18/07/2025
"The heavens were divided into seven spheres, each of which was conjoined with a planet. A sort of ladder, composed of eight superposed gates, the first seven of which were constructed of different metals, was the symbolic suggestion in the temples, of the road to be followed to reach the supreme region of the fixed stars. To pass from one story to the next, each time the wayfarer had to enter a gate guarded by an angel of Ormazd.
The initiates alone, to whom the appropriate formulas had been taught, knew how to appease these inexorable guardians. As the soul traversed these different zones, it rid itself, as one would of garments, of the passions and faculties that it had received in its descent to the earth. It abandoned to the Moon its vital and nutritive energy, to Mercury its desires, to Venus its wicked appetites, to the Sun its intellectual capacities, to Mars its love of war, to Jupiter its ambitious dreams, to Saturn its inclinations. It was naked, stripped of every vice and every sensibility, when it penetrated the eighth heaven to enjoy there, as an essence supreme, and in the eternal light that bathed the gods, beatitude without end."
"The most potent of these sidereal deities, those which were most often invoked and for which were reserved the richest offerings, were the Planets. Conformably to astrological theories, the planets were endowed with virtues and qualities for which it is frequently difficult for us to discover adequate reasons.
Each of the planetary bodies presided over a day of the week, to each some one metal was consecrated, each was associated with some one degree in the initiation, and their number has caused a special religious potency to be attributed to the number seven.
In descending from the empyrean to the earth, the souls, it was thought, successively received from them their passions and qualities."
โ The Mysteries of Mithra, by Franz Cumont, c. 1903
"The ancients counted seven planets, thus arranged: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. There were seven heavens and seven spheres of these planets; on all the monuments of Mithras are seven altars or pyres, consecrated to the seven planets, as were the seven lamps of the golden candelabrum in the Temple.
That these represented the planets, we are assured by Clemens of Alexandria, in his Stromata, and by Philo Judaeus. To return to its source in the Infinite, the human soul, the ancients held, had to ascend, as it had descended, through the seven spheres. The Ladder by which it reascends, has, according to Marsilius Ficinus, in his Commentary on the Ennead of Plotinus, seven degrees or steps; and in the Mysteries of Mithras, carried to Rome under the Emperors, the ladder, with its seven rounds, was a symbol referring to this ascent through the spheres of the seven planets. Jacob saw the Spirits of God ascending and descending on it; and above it the Deity Himself.
The Mithraic Mysteries were celebrated in caves, where gates were marked at the four equinoctial and solstitial points of the Zodiac; and the seven planetary spheres were represented, which souls needs must traverse in descending from the heaven of the fixed stars to the elements that envelop the earth; and seven gates were marked, one for each planet, through which they pass, in descending or returning.
We learn this from Celsus, in Origen, who says that the symbolic image of this passage among the stars, used in the Mithraic Mysteries, was a ladder reaching from earth to Heaven, divided into seven steps or stages, to each of which was a gate, and at the summit an eighth one, that of the fixed stars. The symbol was the same as that of the seven stages of Borsippa, the Pyramid of vitrified brick, near Babylon, built of seven stages, and each of a different colour.
In the Mithraic ceremonies, the candidate went through seven stages of initiation, passing through many fearful trials โ and of these the high ladder with seven rounds or steps was the symbol."
โ Morals and Dogma, by Albert Pike, c. 1871
ยซIn the Ancient Wisdom it was also declared that the sacred mountains of the world rose in seven steps or stages (as the Meru of the Hindus), and it was from the high place, or the seventh step, that offerings were made to the Lord whose name is Blessed. Not only did the holy place rise in seven platforms or levels, but upon its topmost level was usually erected a triform symbol of the Divine Nature itself.
Thus the seven steps, complemented by this threefold figure, became the mysterious Pythagorean decad, or the symbol of the tenfold order of the universe. Jacob's ladder then actually becomes the symbolic mountain or pyramid. Pyramids, wherever found, are symbolic of the axis mountain of the world โ the Olympus, Asgard, and Meru of the pagans and possibly the rock Moriah upon which the temple stood at Jerusalem. In his Pagan Idolatry, Faber describes the Mithraic ladder used in the initiatory rites of the Persian Mysteries, which he affirms was in reality a pyramid of seven steps, further declaring that on each step was a door. In the ceremonials, the neophyte climbed the pyramid, passing through the seven doors, and then through similar portals descended on the opposite side. This pyramid was symbolic of both the world and the sidereal system.
Nearly all great buildings of antiquity were symbolic of the universe, and, according to Cicero, the conquering Xerxes destroyed the temples of the Greeks, declaring that the entire world was the proper house of God and that Deity was profaned when man prepared for Him a house less dignified than His own solar mansion.
Celsus gives a certain key to the ceremonials of the Mithraic rite, but of these Mysteries comparatively little is known. Having passed successfully through the dangers and difficult tasks imposed by his initiators, the candidate was invested with a great cape either embroidered or painted with stars and with the constellations of the zodiac ornamenting the hem. Like the starry hat of Atys, these star-strewn cloaks signified the soul in its highest and most causal aspect. Thus, by the Mysteries a heavenly nature was conferred and men who formerly dwelt about the earth itself were raised to a heavenly abode and their whole natures invested with celestial raiment. The corporeal body was transmuted by the Mysteries into a celestial body, for men who had previously enveloped themselves in the dark garments of form now put on a more luminous garb resplendent with the heavenly lights.
Above the earth are the planets; above the planets are the stars. Uninitiated mortals exist in physical natures limited to the concerns of the earth and are termed material because their rational natures are in servitude to a mortal constitution. Disciples are those who take upon themselves the striped garments of the planets the cloak of many colors, whose shades denote the aspects of the astral soul. When the aspirant has transcended the concerns of the planets and risen through their orbits to liberation, he then assumes the starry clothing of the firmament. Thus, the stars are symbols of spirit, the planets of soul, and the elements of body. Herein lies the explanation for the threerunged ladder which unites heaven and earth.ยป
The lowest round is physical, the second emotion, and the third mental; for it was written in the ancient work: "Our thoughts are from the stars, our emotions from the planets, and our forms from the earth." Entering the chamber of the Mithraic rites, the candidate found himself in a great cavern either formed by natural means or one hewn from solid rock by the priests. In the center of the cavern stood a pyramid rising in seven steps, each of its levels painted a different color.
In some cases, the pyramid was divided into definite platforms; in others, a narrow spiral pathway wound from base to summit as in the Chaldean sikkurats, or astronomical towers. From the flight of steps leading up the face of the pyramid access to the various planes or levels was had through low gates, each composed of a different metal. The description given by Celsus of these metals is probably a "blind," for the ancients followed a definite system which he has deviated from.
Conducted by the hierophant, who discoursed to him concerning the mysteries as he progressed, the neophyte ascended the steps of the pyramid, first entering through a silver gate onto the platform of the moon. Beyond was another gate resembling brass, which was that of Mercury, and still farther on a third gate of copper sacred to Venus.
The fourth gate was of gold, the fifth of iron, the sixth of tin, and the seventh, and last, of lead. After passing through these gates, the neophyte found himself upon a flat square area and before him a triangular altar upon which burned three fires.
The Master of the rite then explained that by this ascent was revealed the felicity of liberated souls- the joyous upward motion of lives towards their sovereign Cause; that passing from one plane to another, the candidate had recapitulated the after-death process by which his superphysical constitution verged away from matter and inclined itself towards the immaterial foundation which is in the heavens and concealed from the profane by the leaden ramparts of Saturn.
In his climb the aspirant had actually stepped from planet to planet, leaving behind him the inferior spheres, finally to approach proximity to that threefold fire โ the triform flame of unimaginable Being that burns forever and a day upon the glorious altar of Universal Reality. "Learn, O my son," the Master continued," the mystery of the ever-burning fire whose triple wick dipped in an inexhaustible fuel burns with steady luminosity throughout all the Mons. The first flame is Universal Life, the second Universal Light, and the third Universal Motion, and these together are one flame. God is a blinding light and a consuming fire, for His light is eternal reason which renders all things visible and comprehensible.
Light the lamp of your own mind upon this altar of Eternal Mind that the reason which is in all things may call forth the reason that is in you. When the lamp of your reason is lighted, all things become evident; the dark mysteries of life are dissipated and the glow of realization causes all secrets to reveal themselves and all hidden works to be made manifest. The base of this pyramid is square. It is your body. Its four elements combine to produce the mystic cube called man. The seven steps are your senses by which the within comes to know the without and which the without climbs, even as a ladder, to discover the within.
Consciousness, ascending the ladder of the senses, finally brings its message to the inner nature.
The threefold flame here is the One, the Beautiful, and the Good, which together are the light of equality, the torch of reason, and the magical fire the magician must carry if he would invoke the dread person of Deity."
Upon the other side of this pyramid the stairs descend again into the darkness of the cavern below. The candidate follows his initiator down again into the darkness of the subterranean room. Having passed through the metallic gates and standing once more at the base of the pyramid, the initiator resumes:
"This descent signifies the soul departing from its state of felicity and, after passing downward through the gates of the Seven Spheres, taking upon itself the sorrows of birth. In the gloomy cavern of the world uninitiated men and women struggle vainly against the inevitable reactions of their own ignorance.
Seeking permanence in an impermanent sphere, they suffer without respite and their lot is indeed desperate. But those who by rational procedure have discovered the pyramidal nature of creation and learned to know the order of divine procedure whereby man ascends and descends the steps of destiny such can no longer be bound to the untranquil sphere but, abiding therein a little while and tolerating its sorrows, prepare themselves for a more auspicious day by inclining their minds to reason.
"By these mysteries, then, is arcanely revealed the order of life and by this pyramid the procedure of life. He who accepts the mystery into himself and ponders its meaning will be rewarded for his industry by the realization of sidereal order. We are ever walking up and down the steps of space-descending either from a more blissful state into one of uncertainty or ascending from an uncertain state into one of blessed felicity. He who comprehends the wisdom of this divine motion will realize that God is ever drawing lives to Himself that they may partake of the fullness of His inspiration and then casting them from Him again that through great need they may learn to value the fullness of that inspiration.
From the presence of the Unchanging One there pours ever downward through the substances of the invisible world a host of souls moving inevitably into birth, while from the world of visible and tangible physical things there comes a host of souls pouring into death. Those coming into life descend the ladder and those coming into death ascend the ladder, for death brings the soul nearer to God than birth. Through the Mysteries there pours still another stream-that exalted order which ascends the great pyramid to descend no more, who upon reaching the fiery altar upon its summit, cast themselves into the Eternal Flame and from their own natures feed its eternal hunger.ยป
โ "Lectures On Ancient Philosophy", c. 1929 by Manly P. Hall
{original post by Portal Ibis}
