The Meaning of the Tauroctony

The Natural Cycle!
Man vs Nature but also Mind vs Being in the Zoroastrian sense. The two components (and levels) of that which Zoroastrainism and Mithraism holds sacred. Mithra is Mazda, Taurus is Ahura.
As becomes evident in the bullfighting arena: The Toreador fights The Bull precisely as a celebration of Civilization in relation to the chaos of nature. With a respect for nature, of course. Not just some vulgar "taming of nature" project (The Bull that fights back is always celebrated for this.)
Please note also that the tauroctony is repeated with three-month intervals, in other words, the very same four holidays that Zoroastrian celebrate: The solstices and the equinoxes.
It IS the same religion but with different ritual practices. But Mithraism has the advantage that it eliminates the tiresome historicist nonsense that ALL Zoroastrian discourses are permeated with.
Ushta
Alexander

2010/9/20 Parviz Varjavand

And what does the Bull symbolize and why it should be killed?
I ask this respectfully as your take on this act will be one of the key elements of how you propose that we look at Mithraism.

Mehr Afzoon,
Parviz

--- On Mon, 9/20/10, Alexander Bard wrote:

From: Alexander Bard
Subject: [Ushta] Tauroctony
To: Ushta@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, September 20, 2010, 12:55 PM



The tauroctony did not disappear.

It is practiced practically every Sunday in Spain, sothern France and Mexico and it's called bullfighting.
Which is why the Catholic Church has always been very uneasy about the bullfighting tradition.
Ushta
Alexander