Tag: Mitra
Odhinn and Tรฝr: war, law and magic in the Germanic tradition
Notes on mythical sovereignty in the Germanic tradition: a comparison between the two divinities (Odhinn and Tรฝr) assigned to the ambit, from the point of view of the "Indo-European functional tripartite division", of the so-called "First function" - in the light of the historical evidence emerging from Tacitus's โGermanyโ and of comparative studies (with the Vedic and Roman traditions) of the French historian of religions Georges Dumรฉzil.
The religions of mystery: soteriology of the Mithraic cult and of Attis / Cybele
(image on the side: affresco representing Mithra killing the bull, XNUMXnd cent. AD, Marino, Italy)
NIn the 50s, the Gnostic documents of Nag Hammadi, found immediately after the war in Egypt, made their entry into the academic world, and the need arose in the field of studies for a reflection on the material available and a rethinking of the categories into which they fell. the so-called mystery cults. The years between the 30s and 40s had already brought new materials and new research hypotheses: studies on patternย or mythical-ritual model inaugurated in England, which still felt the influence of Frazerian comparativism, "by now they were putting the theme of mystery religions in a broader perspective to consider them, one by one, in their ancient roots of national and ethnic religions - Crete, Egypt, Anatolia and the rest of anterior Asia, overcoming the limitation to mystical and soteriological cults of the Hellenistic-Roman age and in particular those relating to divinities of oriental originยปSuch as Mithra (Persia), Isis and Osiris (Egypt, Rome), Cybele and Attis (Anatolia), Aphrodite / Astarte and Adonis (Phenicia, Greece) [From: U. Bianchi, The study of mystery religionsin The soteriology of oriental cults in the Roman Empire, Proceedings of the International Colloquium, Rome 24-28 Sept. 1979].
Cyclic time and its mythological meaning: the precession of the equinoxes and the tetramorph
di Andrew Casella
It will certainly not go unnoticed by those who are at least a little accustomed to sacred science, a Christian symbol that has always stood out on the facades of churches, adorns manuscripts and is even found on a tarot blade: the tetramorph. This symbol draws its origin from the famous vision of Ezekiel (Ez. 1, 4-28) which St. John later poured into his own Apocalypse. These are four figures that surround the throne of God: the first has the appearance of a lion, the second of a bull, the third of a man and the fourth of an eagle in flight (Ap. 4, 7). Traditionally, these strange figures (which the Apocalypse calls the "Living") are attributed a literary value: in fact, they are the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These figures, however, as mentioned, can be found (even more strangely, one might say) also on a tarot blade, and precisely the number XXI, which designates the world.
