DeConick A.D

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PLEASANTVILLE RELIGIONS
diet, bodily cleanliness, sobriety, and avoidance of sins such as murder,
theft, and adultery—the job of controlling and containing the Ruha-like
spirit in the soul is largely the work of Mandaean ritual.
Ritual Waterworks
Lamea Abbas Amara, a famous poet and Mandaean woman living in San
Diego, cuts to the chase when she is asked about the soul and the afterlife:
“When you die, your soul goes back to its origin. The soul is given to the
child by God. And at the end of life, the beginning becomes the end, like
a big pot of water. The water always moves. It is a never-ending cycle”
(Buckley 2002, 30).
Recall the tributaries of light that run through the world of light.
These light world waterways are linked to the rivers of the earth—the
Jordan, the Euphrates, the Tigris—so that the world’s rivers establish a
connectivity with the world of light. The Mandaeans call this link laufa
(communion). When they immerse in the rivers, they are linking into the
world of light, communing with the ‘uthras .
This ritual immersion by a priest is called masbuta (baptism) . It is performed
for the community every Sunday (figure 10.5). It is not an initiatory
practice, because there is no Mandaean conversion. It is a habitual
practice that rehearses the entry into the divine realm and ensures these
Gnostics frequent and steady linkage to the world of light.
During the ceremony the priest is transformed into an ‘uthra . He
opens up a channel from the light world into the river and enters the
river himself, calling upon light world beings to guard and protect from
all evil the souls of those to be baptized. Through ritual actions, he binds
the forces of evil, making the water suitable for baptism.
The baptizands are robed in white and are called to the water by the
priest: “In the name of Life! Let everyone whose strength enables him
and loves his soul, come and go down to the Jordan and be baptized and
receive the pure sign. Put on robes of radiant light and set a fresh wreath
on his head!” (Buckley 2002, 83).
In the water, as the baptizand’s name is recited, the baptizand is
sealed with the Sign of Life in the name of Hiia (Life) and Manda d-Hiia
(Knowledge of Life). The person is immersed three times. Water from the
river is drunk and the baptizand is invited by the priest to “be healed and
strengthened!”