Last week I attended an Interfaith
Gala Dessert Reception to help the Yezidis Facing Genocide, featuring a
delegation of Yezidis in exile here in North America and hoping to regain their
homelands.
Held at Peninsula
Sinai Congregation in Foster City, California, the room featured peacock
feathers on each table and walls adorned with Yezidi (Yazidi) flags. The screen upon one wall featured a
large image of Melek Taus, the Peacock God of the Yezidis.
I was especially intrigued to learn how Melek Taus is
conceived in Yezedi (Yazidi) religion because this figure also appears as a
deity in the Anderson Faery/Feri tradition of the Craft.
Here is an account of a contemporary reference to Melek Taus
The contingent,
named Malik al-Tawus or ‘King Peacock’ after the mythical figure worshipped by
the ancient religious minority, clashed with IS [ISIL] in the area west of the
rebel-held city of Mosul.
Malik al-Tawus, the self-defence
group, was established in 2007 to protect the Yazidi community in Iraq against
attacks by Islamists.
The Yazidi religion is a syncretic
combination of Zoroastrianism with Sufi Islam, dating back to ancient
Mesopotamia. They believe that God and seven angels protect the world and one
of these angels, named Malak Tawus and believed to be embodied by a peacock on
Earth, was thrown out of paradise for refusing to bow to Adam.
I don’t know if the Yezidis who were honored at this recent
reception would agree with the description of their religion as being
syncretic, although most if not all religions are. They struck me as being of a conservative bent. This particular group represented a
diaspora of Yezidis living in Canada.
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
reports on another Yezidi community in Armenia where Melek Taus is
prominently revered and where the Yezidis recently constructed a new
temple. Perhaps their goal is not
to reclaim their homeland in Northern Iraq that other diasporic communities
seek.
In any case, Melek Taus, the headstrong Peacock Angel, is the
central figure in the Yazidi faith.
Because he refused to bend to the will of God [the one called Allah, one
would assume], conservative Muslims view the Yezidis as “devil
worshippers.” The Koran tells a
similar story about Shaytan, the Devil, having been cast down into hell for
defying God.
However, although Melek Taus is the most important deity to
the Yezidis, they maintain that he belongs to the entire world. About the Peacock Angel Yezidi Truth asserts
that:
The Yezidis believe that they
possess the oldest religion on Earth, the primeval faith that features Tawsi
Melek, and that all other traditions are related to them through the Peacock
Angel [although not always in the form of a peacock]. They contend that Tawsi
Melek is the true creator and ruler of the universe, and therefore a part of
all religious traditions. Once he
arrived on Earth he became its monarch and has since governed the world from an
etheric dimension.
Melek Taus later changed his appearance and name and now has
morphed and manifested in different religions around the globe.
Further, for Yazidis, Melek Taus “is above the concepts of
good and evil -- comparable to fire, which can cook and warm but also burn and
destroy.” Therefore, is makes
perfect sense to me that he would manifest in a religion that holds the concept
of “the black heart of innocence.”
To quote the late Grand Master Victor Anderson: “How beautiful is the black lascivious
purity in the hearts of children and small animals. This is the black heart of innocence and the root of all true
rightness.”
My initial encounters with Melek Taus were in the context of
Anderson Faery/Feri, although I have had very little exposure to him even
within Faery. When I first read
about Melek Taus exclusive of the context of Faery, I thought his appearance
there might have been the dreaded cultural
appropriation. After all, culturally
speaking, Northern Iraq is a far cry from Northern California. Now I’ve learned that he is claimed to
be “a part of all religious traditions.”
My personal favorite, the image on the altar in my bedroom,
is artist Paul Rucker’s
interpretation. Judging by the plethora of images of Melek Taus on the
Internet, it seems he’s become widely known, with many jpgs of Paul’s art and
almost no attribution.
There’s a wealth of information and a wealth images of Melek
Taus on the Internet for those who wish to pursue him intellectually. Best, however, to encounter him by
performing devotional acts; then see what happens.
