Please refer also to the Readings section.
Tracing a group like the Mandaeans is filled with many traps. We could say that this group goes all the way back to the beginnings of recorded history. We could say that this group goes back to the sects of Baptists like we see in the Transjordan area at the time of John the Baptist. We could say that this group really began in Southern Mesopotamia sometime in the late 2nd to early 3rd Century c.e.
However, like all the groups that make up the Authentic Tradition, there is no one line of continuity, from point a to the end of the survey. Because of this, it is necessary for us to do some postulating. Therefore, we present the following theory.
1. Ancient Sumer comes to an end, is replaced by N. W. Semite dynasties.
2. At some point, some say as far back as the 9th Century b.c.e., the Chaldaeans start migrating north, from Southern Arabia, to their new homeland in Southern Mesopotamia. This is what constituted Old Sumer, in the vicinity of the Shatt al-Arab region, near Eridu, etc.
3. The Chaldaeans constitute a body of priests and scientists, and builders. Eventually they take over the Kingdom from the Assyrians. The Chaldaeans form the last Dynasty of Kings before Foreign Rule takes place (i.e., Persian Domination, Hellenization, etc.).
4. During the Chaldaean Dynasty, the Jewish Captivity takes place. An exchange program occurs between the priests and artisans of the Jews and those of the Chaldaeans.
5. The Persian Empire takes over Mesopotamia, as well as many other former Empires.
6. One group of Babylonian Priests, located in Opis, in the North, near the Tigris, migrates to Asia Minor. Another group migrates with the Jews, back to Palestine. This is the time of the rebuilding of the Temple.
7. Concurrent with all this is the slow, gradual development of the Nabatean kingdom east of the Jordan River, extending as far north as Damascus, as far south as the Red Sea. All or most of the sects that developed in the Transjordan region developed in Nabatean territory. The Nabateans were known as Arabs, and had kinship with the Sabaeans of southern Arabia, as did the Chaldaeans.
8. During the period after Alexander the Great's rule, the Jews began to experience persecution again. A long series of conflicts took place, which resulted in the Maccabean dynasty of kings. Also, it resulted in the Messianic paradigm. In addition to this, a split took place in the Priesthood at Jerusalem which resulted in the establishment of a school near the Dead Sea. This school has come down to posterity as that of the Essenes. It is likely that this is the group known as the Qadosh Fathers, who, it is said, migrated to Israel around the time of Solomon's Temple, from Egypt, and stayed there until 70 c.e. After they translated the Bible for Ptolemy, they would have incurred the wrath of the hardliners who wanted to keep this material secret.
9. The ferment which created the Gnosis had its birth in four crucial areas: the Transjordan area; Samaria; Asia Minor, and Alexandria.
10. Several scholars attribute the real identity of the Naassenes to the Nasoraeans, and the Essenes. Heresiologists have always regarded the Naassenes (along with Simon Magus) as the progenitors of the Gnosis. From the Naassenes, it is said, sprang the Ophites, the Sethians, and so forth. Simon Magus came from Samaria, was said to be a disciple of Dositheos, the Samaritan Messiah and prototype for the Seth of the Sethian Gnosis. Both of these figures are said to have been disciples of John the Baptist.
11. According to L. A. Waddell, John the Baptist was not merely a Jewish heretic, he was trained according to the Sumerian tradition. He was a Gibil, or Fire Priest. And the baptism he conveyed had the same magical properties that the Baptisms employed by the Mandaeans are said to possess.
12. The Essene community can be placed at the Dead Sea area from circa 90 bce to circa 68 ce. Of course there are scholars who want to place the existence of the Essenes far into the Common Era.
13. Following the closing of the School at Kirbet al-Qumran, some of its members migrated to its sister school in Egypt. Others went to Pella, and other centres in the Transjordan.
14. It is at this time that a new sect arose. It is that of the Elkesaites. The Elkesaites, also known as the Sampsaeans, came about around the end of the 1st Century c.e. The ruling body in this group was that of the Sampsaeans, and it is written that there was something sacred attached to their bloodline.
15. Several scholars, from Heresiologists to Arabic Scholars, to present day scholars are agreed that The Sabians of the Koran were originally denominated Elkesaites.
16. It is likely that from the migration to Pella and other regions nearby, such as the Hauran region, the city of Bosra, Syria, etc., these groups kept migrating, northward, eventually arriving in Damascus. From there, it is clear that some of them made their way to Palmyra, because some of the Mandaean Aramaic has been influenced by the Palmyrene language. From there, it was a migration south along the Euphrates, to their new homeland. This had to happen in a relatively short period of time, because it is said that Mani's father was baptised as a Mughtasilah, which means sometime early in the 3rd Century c.e.
17. Another group migrated northwest from the Hauran region, the Nazerini of Pliny, and eventually ended up in Latakia (once known as Laodicea). This group became known as the Nusairi. We shall discuss the Nusairis later in our survey.
18. Somehow, the Mughtasilahs / Nasoraeans / Elkesaites / Sabians developed a theology that while very similar in many ways with what came before it, is very different. Indeed, we are told by Rudolph that the Mandaeans should be regarded as an extreme fringe sect of Jewish Heretics. It is no secret that the Gnosis developed a strong antipathy to anything Jewish, and to most Christian beliefs, for the most part because of the track record these groups demonstrated.
19. By the time the Mandaeans come into being, the old traditions are rekindled, the Wise Men of John being none other than the Wise Men of Enki. Rather than being Pagans and "Idolaters" like their rivals, the Sabians of Harran, who do possess legitimacy in the family tree, by the way, the Mandaeans retained their monotheistic views, which wasn't really what the Gnostics practiced, but was part of the transmission process. The Gnostics were really Pantheistic, and held the belief that all of manifested creation contained sparks of Divinity. The Mandaeans, like the Jews, the Moslems, even, and the early Christians, were (and are) harsh monotheists. This might be due to the influence from the Persian religion.
20. It is worth mentioning that a lot of the dualistic good-evil material came into vogue as a result of influence from Persia. Before that, sure, demons were everywhere, and so were gods, but it wasn't something to worry one's soul over. It was more like something to have to deal with, like when we have to deal with this computer today.
21. After 350 c.e., when Pachomius died, the School at the Thebaid was broken up, and its members fled. Some of the sects (whether associated with the School or not) found themselves migrating north to Syria and Asia Minor. These were Sethians, who by Epiphanius' time had received the derogatory name of Borborites, or "Filthy Ones"...
22. Over several centuries from c. 350 c.e., to the 8th century c.e., the "Borborites" gradually found their way to the same place the Mandaeans were, Mesopotamia. And, they took essentially the same route to get there.
23. The Borborites were the Tantriks of the bunch, and they were looked on with disdain by the Christians, by the Jews, by the Mandaeans, and so on.
24. Be that as it may, it is clear to us, that by the time of the formation of the Isma'ilis, the Brethren of Purity, the Batinis, and so on, that these groups may have derived some influence from the Manichaeans, from the Magi cultus, from the Mandaeans even, but they really derived a great deal from the Gnostics. In particular, from the Barbelo-Gnostics, which is to say, the Borborites.
25. By the time of the Crusades, which groups were in Syria? The Batinis, which had managed to survive, (and it is said there are Batinis today), the Isma'ili, of which we shall treat later, the Ikhwan as Safa, or Brethren of Purity, who compiled the first Encyclopaedia of Wisdom, and had a school at Bosra, Syria. This is usually misread as Basra, Iraq. And the Isma'ili influenced the Alawites, the Ansari, also known as the Nusairi. It is interesting to note that while we have these terms like Nazarenes, Nasoreans, Nazaraeans, Nasoraeans, we also have Nazerini, Nusairi, Nosairi, Nusayri. And, we have Nizari, which are the Assassins. And if we remember the name of the Mountain of Salvation, the original Montsalvat, it is Nisir, Mountain of Salvation, Ararat. And, too, the original name for the real Christians who were persecuted by the Orthodoxy, the Nozrei-ha-Berith, or Keepers of the Covenant.
26. Three centuries later, the person known to posterity as Christian Rozenkreuz, went to Damascus in search of the Wise Men of Damcar. He was taken to Damcar, which is not the same thing as Damascus. Damcar is Dhamar, in southern Arabia, near Sa'na, in what we call Yemen. Sabaean territory. We have it on a map produced by Abraham Ortelius in the 16th Century c.e., long before the Rosicrucian romances were penned. He returned and established the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, after three years training in Damcar, and a layover in Fez, Morocco.
27. Also, we are told that the Mandaeans and the Isma'ilis both influenced the early development of the Kabbalah, from the Sepher Yetzirah to the Sepher ha Bahir, and other texts. We know that the Talmud was developed in Babylon, and that the Jewish savants derived a lot from their alleged enemies in religion. This material migrated west, in the 9th century of the common era, in the luggage of Rabbi Abu Aharon ben Samuel ha-Nasi of Baghdad. From there it went to Italy, and from there to the rest of Western Europe, the Languedoc, the Alsace-Lorraine and in Swabia.
28. All these factors developed gradually into what we today refer to as the Western Esoteric Tradition.
29. In the 20th century, c.e., H. P. Lovecraft wrote an alleged history of the Necronomicon, stating that it was written by Abdul Alhazred, the mad poet of Sa'na, in Yemen. The wanderings between there and Damascus remind one of the difference between Damascus and Damcar, and the text of the Simon edition is suspiciously close to that of the Babylonian Cultus which influenced the Mandaeans.
We apologize to those real purists and true religionists that will find this material to be wild conjecture without a foundation to base it on. But, our considerable library and our research on this subject has brought us to these conclusions.
As we stated at the outset, this is our theory, but, is it really theory? And if it is merely theory, or myth, does that make it any less real than what is supposed to constitute cold, hard, facts?
Even though dated by several decades, nearly a century actually, Budge's work is still quotable, and should be cited more often. This work is one of his best. And, we find that the Mandaeans were, according to his analysis, the purveyors of the old Sumerian faith.
We find this interesting, since in the works we've had access to, we see the Yezidis and Mandaeans confounded with one another, and the Harranians are similarly described in terms which make them appear to be the cult which authored the Necronomicon.
In the quote by Budge, the Mandaeans come closest, and they are called 'representatives of the ancient worshippers of EA.' That is, Sons of EnKi. This seems to us that all Sabaeans / Sabians are really related. Viewing it all on a map would clear up a lot of confusion. Even, if they are spread as far apart as Ethiopia, Yemen, Mesopotamia, Syria, Transjordan. The 'Book of Magic' is undoubtedly one of those originals upon which the Necro. was based. For that matter, we might be reading about the kind of book that inspired the writing of the Raza Rabba.
The term, 'Masbutah'. (=Baptism), also identifies the sect known as the Masbotheans [and Basmotheans]. In this case, names such as Masbotheans, Mughtasilahs, Haemerobaptists, Nazoreans, Nazaraeans, Nasoraeans, Sabaeans, Sabians, Sabeans, Yezidis, Johannites, Assassins, Isma'ili, Batini, Brethren of Purity, Qarmatians, Nusayria, Ansyreh, Nosairi, Nizari, Sufis, Sophis, Sophees, etc., describe this sect, in one form or another. The same can be said regarding the terms Gnostic, Sethian, Ophite, Barbelo-Gnostic, Phibionite, Secundian, Borborite, Coddian, Zacchaeuses, Dositheans, Elkesaites, Ebionites, Sampsaeans, Essenes, Naassenes, Nozrei-ha-Berith, Simonians, and so on.
Below, we present some of the more important points we pulled out of the articles we have quoted from in the Readings section, that tie together several millennia of cultic practice.
1. The dress, Crown of Anu in the Necro., North orientation of temples.
2. They claim their first priest to be Pharaoh who through an artifice escaped drowning. Also, they hold that the great earthly Palace of the Light is in the North, represented in the sky by the Pole Star. It is guarded by Abatur, and is in the Mountain of Turquoise. It is the Abode of the Blessed, and it is home to the Egyptians and their loved ones, who drowned in the Red Sea. As we know, The Mountain of Turquoise would pertain to Hathor, who was the goddess of the Turquoise mines, as well as of the Copper mines. See elsewhere in the Qadosh essay for the significance of Hathor, as well as in other articles to be found at this site, namely, "Is THIS the Holy Mountain?"
3. They claim their ancestry, not from Mesopotamia, or Palestine, but from Egypt, migrating Northeast, via Damascus, where their High Priest resided.
4. They are categorized as Ophite Gnostics, or a survival of them.
5. They reverence the ARBA, or Sacred Four: Ea-Bel-Anu, plus Damkina, EnKi's spouse' and of these, EnKi is the Supreme Lord.
6. The mention of their use of Inanna's descent into the underworld bears a close relation to the Sleep of Ishtar in the Magan Text. There are seven vestibules of Hell, each with a gatekeeper and a password required. In the Mandaean version, the hero was required to give something at each step of the way, at each gate, much like Inanna was required to give Ereshkigal's gatekeepers a piece of her clothing at each gate. In the Mandaean version, the hero is going to see Ruha. In the Sumerian and Babylonian versions, it is Ereshkigal.
7. They are said to possess Magical Books. In fact, in the bibliography to the Introduction of the Simon Edition of the Necro., Lady Drower's Book of the Zodiac, is listed. Drower worked exclusively on Mandaean text translations.
8. Abathur is the same Ab-Adar, or Abadur of Jennings in the quote from Ophiolatreia, which is presented in another section of the work. He is regarded as being positioned on the Borderlands between Life and the After-Life. See Number 2 in this section.
If Madame Blavatsky's rendering of the Nazaraeans is accurate, and external evidence demonstrates that it is, then it is more than likely that this is the same sect, and that an offshoot sect is the Yezidis of Kurdistan. In fact, it is quite possible that when the Mandaeans were still in the region between Harran and Nisibis, which is well known as Yezidi territory, some of their number stayed behind, when the remainder of the group migrated to Babylonia. This would suggest to us that the Yezidis are in some manner descended from the Mandaeans, or the same root group which the Mandaeans came from. True, the Yezidis don't practice the baptismal rite, but they do pay reverence to the Well of Zem Zem.
Since these people originated in the Transjordan, in Ghassanid times, we might have a connection with the Nusairi.
Also, the root group can claim some descent from the Sabaeans, at some time in their early history.
If we have a connection with early Egyptian ancestry, one exists with the original Qadosh Fathers / Solis Serpentis Priests / Wise Men of EnKi. We see here the Syrian branch of the first split in the community of Qadosh Fathers, and these developed into a group of Ophites. These are likely to be the Haemerobaptists, and they were headed for a time by Dositheos.
This is clearly the parent, and longest surviving branch, of the Gnosis from which all sects sprang (Christian, Simonian, Essenian, Ebionite, Ophite, etc.), and in Southern Syria, a branch of these existed in the area of Bosra, at the time of the Crusades.
Later, a migration to Latakia occurred, which resulted in the Nusayriyya, Alawites, etc. The Druzes, too, are a branch on this same family tree.
The glaring omission is this: Where do the Christians fit into the picture? The forbidden answer? They don't, at least in the form we are supposed to regard as authentic today. The excepts are the heretical forms of Christianity which go to form a part of the survey as a whole. And, too, the form developed by some individuals within the walls of the orthodoxy. These would be people like St. Pachomius, and other Desert Fathers, whose works are very hard to come by. Also, important figures, such as Hildegard von Bingen, Ramon Lull, Joachim of Floris, Fra Dolcino, Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler, and others who would be branded as heretics, Luciferians, Devil Worshippers, and so forth, simply because they labored to make Christianity a real practice, not merely a belief system used to prop up a massive pyramid scam.
We may now perhaps scan over Nesta Webster's account of the Mandaeans, and we can see in her account, as in the material presented in the Readings section, that we have perhaps the only ancient sect in the Middle East to have made it to the present day, from the sands of antiquity... and, we can state, the Mandaeans, as we have noticed in this part of the work, are the faithful successors of the parent Sect, like the Dynastic family in a human genealogy, which goes back across time to the Wise Men, established by EnKi himself.
A great deal of Gnosticism owe its origin to the Haemerobaptists. In these will be found the Qadosh Fathers / Solis Serpentis Priests which migrated throughout the known world of the eleventh through the tenth centuries BCE. Blavatsky herself regards the Sumerians as the pre-Vedic Brahmans (Pitris). There is much more than Madame's word to back it up. We have good reason to suspect, that in addition to India, these Sumerians colonized Africa and Southern Arabia, and from thence migrated to Egypt. From there, to Palestine and Greece. Also, as we will see, in another place, in our treatment of the Ophites, a branch of them migrated from Mesopotamia.
The Priests of our Cultus are all descended from EnKi, or EnKi's sons (regardless of gender). Nergals, Marduks, Gibils, and so on. Our work here, then, brings light to the story that we quoted earlier about "John the Baptist: The Aryan Sun-Fire Priest." Or John the Gibil Priest. In fact, the name John, as we have mentioned repeatedly, has its origins in the name EnKi.
So, when we find Webster referring to the Mandaeans as "Mandai Iyahi", or "Wise Men of John", we see a reference to the very same cultus which Sitchin, seventy years later, termed the "Wise Men of EnKi". And, the reverence paid to the Mystic Trimurti, AUM, has ben reported by Waddell, to be an appellation of none other than EnKi. Furthermore, EnKi is attributed by the editors of the Necro., to the Sphere of the Zodiac, or Wisdom!
We are getting ahead of ourselves. We quote pages 70 to 72, below, from Secret Societies and Subversive Movements:
[She begins by discussing the authenticity of the manuscripts that form the Levitikon of Fabré - Palaprat, which we noticed above in The Johannite Legend of the Templars...]
"The Antiquity of the manuscript containing the history of the Templars thus remains an open question on which no one can pronounce an opinion without having seen the original. In order, then, to judge of the probability of the story that this manuscript contained (1) it is necessary to consult the facts of history and to discover what proof can be found that any such sect as the Johannites existed at the time of the Crusades or earlier. Certainly none is known to have been called by this name or by one resembling it before 1622, when some Portuguese monks reported the existence of a sect whom they described as 'Christians of St. John' inhabiting the banks of the Euphrates. The appellation appears, however, to have been wrongly applied by the monks, for the sectarians in question, variously known as the Mandaeans, Mandaites, Sabians, Nazoreans, etc., called themselves Mandai Iyahi, that is to say, the disciples, or rather the Wise Men of John, the word Mandai being derived from the Chaldean word Manda; (2) corresponding to the greek word, , or Wisdom. (3) The multiplicity of names given to the Mandaeans arises apparently from the fact that in their dealings with other communities they took the name of Sabians, whilst they called the Wise and Learned amongst themselves Nazoreans. The sect formerly inhabited the banks of the Jordan, but was driven out by the Moslems, who forced them to retire to Mesopotamia and Babylonia, where they particularly effected the neighbourhood of rivers in order to be able to carry out their peculiar baptismal rites.
"There can be no doubt that the doctrines of the Mandaeans do resemble the description of the Johannite heresy as given by Eliphas Levi, though not by the Ordre du Temple, in that the Mandaeans professed to be the disciples of St. John the Baptist, however, not the Apostle - but were at the same time the enemies of Jesus Christ. According to the Mandaeans' Book of John (Sidra d'Yahya), Yahya, that is to say, St. John, baptized myriads of men during forty years in the Jordan. By a mistake - or in response to a written mandate from Heaven saying, 'Yahya, baptize the liar in the Jordan' - he baptized the false prophet Yishu Meshiha (the Messiah Jesus), son of the devil Ruha Kadishta. The same idea is found in another book of the sect, called the 'Book of Adam', which represents Jesus as the perverter of St. John's doctrine and the disseminator of iniquity and perfidy throughout the world. The resemblance between all this and the legends of the Talmud, the Cabala, and the Toledot Yeshu is at once apparent; (4) moreover, the Mandaeans claim for the Book of Adam the same origin as the Jews claimed for the Cabala, namely, that it was delivered to Adam by God through the hands of the angel Razael. This book known to scholars as the Codex Nasaraeus, is described by Münter as 'a sort of mosaic without order, without method, where one finds mentioned Noah, Abraham, Moses, Solomon, the Temple of Jerusalem, St. John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, the Christians, and Mohammed.' M. Matter, whilst denying any proof of the Templar succession from the Mandaeans, nevertheless gives good reason for believing that the sect itself existed from the first centuries of the Christian era and that its books dated from the eighth century, (5) further that these Mandaeans or Nazoreans - not to be confounded with the pre-Christian Nazarites or Christian Nazarenes (6) - were Jews (7) who revered St. John the Baptist as the prophet of ancient Mosaism, but regarded Jesus Christ as a false Messiah sent by the powers of Darkness. Modern Jewish opinion confirms this affirmation of Judaic inspiration and agrees with Matter in describing the Mandaeans as Gnostics: 'Their sacred books are in an Aramaic dialect, which has close affinities with that of the Talmud of Babylon.' The Jewish influence is distinctly visible in the Mandaean religion. 'It is essentially of the type of ancient Gnosticism, traces of which are found in the Talmud, the Midrash, and in a modified form, the later Cabala.' (Jewish Encyclopaedia, art., Mandaeans.) (8)
"It may then be regarded as certain that a sect existed long before the time of the Crusades corresponding to the description of the Johannites given by Eliphas Levi in that it was Cabalistic, anti-Christian, yet professedly founded on the doctrines of one of the St. Johns. (9) Whether it was by this sect that the Templars were indoctrinated must remain an open question. M. Matter objects that the evidence lacking to such a conclusion lies in the fact that the Templars expressed no particular reverence for St. John; butr Loiseleur asserts tha the Templars did prefer the Gospel of St. John to that of the other evangelists, and that modern Masonic Lodges claiming descent from the Templars possess a special version of this gospel said to have been copied from the original on Mount Athos. It is also said that 'Baphomets' were preserved in the Masonic Lodges of Hungary, where a debased form of Johannite Masonry, known as Johannite Masonry, exists to this day. (10) If the Templar Heresy was that of the Johannites, the head in question might be that of John the Baptist, which would accord with the theory that the word Baphomet was derived from Greek words signifying Baptism of Wisdom. This would, moreover, not be incompatible with Loiseleur's theory of an affinity between the Templars and the Bogomils, for the Bogomils also possessed their own version of the Gospel of St. John, which they placed on the heads of their Neophytes during the ceremony of initiation, giving as the reason for the peculiar veneration they professed for its author that they regarded St. John as the servant of the Jewish God Satanael."
The Mandaeans have three degrees in their Priesthood, the Templars had nine degrees, the Druzes five. SION allegedly has/had nine degrees, as did the old RC, and the Isma'ili also had nine. (11) The Essenes, we have seen, had nine degrees. And, too, we have a nine level system in the Necro. Of course the highest degree of the local outfit form but the lowest probationary degrees - the nursery, as it were, of the International Order.
It is interesting that Webster makes a notice of Mt. Athos, since Blavatsky also mentions a special monastery there. In ISIS UNVEILED, II-52 note (†), it is said of the monks of a 'certain oriental church' that they possessed heaps of very ancient manuscripts. These monks "did not know what the manuscripts contained, nor 'did they care,' they said. But the 'heap of writing,' they added, was transmitted to them from one generation to another, and there was a tradition among them that these papers would one day become the means of crushing the 'Great Beast of the Apocalypse,' their hereditary enemy, the Church of Rome. They were constantly quarrelling and fighting with the Catholic monks, and among the whole 'heap' they KNEW that there was a 'holy' relic which protected them. They did not know WHICH, and so in their doubt, abstained."
There may be plenty of old and moldy manuscripts, and ancient traditions which we take for granted today, even, that will crush to the ground the Great Beast of the Apocalypse, the Christian Church itself.
It is worth adding, too, that some of the old and moldy manuscripts at Mount Athos are from Pachomius' monastery in the Thebaid, according to articles in the New Catholic Encyclopedia.
The Covenant is with EnKi, even with EnLil, and the Great Architect of the Universe, not with Jehovah of the Jews, or the Pope, or Peter, or even the Jesus of the Church that bears, but does not deserve, his name. And sooner or later, the whole edifice will have to be effaced from its existence, once and for all. It has survived by condemning, then stealing wholesale the practices, doctrines, beliefs, and inherited traditions of its most hated enemies, with the exception of the Johannite Story, which is perhaps the most hated heresy of them all. This being the case, probably the most truthful heresy of them all, since that which is most hated and feared by the Church and its cousins, is that which will unmask it and shake it down to its foundations, which are but 20-weight cards.
Space forbids us from quoting at length the article from Hastings ERE. We might comment that both EB and Schaff-Herzog articles are by Kessler. The Hastings article is by Brandt. They were authorities on their subject. Brandt's thesis differentiates the Mandaeans from the Elkesaites, as well as any Jewish influence. The uniform opinion is that the Mandaean Priesthood is a survival of the Babylonian religion, modified by Persian dualism, and, perhaps the Gnosticism of the Ophites, and the Manichaeans. This being the case, the root group would have been established no later than Sassanian times. Possibly even as early as the conquest of Babylon by the Persians. Brandt states that the sources of Mandaean language and religion stem from the Lake Urmia district in Kurdistan. It is possible that this sect came from the south, too. Other reports place their ancestry in the Transjordan.
We remain with our thesis, that while the Kurdish, Babylonian and Persian influences are important elements, very important elements, even, this group originated in the West. That is, in the Transjordan region. It received its first infusion of Babylonian and Persian culture early, before it arrived in Nabatean territory. Later, it moved on. First, to the Hauran region. When the Nabatean kingdom evaporated along with its water supply, it removed to Damascus and to Northeastern Syria. From there it made its way down the Euphrates to the marshes. Always, too, leaving remants behind in every village and town, until it reached the marshlands of the Shat-al - Arab, where Mani's father is said to have been initiated into it, along with Mani himself. By the time the Moslems came to power, it was an old sect, and by the time of the Crusaders, an ancient one, old enough to be a serious rival not only to Islam, but to Judaism and orthodox Christianity, which it considers its mortal enemy.
Perhaps some of the origins of the Mandaeans can be seen in the surviving Chaldean priesthood, like the one that migrated from Opis near the Tigris River, to Pergamon. Perhaps.
It is possible that the Mandaeans are not the Johannites of the Levitikon text. We have narrowed the choices to three distinct groups which we shall list at the end of the Sabians Section. This is for many reasons. One, the hierarchy of Initiation is not the same. We need a nine degree system, and we find that in the Sufis, in the various branches of the Isma'ili, but not in the Mandaeans, or in the Yezidis, or in the Harranians. Most likely, we are looking at a hitherto unknown survival of the Gnosis, whose name escapes us altogether. The author(s) of the Coptic Hermetica, who may be associated with Saint Pachomius, for reasons we elaborate elsewhere, from Nag Hammadi, Codex VI, suggest a nine-levelled system (The Eighth Reveals the Ninth). Where this would have been found in the second decade of the twelfth century c.e., still baffles us. However, the Mandaeans are DEFINITELY connected to the Authentic Tradition, by being related to a) the Sumerian tradition; b) the Ophites; c) the Haemerobaptists and Mughtasilahs; d) the Peratae; and connections do exist between the Manichaeans and the Mandaeans, and between the Mandaeans and the Dositheans. For example, Theodore bar Khoni claims that one of the names for the Mandaeans was Dostai. This was an early name for the Dositheans, going back to the Samaritan exchange period (8th to 7th centuries bce)... We shall treat further of this.
1. One might consider that this work could have had help from Gerard de Nerval who wrote many things concerning secret sects and practices in the Near East.
2. Also, Mandal, which is the term applied to the Magical Circle in Babylonian Magical texts. Hence, the word Mandala.
3. Actually, GNOSIS = Knowledge. Sophia is Wisdom.
4. And, we might add, the conflict between the Essene Teacher of Righteousness and the Wicked Priest.
5. And, as all Necronomicon Scholars know, the 8th Century c.e., is when that famous book was penned by the Mad Arab in Damascus. And, too, it is at this time that Scholem claims Magic books of this type existed in Damascus.
6. Why not? It is not so unlikely after all...
7. Here she goes. Anything repugnant to God-fearing Christians was inspired by Jews, according to Nesta Webster. Hell, even Islam is part of a Jewish plot according to her twisted logic. Of course, as Rudolph states, it is likely that the Mandaeans were a brand of Jewish Heretics that moved east from the Transjordan region.
8. But... see later, when we discuss Mandaean influences on the Western Tradition. We shall show that it is much more likely that it was the other way around, that the Mandaeans weren't influenced by the Jews, but that certain Jewish schools in Babylonia were influenced by the Mandaeans.
9. It is much more likely that the sect in question was one of the Isma'ili derivatives, like the Nusairi.
10. We have yet to find any reference to this type of Masonry in Hungary, in any of the Masonic works we possess, most of which are contemporary with Webster's work.
11. The Nusairi had 3 degrees, reduced from the Nine.