the “Mithras Liturgy” there are various special preparations and magical techniques connected with the ascent, however the experience is one graciously granted by the deity. The opening ritual begins: Draw in breath from the rays, drawing up three times as much as you can, and you will see yourself being lifted up and ascending to the height, so that you seem to be in midair (lines 538-41, italics mine). Throughout the text the initiate must rely upon heavenly guides or deities (lines 630-34) and must be allowed an audience before the supreme god (lines 640-44). The same is true in Apuleius’s
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