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In 1903 Albrecht Dieterich translated The Mithras Liturgy, a Greek fragment from the Great Magical Papyrus of Paris. It has a subject matter of magical incantations, but with reference to Mithraic cosmography. The text is thought to date to the 4th century AD, though Deiterich proposed a much earlier date. The liturgy details an initiation ceremony intended to invoke Helios-Mithras, in order to ultimately reveal to the initiate secrets of immortality, attaining the high celestial realm. It is indeed titled: Ritual for Immortalisation. The process of the liturgy takes the mystic through seven stages culminating in enactment of the liturgy. In the first stage the speaker begins by invoking Providence and Psyche, followed by the four classical primal elements, referred to as “first origin of my origin” from which the speakers “complete body” is created. You will hear nothing either of human or of another living being, nor in that hour will you see anything of mortal affairs on earth, but rather you will see all immortal things. For you will see the divine constellation on that day and hour, the presiding gods arising into heaven, and others setting. The second stage involves breathing exercises which are intended to lift the initiate up (in the air) where he can note the divine order of the “visible gods”. For the third then he speaks magic names belonging to “planetary guardians of the gates of heaven” such as Aion and Iao. The fourth involves speaking the magic words that will invoke a vision of Helios himself. He is described as “a youthful god, beautiful in appearance, with fiery hair, and in a white tunic and a scarlet cloak, and wearing a fiery crown.”. To which the initiate must present the “fire greeting.” The fifth stage becomes decidedly more Egyptian, and involves a revelation of seven virgins with the faces of asps, carrying golden wands, which must be hailed by name. The sixth stage reveals the seven Pole-Lords who have faces of bulls and gold diadems, and these must also be hailed by name. Both these groups represent the “region of the fixed stars.” The gods of the afterlife are insinuated in the ritual as cosmic entities - stars. The further insinuation is that the initiate is journeying among the spheres. The fragment instructs him to decalre: “I am a star, wandering about with you, and shining forth out of the deep.” The final, seventh stage, is the revelation of the highest god, who descends manifest before the mystic. We might assume this is Mithras. He is young and crowned in light, with lightning in his eyes. It is from him that the initiate receives apathanatismos: a temporary state of immortality. As an ancient magical ritual the liturgy calls on many elements of Greco-Roman beliefs, influenced by Persian, as well as Egyptian magic, and Mithraism. Thereis also some scant reference to Hebrew and Christian rituals. The Liturgy is rare among magical and religious initiations of the ancient world, in the scope of its culminating request: nothing less than immortality (apathanatismos). Some also consider it a product of early Hermeticism, so named after the Greek “Thrice Greatest Hermes” - equivalent of the Egyptian Thoth. Hermeticism evolved into alchemy (chemistry) which evolved into our modern conception of science. The inventor of analytical psychology Carl Jung had a particular interest in the fragment, and spoke on the topic in lectures and interviews. It had an effect on his beliefs in regards his spirituality and his concept of “synchronicity”, or the idea that meaningful connections in the world manifest through coincidence. Jung had no less than a kind of premonitory experience with a patient regarding the ritual, which he referenced as an example of synchronicity in his personal life. Here is a quote from Jung’s 1959 interview with John Freeman. ‘We have ain impersonal stratum in our psyche.’ ‘For example, we had a patient in the ward, disassosiated schizophrenic, with no particular education. Once I came to the ward and he took me by my coat and led me to the window. Now look up at the sun, look at how it moves, move your head like this and see the moving of the sun is the origin of the wind. Of course I thought ‘he’s just crazy’ despite the fact that case remained in my mind. Four years later I came across a paper written by the german historian Deitrich dealing with the mithras liturgy papyrus. (Which read) Thou will see how the disc of the sun unfolds, and hanging down from this the moving down of the wind. and when you move your face to the east it will follow you, and to the west it will follow you.’ ‘It was not a proof to me but a hint, and i took the hint.’ ‘And did you believe in god? oh yes do you now believe in god? now? difficult to answer. I know, I don’t need to believe.’