsky. She became a member of the Theosophical Society & a prominent lecturer. She established the first overseas Lodge of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain. Over the next few years she established lodges in many parts of the British Empire. In 1907 she became president of the Theosophical Society, whose international headquarters were in Adyar, Madras. She also became involved in politics in India, joining the Indian National Congress. When World War I broke out in 1914, she helped launch the Home Rule Leagueto campaign for democracy in India. This led to her election as president of the India National Congress. In the late 1920s, Besant travelled to the United States with her protégé & adopted son Jiddu Krishnamurti, whom she claimed was the new Messiah & incarnation of Buddha. Krishnamurti rejected these claims in 1929.
She is thought to be the reincarnation of Giordano Bruno…?
1880 – First electric lamp factory is opened by Thomas Edison
1890 – Yosemite National Park is established by the U.S. Congress
1908 – Ford puts the Model T car on the market at a price of US$825.
1910 – Los Angeles Times bombing: by union members belonging to the International Association of Bridge & Structural Iron Workers. The explosion started a fire which killed 21 newspaper employees & injured 100 more.
1918 – Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence, also known as “Lawrence of Arabia”, capture Damascus
1924 – Birthday of Jimmy Carter, American lieutenant & politician, 39th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate
1928 – General Secretary Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union introduces its First five-year plan, including the creation of “kolkhoz” collective farming systems that stretched over thousands of acres of land & had hundreds of peasants working on them. This essentially destroyed the kulaks as a class, & also brought about the slaughter of millions of farm animals that these peasants would rather kill than give up to the gigantic farms. To meet the goals of the first five-year plan the Soviet Union began using the labor of its growing prisoner population. This disruption led to a famine in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan as well as areas of the Northern Caucasus.
1957 – First appearance of In God we trust on U.S. paper currency
1961 – The United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is formed, becoming the country’s first centralized military espionage organization
1964 – Japanese Shinkansen (“bullet trains“) begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka
1985 – The Israeli Air Force bombs Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) headquarters in Tunis
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My POD (Poem Of The Day)
~I looked in
& saw the dragon writhing
In rags of mortality
Spitting the cold fire of fear
Binding & Hardening…
& yet my blood was hot
Pulsing with scintillating sparks
Forged From the sword of the Archai…
Now my tongue flicks flames
Licking the fingers of gods
Knowing I am
Free
~hag
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All Souls Festival:
The Connection Between Epidemics, the Souls of the Dead, & the Spiritual World – Leading thoughts by Hazel Archer-Ginsberg.
With Group Eurythmy, Singing & Break out Sessions.
In-person at Elderberries Biodynamic Outpost & 3 fold Cultural Hub, in conjunction with the Rudolf Steiner Branch Chicago, 4249-51 N. Lincoln Ave.
& On-line (details coming soon)
2 pm – 4 pm CDT Sunday 8 November 2020
