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The Manichaean Mythos  is a series of "stories", or symbolic myths, that tell the story of Creation, the Fall, and the Restoration of all things. The Manichaean Mythos, divided into seven and one distinct Acts, begins and ends at the source of all Life and traces the progress of man and woman down into the depths of chaos and up again through the grace of the First Life (Yeshu & Miriam). Yeshu & Miriam, under various titles and names, are the main actors, or directors, in all  phases of the universal drama. They represent our Heavenly Parents to us and are archetypes of our own fallen and redeemed souls.

The key to this Mythos is to internalize it, not project it outward into historical events. We do not dwell upon how historical these Manichaean Mythos events might actually be or not be, but rather, we dwell upon how they express universal principles of a fall and restoration of a light spark with its source. They are explained as if they happened to one single person, or pair of persons, but they are understood as referring to each of us as individuals – as individual parts of a whole. The secret is to totally identify with either Yeshu if a male, or Miriam if female. This is understood as a correct view because we are all but sparks from the Living Flame of the highest Living Gods and Goddesses. In the Manichaean Gnostic paradigm there is ultimately only one reality – that of the Oneness of Amin-Hiya. Individual Nishimta sparks of that oneness are seen as minute expressions of the whole. Our individuality, although real, is seen as no more real than our joint identification with the whole. Thus each of our seeming individual souls can be expressed, or summed up, by the one soul of the Primal Pair. The soul in each of us is understood to be the self same soul that is in Yeshu and Miriam, and indeed, in all living things that share in Their universal Light.

The Mythos is the Gnostic equivelent to the Genesis story in the Bible. Both attempt to tell of the origins of humankind, the earth, and the universe. They help orientate the believer in the world and give an explanation for her or his purpose here and potential relationship to Greater Powers above.  The Jewish model familiar to most westerners speaks of a perfect Paradise created by God which is defiled by man's rebellion. In the Gnostic model the universe is the creation of lesser deities and is unredeemable except in the mind of the gnostic believer. The Mythos tells the whole tale.

"In its scriptures, sermons, hymns, and other means of discourse, the Manichaean tradition invokes the myth of a primordial combat between good and evil, and summons members of the community to "remember" it. The consequence of this remembrance is a recognition of the presence of the Living Self both within the individual, and throughout the material world." - Jason BeDuhn, The Manichaean Body

• Positive Accounts of the Mythos
• Coptic Summary of the Myth A short, but positive, Manichaean view of the Mythos.
• From "The Fundamental Epistle"  A positive Manichaean view of the Mythos.
• The Soul is Aroused  A short writing on a portion of the Mythos.
• From "The Treasure of Life, Bk. VII"  A portion of the Mythos surviving from Mani's own writing.
• The Work of the Great Builder A portion of the Mythos.
• The Vivification A portion of the Mythos.
• Negative or Neutral Accounts of the Mythos from Manichaean Critics.
• Of the Manichaeans by Alexander of Lycopolis (Negative Non-Nazorean Article which speaks of the Myth)
• Severus on the "Two Sources"  A short writing on the Dualism existant in  the Mythos.
• AnNadini on the Two Realms  A short writing on the two natures existant in  the Mythos.
• Manichaean Myth is an overview by Theodore Bar Konai in his Book of Scholia, dating from the 8th century and written in Syriac.
• Sect 66 of the Panarion. Epiphanius of Salamis, writing about 365 AD wrote a hostile report of the teachings of Mani.  (Non-Nazorean Article)
• Condemnation of the Mythos and Manichaeans
• Anathema Against Manicheism  (Non-Nazorean Curse of Mani's followers - Official Catholic Document)
• Actors and Archetypes in the Mythos
• Mythos - Manichaean Myth as projected on the Shawui Liturgical Year

The seven seasons are the Raising (Qyamta) in early spring, Ascension (Suloqo), Newness (Nusardil), Cross (Sleewa), Annunciation (Soubra), Birth (Yalda), and Fast (Sauma) at the end of winter. (The seven devotional times of the day which are related to them are: Qadumia at dawn; Tziphra at sunrise; Tlata at midmorning; Shitaya at midday; Tesha at midafternoon; Ramsha at sundown; and Shlama at dark.)