My understanding surrounds the truth of things,
And my truth is mixed up in me,
And the truth of my descent is set forth by itself,
And when it was known it was altogether in me.
~~ Al Jilwah [1]

A hundred years later Tâwûs Malâk said to God, "What is this? Adam and his offspring are going to be numerous." God said to him, "Into your hands I have given this matter to minister." Then he came to Adam and said, "Have you eaten wheat?" He said, "No, because God forbade me." He said to him, "Eat of it. Things will prove better than they are now."
~~ Meshef Resh [2]

Our cry for help goes out to the lord of the dark Mysteries.
There we have seen many pearls
We have consumed the interest.
~~ Qewlê Sêx 'Erebegê Entûsi ("The Hymn of Sheykh Erebeg Entûsh") [3]

. . .The Yezidis do not believe in the existence of an evil power. In Yezidism there is no introduction of another force that can exist against God. [By] itself, the pronunciation of the word [Melek Taus] means the recognition of evil and by that the sense of Almighty God. Therefore the Yezidis do not speak the word aloud . . .
~~ Editor, Dengê Êzîdiyan [4]

Since the turn of the last century, travelers have brought back sinister tales of pagan natives performing dark rites paying homage to the Devil. From Pilgrimage to Lalish and Nineveh and its Remains to The Satanic Rituals, western writers have contributed to the mythical impression of shamagh-bedecked heathens gathered around bonfires, adoring a brass sanjak. The most notorious are the Yezidi, a Kurdish subgroup in northern Iraq, although there are strong parallels with the Ahl-i Haqq or Yarsani of Iran (who include the Shaitan-parastiyyan, Satan-worshippers) and the 'Alevis (or 'Alawis) of Syria, Turkey and Kurdistan. These three groups make up Yardanism, an angelick cult that is various parts Sufism, crypto-Zoroastrianism, and pre-Islamic indigenous belief.

The problem with the myth is that it contains more Hollywood than history. In their haste to fashion a convenient gloss with which to categorize the adherents, these accounts have created an inaccurate picture of a complex and fascinating metaphysical system. Indeed, the basis for Yezidi studies for the past hundred years - the "holy books" Kitab al Jilwah and >Meshaf Resh - inspire amusement or shock when assessed by modern Yezidi religious leaders. Probably created by a non-practicioner familiar with the fundamental symbols and phrases of the sect, these texts have been convincingly debunked in the last decade. Anton LaVey's fanciful chapter on a Yezidi homage to Satan has been acknowledged with a terse characterization of "stupid and wrong informations (sic)" by modern adherents and as a "put on" by the leading scholar of the religion. [5]

In the end, we are left with another "Order of Assassins": a crypto-culture that owes its existence in the minds of the "educated" to deliberate misinformation, Christian or Muslim fundamentalist propaganda and inflammatory archetypal legerdemain. The truth about the Yardanists is that they have a rich heritage worth studying on their own individual merits and interrelated metaphysical paradigms that are far more robust and intricate than even present-day occultists and magicians have explored - of either the left or right hand path.

The central historical figure associated with the Yezidi is their patron saint, Shaykh 'Adi. For much of the early Yezidi studies he remained unidentified and some considered him a legend or made various attempts to tie the myth to one or another historical personage. A French political officer in northern Iraq around the turn of the century was able to correlate the Yezidi saint to the Sufi 'Adi ibn Musafir, a well-known Muslim who had been researched in other circles and about whom much was known. The fact that he was a Sufi explains a number of interesting features in Yezidi spirituality.

Although Meshaf Resh (the "Black Book") is probably a spurious attempt to collate their belief system, it does not mean there are no textual transmissions among the Yezidi. They have a collection of qewls, or hymns, which set forth their tenets in some detail. An intriguing note is that Sufism possesses a similar body of recitatory lore in Urdu called qawwals. Authenticated by Kreyenbroek, who translated them from Kurdish, these verses lay out the structure and process of Yezidi practice and cathexis.

Oh my Lord, you are the angel of men and jinns,
Oh my Lord, you are the angel of the Throne and the Seat,
Oh my Lord, you are the angel of the Bull and the Fish,
Oh my Lord, you are the angel of the world and what is holy.
~~ from Qewlê Tawûsî Melek, "The Hymn of Melek Ta'us" [6]

This verse neatly demonstrates key aspects of Yezidi thought. First, it places Melek Ta'us at the head of the Haftan (Heptad), or seven angels in charge of administering the world and the sacredness therein. Second, it makes him protector of the Throne and Seat of God - the agent of the Almighty. Third, it positions him within their creation myth, as the earth symbolically rests between the horns of a Bull which stood on the back of a Fish.

The seven angels (Melek is equivalent to the word in English) represent various aspects and qualities of divinity and have different spheres of influence. There are a subgroup of four that are familiar to the western Hermetic tradition: Mika'il, Jibra'il, Israfil and 'Izra'il (or 'Ezazil), the latter which is correlated to Melek Ta'us.

In this structure they are similar to the Yarsanist (also called Ahl-i Haqq) tradition of Iran. [7] Given that there are no known Yezidi in Iran - and the Yarsanis exist only there - it would seem that the two groups are different manifestations of the same seed-idea across cultural divides. There are some curious variations between the two: the Ahl-i Haqq use a nutmeg during an initiation ceremony, where the Yezidi continue to venerate the walnut. [Kreyenbroek, 53] The names of figures in the haftan are different, i.e., some of the Ahl-i Haqq compare Melek Ta'us with their angel Dawud. And the Ahl-i Haqq practice rooster sacrifice on the New Year, an act of heresy to the Yezidi who venerate this animal as a symbol of Melek Ta'us. [8]