Payam Nabarz

Payam Nabarz

Persian-born Payam Nabarz is a Sufi and a Dervish. He was a Druid in the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids/ Nabarz is a revivalist of the Temple of Mithras, a Hierophant in the Fellowship of Isis, a Past Master in the Craft (Freemasonry), a Companion in the Royal Arch, and is a member of Mark, RAM, RSM orders.  He has also worked with the Golden Dawn system, Thelema, Nath Tantra, and Wicca. He was the founder of Spirit of Peace, a charitable organisation dedicated to personal inner peace and world peace via interfaith dialogue between different spiritual paths. His other interests include cycling and learning Yoga and Tai Chi.

He is author of The Mysteries of Mithras: The Pagan Belief That Shaped the Christian World (Inner Traditions, 2005), The Persian Mar Nameh: The Zoroastrian Book of the Snake Omens & Calendar (Twin Serpents, 2006), and Divine Comedy of Neophyte Corax and Goddess Morrigan (Web of Wyrd Press, 2008). He is also the editor of Mithras Reader: An academic and religious journal of Greek, Roman, and Persian Studies. Volume 1 (2006), Volume 2 (2008), and Volume 3 (2010); and Seething Cauldron: Essays on Zoroastrianism, Sufism, Freemasonry, Wicca, Druidry, and Thelema (Web of Wyrd Press, 2010).

He has three books published with Avalonia:

Anahita: Persian Goddess and Zoroastrian Yazata (Avalonia, 2013),

Stellar Magic: A Practical Guide to Rites of the Moon, Planets, Stars and Constellations (Avalonia, 2009) and

The Square and the Circle: the Influences of Freemasonry on Wicca and Paganism (Avalonia, 2016)."

THE SQUARE AND THE CIRCLE - The Influences of Freemasonry on Wicca and Paganism.

This book reviews the literature of the history of Wicca with especial reference to its links with Freemasonry, demonstrating their surprisingly close historical affiliations. In addition the links between Freemasonry, Druidry, Sufism, and other modern Pagan movements are also examined.

In the heart of both Freemasonry and Wicca, there is the spiritual quest and journey, as in many other mystery schools. Freemasons begin as a rough ashlar stone and eventually transform to a perfect cube. Its study of the seven liberal arts and sciences educates their initiates, transforming their mind to become a living Temple to the Great Architect while the seven graces provide them with the moral compass to walk through daily life. Wicca's teaching is clearly stated in its Charge of the Goddess

"To thou who thinkest to seek Me, know that thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not unless thou knowest the Mystery. If that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without. For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning; and I am that which is attained at the end of desire." The same message is also given to all Master Masons in their 3rd-degree ceremony: an injunction to reflect on "that most interesting of all human studies, the knowledge of yourself". In both, we can still hear down the centuries the echoes of Plato's teachings and the Delphic maxim at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi: γνῶθι σεαυτόν: Know thyself.