The Fravartis: Introduction

Some years ago, I began a series of meditations on the Yahoo Club Philosophia, which is devoted to the traditions of the Fedeli
d`Amore,Courtly Love and Chivalric Ideal – especially seen in context with Gnostic spirituality. It concerned the Zoroastrian concept of the “Fravashi” – as well as a central one among these, Daena – who is alternatively called “the Celestial I”, “the daughter of Sophia” and even “the Sophia of the Souls”. It was prompted by this quotation from Henri Corbin, in his book
THE VOYAGE AND THE MESSENGER (pp.223):

Upon The Longing of God

“…Consider the idea of a God who is essentially sadness and
longing, yearning to reveal himself, to know himself through a being
who knows him, thereby depending on that being who is still himself,
Yet who in this sense *creates* him. Here we have a vision which has never been professed outside of a few errant knights of mysticism.
To profess this essential bipolarity of the divine essence is not to
confuse creator and created, creature and creation. It is to
experience the irrevocable solidarity between the Fravarti and its
Soul, in the battle they undertake for each other`s sake.”

I received the question: But what does he intend with the word
Fravarti and what is it´s relationship to the Soul, and to the relationship between Earth and Heaven?
Much of the answer, in a sense, on the exterior – can be glanced from
Henri Corbin´s study of the Image and Ideal of the Celestial Earth in
the metaphysical traditions of Iran : SPIRITUAL BODY AND CELESTIAL
EARTH
: From Mazdean Iran to Shi`ite Iran.

Consequent of this, were also a similar post from the same chapter of
VOYAGE AND THE MESSENGER, called The Sophia of the Sufis: (pp.222)

Upon Meeting the “Other”
“The two are eternal companions who answer to each other – this is
the metaphysical idea of a single essence which is also
a couple
. This idea was as present in Manicheism as it was in
Zoroastrianism. All hope and lightness of heart in the face of
death resided in this: The encounter with my own being which
created me in its Image, as a part of itself.”

” For us it is otherwise. It is more in fear that one enters into
confrontation with one´s true self, at once oneself and yet Other.
Furthermore, we are virtually incapable of conceiving of a God
(Whether in belief or disbelief) which
is not the same, identical lord for everyone. Hence the Iranian idea
of the Fravarti angel may currenlty be the most alien of ideas to our
will. Yet, is it not true that every mystical marriage has secretly
undergone such an experience? But official theology is easily
secularized into sociology, which has no use for such an idea.
Certainly it has no use for a God who, like Ormazd, the Lord of
Wisdom, could also have his own Fravarti, and be drawn by Her towards
that which is unforceable. Beyond the immutability which all our
theodicies have postulated, thereby indulging themselves in a
demonstration of it.”

Fravarti – its creation and creator..It is
the Soul refracted through Being,but specifically
– before the Soul forgets it is Born, not
made, not an object,but a subject. Now currently
its “tendrils” or beams, reach from one end of the
multiverse to theother.. reminding itself.We may
know God´s longing to be known, to be received, to be
appreciated.. fulfilled.. as our own, but I feel Corbin
contributed something very important in daring to suggest
this.. Especially since he were saying this in a lecture
about the “Sophia of the sufis” in Teheran,
1974..Why would the God of faith not need a consort?The
mystery beyond all revelations and discoveries is the
essential essence which upholds every thing and their
absence.. no words describe it sufficiently, no name is
named, no presence is known..However, if Love
needs the Two…then the purpouse of this is crystal
clear..
I get the sense that the Fravarti, and especially
the Archangel of the Earth, Spenta Armaiti, Sophia (I
now saw that Plutarch translated Her persian name
into the greek Sophia..so “historically” we are a
little safe with he use of Sophia.. moreover, now we
could even use an alchemical illustration of the Anima
Mundi/Sophia to point towards Her mystery) represents
Consciousness in the Soul which is specific – Daimon would
indeed be something I am reminded of when studying this
Archetype..