Religion & Secret Societies

The code in Mithraism was the symbology that represents the constellations. For example; Taurus was the bull, Scorpio the scorpion, Pisces the fish and even Canis Major as the dog. As I mentioned earlier, during the 12 months in a year the sun appears to be located in 12 different constellations. Obviously we can’t see the back ground stars when the sun is risen, but as the sun appears to set and stars begin to appear in view, if we look at the position in the sky where the sun was we see the constellation in the background of where the sun was.It should be noted that the word Zodiac is similar to the word zoo, and that is because it actually derived from the Greek word that means “circle of animals”.The reason for the change is actually quite amazing as it is blamed on the 23.5 degree tilt the earth is on; because of this tilt the North Pole of earth wobbles slightly making a small circle approximately every 26,000 years. Because of this wobble the setting sun during the spring equinox changes its position in the constellations. Every year the spring equinox occurs on the same day, but over thousands of years changes its position of background. For instance; we are now in the age of Pisces and in 2165AD approximately we will be in the Age of Aquarius. Around 125BC a Greek-Roman man named Hipparchus documented that the equinoctial sun had shifted its position into Aries from Taurus years ago. Back then the popular belief amongst peasants and regulars was that the earth was the center of the universe. However Hipparchus’s document proved he knew that the earth was not the center. According to this view he had, in order to shift the equinoxes, some vast force must be causing the entire surrounding stars to also rotate out of position. After this discovery by Hipparchus a restricted circle of philosophers and the elite of the Mediterranean city of Tarsus formed and began a new religion under a new god called Mithras, who was powerful enough to shift the universe and abolish the previous house of the equinoctial sun.The figure Mithras was derived from the constellation named after the Greek mythical figure Perseus, which represents a position just above the constellation of Taurus the bull in the night sky. The pointed hat that is shown on Mithras statue is the exact same design as the cap of Hades that had been given to Perseus to make him become invisible according to Greek mythology, and yes the same hat to later be the cap of liberty used in the French revolution. The figure Mithras is also often displayed in a statue as riding a bull and using a dagger to pierce the throat of the bull, symbolically killing it. This is showing Mithras whom is Perseus above the constellation Taurus and the killing of the bull represents the change of ages and the death of an old belief. Roman Christianity was directly influenced by Mithraism as was Freemasonry. For instance; Mithraism has the 7 stages of Mithraic initiation, which corresponds to the 7 sacraments established by the church, which also reflect to Freemasonry’s initiation and degrees of levels of understanding. Also one should note that in Mithraism Sunday was a sacred day dedicated to the sun and that Mithras birthday was also December 25th. Mithraism had been a religious society that dominated Europe between approximately 100BC and 300AD. The entire belief was led by a religious secret society that left no written records, at least none seem to exist as of yet, and the society only allowed their highest members to learn its secrets. The only remaining evidence of its existence are hundreds of monuments made to honor the god Mithras that are mostly located in underground catacombs that still exist through-out Europe mainly in Rome, eastern Europe and along the Rhine and even Spain. When Christianity replaced Mithraism, churches were built over the original Mithraic sites so many sites still remain deep under churches floors. At an original Mithraic site in Rome called St. Peters Basilic, a Mithraic statue still stands. The main features of the statue and other symbolic objects associated with the belief are a depiction of the man-god Mithras seated on the back of a bull symbolically killing it. The depiction is also accompanied by 5 smaller figures; a scorpion, a dog, a raven, a cup and a lion. Also within paintings or sculptures of the statue known as the “bull slaying” are references to the sun, moon and planets being represented by 7 stars. These pictures or sculptures are not only similar to Masonic tracing boards, but this is where the idea for Masonic tracing boards comes from. Another common symbol shown is a ladder with 7 steps that each represents one of the 7 levels of progress towards the secrets of the group. The first level is represented by the crown and represents mercury, the next is the bride and groom and represents Venus, and then it’s the soldier representing mars, followed by the lion which is Jupiter and then the figure Perseus representing the moon, followed by the sun-conveyer representing the sun and finally the father representing Saturn. During initiation ceremonies candidates would wear masks of the level they were representing. All of the secrets of Mithraism were set in an array of pictures and symbols that were coded and used as memory devises. What is also interesting is that the rituals performed in Mithraism are symbolically similar to those rituals performed by Freemasons. For instance; the Hiram Abiff ritual is almost identical to a ritual that takes place during a stage of Mithraism. In this particular ritual the initiate takes the place of the bull and is symbolically killed by a participant so that the initiate can be re-born into a new life. According to a traditional story a Roman emperor named Commodus had outraged his fellow Mithraic members when he participated in a ceremony but actually killed the initiate instead of doing it symbolically.