Chapter 153. Mitra as Root of All Religions: 21 December, the Ethos of Mitra and the Children of Mitra

In Keshe’s late teaching, Mitra replaces every named religion as the reference point. Earlier parts of this study followed the Indo-Iranian Mithra of the Avesta and the Roman mystery god Mithras through the scholarly literature. Keshe treats both as a single “Mitra”: a figure he dates to some 8,000 years ago, whom he describes as female, as “Eve”, and as “the essence of the Creator’s love”. He says that Christianity, Judaism and the later faiths copied their calendar and their central symbols from this source. From December 2021 his annual winter-solstice workshops present the “Birth of Mitra” as the fulfilment of every prophecy, and from 2024 they speak of a “Daughter of Mitra” and of “Children of Mitra” conceived from souls alone. This chapter sets out those claims in sequence and then places them beside the academic and popular sources on Mithra and Mithras in the library.

The thesis of 2020: Christmas as a moved Mitra feast

The founding statement is the Christmas Eve workshop of December 24, 2020:

“the true Christmas, the true birthday of Christ until some 200 and odd years ago was celebrated on 21st, and about 200 years ago Vatican decided to shift it to 24th due to one reason, and that was to make more separation, that Christianity is not replication of Mithraism … 21st of December what we call in Farsi, — which means the longest night, and is considered to be the birthday of Mitra, some 8,000 years ago.” [Keshe, Knowledge Seekers Workshop 360, #378072]

The transcript says “24th” at this point. Its own subheading reads “Christmas is really Mitra – Vatican moved from 21st to 25th”, and in the same session Keshe also gives “some 8 to 10,000 years ago” for Mitra’s teaching [Keshe, KSW 360, #378072]. He continues: “As Christianity we know today was adaptation of the old Mithraism, so the birth of Christ was put on the same day as the birth of Mitra, as his son, or I should say as her son.” He extends the claim of copying to Judaism (“Hanukah. This is how they all copied one way”; the Jews’ 6,000-year history is “2,000 years copy of what Mitra brought”). He also ties it to Zoroastrian practice: “even when they brought in the faith of Zoroaster, they kept the fire going … the room of fire”, and adds that Persia “never worshipped a statue … Always believed in Mitra and through Mithraism we kept the ethos of the soul do good, be good and act good” [Keshe, KSW 360, #378072]. The library’s study guide summarises a later section as identifying “the 21st of December as the birth of Mitra (Eve) and the 21st of March as the start of life’s cycle”. Its final section defines Mithraism “not as a religion but as the fundamental culture of the Universe” [Keshe, KSW 360, #378072, “Cosmic Paths, Symbolic Stars, and the 21st March Cycle”; “Mithraism as Universal Culture”].

December 21, 2021: the “Day of Enlightenment”

On December 21, 2021, during One Nation One Planet programme 201, Keshe declared the prophetic promise fulfilled. The KF Brazil summary records:

“the 21st of December was chosen as a symbolic enlightenment, what we see as the light of Mitra. You have the night of the 20th into the 21st, as the longest night of the year, symbolic of the darkness, or the ignorance of man … It is called Mitra, Messiah, or Mashiach in Jewish language, (and Maitreya and Kalki), and it’s the same with Methi. They all come from that same name.” [Keshe, Birth of Mitra Day of Enlightenment for Humanity (KSW 201) (2021-12-21), #378405]

He then redefines the promised event: “This day, we don’t call it the resurrection of Mitra. But it’s the day that was promised by all the prophets. Not the Day of Judgment, but the Day of the Enlightenment of man to the existence of his own soul, and the new cycle.” “(The Promised One) has come back in the name of the Man himself. He is each one of your souls – and nothing else.” The year 2022 was announced as “the year of balance, and the year of corrections” [Keshe, KSW 201 One Nation, #378405].

KSW 412, the workshop of the same week, states the institutional consequence. The library guide summarises it: “the start of a new cycle on December 21, 2021, marking the birth of Mitra … traditional religions like Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are obsolete and will merge into a single understanding”. The guide also records “the end of a thousand-year cycle of darkness”. A later section “declares the end of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and other belief systems as distinct religions, asserting they are now unified under the single path of correct conduct found in the true Koran” [Keshe, Knowledge Seekers Workshop 412, #378124, “Birth of Mitra and New Cycle of Enlightenment”; “End of Traditional Religions and the Return to Mitra”]. The transcript’s index includes “Soon there will not be any religions, Atrocities committed by Moses”, and the text says: “There shall be no religions left, except in the books”. Keshe speaks of “My job as a Messenger” and predicts “Another completion in 200 years 2/22/2222” [Keshe, KSW 412, #378124].

Mitra as love, not religion; the Ethos of Mitra

In KSW 447 (August 25, 2022) a participant asked who Mitra is. Keshe answered: “Mitra is the essence of the ‘love of the Creator,’ and it’s not a religion. Mitra is not a beginning of (something like a religion)” [Keshe, Knowledge Seekers Workshop 447, #378159]. The guide summarises his answer: Jesus, Moses, Buddha and Muhammad “were merely human reflections of this divine love, while their scriptures were written by others after the fact. Only Bahaullah is claimed to have left original writings”. The transcript has: “Mohammed traveled to Palestine, where he saw, that the people there (believed in God, a Creator. Whereas his people, the Saudi’s, were only worshiping statues. He too never wrote anything” [Keshe, KSW 447, #378159, “Definition and Nature of Mitra”]. In the same workshop he rejects the label “cult” for the Foundation and calls it a scientific organisation [KSW 447, #378159, “Responsibility, Anti-Cult Stance”].

KSW 496 (July 27, 2023) turns Mitra into a rule of life without mediators. Its index reads “Learn to guide yourself – tap into Universal Knowledge; No intermediary’s between Soul of the Man (STM) and Soul of Physicality (STP); 3 Ethos of Mitra represent STM – STP – P – this is religion of Universe (U) & Creator; Nobody can come between you & Creator”. The transcript adds: “when you become a Passenger of the U, you remain a member of the human race, (and not a religion). You live through the ‘Ethos of Mitra.’ Then there is no religion” [Keshe, Knowledge Seekers Workshop 496, #378208].

December 2022 and 2023: Virgin Birth and the arithmetic of the 25th

KSW 464 (December 22, 2022) reports a December 16 “cosmic ray” session. In it, according to Keshe, participants “collectively … with the Prophets met your Creator”, and he called that day “the Day of Judgment”. He calls the intermediaries the “poison” in the believer’s spoon: “That poison is religion, are the Ayatollahs, Mullahs, Priests” [Keshe, Knowledge Seekers Workshop 464, #378176]. On the festival he states: “Christmas is really a copy of the birth of Mitra. If you study the history and the story you find out they both tell of the same virgin birth, and everything else.” He also says: “In what we call Western countries you celebrate the 25th of December as the birth of Christ. This is because the Roman’s decided not to have the same date as Mitra, so they moved it” [Keshe, KSW 464, #378176]. He names the Persian feast “Shabe Yalda” and reads the Magi’s three gifts as “air, water and Earth” and as “Think – Speak – and Act Good” [KSW 464, #378176]. The index lists “True meaning Virgin Birth”; the transcript treats physical virginity as a cultural invention (“this virginity … it brings so much shame to be part of this stupidity”) and the Virgin Birth as a statement about the purity of the soul [KSW 464, #378176].

A year later, KSW 517 (December 21, 2023) moved the date and gave an arithmetical explanation of the 25th: “The birth of Mitra is on the 22nd, and you add the 3 attributes of the Creation – Think, Speak, and Act Good. And that makes it 25.” The KF editors explain: “in Persia they celebrate the eve of the 21st for the day of the 22nd. Christians celebrate the eve of Christmas on the 24th for the day of the 25th.” Keshe also concedes that the “Winter Solstice” is “only for the Northern Hemisphere … It’s symbolic” [Keshe, Knowledge Seekers Workshop 517, #378229].

Mitra’s Daughter and the Children of Mitra

From 2024 the teaching acquires a genealogy. KSW 564 (November 14, 2024) says: “It’s our job as Universal Teachers to teach mankind how to handle Children of Mitra. As we will see more and more of them. … Your physical body goes through a process different than normal conception” [Keshe, Knowledge Seekers Workshop 564, #378276]. KSW 619 (December 4, 2025) introduces a second feast: “Celebrate Mitra’s Daughter birth – December 6th – whole Universe”. Keshe says: “I salute her birthday, I love every 6th of December as I pay respect to her birth and at same time I respect the mother of the Creator, what we call the Mitra. Without her there wouldn’t be Mitra, and without Mitra wouldn’t be the Child of Mitra” [Keshe, Knowledge Seekers Workshop 619, #378331]. He notes that December 6 “coincidentally” is St. Nicholas Day in Christian calendars, and he places these events in a “cycle of changes every 3,000 years and it’s due now” [KSW 619, #378331]. KSW 630 adds that the Daughters of Mitra “carry much more power than Mitra. Their love will cover the whole of created, where the love of Mitra was just for the Creator” [Keshe, KSW 630, #378342].

KSW 642 (May 14, 2026) states the reproductive doctrine: “Children of Mitra (CM) – Soul of male & female – create Soul of child – no P, attachment, needs, guilt – perfection”. The transcript says: “Now you understand why the Children of Mitra come from the Souls and not from the sperm and egg”, because the egg and sperm “have already set the pattern for deception” [Keshe, Knowledge Seekers Workshop 642, #378354]. In this teaching the Virgin Birth is no longer only a metaphor, as it was in KSW 464. It becomes a model of future human generation.

The scholarly and popular record compared

The library’s academic sources place Roman Mithraism in a specific historical frame. Vermaseren records that “Mithras himself was also regarded as Sol invictus”. He identifies the end of the cult with Theodosius’s legislation: “An edict of February … A.D. 391 forbade all pagan worship in Rome … The final edict was issued on November 8th of the following year (392); all practice of pagan religions, private devotions included, was to be severely punished” [Vermaseren, Mithras, the Secret God, #38300, ch. 21 “The Fall of Mithras”]. He also discusses how the Gospel Magi connected Jewish circles with Zarathustra [Vermaseren, #38300, ch. 18 “Zarathustra and the Magi”]. Laeuchli grants the parallels but declines to rank them in time:

“An astonishing number of phenomena appear both in Mithraism and Christianity, such as baptism and the eucharistic feast, the celebration of the god’s birth and his ascension. At the same time, the two religions differ distinctly … The debate about their respective origins and their interrelation has ceased recently since the historical evidence is not sufficient to determine any priority.” [Laeuchli, Urban Mithraism, #38279, “Mithraism and Christianity”]

Laeuchli locates the “hermeneutical problem of ancient Mithraism” in the inscription formula “Mithra – Sol Invictus – D.D.D.”: a Phrygian-Persian vocabulary that Roman worshippers understood “only in fusion with their own Roman situation” [Laeuchli, #38279]. The Wikipedia article “Mithra” likewise reports that “since the early 1970s, the dominant scholarship has noted dissimilarities between the Persian and Roman traditions”, and that Mithra is “not mentioned by name in the Gathas” [Wikipedia: Mithra].

The popular and esoteric literature in the library comes closer to Keshe’s direction, although its date differs. Koster, quoting Cumont via Minucius Felix, writes: “The Mithraists also observed Sun-day and kept sacred the 25th of December as the birthday of the Sun”, and calls Mithraism “the major rival of Christianity” before 321 [Koster, Come Out of Her My People, #86909, “Christmas – 25th December”]. Fideler states that Mithras’s “birthday was celebrated on December 25 … marking the return of Sol Invictus”, born “in a cave” and “witnessed by shepherds” [Fideler, Jesus Christ, Sun of God, #69295]. Irvin and Rutajit list among the shared features: “Mithra was born on December 25th. He had 12 companions … He was buried in a rock tomb. After three days he rose” [Irvin and Rutajit, Astrotheology & Shamanism, #86204, ch. 3]. Chulev argues for “the stubborn continuity of these ancient beliefs”. He also concedes that “the last Mitraic communities probably disappeared in the first half of the 5th century AD” before the mysteries “concealed” themselves in Manichaeism [Chulev, The Continuity Paradigm within the Mysteries of Mitra, #38297].

The Persian side of Keshe’s thesis has partial support on the reference shelf. Wikipedia’s infobox for Mithra lists “Festivals: Mehregan, Yalda Night (Birth of Mithra)” [Wikipedia: Mithra]. The article on Yalda dates the festival to “the night of December 21 (or 20 during leap years)”, notes that it was in the Achaemenid calendar “from at least 502 BCE”, and gives a different etymology: yalda is a Syriac word meaning “birth”, borrowed from Syriac Christians for whom it was “the Syriac Christian proper name for Christmas”. In Zoroastrian tradition the night was “particularly inauspicious”, the time when Ahriman’s forces were at their peak. The article also reports that Hashem Razi’s theory that the Mithra festival Mehregan shifted to the solstice “has a significant following on the Internet” but that “his adduction has not” been academically accepted [Wikipedia: Yalda Night].

Key points

• In KSW 360 (2020) Keshe says Mithraism, “some 8,000 years ago”, is the source of Christianity and Judaism. The transcript has Christmas moved from the 21st to the 24th, and its heading the 25th, by the Vatican “about 200 years ago”.
• On December 21, 2021 he proclaimed the “Day of Enlightenment” in place of the “Day of Judgment”, identified Mitra with Messiah, Mashiach, Maitreya and Kalki, and in KSW 412 declared the separate religions ended.
• KSW 447 defines Mitra as “the essence of the love of the Creator … not a religion”, with the founders of religions as human reflections of it. KSW 496 makes the “Ethos of Mitra” a rule of life without intermediaries.
• KSW 464 calls Christmas “a copy of the birth of Mitra” sharing “the same virgin birth”. KSW 517 explains the 25th as the 22nd plus three ethical attributes.
• From 2024-26 the doctrine adds a December 6 “Daughter of Mitra” and “Children of Mitra” generated “from the Souls and not from the sperm and egg” (564, 619, 642).
• Vermaseren and Laeuchli document Mithras as Sol Invictus, real cult parallels and the 391-392 suppression, while holding that priority cannot be established.
• Popular writers (Koster quoting Cumont, Fideler, Irvin and Rutajit) assert a December 25 Mithraic nativity. Keshe’s date, the 21st or 22nd, is instead the Persian Yalda, which Wikipedia links to Mithra in its infobox but derives etymologically from Syriac Christian usage.