Figures
who it looks to — gods, spirits, ancestors; some rooms are empty on principle Part of Belief →The ultimate — what this line takes as final
A
Ahura Mazda — the Wise Lord.
Uncreated, all-good creator of the good creation — worshipped through fire, which is his visible sign, not his image.
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Gods & powers — the presences it names and addresses
T
The Bounteous Spirit.
In the Gathas the two twins who choose are Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu, and Ahura Mazda is the father of neither choice — a distinction that keeps God out of the pairing. Later theology identified Spenta Mainyu with Ahura Mazda himself, which made the dualism cleaner and the Gathic text harder to read straight.
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M
Mithra.
His name is the ordinary word for contract, and breaking one is a personal offence against him — including a contract with someone of another religion, which the text states explicitly. He is older than Zarathustra, was absorbed rather than rejected, and stands at the bridge weighing souls.
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T
The Amesha Spentas.
Six radiant emanations — Good Mind, Truth, Devotion among them — through whom the Wise Lord tends the world; near-angels, near-virtues, both at once.
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A
Anahita.
The waters, and the strength that comes with them. Kings sacrificed to her for victory, the Sasanians endowed her shrines heavily, and the ruined temple at Kangavar is one of the largest stone structures in Iran. Iranian Zoroastrians still make visits to springs and mountain shrines associated with her.
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S
Sraosha.
Obedience, or more precisely hearkening — the one who hears prayer and brings it up. He never sleeps, patrols the world at night with a raised mace, and guards the soul for the three days after death. His bird is the cock, which is why killing one is a serious matter.
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F
Fire.
Zoroastrians have spent two and a half thousand years telling people they do not worship it. It is faced, not addressed — the clearest, least corruptible thing available, so you turn toward it to pray, exactly as a Muslim turns toward Mecca. It is fed sandalwood by a masked priest so that his breath does not touch it.
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Prophets & messengers — who carries the word between
T
The Saoshyant.
A future saviour born of a virgin who bathes in the lake where Zarathustra's seed is miraculously preserved, who will raise the dead and preside over the renovation. Whether Jewish and Christian messianism drew on this during the Persian period is argued about; the chronology makes it hard to rule out.
held by most
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Founders & teachers — the ones who opened the way
Z
Zarathustra.
A trained priest who became a critic of the priesthood, working in eastern Iran or Central Asia somewhere between 1500 and 600 BCE — the range is that wide and the argument is unresolved. He is not divine, is not prayed to, and in the Gathas complains about having no cattle and no men.
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Ancestors & spirits — the dead, the local, the household
T
The fravashis.
Every person has one, and it existed before the body did. The tradition's striking claim is that these pre-existent souls were offered the choice of staying safe or entering the world to fight, and chose to come — so being alive is a piece of volunteering. At the year's end they come home for ten days.
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Adversaries — named in order to be refused
A
Angra Mainyu — the lie.
The destructive spirit, source of every corruption: a real adversary, but a doomed one — the war ends, and he loses.
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