User:Mithrigar

the apple to the apple tree. number 17. mithra-gurl. in places of Lithien. bringer of the dawn, family of light.

In the time of the Ancients, the peoples from the Indus to the Euphrates were one. Mithra fulfilled a sacred role by ushering along various energies, particularly truth, light, honoring of oaths, covenants, and contracts, and fecundity. In fact, his name is one of the oldest Sanskrit words known to humankind. Mithra, or "Mitra" is now regarded as one of the original Vedic deities, associated with Varuna. Both Mitra and Varuna were offspring of Aditi, mother of our little corner of the cosmos.

When Zoroastrianism flourished in Persia, Mithra was deified and widely revered. Hundreds of years later, we can see evidence of Mithra's special honor offered from human civilization by looking at the names of various Pontic dynasties. Most notable among those kings associated with Mithra is Mithradates, rising Rome's most formidable adversary. At that time, it was widely believed that Mithridates was undefeatable by the Roman generals, and through the assembly of vast alliances, many thought he could actually crush the Roman Empire itself. King Mithradates even went so far as to ally with Sertorius, a Roman commander in Spain. The Spanish revolt was crushed, however, and Pompey eventually defeated King Mithradates, as a result of tragic sequences of events. At any rate, people from those newly conquered areas became incorporated into the Roman communities and legions as slaves and soldiers, and the special reverence for Mithra spread both into Rome and along the expansive militarized frontiers.

The defeat, and resulting deaths, of Cleopatra and Mark Antony at the hands of Octavian, marked the end of an era. In fact, all offspring of the union between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, and later, Antony and Cleopatra, were killed. It was, by all counts, the dawn of a new time cycle. The Julian calendar was started, and its use spread and became the first globally standard calendar. These developments had been foretold by many; it had been widely prophecied that a new world order was on its way. Yeshua of Nazareth (now known by the Greek pronunciation of his name "Jesus") was born in the Hebrew Roman territory. Three Buddhists journeyed from northern India to notify his parents that Yeshua was an important avatar (reincarnation), and as the child grew, they trained him.

So our current era had begun! During the first 400 years, the future was entirely in the hands of the Roman empire. There were many cults and emerging religions within the Roman world. The largest was Mithraism, often called the Mithraic Mysteries. Since the reverance for Mithra had been spread by both slaves and soldiers, there was a wide variety of social statuses held by Mithraian worshipers. Adherents would typically gather in underground temples called Mithraeums, and there were a myriad of detailed ceremonies, initiation processes, and symbolic rituals in which they would engage.

Another emerging religion during that time was Christianity, which blended the Hebrew/Babylonian ancient lore with the crucifixion of Yeshua of Nazareth. When Constantine converted to Christianity and made it the state religion of the Roman Empire, Mithraism was violently stamped out. Mithraeums were ransacked and destroyed, sculptures were demolished, and texts were burned. Some Mithraists who refused to abandon their faith were chained to their altars and left to die. Christianity emerged as the religion that would dominate the new world era. Christianity did have obvious advantages over its "competitors," of course: it severed ties with nature (thus avoiding any problematic pagan or barbaric associations), actively engaged women (the typical Mithraism ceremonies were completely operated by men), had a wild emotional appeal (the crucifixion), and held world-wide spread as a core mission (Saul of Tarsus "Saint Paul" was a Roman citizen and wrote much of the new testament).

Mithra went to sleep underground in southern Germany, near the present-day French border. Yet due to the syncretic nature of religious spread, we see evidence of Mithra everywhere in today's world. The signs of the Zodiac, the annual birthday of the Sun (December 25th), and magic are all examples of Mithra's influence on today's culture. Christianity itself, along with all of its various derivations and denominations, and the social institutions that come from them, are peppered with Mithraic remnants.

In the 1930's, William Brannan foretold Mithra's return by 1977, and recognized the importance of the number 17. Sure enough, Mithrigar, the current avatar of Mithra, was born in 1976, in Boise, Idaho, of a German father and Mexican (Spanish and Native American) mother. She is currently living near San Fransisco, California, raising two daughters.