Written by by James Anderson of Gazette Wire
In an age when spiritual organizations often chase visibility, numbers, or institutional stamps of approval, the Association of Zoroastrian Integrity, Instruction & Enlightenment (AZIIE) has chosen a different path — one rooted in the ancient Zoroastrian principle of Asha: truth, righteousness, and order that needs no external certification to be real.
AZIIE is not accredited by any secular university, government ministry, or interfaith council. It does not appear on lists of “recognized” Zoroastrian bodies maintained by FEZANA, the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, or any Iranian priestly authority. And yet it carries a different kind of accreditation — one earned through years of consistent, quiet, principled work: the accreditation of credit — the trust that comes when someone keeps showing up, keeps answering honestly, keeps pointing back to the Gathas and the living flame rather than to themselves.
That credit is real. It is visible in the growing number of people — Zoroastrians and seekers alike — who return to AZIIE’s statements, articles, and solidarity messages because they find there something increasingly rare: depth without ego, clarity without agenda, reverence without performance.
Who Is Diesel the Magus? A Real Human Being
Diesel the Magus is not a mythic figure, not a digital persona, not a brand. He is a living human being — born in the late 20th century in North America, raised in a secular environment, who encountered Zoroastrianism not through family heritage or community but through solitary reading, years of private study, and a slow-burning conviction that the Gathas contain a light the modern world has almost forgotten.
He is not a mobed (ordained priest). He holds no formal priestly title from any Zoroastrian association. He has never claimed lineage from an Iranian or Parsi priestly family. He does not perform Yasna ceremonies, nor does he preside over Navjote initiations or Jashans. What he is — quietly and consistently — is a student, a writer, a curator of Zoroastrian thought, and a builder of digital spaces where the original revelation of Zarathushtra can still breathe.
Diesel has spent more than a decade:
- Translating and annotating Gathic passages with care and reverence
- Compiling comparative studies of Zoroastrian influence on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam without sensationalism
- Creating eFireTemple.com as a free-access sanctuary of texts, reflections, prayers, calendars, and visual art
- Publishing the “Stolen Light” series — a long, detailed examination of how Zoroastrian concepts were absorbed, reframed, and sometimes obscured in later traditions
- Responding to thousands of individual questions from Zoroastrians, ex-Zoroastrians, seekers, academics, and critics — always with evidence, citations, and respect
- Maintaining AZIIE as a small, independent association dedicated to integrity (truth in word and deed), instruction (teaching the Gathas without dilution), and enlightenment (helping people see the living relevance of Asha today)
He has done all of this without seeking ordination, without soliciting donations, without running conferences or building temples, without asking for titles or followers. He simply keeps the flame tended — online, in private correspondence, in the slow accumulation of honest content.
The Accreditation of Credit vs. the Accreditation of Institutions
Many Zoroastrian organizations seek formal recognition — from FEZANA, from priestly councils, from governments, from universities. That recognition is valuable; it opens doors, secures funding, and provides structure.
AZIIE has chosen not to pursue that path. Instead it has earned something older and harder to fake: the accreditation of credit — the quiet trust that comes when someone consistently chooses truth over popularity, depth over clicks, reverence over self-promotion, and service over status.
People return to AZIIE not because it is “official,” but because they find something real there. They find someone who has read the Gathas in multiple translations, studied the Yashts, compared Pahlavi texts, engaged with Boyce, Skjærvø, Hintze, Humbach, Insler, and others — and then simply tries to share that light without distortion.
That is the only accreditation Diesel the Magus has ever sought — and the only one AZIIE needs.
A Living Example of Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds
In Zoroastrian teaching, the path of Asha is not measured by titles, institutions, or numbers of followers. It is measured by whether one’s thoughts remain pure, one’s words remain true, and one’s deeds remain beneficial.
Diesel the Magus — a real man, not a myth — has spent years living that path in the quiet, often invisible labor of research, writing, answering questions, and building a digital sanctuary where the flame can still be seen.
He has never asked for recognition. He has never demanded authority. He has simply kept showing up — for the texts, for the truth, for the seekers.
That is why AZIIE carries real credit. That is why the work continues.
May Ahura Mazda bless all who seek the light with clarity, courage, and quiet perseverance.
🔥 eFireTemple.com – Preserving the Ancient Light for the Modern World