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

Iranian Magic as the Ancients Saw It

The Iranian prophet Zarathustra lived as far back as 1700 BCE. Zarathustra is the original Avestan form of his name, whereas Zoroaster derives from the Greek version of his name, Zôroastrês. He was a professional priest within the Iranian tradition, which shares a common root and great similarity with the Rigvedic tradition in India. His prophetic insight revealed to him that there was but one true god, identical with the principle of pure, focused intelligence or consciousness.

According to a wide variety of sources, it was thought that the Persians and their prophet, Zarathustra, were the originators of magic, astrology, and even of philosophy itself. Here we will explore some of these opinions and legends, both internal and external. We will start with the (often erroneous) opinions of Western authors who were so impressed with the ways of the Iranian magû that these arts became known as “magic.” By analyzing what these Western authors wrote, we will gain insight in to the nature of the craft of the Magians, or magavans, and will confirm the reasons why these ritualists were held in high esteem by those who had only a passing acquaintance with their teachings. What remains surprising, however, is the fact that few, if any, have ever bothered to attempt to research and utilize these venerable traditions for practical ends. Such research and utilization are the aim of this book.

It is well known that the practice of what the Greeks and Romans called “magic” was originally attributed to Zarathustra and the Persians. Critics have rightly dismissed much of what the Greco-Roman writers said about this topic as a load of smoke and mirrors, but where there is smoke there is also fire. It is this fire and its true nature and meaning that interests us here. Critics have also often remarked that any claims of Zarathustra having invented magic are absurd, because he specifically opposed the practice of sorcery. This misunderstanding is rooted in the nonspecialist’s unfamiliarity with the technicalities of magic. There is a world of difference between sorcery or witchcraft and the sacred science of magic.

Whenever we delve in to the assertions of ancient writers we are always met with a variety of complications. They may have hidden (or not-so-hidden) agendas for what they wrote. For example, foreign enemies or rivals can be impugned for their alleged involvement in odious practices. The Greeks and Romans fought with the Iranians intermittently for nearly a millennium. Then, as now, Iran is seen as the reprehensible “Other.” This exotic Other can also often become an attractive screen upon which inner discoveries made by native Greeks and Romans could be projected and then attributed to the “Other.” Both Egypt and Iran were often used as such screens.

Outsiders, such as most unphilosophical Greeks and Romans of ancient times, tried to make the world believe that the Iranian magavans were simply sorcerers or practitioners of witchcraft, by which they could harm enemies and gain material riches. As we have already noted, however, magic—the craft of the magu—is not sorcery. It is a combination of spiritual wisdom or insight and a sort of science by which things are revealed and/or made to happen. The wisdom and science of the magavans constitute a great mystery (râz) that only a few ancient outsiders were able to perceive.

The reactions of ancient cultures that confronted Eranshahr—the vast Iranian world, which stretched from the Himalayas to the Mediterranean Sea—fell in to certain categories. Some were adversarial, such as Greece and Rome; some were ambivalent, such as the Indians, Hebrews, and Chinese. The situation regarding the Arabs represents a special case. Every people who encountered the ancient Iranians were most struck by their spiritual or magical practices and traditions.