What typifies the neurotic is that he “knows” his situation vis-à-vis reality. He has no doubts; there is nothing you can say to sway him, to give him hope or trust. He is a miserable animal whose body decays, who will die, who will pass into dust and oblivion, disappear forever not only in this world but in all the possible dimensions of the universe, whose life serves no conceivable purpose, who may as well not have been born, and so on and so forth. He knows Truth and Reality, the motives of the entire universe.
One of Rome’s most popular saviors was Mithra, whose titles “Light of the World” and “Messiah” were assimilated to Jesus. Mithraic dualism taught of the war in heaven between heavenly angels and the rebellious underworld angels, or daevas (a word meaning both “devils” and “divine spirits”). The final battle between these forces, Armageddon, would bring on the end of the world and the Last Judgment, according to Persian eschatology.
Mithra was born on December 25, of the usual mortal virgin. He healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, made the blind see and the lame walk. Before he ascended into heaven around the time of the spring equinox (celebrating the sun’s annual ascension), Mithra had a Last Supper with his 12 disciples, who represented the 12 signs of the zodiac. His worshippers practiced baptism and ate his holy body in the form of bread marked with a cross. This tradition was one of his seven sacraments, called mizd, Latin missa, English mass. In 307 ad/ce, the emperor officially declared Mithra “Protector of the Roman Empire.” But in 376, his temple on Vatican Hill was seized by Christians. The title of the Mithraic high priest, Pater Patrum, “Father of Fathers,” was taken over by Christian bishops and shortened to Pa-Pa, or “pope.”
She would cut it away. She would cut away the anger, the pain, and the frustration. She’d cut and cut until she was sculpted into something better, something stronger. They wanted to kill her, so this Vhalla would die, she resolved, and a new Vhalla would be born from her ashes.
