Mithras, Perseus and Sun Worship... In Rocky IV???

By
Lee Pilmore
In this essay, the author tells how the popular Hollywood film Rocky IV has a deep
esoteric meaning running through it; a hidden religion that has existed for thousands
of years and is still going strong today.

Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1
Precession of the Equinoxes, the Zodiac and the circle of the poles.
Chapter 2
The cult of Mithras and
Sun worship.

Chapter 3
Rocky IV

Conclusion

Foreword
I am not an academic, scholarly type. I have no qualifications whatsoever, well, that
is apart from my NVQ in painting and decorating (which is totally irrelevant in this
case!). However, I do like to read and ancient mystery religions fascinate me, so I
decided to write about something I discovered while watching Rocky IV. Maybe I
have put two and two together and came up with six, maybe you think I'm a nut! You
can decide for yourself.
Thousands of years ago ancient people placed great importance on the movements of
the visible planets and constellations in the night sky. They understood that man is a
microcosm of the universe and that everything that happened in the stars had a direct
effect on the consciousness of mankind here on Earth. As above so below. They
created myths to keep this information alive, creating allegorical tales of the
interaction between the Sun, the Zodiac and the planets of the solar system.
This knowledge was suppressed during the Dark Ages as organised religion
persecuted anyone who didn't follow their doctrine. However, at the very top of
religions, governments and secret societies this knowledge has been preserved.
Today, the vast majority think the Zodiac and the planets are separate, unimportant or
something to be dismissed, however, if you care to look, you will find that heads of
government, religious leaders and other powerful people in the world certainly don't
share this opinion, and Hollywood is one of the many places where you can find
proof of this. One of the most important things to keep in mind is the fact that
Hollywood, from it's very inception, is not there simply for entertainment, that is
secondary. Its main purpose is to program propaganda into the minds of the masses.
Don't believe me, go and look into the history of Hollywood for yourself.
I'm not coming into this with any religious bias as I myself am agnostic, I can see
clearly that there are many important truths in all religions if you get past the dogma.
The same goes for astrology and may seem stupid to some people, but the fact that it
is so widely utilised by almost every big corporation on the planet tells me that there
is something in it. I can also see that nature follows a geometric design, which
implies intelligence, so I believe there could be something greater than ourselves at
work in the universe, I'm open minded.

Introduction
The whole Idea is subversion, you want subversion on a massive scale. Quentin Tarantino, in Sleep With Me, talking about the underlying, hidden
messages in film.
Symbolism is the language of the mysteries; in fact it is the language not only of
mysticism and philosophy but all of nature, for every law and power active in
universal procedure is manifested to the limited sense perceptions of man
through the medium of symbol. - Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of all Ages
The use of symbols to convey knowledge to the initiated and to conceal it from
the uninitiated is as old as civilisation. A clear understanding of the symbolic
way of thinking is necessary if we would unveil and comprehend the esoteric
(hidden or secret) meaning of the symbols of ancient and modern faiths. - Jack
Benjamin

Do you like the Rocky films? Of course you do! They are great, especially Rocky IV
(the one with the Russian!). Personally I love Rocky IV because of its depth.
Seriously. Let me explain.
On the surface Rocky IV is just your regular meat-heads bashing the crap out of each
other with the generic sad bit in the middle before the hero prevails against all the
odds. A familiar tale if ever I heard one!
There is however, if you look deeper, a hidden symbolism running through the film.
Those who have paid attention will say ah, I know, its all cold war propaganda
demonising the Soviet Union. Pat yourself on the back because you are right! Russia
is portrayed as the bogeyman just waiting to get us (reminds me of Al Qaeda but
that's another subject!). However, this is not the full story behind it all,because Rocky
IV is basically a dragon slaying fairytale that was written in the stars thousands of
years ago. It is also the story of the sun travelling through its symbolic cycle of birth
and death, and, more specifically the cult of Mithras- Perseus. This may seem
ridiculous, but I believe it is true, and all I ask is that the reader keeps an open mind
about it.
Before I cover anything regarding the film we will need to explore what the
precession of the equinoxes is, what the Mithras cult is, and what the circle of the
poles is. Right! Enough waffling, lets begin!

Chapter 1
Precession of the Equinoxes, the Zodiac, and the circle of the poles
Firstly, I apologise if you know this already. Skip this part if you do, however, I feel
this section is essential if you are to understand the beliefs of these cults. I'm a simple
chap so I've tried to put this across as easy as I could. I'll explain about the Zodiac,
Equinox and precession after we look at the geocentric belief system at the time of
the Mithraic cult. The geocentric model is the theory that the Earth is at the centre of
the solar system with the sun, moon and planets all revolving around it. The ancients
believed that the stars were fixed to a celestial sphere that surrounded the Earth. This
system served the ancients very well until it was replaced by the Heliocentric model
that we have today.
The Equinoxes are the first day of spring and the first day of autumn when the Earth
tilts neither toward or away from the sun. The result is that we get an equal length of
night and day (12 hours each) on these two days of the year.
Fig 1.

The two equinox points at which the celestial equator and the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun) cross each
other.

The Earth, as it goes around the sun, spins anti-clockwise on its axis. The axis is
represented by the line going through the Earth in Fig 1. This imaginary line points to
the celestial poles in the north and south. Today the northern line points to Polaris,
otherwise known as the north star.
According to mainstream science, the spin and gravitational force of the moon cause
the axis to 'wobble' slowly over thousands of years. Try to imagine the axis tracing a
giant circle in the sky, or try spinning a coin and you will observe this effect before
the coin falls over. This wobble takes 24'000 years to complete one full rotation and

all of these combined movements make it seem to the observer on Earth like the
equinox is moving backwards through the signs of the Zodiac. For the past 2'000
years the Sun at the spring equinox has risen in Pisces and set in Virgo, hence we are
in the age of Pisces. In the age of Taurus the Sun rose in Taurus and set in Scorpio.
The twelve signs all have their opposites in the Zodiac wheel, which is of great
significance in astrology.

Fig 2.
Walter Cruttenden in his book 'The Lost Star of Myth and Time' puts it like this:
Here's an example of how precession works: At the time of Christ, if we looked up
to the eastern sky before sunrise on the spring Equinox, we would see the
constellation Pisces at the spot where the sun was about to rise. Today, if we look up
at the same time we see that the constellation Pisces is receding and Aquarius is
coming into view. This is the meaning of the dawning of the age of Aquarius. It
takes about 2'000 years for the Equinox to move through each constellation. Over a
period of 24'000 years the Equinox precesses, or moves backwards, through all
twelve constellations of the Zodiac, returning to its starting point. This is one cycle of
the precession of the Equinox.
The exact length of time of this cycle is up for debate, though personally, the 24'000
figure makes more sense to me after reading the work of Swami Sri Yukteswar in his
book 'The Holy Science'. So, as we have seen we are moving into the age of
Aquarius; however the age we will be looking at will be the age of Taurus (4'000 to
2'000 BC) as this is the age considered to be of great importance to the followers of
the cult of Mithras.
Circle of the poles
Another effect of precession is the changing of the pole star. Think back to Fig 1. The
line through the earth or the axis points towards the pole star ( the nearest star to the
celestial pole) in the northern sky. This line draws a huge circle over the course of
24'000 years as it moves through the constellations, see Fig 3. The current pole star is
Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor. At some stage during the age of Taurus the
pole star was Thuban in the constellation Draco, which is of importance in Rocky IV.

So, with each new age we get a new pole star at some point during that age.
Greg Rigby in his book ' The God Secret' explains that this movement is like a
cosmic clock:
This movement in the heavens is a celestial clock. Because we know the date now
and we also know the location of the pole on the circle, we can accurately deduce the
date in the past or the date in the future when the pole was at a particular past point or
a point it will be at in the future.

Fig 3.
The above diagram shows the constellations that circle the ecliptic pole and the past
present and future pole stars (Thuban, Kochab, Polaris, Vega). The huge constellation
of Draco the dragon or serpent, where the star Thuban sits, plays a part in Rocky IV
as we shall discover. These are the stars that do not set on the horizon; They are ever
present in the northern sky and thus were very important to ancient people, and a new
pole star would have been of great religious importance to them.

Chapter 2
The cult of Mithras and Sun worship
The main source of my information on Mithras is from David Ulansey, who wrote the
excellent book, 'Origins Of The Mithraic Mysteries'. Mithras was a solar divinity that
was worshipped up until the 3rd century AD. His birthday was celebrated on the 25th
December marking the return of Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun. This religion
was massive, spreading from the Black Sea to Scotland until it succumbed to
Christianity. Mithraism was a mystery religion whose inner truths were only revealed
to initiates, and just like in freemasonry today, there were different levels of initiation.
Because of this there is no written record of what they believed, however they did
leave a rich iconography preserved in their underground temples.

Fig 4.
The central iconography of the Mithras cult depicted Mithras slaying a bull with other
animals and objects surrounding him (a dog, a scorpion, a snake, a raven and
occasionally a lion and a cup). This main image has been named the Tauroctony by
scholars. For many years scholars thought this cult had Persian origins and that it had
borrowed its iconography from the Persian Mithra. However, Ulansey and a few
others realised that the bull slaying scene was actually a star map of the night sky at
the time when the spring equinox was in Taurus, and that Mithras slaying the bull was
symbolising the deity ending the age of Taurus. The animals in the Tauroctony were
in fact constellations that the celestial equator passed through in the time of the age of
Taurus. The dog is Canis Minor, the scorpion is Scorpio, the raven is Corvus, the
snake is Hydra and the lion and the cup are Leo and Aquarius - the summer and
winter solstices at the time of Taurus the bull.
Ulansey also showed that Mithras was based, not on the Persian Mithra, but on the
Greek hero Perseus. Their theology was based on the discoveries (re-discovery) of
the Greek astronomer Hipparchos in 120 BC. While studying Babylonian astronomy
he noticed that the stars, in respect to the Sun, had changed. This was a revelation. A

big deal. He had discovered the precession of the equinoxes at a time when the stars
were thought to be the fixed eternal home of the gods. Who had the power to alter the
course of the Sun, the Moon and the Zodiac? The answer was Mithras and a cult was
born.
Sun worship
It is obvious why people would worship the Sun. It is the source of light and life on
this planet; without it we die. Simple eh? The Sun was seen as a sign of immortality
because it symbolically died every night before returning at dawn each day, slaying
its enemies (the night) to usher in a new day, giving life to the world. It is the original
hero. Manly P. Hall in 'The Secret Teachings Of All Ages' says:
Many deities have been associated with the Sun. The Greeks believed that Apollo,
Bacchus, Dionysus, Sabazius, Hercules, Jason, Ulysses, Zeus, Uranus, and Vulcan
partook either the visible or invisible attributes of the Sun. The Norwegians regarded
Balder the Beautiful as a solar deity, and Odin is often connected with the solar orb.
Among the Egyptians, Osiris, Ra, Hermes, Anubis and even the mysterious Ammon
himself had a resemblance to the solar disc. Isis was the mother of the sun and even
Typhon, the destroyer, was thought to be a form of solar energy.
These are just a few examples of how important the Sun is in religion. This worship
hasn't gone anywhere. It's in your face every time you watch T.V, read a newspaper or
look at advertising. It's used to sell you things because advertisers know that people
will be attracted to their product if they bang a picture of the sun on it. Sneaky
buggers! This is a massive subject in itself and is too big to tackle in this essay, I just
wanted to get the message across that Sun worship is very important to the big
players in the world, and as I've said, this worship plays a part in Rocky IV.

Chapter 3
Rocky IV
I wanted to put pictures of the film in this section, however I reconsidered, fearing
legal action, which wouldn't be good.
It's worth saying that we are dealing in allegory, so if I say that Rocky slays Drago I
don't mean it literally, just in a symbolic way. Also keep in mind that the characters
represent many different things depending on what scene they are in. So, as we have
seen, there are certain things associated with Mithras and since I believe that Rocky is
Mithras, you would expect to see these things in the film. I will list them as we go
from scene to scene, but, first of all we'll start with the three main characters.
Ivan Drago
The bad guy. How does he fit into all of this? Well, he plays three different roles,
symbolically. His name is derived from the word dragon which comes from the
Greek drakon, which means water snake or serpent, and Drago is Draco in
Greek, so he is the constellation Draco and the star Thuban, which was was at the
celestial pole during the age of Taurus. His nickname is the Siberian Bull, and he
plays the part of the Mithraic bull at the end of the film when he is symbolically slain
by Rocky/Mithras. He is also the scorpion from the Tauroctony castrating the bull,
and as we have seen the scorpion is the sign of Scorpio, the opposing sign to Taurus
and the symbolic slayer of the sun because in ancient times the sign of Scorpio was a
serpent. Manly P. Hall said this on the subject:
This sign has three different symbols, the most common of which is a scorpion,
which was called by the ancients the backbiter, being the symbol of deceit and
perversion. The second and less common form of the sign is that of a serpent.
This sign 'kills' the Sun because the Sun set in this sign at the spring equinox during
the age of Taurus. Who does Drago Kill? More on that later, but for now I think we
can see why he's the bad guy.
Apollo Creed
This one is even easier. Let's start with what these two words mean. Apollo is the
Greek god of the Sun among his many other titles the bloody show off! Creed
means doctrine of religious belief, in this case the Sun cult or Mithras cult. As
Ulansey shows, Mithras and Helios are based on Perseus and Apollo:
Apollo was, of course, identified with the Sun in Greek tradition as early as the 5th
century B.C. If my theory is correct, therefore, and Mithras originated as a
cosmicization of the Tarsian hero Perseus, then it is quite possible that the Mithraic
Helios (the Sun) originated as a parallel cosmicization of the figure of Apollo with
whom Perseus was so closely connected.

He's a good guy. Of course he is! He's the Sun! Again, all bound up in the
Mithras/Perseus iconography, but unfortunately for him, he is only the physical
manifestation of the Sun, therefore he can be conquered.
Rocky Balboa
Aaaaaaaaddddddrrrrrrrriiiiiiiaaaaaaannn!!!!....Our hero Mithras. The name Rocky is
important because Mithras was born from a rock, he's the unconquerable one, the
main man. The evidence suggesting that Rocky is Mithras is in the symbolism
throughout the film, that's what we'll get into next....
So, we are looking for symbols from the Tauroctony and we don't have to wait long
when Rocky gives Adrian a snake watch and tells her: even though it looks like a
snake, it won't bite. This is a nod to Draco and Hydra, of course you could say it's
just a watch, to which I would say yes, but why does it have to be a snake watch?
The next constellation is Canis Minor the dog. The Sun, in Canis Minor is
symbolically represented by Apollo (Sun god) in the pool with his dogs. At this point
in the film Apollo symbolises the Sun in the autumn of its life, he's retired and he's
not the fighter he used to be just as the Sun is not as radiant in the autumn months.
Manly P. Hall puts it like this:
The philosophers of ancient Greece and Egypt divided the life of the Sun into four
parts; therefore he represented the solar man by four different figures. When he was
born at the winter solstice, the sun god was depicted as a dependant infant, who in
some mysterious manner had managed to escape the powers of darkness seeking to
destroy him whilst he was still in the cradle of winter. At the spring equinox the sun
had grown to be a beautiful youth. At the summer solstice the sun had become a
strong man, who, in the prime of maturity symbolised the fact that nature was at its
most fertile. At the autumnal equinox, the sun was pictured as an aged man, shuffling
along into the oblivion of winter darkness. Thus the twelve months were assigned to
the sun as the length of its life.
Again and again, Rocky tries to convince Apollo not to go ahead with the fight as he's
too old, and in the dressing room scene before his fight, there is a close up of a basket
filled with grapes and wine, symbols of the autumn and the waning power of the sun.
Of course Rocky cannot persuade him because, as the sun, Apollo has to die on his
way down through the Zodiac's winter signs and Drago (in this case Scorpio) has to
be the one that kills him. This takes us to the first fight....
Apollo vs Drago

The scene begins with Drago (looking particularly dumb) ascending to the floor of
the arena. When he gets to the top, he has to listen to the utterly horrendous
screeching of James Brown. Maybe this motivated him to kill? It would do it for me!
During this nightmare, Drago is placed in front of a huge sun symbol symbolising the
autumnal equinox as he is Scorpio. Drago then looks up to see Apollo poncing about
on a descending platform with a giant bull behind him. Blatant Mithras symbolism as
we have the spring and autumnal equinoxes from the age of Taurus represented here.
Apollo descending is very significant as this is the sun descending through the Zodiac
until it is killed by Scorpio (Drago) at the autumnal equinox.
In this fight, Rocky (Mithras) is in Apollo's corner, the main man behind him so to
speak. Mithras was depicted as the sun behind the sun or the spirit of the sun. The
ancient Mithraic cult believed that the physical sun, which we all see, is but a
manifestation of the true sun, explained here by David Fideler in 'The Sun Of God':
Mithras can be seen as the equivalent to the pole god of the celestial pivot, which
gives birth to the flow of time and the precession of the equinoxes. Mithras is
therefore the spiritual sun, of which the physical sun is a lower reflection.
So, as well as the Tauroctony, we have the spiritual and physical nature of the sun
represented in this scene. There is also the good vs evil symbology as Taurus and
Scorpio oppose each other in the Zodiac. After all of the glitz the fight begins and
poor Apollo dies, the physical sun has been conquered, and the world is plunged into
winter. Drago is victorious! If he dies, he dies. Give that man an Oscar!!
Life without Apollo
This is the low point, the winter, the night, the sun has set. We have the funeral of
everybody's favourite sun god with more death-of-the-sun symbolism (eagle/Scorpio)
in the belt that Rocky lays down. Right after the funeral is the press conference in
which Rocky announces that he is to fight Drago, and this scene has a brilliant hidden
meaning. A reporter asks Rocky when and where the fight will take place:
December 25th replies Rocky.
Why Christmas? asks reporter.
It's what I was told replies our hero.
Where is the fight asks reporter.
Russia replies Rocky.
Now, December 25th is the symbolic birth of the sun. It is also the birthday of Mithras
and the return of Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun. What a bloody coincidence! The
fight is in freezing Russia because the sun is born in the cradle of winter when life is
at its lowest (in the northern hemisphere). This is why rocky needs to be in a place
symbolic of the winter before he is re-born. The part of Russia (ahem! Alaska,
probably) symbolises this cradle of winter perfectly.

WOOH OOH, THERE'S NO EASY WAY OUT!! THERE'S NO SHORTCUT HOOME!!!

Sorry, just got carried away there for a minute... right, after the sing-along in the
tunnel, Team Rocky arrives in 'Russia' with the camera deliberately focussing on the
winged disk symbol on the plane because it is carrying the unconquered sun Mithras.
Our hero steps off the plane and Pauli asks: What time does the sun come up?
Erm, After the fight mate should have been the response... what? Pauli's in on it
too? Well, yes. He's wearing a jacket with a snake (again with that symbol) on the
back and an eagle on the arm, both ancient symbols of Scorpio. The eagle form of
Scorpio is explained here by Manly P. Hall:
Probably the rarest form of Scorpio is that of an eagle. The arrangement of the stars
in that constellation bears as much resemblance to a bird as a scorpion. Scorpio being
the sign of occult initiation, the eagle- the king of birds- represents the most spiritual
form of Scorpio, in which it transcends the venomous insect of the Earth. As Taurus
and Scorpio are opposite each other in the Zodiac, their symbolism is often
intermingled.
When they reach the cabin Pauli complains about the accommodation before he falls
about in the snow, and again they make sure that the symbolism is in your face when
they fix the camera onto the serpent on his back. He could have fallen on his arse, but
no, it has to be just right for them to get the snake in shot. I touched on Mithras being
the spirit of the sun the very force that makes it shine, so with this in mind it makes
sense when Rocky's trainer, talking to him in the shack, tells Rocky to keep the spirit
of Apollo alive. Fits doesn't it? Maybe its just me, but I think it does.
Next up is what has been dubbed The training montage, in which Rocky and Drago
are getting ready for the big fight, and again the cold war propaganda is obvious. The
montage song is probably what makes the scene so memorable and it is no surprise to
me that the chorus says hearts on fire. This is the second song, along with burning
heart, with the same esoteric sun worship in it. I'm not saying that the artists are in
this cult, however, I do believe that the makers of the film picked these songs because
of the symbolism I have mentioned. So, lets look at Drago's side of the montage; He
has all of the best technology at his disposal and he is pampered (the big softie). What
I really want to highlight is the drug taking, not that I'm into all that stuff of course!
Drago has steroids injected into him and I believe that this is significant, because if
my theory is correct, that Drago is Scorpio, the needle represents a Scorpion, as they
inject their prey, thus connecting the bad guy to that particular Zodiac sign yet again.
Rocky on the other hand only has nature to work with, because as Mithras, he is a
force of nature, responsible for the movement of the heavens. He is also the sun going

through hell (winter). There could be a reference to Mithras as the pole god when
Rocky helps the horse and cart out of the snow; is the horse and cart really a chariot?
The Chariot is another name for the constellation of Ursa Major or the Plough/Big
Dipper which has two pointer stars that point at the celestial pole. The montage
flips from Rocky to Drago until Rocky climbs up a bloody mountain! Pretty
impressive, I don't even think Chuck Norris could manage that! In the Zoroastrian
texts they said that Mithras would appear on the rocky mountain summits and we
have Rocky on the top of a mountain with the setting sun in front of him and he's
shouting Dragooooooo! This symbolises the sun 'dying' in the sign of Scorpio yet
again. The stage is now set for the return of the Unconquered Sun, which takes us to
the final showdown!!
The final fight
Here we are, it's the 25th December, with Drago the Siberian bull (Taurus) Vs Rocky
(Mithras) for the title of CHAMPION OF THE UNIVERSE! Rocky enters the hostile
arena and the commentator twice says that Rocky's face is like stone, which is a
reference to Mithras in the rock before he is born. The commentator remarks that
Rocky has a look that could burn through lead, which is the hidden spark within the
rock; the spirit of Mithras.
Drago enters to rapturous applause, and he has two torch bearers in front of him as he
makes his way to the ring, this is more Tauroctony symbolism. Just before the I
Must break you scene, Rocky's trainer tells him to be like a rock because at this
point he is Mithras inside the rock. The fight is epic,our hero is really on the ropes
and every blow sounds like a plane crash, but Rocky soon turns the tide and the
hostile crowd suddenly see that the USA and capitalism is far better than their evil
way of life so they switch sides and start cheering for Rocky! Yay!! Esoterically, this
is the sun about to rise and the dawn of a new age. Then, in round 15 Rocky is
victorious! It is the 25th December and Mithras the Unconquered Sun is born again,
bringing life and light to the world. Drago the Siberian bull has been slain, ending the
age of Taurus in the Mithraic Tauroctony, and at the same time, the pole star has been
shifted from Thuban in Draco symbolising the slaying of the dragon and
Mithras/Perseus taking his place as lord of the pole.......
Aaaaaaaaddddddddrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnn!!!!!

Conclusion
It goes one of two ways; Either I'm insane or there is something there, I believe it is
the latter in this case. After studying the religion of Mithras, everything in Rocky IV
fits into place for me. So, is this proof? Erm, no, absolutely not. Like I said at the
start, it is up to the reader to do the same research and then watch the film with new
eyes and come up with your own conclusions. I just want to know why there is a
giant bull behind Apollo in his fight, and why Rocky chose 25th December for his
fight, which is clearly a date of huge religious and astrological importance. I will say
this; Hollywood is full of mystery school teachings, you just have to pay attention
when you watch.
Go back to the Quentin Tarantino quote at the start of this essay; he should know!
Why they do this is another subject, but I've had fun with this and I thank you for
reading.