Lunar beasts (part three)

The Mysteries of Mithras

Those initiated into the mysteries of Mithras achieved cosmic release by way of the revolving planets, which appear in Mithraic Iconography, each planet (Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Moon, and Sun) according to Celsus (Origen: Against Celcus 6:22), corresponding with a ladder of seven celestial gateways, surmounted by an eighth gateway, most likely transcendent of the celestial realm. The so-called Mithras Liturgy mentions that the pathway of the visible gods (i.e: the planets), is illuminated by the disc of the sun, the emblem of the indestructible god and gateway to the realm of the gods beyond (545-625). According to Jerome (Letter ‘to Laeta’ 107:2), there were eight stages of initiation (raven, bridegroom, soldier, lion, Perseus, sun, Crab, and father), presumably corresponding with the eight gateways.

In antiquity, numerous writers claim that the mysteries of Mithras took place within a cave and the god himself was born from a rock. Mithraic temples, called Mithraea (known collectively as Mithraeum), were windowless underground structures, evidently imitative of natural caves, and particularly of the mythological cave that enclosed the cosmos. In certain Mithraea, pumex stone was used to imitate the natural appearance of a cave, stars were painted on the ceiling, and the use of artificial light to replicate the heavenly bodies have all served to create the illusion of the celestial realm, according to Mithraic cosmology.

Statues depict Mithras birth, fully grown, from a rock, sometimes enclosed by a coiled serpent, reminiscent of the Orphic creation myth of the birth of the double-sexed being Phanes (Meaning ‘light’, also known as Protogonus ‘firstborn’, among other names), hatched from a serpent entwined cosmic egg. The rock-born motif appears to represent a paradoxical double truth, that Mithras birth within the cosmos and the cosmic creation itself were simultaneous events.

Also associated with the Mithraic cult was the statue of a lion-headed figure (leontocephaline), whose body was entwined by a spiraling serpent. This statue, I believe, represents both the lunar-temporal reality, corresponding with the revolving (serpentine) planetary path leading to cosmic release, and the solar-eternal reality, corresponding with the eighth gate mentioned by Celcus, as the indestructible lion’s head. The serpent also corresponds with the image of the Ouroboros that encircles the world, that in Greek mythology was Oceanus, who himself appears frequently in Mithraic iconography.

The central mystery involved Mithras slaying a bull within a cosmic cave. Leading up to this image of cosmic sacrifice is a sequence of iconic images of Mithras capturing and wrestling the bull. The bull slaying scene itself, known as the Taruoctony, depicts Mithras with his left knee pressed down upon the beast’s arched back, while With his left hand the god pulls back the bull’s head by the nostrils, and cuts the creature’s throat with a knife. The posture of the bull is reminiscent of the waxing crescent moon, while the god himself (the eternal god born within the temporal realm), is like the rising sun.

Other creatures accompany the sacrifice, including a crab and scorpion attacking the bull’s genitals (castration motif), and a dog and serpent attacking the bull’s bleeding throat. To the left and right of the bull slaying scene stand the twin torch bearers, Cautes and Cautopates, dressed Persian style like Mithras, with Phrygian caps. Above Cautes, whose torch points upwards (towards the realm of life) is an image of sol, the sun, who is sometimes riding an ascending chariot, while above Cautopates, whose torch points downwards (towards the realm of death), is Luna, goddess of the moon, sometimes riding a descending chariot drawn by bulls. Luna is also often depicted wearing a lunar headdress reminiscent of bull horns, and it is surely no coincidence that Mithras pulls back the head of the bull, as if transfixed and staring directly towards the moon, while the god himself looks towards the sun.

In various iconic representations, both Mithras and Sol are shown together, and Mithras himself was called Deus Sol Invictus. In one scene Mithras and Sol are sitting together partaking in a meal, presumably of bull flesh. In another scene Sol kneels before Mithras, and it seems apparent that the sun derives it’s power from Mithras himself.

The combined lunar-solar aspects of the god, represented in the leontocephaline, are distinct in the Taruoctony, and there is no other evidence that Mithras himself was ever thought to be both the lunar bull who is slain, as well as the solar god who slays. We find a similar distinction in the Zoroastrian creation myth (see part one). However, in the ancient lore of the mythological victim the god was clearly both.

The Lion Slayer

The slaying of the lion is another motif closely related to the theme of the solar giant.

The indestructible nature of the giant can only be overcome by a hero who has attained an identical form of indestructibility. In the conflict with Balor of the evil eye, Lugh’s solar identity is disclosed by his single blazing eye, and the indestructible solar power is turned inward upon it’s source, when the solar hero, blasts a hole through the back of Balor’s head. In the myths concerning David and Goliath, Diarmaid and Sharvan, and Odysseus and Polyphemus, the weapon of the giant is also turned upon it’s source.

One of Heracles’ early labours, the slaying of the Nemean lion, is a good example of a hero who attains an indestructible nature. Heracles is unable to penetrate the lion’s hide, and instead crushes the beast to death, simultaneously achieving oneness in both life and death. Heracles then flays the lion’s skin, cutting the hide with the beast’s own claws, much in the same way as David severs Goliath’s head, with his own sword. The hero afterwards wears the skin of the lion, that is, he clothes himself in indestructibility, becoming again, identical in nature to the all destroying, yet life giving, divine force.

The same idea of acheiving a divine nature can be found in African puberty rites:

…This comes out quite clearly in African initiation ceremonies; here too circumcision is equivalent to death, and the operators are dressed in lion skins and leopard skins; they incarnate the divinities in animal form who in mythical times first performed initiatory murder. The operators wear the claws of beasts of prey and their knives are barbed. They attack the novices genital organs, which shows that the intention is to kill them. The act of circumcision is expressed by the verb “to kill.” But soon afterward the novices are themselves dressed in leopard or skins; that is, they assimilate the divine essence of the initiatory animal and hence are restored to live in it. (Rites and symbols of initiation: the mysteries of birth and rebirth, Mircea Eliade, p.23, 1958 Harper & Row)

Gilgamesh also killed and wore the skin of lions before he passed through the gate of the scorpion men. The scorpion gate is equivalent to the old and new moons, discussed in my previous article The old and new moon boat, and are representative of the temporal realm, as opposed to the solar-eternal realm.

A steatite stamp seal (above) from north Mesopotamia, dating to 3300 B.C, represents the duel lunar-solar mystery of the temporal-lunar double-door, and the eternal-solar gateway. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, once the hero has clothed himself in lion skins and passed the scorpion men, he must then traverse the ocean of death — that, as mentioned in my previous article, only the sun god himself can cross — in order to reach the island of immortality. It is only by attaining an indestructible nature (symbolized by the lion skins), and becoming at one with the solar principle, that Gilgamesh can achieve his goal, at least in the preexistent mythos of the solar hero, upon which the journey of Gilgamesh is clearly based.

The Hebrew hero Samson, whose name means ‘sunlight’, also killed a lion, obtaining the gift of ambrosial honey from the beast’s carcass. This act is the equivalent of Odysseus obtaining the ambrosial wine from Polyphemus’ eye. The myth that Samson unhinged the gates of Gaza and carried them upon his shoulders to the top of hill, is probably an interpretation of an iconic representation of the god in solar aspect standing within a lunar style double-door upon the cosmic axis-mundi (Judges 16:3).

The Solar Giant

…As the Philistine (Goliath) moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly towards the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground… …David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s (own) sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. 1 Samuel 17: 48–51 N.I.V

Behind the historicized myth of David and Goliath, lies an ancient symbolic tale of a definitive conflict between an often youthful hero and cyclopean giant.

We find a readily comparable version of the tale in Irish-Celic mythology of the Tuatha De Danann.

At the the second battle of Mag Tuired, the hero Lugh circumvents the field of battle hopping on one foot, with a single eye blazing, in imitation of the one-legged Fomorian enemy, and their leader (also Lugh’s grandfather) Balor of the evil eye. Balor’s enormous eye was infused with druidic magic, and required four men to lift the heavy lid. The gaze of Balor’s eye was devastating, and no one could resist it’s all destroying power, except Lugh. Using a slingshot, Lugh shot a stone directly into Balor’s eye, out through the back of the giant’s head, recoiling the dreadful power of the eye onto the Formorians, killing the entire army.

We meet another one-eyed giant of Irish mythology in the ‘The pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainne’, called Sharvan. He is the Formorian guardian of the Rowan Tree of immortality, and is himself immortal and indestructible. When the lovers Diarmaid and Grainne seek refuge in the tree, Grainne is overcome with desire to eat the rowan berries, and so Diarmaid slays Sharvan with three strikes of the giant’s own iron club.

Sharvan is the counterpart of the cherubim and revolving sword of fire, that denies access to the tree of life in the Hebrew garden of Eden.

And he (Yahweh) caused to dwell the cherubs at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword whirling around, to guard the way to the Tree of Life. Genesis 3:24 L.T

The image of the revolving sword appears to be derived from the Mesopotamian glyph of the sun god Utu/Shamash; a stylized eight-spoked solar wheel comprised of four swords (as if in rotation) and four streams or rivers, emanating from the centre, comparable with the four rivers that flowed from the middle of the Hebrew paradise. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the island of immortality, said to be the source of all rivers, is surrounded by the ocean of death, that no one, apart from the sun god Shamash, could cross.

The glyph of Utu/Shamash represents the god’s own duel nature of wrath, symbolized by the sword, and of ambrosial bliss, symbolized by the rivers of life. This is the duel nature of the divinity, which functions as an impassable barrier to the transcendent realm.

The giant is an indestructible, unyielding, and merciless force that cannot be reckoned with, his single eye analogous with the all destroying nature of the sun, whose power is further extended through the giant’s weapon.

In the myth of David and Goliath, after David struck the giant in the forehead (his solar eye), he cuts off his head using the Philistine’s own sword. Again, in the case of Sharvan, the giant is slain with his own weapon.

The hero also shares in the self-same indestructible nature of the sun, and it is this adamantine quality that qualifies the hero alone with the ability to sustain the giant’s impenetrable solar glare, and turn the weapon inward upon it’s source, reversing the verdict of death to life.

The tale of Odysseus and his men caught inside the Cyclops Polyphemus’ cave, is another variation of the solar giant mythos. Here the all devouring divine nature is illustrated through the act of cannibalism. Polyphemus mercilessly devours Odysseus’ men, much like Kronos devouring his own children. Odysseus manages to beguile Polyphemus into drinking large quantities of wine until he falls into a drunken sleep. He then heats up the giant’s club, that has been sharpened into a stake, and with the help of four of his companions (compare the four attendants who lifted the giant eyelid of Balor), pierces the giant’s eye.

The Greek painting above represents the cosmic mystery primarily in solar terms, in contrast to the previous article that represented the same cosmic mystery though lunar imagery of the Bull and ambrosial cup. Aligned above the burning stake is a serpentine image of a vine, which seems to identify the stake with the tree of life. One of the four men holds a (lunar) cup below Polyphemus’ eye, catching the solar blood, Identifying it with the ambrosial drink, like the rivers of life flowing from the paradise of God.

The Iconic image of solar (eternal) essence arising from a lunar (temporal) vessel has a myriad of different religious associations, ranging from the Virgin Birth to the Holy grall, all pointing to the same primordial idea; that the temporal inexplicably gives birth to the eternal.

In Christian theology the same cosmic act is performed by Christ upon the cross, who, in the word’s of Matthew Henry:

He (Jesus) died, To bring us to God, and, in order thereunto, to rend that veil of guilt and wrath which interposed between us and him, to take away the cherubim and flaming sword, and to open the way to the tree of life.” Matthew Henry

Old and New Moon Boat

This iconic representation of a cylindrical stamp seal from Bahrain (Dilmun), depicts the image of a bull standing upon a high-prowed boat, feeding upon a plant, with a rotated lunar crescent adjacent with the bull’s head.

Between the repeating image of the boat stands another plant or tree, enclosed within the crook-shaped prows surmounting the bow and stern.

This image can be understood as a representation of the ever-revolving lunar cycle of 29.5 days, particularly when the waning moon disappears and three days later reappears as a waxing crescent, as if reborn.

The bull is the animal representative of the moon, and the bull’s horns are here identified with the rotated image of a lunar crescent.

The bull feeds upon the plant of life, the ambrosial source of the moon’s rebirth. The Plant itself can be understood as concealed within the three day period of darkness, where the dead moon must pass, if it is to be revived. The boat’s prow and stern represent the waxing and waning moons that enclose the mysterious plant.