Book of Divinity 5

This is an excerpt from the *Oahspe Bible* (1882), an American spiritualist/syncretic scripture written in the style of 19th-century biblical prose, presenting an elaborate cosmology of competing heavenly kingdoms and false gods. The passage follows Ahura'Mazda, a pretender deity who rules a vast spirit kingdom centered on the heavenly city of Ctusk, where he enslaves newly-dead souls by staging a carefully choreographed glimpse of his throne and convincing them they must serve hundreds of years before reaching true paradise. The central conflict is Ahura's accelerating loss of power: a cosmic phenomenon called "a'ji" — a period when the earth absorbs atmospheric matter — causes his subordinate spirits ("drujas") to become lazy, debauched, and disobedient, leading over six hundred sub-Gods to revolt against him. In a desperate bid to reclaim authority, Ahura assembles a fleet of 30,000 celestial ships carrying 400 million spirits in a pyramid formation, touring the heavens proclaiming himself Creator and sole judge of souls — but the campaign fails, met with mockery and hisses. Meanwhile, back in Ctusk, a con-artist spirit named Ootgowski exploits the absence of leadership through deception and flattery, ultimately seducing the stand-in ruler into abandoning his post and looting the throne's treasures. The text's distinctive perspective is its systematic demythologizing of Zoroastrian and other religious traditions, recasting their gods as corrupt, self-aggrandizing spirit politicians operating within a bureaucratic supernatural order ultimately governed by the true, ineffable "Jehovih."

Book of Divinity 5

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