Modern Mithraism Lib : Seven degrees of Mithraism

Seven degrees of Mithraism

4016.11

In Persia during the time of Mithraism, when the sun god was honored above earthly things, seven were the degrees, the candidate receiving a name relevant to each stage of interior growth.

Using the Graeco-Latin names that have come down to us, the first-degree neophyte was called Corax, "raven" — the dark bird, one in whom the light of wisdom had not yet awakened in great measure. It signified likewise a servant: one who gives of his heart totally before receiving admission into the second degree which was termed Cryphius, "occult": one accepted as a disciple of esoteric lore; the third was Miles, "soldier," one who had received sufficient training and purification to become a worker for good. The fourth — Leo, "lion," emblem of solar power — has reference to the fourth initiation in which the candidate begins the conscious solarizing of the nature through instruction and specialized training (see chapters 7 and 8). The fifth degree was known as Perses, "Persian," signifying to the Persians of the time one who was becoming spiritually human — manasaputrized, that is, mind-born. The sixth, Heliodromus, "messenger or runner of Helios (the sun)" is a reference to Mercury or Budha, as messenger between the sun in the cosmos and the sun in man: the bloom of buddhi. The final and seventh was called Pater, "father," the state of a Full Initiate (see The Ancient Mysteries, A Sourcebook, Marvin W. Meyer, editor, pp. 200-1; also Esoteric Tradition, 3rd & rev. ed., p. 467).

The Mystery Schools by Grace F. Knoche

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/mysterys/mystsch1.htm