Menu Heptayazata - the Seven Yazads 4020.06
HEPTAYAZATA - "The Seven Yazads (gods)"
Seven gods for pagan-inclined Western Mithraists to worship. The names are ancient but these are gods who live in our time, and should be worshipped for their relevance to us.

1. MITHRAS is the yazad of right-connection. He connects people to each other to form strong productive co-operating societies, and he connects people in their thoughts and behaviour to the ultimate God - what is real and good.

Mithras seeks to create ARTA or Good Order in support of the Good existence. He will use varied means to do this using the best method for the situation. He will teach us what is right, encourage us in the right path or actively dissuade us from what is wrong.

Mithras is a leader able to chart the best path and get others to help him. He has aspects of all the other yazads within him, so that he is able to relate to them and rule them effectively.

He is associated with the Sun as a planet, the morning light of the Sun and light in general. Mithras is regarded as the chief yazad of the Heptayazata.

2. ANHITA is the yazad of nurture, care and protection. She is the most concerned to provide for new life to emerge into the world and to grow strong and healthy.

As a mother she provides unconditional love and support to her children, so that they get everything they need to grow secure and happy and are protected from everything harmful that they cannot cope with by themselves.

She is associated with water, especially pure drinkable water, as the basic sustenance of life and with the moon as a planet. She is partner to Mithras.

3. VAIUS is the yazad of stimulation and force. He blows into the world, creating movement, putting pressure on existing patterns and breaking through barriers.

He can act for good, being an agent of challenge that stimulates life to grow, and dissolving structures that restrict or do harm. He can also act for bad, undermining good patterns and bringing death.

He is associated with the planet Mars and historic deities Vayu (blower), Verethragna (resistance-smiter) Aeshma (fury) and Woden as a war god.

4. VENUS is the yazad of love, desire and beauty. She represents the basic desires and drives that animate life.

She has a wild heart and her energies are not easily contained in conventional structures. She stirs people into action as they seek to gain her presence and her favours.

She is partner to Vaius and is associated with the planet Venus.

5. FABER is the yazad of manufacture. He is the maker-god. He is the craftsman who crafts the material of the world into new designs.

Faber likes to deal with what he can control and shape according to his will. In modern life he inspires the engineer, the designer, the technician and the technocrat.

6. HESTIA is the yazad of the hearth and home. She is the home-maker goddess. She is responsible for the happy functioning of the individual household and the wider 'homes' of the community , city and nation.

Hestia likes regular activity and doesn't easily get bored. She will happily perform the same tasks, day in and day out. Thus it is Hestia who is entrusted with maintaining all those essential activities that are needed to keep our homes and society ticking along.

In religious life, for the same reason, it is Hestia who is entrusted with being keeper of the sacred fires. Hestia is partner to Faber.

7. APOLLO is the sensitive yazad. He is able to see through surface appearance to the deeper workings of things. He is the seer , the priest and healer. He is the bringer of music and dance.

Apollo can easily read people's minds and souls and know how they tick. He is sensitive to the movement of the spirit. Knowing the operations of mind and body, he can detect illness and know their remedies. Thus he makes a great healer. He can also produce the most wonderful music.

Apollo likes to be free to attune to the world at the current moment and is easily crushed by external demands. Thus he likes an independent life and has no regular partner among the other yazata.

Apollo is associated with the historic deity Sraosha.


FOOTNOTES

NB1: The Heptayazata form one class of gods, the class most related to the human personality. Potentially there are other gods and classes of gods that could be usefully worshipped. At the moment only Aion, Sophus and Sophia are formally promoted.

NB2: All the heptayazata can be considered children of Sophus (the Great Wizard) and Sophia (Mother Wisdom).

NB3: The first four yazads are associated with four of the Seven Classical Planets above. Sometimes we might want to associate the remaining three yazads with the other planets. In this case we suggest Faber=planet Jupiter, Hestia=planet Saturn and Apollo=planet Mercury. However this doesn't match up very well with historic practice.

Marcus Zartianus, June 4020 HE (HE=(Mithraic) Historical Era, sometimes also ME)

Contributed comment:

"Mithras connects people to each other to form strong productive co-operating societies, and he connects people in their thoughts and behaviour to the ultimate God". So Mithras is a God's particle in each of human being, a God amongst humans..."