Tag Archives: Mark Amaru Pinkham

Egypt, Gnostic, History, India, Mystical, Spiritual

The Gnostic Mandaeans

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The Mandaeans of southern Iraq are the only remaining Gnostic sect from ancient times. They began their history on Sri Lanka when the island was part of the land-mass of Lemuria and home of the primeval Goddess Culture. Eventually migrating west they became part of the Sumerian, Persian, Egyptian and Jewish Essene civilizations. Finally, retracing their steps, they returned to their present location. In the tradition of the ancient gnostic sects descended from the Goddess and the Left Hand Path, the Mandaeans are dedicated to the achievement of gnosis for all their people, which they know involves the balance and union of the polarity and the alchemical force that results from that union.

To engender the balance and union of the polarity in their culture, the Mandaeans provide equal rights for both men and women. They are governed by their priest/priestess class, which is composed of both men and women. The centerpiece of their religion is the rite of baptism which is observed daily, during which is invoked the presence of the ancient Dragon Enki, the embodiment of the alchemical Kundalini, under his contemporary name of Manda d’Hiya. Enki is the “Water of Life,” the subtle alchemical force that moves within the physical water of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. When activated it purifies Mandaeans on all levels and can awaken their “inner Enki,” the Kundalini power at the base of the spine.

The daily baptismal immersion of a Mandaean, known as the “Rishama,” a prayer is repeated while each part of the body is sequentially cleansed. At the end of the rite, the power and wisdom of ancient Enki as Manda d’Hiya is invoked with the words: “The name of the Life [the Divine Power] and the name of Manda d’Hiya [the Divine Wisdom] are pronounced upon me.”

The most powerful of baptisms are observed on Sunday under the guidance of a Mandaean priest and incorporate much more ritual than the Rishama. They include the sacraments of oil, bread, and water, and end with the sacred kiss upon the head from a priest, a rite known as “giving Kushta.” Possibly the most valuable part of the ceremony for a person’s spiritual progress is a special transmission of energy given them by the priest or preistess, who after the water immersion transmits the Water of Life or Kundalini power into a baptized Mandaean by placing their right hand upon his or her head and calling forth Manda d’Hiya.

At the conclusion of their life, all Mandaeans rise up to Mshunia Kushta, an etheric dimension where they merge with their etheric-body double that has been waiting for them during their earthly sojourn. When asked the location of this etheric world, the priests give the description of an etheric world that apparently overlays the planet Venus and mimics the Earth when it was the Garden of Eden. One Mandaean priest has stated: “There is a star inhabited by men, the descendants of the Hidden Adam [the etheric double of Adam], but they are semi-spiritual in nature, and not gross like ourselves. This star is called Merikh, the star of the morning.” The Mandaean baptismal purifications continue on this “star” until each Mandaean is ready to shed his or her etheric forms and live exclusively in their most refined bodies of light as pure luminaries of gnosis. They are then eligible to return home through the Pleiades stargate to the highest Pleroma worlds of light.

From Mark Amaru Pinkham – Author : THE GNOSTIC CIVILIZATION OF THE MANDAEANS (Excerpted from World Gnosis: Coming Gnostic Civilization)

PHOTO: A Mandean baptism in the Tigris River, May 2003. Credit : Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images

Africa, Egypt, History, Mystical, Spiritual

Chakra Activation along the Nile

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EGYPTIAN ALCHEMY ?

Chakra Activation along the Nile

The ancient Egyptians considered their country to be the body of Osiris, the Green Man. The Nile River was his spine and his chakras were the sequential vortexes that lay along its length, from south to north. The sacred architects of Khem marked these power spots with temples and installed within them the neter (deity) associated with the corresponding chakra. Egyptian initiates would then travel to each of Osiris’s chakra temples and undergo an initiation to alchemically activate the same chakra within their own bodies.

The temple marking Osiris’ First and Earth Chakra- and the residence of the Green Man’s alchemical Kundalini – was built in the southern city of Aswan and its adjoining sacred Nile island of Elephanta. Here giant rocks took the form of immense elephants, the animals associated with earth element and the Earth Chakra. The neter of the temple was Khnum, the fiery ram god that embodied the Kundalini power that had created the cosmos and alchemically transforms a human initiate.

The temple marking Osiris’s 2nd and Water Chakra was built north of Aswan over the vortex of Kom-Ombo, and its neter was Sobek, the crocodile god. Legend has it that before a seeker could undergo a 2nd chakra initiation at Kom-Ombo he or she was required to survive a terrifying swim through a dark underground vault of water filled with live crocodiles.

The temple marking Osiris’ 3rd Chakra and Solar Plexus was at Edfu and dedicated to Horus, a neter of the Sun. The 4th Heart Chakra of Osiris was at Dendera and dedicated to Hathor, the Goddess of Love. The temple marking Osiris’ 5th Chakra of communication was at Memphis, the capital of ancient Khem that was in constant communication with the rest of the country. And Osiris’s 6th and 7th Chakras were united as the Giza Plateau and its Great Pyramid. This is where the final initiation was given to a Djedhi to complete the ascension of the Kundalini to the head and fully activate the Third Eye and Crown Chakras.

From: The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom ?

by Mark Amaru Pinkham

Egypt, History, Mystical, Spiritual, Yoga

Egyptian Alchemy

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EGYPTIAN ALCHEMY ?

The path of Kundalini Yoga was initially brought to Egypt by the Thoth-Hermes Masters of Atlantis, where its patrons had been the Kaberoi Twins. On ancient Lemuria the Kaberoi had been known as the Kumara Twins, Sanat and Sananda, the founders of Gnostic-Alchemical Path and the vehicle of its dissemination to Atlantis, the Order of the Seven Rays. The Seven Ray Order later became known as the Great White Brotherhood.

On Atlantis the Kaberoi were the “Two Fires,” the dual parts of Neptune in his manifestation as the Fire Serpent or Kundalini, and they were represented as the Twin Snakes on the caduceus of Thoth-Hermes. In Egypt, they became the Twin Sons of Neptune in his manifestation as Fire God Ptah.

In Egypt, the Kaberoi Twins also took the form of Seth and Horus, and the dual serpentine pathways in the etheric body, the Ida and Pingala Nadis, became known as the Paths of Seth and Horus. During the alchemical process the two nadis and the polar opposite charges moving through them unite to become as the Dj, the Serpent Fire, to rise up the Djed column (the spine). The Kundalini, which is mentioned in Egyptian texts as Iart or Aart, meaning “to rise,” states Egyptologist Isa Shwaller de Lubiz, “alluded to, the rising of the snake of fire along the spinal column “

The alchemical tools used by the Egyptian Masters to prepare Djedhi candidates for initiation in the Great Pyramid included asanas (stretches), pranayama (breath control), fasting, meditation, study of the ancient scrolls, and attendance at the regularly staged dramatizations of the death and spiritual rebirth of the archetypal initiate, Osiris, at Sais, Philae, Busiris and Abydos. During this drama, after being murdered by his brother Seth, a personification of the destructive Kundalini, Osiris was represented on stage by his spine, the Djed Pillar, which was laid horizontally on its side. Osiris’s subsequent resurrection and immortality was then enacted by raising the Djed Pillar to its vertical position, thus representing the rise of the Dj (the Serpent) up the Djed (the spine) to the apex of the head of the archetypal initiate. This part of the drama is still intact and beautifully portrayed in relief on a wall of Osiris’s principal headquarters at Abydos. Close by is a depiction of Thoth handing the Twin Serpents to Osiris with one hand and an Ankh in another, symbolizing that through uniting the inner serpents to become the Kundalini, Osiris will achieve immortality.

From: The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom ?
by Mark Amaru Pinkham

Christ, Egypt, History, Mystical, Spiritual

The Gnostic Ophites and Naaseni

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THE GNOSTIC SERPENTS : The Ophites and Naaseni ?

The Serpent Gnostic sects of Egypt included known as the Ophites and Naaseni. Both names are Greek and denote “Serpents.” The Fourth Century historian Philaster maintained that these sects, along with the Sethians and Cainites, were specially united by having descended directly from the First Instructor and Serpent on the Tree. Of these sects the Ophites (from Ophidian, “snake”) and Nasseni (from Hebrew Naas or Nachash, “snake”) were unique in being the pre-eminent worshipers of live snakes. Like Serpent Gnostics worldwide, they were also renown for having “knowledge of the deepest things.”

The Naaseni are believed to have descended from the original gnostics in the west, and to have existed well before the birth of Christ. They are related to the Nasurai, the enlightened gnostics of the Mandeans, who blended with the Essenes to form the sect of Nasoreans or “Nazarenes.” The Mandaean Nasurai Jesus was born into this Essene Serpent sect and known by his peers as the Nasorean (or the Nazarene). Long after his Ascension, his Apostles continued the Serpent tradition of Jesus and named their little group Nasoreans. Jesus’s brother, James, oversaw this small group and continued to tradition of remaining in contact with other Serpent Gnostics in the Middle East. According to historical record, James sent “Mariam” with some very secretive “Serpent” teachings to transmit to the Nasseni of Alexandria. This Nasorean Mariam is believed to be none other than Mary Magadalene, who was apparently in association with the Apostles and their Nasorean sect long after the departure of Jesus.

According to the historian Epiphanius, the most important live snake of the Nasseni and Ophites was venerated as the First Instructor and commonly kept in a special chest known as the Cista Mystica, which was only opened during the most sacred of rituals. At mealtimes the favored snake, which the Serpent Gnostics addressed as their Savior, was coaxed out of its box and let loose to consecrate their food by slithering over and around it. Afterwards, the Ophites would take turns kissing the sacred snake upon the mouth and then sinking to their knees in humble worship of the reptile. These and other more secretive rites of the Ophites were timed with the ascension of the Celestial Serpent, the constellation of Draco the Dragon, which was acknowledged by them to be the eternal heavenly manifestation of the First Instructor.

The Ophites and Nasseni employed various Greek and Hebrew names for their Serpent Savior, including Nachash, Kneph, Chnouphis, and the Agathodeamon. For protection they carried coins, talismans and gems with images of their serpent deity carved deeply into them. The gems and talismans were often bright red in color, thus reflecting the fiery nature of the serpent engraved upon them, and covered with Greek mantras and symbols. The red gems also activated the Kundalini, which was a form of the Serpent Savior in the human body. Ophite initiate’s were known to spend long periods of time in the caves of the Egyptian desert while propitiating their Serpent Savior and his transformative power.

For their academic contemplation the Gnostic Nasseni studied The Gospel According to Thomas and they were known to have been great fans of The Gospel According to the Egyptians. They were also inveterate devotees of the Goddess and adopted many of Her rites that had been observed in the Eleusinian Mysteries and other Left Hand Path schools.

From: “World Gnosis: The Coming Gnostic Civilization” ? by Mark Amaru Pinkham

Christ, History, India, Mantra, Mystical, Shiva, Spiritual, Yoga

Mahavatar Babaji – Shiva Siddha – Immortal Yogi Christ

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THE SHIVA SIDDHAS : Babaji Nagaraj ?

One of the 18 Maheshvara Siddhas responsible for founding a school of yoga based upon the ancient teachings of Sanat Kumara – the founder of the Gnostic-Alchemical Path – was the Siddha Babaji. Also known as Nagaraj, “King of the Nagas,” Babaji was a student of both Agastyar and Boganathar. Babaji’s school of yoga, called Kriya Yoga, was based upon the Kaya Kalpa science of pranayama or breath control.

According to the authorized biography in Babaji and The 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition by Babaji devotee M. Govindam, Babaji was born in 203 B.C. to a priest of the Shiva temple in Parangipetttai, southern India. Within his father’s temple was a life-sized image of Sanat Kumara or Lord Murugan that had originally been a huge Shiva lingam before magically transforming into the forever young form of the Kumara, Babaji spent much of his earliest years assisting his father in the temple and immersing himself in the worship of this image of Murugan.

At five years of age Babaji was kidnapped, but then set free again soon afterwards. Rather than return to his home and family, however, Babaji decided to renounce worldy life and travel throughout India as a mendicant and renunciate. During his subsequent wanderings Babaji encountered many enlightened Siddhas, each of whom taught him some facet of Yoga. At one point his travels led him to the shrine of Murugan in Sri Lanka where he met the Siddha Bogarnath and gained instruction in both alchemy and meditation Then, following six months of intensive spiritual practice under Bogarnath’s expert guidance, Babaji achieved a deep state of transcendental absorption or Samadhi during which he achieved spiritual communion with the forever young boy.

After leaving Sri Lanka, Babaji journeyed to the Pothigai Hills with the goal of receiving the spiritual blessings of the Siddha Agastya With great determination Babaji camped at the Courtallam Falls which were nearby the sage’s secluded ashram and vowed to undergo severe austerities until he was blessed with the divine presence of the diminutive sage. Following forty-eight days of rigorous tapas (austerities) Babaji’s resolve bore fruit and the diminutive Siddha spontaneously appeared from behind a tree. Agastyar blessed Babaji and initiated him into that branch of Kaya Kalpa known as Vasi Yoga, the science of breath control. Following this initiation, Agastyar gave Babaji instructions to travel to the Himalayas and master pranayama.

Babaji immersed himself in intensive yoga within the Himalayan caves before founding an ashram near the Shiva Temple of Badrinath. In due time he achieved immortality and became patriarch of his own school of Vasi Yoga called Kriya Yoga. Through the dynamic yogis who subsequently achieved enlightenment under Babaji’s guidance, including the Siddhas Lahari Mahasaya, Shri Yukteswar, and Paramahansa Yogananda, Kriya Yoga eventually spread throughout the world. Babaji Nagaraj is said to currently be approximately 2000 years in age while continuing to anchor the high frequencies of Spirit in an immortal physical form in his Himalayan retreat.

From: The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom ?
by Mark Amaru Pinkham

Christ, Egypt, History, Mystical, Spiritual

The Jewish Serpents of Wisdom

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THE GNOSTIC SERPENTS ?

The Jewish Serpents of Wisdom

The Gnostic Serpents of Palestine were descended from the lineage of Serpents from Egypt, Sumeria, and the Far East, where they had been the Djedhi Adepts, the priests of Lord Enki, and disciples of Sanat Kumara.

Moses brought the Djedhi tradition with him from Egypt and first introduced it to the Hebrews in the desert with the image of the Serpent on the Cross, which he assured his people would heal them. Throughout his many years Moses taught his tribe, the Levites, the Egyptian wisdom of the serpent, including how to both properly invoke the Primal Serpent and how to awaken it internally as the Kundalini. The Primal Serpent was placed upon the altars and venerated by the Levites until the time of King Hezekiah “who broke the images of the serpent which had been in the high places [temples] since the time of Moses.” The name Levi reflects that of “Leviathan,” the epithet under which the Levite priests’ venerated the Primal Serpent.

Much of the esoteric Serpent Wisdom that Moses brought out of Egypt was compiled into the Kabbala, which was secret knowledge first taught in the Garden of Eden by the Angel Raziel, one of Sanat Kumara’s entourage (Sanat Kumara’s western name is St. Michael, the leader of the Archangels). According to the Kabbala, the Gnostic-alchemical tradition of the Serpent Masters began in the Garden of Eden with the Serpent on the Tree who was either a name for Cain or the father of Cain. The Name Cain denotes “a worker of [Serpent] fire,” and Cain is related to Can, the universal word for “Serpent. Another name for Cain is Seth and both are names for the Egyptian Thoth-Hermes. This truth was taught among the later Cainite and Sethian Gnostics of Alexandria who, like the Ophites and Naaseni, claimed to have descended directly from the Primal Serpent and been heir to the Gnostic wisdom that had passed from Adam to Cain-Seth and then down a long line of enlightened Gnostics.

The Gnostic Serpents of Palestine also received both Serpent Wisdom and Power from the lineage of Abraham from Sumeria. The name Abraham was originally “Abram,” meaning “Possessor of fire.” This was the Serpent Fire that Abraham received from King Melchizedek, who by another name was Sanat Kumara, the Dragon King of the World. Melchizedek’s sacred fire in turn passed from Abraham to the lineage of Jewish Prophets and to the Gnostic Masters of the Kabbala. Sanat Kumara’s yantra – his geometrical form body – was also passed to the Jews from King Melchizedek in the form of the Star of David.

The third line of Serpent Gnostics that influenced the Jewish Serpents of Wisdom were the Mandeans who had originated on Sri Lanka when it was part of Lemuria and known as the Garden of Eden of Serendib. They were disciples of Sanat Kumara, the Serpent on the Tree and founder of the Gnostic-Alchemical Path. The Nasurai, the enlightened “Serpents” (Nas = “Serpent”) of the Mandeans, transmitted the power and wisdom of Sanat Kumara to the Essenes when the Jewish sect united with the Mandeans to form the Nasoreans. Born within the Nasorean sect of Serpent Gnostics were John the Baptist, Jesus, Mary Magdaelene and John the Apostle, the wayshowers who spread the wisdom of the Gnostic-Serpents throughout the western world.

From: “The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom” ?
by Mark Amaru Pinkham

Egypt, History, Mystical, Spiritual

Pythagoras – Incarnation of the Primal Serpent

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THE GNOSTIC SERPENTS ?

Pythagoras, Incarnation of the Primal Serpent

Pythagoras, whose name means “Place of the Serpent,” is recognized as an incarnation of the Primal Serpent who went through numerous initiations in Europe, Asia and Africa and then taught the Serpent Wisdom he acquired in his famous school in southern Italy.

During his upbringing on the island of Samos Pythagoras was exposed to many of the most ancient mystery teachings. Having been born into home of Pelasgian parents (Pelagians were ancient sea people from Atlantis) he was surrounded by the wisdom from the Atlantic Motherland, as well as the Orphic rites and wisdom of the reformed Dionysian tradition.

Upon reaching a mature age Pythagoras traveled first to Egypt where he spent twenty two years stµdying with the Djedhi priests Memphis, Heliopolis, and Thebes. The culmination of his pivotal time in Khem was initiation within the Great Pyramid, at which point he became a Djedhi Master. Pythagoras then traveled to Samothrace, Crete, and Eleusis where he gained initiation into the Dactyloi Order that had been anciently founded by Atlantean missionaries. Traveling eastward Pythagoras then earned initiation into the Chaldean rites of the Ashipu, the Phoenician rites of Green Man Adonis, the mysteries of the Persian Magi, and the yogic disciplines of the Hindus. Legend has it that in India, where he was. known as Yavancharya, Pythagoras achieved his final initiations in the cave temples of Elephanta, Ellora and Ajanta, which were reputed to have connected to a network of Asian tunnels leading to the eastern most headquarters of the ancient Serpent Masters in Tibet.

Returning, home to the Mediterranean area, Pythagoras founded his synthesized mystery school in Crotona, Southern Italy, and quickly procured for himself a reputation as an incarnation of the Serpent’s power and wisdom. Among his new Italian peers it became common knowledge that Pythagoras was capable of controlling the weather, prophesying the future, and even raising the dead. Among his students Pythagoras additionally garnered the denomination of a hard task master. A candidate seeking initiation into his school was first required to undergo an austere probationary period of five years during which absolute silence was observed punctuated with a sparse vegetarian diet.

There were three degrees in Serpent Wisdom in Pythagoras’s school. In the first degree of Mathematicus the student was exposed to various forms of geometry and mathematics. In the second degree of Theoreticus, meaning “theory” or “philosophy”, the student practiced Gnostic Yoga while speculating on the nature of existence and the origins of the cosmos. In the final degree of Electus the student underwent alchemical initiation and Kundalini activation that eventually led him or her to becoming a Serpent Master. The new adept then received a golden ring with the five-pointed star insignia of the Pythagoran Serpent Order inscribed on the top that was surrounded by an ouroboros snake. Initiates who wore this ring included Epimenides, the Cretan Master who lived 150 years; Empedocles, the Greek Adept who could see into the past and future; and Apollonius, who gained renown for his teleportation and dematerialization abilities. Legend has it that Apollonius gained immortality and lived more than 1000 years.

From: “The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom” ?
by Mark Amaru Pinkham

History, Mystical, Spiritual

The Gnostic Manichaeans

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IMPORTANT GNOSTIC SECTS OF THE WEST ?
The Gnostic Manichaeans

Beginning in the 3rd Century a virtual explosion of Gnosticism took hold of Asia and Europe through the “Religion of the Prophet Mani.” Known as Manichaeism, this planetary gnostic faith would endure for 1000 years and bring gnosticism to countless people living in the lands that stretched from China to Britain.

The Prophet Mani was born in 217 CE to a father of the Gnostic Mandaeans and a Persian Princess. His mission began when his guardian angel, who identified itself as the Paraclete, the “Comforter” promised by Jesus, appeared to Mani and instructed him to complete the work of all the great prophets who had come before him, including Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha and Jesus. They had all brought pieces of the gnostic “puzzle” on Earth, and now it was time for Mani to synthesize all these pieces into one all-encompassing universal faith designed for everyone.

Mani’s religion encouraged the development of both the right and left hemispheres of the brain through both intellectual and intuitive training, thus supporting the development of gnosis. The teachers of his sect were from both sexes; they were highly educated and intuitive, and most were adepts on the gnostic-alchemical path. Besides committing themselves to studying, translating and copying all the available spiritual writings of their era, the priests of Manicheaeism also observed a celibate lifestyle, a vegetarian diet, and long days and nights of meditation, fasting and prayer. They embraced a traditional gnostic ideology which maintained that all humans were divine spirits imprisoned in physical forms, and they followed Mani’s guidance to extricate their souls from the shackles of dense matter. Until their release from matter was permanent they knew they were destined to continue to revolve on the wheel of reincarnation indefinitely.

Manichaeism was composed of lay persons known as Auditors or “Hearers,” and their teachers, priests and adepts were known as the Pure or “Elect.” The Pure lived an intensely austere lifestyle that allowed only one meal per day and required at least 100 days of fasting over the course of a year, with at least one of those fasts continuing for a period of 30 days. They were required to daily chant eight very long hymnal prayers, and when not meditating or studying texts they were enjoined to enroll in service work to benefit their communities. The Elect were supported materially by the lay persons, who lived normal, worldly lives until they were ready to surrender to the life of a Pure. At the time of his or her advancement a Hearer would be absolved of all sin and have the Holy Spirit power transmitted into them by a facilitating Elect to catalyze the awakening of the inner Serpent Power or Kundalini. Any future sin could be rectified with mentanoia, “repentance,” except for one, observes the gnostic author Kurt Rudolph: “Unforgivable is only the sin of the conscious resistance against the redeeming knowledge, the illumination by the light-nous, the Holy Spirit….”

Mani was supported early in his ministry by the Persian King Shappur, but when the King died, his son Bharam colluded with the Persian high priest Kartir to cleanse the world of all “heretical” sects, including Manicheanism. Mani was sent to prison, and after years of torture he died an agonizing death in his cell. In the year 277 his dismembered and flayed corpse was put on public display, which at the time was the traditional fate of all condemned heretics.

From: “World Gnosis: The Coming Gnostic Civilization” by Mark Amaru Pinkham ?