Sabean, Sabaean, Sabian, Sabianism [from Hebrew tsaba host, army, celestial hosts]

A name given by the Shemitic peoples to those who worship the spiritual beings in the universe; and because the celestial bodies were the most evident manifestations of some classes of these spiritual beings, this religion naturally became confused with the worship of the celestial bodies themselves as the dwellings or mansions of the regents above, in, and behind the visible orbs. Hence the Sabeans were called astrolaters or star-worshipers; but it was not the physical bodies of the celestial orbs which were worshiped, but the spiritual entities, powers, or spirits which ensouled these orbs. This was one of the very archaic religions of the human race, found all over the globe in various forms; and in its origins Sabianism was undoubtedly an outpouring of occult teaching from the archaic Mysteries.

The word Sabean itself has come down to us mainly through Greek and Latin writers, but so thoroughly imbued were the ancient Hebrews with this idea of the celestial hosts or cosmic spirits that the Bible is full of references where the context even wrongly endows the celestial hosts with the properties of the Most High God, and it has been so understood by Christian theologians; forgetting, however, that manifested deities, however high, are but the manifestations of the infinite and ineffable Mystery or parabrahman, from which all the celestial hosts flow or emanate. Thus not only ancient and modern Judaism, but Christianity itself, is filled with the thought of the ancient Sabeans.

Sabeanism was unquestionably the main religious belief of the ancient Chaldeans and Assyrians, but likewise the very foundation stone of practically all the great religions of all the great peoples of the past. Upon the authority of the Jewish scholar Maimonides, scholars have considered the Sabeans as an ancient race whose principal religion was that of star-worship and closely affiliated with the Babylonians and Syrians. But the Sabeans were not a race, but those who followed and practiced the divine astrological astrolatry of the hoariest antiquity. Mohammed in the Koran mentions a sect between the Jews and Christians called Sabi una -- to whom certain privileges were granted; older Moslem theologians were agreed that the Sabeans possessed manuscripts which they regarded in the light of a revelation, and the Mandeans came under the same protection granted to the Sabeans; hence the Mandeans also came to be regarded as Sabeans. Another sect of polytheists, the Harranians (830 AD), also affiliated with the Sabeans and shielded themselves under the same privileges; they were a remnant of a Mesopotamian cult, and star-worship had a prominent place in their system.

Certain Arabian writers termed the Sabean language the science of astronomy, but what we now call astronomy was but a minor portion of ancient astrolatry; they also state that Seth or Set was the founder of Sabeanism, and that the pyramids were regarded as the place of sepulture of Seth or Agathodaimon. We see here confusion, reductions of general principles to details, and anthropomorphizations of cosmic principles. Hermes is in many senses the same as Seth, and the pyramids were consecrated to the regents of the stars, rather than to the orbs (SD 2:362).

(See also: Sabean, Sabaean, Sabian, Sabianism, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Astrolatry The worship of the stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies, found particularly in ancient Chaldea. Used also by the Roman Catholic Church.

See also SABEAN(SABEANISM). (BCW)

(See also: Astrolatry, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Sabaean, Sabaeanism.

See SABEAN

(See also: Sabaean, Sabaeanism, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Sabian is a term that has been more or less inaccurately used to describe at least three religious groups (see Mandaeanism, Harranians or Sabeans, and Sabaeans). The term derives from the Arabic term "Sabi" (plural Sabiyah) meaning proselyte (i.e., one who has converted through Baptism but also reminiscent of a word meaning light) which was an appellation for a now obscure Arabic religious group. They are first mentioned in the Qur'an and later appear again in the writings of the Bahá'í Faith. Despite their clear documentation in traditions stemming from Islam, the actual nature of the group remains a matter o ...

Including:

• Sabians - Islamic reference
• Sabians - Sabi-Harran connections
• Sabians - Sabi-Mandaean connections
• Sabians - In the Bahá'í writings
• Sabians - New-Age Sabians
• Sabians - Conclusion

Read more here: » Sabians: Encyclopedia - Sabians

The idea that humans existed before Adam, which is known as the Pre-Adamite hypothesis or Preadamism, has a long history, probably having its origins in early pagan responses to Jewish and Christian claims regarding the origins of the human race. Advocates are known as PreAdamites as are the humans that are supposed to have existed before Adam. The first known debate took place between Theophilus of Antioch and an Egyptian pagan Apollonius, who argued that the world was 153,075 years old. Figures such as this occur regularly in Greek and Roman literature, as do the clai ...

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The Báb · Abdu'l-Bahá Kitáb-i-Aqdas · Kitáb-i-Íqán The Hidden Words Administrative Order The Guardian Universal House of Justice Continental Counsellors Spiritual Assembly Haifa · Akká Shiraz · Baghdad Bahá'í History · Timeline Bábís · Shaykh Ahmad Táhirih · Quddús · Badí' Shoghi Effendi Rúhíyyih Khanum Unity of humanity Unity of religion Gender equality Universal education Science and religion Auxilliary language Symbols · H ...

Including:

• Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Bahá'í Faith and Comparative Theology
• Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Judaism
• Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Christianity
• Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Islam
• Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Hinduism
• Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Buddhism
• Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Bahá'í Faith and Religious Studies

Read more here: » Bahá'í Faith and world religions: Encyclopedia - Bahá'í Faith and world religions

The Báb · Abdu'l-Bahá Kitáb-i-Aqdas · Kitáb-i-Íqán The Hidden Words Administrative Order The Guardian Universal House of Justice Continental Counsellors Spiritual Assembly Haifa · Akká Shiraz · Baghdad Bahá'í History · Timeline Bábís · Shaykh Ahmad Táhirih · Quddús · Badí' Shoghi Effendi Rúhíyyih Khanum Unity of humanity Unity of religion Gender equality Universal education Science and religion Auxilliary language Symbols · Humor · ...

Including:

• Bahá'í Faith and Science - Science in Bahá'í scriptures
• Bahá'í Faith and Science - Medicine in Bahá'í scriptures
• Bahá'í Faith and Science - Scientific statements by the founders
• Bahá'í Faith and Science - Existence of ether
• Bahá'í Faith and Science - Life on other planets
• Bahá'í Faith and Science - Evolution

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Nabatheans. A sect almost identical in their beliefs with the Nazarenes and Sabeans, who had more reverence for John the Baptist than for Jesus. Maimonides identifies them with the astrolaters.

"Respecting the beliefs of the Sabeans", he says, "the most famous is the book, The agriculture of the Nabatheans". And we know that the Ebionites, the first of whom were the friends and relatives of Jesus, according to tradition, in other words, the earliest and first Christians, "were the direct followers and disciples of the Nazarene sect", according to Epiphanius and Theodoret (See the Contra Ebionites of Epiphanius, and also "Galileans" and "Nazarenes").

(See also: Nabatheans, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

As seen, the Bahá'í Faith recognizes the divine origins of Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bábí movement. Sabeanism is also acknowledged (as in Islam), but historians are unsure as to precisely what a Sabean is or was. Other religions which are not specifically named in the writings--such as Taoism, Sikhism, or Native American religions--are nevertheless acknowledged to contain genuine spiritual influences. It is also ...

See also:

Bahá'í Faith and world religions, Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Bahá'í Faith and Comparative Theology, Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Judaism, Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Christianity, Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Islam, Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Hinduism, Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Buddhism, Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Bahá'í Faith and Religious Studies

Read more here: » Bahá'í Faith and world religions: Encyclopedia II - Bahá'í Faith and world religions - Bahá'í Faith and Comparative Theology

Sana'a is one of the ancient Yemen cities dating date back to the Sabean dynasty. The oldest reference to it existence is found in inscriptions which date back to the 1st Century AD. It is suggested that Sana'a was the capital of the Himyarite kingdom at the onset of the 6th Century AD. When King Yousef Athar (or Dhu Nuwas), the last of the Himyarite kings, was in power Sana'a was also the capital of the Ethiopian viceroy ...

See also:

Sanaá, Sanaá - Geography, Sanaá - History, Sanaá - Attractions and Culture, Sanaá - Old City, Sanaá - Cultural Arab Capital, Sanaá - Quotes and Impressions

Read more here: » Sanaá: Encyclopedia II - Sanaá - History

San'a is one of the ancient Yemen cities dating back to the Sabean dynasty. The oldest reference to its existence is found in inscriptions which date back to the 1st Century AD. It is suggested that San'a was the capital of the Himyarite kingdom at the onset of the 6th Century AD. When King Yousef Athar (or Dhu Nuwas), the last of the Himyarite kings, was in power San'a was also the capital of the Ethiopian viceroy ...

See also:

Sanaá, Sanaá - Geography, Sanaá - History, Sanaá - Attractions and Culture, Sanaá - Old City, Sanaá - Cultural Arab Capital, Sanaá - Quotes and Impressions

Read more here: » Sanaá: Encyclopedia II - Sanaá - History

Bardesanian (System). The "Codex of the Nazarenes", a system worked out by one Bardesanes. It is called by some a Kabala within the Kabala; a religion or sect the esotericism of which is given out in names and allegories entirely sui-generis. A very old Gnostic system. This codex has been translated into Latin. Whether it is right to call the Sabeanism of the Menda?tes (miscalled St. John’s Christians),

contained in the Nazarene Codex, "the Bardesanian system", as some do, is doubtful; for the doctrines of the Codex and the names of the Good and Evil Powers therein, are older than Bardaisan. Yet the names are identical in the two systems.

(See also: Bardesanian, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Some scholars have suggested that the Mandaean religion originated with Sabeans, who came under the influence of early Sabian missionaries but preferred their own priesthood. In either case we find in the writings from about 900 AD onward that there are now two Sabians mentioned and are distinguished as the "ancient first or true Sabians", while the Harranians are called the "pseudo Sabians". Thus various religious groups with a connection to baptism (like the Mandaeans) have sought to have the label applied to themselves in the hopes of avo ...

See also:

Sabians, Sabians - Islamic reference, Sabians - Sabi-Harran connections, Sabians - Sabi-Mandaean connections, Sabians - In the Bahá'í writings, Sabians - New-Age Sabians, Sabians - Conclusion

Read more here: » Sabians: Encyclopedia II - Sabians - Sabi-Mandaean connections

Disk-worship. This was very common in Egypt but not till later times, as it began with Amenoph III., a Dravidian, who brought it from Southern India and Ceylon. It was Sun-worship under another form, the Aten-Nephru, Aten-Ra being identical with the Adonai of the Jews, the " Lord of Heaven" or the Sun.

The winged disk was the emblem of the Soul. The Sun was at one time the symbol of Universal Deity shining on the whole world and all creatures; the Sabeans regarded the Sun as the Demiurge and a Universal Deity, as did also the Hindus, and as do the Zoroastrians to this day.

The Sun is undeniably the one creator of physical nature. Lenormant was obliged, notwithstanding his orthodox Christianity, to denounce the resemblance between disk and Jewish worship. "Aten represents the Adonai or Lord, the Assyrian Tammuz, and the Syrian Adonis"(The Gr. Dionys. Myth.)

(See also: Disk-worship, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

The Qur'an teaches that God (Allah in Arabic), has sent prophets to other peoples, revealing the true religion of Islam. Those peoples have rejected or perverted Islam. Muhammad, the last prophet (the seal of the prophets), has called them to return to the true faith. Those who reject his message will to be doomed to a fiery hell on the Day of Judgement. The Qur'an distinguishes between the monotheistic People of the Book (Jews, Christians and Sabeans), and polytheists or idolators on the other hand. The People of the Book should be tolerated, even if they hold to their inf ...

See also:

Islam and other religions, Islam and other religions - The Qur'an on other faiths, Islam and other religions - Practice of the early Muslims, Islam and other religions - Later Islamic practice, Islam and other religions - The Islamic heartland, Islam and other religions - Later Islamic conquests, Islam and other religions - Areas of peaceful expansion, Islam and other religions - Contemporary Islam, Islam and other religions - Predominantly Muslim countries, Islam and other religions - Muslims in diaspora, Islam and other religions - Is forced conversion allowable?

Read more here: » Islam and other religions: Encyclopedia II - Islam and other religions - The Qur'an on other faiths

Nazarenes (Hebrew, Jewish). The same as the St. John Christians; called the Mend or Sabeans.

Those Nazarenes who left Galilee several hundred years ago and settled in Syria, east of Mount Lebanon, call themselves also Galileans ; though they designate Christ "a false Messiah" and recognise only St. John the Baptist, whom they call the "Great Nazar".

The Nabatheans with very little difference adhered to the same belief as the Nazarenes or the Sabeans. More than this -  the Ebionites, whom Renan shows as numbering among their sect all the surviving relatives of Jesus, seem to have been followers of the same sect if we have to believe St. Jerome, who writes: " I received permission from the Nazareans who at Berea of Syria used this (Gospel of Matthew written in Hebrew) to translate it.... The Evangel which the Nazarenes and Ebionites use which recently I translated from Hebrew into Greek.’ (Hieronymus’ Comment. to Matthew, Book II., chapter xii., and Hieronymus’ De Viris Illust. cap 3.) Now this supposed Evangel of Matthew, by whomsoever written, "exhibited matter", as Jerome complains (bc. cit.), "not for edification but for destruction"(of Christianity).

But the fact that the Ebionites, the genuine primitive Christians, "rejecting the rest of the apostolic writings, made use only of this (Matthew’s Hebrew) Gospel"  (Adv. Her., i. 26) is very suggestive. For, as Epiphanius declares, the Ebionites firmly believed, with the Nazarenes, that Jesus was but a man "of the seed of a man" (Epiph. Contra Ebionites). Moreover we know from the Codex of the Nazarenes, of which the "Evangel according to Matthew" formed a portion, that these Gnostics, whether Galilean, Nazarene or Gentile, call Jesus, in their hatred of astrolatry, in their Codex Naboo-Meschiha or " Mercury". (See " Mendeans").

This does not shew much orthodox Christianity either in the Nazarenes or the Ebionites; but seems to prove on the contrary that the Christianity of the early centuries and modern Christian theology are two entirely opposite things.

(See also: Nazarenes, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Shemal sem'ol (Hebrew) North, the northern quarter, the left-hand, or the left quarter, the positions of space being taken from the observer who is supposed to be facing the rising sun (east). The spirit or regent of the earth, the shadow side of spirit, the darkness of matter.

"Schemal, the alter ego and the Sabean type of Samael, meant, in his philosophical and esoteric aspect, the 'year' in its astrological evil aspect, its twelve months or wings of unavoidable evils, in nature; and in esoteric theogony . . . both Schemal and Samael represented a particular divinity. With the Kabalists they are 'the Spirit of the Earth,' the personal god that governs it, identical de facto with Jehovah. For the Talmudists admit themselves that Samael is a god-name of one of the seven Elohim. The Kabalists, moreover, show the two, Schemal and Samael, as a symbolical form of Saturn, Chronos, the twelve wings standing for the 12 months, and the symbol in its collectivity representing a racial cycle. Jehovah and Saturn are also glyphically identical" (SD 1:417).

(See also: Shemal, sem'ol, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Nazarenes One of two early sects of Christians, the other sect being the Ebionites, which go back in their origin before the Christian era. They were disciples of that Jeshua ben Panthera who was an initiated teacher living in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus, who ruled over the Jews from 104-79 BC, and around whom, some state, that the Gospels story of Jesus was built (cf IU 2:201).

The Greek for this name is Nazoraioi, confused both with Nazarenoi (inhabitants of Nazareth) and with the Jewish sect of Nazarites; for Matthew 2:23 says that Jesus came and dwelt in Nazareth, that the Jewish prophecy that he should be called a Nazoraios might be fulfilled. This word has been translated Nazarene, as is also the case in Acts 24:5, where Paul is said to belong to the sect of the Nararaioi.

It would appear that the Jews claimed Jesus as a Nazarite [from Hebrew nazar to set apart, consecrate; cf nazar] Like the Ebionites, the Nazarenes were followers of true esoteric teachings, and occupied themselves in adapting these to what they found around them; so that scholars cannot make up their minds whether to call them Jews, Christians, Judizing Christians, heretics, or what not.

Other names for them were St. John Christians, Mendeans, or Sabeans. Epiphanius, the 4th century Church Father, speaks of them as dwelling in Coele-Syria, where they had taken refuge after the expulsion of Jews in the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Both his and Jerome's accounts represent them as partly Jewish and partly Christian, accepting the new covenant as well as the old. One of their main texts is the Codex Nazaraeus.

(See also: Nazarenes, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Astrology (Ancient Greek) The Science which defines the action of celestial bodies upon mundane affairs, and claims to foretell future events from the position of the stars. Its antiquity is such as to place it among the very earliest records of human learning.

It remained for long ages a secret science in the East, and its final expression remains so to this day, its exoteric application having been brought to any degree of perfection in the West only during the period of time since Varaha Muhira wrote his book on Astrology some 1400 years ago. Claudius Ptolemy, the famous geographer and mathematician, wrote his treatise Tetrabiblos about 135 A.D., which is still the basis of modern astrology.

The science of Horoscopy is studied now chiefly under four heads: viz.,

(1) Mundane, in its application to meteorology, seismology, husbandry, etc.

(2) State or civic, in regard to the fate of nations, kings and rulers.

(3) Horary, in reference to the solving of doubts arising in the mind upon any subject.

(4) Genethliacal, in its application to the fate of individuals from the moment of their birth to their death.

The Egyptians and the Chaldees were among the most ancient votaries of Astrology, though their modes of reading the stars and the modern practices differ considerably. The former claimed that Belus, the Bel or Elu of the Chaldees, a scion of the divine Dynasty, or the Dynasty of the king-gods, had belonged to the land of Chemi, and had left it, to found a colony from Egypt on the banks of the Euphrates, where a temple ministered by priests in the service of the "lords of the stars" was built, the said priests adopting the name of Chaldees.

Two things are known:

(a) that Thebes (in Egypt) claimed the honour of the invention of Astrology; and

(b) that it was the Chaldees who taught that science to the other nations.

Now Thebes antedated considerably not only "Ur of the Chaldees", but also Nipur, where Bel was first worshipped - Sin, his son (the moon), being the presiding deity of Ur, the land of the nativity of Terah, the Sabean and Astrolatrer, and of Abram, his son, the great Astrologer of biblical tradition. All tends, therefore, to corroborate the Egyptian claim.

If later on the name of Astrologer fell into disrepute in Rome and elsewhere, it was owing to the fraud of those who wanted to make money by means of that which was part and parcel of the sacred Science of the Mysteries, and, ignorant of the latter, evolved a system based entirely upon mathematics, instead of on transcendental metaphysics and having the physical celestial bodies as its upadhi or material basis. Yet, all persecutions notwithstanding, the number of the adherents of Astrology among the most intellectual and scientific minds was always very great.

If Cardan and Kepler were among its ardent supporters, then its later votaries have nothing to blush for, even in its now imperfect and distorted form. As said in Isis Unveiled (1. 259): "Astrology is to exact astronomy what psychology is to exact physiology. In astrology and psychology one has to step beyond the visible world of matter, and enter into the domain of transcendent spirit." (See " Astronomos.")

(See also: Astrology, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Sanaá - Old City. The old, fortified city has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years and contains a wealth of intact architectural gems. It had been declared a World Heritage City by the United Nations in 1984. Efforts are underway to preserve some of the oldest buildings, some of which are over 400 years old. Surrounded by ancient clay walls which stand six to nine metres (20-30ft) high, the old city boasts over 100 mosques, 12 hammams (baths) and 6500 houses. Many of the houses look rather like ancient skysc ...

See also:

Sanaá, Sanaá - Geography, Sanaá - History, Sanaá - Attractions and Culture, Sanaá - Old City, Sanaá - Cultural Arab Capital, Sanaá - Quotes and Impressions

Read more here: » Sanaá: Encyclopedia II - Sanaá - Attractions and Culture