This inscribed limestone altar from Roman Salona preserves several lists of ministers associated with the Tritones collegium during the Tetrarchic period.
This marble plaque from Iuliomagus, Roman Angers, bears a rare dedication to Mithras by Pylades, a slave of an imperial slave connected to the Roman administration in Gaul.
This article revisits the Mithraeum of S. Maria Capua Vetere, one of the most complete and artistically refined Mithraic sanctuaries in the Campanian region, situating it within its archaeological, iconographic, and ritual-historical contexts.
Hello! I’ve read your article and am currently immersed in studying the Mithras cult, considering the development of mysteries (I’m involved in historical reconstruction of Ancient Rome in the living history format). Thanks to Peter Mark Adams, I’ve obtained a fragment of his book about Mithras’ mysteries. Could you share what sources you use to develop your practices?
What a wonderful task! Of course, it came with an investment in ritual experience some years ago, after which I decided to hermeticize it; hence I now read mainly academic books from which I derive some grounding for my excursions into ritualism. Let me pick a few that may be useful and commendable:
Uždavinys, Algis. 2008. Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth: From Ancient Egypt to Neoplatonism. Sedbury, Glos.: Prometheus Trust. — Relevant for its attempt to reconstruct the philosophical pathways underlying the foundations of rite and theurgy.
Ritner, Robert Kriech. 1993. The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. Fourth printing, with minor corrections. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. — Valuable for providing ritual ideas that, with enough virtuosity and experimentation, may be imaginatively adapted within the “temple” of the inner or ethereal spheres.
Stahl, William Harris. 1990. Macrobius: Commentary on the Dream of Scipio.* New York, NY: Columbia University Press. — Relevant because it describes, albeit quasi-legendary, the rapture of a Roman knight to the celestial spheres and stars above.
Iamblichus; Clarke, Emma C. (trans.). 2003. Iamblichus: On the Mysteries. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature. — Important for its clear elucidation of the theology of theurgists.
Apuleius. 2017. Apologia; Florida; De Deo Socratis. Edited by C. P. Jones. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. — “On the God of Socrates,” a treatise on daemonology and theology.
Bittrich, Ursula; Bydén, Börje; Gertz, Sebastian Ramon Philipp; Sheppard, Anne D. R.; Tanaseanu-Döbler, Ilinca; Synesius. 2014. *On Prophecy, Dreams and Human Imagination: Synesius, De Insomniis. Edited by D. A. Russell and Heinz-Günther Nesselrath. — Discusses types of dreams and how to discern them (for example, distinguishing a personal dream from a vision sent from beyond).
Kupperman, Jeffrey S. 2014. Living Theurgy: A Course in Iamblichus’ Philosophy, Theology and Theurgy. London: Avalonia. — Another modern attempt to engage these mysteries, offering a practical conceptual toolkit.
I sincerely appreciate your response and the list of books you provided. Were your mentions of Egyptology-related books connected to the liturgy of Mithras? This suggests that the foundation of your experiments is the "Egyptian tradition" within Mithraism. Currently, I believe there were multiple Mithraic traditions: the Roman one, which drew more heavily on Neoplatonic and Pythagorean concepts, and the Egyptian one, which was more rooted in Egyptian magic.
Absolutely. As a cult varies according to its geographical context, I am convinced that local modalities were distinct, especially where they existed alongside other magical or theological frameworks. As a generalist in the study of mysteriosophies, however, I try to remain academically humble and avoid conflating traditions. Like a religious comparativist, I believe each lineage deserves its proper respect, scholarly engagement, and dignity.
When it comes to praxis, my position is simply that “what works, works.” The same applies to theurgy. The experiential aspect is too subjective and personal for me to present as explanatory doctrine. I would rather not frame private gnosis as argument, since it is unverifiable beyond honesty and reasoned commitment between the individual and the expanse of the Divine.
That said, records exist of individuals in antiquity who participated in multiple mystery schools. For this reason, I feel justified in pursuing the Divine wherever it may be encountered—not as a collector, but while granting each mystery school the profundity it commands.
Regarding the combinatorial character of late antiquity, I once found an exceptional study:
Kahlos, Maijastina. 2002. Vettius Agorius Praetextatus: A Senatorial Life in Between. Rome: Institutum Romanum Finlandiae.
For ancient ritual practice more broadly, Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum (ThesCRA) is indispensable, especially the material in Vol. II (“Consecration: Divination, prayer, veneration, hikesia, asylia, oath, malediction, profanation, and magical rituals”), Los Angeles: Getty Museum.
I am fortunate to have access to a copyright library (the National Library of Poland). I understand these sources can be difficult to obtain, so I would be glad to share my impressions or reports on the above works whenever requested.
The journey of the soul in the Mithraic ritual: hypothesis of resurrection or reincarnation according to the mithraeum of Braberini and Santa Maria Capua Vetere. The role of the solstices, gateways of entry and exit for souls: in summer, exit of pure souls and entry of impure souls sent back by the Moon; in winter: exit of wandering souls in preparation for their reincarnation and entry into the cycle after death.
The Two Gates: Thank you very much for sharing this Dominique. Traditionally, Selene was associated with the Isle of the Blessed. My personal belief is that the soul, or daimon/hegemon, may be interpreted as an intelligencer of the spheres of the Solar System—for example, Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn. It does not necessarily require a biological birth; “myriads of spirits in other worlds await,” including the stellar ones. My personal belief, or interpretation, is based on communication with spirits of these spheres, some of whom were once human beings. Sometimes the twin blade of death may refer to the death of the soul, or to metempsychosis and rebirth, or to embodiment in an animal or a human being.
Dear Amicus: as early as the 3rd century AD, Plotinus wrote that the soul was divided into a lower and a higher part:
"...there is the soul we call divine, by which we are ourselves, and the other soul, the one that comes from the universe (our world). We derive our character, our actions, and our passions [Ego] from the lower soul... but thanks to our higher soul [Spirit], we can master our lower part and free ourselves from the order imposed by the world soul [Management] on the rest of the universe."
One of Plotinus’s most justly famous concepts concerns his theory of the different levels of self-awareness. The duality of the soul was conceived by Plato around 350 BC (but already explored by Homer in the previous century). This is a defining characteristic of Western philosophy. Plotinus, by discovering that one of the parts had to be divine, made metempsychosis impossible
Uždavinys, Algis. 2008. Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth: From Ancient Egypt to Neoplatonism. Sedbury, Glos.: Prometheus Trust. — Relevant for its attempt to reconstruct the philosophical pathways underlying the foundations of rite and theurgy.
Ritner, Robert Kriech. 1993. The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. Fourth printing, with minor corrections. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. — Valuable for providing ritual ideas that, with enough virtuosity and experimentation, may be imaginatively adapted within the “temple” of the inner or ethereal spheres.
Stahl, William Harris. 1990. Macrobius: Commentary on the Dream of Scipio.* New York, NY: Columbia University Press. — Relevant because it describes, albeit quasi-legendary, the rapture of a Roman knight to the celestial spheres and stars above.
Iamblichus; Clarke, Emma C. (trans.). 2003. Iamblichus: On the Mysteries. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature. — Important for its clear elucidation of the theology of theurgists.
Apuleius. 2017. Apologia; Florida; De Deo Socratis. Edited by C. P. Jones. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. — “On the God of Socrates,” a treatise on daemonology and theology.
Bittrich, Ursula; Bydén, Börje; Gertz, Sebastian Ramon Philipp; Sheppard, Anne D. R.; Tanaseanu-Döbler, Ilinca; Synesius. 2014. *On Prophecy, Dreams and Human Imagination: Synesius, De Insomniis. Edited by D. A. Russell and Heinz-Günther Nesselrath. — Discusses types of dreams and how to discern them (for example, distinguishing a personal dream from a vision sent from beyond).
Kupperman, Jeffrey S. 2014. Living Theurgy: A Course in Iamblichus’ Philosophy, Theology and Theurgy. London: Avalonia. — Another modern attempt to engage these mysteries, offering a practical conceptual toolkit.
Kind regards,
Matt.