‘The Green And Goodly Tree’

The tree of life is a recurring motif in many traditions.  For example in Norse mythology, the universe-spanning tree Yggdrasil connects the nine worlds of Norse cosmology.

‘Three roots there are | that three ways run

‘Neath the ash-tree Yggdrasil;

‘Neath the first lives Hel, | ‘neath the second the frost-giants,

‘Neath the last are the lands of men’.

Source: The Ballad Of Grimnir

The Book of Genesis refers to a tree planted by God in the Garden of Eden the fruit of which confers immortality. Along with the tree of life grows the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

‘Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’.

Genesis 2:8-17 New International Version (NIV)

‘Trees of Life’ are also important symbols in modern paganism-

‘The trees are cosmic maps of the Otherworlds our ancestors recognised. They are also called Trees of Life – all life, not just human. The more familiar “wheel of the year” showing the elements and compass points is a flat diagram of earth. World trees must be thought of in 3-D. The tree is a living cosmic axis with its roots in the Underworld, linking with the trunk on the soil of our Earth and its branches in the air of the Otherworld of spirit’.

Source: http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/ygg.htm

I am personally struck by the amount of tree imagery in the writings of Baha’u’llah.  Some examples of this imagery include the appearance of the tree as symbols of spiritual renewal, wisdom, the unity of mankind and the relationship of God and his Manifestation. For example-

‘Cast into the fire the tree that hath rot and dried up, and abide under the shadow of the green and goodly Tree, and partake of the fruit thereof.’

‘When the channel of the human soul is cleansed of all worldly and impeding attachments, it will unfailingly perceive the breath of the Beloved across immeasurable distances, and will, led by its perfume, attain and enter the City of Certitude. Therein he will discern the wonders of His ancient Wisdom, and will perceive all the hidden teachings from the rustling leaves of the Tree that flourisheth in that City’.

‘Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship’.

‘All comparisons and likenesses fail to do justice to the Tree of Thy Revelation, and every way is barred to the comprehension of the Manifestation of Thy Self and the Day Spring of Thy Beauty.… these Birds of the celestial Throne are all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and as they all arise to proclaim His irresistible Faith, they, therefore, are regarded as one soul and the same person. For they all drink from the one Cup of the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the same Tree of Oneness’.

Source: Gleanings From the Writings of Baha’u’llah



Recent Discoveries In Mithraic Archaeology

Some time ago I posted about the ancient Romano-Persian religion of Mithraism which is undergoing a modern revival. Over the last decade or so many ancient ‘Mithraea’ or temples of Mithra have been excavated- in places as far apart as Iraq and Hungary. Most of these temples were built in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. which is considered the golden age of Mithraism in the Roman Empire.  A chronology of excavations at these sites is listed below-

April 2010: After decades of controversy, a long-closed sanctuary of Mithras was finally reopened. This Mithraeum is located in the Rhodope Mountains in the town of Thermes on the border between Greece and Bulgaria. Because of the tensions between Communist Bulgaria and Greece in the 20th century, the site’s excavator, Bulgarian archaeologist–and eventual prime minister–Bogdan Filov, conducted no further enquiries into the site after his initial foray in 1915. So far, the findings merely consist of a sacred spring and a sculptured relief. Bulgarian officials have called for increased Greek involvement in a further investigation, which will lead to a planned tourist venture in the area. Interestingly, Bulgarian archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov identified the veneration of rocks as a cultic ritual that was part of this Mithraic complex, resonating with the story of Mithras’s rock birth.

April 2010: Archaeologists discovered the remains of a Mithraeum in Angers, northwestern France. First constructed in the 3rd century A.D., the temple is located inside a domus, or Roman house. The temple was probably destroyed in the 4th century, as evidenced by shattered statues and signs of burning. It contains remains of a relief depicting Mithras with torchbearers and of a worn head of the god, distinguished by his Phrygian cap. The offerings included about 200 coins. Other artifacts found include Nubian terracotta figurines, a brooch, and a deer-shaped pouring device with three holes in its throat, perhaps used in an unknown rite. Unfortunately, because the area is due to be razed for housing, archaeologists may not have much more time to excavate.

2009: A Mithraeum was found in Iraq in the northern province of Dohuk. The prayer space in this Mithraeum faces the sun, says Hassan Ahmed Qassim, Dohuk’s director of antiquities. Such a location seems apt, considering Mithras was a solar deity. Qassim says that the Mithraeum’s discovery is important in understanding the historical transformation of the region. While this area was never under official Roman rule, Dohuk may have come under its influence.

2009: An Italian farmer outside Rome discovered a giant marble relief of Mithras on his property. Dating from the 2nd century, the relief had been excavated illegally. Made of Tuscan marble, it originated in the Etruscan city of Veio, about 12.4 miles from Rome. At the time, Italian police believed thieves planned to smuggle it to Japan or China through the United Arab Emirates. Weighing more than 3,000 pounds, the relief was to be sold for 500,000 euros.

2008: A Mithraeum was discovered under a modern shopping mall in Szombathely in northwestern Hungary by archaeologist Peter Kiss. This temple is the first example for Mithraism in Szombathely, though evidence for the cult has appeared elsewhere in Hungary. Thus far, the excavated area consists of an outer room and an entranceway. The temple burned down in the 4th century, as evidenced by pieces of ceiling and wall paintings found on the floor. Currently, an artistic restorer is working to recreate the shattered paintings, which used expensive pigments in their construction.

003: A Mithraeum was discovered in Lugo, called “Lucus Augusti” in Roman times, in northwestern Spain. While examining a manor house, or pazo, in an area under consideration for building expansion, workers found the Mithraeum. As it turned out, the pazo was on top of an old Roman residence. Historian Jaime Alvar theorized that the temple’s cult niche was destroyed during the Mithraeum’s construction. The temple was most active in the 3rd and 4th centuries. A granite altar found was dedicated by one C. Victorius Victorinus, who calls himself a “centurion of the Seventh Legion” in the inscription. The inscription dubs Mithras “invictus,” or “unconquered,” allying him with Sol Invictus.

2000: Daniele Manacorda of Roma Tre University found another Mithraeum in Rome, located in the Crypta Balbi at the southern end of the Campus Martius. This Mithraeum was built in the early 3rd century and used until the late 4th century. The temple has the typical Mithraic structure, though the cult niche has not yet been found. A fragment of a third-century tauroctony was discovered.

1998: Archaeologists excavated a Mithraeum at Hawarti in Syria; initial forays were made into the building the 1970s, but not completed until the ’90s. Underneath what was a Christian basilica in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., the Mithraeum was revealed when the basilica floors collapsed. By dating date of coins, pottery, and lamps to the mid-4th century A.D., archaeologists have proposed that this Mithraeum is the latest constructed of those yet found. Roger Beck characterizes the iconography of the Hawarti wall paintings as “all over the place.” He adds, “There are these strange, strange figure[s] of Mithras holding…naked, black demonic figures by chains.” He suggests that this scene represents evil overcome by good, personified by Mithras.

1993: Construction workers were clearing an area in Martigny, southern Switzerland, for apartment buildings, when, to their surprise, they found a Mithraeum built between A.D. 150 and 200. A long room with benches on either side, this Mithraeum has a podium at the end for a tauroctony and other votive objects. Dedicatory offerings here ranged from coins to an earthenware vase bearing a Greek inscription from one Theodoros to the Greek sun god Helios. This offering reinforces the notions of Mithras’s worship under various epithets.

Source: Archaeology



Spiritual Springtime

Of all Bahá’í holy days Naw-Rúz on the 21st of March is the one I love the most. The historical roots of Naw-Rúz (or ‘New Day’ in Persian) are in the ancient Iranian New Year festival, which apart from being celebrated in Iran itself is also marked within the broader sphere of Persian cultural influence. This includes parts of the Middle East, West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, North Western China and the Caucasus. As well as being sacred to Baha’is Naw-Rúz is also a holy day for Alawites, Alevis, Ismaili Muslims and Zoroastrians. I also note with interest that the Vernal Equinox is also marked by Pagans- for example as the ‘High Feast of Ostara’ sacred to the Norse Pantheon. Occurring as it does on the Vernal Equinox I associate the festival of Naw-Rúz with both spiritual and physical renewal. Indeed `Abdu’l-Bahá describes the revelation of God as the ‘Sun of Reality’ bringing life to a spiritually dead world.

Furthermore, just as the solar cycle has its four seasons, the cycle of the Sun of Reality has its distinct and successive periods. Each brings its vernal season or springtime. When the Sun of Reality returns to quicken the world of mankind a divine bounty descends from the heaven of generosity. The realm of thoughts and ideals is set in motion and blessed with new life. Minds are developed, hopes brighten, aspirations become spiritual, the virtues of the human world appear with freshened power of growth and the image and likeness of God become visible in man. It is the springtime of the inner world. After the spring, summer comes with its fullness and fruitage spiritual; autumn follows with its withering winds which chill the soul; the Sun seems to be going away until at last the mantle of winter overspreads and only faint traces of the effulgence of that divine Sun remain. Just as the surface of the material world becomes dark and dreary, the soil dormant, the trees naked and bare and no beauty or freshness remain to cheer the darkness and desolation, so the winter of the spiritual cycle witnesses the death and disappearance of divine growth and extinction of the light and love of God. But again the cycle begins and a new springtime appears. In it the former springtime has returned, the world is resuscitated, illumined and attains spirituality; religion is renewed and reorganized, hearts are turned to God, the summons of God is heard and life is again bestowed upon man. For a long time the religious world had been weakened and materialism had advanced; the spiritual forces of life were waning, moralities were becoming degraded, composure and peace had vanished from souls and satanic qualities were dominating hearts; strife and hatred overshadowed humanity, bloodshed and violence prevailed. God was neglected; the Sun of Reality seemed to have gone completely; deprivation of the bounties of heaven was a fact; and so the season of winter fell upon mankind. But in the generosity of God a new springtime dawned, the lights of God shone forth, the effulgent Sun of Reality returned and became manifest, the realm of thoughts and kingdom of hearts became exhilarated, a new spirit of life breathed into the body of the world and continuous advancement became apparent.

‘On Neo-Mithraism…’

Double-faced Mithraic relief. Rome, second to third century CE. Louvre Museum.

Having an interest in such matters I was intrigued to come across the phenomenon of Neo-Mithraism. Although popularly considered to be an ancient Iranian mystery religion which was exported to the Roman Empire there is debate in scholarly circles as to whether Mithraism started in Iran at all. For example Roger Beck says in the Encyclopædia Iranica that 

 For most of the twentieth century the major problem addressed by scholarship on both Roman Mithraism and the Iranian god Mithra was the question of continuity. Did Mithra-worship migrate from Iran to the Roman Empire in some institutional form or was Mithraism invented in the West (with a few Iranian trappings) as a new institution altogether?

Whatever it’s ultimate origins there seems be a revival of interest in Mithraism with a number of new books and journals being published recently. This includes one written by Anglo-Iranian author Payam Nabarz called ‘The Mysteries Of Mithras’. I wish the revival of Mithras good luck- though personally I favour a faith that originated in Iran more recently…

‘Midsummer And The Generosity Of God’

Summer Solstice celebrations are being held in the United Kingdom. Sometimes known as Midsummer, Litha, or St. John’s Day it is the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer. As I understand it for some contemporary pagans the Summer Solstice is seen as the day the ‘Goddess’ manifests as ‘Mother Earth’ and the ‘God’ as the ‘Sun King’. A union from which will come forth the fruit of the future harvest.

Of course I am a believer in Divine Unity but I still find this a moving metaphor for the generosity of God, one of the ‘divine attributes’. In this sense the fruitfulness of the earth itself can be seen as a metaphor for divine generosity. This reminds me of the words of Bahá’u'lláh-

‘Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is a direct evidence of the revelation within it of the attributes and names of God, inasmuch as within every atom are enshrined the signs that bear eloquent testimony to the revelation of that Most Great Light..’

Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh: US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1990