Message #134147

[Demiurge]

list of "Degrees" to be taken in the Mysteries, as laid down by M. Lajard, in his elaborate treatise, 'Le Culte de Mithra,' * These degrees were divided into four stages, Terrestrial, Aerial, Igneous, and Divine, each consisting of three. The Terrestrial comprised the Soldier, the Lion, the Bull. The Aerial, the Vulture, the Ostrich, the Raven. The Igneous, the Gryphon, the Horse, the Sun. The Divine, the Eagle, the Sparrow-Hawk, the Father of fathers. Lajard's theory is best elucidated by quoting his way of expounding a very frequent cylinder-subject. Be finds the admission to the degree of "The Soldier," in the group where a man is seen standing before a "hierophant," or priest, who stands on the back of a bull couchant on a platform. The hierophant, wearing a cap tipped by a crescent, holds out to the neophyte a curved sword, symbol of admission into the Order. A priestess stands apart, separated from him by the horn, or Tree of Life, over which soars the emblem of the Assyrian Triad. Her cap is tipped by the Sun-star, but she also wears the crescent, to show the hermaphrodite nature of Mylitta!