Taliesin's Map

The Mitraic Path of Immortality and the Mithraic Mysteries  Part 2 of 2 < Part 1   Mitra, King Arthur and Theseus    As an expansion of this idea we must offer two further targets for comparison. First, having looked at the Mithraic Mysteries and at the mysteries of the Holy Grail, we must further investigate the resonances of this broad pattern to the other legends related to the Holy Grail, specifically those involving King Arthur and Merlin. If we take once more the pattern we have here compared to the Mithraic Mysteries, that of the ideal Sovereign of Justice, who is particularly known for being cuckolded, but also specifically for marshaling and uniting his armies and pursuing his enemies, winning peace and victory for his kingdom by making the climactic kill in battle, and at some point dying or symbolically dying, often near water, under mystical circumstances, only to rise again (or in Lugh's case, being drowned in a lake with only the vague possibility of...

The Mitraic Path of Immortality and the Mithraic Mysteries Part 1 of 2 Part 2 > Basing his interpretations on Franz Cumont's work The Mysteries of Mithra as well as the ancient text known as the “Mithraic Liturgy,” the comments of various ancients such as Nonnus the Grammarian, and the well-known Mithraic reliefs, Julius Evola lays out a speculative reconstruction of the inner meaning of the Mithraic initiation in his essay “The Path of Enlightenment in the Mithraic Mysteries.” According to Evola, the initiate, reenacting the actions of the god Mithras, goes through several stages with a series of attendant trials. He begins as Mithras born in the rock by the side of a river, the rock and waters symbolism indicating the material element into which the divine spark has descended. From this rock, which is both a prison and necessary foundation, Mithras must break free, and then must traverse the waters, which symbolize the cravings of the material body. He then is chafed by stron...

Ragnarok: The Doom of the Gods in Germanic, Vedic, Celtic and Greek Branches     Ragnarok: The Twilight of the Gods in Germanic, Vedic, Celtic and Greek Branches Besides the Aesir-Vanir war, a second war found in Norse myth also is frequently cited as unique to the Norse, and is often considered a poor match to the wars found in the other Indo-European branches. In this war, Ragnarok, we are told there will be a great series of cataclysms as well as the deaths of nearly all the gods, resulting in the end of this world as we know it, with the returned Baldr and the mysterious Lord of the endtimes leading the way into a newborn age. All bonds of kinship, duty, and morality will disintegrate, the Sun will be swallowed by the wolf, the stars will disappear, winter will last for years, mountains will crumble, and the whole world will be burned by Surtr's fire. If we look at the great wars of the gods and god-incarnations found in the Indian Mahabharata , the Irish Battle ...

Etain and the Triple Transformation Etain and the Triple Transformation Regarding the curious triple transformation of Etain by Fuamnach a few things must be said. Just as a sorceress associated with the Vanir, Gullveig, is burned in relation to the Norse Lunar Cycle, so the sorceress Fuamnach, wife of Midir and foster mother of Aengus, is said to be burned in relation to the parallel Irish Cycle. While Gullveig is stabbed along with being burned, Fuamnach in one account is said to be burned, but in another is said to be beheaded. Instead of herself undergoing three deaths and rebirths, however, Fuamnach instead causes Etain, the other wife of her husband, to undergo three successive transformations: a pool of water, a worm, and a large purple or crimson fly, perhaps a dragonfly or butterfly. In the form of this fly Etain is then drunk in a lady's golden cup and reborn as a girl, seemingly without a recollection of her old life. If this triple transformation is a parallel to the tr...

The Conception of the Male Indo-European Sun God: Karna and Bres An important mythic parallel between Karna and Bres should put their identification, which we have already theorized  here  (see section 6, "Paris"), beyond doubt, and thus indirectly support their identification with Paris. This parallel regards the very close similarity of the accounts of their conceptions, similarities which extend, interestingly, to the use of the unadorned word for “intercourse” or "copulation" at the same point in each case. I will reproduce each account in full so the full effect of the comparison can be appreciated.  First is the conception of the Indian hero Karna, found in the  Srimad-Devi Bhagavatam,  Book 2, Chapter 6. “The Sun, then, assuming an excellent human form, came down from the Heavens and appeared before Kunti in the same room. Seeing the Deva Sun, Kunti became greatly surprised and began to shudder and instantly became endowed with the inherent natural qualit...