Meaning of the name Buddha, and “Spiritual Awakening” before the Great Battle...
Buddha literally means the “Awakened One,” and comes from a root that is Widespread and Old in Indo European speech. The reconstructed root in Proto Indo European is *bheudh. Cognates include Avestan...
View ArticleZoroastrian sky burial, and Towers of Silence
The ancient Zoroastrian method of disposal of the dead is SKY BURIAL. The corpse is placed on a mountaintop to be eaten by carrion birds/vultures, while it is exposed to the rays of the sun and stars....
View ArticleThe great gift of fire, and the Zoroastrian winter festival of sadeh
Forty days after winter solstice celebrations, at the height of the freezing cold and frost, the great festival of sadeh is celebrated in the Zoroastrian calendar. The festival of sadeh celebrates the...
View ArticleSpenta Armaiti, the divine feminine in Zoroastrianism, the guardian of the...
February 18-19 marks the festival of Speñtá Ármaiti, the Immortal or the genius of the “sacred meditation, right thinking, the divine feminine” in Zoroastrianism. She is the guardian of good earth and...
View ArticleRune Wunjo, and the Vision of Loveliness in the Gathas/Songs of Zarathustra
In the ancient Germanic Futhark alphabet, *wunjô is the rune of “joy, intense desire, passion.” *Wunjô is the inner desire for realization of the soul’s true love/passion. This rune wards off sorrow,...
View ArticleRune *ehwaz, Sun’s Chariot, and Horse imagery in the poetic gathas of...
From the dawn of history the Indo Europeans, especially the ancient Iranians have celebrated the horse in their art and in their literature. Avestan hymns abound with praises of the horse (Swift horses...
View ArticleSpring Equinox in the Avesta, Fresh, New Dawn/light of Nowrouz, and the...
The exact moment of spring equinox is the beginning of the year in the Avestan sacred hymns. The Persian word Nauv rooz refers to the “new dawn/light” after spring equinox. The Avestan term for “vernal...
View ArticleRune *uruz, and the name of the seer/Prophet Zarathustra
In the ancient Germanic Futhark alphabet *uruz is the rune of “virility, primal raw energies, life force, and the valiant spirit.” Rune *uruz symbolizes the “subconscious will power, and passion of the...
View ArticleThe falcon, and the fiery good fortune of the wise-seer rulers in the Avesta
In Avesta, the sacred lore of the Zoroastrians, the “Victorious Lord” Verethraγna/Verethraghna, the great yazatá or “hallowed god of victory” takes the bodily shape of a “fiery bird” called...
View ArticleThe ancient “Wizards or SEER Wise Ones” of the Avesta
The Kávis are the seers of yore, the ancient “Wizards or Wise Ones” of the Avesta, the sacred Lore of Zoroastrianism. Avesta talks of kavaæm xᵛarənö the “fiery magic force/charisma” of the kávis, the...
View ArticleThe ancient Zoroastrian Mid-Spring festival, Celtic Beltane and the German...
April 30th marks the beginning of the maiδyö.zarem “mid-spring” festival in the Avestan calendar. The mid-spring festival lasts for 5 days till May4th, and is in essence a spring rite, thought to fire...
View ArticleMithrá, the Avestan god of “treaty, mutual promise, agreement,” and one who...
In Zoroastrianism, the relationship between Immortal Gods and men is viewed as “bonds of friendship, reciprocity and mutual promise.” The lofty ahûrá that represents our “soul’s contract with the gods,...
View ArticleAn only textual perspective in studying the ancient Zoroastrian lore, and the...
Mary Boyce, a great scholar of Zoroastrian studies once asked, who were likely to have a deeper understanding of the ancient Zoroastrian religion and terms, western academics or the devout priests who...
View ArticleVərəthra.ghna, The “Victorious Lord” of Zoroastrianism, and the 4th...
In the living, folk traditions of the Zoroastrians, the worship of the great Yazatá of “Victory” Vərəθra.ghna/Vərəθra.γna plays a most prominent role. The Avestan name of the “Victorious Lord” has...
View ArticleAncient Iranian Agriculturists, Hittite DNA remains, and the earliest Indo...
An extensive research by David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard University, strongly suggests that there was a migration of AGRICULTURALISTS into northwestern India from what is now Western Iran/Zagros...
View ArticleAncient Zoroastrianism, Dialectical or Dualistic Monism
Dialectical monism, also known as dualistic monism, holds that all reality consists ultimately of one substance, and that this one substance expresses itself in terms of dialectical or opposing forces....
View ArticleThe Myth of the overnight islamization of the ancient Zoroastrian Iran
Modern revisionist Moslem historians, and scholars such as the late Ayatollah Motahari, have attributed the fall of the mighty Sassanid Empire, the last native, Zoroastrian Empire of ancient Iran to...
View ArticleAutumnal equinox, Mehregan, a time to reaffirm our allegiance and friendship...
The Avestan*Miθra-kāna, modern Persian Mehrägān is an ancient Zoroastrian Autumnal festival, closely connected to the equinox, and dedicated to Miθrá (reciprocity, mutual bond, friendship with the...
View ArticleAyāθrima (coming to shelter,) the Zoroastrian autumnal thanks giving festival
In the Zoroastrian sacred calendar there are 6 great festivals. These 6 festivals that mark the “proper or propitious points in time” are called yáirya ratvö (right or advantageous times of the year)...
View ArticleCreation in the Poetic Gathas, and Ancient Zoroastrianism
Unlike the Book of Genesis, which is the religious sourcebook of Judeo-Christian Civilization, in the Poetic Gathas of Zarathustra, the Cosmos has already been made, and consists of the world of...
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