Why Mithras Lost II

The cult was too elaborate. As described in Roma Mater (London, 1989) by Poul and Karen Anderson, there were three underling ranks of junior initiates, Ravens, Occults and Soldiers. Above them in a congregation were Lions, Persians and a Father attended by a Runner of the Sun or Heliodromos. A Persian wore a robe, mask and Phrygian cap.

After death, an initiate hopes to feast with Mithras but must first pass through seven gates en route to the stars, each guarded by an angel who first insists on further purification. The ascending soul leaves:

its vitality to the Moon;
its voracity to Mercurius;
its carnality to Venus;
its intellectuality to the Sun;
its militancy to Mars;
its pride to Jupiter;
its selfhood to Saturnus

- then, in the Light of the eighth heaven, is forever One with Ahura-Mazda, so I am not sure when the feast with Mithras occurs.

Christianity is simpler although Dante made the same interplanetary journey as the Mithraists.