Category: Ancient
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Preparing the Future Through Mythology
It has been my ‘academic contention’ that the lore of myths sought to prepare people for the future. The initiates of old were able to do so by beholding the spiritual events of the past and knowing that these would have a fulfillment in the future. The Greek Era lay in the middle of this…
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Christmas Symbolism: Ox and Ass
During the Age of Taurus (roughly from 3000 BCE to 800 BCE), the bull and the calf were venerated. As this Age transitioned to Aries, the Mithraic Mysteries arose where the cosmic Christ was sought as one overcame the bull within: Note the symbol of the snake. Mithraism apparently grew out of Persia and became…
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Cosmic Caduceus
The Cosmic Caduceus was erected on Golgotha. There with Christ Jesus in the middle were two others representing the white and the black snake. The serpent represents intelligence, one of above and one of below. These two tempters are the Light Bearer, Lucifer, the white snake, and the Prince of Darkness, known to Zarathustra as…
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Mithraism and the Cosmic Christ
When religions of old pointed to the God found in the sun, they were speaking about the Logos through whom all things became. Different names were given to this being. One religion that immediately preceded Christianity tried to prepare the way for the coming of this God, namely Mithraism. Once Christianity was established, it lost…
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From Ancient Mysteries to Rome, Part 2
A study of history can, however, bring to light something else in this connection, that is of very great significance. Into the external exoteric culture of Greece flowed much of this threefold teaching of Zarathustra, teaching of the spiritual Sun Osiris, the elemental Sun and Anaxagoras, of Zeus, the Sun-flooded ether environment of the Earth.…
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From Ancient Mysteries to Rome, Part 1
[The following relies on insights from a lecture by Rudolf Steiner in London, 24 August 1922] Let’s go back to the Ancient Persian civilization when the teacher of mankind during the height of this civilization was Zarathustra (aka Zoroaster). It was a common custom for the pupils of a great and lofty teacher to continue…
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Dreams
This post will reveal some, perhaps unfavorable, personal traits of me. When I was a child I remembered far more dreams than I do as an adult. Occasionally I’ll remember the last dream of the night or one where I woke up during the dream and was able to make a written or visual or…
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Mithraism and Christianity
In other posts we’ve looked at the guidance and wisdom carried in every religion by its local Mystery Center. The ancient mystery teachers had knowledge of the stars that, without telescopes, seems incredible to us today. The Caldeans and Persian astronomer/astrologers were well aware of the course of the sun through the zodiac and the…
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Was Pontius Pilate an Initiate?
Last blog, we looked at the meaning of the inscription INRI that Pontius Pilate wrote on a plaque and had placed on the cross above the head of Jesus. Who was this governor of Judea? To answer this, we should review an apocryphal book entitled the Acts of Pilate. Here is a letter from Pilate to…
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What Role Did the Ancient Mysteries Play for Early Christianity?
Something that most historians miss is the role that the Ancient Mysteries had in the ease of the spread of Christianity. After the event of Whitsun, some of the disciples and those with them began missions to spread Christianity. Where did they go? They went to the Mystery Centers throughout the world. There the initiates…