Original Magic: The Rituals and Initiations of the Persian Magi - Stephen E. Flowers Ph.D. 2017

Theory
The History of Iranian Magic

The theory of archaic Indo-European ritual sacrifice is fairly straightforward: humans can increase the benefits they gain from the gods by engaging in a process of gift exchange, which can be guided by the human will, insofar as the individual can choose which god to interact with and what benefits are to be gained. One will sacrifice (give a gift) to the god of prosperity to gain increased prosperity, and so on.

Some divine benefits, such as the rising of the sun each day, are so fundamental to human existence that certain priests take it upon themselves to regularly sacrifice to ensure the continuance of this phenomenon. In India, Vedic priests saw themselves as responsible for causing the sun to rise and even say they created the gods. It is clear that even in Vedic times the priests had a theory of the interdependence of the gods and humans: we need the gods, but they need us as well. The gods dispense many gifts freely, but if one does not sacrifice in return, one is considered a “thief.”

The philosophical dimension of this sacred relationship—by which it was understood that the one and only true godhead is consciousness and that all individual human beings are endowed with this gift, and by means of this gift they create the mythic metalanguage and code of the divine pantheon—was illuminated through a long process in India, whereas it came as a sudden flash to the prophet Zarathustra in the Iranian world.

The theory of the sacrificial ritual process is one of communication between the individual, who possesses the knowledge and inner ability to perform the ritual, and the gods and goddesses, which are but emanations of the godhead. The metalanguage of this communicative act is made up largely of poetic words/sounds and symbolic actions.