The American Minervan

Tag: zoroastrianism

  • Albert Pike’s Life and Philosophical Legacy in American Esotericism

    Albert Pike’s Life and Philosophical Legacy in American Esotericism

    This article is a combination of transcription and summation of Canadian philosopher Manly P. Hall’s Seminars on the life and ideas of Albert Pike in 1958 tracing the origins of the Wisdom Tradition, which often takes on a form of mythmaking in Masonic lore. A more in-depth factual biography of Albert Pike’s life, views and…

  • The Septenary Principles of Man: Zurvanite Zoroastrian and Theosophical Classification

    The Septenary Principles of Man: Zurvanite Zoroastrian and Theosophical Classification

    R. C. Zaehner, Zurvan. A Zoroastrian Dilemma, Oxford, 1955, pp. 323, 334) demonstrates, that the Zurvanite Zoroastrian (a now extinct school of thought) classification (referring to levels of being or existence) is near identical to the Tāraka Rāja Yoga classification. However, as the Theosophical [esoteric] classification show, that the septenary division of man is explained in…

  • The Four Modes of Birth in The Secret Doctrine and the Abhidharmakosa of Buddhism

    The Four Modes of Birth in The Secret Doctrine and the Abhidharmakosa of Buddhism

    A NEW, YET UNKNOWN MYTHOLOGY AND CREATION ACCOUNT The Four Modes of Birth described in Indian and Persian Zoroastrian lore, and its meaning in The Secret Doctrine’s “Parallel Evolutionary System” about Human Origins In the ancient mythologies and literature of these traditions we find accounts of human creation, or modes of birth found in both…

  • The Nineteenth-Century Popularization of the Desatir | Theosophists, Ishraqis, and Zoroastrianism

    The Nineteenth-Century Popularization of the Desatir | Theosophists, Ishraqis, and Zoroastrianism

    The Desatir or Dasātīr (Per. دساتیر lit. “Ordinances”), also known as Dasatir-i-Asmani is a collection of writings now generally taken to be a literary forgery written in an invented or artificial language. It contains elements from Indian and Iranian dialects, as well as Persian grammar. It is recommended in “The Secret Doctrine Reference Series,” where…

  • Interpretations of Serpents and Dragons in Theosophy and Ancient Mythology

    Interpretations of Serpents and Dragons in Theosophy and Ancient Mythology

    Part I. ON “Human Serpents” and Immortal Sages: ANCIENT INITIATES CALLED SERPENTS MEANING “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matthew x: xvi) ⊕ “(…) the “Serpent” and “Dragon” were the names given to the “Wise Ones,” the initiated adepts…

  • The Manifestation of Divine Light

    The Manifestation of Divine Light

    “But All-Father Mind, being Life and Light, did bring forth Man (Ἄνθρωπον) co-equal to Himself.” (Pœmandres treatise) “This Man or Anthrōpos is the Spiritual Prototype of humanity and of every individual man, and is a technical term found in a number of the early Christianised Gnostic systems” (G.R.S. Mead). “So says the Zoroastrian: I hold…