Descent, Search and Ascent - A common theme in mystery religions

"Because of this element of secrecy, we are ill-informed as to the beliefs and practices of the various mystery faiths. We know that they had a general likeness to one another".  

- Ernest William Barnes

Eleusinian mysteries

This is the mystery of mother Demeter and her daughter Persephone who descends to the underworld and her mother Demeter sincerely searches for her daughter and finally she ascends to earth to live with her mother which returns joy, happiness and fertility.

The above myth is nothing but the descend of the soul into this world, searching and suffering of the soul in this world and finally ascension of the soul through the Eleusinian ritual practices. Eleusinianism is the most ancient of the mysteries which was followed by Greeks from time immemorial and was open to everyone for initiation.

Orphic mysteries

Orphics believed that man was made up of an immortal soul which was in bondage with a material body. They established the hierarchy and the origin of the intellectual and the intelligible gods with Zeus or Jupiter as the Demiurgus who fashions the souls of man and seeds it on earth which formed the descent.

Orphism explained the origin of the cosmos through Phanes who originated from the cosmic egg and possessed all the gods in his womb.

"O Mighty first-begotten [Protogonos], hear my pray'r, two-fold, egg-born, and wand'ring thro' the air, Bull-roarer, glorying in thy golden wings, from whom the race of Gods and mortals springs. Ericapæus [Erikapaios], celebrated pow'r, ineffable, occult, all shining flow'r. From eyes obscure thou wip'st the gloom of night, all-spreading splendour, pure and holy light. Hence Phanes call'd, the glory of the sky, on waving pinions thro' the world you fly.  Priapus, dark-ey'd splendour, thee I sing, genial, all-prudent, ever-blessed king, With joyful aspect on our rights divine and holy sacrifice propitious shine." 

- To the Protogonus, the first-born, Orphic Hymns

Pythagorus and Plato were heavily influenced by the Orphic mysteries and his philosophy was completely based on the Orphic mysteries.

Through their Dionysian rituals they searched for the divine spark in them and ascended to heavens.


Mithraic mysteries

Even the mithraic mysteries was based descend and ascension of the soul which was very well depicted in the main iconography of their mysteries, the tauroctony. Mithras Liturgy is a ritual practice where the magician ascends to the solar world passing through various gates in the above heavens and finally meets the supreme Godhead of the cosmos King Helios-Aion-Mithras and receives immortality from him. 

Cautes and Cautopates holding the torch downwards (descend) and upwards (ascension)

Porphyry has more on the subject.

"Caves, therefore, in the most remote periods of antiquity were consecrated to the Gods, before temples were erected to them. Hence, the Curetes in Crete dedicated a cavern to Jupiter; in Arcadia, a cave was sacred to the Moon, and to Lycean Pan; and in Naxus, to Bacchus. But wherever Mithra was known, they propitiated the God in a cavern. With respect, however, to the Ithacensian cave, Homer was not satisfied with saying that it had two gates, but adds that one of the gates was turned towards the north, but the other which was more divine, to the south. He also says that the northern gate was pervious to descent, but does not indicate whether this was also the case with the southern gate. For of this, he only says, "It is inaccessible to men, but it is the path of the immortals."  

........Theologists therefore assert, that_these two gates are Cancer and Capricorn; but Plato calls them entrances. And of these, theologists say, that Cancer is the gate through which souls descend; but Capricorn that through which they ascend. Cancer is indeed northern, and adapted to descent; but Capricorn is southern, and adapted to ascent (note 12). The northern parts, likewise, pertain to souls descending into generation. And the gates of the cavern which are turned to the north are rightly said to be pervious to the descent of men; but the southern gates are not the avenues of the Gods, but of souls ascending to the Gods. On this account, the poet does not say that they are the avenues of the Gods, but of immortals; this appellation being also common to our souls, which are per se, or essentially, immortal.  

It is said that Parmenides mentions these two gates in his treatise "On the Nature of Things", as likewise that they are not unknown to the Romans and Egyptians. For the Romans celebrate their Saturnalia when the Sun is in Capricorn, and during this festivity, slaves wear the shoes of those that are free, and all things are distributed among them in common; the legislator obscurely signifying by this ceremony that through this gate of the heavens, those who are now born slaves will be liberated through the Saturnian festival, and the house attributed to Saturn, i.e., Capricorn, when they live again and return to the fountain of life. Since, however, the path from Capricorn is adapted to ascent, hence the Romans denominate that month in which the Sun, turning from Capricorn to the east, directs his course to the north, Januanus, or January, from janua, a gate. 

- Porphyry on the Cave of the Nymphs

Chaldean (Persian-Babylonian) mysteries

The Chaldean oracles teaches us that there is a solar world which we have to inevitably ascend in order to receive the immortality of the soul. Proclus has more on this subject.

"On this account, it appears to me that Plato delivers a twofold generation of the Sun; one indeed, in conjunction with the seven governors of the world, when he fashions the bodies of them, and inserts them in circulations; but the other according to the enkindling of light, through which he imparts to the Sun supermundane power. For it is one thing to generate the bulk of the Sun itself by itself, and another in conjunction with a ruling characteristic, through which the Sun is called the king of every visible nature, and is established analogous to the one fountain of good. For as this fountain, being better than the intelligible essence, illuminates both intellect and the intelligible, thus also the sun being better than a visible nature, illuminate both that which is visible and sight. But if the Sun is beyond a visible essence, it will have a supermundane nature. For the world is visible and tangible, and has a body. Hence, we must survey the Sun in a twofold respect; viz. as one of the seven planets, and as the leader of wholes; and as mundane and supermundane, according to the latter of which he splendidly emits a divine light. For in the same manner as The Good luminously emits truth which deifies the intelligible and intellectual order; as Phanes in Orpheus sends forth intelligible light which fills with intelligence all the intellectual Gods; and as Jupiter enkindles an intellectual and demiurgic light in all the supermundane Gods; thus also the Sun illuminates every thing visible through this undefiled light. The illuminating cause too is always in an order superior to the illuminated natures. For neither is The Good intelligible, nor Phanes intellectual, nor Jupiter supermundane. In consequence of this reasoning therefore, the Sun being supermundane emits the fountains of light. And according to the most mystic doctrines, the wholeness of the Sun is in the supermundane orders; for in them there is a solar world, and a total light, as the Chaldean Oracles assert, and which I am persuaded is true. And thus much concerning these things."  

- Proclus on the Timaeus of Plato

Pauline mysteries (greatest mystery of all mysteries)

The great Paul of Tarsus echoed the same views in his epistles which was very well understood by the greatest mystic of all time, Valentinus, a gnostic for all seasons, the only one from the western esoteric tradition who had the correct conception of divine and having a mind and vision greater in magnitude than Plato or Iamblichus. Valentinus showed his pneumatic charisma in his seminal work 'The Gospel of Truth' which is the greatest of all the historical mysteries put together.

Gospel of Truth begins by stating the most beautiful truth of all truths that the Father held the perfection of the Aeons within himself, the fact that he deliberately created beings in an ignorant state expecting them to return to him out of love. This ignorance of the knowledge (gnosis) of the Father was the root cause for the origin of this world and all the evil which resides in it.

"And as for him, them he found in himself, and him they found in themselves, that illimitable, inconceivable one, that perfect Father who made the all, in whom the All is, and whom the All lacks, since he retained in himself their perfection, which he had not given to the all. The Father was not jealous. What jealousy, indeed, is there between him and his members? For, even if the Aeon had received their perfection, they would not have been able to approach the perfection of the Father, because he retained their perfection in himself, giving it to them as a way to return to him and as a knowledge unique in perfection. He is the one who set the All in order and in whom the All existed and whom the All lacked. As one of whom some have no knowledge, he desires that they know him and that they love him. For what is it that the All lacked, if not the knowledge of the Father?"  

- Gospel of Truth

This error and fog was nothing to the Holy Father as he knew that error and evil does not exists in him although they exist because of him.

"Forgetfulness did not exist with the Father, although it existed because of him. What exists in him is knowledge, which was revealed so that forgetfulness might be destroyed and that they might know the Father, Since forgetfulness existed because they did not know the Father, if they then come to know the Father, from that moment on forgetfulness will cease to exist."  

 - Gospel of Truth

The process of descent begins with the emanation of Aeons from the Father.

"It was a great wonder that they were in the Father without knowing him and that they were able to leave on their own, since they were not able to contain him and know him in whom they were, for indeed his will had not come forth from him."  

- Gospel of Truth

The search of the Father begins and they find the way through the Saviour - Jesus Christ.

"The Father opens his bosom, but his bosom is the Holy Spirit. He reveals his hidden self which is his son, so that through the compassion of the Father the Aeons may know him, end their wearying search for the Father and rest themselves in him, knowing that this is rest."  

- Gospel of Truth

The process of ascent begins with the help of the gnosis of the Father preached by his son Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

"Since the perfection of the All is in the Father, it is necessary for the All to ascend to him. Therefore, if one has knowledge, he gets what belongs to him and draws it to himself. For he who is ignorant, is deficient, and it is a great deficiency, since he lacks that which will make him perfect. Since the perfection of the All is in the Father, it is necessary for the All to ascend to him and for each one to get the things which are his. He registered them first, having prepared them to be given to those who came from him." 

- Gospel of Truth

What great teachings these are from Valentinus and we all should be indebted to him in helping us to understand the greatest mystery of divine in such simple poetical form rather than accusing him of plagiarizing from Plato who looks so puny in front of a giant like Valentinus. Valentinus molded the mysteries, he formalized it into a coherent whole and gave us the whole picture. As GRS Mead said very few people could ever appreciate the ideal of the man and much less understand it because for that age he was trying to achieve the impossible.

As a Gentile, I have a huge respect for Saint Paul

I am a Gentile, a non-Jew, a follower of Helios-Mithras. Why would a hard polythiestic like me would revere and honor the promoter of a monotheistic religion? There is one man who stands in between preventing a bloody war between the Pagans (a pejorative word used by Christians against us)  and the Christians and that man is Saint Paul of Tarsus. I don't think I would ever love Christ and Christianity if not for Saint Paul. If I ever love Christianity it is only because of Paul and his Pauline letters.

Why do I love Paul and revere him so much? Is it because he was the Apostle to the Gentiles and understood us much better than anyone else? No. Is it because he favored us over the Jews or do I love him because of his anti-Semitism? No. Is it because he amalgamated the doctrine of pagan mystery religions into Christianity? No. 

Paul's main concerns and his main beliefs clearly shows out in the Colossian heresy, on the Divinization of Christ. The Colossian heretics insisted that only a part of the divinity was in Christ and involved themselves in the "worship of angels" and were trying to ascend to the heavens of these angels and finally to Christ. Paul on the other hand slams such a doctrine and teaches them that there is no need to "worship the angels" as all the angels or divine powers resided in Christ in bodily form.

This might have been the revelation that Paul received on his road to Damascus, the truth that "In Christ dwells all the pleroma of the deity in bodily form." (Colossians 2:9). This is exactly the revelation Valentinus received after a century or so, "It was quite amazing that the Aeons were in the Father and were able to emanate in as much as they were not able to perceive and recognize the one in whom they were." (Gospel of Truth)

This form of worship where you worship the divinity as a whole is called the samashti swaroopa of Vedic worship also called as Akhand Upasana. It is this knowledge of Paul and Valentinus which is mentally disturbing for me and the reason why I revere them so much.

It is only through revelation that such an esoteric doctrine can be obtained not just through mere copying from other pagan mystery religions and the way Paul vehemently defended and fanatically preached such a doctrine even to the point of martyrdom says something about the confidence which Paul and Valentinus had on their doctrines. Was Christ the heavenly counterpart to the earthly Jesus might have been originally sent by Savitr, the Holy Father of the Vedic Aryans? Why would the magi from the east who worshiped Mithras bring gifts to a Jewish messiah while he was still an young boy? All this only makes perfect sense if we take the Valentinian, 'Fall of Sophia' myth quite seriously.

The mystic of Tarsus and the pagan mystery cults

Was Saint Paul influenced by the pagan mystery religions? For me, this is a billion dollar question and the very foundation of Christianity and of its followers depend on it.

St Paul in the early 20th century history of religions. “The mystic of Tarsus”and the pagan mystery cults. After the correspondence of Franz Cumont and Alfred Loisy

As I long argued that Christianity is a mystery religion of Valentinian Christians similarly both these scholars agree with me that Christianity itself became a mystery religion in the hands of Saint Paul. But where they differ from my view is that they believe Paul either unconsciously or deliberately borrowed Pagan doctrines into his form of theology while I maintain that Paul truly received the Pleromic revelation from the Pneumatic Christ and based his doctrines solely from the revelation that he received from the Pneumatic Christ.

The reason why I hold such a view is that Saint Paul knew about the highest revelation of all the mysteries. Saint Paul seems to know more about the deity of Mithras than Julian the Emperor himself who self-proclaimed himself to be initiated into the mystery of Mithraism. Even Julian was aware of the calibre of Saint Paul but he spoke negatively against him because he was irritated and annoyed by the literal interpretation of the Bible enforced upon him by his orthodox Christian teachers when he was young. Julian himself says that Saint Paul surpassed every magician of every place and of every time but accuses him of being a polypus who changes his colour according to circumstances like the polypus changes its colour to match its rocks.

But that from the beginning God cared only for the Jews and that He chose them out as his portion, has been clearly asserted not only by Moses and Jesus but by Paul as well; though in Paul's case this is strange. For according to circumstances he keeps changing his views about God, as the polypus changes its colours to match the rocks, and now he insists that the Jews alone are God's portion, and then again, when he is trying to persuade the Hellenes to take sides with him, he says : "Do not think that he is the God of Jews only, but also of Gentiles : yea of Gentiles also."  Therefore it is fair to ask of Paul why God, if he was not the God of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles, sent the blessed gift of prophecy to the Jews in abundance and gave them Moses and the oil of anointing, and the prophets and the law and the incredible and monstrous elements in their myths? For you hear them crying aloud: "Man did eat angels' food." And finally God sent unto them Jesus also, but unto us no prophet, no oil of anointing, no teacher, no herald to announce his love for man which should one day, though late, reach even unto us also. Nay he even looked on for myriads, or if you prefer, for thousands of years, while men in extreme ignorance served idols, as you call them, from where the sun rises to where he sets, yes and from North to South, save only that |345 little tribe which less than two thousand years before had settled in one part of Palestine. For if he is the God of all of us alike, and the creator of all, why did he neglect us? Wherefore it is natural to think that the God of the Hebrews was not the begetter of the whole universe with lordship over the Avhole, but rather, as I said before, that he is confined within limits, and that since his empire has bounds we must conceive of him as only one of the crowd of other gods. Then are we to pay further heed to you because you or one of your stock imagined the God of the universe, though in any case you attained only to a bare conception of Him? Is not all this partiality? God, you say, is a jealous God. But why is he so jealous, even avenging the sins of the fathers on the children?

- Julian, Against the Galileans

Julian is entirely ignorant of the Valentinian tradition whose leader was Saint Paul of Tarsus. Julian though knew that there were hidden secret teachings associated to stories in the Bible was completely ignorant about the esoteric teachings of Saint Paul and as such none of his criticisms against Saint Paul hold now because we now know that Saint Paul was a gnostic and held beliefs contradictory to the Roman Catholic Church.

But the problem still remains how can Saint Paul who was a convert of Jesus Christ knew more about the mystery cults and the deity and the doctrines of Mithras compared to emperors like Julian who were fully initiated into the mystery of Mithraism and yet looked puny in front of a giant like Saint Paul when it comes to the pagan mystery religions. May be his birth place Tarsus might have had a huge influence on Saint Paul's thinking but still how did he figured out the highest esoteric truth of Mithraism which only the worshippers of Mithras can know.

This problem cannot be solved without taking some extreme positions like either Saint Paul was a priest of Mithras as some of his detractors claimed or he truly received the highest revelation from Christ himself. The former view seems absurd to me because why would a priest of Mithras hide the divinity of Mithras and proclaim Jesus Christ as the first-begotten in place of him.

Its true that the salvation preached by Saint Paul is identical to the salvation that we see in the mystery cults but the reason for that similarity is not because Saint Paul intentionally borrowed pagan elements into his doctrines which as I have shown above is a charge if we are making on Saint Paul we have to admit that he was a priest of Mithras because the kind of doctrines espoused by Saint Paul is not something like how a nut-job can just plagiarize blindly someone's else idea because the pagan mysteries requires one to participate and take part in the rituals to fully understand the mystery behind them and Saint Paul does in no way look like an outside copy cat of pagan mystery cults in fact he looks like someone who has attained the highest mastery of Mithraism.

If we deny the view that Saint Paul was a priest of Mithras which is very unlikely and absurd to believe then how can we account for the similarities between the Pauline doctrine of salvation and the salvation of the pagan mystery cults and other such similarities. The answer to that question is my belief that the Pneumatic Christ or the post-resurrected Christ was sent by none other than King Helios-Mithras himself, the unknowable Holy Father of the Gnostics.

This is the reason why Pauline Christianity is so similar to the pagan mystery cults. It is not because Paul borrowed from it but instead it is because the post-resurrected Christ was actually the son of King Helios-Mithras. There is no wonder why Saint Paul knew so much about Mithraism compared to the fellow initiates of Mithraism.

According to Valentinianism there are two Christs a psychic one at the Kenoma and a pneumatic one at the Pleroma, the psychic Christ was sent by Jehovah, the god of the Old Testament and the god of the Jews, also known as the Demiurge while the pneumatic Christ was sent by King Helios-Mithras, the god of the New Testament and the god of the Gentiles, also known as the unknowable Father of the Gnostics or the representation of the GOOD form according to Plato.

A Pagan Gnostic Christian?

Paganism and orthodox Christianity are entirely incompatible. The God of the Old Testament is a jealous god and wants all heathens to be destroyed since they honour and worship other gods rather than him. Many fundamental Christians if given a chance will stone heathens to death because it is said in their bible that anyone who serve other gods than Jehovah who brought Jews out of the land of Egypt must be stoned to death (Deuteronomy) and killed.

Pagan doctrines are a big heresy to the church.

Paganism vs Orthodox Christianity

1. Emanationism vs Creationism
2. Reincarnation vs Bodily resurrection
3. Hard Polytheism vs Monotheism
4. They practise Idolatry vs They flee from Idolatry
5. Are exempted from all Divine Laws vs Are compelled to follow a Divine Law
6. Redemption via Wisdom vs Redemption via blind faith
7. Man is a puppet and has no free will vs Man has free will and is responsible for his actions
8. Mystical union with Gods vs Subordinate to God
9. Believe in Karma vs Believe in Original Sin
10. Sun worship vs Sun worship is Devil worship

As you can see Paganism agrees next to nothing with orthodox Christianity. If this is the case people might be wondering how one can call himself a Pagan Christian. The missing link between Paganism and Christianity is Gnosticism.

Crossing Borders: Combining Paganism and Gnostic Christianity

A Pagan and a Christian holding a truth in agreement. St Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles who worked so hard to bring even Gentiles into the ministry of Jesus Christ. You are neither Jew nor a Greek but one in Christ. Jesus belongs to the Pagans too. Its not my intention to offend any orthodox Christians but this is what I truly believe and this is the truth. Jesus was sent by the Demiurge, The God of Old Testament, Jehovah and Christ who went inside Jesus's body at the time of his Baptism in the form of a dove was sent by the all loving Holy Father from whom all things have come and for whom we live.

Fulfilling the dream of Julian the Emperor

                                                                                                     The Julian Society

I swear to God in the name of King Helios that as long as my breathe exists I will work to restore Paganism as a major world religion and will combat all the conspiracy and the suppression that is being done against it.

Sauram or Magi is back- The ancient solar cult which worships the Sun god as the Supreme Lord of the Universe

"The Suryaites or Sauras are followers of a Hindu denomination that started in Vedic tradition, and worship Surya as the main visible form of the Saguna Brahman. The Saura religion was influential in times of old but declined between the 12th and 13th century CE and today remains as a very small movement."

"The Saura sect that worships Surya as the supreme person of godhead and saguna brahman doesn't accept the Trimurti as they believe Surya is God. Earlier forms of the Trimurti sometimes included Surya instead of Brahma, or as a fourth above the Trimurti, of whom the other three are manifestations; Surya is Brahma in the morning, Vishnu in the afternoon and Shiva in the evening. Surya was also a member of the original Vedic Trimurti, which included Agni and Vayu. Some Sauras worship either Vishnu or Shiva as manifestations of Surya, others worship the Trimurti as a manifestation of Surya, and others exclusively worship Surya alone."