ColossiansOne

celestial hierarchy

The Paired Orders

Zoroastrianism does not merely oppose good to evil in general — it matches them rank for rank, each good power against a named counterpart. Barrett's nine infernal orders mirroring the nine celestial choirs reproduce exactly this scheme, twenty-eight centuries later.

The Avesta · c. 1000-400 BCE

Entries per grouping

Source base of members

  • 50–791
  • 25–496

Alignment mix

  • Celestial3
  • Disputed1
  • Infernal3

7 of 17 nodes link to a profile; the rest are structural labels from the source text.

17 nodes

the whole structure as one tree

The Paired OrdersThe Paired OrdersAhura MazdaThe Wise Lord, uncre…Ahura Mazda — The Wise Lord, uncreated.The Amesha Spent…Six emanations, each…The Amesha Spentas — Six emanations, each with a named opponent.Vohu Manah — good mindVohu Manah — good mindAsha Vahishta — truthAsha Vahishta — truthKhshathra Vairya — domin…Khshathra Vairya — dominionSpenta Armaiti — devotionSpenta Armaiti — devotionHaurvatat — wholenessHaurvatat — wholenessAmeretat — immortalityAmeretat — immortalityThe YazatasThe worshipful ones, below the…The Yazatas — The worshipful ones, below the six.MithraContract, with a tho…Mithra — Contract, with a thousand ears and ten thousand eyes.SraoshaObedience. Guards th…Sraosha — Obedience. Guards the soul for three nights.Angra MainyuThe Destructive Spir…Angra Mainyu — The Destructive Spirit, counter-creating against each good creation.The DaevasEach set against a specific go…The Daevas — Each set against a specific good power.Aeshma — wrathOpposed by Sraosha, …Aeshma — wrath — Opposed by Sraosha, obedience.Aka Manah — evil mindOpposed by Vohu Manah.Aka Manah — evil mind — Opposed by Vohu Manah.Druj — the lieOpposed by Asha, truth.Druj — the lie — Opposed by Asha, truth.Azi DahakaThe three-headed serpent, boun…Azi Dahaka — The three-headed serpent, bound not killed.

Reading this tree

Nodes with a coloured dot and an underline link to a full profile. Structural nodes — spheres, ranks, offices — are labels from the source text itself and have no separate entry. Where a figure appears in more than one hierarchy, its profile lists every placement.

The book this structure comes from

A hierarchy is one text's arrangement, not a consensus. This is the text.

All hierarchies