An Interview with Sanan Aliyev on Yezidism

Q: What is Yezidism?

A: I need to start with a confession! I am a Kurd. Also, I am proud to be Kurdish, and especially proud of Kurdish literature. It is a rich and highly complex tradition that ranks as equal to every other textual heritage on the world stage. Some of the symbols, however, hold strange and terrible secrets. They are images of a pagan past, which disappears into the mists of Pre-Islamic antiquity.

Q: Terrible Secrets?

A: Yes, these secrets are not always understood by the western nations. For example, Fared ad-din Attar’s poem called “Mantiqu-t Tair” and known in English as “The conference of the birds” (translated by S. C. Nott, a disciple of Gurdjieff), we are shown the arrogant figure of the Peacock. He is depicted as a beautiful but brazen bird that is quick to find a multiplicity of reasons for not going on a quest to meet the heavenly Simourg. As the Peacock says to the Hoopoe:

“The painter of the world” he said “to fashion me took in his hand the brush of the jinn. But although I am Gabriel among birds my lot is not to be envied. I was friendly with the serpent in the earthly paradise, and for this was ignominiously driven out. They deprived me of a position of trust, they, who trusted me, and my feet were my prison.”

His excuses, on reflection, hide a number of folk traditions, which can be traced all the way back to the Yezidis. In his book “Meetings with remarkable men”, Gurdjieff tells his readers about a strange game played in certain areas of the Caucasus by the kids in their school yards. It entails drawing a circle around a Yezidi youth and watching his or her inability to escape from its confines. Now, as usual, the devil is in the detail. After all, the Yezidis are Kurdish as well as pagan and not the heretics or devil worshippers of that region. What is more, they have folk tales, poems and artistic representations about a Peacock angel (Tawuse Melek), which tell a very different story concerning this spirit - being.

Q: How ancient?

A: Certain scholars argue that the origins of Yazidism are ultimately shrouded in Near Eastern prehistory. Although the Yazidis speak Kurdish, their faith shows strong influences from archaic Mithraism and Mesopotamian traditions. What is more, the Yazidis own name for themselves is Ezidi or Yezidi or, in some areas, Dasini (the latter, appears to be, a tribal name). Other scholars have also derived the name Yazidi from Old Iranic yazata, and say it is a derivation from Umayyad Caliph Yazid I (Yazid bin Muawiyah), revered by the Yazidis as an incarnation of the celestial figure Sultan Ezid: an opinion rejected by the Yazidis as a community. Lastly, their cultural practices are observably Kurdish, and almost all speak Kurmanjî. Thus, historical origins are really complex.

Q: Who then, is the Peacock Angel?

A: The two sacred books of the Yezidis - “Kiteba Cilwe” ("Book of Illumination”) and “Mishefa Resh” (“Black Book”), recount a creation story wherein God tests his creation. Each of the seven angels was sent to bow before Father Adam and all of them obeyed, apart from Tawuse Melek. He alone asserted the pre-eminence of the

spirit world above the material order. He alone defended the “Otherness” of the light powers. For this reason, according to the Yezidis, God rewarded him and sent him to the Earth as a prince of bright forces. As we may read:

God first created Tawuse Melek from his own illumination (Ronahi) and the other six Archangels were created later. Then God gave life to Adam from his own breath and instructed all archangels to bow to Adam. The Archangels obeyed except for Tawuse Melek. In answer to God, Tawuse Melek replied, "How can I submit to another being! I am from your illumination while Adam is made of dust." Then God praised him and made him the leader of all angels and his deputy on the Earth.

That is why the Peacock presents both Sufi and scholar with such an ambiguous plumage. Tawuse Melek is either the governor of light or a demon in disguise, depending upon the religious beliefs and ethnic identity of an author.

Q: Are ethnicity and belief interlocked?

A: Everyone is an embodiment of their culture. We are the living representatives of our traditions, music and poetry are the memory of a people. In this respect, the Yezidis are no different from anyone else. Perhaps this is the reason why so many Yezidis have died as martyrs to their faith. If this continues to happen, however, our Earth will not only loose a very peaceful and unbiased people, but an irreplaceable link to Heathenism.

Q: How can Kurdish paganism help British Heathens to evolve?

A: Kurdish spirituality is a great treasure as well as a resource in world culture. Furthermore, it offers British pagans a paradigm case for a generous hearted spirituality, which is true to the lives of the people, at the same time offering an insight into the structure of the human soul itself. After all, the symbols and images of every ethnic group tell us about its relationship to other peoples as well as the living environment. In this sense, the Kurdish community has an immense amount to teach the British about the value of grass roots paganism, while offering progressive examples of how to adapt on a daily basis in order to evolve.

Gruntlers

Heathens believe in Truth, Beauty and Freedom. Perhaps, this is why we feel a political affinity with Humanists. In any case, our faith inspired "A Happening With The Gruntlers" at the Poetry Cafe last Monday evening; an event celebrating these essential values.

Sinatra

If New York is truly a city which never sleeps, then everyone who lives there must have gone insane! Indeed, such deprivations can only imbalance those who come into contact with it's environmental mania.

Reading

Mersoteric will be hosting an evening of poetry on the 30th of March and I will be reading from my new book "The Grammar of Witchcraft".

The Black Magicians of Monsanto

Far too many British Spiritualists are concerned with topics as trivial as the so-called “Randi Gamble.” Indeed, following the work of Carl Gustav Jung and Roberto Assagioli, it is almost beyond me that our religious ministers waist so much of their valuable time addressing the clod-like assertions of a clearly career based scepticism, when spirits are now openly at war around us. Certainly, some members of the younger generation have sensed that a call-to-arms has been sounded. They seem to perceive dark, destructive forces remaining dangerously unchallenged in our society and quite justifiably are starting to accuse their more mature neighbours of a bewildering spiritual narcolepsy. Many of them even feel that these devious shades are threatening the fecund environment; gathering a hellish, technocratic, momentum, against our Mother the Earth. All of which makes it truly astonishing that - as a movement - we have done so little to support their spiritual concerns. Perhaps especially so, once we recall how few other Churches uphold the sanctity of Life, on every level, as intrinsically worthy of respect.

In fairness, a number of factors hide these mighty battles from general view. Most notably the fact that their outward form is usually disguised by pious political hyperbole and marketing misinformation. Moreover, militant commerce has an uncanny way of silencing spiritual reflection, along with the moral implications of industrial procedures. Yet in this sense, contemporary Youth is again proving far ahead of their strangely disconnected elders, since they remain alert to the observation that nothing is religiously neutral an age where complex agricultural techniques, coupled to ethical complacency, are effectively manufacturing a brand new branch of the Black Arts. Arguably then, from the legendary Dr. Faustus, to the fictional Victor Frankenstein, the same charge against modernity has echoed across the centuries. A warning voiced in Rabelais’ famous saying that “science without a conscience is the ruin of the soul”. This explains why some commentators can’t help feeling the ingenious Pythagorian himself would have been shocked at the depths to which people sink when science becomes a slave to corporate business ventures. Also, this may be why Monsanto’s representations to the media always seem to have a Faustian atmosphere about them. Time and again, the smell of sulphur chokes their official pronouncements. It is, therefore, unwise to ignore these historic meditations as “simply” subjective, while such a company openly wages a campaign to genetically modify our very food with apparently minimal public consent.

Sadly, vulnerable Third World countries appear to be the ecological “No Mans Land” between sustainable progress and almost demonic, global, manipulation; an example being easily discerned when considering Monsanto’s “Terminator” technology. Asking, of course, why any descent minded company would patent the genetic engineering of otherwise healthy plants to produce sterile seeds is unsettling enough. But the projection that this plan, if implemented, would reduce African and Indian farmers to a kind of credit dependency (whereby they are obliged to buy replacement seeds every year, rather than use existing stocks), is undeniably sinister. Clearly, those that unclean spirits would destroy, first they make servile. In addition to this death dealing research, pundits have pointed out that future environmental effects of genetically modified crops are, at present, unknown. Apart from steadily increasing evidence, which demonstrates that processes of cross pollination can actually spread herbicidal tolerance to wild plants in a manner similar to a virus. Long term, this means that instead of reducing the amount of chemicals applied in farming, some producers are becoming locked like junkies into chemical slavery, just to defend their perfectly natural crops. What else can be said, except that the striking hubris underlying these commercial decisions is staggering; a sin the spirits are ominously threatening to punish in this life.

Partly, the problem is caused by a global free-for-all to maximise profits for irresponsible shareholders, at the expense of Fertility and Freedom.. These transparently wicked designs are further linked to a weakening of our British borders as obvious defences against corporate insanity. Perhaps surprisingly, nationalist politics have proved to hold more substance than merely old-fashioned xenophobia, despite the calculated slanders mouthed by politicians associated with multinational business executives. Accompanied as these improprieties always are by a crippling lack of religious perspective concerning the environment from their side. In which case we, as practising spiritualists, need to be more mindful of forests and foliage as our ancestors in a way similar to those who have already passed into Spirit. We know, after all, our friends and family are now at one with the vast continuum. Furthermore, it can be said that our loved ones have joined with these archetypal energies in the sacred process of unending creation. Free of charge! Thus,only one question remains; will our Community awake to the challenge of defending Life, or continue to be side tracked by unadulterated trivia?

Ignore Africa This Christmas

I respect the peoples of the dark continent and my heart grieves when famine, warfare, as well as pestilence, are reported from those mighty nations. At the end of the day, however, they are not my people and until we North Europeans put our own houses in order, none of our concern.

Is Anybody There?

British spiritualists often perceive themselves as custodians to strange and terrible truths. We have, rather unsettlingly, both seen and heard the intrusions of Spirit into our churches and prayer circles. We have communicated with the Glorious Dead. At times, we have even touched the mysterious realms of Higher Consciousness, as it unfolds in our hearts with the living light of knowledge and the vital sounds of salvation. It should therefore, come as a surprise that our assemblies are usually half-empty, while our credibility as witnesses to the Marvellous seems to shrink with each passing year.

Perhaps this is why it is time to stop blaming opponents for our problems and to start examining ourselves. Certainly, in my recent visits to various congregations across London, I have been greeted with demonstrations of personal arrogance by church leaders, a complete lack of humility (let alone sensitivity) on the part of mediums, and rather uncomfortable atmospheres coloured by gossipy infighting, when the service was concluded. It goes without saying, that these are not the outward signs associated with unfolding soul gifts and also partly explains why The Atheist of Oxford doesn’t need to look far to find a “cultural” shambles in some sections of our Movement. Indeed, getting the living into our places of worship appears to be more of an issue than opening our doors to the departed.

Yet there’s the rub. What do we spiritualists revere as Sacred? Clearly, some claim to represent true Christian Tradition; a noble and thought provoking assertion. On the other hand, there are those who argue that they adhere to the universal principles behind every Great Faith. This, in itself, is a highly abstract and demanding contention, stretching back through Victorian Theosophy into the medieval profundities of Neo-Platonism. Additionally, there are those in psychical societies who actively appear to be flirting with a type of experimental activity our forebears would have called necromancy: a repugnant pursuit still retaining its unpleasantness. All of which indicates, however, our Movements manifold search to find an appropriate position within the family of ancestral spirits; a tribal genealogy extending from Great, Great, Grandparents to forest flowers, lake land hills, and the Nature Spirits themselves. Even so, the vast majority of the aforementioned ideologues don’t seem to have journeyed far enough into Self to achieve a meaningful dialogue with Transcendent Being.

Having said that, allies and guides sometimes emerge from unexpected quarters and indirect support may be encountered from the so-called New-Age-Counter-Culture in all of its manifestations. Notably, the self-confessed pagan writer, Professor Camille Paglia describes (in a strikingly lucid essay entitled “No Law In The Arena”), her view of God as a disembodied Creative Force powerfully at work within the Cosmos. She does this, moreover, in a manner that any contemporary Spiritualist would instantly recognise, since we have presented this luminous gospel to the general public for over a century. Possibly, I should further point to followers of Radical Traditionalism as our kith. Through practising the ancient rites of our Britannic kinsmen, they have made it apparent that the recovery of received ethical values, not to mention our unique participation in the modalities of Northern-European-Becoming, can only be recovered by a renewed respect for rural, albeit occasionally abstract, customs.
In which case, disciplines such as silent meditation and hearth ritual become obvious vehicles for spiritualist witness. Clearly, in the house church I am privileged to lead, we have found that these forms of worship quickly lead to a discovery of inner-light as well as the cultivation of creative states of consciousness. Observably, our methods are extremely similar to those of Shinto in Japan, because they focus on the Immanence of Spirit. Householders, for example, tend to establish a reflective peace through husbanding their native surroundings, while healers magnify their abilities by exploring vital organic processes in their own bodies. Significantly, such gentle ceremonies need few theoretical commitments on the part of a practitioner, because a mind open to their efficacy is the only stipulation. On top of that, an atmosphere of ceremonial order transforms the lives of those who strive for a genuine sense of enlightened resolve. Similarly, our aims are nationalistic and our service is, primarily, to our own people. At the end of the day, all of our churches should be full to the British brim with those truly seeking Spirit. Remembering our sense of witness is the key. But to realise this goal a few home truths need to be faced along the way, like recalling that our Movement does indeed have a universalist appeal, although on a local level it always celebrates uniqueness. We also need to take pride in our labours as bridge-builders between different states of consciousness. These are the twin reasons I am personally looking forward to our renewed prophetic status within society. After all, those who have passed over, as well as the Nature Spirits, are pleading with us to focus on pictures bigger than community leadership or personal tattle, and we alone are correctly positioned to hear their messages.