Eros and the Pearl: The Yezidi Cosmogonic Myth at the Crossroads of Mystical Traditions

Eros and the Pearl is the first monograph devoted to the Yezidi cosmogonic myth. It is based on the author’s field research among the Yezidi people in Iraq, Turkey, Georgia, and Armenia. The author focuses on the analysis of the cosmogonic motif of Pearl and Love and, referring to various source materials, traces the presence of analogous threads in other religious traditions, esp. Yarsanism, Mandaeism, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, as well as the Greek philosophical concepts of Eros and the primordial One that influenced Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Early Christianity, and Sufism. Demonstrating the complexity of the Yezidi tradition, the author also points to Harranian ‘Sabians’ as those who may have contributed to its beliefs at the beginning of the formation of the Yezidi religion.