MAGI: The Journey Begins.....1000 BC

I'm still studying Magi and will be for awhile. From comments and e-mails it seems you want to learn with me...so here goes!!!! Also I hope more of you jump in!!! Remember I'm not doing this as a teacher, just as the leader on a group journey.


One school of thought of where the term Magi came from and who they are is that the word, like many  words, has changed its meaning over a period of time. It was originally associated with the Medes and the Persians and has its beginning with a man called Zoroaster. Around the year 1000 BC, Zoroaster began to proclaim a religious message based on the principle `Do good, hate evil'. He preached that there was just one god, Ahura-Mazda, (Wise Lord). Ahura-Madza was the good force in the world represented by purifying fire and water and was apparently a god that one could talk to. Opposed to the good, taught Zoroaster, was a dark power of evil. This code of belief has survived in one form or other throughout history and even has its followers today in the poorer communities of modern day Iran. Simply put the Magi were followers of this school of thought. There is much deeper we can go and will, such as including astrology but I thought we could start here.




This is a short combined version of several really long histories I have been studying. I thought it would be a good place for us to start. To learn just the few things in this paragraph and then head on.

Now maybe I'm the only one to think this, but if we just changed a few names,  ...... doesn't it sound a lot like we are talking about early Judaism or Christianity?  One god....do good...avoid evil....mmmmmm makes you think. Or at least makes me think.

How many of you out there think there are multiple paths? Multiple names for "the one god"?

What if there are many different paths up the same mountain with "good" and "heaven" being at the peak?

OK just in case you have lots of questions like I do, here are some definitions and the start of some research, but by all means...search, study , ask, goggle, go the library, etc and come back and share!!!

Zoraster:

Zoroaster (English pronunciation: /ˌzɒroʊˈæstər/ zohr-oh-as-tər), also known as Zarathustra (Avestan: Zaraϑuštra), was a prophet and the founder of Zoroastrianism who was either born in North Western or Eastern Iran. He is credited with the authorship of the Yasna Haptanghaiti as well as the Gathas, hymns which are at the liturgical core of Zoroastrianism. There is no consensus among scholars about the period of life, with the estimated dates of his birth range from 6000 BC to 100 BC. The majority of his life is known through the Avestan texts.

Zoroaster holds the celestial sphere in Raphael's School of Athens

From Wikipedia  ( good info but now I have more words and ideas to look up)

Medes:

The Medes^{[N 1]} (from Old Persian Māda-) were an ancient Iranian people^{[N 2]} who lived in Iran in an area known as Media and spoke a northwestern Iranian language referred to as the Median language. Their arrival to the region is associated with the first wave of Iranian tribes in the late second millennium BCE (the Bronze Age collapse) through the beginning of the first millennium BCE.

A few archaeological sites (discovered in the "Median triangle" in western Iran) and textual sources (from contemporary Assyrians and also Greeks in later centuries) provide a brief documentation of the history and culture of the Median state. These architectural sources, religions temples, and literary references show the importance of Median lasting contributions (such as the Safavid-Achaemenid-Median link of the tradition of "columned audience halls") to the Iranian culture. A number of words from the Median language are still in use and there are languages being geographically and comparatively traced to the northwestern Iranian language of Median. The Medes had an Ancient Iranian Religion (a form of pre-Zoroastrian Mazdaism or Mithra worshipping) with a priesthood named as "Magi". Later and during the reigns of last Median kings the reforms of Zarathustra spread in western Iran.

From Wikipedia  ( good info but now I have EVEN MORE words and ideas to look up)

Ahura-Madza

Ahura Mazdā (also known as Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hourmazd, Hormazd, Hurmuz, Aramazd and Azzandara) is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism. Ahura Mazda is described as the highest deity of worship in Zoroastrianism, along with being the first and most frequently invoked deity in the Yasna. The word Ahura means light and Mazda means wisdom. Thus Ahura Mazda is the lord of light and wisdom. Ahura Mazda is the creator and upholder of Arta (truth). Ahura Mazda is an omniscient (though not omnipotent) god, who would eventually destroy evil. Ahura Mazda's counterpart is Angra Mainyu, the "evil spirit" and the creator of evil who will be destroyed before frashokereti (the destruction of evil).

From Wikipedia (BOY, all of this research is leading to more research. I don't know about you, but I am excited!!!)

WOW!!!!!!!!! Boy, we've got a lot of information and we've barely even started. 

I know I've mentioned this earlier, but, doesn't this sound at least a little like what modern religions including Christianity aim for? 

Any thoughts on how this beginning turned into the Magi who came to visit and gift the Baby Jesus over a thousand years later? 

Now, this is off the subject of what I've written today, but none of you, have been brave or courageous enough to say your THOUGHTS (we're all learning here, we're not gonna hold you to it) on whether or not any of the Magi that came to see Baby Jesus could have possibly been female. 

There is a long way to go. This is the beginning of the beginning. Not every blog is going to be on the Magi, but many will as my studies progress. I hope you continue to join me. The biggest help any of you could give is ask questions, ask questions, ask questions. Make comments. Agree. Disagree. Let me know you are out there. I'm gonna be honest here, when you ask questions, I seriously doubt at this point I'll know the answer, but I will research and learn with you.

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