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  • The Absence of The Moon in The Mithras Liturgy

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    Mathieu RB
    101 visualizzazioni2 pagine
    Ritual instructions for the Mithras Liturgy tell the magician to begin preparations at the seizure of the moon. This absence of the moon is crucial to the magician's project of immortalization. The moon's role as a power of genesis lies in the sun's power of apogenesis.

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    The Absence of the Moon in the Mithras Liturgy

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    Ritual instructions for the Mithras Liturgy tell the magician to begin preparations at the seizure of the moon. This absence of the moon is crucial to the magician's project of immortalization. The moon's role as a power of genesis lies in the sun's power of apogenesis.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Scarica in formato DOC, PDF, TXT o leggi online su Scribd
    Segnala contenuti inappropriati
    101 visualizzazioni2 pagine

    The Absence of The Moon in The Mithras Liturgy

    Caricato da

    Mathieu RB
    Ritual instructions for the Mithras Liturgy tell the magician to begin preparations at the seizure of the moon. This absence of the moon is crucial to the magician's project of immortalization. The moon's role as a power of genesis lies in the sun's power of apogenesis.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Scarica in formato DOC, PDF, TXT o leggi online su Scribd
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    di 2

    AttheSeizureoftheMoon:

    TheritualinstructionsforthefamousMithrasLiturgytellthemagiciantobeginthecomplex preparationsfortheencounterwiththesupremesungodMithras"attheseizureofthe moon,"thatis,atthetimeofthenewmoon,whenthemoonisabsentfromtheheavens.This absenceofthemoonisnotmerelyanisolatedritualdetail,butratheritcorrespondstoa patternthroughoutthewholespell,inwhichtheabsenceofthemooniscrucialtothe magician'sprojectofimmortalizationthroughhiscontactwiththepowersofthesun.This patternrevealsthesignificanceofthesunandmooninthecosmologyofthecompilerofthe GreatParisMagicalPapyrus. Notonlymustthemagicointmentofimmortalizationbepreparedatthenewmoon,but otherritualpreparationsmustbedone"atthetimeofthenewmoonintheLion,"again,inthe absenceofthemoon.Themoonisnotmerelyabsentfromtheritualpreparations,buteven fromtheexperienceofthemagicianinthespellitself.Asthemagicianascendsthroughthe cosmosontheraysofthesuntotheencounterwiththesupremegod,he(orshe)passes throughtheairandwinds,theplanetsandstars,andthedoorsofthesun.Inthisjourney,the moonisconspicuouslyabsentfromherplaceatthenexusofthemundaneworldandthe celestialworldofplanetsandstars.Althoughthemagicianaddressesprayerstotheplanets andstarsandtothedeitiesofthesuntospeedthejourney,noprayerappealstothepowerof themoon. Thesignificanceofthemoon'sabsencefromtheMithrasLiturgyliesinthemoon'sroleasa powerofgenesis,ofbringingsoulsdownfromtheupperrealmsintotheworldbelow.Inhis CaveoftheNymphs,Porphyrylinkstheprocessofapogenesistothesunandthatofgenesis tothemoon."Thetheologiansmakethe'gates'ofsoulsthesunandthemoon,theascent takingplacethroughthesunandthedescentthroughthemoon."(Porphyry29,OntheCave oftheNymphs,RobertLamberton,trans.,StationHillPress:Barrytown,NewYork,1983,p. 37.)ContrastswithdifferentNeoplatonistcosmologiesandwiththeideasofMithraismas representedinthesurvivingmonumentsshowthatthecosmologyoftheMithrasLiturgy assignsanunusuallynegativeroletothemoonandtheprocessofgenesis.Whileinother Neoplatonictheurgicalsystems,suchastheChaldaeanOracles,themooncanplayapositive roleforthetheurgistseekingtoconnectwiththehigherrealms,intheMithrasLiturgythe magicianmustavoidthepresenceofthemooninthevoyageupontheraysofthesunupto thehighestgod.Onlythepowersofapogenesisareinvokedinthisspell,andanyhintofthe powersofgenesismustbeexcluded. ThisseparationwithintheMithrasLiturgyparallelstheorganizationoftheGreatParis MagicalPapyrusitself.TheMithrasLiturgy,lines475829ofthepapyrus,comesinthefirst sectionofthepapyrus,whichcontainsanumberofspellsthatinvokeorappealtothepower ofthesun,undervariousepithets.Noneofthesespellsinvokethemooninanyaspect.By contrast,thefinalsectionofthepapyruscontainsanumberofspellsinvokingthemoonas Selene,Hekate,Artemis,Persephone,orotherunderworldgoddess,anditcontainsnoneof theinvocationstoHelioscommoninthefirstpartofthepapyrus.Thepapyrusisroughly dividedintosunspellsandmoonspells,showingthatthecompilerofthepapyrusthoughtof solarandlunarinvocationsasseparatecategories. ThecuriousabsenceofthemoonintheMithrasLiturgyintheritualtiming,inthemagician's voyagethroughtheheavens,andevenintheorganizationofthepapyrus,providesaninsight

    TheAbsenceoftheMoonintheMithrasLiturgy

    intothecosmologyunderlyingthespell.Thesupremegod,invokedasMithrasHelios,isa solardeitywhocanredeemthemagicianfromgenesis,whilethemoonrepresentsthepowers ofgenesis,whoseinfluencemustbekeptawayfromtheprocessofimmortalization.

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