Mithra: The 'Lord of Light' & the Astrological Doors that mark 'Time'.

The Original Christ Figure of Ancient Persia and Rome.

Mithra, the enigmatic god whose cult flourished in both Ancient Persia and Rome, was deeply associated with time, cosmic order, and renewal. Often understood as a “Lord of Time,” Mithra stood at the threshold between cycles, presiding over endings and beginnings. His mysteries were not merely devotional but cosmological, framing human life within the vast machinery of the heavens.

Mithra aligns closely with the winter solstice, a moment when darkness reaches its peak before the gradual return of light. In the Roman world, the solstice marked the end of one cosmic cycle and the birth of another. Mithra, frequently linked with Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun, embodied this rebirth. As the sun appears weakest yet is secretly turning toward strength, Mithra represented the hidden power that restores balance, order, and life. The Winter solstice was therefore not a defeat of light, but a promise of something new.

Roman religious life already revolved around Saturn, the ancient god of time, agriculture, and cycles, celebrated through Saturnalia in the month of December. Saturn ruled over a mythical Golden Age and was closely tied to the rhythms of sowing, harvesting, decay, and renewal. Mithraic symbolism absorbed and transformed these older ideas, shifting focus from agricultural time to cosmic time. The “end” governed by Saturn became the necessary precursor to rebirth under the solar power of Mithra, reinforcing the idea that destruction and renewal are inseparable. The Masonic Order adopted this knowledge of focus and time as 'Order out of Chaos'.

One of the most powerful symbols linking Mithra to time and renewal is the lion (see my images over the years). In Mithraic iconography, the lion often appears alongside the god of boundless time, sometimes identified as Aion or Chronos (Saturn), representing eternal cycles (rings). The lion, associated with the sun, fire, strength, and kingship, embodies the rising solar force of the new year, or new age. As the guardian of thresholds and cycles, the lion stands for the victorious return of light and the unstoppable march of time—marking the end of one cycle and the triumphant beginning of another.

As Christianity emerged within this symbolic landscape, many solstice themes carried forward into what became Christmas. The celebration of the birth of Christ near the winter solstice echoes the older motif of the new sun being born from darkness. While the theological meanings differ, the symbolic language remains strikingly similar: light returning to the world, time renewed, and hope restored. This continuity reflects how deeply ingrained solstice symbolism was in Roman consciousness, shaped by Saturn, Mithra, and the solar cults.

According to legend, Hermes (Mercury) was also born in a cave on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. Zeus had impregnated ‘Maia’, at night, while all the other gods slept. When Hermes was born at dawn (like the sun), Maia wrapped him in swaddling clothes. The pre-Christian Roman version of Jesus, Mithras, was also born in a cave, with shepherds in attendance, on the 25th of December. Mithras was also known to his followers as ‘The light

of the world’, or ‘The Good Shepherd’, and urged his followers to share ritual communion of bread and wine. Mithra's priests were also called ‘Father’. Add the word ‘Christmas’ after ‘father’ and there you have it.

The Orion Connection

In Zoroastrian texts, for example, Mithra is an exalted figure, who with ‘Rashnu’, (Justice) and ‘Sraosha’ (Obedience), is one of ‘three’ judges at the ‘Chinvat Bridge’, the Bridge of ‘Separation’ which all souls must cross. The bridge could also be the three belt stars of Orion that forms the ‘Door’ I describe at length in my book, Orion's Door. The bridge is also the brain’s corpus callosum, a bridge between two worlds, or hemispheres. Unlike Sraosha, Mithra is not a ‘guide’ of souls to the place of the dead (the Moon); instead, he takes the souls ‘across the bridge’ between life and death. In other words, Mithra is a ‘doorkeeper’, like Orion, Osiris, Jesus, etc., (‘I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture’. John 10:9 -16).

According to 13th Century books called the Prose Edda, Ymir was formed from elemental drops (celestial alchemy), along with Auoumbla, a primeval cow, whose milk Ymir drank. It was said that from Ymir’s sweat came a race of giants, and a huge cow (Audhumla) was created to feed these giants. Both Ymir and Audhumla are Norse mythological characters that seem to hint at the relationship between Orion and Taurus (in the stars), also mirrored in pre-Christian Greek-Roman belief through Mithra and the Bull and in Persia, as Gayomart, the first man (see figure). According to Persian myth, it was from Gayomart that the human race was formed, whose twin children, ‘Mayash’a and ‘Mashyane’, became the first human beings.1 The Man and Bull symbolism is significant, especially Mithra and the Son of Man symbolism, which are Orion archetypes. Mithra was said to be born of a rock (like the Titans in Greek myths) and in the more ancient Indian Vedas, he was the god of light, invoked under the name of ‘Varuna’ and called ‘the Light of the World’. Mithra, like Ahura Mazda in Persian belief dating back 4000 years, was seen as a mediator between heaven and earth, bewteen the passge of ages, seasons, pagan dates and the end of astrological cycles.

Mithra (Orion) the Lord of Time (Ages) and Slaying the Age of Taurus.

X - mas

Plato, for example, in his dialogue Timaeus, said that when the creator of the universe first formed the cosmos, he shaped its substance in the form of the letter X, representing the intersection of the two celestial circles of the zodiac and the celestial equator, or crossover point. The X of course can be seen in Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter in recent years (now 'X) and relates to elevating him to a god-like status - the Mithra of today as we stand at the 'crossroads' of change, or 'reset' for some.

In Plato’s Timaeus, it is explained that two bands form the soul of the world, which form a cross like the letter X. Plato’s analogy, along with several other examples of X shapes and the ’ChI’ (X) symbol relate to interconnectedness of all things. The symbol occurs in the work of Sir Thomas Browne’s (1605-82) discourse, The Garden of Cyrus (1658). Browne’s discourse, also known as the ‘Quincuncial Lozenge’, considers the connectedness of all,

occurring naturally, artificially and mystically. Browne was an English polymath and author of varied works revealing his wide learning in diverse fields including science and medicine, religion and the esoteric, and whose works were used in the ‘witch trials’ in the persecution of witches in England.2 Browne’s book revealed the interconnection of art

and nature via inter-related symbols of the number five, along with the X and the lattice design in which the X appears (see figure).The X can be found in modern insignias

such as flags, logos and heraldic devices, not least the skull and bones flag flown by

pirates and adopted by the Vatican (not so much to symbolise their centuries of pirate-

like grand theft), but as a symbol of the ‘keys’ to heaven. In terms of numerology, ‘X’ = 10, which is the number of the ‘door’ of Downing Street in London - the residency of the UK ‘Prime’ Minister.

This cross-shaped symbol was often depicted in ancient art to indicate the cosmic sphere seen on the Mithraic stone carving showing the ‘lion-headed god’, standing on a globe marked with the cross, representing the two circles of the zodiac and the celestial equator (see figure). The mithraic image is essentially the same concept in the Wheel of Fortune image, both relating to unseen, astrological energies and angelic realms influencing humanity.

Lion-headed Demiurge, Mithra, standing on the X-Wheel

Orion, the celestial man, giant hunter and guardian of the stars was ‘placed’ to hunt all of earth’s creatures. The myths associated with Orion included the archetype of the artist and the war god, Mars; both connected through the ‘art of war’. The symbols of Orion (the giant first man), Saturn (the bringer of time and death) and Mars (the originator of war), all combine in the post-flood world age I call: the Age of Orion (see Chapter Two of Orion's Door). Another name for Orion was ‘Mithra’ and ‘Migra’, the deer with horns, or stag-man with antlers; which is why ruling bloodlines kept the hunted ‘stag head’ trophies on the

walls of their stately homes. Mithra became a cult for the Soldiers of the Roman Empire (along with Mars) and its history goes back to the time of Zoroaster (Persia). Mithra (or Mitrash) was said to be the ‘Governor of the Sun’ (Solar System), or ‘he (the Demiurge) that powers the sun’, indicating there is something more behind the celestial giants, the Sun, Saturn, Jupiter and the planets.

Mithra was connected to the Sun, and later to Archangel Michael, a figure I intend to paint as we move into 2026.

1) Pearce, Marion. The Gods of the Vikings, p 81

2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bury_St_Edmunds_witch_trials