What does /his/ know about the Mandaeans?

>>2010242

Possibly gnostic, their tradition is older than Christianity but since they refuse to accept converts and even forbid intermarriage or even talking about their beliefs with outsiders, they seem doomed to extinction. Good riddance to useless niggers imho smdh

>>2010242
A relatively large amount.

They reject Christ as their spiritual fountainhead; as such the term 'Gnostic' is something of a misnomer.

Their scripture is called Ginza Rba, and is short, comprising of devotionals and prayers often centered around their particular entities of veneration, like John the Baptist, Abel in the form of Hevel Zhiva, and Mahziel, the Angel of Logos. Wiki implies they don't like Abraham because of the whole penis mutilation thing.

Hevel Zhiva is the redeemed light-ghost of Abel in the Mandaen tradition. His love and compassion awakened the spirit of Lilith, who underwent the same transformation.

They escaped from the Abyss together. Got hitched. It's a cute story.

There's a good bit of speculation that large chunks of what we consider Western occultism, from form of evokation to use of objects of power, are strangely rooted in Mandaean thought; Eugenio Garin, an Italian philosopher, posits that the Mandaeans were in Italy around the time of the Julius the Warrior Pope. This is somewhat substantiated by the fact that Agrippa was there at the time, and came away writing about Mahziel as an entity in occultism.

>con't

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>>2010264
Again, Gnostic is something of a misnomer. It's my personal opinion that the Mandaens look more like what local pagan religious cults were up to before the spread of monotheistic religion, not unlike the Yazids.

That said, Mandaeans view John the Baptist, and more specifically, daily regenerative baptism, as an avenue to the mysteries of God.

>>2010280
Photos from Mandaean diwans: This is an image of planetary stations with armed demons. The large figure is probably Ur, the ruler of darkness, represented with his contingent.

The “World of Darkness” is governed by the “Lord of Darkness” (mara d-hšuka) and arose from the “dark waters” (meyi siawi, or ʿkumi, tahmi) representing the chaos. The main powers of the world of darkness are a giant monster or dragon with the name Ur (probably a polemic transformation of hebr. ʿor “light”) and the evil (female) “Spirit” (ruha). Their offspring are demonic beings (daiwi) and “angels” (malaki). To them belong also the “Seven” (šuba), i.e., the planets (šibiahyi), and the “Twelve” (trisar) signs of the Zodiac; they are sons of Ur and Ruha.

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>>2010291
Here we have the scales of the soul (lower) with Abathur, Lord of Scales, represented above, on his throne. On the right hand balance stands Shitil, whose purity the righteous soul must outweigh if it is to enter the Kingdom of Light. (Yes, correlations with Ma'at seem appropriate here).

Abatur (sometimes called Abathur, Yawar and the Ancient of Days) is the third of four emanations from the supreme, unknowable deity in the Mandaean religion. His name translates as the "father of the Uthre", the Mandaean name for celestial beings. His usual epithet is the Ancient (Atiga) and he is also called the deeply hidden and guarded. He is described as being the last son of the Second Life, or Yoshamin, the most important figure in Mandaean religion and the one from whom they took their name.

He is one of the main characters in the book the Diwan Abatur, one of the more recent texts of the Mandaeans. The text begins with a lacuna. He is said to reside on the borderland between the here and the hereafter, at the farthest verge of the Worlds of Light that lies toward the lower regions. Beneath him was originally nothing but a huge void with muddy black water at the bottom, in which his image was reflected. The text starts with Hibil Ziwa, the first emanation, telling Abatur to go and reside in the boundary between the Worlds of Light and Darkness, and weigh for purity those souls which have passed through all the purgatories and wish to return to the light. Abatur is not happy with the assignment, complaining that he is being asked to leave his home and his wives. Abatur then rather impatiently asks a whole series of questions regarding specific sins of omission and sins of commission, asking in effect how can such impure souls be saved. Hiwil Ziwa then answers these questions in a rather lengthy response.

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>>2010296
An incantation bowl, also known as a demon bowl, devil trap bowl, or magic bowl, is a form of early protective magic found in modern-day Iraq and Iran. Produced in the Middle East during the Late Antiquity from 6th to 8th century AD (see Asuristan), the bowls were usually inscribed in a spiral, beginning from the rim and moving toward the center. Most are inscribed in Aramaic languages. The bowls were buried face down and were meant to capture demons. They were commonly placed under the threshold, courtyards, in the corner of the homes of the recently deceased and in graveyards.

Aramaic incantation bowls are an important source of knowledge about Jewish magical practices, particularly the nearly eighty surviving Jewish incantation bowls from Sassanid Babylon (226-636 CE), primarily from the Jewish diaspora settlement in Nippur. These bowls were used in magic to protect against evil influences such as the evil eye, Lilith, and Bagdana. At the same period in Syria Christian incantation bowls are also found, often in Syriac rather than Jewish Hebrew-Aramaic script.

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>>2010311
Incantation bowl with translation.

Here's a nice webpage with a bunch of resources. I HIGHLY recommend Kurt Rudolph's books. They're stellar.

http://gnosis.org/library/mand.htm

>>2010315
Oh, they also appear to have genetic roots not only in the Hebrew populations but also in the area in/around Midian, hence speculation on obscure Arab pagan cults.

That's all I have in terms of synopsis.

>>2010358
I wish every /his/ poster had the same post ethics as you.

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>>2010369
:3
(you surely wouldn't say that if you saw what I post without my trip)