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

Actions
The History of Iranian Magic

In conjunction with the words sung in the ritual, priests also conducteda series of coordinated ceremonial actions. These actions, like the words that accompanied them, were fixed in form. Initially the ritual actions, which supported the words, were quite simple, but over time they became so complex that a whole team of priests and many members of the community were required to enact the ritual properly.

One of the main kinds of ritual action was the feeding of the sacrificial fire with fuel such as animal fat or clarified butter (ghee). The fire was always a focus of ritual action, as was the consumption of a ritual drink. Symbolically, the interaction of fire and water/liquid represents a reenactment of the origin of the world. In the archaic age there were three main fires on the enormous altar: one in the east, one in the south, and one in the center.

Evidence shows that the main reason sacrifices were held was to ensure the continuation of the cosmic order and to petition the gods for advantages in the areas of longevity and prosperity. In this sense the archaic cultic practices were essentially magical—or even sorcerous—in their motivations from the beginning.

This mode of ritual sacrifice prevailed throughout much of the ancient Indo-European world. This was especially true in the east among the Aryans, but evidence from the westernmost Indo-European societies of the Celts shows that similar and complex rites were carried out by their priesthood (the Druids) as well. Other Indo-European peoples such as the Germans and Greeks resisted the development of a professional priest-class, and thus their rituals remained naturally more basic.