The foremost (western) scholar on Mandaeans is E.S. Dower. I should say “was” because Lady Dower is dead. Her “The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran” is the cornerstone of “our” understanding of these people. Reading her clear, precise prose is a joy. Her attitude, however, towards the Mandaeans and their culture is, in a word, antique. Throughout the text there is a tone of condescension; like “oh, these primitives. Aren’t they fascinating?” The title of this post quotes Lady Dower writing about her quest to study the Mandaean magic texts. Her choice of word – possess – seems to give away her colonial mindset.
Then again, in their writings, the Mandaeans, peace loving though they may be, are pretty anti-Semitic. Does everyone need someone to feel superior to?
I’m waiting for my flight. The shuttle in was a breeze. Dennis the driver was amiable and just talkative enough. Coming in on I-55, the endless acres of warehouses are the manifestation of our culture’s evolution from one of production to one of consumption.
Sitting across from me now, the guys on my flight to Amman I figure are military contractors headed back in country are talking about the meds they have to take to sleep.
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A Thousand and Twelve questions or 1012 is one of the Mandaean magic texts. The texts are full of history, ritual and mythology. It is these texts that have saved the Mandaeans over the centuries from forced conversion to Islam. While this has been and still is an issue, the Qu’ran provides for protection for “people of the book” and mentions Jews, Christians and Sabeans specifically. Although there is some lingering debate, the current scholarship points to the Mandaeans as being those Sabeans which is why the group is often refered to as, you guessed it, Sabean Mandaeans.
It is foggy in Iowa today as the warming temperatures melt the snow. It is predicted to be warmer in Iowa today than Damascus. Go figure.
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The Sabean Mandaeans of Iraq, the so-called “last gnostics“, believe that everything – every being, animal, plant, object, whatever – has a twin in the spirit world (what they call the Lightworld). It is their belief that our souls wander the prison of the material world until they are reunited after death with their twin for eternal life. Neither good not bad, the Secret Adam is our other spiritual self waiting for us in the Great Life, the source of all light and life. A Gnostic doppleganger.
Tomorrow I leave for Damascus, Syria to report a story about a group of Sabean Mandaeans forced from Iraq by the ongoing conflict since the American invasion in 2003. I’ve been cramming in between packing, spending as much time as possible with Madeline and Nick, my children and my head is swimming with Gnostics, Mandaeans, Iraqis, Americans, rituals, outrages and magic.
I hope I can keep it all straight.
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