ARMAITI is the god-force of “calm thinking, harmonious thoughts and serene meditation.”
Ár-maiti comes from the root ar “ fitting harmoniously, right arrangement.” The root ar is the same for ašá/arthá “cosmic order, superb artistry” and ašá/arthá “comes in alliance with ármaiti throughout the poetic gathas.
The cosmic order, superb artistry ašá/arthá “grows, flourishes, waxes” vaḵšt with mat calm thinking ármaitiš,
ašá mat ármaitiš vaḵšt (See Yasna 34.11,2nd rhymed verse line.)
The second part maiti means “meditation, reflection, concentration, and thinking.”
Ármaiti comes about 42 times in the gathas and in Yasna 43.15, 3rd rhymed verse line is equated with tüšná maitiš “silent, tacit or quiet meditation.”
She like other Immortals is characterized by the epithet Spǝñtá “the auspicious, endowed with vibrant, splendid life force, the bringer of abundance and growth, the sacred.”
(Compare Spǝñtá with Old Slavonic svętŭ, Lithuanian šventas, Russian svjatój and Old Prussian swints, See Didier Calin.)
Another epithet of ármaiti is vaηuhîm or vaηhû.yáv “good, superb, brilliant, bounteous.” For the god-beings are “superb, brilliant and giver of superabundance.”
In the poetic gathas, ármaiti “calm thinking or harmonious thoughts” is said to be the daughter dûgedá of “the mindful lord, the god of inspiring creativity mazdá” (See Yasna 45.4, 4th rhymed verse line.)
She ármaiti comes also in close affiliation with daæná “vision, power to see, and keen insight into the cosmic order. (See Yasna 33.13, 3rd rhymed verse line and Yasna 44.10 and 44.11.)
In the gathas ármaiti first appears in Yasna 28.3, 3rd rhymed verse line, in combination with “power to blossom, bloom, flower and grow,” varedaitî ármaitiš. The Avestan vared/varǝδa “power to blossom, bloom, flower and grow” can be compared with reconstructed Proto Indo European wredh and Old Greek rhódo “roses.”
Ármaiti “calm thinking, harmonious thoughts, serene meditation” recurrently appears in association with the powers of “growth, thriving and regeneration” throughout the gathas.
It is the unshakeable ármaiti who regenerates the physical body, kehrpém (Compare with German Körper,) and gives eternal youth ûtayüitî. (See Yasna 30.7,2nd rhymed verse line.)
at kehrpém ûtayüitîš//dadát ârmaitish ãnmá
The bountifulness of speñtá ármaiti the “sacred, calm thinking” is such that all the living worlds gaæthá advance/go forward frádö and thrive thwaḵš through her, (See Yasna 44.12,3rd rhymed verse line.)
ármatöiš gaætháv frádö thwaḵš.aηhá
Through ármaiti the god-force arises and existence thrives. “Arise within me möi god-power ahûrá and through ármaiti give me thriving tevîšî.” (See Yasna 33.12,1st rhymed verse line.)
ûs-möi uz.árešvá ahûrá//ármaitî tevîšîm dasvá
In several gathic verses ármaiti is associated with ḵšaθrá/ḵšathrá, “dominion/kingdom of the god beings. ḵšaθrá/ḵšathrá is the power to make the land bloom and the realm bountiful. And that power is the kingship, rule and dominion of the god-beings.”
(Avestan ḵšaθrá/ḵšathrá can be compared with Greek krasthai “to acquire, possess to cultivate.”)
Whom ké fashioned tášt the kingdom of the god beings ḵšathrá with mat the lofty bereḵðãm and exalted ármaiti (See Yasna 44.7,2nd rhymed verse line.)
ké bereḵðãm tášt ḵšathrá mat ármaitîm
The Avestan word bereḵðãm “high, lofty, exalted” is another epithet of the god beings that comes in association with both ármaiti “calm thinking, harmonious thoughts” and vôhü-manö “brilliant disposition and/or good spirit/mind.” It can be compared with Russian béreg, Old Germanic bergaz, German berg, “mountain, lofty heights.”
Ármaiti brings riches and superabundance aši.čá ármaitî and prophet Zarathûštrá asks ármaiti to grant powers to him and his patron višt.áspá. (See Yasna 28,7,2nd rhymed verse line.)
dáidî tü ármaitæ//vîšt,áspâi îšem maibyá.čá
Speñtá ármaiti called Spandārmað in middle Iranian is “sacred focus/meditation and calm thinking” manifested in the physical creation as the lady of the earth and women’s intuition.
She is entreated for protection against evil. In the Avestan sacred calendar, ármaiti is associated with the twelfth month, “the sacred month,” and the fifth day of each month. The fifth day of the twelfth month is ármaiti’s holy day, a day to honor the earth and women.
It was to Spəñtá Ármaiti, guardian both of the earth and women that Artaxerxes II prayed for the health of his wife Atôssá, whose name is rendered in Greek as Hera “the goddess of women.”
I like to conclude by the following gathic sacred verse:
speñtãm vé ármaitîm vaηuhîm vare.maidî// há-né aηhat
Spəntá Ármaiti, the bountiful, the good vaηuhîm, we choose/will/desire for ourselves vare.maidî //May she be ours!
ardeshir
