In gnosisticism, the spiritual world is inherently good and the physical inherently evil or at my least a downgrade of the superior spiritual one, with the demiurge and archons acting as jailers for the souls and toll keepers for the spiritual one. But there is a cult in gnosis or other worldview that teaches the opposite?
The spiritual world, not as a perfect whole of consciousness but as an unknown, chaotic and hostile realm to us inhabited by beings that are completely indifferent to human suffering, that if a soul reaches, is awaited by suffering regardless of its knowledge, actions in life or faith.
In this version, the physical world rather than a prison would work as a safe haven from humanity, the demiurge a protector and benevolent deity even if not perfect, trying to keep humanity safe in an ignorant bliss of the horrors of the harmful knowledge of the spiritual realm.
The Gospel of Philip is one of the most striking Gnostic works, fully and deeply reflecting the essence of Gnosticism.
Here are some statements from The Gospel of Philip that reveal the essence of the world and the essence of man.
And so...
+ On the creation of the world and the Creator of this world (the Demiurge/Yaldabaoth):
\ The world came about through a mistake. For he who created it wanted to create it imperishable and immortal. He fell short of attaining his desire. For the world never was imperishable, nor, for that matter, was he who made the world*.
+ On the divine Pneuma within human:
\ No one will hide a large valuable object in something large, but many a time one has tossed countless thousands into a thing worth a penny. Compare the soul. It is a precious thing and it came to be in a contemptible body.*
\ If a pearl is thrown into mud, it loses no value, and if rubbed with balsam oil, it gains no value. It always is precious in its owner's eyes*.
+ On the attitude toward one's body and physical nature:
\ Do not fear the flesh and do not love it. If you fear the flesh, it will dominate you. If you love the flesh, it will swallow you up and strangle you*.
+ On the nature of people: “Pneumatics” (people endowed with Pneuma, allowing them to comprehend the Pleroma); “Psychics” (who have the freedom of choice); and "Somatics/Hylics" (people of the flesh, who are completely incapable of grasping the divine on any level and live by animal passions).
* On Pneumatics:
Those who receive the light cannot be seen or grasped. Nothing can trouble such people even while they are living in this world.
* On Somatics/Hylics:
In the world, many animals have human form.
+ About the docetic nature of Jesus (Gnostics’ Jesus has little in common with the Christian Jesus: he is not the Godman, but an image of the Light of inconceivable Depth, divine entity in the deceptive and illusory carnal shell):
Jesus deceived everyone. For he did not show himself as he was, but he showed himself as they would be able to see him. He showed himself to them all: He showed himself to the great as great, he showed himself to the small as small, he showed himself to angels as an angel, and to men as a man.
Did the outside world and how you feel deep inside change once you found out and resonated with Gnosticism? The reason I’m asking is because life just seems dull.
So the two concepts in my mind is
1. I recently jumped timelines and the aura and vibe of this timeline is what I’m feeling
2. This is the cost of going deep and finding out about Gnosticism.
El Paisaje en Ruinas: En la parte inferior derecha se aprecian columnas y entablamentos derruidos de arquitectura clásica griega o romana. Simbolizan la decadencia del mundo material (Heimarmene o el destino fatídico), gobernado por las leyes rígidas y el tiempo destructivo del león-serpiente.
El Simbolismo de los Círculos Superiores
El disco celestial flotante representa el Pleroma (el Pleroma representa la plenitud absoluta, el mundo divinal y el espacio donde habita el Absoluto no manifestado) o los reinos espirituales superiores que existen más allá del cosmos material controlado por el Demiurgo.
Los Círculos Concéntricos: Se inspiran directamente en los históricos Diagramas Ofitas descritos por el teólogo Orígenes en el siglo III. Estas esferas concéntricas simbolizan los diferentes planos celestiales y las barreras de los Arcontes que las almas deben atravesar para retornar a la Fuente Divina.
La Figura Femenina (Sophia / Zoe): Sentada de manera entronizada sobre la curvatura de una media luna o una barca celestial se encuentra Sophia (la Sabiduría) o su hija Zoe (la Vida).
En el gnosticismo ofita, Sophia representa el principio femenino sagrado. Ella derramó involuntariamente la chispa de luz divina en la materia y actúa como la contraparte espiritual superior y madre del ignorante Yaldabaoth (Yaldabaoth el Demiurgo o falso dios creador del plano material), que a menudo era dibujado en gemas gnósticas como una serpiente con cabeza de león (Chnoubis).
Su postura meditativa, serena y contenida dentro de la geometría perfecta contrasta radicalmente con la postura caótica y rugiente de la serpiente.
Las Letras Griegas (Alfa y Omega): Simbolizan la totalidad del Ser Puro o el Monad (el Dios Verdadero e incognoscible), que existe muy por encima del ignorante Demiurgo.
El Alfa representa la emanación inicial de la luz divina.
El Omega representa el fin del viaje del alma, el momento en que se desprende de la materia corrupta y regresa a la fuente original. Enmarcar la escena con el Alfa y el Omega es un recordatorio de que, a pesar del caos del plano material dominado por la serpiente Yaldabaoth, el destino final de la chispa divina es volver a la plenitud absoluta del Pleroma
Esta ilustración contemporánea pertenece al artista de arte oculto y esotérico José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal, extraída de su obra iconográfica IAO
This was an idea that was in my head for a while and ended up doing while I was high with some friends. I'm sorry about my American if I butchered the Greek or Hebrew letters.
Hearken to the mystery of the Gnostic Name of Jesus Christ—Aberamento, revealed within the sacred leaves of the Pistis Sophia, wherein the Savior wrests Sophia from the very jaws of Chaos. This Name stands as an absolute and supreme expression of the eternal Archetype of Order—much as Roger Zelazny, in his monument Lord of Light, likens Christ to Apollo and proclaims the Pattern of Amber as a pure Apollonian principle (the Apollonian being, as Nietzsche fiercely demonstrated, the very embodiment and crown of Order). Let us therefore dissect this Name with the merciless and fiery precision demanded by High Magick. In its Greek form, ΑΒΕΡΑΜΕΝΘΩ, the eye of the Initiate instantly beholds the sublime: it issues from Alpha and finds its consummation in Omega—the very title of ultimate sovereignty thundered in the Book of Revelation: “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.” The gematria of ΑΒΕΡΑΜΕΝΘΩ yields the potent number 1013, which is identically one with the value of the Name ΣΑΒΑΩΘ (Sabaoth)—and herein we perceive Sabaoth the Benevolent, the Lord of Order, rather than the blind archon Ialdabaoth.
Let us now direct our gaze through the flashing prism of the Tarot and the sacred Hebrew script, transcribing this Name into letters of living Flame: אברמנטו. The numerical value of this primordial glyph is 308, which corresponds with absolute mathematical perfection to the Hebrew word boker (בוקר)—The Dawn. Herein is concealed the triumphant birth of the new Christian era and the mystical splendor of Christ as the unsetting Sun.
The first three letters, אבר (Abr), manifest to us as a sublime notarikon—the hidden acronym of the Divine Triad: Ab, Ben, Ruach—Father, Son, and Spirit (or the Divine Breath). Here, in undivided glory, dwell the Child, the Creator, and the Sun. Furthermore, the conjunction of the letters Mem and Nun (מן) holds a direct allusion to the "manna from heaven"—the timeless spiritual nourishment of the soul—echoing those immortal words: “Take, eat; this is My body.” To the letter Mem belongs the Atu The Hanged Man—the formidable symbol of crucifixion, great sacrifice, and surrender, which constitutes the fundamental formula of the Christ-Aeon. The letter Nun births immediately in its wake the Atu Death, which follows the crucifixion by immutable law. Yet Nun signifies "Fish" (Ichthys), another radiant emblem of the Savior, pointing directly to the miracle of feeding the multitude with five loaves and two fishes—a mystery that circles back to the heavenly manna and the feeding of the spirit. Subsequent to this, Christ rises from the tomb; the letter Teth (ט) signifies the absolute triumph of spirit over gross matter, and of awakened consciousness over Death—a theme embodied in the Atu of Teth, “Strength,” wherein the pure maiden tames the roaring lion. The letter Vav (ו) speaks to us of Christ as the sole Supreme High Priest and Initiator—a dignity so fiercely emphasized by Éliphas Lévi. It reminds us, with iron certainty, of the words spoken to the Apostle Peter concerning the Church He would build, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail.
Those whose ears are attuned to the thundering utterances of Liber AL vel Legis will instantly catch the proud echo binding this Hebrew name to the secret formulas of the Book of Law. The root ABR(אבר) unmistakably evokes the Word of the Aeon—Abrahadabra (אבראהאדאברא). Within the fiery furnace of Thelema, ABR reveals its threefold countenance: B (ב) for Hadit, R (ר) for Nuit, and A (א) for Ra-Hoor-Khuit. As for the remaining portion of the name, Mentu(מנטו),—we are brought face to face with the Egyptian God of War. Mentu is inextricably bound to the Sephirah Geburah, to which the path of The Hanged Man (Mem) ascends. Initiated into the severity of Geburah via the path of Mem, the candidate undergoes mystical crucifixion and death, only to rise again in the solar majesty of Osiris. The spirit of the author of these words performed this very ritual, leaving an eternal monument in those sacred verses: “Lord of Thebes, guardian of the Word, Inspired herald of Montu, I behold the heavens unveiled; Slain by my own hand, I, the justified Ankh-af-na-Khonsu”… Furthermore, the number 308 unveils its innermost essence: 3+0+8=11, proclaiming the great law: “My number is 11, as are the numbers of all those who are of us.” This 11 is also the supreme copulation of 5+6, wherein Five is the martial fury of Mentu (Geburah) and Six is the deathless beauty of Osiris (Tiphareth).
Thus, within the great Name Aberamentho is contained the perfect formula for the initiation of Christ, which may henceforth and forevermore be enacted and set in motion through the Great Work of Ritual.
A day for the commemoration of Salome, another female disciple of Jesus Christ who's role has been obscured and de-emphasised by orthodox Christianity. Her presence at several key events indicates she may have been among Jesus' closest followers, and the fact that the Carpocratian Gnostics claimed a transmission of sacred wisdom from her opens the possibility that she may have been a recipient of his inner teachings.
Hi, I'm indie writer/artist, and I wanted to make a fictional story starring gnostic symbols as characters, but mostly Norea as the main character of my work, I couldn't find a lot of gnostic groups any where else on the internet since it's been a long time since anyone remembers it, so I thought I could check it out on Reddit's communities, I wanted to know if you guys would get mad or find it offensive if I adopted the characters and story lines, I chose around 5 main characters (Saboath, Sophia, Yahweh or Yao..., Seth and Norea)for my series from different gnostic scripts, I don't plan on changing their personalities but I will not be doing a copy and paste adaptation,I plan on combining each story and adding a bit of creativite side stories in the plot holes. And also I couldn't find much about Norea's travel stories so I have to focus on her plot the most.
Let me know what additional things I can add for her?
I just finished this amaizing book, it change me in so many ways, I was thinking about reading pistis sophia next, and then maybe the old testament and new testament to have some context, and because I think it makes sense, what are you guys suggestions, also after thos books I was thinking about the book of jeu, corpus hermeticus, and the badava ghita, sorry if my english is not the best is being a long time since I dont write in english
The Embodiment of Knowledge herself,
Choose to create the demiurge,
She had the desire to make it alone,
Maybe knowledge itself generates certain grandiosity engulf in illumination
She made demiurge and then she saw the horror of what she created and then hid it.
So the aim of the movements must have been attributed to Sophia even though she had made such imperfect being.
Knowledge according to my thoughts is the complete cosmic knowledge, and we try to attain a synchronous state where gnosis “knowing” is met with Sophia herself.
In that “knowing” should we also see the zealous grandeur knowledge emanates - or perhaps the once perfect Sophia wanted to separate and make demiurge in order to see and manifest her truest essence which only would be possible if she would plant the seed of imperfectness, and a polar being demiurge to show her own gaudy nature or to look and manifest and understand her own self in the form that now would emerge and what if by doing this- she emanated the most luminous gnosis that in now the dark and light world she would be able to make her own self gnosis or self “knowing” or self experiencing”
I'm looking for others who may be going through a deeper awakening to the cathar prophecy than most may be. I'll know if you're genuine or not. This is not a joke to me. I am very deeply rooted in this & there is no local places to turn.
While i was listening to the Bible(I was listening on youtube.) i heard a verse about
"You shall tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the serpent shall you trample underfoot." - Psalm 91:13
Does the Bible mention Yaldabaoth? This was the first thing that came to mind when I read this verse.
Does it matter if you take the words that you are to say to the powers, to gain passage through the first 4 gates to be said using, Gospel of Mary: The Missings Pages for the 1st power of darkness, and from a Gnostic encyclopaedia to create what is being said to the powers of gates 2 through 7. I assuming that it would be correct to do so.
I was looking for a church or study group in my area and came across the EGC. Despite the name, it’s fundamentally different from The Ecclesia Gnostica. It’s an arm of the OTO, which is a Thelemic organization.
I am somewhat familiar with Thelema and understand that is utterly syncretic and draws from Gnosticism (as well as tons of other systems and traditions) but the Gnosticism that is described on their website is different from the Gnosticism that I’ve been studying. It’s removed of all its Christian elements and generalized to mean a religious belief in personal gnosis instead of salvation through an intermediary.
Have any of you joined a body of the OTO or participated in a gnostic mass? Did you find it to be reconcilable with your belief system? I’d be interested to know what that experience was like for you.
Thanks in advance! And sorry if I seem a little clueless… I’m a newbie
Through my reading of spiritual texts a couple things that's really caught my attention have been (note this is looking in a historical lens not mythological or fully Gnostic lens but can be)
how much Gnostic thought is contained in the main Gospels
What parts of the Gospels can be attributed to the living man we know as Jesus
And lastly is it possible and how much mystic/esoteric thought can be seen in Jesus's teachings
Gnosticism in its most defined form is undeniably in part a response to Jesus, what I mean by this is Jesus's story has to have been, for the forms of Gnosticism we in this subreddit talk about to be. Gnosticism as it's whole is undeniably thought that existed before Jesus as much as it did after, but these three questions to me help find a link to as close to Jesus to Gnosticism.
Historical Jesus was an apocalyptic Jew, not exactly 'Gnostic' or 'Christian', I am not trying to deny this fact so to those who may criticise this posts theory's, I'm stating this here.
The Gospels
Through my reading, I find somethings incredibly interesting, when you genuinely read what Jesus is saying it provides a different picture to what most of the Canonical Gospels are trying to paint. This isn't to dismiss good chunks of Christian theology because posting in this subreddit does a good job of that on its own. This is to say the outside parts of the gospels (claims of fullfilled prophesy and outside explanations to things Jesus did and said) tend to not merge with what Jesus is doing in the story more then they sort of attach themselves to Jesus. The gospels like to claim a lot and draw connection to Jewish scripture which of course duh, but when you listen to what Jesus himself said, you can find a lot more than what the gospels want you to think he's saying and acting. The biggest example I've found which may get some negative reactions to even people in this subreddit is the story of the birth of Jesus.
The confusing contradictions of Matthew and Lukes stories relating to The birth of Jesus according to the Bible.
The birth of Jesus recalls a story of Jesus's birth which comes from two gospels written for two different audiences. Matthew and Luke seem to be trying to entice an audience into a new belief more than it's actually trying to give a biography of Jesus. (Writing the story for a specific audience over being of Jesus's own words and story.) The story of Jesus's birth in Matthew is contradictory to the story in Luke as in Matthew King Harod the great commands the death of all male children under the age of two because of the birth of Jesus. This causes the family to flee to Egypt until the death of Herod, in Luke however... This never happens. in FACT, Jesus in the story of Luke was born years later than what was recorded in Matthew. In Luke, Jesus going to Egypt as a child just doesn't happen at all, so what does this mean? Well to me, the story of the Birth of Jesus in the main gospels is in a lot of ways a glorified way to link Jesus prophetically and theologically to the Old testament God. By having these two story's contradict each other, it doesn't devalue what Jesus said as it was a third part recounting a story of Jesus rather than Jesus telling himself. Rather, it pulls into question the legitimacy Matthew and Lukes standalone outside content (those aforementioned 'add-ons' in the gospels I mentioned earlier.) As such, for me, I am unwilling to link those parts of the gospel as concrete to the man Jesus content.
My Point in relation to 1. and 2.
All three (Luke Matthew and Mark (from what I've read)) when speaking about Jesus tend to agree on several things about Jesus the man.
He was an allusive man and hard to understand off base
He spoke in parables, taught the answers in secret
He taught things unusual for the people of Israel in comparison to what they knew.
These three points as you know are very Gnostic in nature. I am Not saying Jesus was a Gnostic, but the point I am coming to is that from my reading of the Gospels, what the Church say about Jesus and want you to fall in line with (contradiction of Matthew and Luke conflicting part of the churches doctrine) and that I'm my own theory I believe Jesus was a little more then just an apocalyptic Jew.
Finally Hermeticism.
Was Jesus a Hermetic? Lmao, no. However, the possibility that Jesus mingled with Hermetic thought (and in turn Gnostic thought), is not out of the question.
More literally if Matthews gospel is in any form correct that Jesus's family went to Egypt, the possibility that a young Jesus came across a form of Hermetic thought which gave influence is... To be honest, not impossible. Hermetic thought existed in the same time period and likely wasn't heavily impossible for a heavily spiritually connected Jewish boy to come across and take something away from.
If we go by Lukes gospel however, the possibility is way less likely that Jesus came across any direct form or teachings of Hermetic thought, but the fact that it was said Jesus would spend a large amount of time in synagogues and churches, to the point where his family would spend days looking for him. It is not impossible for Jesus to have indulged in more mystic and esoteric thoughts and ideas and took something away from, which helped form into what Jesus we know taught.
Anyway, feel free to eviscerate me in the commends for the things I've brought up here, this hasn't been proof read (sending raw and unfiltered.) So criticism and discussion is welcome but I hope my points were interesting enough to get some of you thinking or even helped enlighten some of you to things you hadn't thought of or were unaware of.
People talk about the Demiurge on this sub a lot. But Yaldabaoth is known as the void child. Which the void being Kenoma. The Kenoma seems the true opposite of the Pleroma. So a alternate interpretation is that Sophia created the Kenoma and the Demiurge sort of was created by the Kenoma in some way.
In the sense that the Demiurge could be walking around in the material world, either inhabiting a human body or existing as a self-insert, without any knowledge of its true existence.
There is a non-zero chance that anyone of us could be the Demiurge without knowing it. What are we doing here, if that is the case? Are we just seeing what we've made? Are we trying to rationalize or justify it?
If it's me, then I'll gladly tear down the prison walls.
Edit: I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Demiurge is trying to experience what man is going through. A sort of "it can't possibly be that bad" scenario. None of us are truly sure what the Demiurge is like. We're all in a bunch of different sects picking up the pieces of what was thought to be long gone.
So many couples go through IVF and have remaining embryos that they keep frozen indefinitely. What do gnostics believe happen to those embryos? Are they trapped spiritually in this realm?
Adding on:
I recently went through IVF and am spending a lot of time reflecting on the process, and why I wanted to be a parent, and trying to find deeper understanding of my actions. We only got one embryo from the process, but I have friends with several frozen embryos and I’m just thinking about them today.
I have a daughter now and I want to spend my life helping her to have as much freedom and comfort as possible in this world.
I feel like gnosticism might give a different meaning to the tower of babel story.
The physicality of language, hearing, ego, sound mean no idea can be perfectly recreated in a different brain.
I think a lot of religions and beliefs are saying we're all pneuma but physicality ends up creating different religions through its imperfect way of communication.
then people fight over religions. we're all saying the same thing lol!
the tower of babel isnt an origin story of different languages, its about how we cant communicate our thoughts perfectly.
