Big Top ~ Prophets Chained for Burning Masks

Chapter 15
Big Top

Prophets Chained for Burning Masks

- chapter index -
pg. 1 - Big Top | pg. 2 - Echoes of Camels and Needles | pg. 3 - The Crimson King
pg. 4 - Beelzebub | pg. 5 - Demon est Deus Inversus | pg. 6 - Prophets Chained for Burning Masks
pg. 7 - Kundalini | pg. 8 - The Dweller on the Threshold | pg. 9 - The Alchemical Wedding
pg. 10 - The Woman Clothed with the Sun | pg. 11 - Circe | pg. 12 - Ouroboros
pg. 13 - And there a Swan is Born | pg. 14 - Spiral

site index

"...the stormiest and most controversial early movements within Sufism were led by Husayn ibn Mansur Haflaj (crucified AD 922),'Ain al-QudAt Hamaddni (crucified AD 1131), and Shahāb al-Din Suhrawardi (crucified AD 1191).
"Hamaddni's idea of successive reincarnation, and the redemption of Lucifer, added to his other non-Islamic preachings, qualified him for burning on a cross by the Muslim authorities when he was 33.
Al Hallāj claimed himself to be an avatar of the divinity...and that all creatures are ultimately the manifestations of the same original Universal Spirit. He thus also declared Lucifer to have been redeemed and elevated to the highest universal station, as in Yezidism. He was subjected to exquisite tortures before being crucified in Baghdad. At present there is a shrine dedicated to Hallāj in the sacred Yezidi religious center and shrine complex at Lālish, next to the tomb of Shaykh Adi."

- Sufism by Dr. M. Izady

"The Yezidis of Kurdistan have been called many things, most notoriously 'devil-worshippers,' a term used both by unsympathetic neighbours and fascinated Westerners. This sensational epithet is not only deeply offensive to the Yezidis themselves, but quite simply wrong. Yezidism is not devil-worship, but something far more elusive, and interesting.

This religion, which has aroused so much antagonism, is difficult to summarize succinctly. To generalize, seven Holy Beings are venerated, chiefly Melek Tawus, the Peacock Angel."

- The Evolution of Yezidi Religion
by Christine Allison
International Institute for the Study of Islam
ISIM Newsletter, October 1998, p. 14

"Melek Tawus is an angel who has fallen from God's grace, and for his repentance, is restored to God's favor. While in hell, Melek Tawus, in seven thousand years filled seven jars with his tears of repentance which extinguished the fires of hell, or at the last judgment will be used to do so. Melek Tawus was banished from the sight of God because he refused to bow down, as asked, before God's creation, Adam. But Yezidis do not identify the fallen angel with a spirit of "evil." The act of disobedience has been forgiven by god as a father forgives a wayward son.

For the Yezidis, the internal aspect of Tawus Melek remains alive. They hold that Tawus Melek is as fire with two elementary qualities: fire as light and fire to burn-and the apparently dual aspects of the "good" and the "evil" exist within the same Person. Every human being is a mixture of good and evil, and every Yezidi has Tawus Melek in himself. This is one of the meanings evoked in a 19th century report by Haji Zain al-Abidin al-Shirwani, who, in a conversation with a Yezidi leader concerning Tawus Melek, asked, "Who is Iblis (Satan)?"

'What is the reason behind your worship of him and fear of him?" The Yezidi replied, "The learned are perplexed by the comprehension of his reality and scholars are in ignorance from detecting an atom of the valley of his realization but the men of knowledge said in his description, if he shows mankind his light they would have worshipped him as god. He is hidden but near everyone. All-knowing in regard to men and their deeds. Satan sometimes comes to you from the walls and other times from the roofs. Occasionally he resides in the deepest folds of the heart and sometimes he joins your body and goes in it like blood. And it is related in the tradition that Satan is from the fire of glory, meaning that his glory was created from the fire of the glory of God.'

- Gurdjieff and Yezidism
by Prof. Henry Korman

"There is a myth that Prometheus created humans by mixing Earth and Water to create the gross body; Athena breathed Air into it, imbuing it with a Spirit-Soul. Prometheus added the Higher Soul, which is the Fire that He took from the Wheel of the Sun and brought to humanity in a Narthźx (giant fennel) stalk. (The Narthźx corresponds to Shushumna, the esoteric spinal column of yoga philosophy, which contains the Fiery Kundalini power.) Recall also that the Thursos, the sacred Bacchic wand, is made from the Narthźx and holds Promethean Fire. As implied in the myth of our Promethean origins, the Fire in our souls is akin to the Celestial Fire ("As above, so below")."

- The Elements: Fire by John Opsopaus

"Gnostic Christians maintained that the "light" Lucifer brought was true enlightenment, which He gave humanity against God's will, as Prometheus stole the fire of heaven to bring civilization to mankind against the will of Zeus. God denied Adam and Eve the fruit of the tree of knowledge, desiring to keep them ignorant; but Lucifer, in the form of the serpent, gave them the "light" of wisdom.
He became the Prince of the Power of the Air (Ephesians2:2) who threw his lightning bolts at church towers. He wielded the trident which, in Eastern symbolism is a triple lightning-phallus destined to fertilize the Triple Goddess. In Tantric Hindu symbology, He is the bindu, the spark that ignites the sacred serpent and awakens the kundalini."

- Lucifer Rising

"Gurdjieff's choice of Beelzebub as hero of the First Series and the principal expositor of the
Teaching, surely has put those who would take it up in a position similar to the one the
Yezidis have had to endure for many centuries. Externally, when contacted by "outsiders" or
as Gurdjieff sometimes referred to them, "natives," the Teaching might seem, like that of the
Yezidis to be at bottom "devil worship." They would entirely miss, for instance, the prayers
scattered through the book, let alone recognize their sacred quality. In a world that is
becoming more and more divided between a narrow sectarian "fundamentalism" and a
"liberal" scientism, the very hint of Beelzebub as hero would bring anathema from one camp
and a condescending dismissal from the other. That the Teaching may not be casually
spoken of with either sector, helps to protect it, making it difficult for the student to take for
granted, or worse, profane.

Gurdjieff's Beelzebub, like the Yezidis Melek Tawus is a being fallen from nearness to God,
who redeems himself and is restored to grace. Each has fallen because in self-will, following
the dictates of his reason, he acted in disobedience to what was higher. For the Yezidis, the
"Devil" is everywhere, a "practitioner," in the sense of the third of the types of school about
which Gurdjieff told Ouspensky, fit for the business of the world. In his nearness and
familiarity, he is an archetype of the returning prodigal, a model for the rest of us who have
"fallen," who are much closer to "devils" than "angels." The "Devil" is also what none of us
wish to look at in ourselves, but must nevertheless see, for that "looking" actualizes the
possibility of redemption."

- Gurdjieff and Yezidism
by Prof. Henry Korman

"The distressing struggle of integrating the shadow side of ourselves, of
wrestling with the dark angel within, is ongoing and never ending
for those who are willing to take it on. Jung considers it a moral
task of the first magnitude, and given the godlike power conferred
upon us most notably by the ability to unleash atomic energy, the
struggle assumes an urgency and necessity for the future survival
of our humankind. Let us hope enough of us are able and willing to
enter the ring."

- Thoughts on Evil
by James M. Shultz

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring
forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what
you do not bring forth will destroy you."

- Jesus, Gospel of Thomas

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

- Isaiah 1:18

return to
chapter & page index

Sign the Dreambook Read the Dreambook

Works

Lyrics
&
Poems

Gallery

Guestbook
Archive

Links

Discography

E-mail:
Peter Sinfield
Jon Green

Page One