The Gnostic cosmogony
Background
As we explained, the differences between the Orthodox Canon and the Gnostic scriptures are black and white, or, darkness and light. Some of the words and actors are the same, but the story is completely different. When the Gnostic cosmogony is compared to the Genesis cosmogony, you can see that the Genesis was constructed from pieces and parts of the Gnostic, which preceded it. The Gnostic being far more ancient than the Orthodox, as well as much evidence that the translations from the Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic texts were altered to support the Orthodox narrative of the ‘new’ Roman church. The biggest confusion bar none, being the translation of the Elohim and the Archons, a family of gods of the highest places in the Light and the lowest places of the Darkness, that were frequently transliterated incorrectly; Elohim, being the Family of God, was translated as a single; ‘God’. The Aeons became Angels, and the Archons became Demons. The Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, was twisted around into something evil. It was a ‘wicked’ thing that allowed men to know that they were all the Sons of God. All things were converted to a ‘mystery’ as the Gnostic knowledge was destroyed.
The Gnostic texts make for interesting reading, compared to what most people are familiar with in the over simplified Genesis and the Roman Canon. The texts of the Nag Hammadi are very different to anything encountered in the Bible. They are controversial, yet it is very enlightening and thought provoking when looked at with the tool of the Grail of Enoch combined with the proof of Einstein. The Unified Field of the Piper, is simply mathematical and scientific proof of the Revelation of Enoch and Gnosis, that proves its extra worldly provenance. The Gnostic churches were trying to explain that there was far more to Jesus’ teaching than what is found in the canonical gospels or from the letters of the apostles. Unfortunately the Gnostic gospels of Jesus’ teachings were declared ‘Heretic’, and the letters of Paul were used as the basis of scripture and the dogmas of the church. It is interesting to note that Paul never studied with the Disciples, and the church of Jerusalem was appalled at his teachings.
If you do not believe that the Roman Canon wasn’t deliberately dumbed down, you need to read the writings of Origen and the church fathers, who were adamant that a philosophical treatment of the New Canon was inferior for the masses, when all that was needed was the telling of a ‘story’. When you read the ‘church fathers’, what you read is the voice of intellectual arrogance and the necessity for the control over the minds of the peasant masses through the device of The Mystery Narrative of Fear.
It was for this difference between the philosophers of Gnosticism and the new Roman church at the time that led the Gnostics to be branded as heretics, which was shown in post-Pauline (Orthodox) writings and teaching, and this was followed by the destruction of all Gnostic writings by the fourth century AD. For centuries, the only information we had about the Gnostic texts comes from the writings of those such as Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon, and others like him, who attacked Gnosticism. Over the period of the next centuries, the culture of the church imposed a total lock down on reason and thinking, replacing it with the precepts of the Mysteries of the Church. They converted the Universe itself from a Cause and Effect paradigm, to a Crime and Punishment paradigm, it is a wonder anything survived the great purging of books and libraries, but interestingly, it appears God made sure the.few texts surfacing today, are the most critical ones. At the time the new printing press technology was as controlled as some would like to make the internet today. The function of ‘gatekeeper’ of knowledge, only, ever, serves the purpose of the Authorities.
As we said, providence provided for a number of Gnostic texts to be hidden and preserved. There was also the discovery of the writings of Enoch in the early 18th century, then in Nag Hammadi Egypt, where the codexes were rediscovered in 1945, as well as the discovery of other sets of writings found around the same time frame, found in caves near Qumran, Israel, in 1947. They are totally different from the Gnostic writings,called the Dead Sea Scrolls. The fact that all these documents, survived at all, and the serendipity of their discoveries, was nothing short of a divine intervention, a Divine Revelation if you will, perhaps even The Revelation of what was hidden by the Mother of Harlots, named; MYSTERY and Babylon the Great. Who we know today as The Church of Rome. But, if she is the Mother of Harlots, nobody has ever said, or asked, to our knowledge, who the daughters are…these are the Protestants. These are those who ‘protest’ Rome and stand in opposition to her ‘blasphemous’ doctrines, but they do not stop to think, that they use the same book that Rome produced… a book of MYSTERY. A book that is the Source of the Denominations, divisions, and conflicts between God’s people. The doctrines contained within, bring war, not peace, just like the Lord said, He came; “not to bring peace, but a sword”, a sword of division. But he did not wield that sword, men did.
One of the things discovered in the Gnostic cosmogony is that you have to re-think the Old Testament Genesis about the Creator and other angels and celestial beings, the roles of Adam and Eve, and the belief of the afterlife. Much of the Genesis has changed in the Gnostic writings that are found in the Enoch and Nag Hammadi texts.
The roles of the Creator has changed as well. The so-called Creator of this world, who is the God of Old Testament, was not the true Heavenly Father or the Ultimate Supreme Being that Jesus referred to in the New Testament. This Creator, or Demiurge I should say, was known by the name Yaldabaoth (Ialdabaoth) who was an imposter and a jealous god. It is thought that this god is also known by the pseudonyms; Ya(h), and Jehovah, the god of war. Who is the ‘jealous’ god of Israel and Moses. There is evidence that the ‘hidden’ name of Yah, spoken by the Jewish priests in the Holy of Holies was; Yaltaboath.. The implication of this one piece of information, negates the entire old testament as the writings of Jews, who were deceived by a Dark God of envy, jealousy and war. This then, being the deepest root cause, of the differences between the Ultimate God of Love and Light that Jesus preached ‘privately’, and the orders from their God to go forth and conquer the Promised Land.
It should be obvious to the casual observer that this represents not just a split in doctrines or testaments, but a revealing of the fact of two entirely different ‘Gods’. It should also be noted, that Jews do not have a concept of an afterlife, no heaven or hell is spoken of. The only life they have, is their life on Earth, and they are to make the most of it. Some of them, believe in reincarnation, this is a close to the Truth that they aspire to. The result of these divided ‘holy’ writings, in Judaism, and Christianity, like Islam, are religions of the Dark Gods, designed to promote materialism, strong emotions, conflict and war, which leads a soul to darkness and being ‘born again’. This is not ‘hell’ in the standard understanding, but, when understood through the Gnosis, is merely a place of waiting for their next incarnation. The punishment aspects, revealed in Gnosis, are not ‘from’ God, but in the ‘power’ of God, carried out by individual souls having been released from flesh, and then understand what darkness they have covered themselves with. Their ‘soiled linen robe’ is their soul, with darkness soiling it, that the mechanics of the Universe, called Karma, will ensure they must pay for through self recrimination and reincarnation.
I have used a number of Gnostic texts to piece together, the Gnostic version of the Genesis. I have relied on three texts from the Nag Hammadi, and the books of Enoch:
The Apocryphon of John (ApocJn), trans. Frederik Wisse
The Hypostasis of the Archons (HArch), trans. Bentley Layton
On the Origin of the World (OOW), trans. Hans-Gebhard Bethge and Bentley Layton
Enoch II-The book of Secrets by Enoch, trans. RH Charles.
There are twelve other codices in the Nag Hammadi Library.
There are a number of different variations of the Gnostic Cosmogony, including those texts that are not found in the Nag Hammadi Library, such as Irenaeus, though his account is hardly reliable, since his judgement is clouded in vehemently discrediting these writings. Our search was for the self verifiable and consistent narratives, not the outliers. In this search it is ironic that the words of the Christ have the highest level of consistency with the only rational model of creation given in Enoch and John. (As an aside, it should be noted that the writings of John, including the Revelation, survived being canonized very narrowly, there was a lot of opposition to them, as they were considered too ‘Gnostic’.)
Other sources that I may use, concerning the Gnostic creation, but I chose to ignore it for now, to avoid confusion. These are –
The Apocalypse of Adam (Adam), trans. George W. MacRae
The Gospel of the Egyptians (GosEgypt), trans. Alexander Böhlig and Frederik Wisse.
(This tractate followed the Sethian Gnostic creation model, where Seth, son of Adam and Eve, played a major role in the gnosis.)
Though the Gnostic writings were Christian in thought, they also showed Egyptian (Coptic), Greek and Hellenistic influences, as well as the esoteric Judaic.
Now, the following sections are concerned with the Gnostic creation myth. After you have read the Gnostic version of the creation story, you can either come to the conclusion that it is simply too complicated or weird, or, you can ask yourself a question; If you were the Creator, and you set yourself the mission of creating, would you do it all yourself, or would you want help? Would you first create helpers, so that like any good boss, you were able to make the big decisions and leave the day to day operations up to your delegated officers? Would it be a more enjoyable creation for you, if you delegated or if you had to do everything yourself, as the Orthodox seems to imply? Even the Orthodox recognizes angels, but their functions, roles and powers, are murky and mysterious. They seem to execute the will of God, they are everywhere and nowhere, and in some places of the Biblical narrative, they have problems moving through our reality having to fight with dark powers. Oddly, the Orthodox hierarchy of angelic beings and ‘powers’, is identical in levels to the Gnostic, they simply removed the Knowledge of the Aeons or Angels, and replaced them with The MYSTERY narratives.
The Perfect, Invisible Spirit and Barbelo
Much of what we know before the creation of the material world and Adam, can be found in the texts of Enoch and John. First, the book of the secrets of Enoch, is the REVEALED WORD of creation out of the mouth of the Creator Himself, while sitting on His throne speaking to Enoch. Enoch was the man in the Bible who was ‘taken up’ to the highest Heavens(called the Aeons by the Gnostics). Enoch was known as the Scribe of God or the Scribe of Righteousness because he was so perfect God took him up and had him write books. Enoch supposedly wrote 366 books, of which only two survive in any form today. The second book, the book of secrets, in chapter 24, is where God speaks to Enoch about the Creation in great detail. Details, that we were given the secret to proving scientifically, mathematically, thus Enoch II is considered The Revelation of the Knowledge of God and is accurate for this reason. It is also the only account that shows the creation of the Light and the Dark forces that formed the Firmament and the Chaos. Before there could be anything, there had to be a foundation laid, this is the account of the laying of the foundation of the Universes and the creation of the Delegated powers, the Aeons, or, the Ages.
2nd Enoch, The Book of Secrets
Chapter 24, XXIV:
1 And the Lord summoned me, and said to me:
Enoch, sit down on my left with Gabriel
2 And I bowed down to the Lord, and the Lord spoke to me:
Enoch, beloved, all (that) you see, all things that are standing finished I tell to you even before the very beginning, all that I created from non-being, and visible (physical) things from invisible (spiritual).
3 Hear, Enoch, and take in these my words, for not to My angels
have I told my secret, and I have not told them their rise, nor my endless realm, nor have they understood my creating, which I tell you to-day.
4 For before all things were visible (physical), I alone used to go about in the invisible (spiritual) things, like the sun from east to west, and from west to east.
5 But even the sun has peace in itself, while I found no peace, because I was creating all things, and I conceived the thought of placing foundations, and of creating visible (physical) creation.
Chapter 25, XXV
1 I commanded in the very lowest (parts), that visible (physical) things should come down from invisible (spiritual), and Adoil came down very great, and I beheld him, and lo! He had a belly of great light.
2 And I said to him: Become undone, Adoil, and let the visible (physical) (come) out of you.
3 And he came undone, and a great light came out. And I (was) in the midst of the great light, and as there is born light from light, there came forth a great age, and showed all creation, which I had thought to create.
4 And I saw that (it was) good.
5 And I placed for myself a throne, and took my seat on it, and said to the light: Go thence up higher and fix yourself high above the throne, and be A foundation to the highest things.
6 And above the light there is nothing else, and then I bent up and looked up from my throne.
Chapter 26, XXVI
1 And I summoned the very lowest a second time, and said: Let Archas come forth hard, and he came forth hard from the invisible (spiritual).
2 And Archas came forth, hard, heavy, and very red.
3 And I said: Be opened, Archas, and let there be born from you, and he came undone, an age came forth, very great and very dark, bearing the creation of all lower things, and I saw that (it was) good and said to him:
4 Go thence down below, and make yourself firm, and be a foundation for the lower things, and it happened and he went down and fixed himself, and became the foundation for the lower things, and below the darkness there is nothing else.
Chapter 27, XXVII
1 And I commanded that there should be taken from light and darkness, and I said: Be thick, and it became thus, and I spread it out with the light, and it became water, and I spread it out over the darkness, below the light, and then I made firm the waters, that is to say the bottomless, and I made foundation of light around the water, and created seven circles from inside, and imaged (the water) like crystal wet and dry, that is to say like glass, (and) the circumcession of the waters and the other elements, and I showed each one of them its road, and the seven stars each one of them in its heaven
, that they go thus, and I saw that it was good.
2 And I separated between light and between darkness, that is to say in the midst of the water hither and thither, and I said to the light, that it should be the day, and to the darkness, that it should be the night, and there was evening and there was morning the first day.
Chapter 28, XXVIII
1 And then I made firm the heavenly circle, and (made) that the lower water which is under heaven collect itself together, into one whole, and that the chaos become dry, and it became so.
2 Out of the waves I created rock hard and big, and from the rock I piled up the dry, and the dry I called earth, and the midst of the earth I called abyss, that is to say the bottomless, I collected the sea in one place and bound it together with a yoke.
3 And I said to the sea: Behold I give you (your) eternal limits, and you shalt not break loose from your component parts.
4 Thus I made fast the firmament. This day I called me the first-created [Sunday].
Pay particular attention to the ch 25:3, as it is compared to other accounts. There are even metaphysical, pagan and occultic accounts of Creation, that rely on the creator throwing off sparks of life from himself, that each spark became independent sentient entities. This is exactly what Enoch states:
“And I (was) in the midst of the great light, and as there is born light from light, there came forth a great age, and showed all creation, which I had thought to create.”
There is born light from light, sounds like a spark of life thrown off from the Father and the Holy Spirit, that begot the beginning of Time, and life, and all the plans for all the ages of creation. The only begotten Christ Spirit, named in other places. But to discern this, you have to know what an Age is. The other Gnostic texts refer to this entity as an Aeon. An Age or Aeon, is an entity that contains the function of time within itself, or more rightly put, the Image, design or Plan of the Times for all the times of eternity. It is only when these images or designs are projected or ’emanated’ into the Firmament of relative space-time do they become manifested in reality.
The Apocryphon of John (Secret Book of John), is a revelation of Jesus to John, son of Zebedee, who was said to have written this down.
In the beginning there was only one invisible Spirit – perfect, pure, holy, immaculate, ageless and virgin. He was the Ineffable One. He is neither corporeal, nor incorporeal. He is invisible because no one can see him, yet he emanated pure, immeasurable light. He is indestructible and eternal. Jesus revealed whom the real Supreme Being or Heavenly Father (in the New Testament), as the First Aeon, and The God. In this text, he was mostly referred to as the “invisible Spirit” or “holy Spirit”. In the Gospel of the Egyptians, he is called the “Great, Invisible Spirit”. For the sake of convenience, I will call him Father or Great Spirit. This is where the Root of the Tree gets confused by differing texts and the knowledge of the native indians may clarify things of spirit. The Great Spirit of the Indians, is the Father Spirit.
The Great Spirit then by the power of His thought, brought forth a feminine being, whose light was like His, and her power was also like his. She was the emanation of Him, His feminine counter-part. She was known as Barbelo(The Light of Adoil), the forethought of all, and the perfect Aeon.
This is the first thought, his image; she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father, the first man, the holy Spirit, the thrice-male, the thrice-powerful, the thrice-named androgynous one, and the eternal aeon among the invisible ones, and the first Aeon to come forth.
– The Apocryphon of John
The Spirit bestowed upon her the following five powers:- the image of the invisible Spirit (first man or human), foreknowledge, indestructibility, eternal life and the truth.
From the pure light that emanated from her and surrounding Him, a spark ignited from him and she conceived another pure light – the “Only-Begotten Child” of His, or the divine Autogenes as the text called him. The divine Autogenes was the Christ Aeon; Christ – the “Anointed One”. (He was the Age in the midst of the Light as Enoch said.)
In Enoch II, ch24 above, this is described exactly but not in these words. Presumably the translations and the translators make a great difference. This is described from the Voice of God Himself in exact detail. First we had Adoil, from whom came the Great Light, that He set in the top of the Void. Then we had the Archa, Great Red and dark, set in the bottom of the Void. When most cosmogonies are read in the Gnostic documents, the Great Dark power is confused. Then we had as “light begets light” a “Great Age” came forth. This Age is the Christ Aeon. As we said an Aeon is another word for Age, this was the beginning of Time. That all the times, and images or designs for those times, were contained within. This is the hyper-time, God’s Time, or the containment, foreknowledge, intent and design image of all times and life within.
So first we had the Holy Spirit and the Imp of darkness, that formed the Waters of the Firmament. The Light that ‘cannot be perceived’ and the invisible magnetic field, which was set into motion by the Voice of God, which became the Chaos. Simultaneously the Aeons were begotten from Light by a spark of independent thought thrown off, which was like the Father, it contained all the Fathers plans and images for all the times. This was the Age or Aeon of Autogenes. (It is ironic that life, today, is known to be an ‘effect’ of Genes…)
Like his father and mother, Autogenes (Christ) was pure and holy. Everything the Son (Autogenes/Christ) did, was done for the glories of his Father (Spirit) and Mother (Barbelo/Light of Adoil). Here are the Gnostic holy Trinity – Father, Mother and Son, like the Orthodox concept of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the three perfect aeons. Actually the Holy Trinity was perhaps conceived by the Egyptian myth, who often grouped gods into three – god, goddess and child. Example of this can be shown in the Triad of Heliopolis – Osiris, Isis and Horus. Taken together, we have the Root of the Tree of Life and the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The knowledge of the true root of spirit, the Root of the Tree.
The Autogenes, like other aeons, was androgynous. Therefore, he had a female counterpart of him, which is Mirothoe, according to the Gospel of the Egyptians.
From the Holy Spirit and Christ, they produced four helpers for Autogenes (Christ), known as the Luminaries or the Light Aeons. Under each light-aeon, there were three aeons, making a total of twelve aeons. These are also known as The Powers and Principalities. (We should begin to see the plan of God, was to be a Great delegater, in building a Universe, wouldn’t it be better to offload some of the details, like any good manager?)
The light-aeon Armozel (or Harmozel) was the first angel, and with him, was three aeons – grace, truth and form.
The second light-aeon was Oriel (or Oroiael; possibly the archangel Uriel), with three other aeons – conception, perception and memory.
The third light was Daveithai, who was in charge of understanding, love and idea.
The fourth light aeon was Eleleth, and with him – perfection, peace and wisdom (Pistis Sophia).
All four light aeons and twelve aeons served Autogenes (Christ). Christ works on the Spirit’s will, while the Spirit works through Christ. Four other beings dwelled with four Luminaries. Pigera-Adamas or Adamas, the perfect human being (Cosmic Man), lived with Armozel. Seth, the son of Adamas, dwelled with Oriel. The Posterity of Seth, or the souls of holy people, lived with Daveithai. Finally, the last aeon known as the Souls, those who are not acquainted with the truth or gnosis until later, dwelled with Eleleth.
It is at this point that the text shifted its focus away from the Triad, to the lowest and the youngest of the twelve aeons – Sophia (the aeon of Wisdom).
Pistis Sophia and the Demiurge
Most Gnostics see Sophia or “Wisdom” as the most important aeon, after the Autogenes (Christ). Sophia was important, because she set in motion the creation of material life.
Sophia was a Greek name for wisdom. Another name frequently associated with Sophia, was Pistis or “Faith”. Sometimes Pistis was seen as a separate being, where she was seen as the mother of Sophia, but often Pistis was just another name for Sophia. Frequently, various texts used the two names together, as Pistis Sophia, as in the The Hypostasis of the Archons.
Sophia as the mother, should not be confused with Barbelo, the perfect mother(Holy Spirit). Whereas Barbelo was known as “Forethought”, Sophia was equated “Afterthought”. Here we see the text is influenced with these names (Forethought/Afterthought), which can be found in Greek mythology, where the Titan Prometheus or Forethought, hero of mankind, was different from his brother Epimetheus or Afterthought, who married Pandora, the first woman who brought suffering to mankind, ending the Golden Age.
Sophia, probably in pride, tried to emulate the invisible Spirit (Father) in producing Barbelo, by created an image of herself. Meaning that she wanted to produce an offspring, without either consort or the approval of her Father (Spirit). As an aeon, she did have the power to do so, but she wasn’t perfect like the great Spirit, or like the other two perfect aeons, Barbelo and the Autogenes.
She was horrified when she spawned an ugly, imperfect creature – a lion-faced serpent with eyes of fire, whom she called Yaldabaoth.
Sophia cast her offspring out of pleroma, and hid her child within a thick cloud from the other aeons, because of her embarrassment and shame.
Yaldabaoth was the first of the archons (“ruler”) and he stole his mother’s power, so that she wasn’t able to escape from the cloud. Despite gaining Sophia’s aeonic power, he was weak, but he was ambitious and power hungry.
Since the archons, including Yaldabaoth, were androgynous beings, Yaldabaoth fathered twelve archons, giving each a bit of his power. They were named Athoth, Harmas, Kalila-Oumbri, Yabel, Adonaiou (or Sabaoth), Cain, Abel, Abrisene, Yobel, Armoupieel, Melceir-Adonein and Belias(Belial?). Seven archons would rule seven heavens and five in the abyss, which Yaldabaoth and the archons created. Each archon would rule a heaven (or the abyss), and created 365 angels to help them.
According to The Origin of the World, there is an interesting account about his children. Yaldabaoth created a realm, called matter. And from this matter, Yaldabaoth created seven androgynous offspring, like himself, to rule seven realms or heavens of chaos. Each offspring have masculine and feminine names.
His first son opened his eye for the first time, he said “Eee!”, so Yaldabaoth called his son Eee-a-o, which is ‘Yao’. The second opened his eyes and said “Eh!”, so his father called him ‘Eloai’, while the third said “Asss!” so he was called ‘Astaphaios’.
Sambathas Pronoia (Forethought)
Yao Lordship
Sabaoth Deity
Adonaios Kingship
Elaios Jealousy
Oraios Wealth
Astaphaios Sophia (Wisdom)
In his arrogance, Yaldabaoth boasted to the other archons that:
“I am God and there is no other God beside me!”
– The Apocryphon of John (II 11:20)
Yaldabaoth was weak and ignorant, because he didn’t realise that were any powers greater than him. He thought he was the First. Yaldabaoth had sinned for saying these words, which was why he was called Samael – “the blind god”. He has another name – Saklas, a name usually assigned to Satan.
According to The Hypostasis of the Archons and On the Origin of the World, it was Sophia, who rebuked him and gave him this name, Samael.
“You are mistaken, Samael”
– The Hypostasis of the Archons (II 87:2)
According to The Hypostasis of the Archons, after this boast, he challenged the voice:
“If any other thing exists before me, let it be shown forth to me!”
– The Hypostasis of the Archons (II 94:25)
So Sophia stretched forth her finger and brought limitless light into matter and the region of chaos. The chief archon trembled in fear.
When Yaldabaoth and the other archons heard the voice. They sought this voice and traced the voice to the abyss, where the chief archon saw the reflection of his mother in the water(protomagnetic force of the Archa or Imp of Darkness). They wanted to take hold of the image but could not. They were ignorant and weak, because they didn’t understand that the image was reflected from above.
“I am a jealous God, and there is no other God beside me.”
But by announcing this he indicated to the angels who attended him that there exists another God. For if there were no other one, of whom would he be jealous?
– The Apocryphon of John (II 13:9-12)
If there are no other gods then why would he be jealous?
It was at this point that Sophia realized what she had done, and repented. She prayed to her Father for her deliverance, and the restoration of the power that her son (Yaldabaoth) had stolen from her. Her light was diminishing, since the theft of her power. She was moving about, back and forth.
It was at this point that the voice of the invisible Spirit was heard, rebuking Yaldabaoth and the archons. They trembled in fear, and saw reflected on the water, the image of God (Spirit), in human form.
Adam and Eve
The arrogant one wanted to recreate the image of God (Spirit) from the reflection of the water, and many archons and angels were involved in the creation of this image. Yaldabaoth tried to create a being in the likeness of the First Man, whom he called Adam or Adama, so he could steal the light (spirit). But his creation was lifeless and without a soul. This is the stolen narrative placed in Genesis in an awkward form, everybody knows as they created Adam in “our” image, implying more than one ‘god’. A source of great confusion to serious Biblical scholars, who use nothing but the Bible as a reference, for without the original texts, its a conundrum without resolution. The meme of ‘stealing light’ is also only understood in the context of an energy based universe, where the Archon’s need the Light to maintain their very existence if not their powers.
To regain her power, Sophia asked the Spirit and Barbelo to aid her. They counsel Yaldabaoth to blow the spirit into the face, so that the body would waken. Yaldabaoth ignorantly blew on the face, so that the spirit and the power of his mother (Sophia) left Yaldabaoth’s own body and entered into the body he had created: Adam became alive.
(Though, according to the The Hypostasis of the Archons and On the Origin of the World, Yaldabaoth blew and blew, putting his breath into the body, but the body wouldn’t rise. The purpose was to put the image (soul) of God into physical body so that they can capture it, or manifest it in reality.)
Yaldabaoth immediately became jealous, because his creation was more powerful and intelligent than him and the other archons. When they brought all sort of animals to Adam, he was able to name each species by their proper names. When they saw that Adam was also luminous and free of evil(dark energy), they cast him into the lowest plane of existence (the plane of matter; Earth).
But Barbelo sent Adam a helper, Epinoia, who was also known as Life (Zoe), so that Epinoia can help Sophia regain her power and place. Eponoia was hidden within Adam’s body. Epinoia secretly gave him the knowledge of how he was created, and taught Adam of how to ascend back to the Pleroma, or the true home of the light (human spirit).
But the archons wanted to confine Adam(to drain his light), so they imprisoned his spirit in a soul within flesh, and the material body was made mortal. They placed Adam in the earthly paradise (the Garden of Eden), and bound Adam in sleep and placed the bond of forgetfulness upon him.
In Adam’s sleep, Yaldabaoth tried to bring Epinoia out of Adam’s body from the rib. However, Epinoia escaped, and the chief archon created another body from the image of the likeness of Epinoia. The new body was a woman, and she didn’t come from Adam’s rib bone like in the Genesis. Epinoia entered the newly created body.
The woman woke first, and saw Adam lying beside her. She spoke with the voice of power “Arise, Adam.”, and Adam woke. Since Yaldabaoth had placed a spell of ignorance upon Adam when he was sleeping, so that he would not know the Gnosis (of the Tree of life and knowledge of good and evil). The moment Adam woke from the unnatural slumber, he thought that the woman had given him life; he said to the woman:
“It is you who have given me life; you will be called ‘mother of the living’.”
– The Hypostasis of the Archons
When Adam woke from his sleep, he saw the woman; he thought. Her real name was Zoe, which means “Life”, but as we all know her in the Genesis, Adam called her Eve.
The chief archon wanted to keep Adam and Eve ignorant, putting them in the false paradise, hoping to keep them as his slave and worship him (so that he could steal their light). So Yaldabaoth told Adam that he may eat any fruit in the garden, but warning him not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Yaldabaoth’s plan was thwarted.
However the fruit of truth would allow them to see the truth, so Jesus told John, and that it was he who brought them the apples to eat, not any serpent (like they say in the Genesis). This is where the Christ spirit had His First Advent upon the Earth, when He gave the Knowledge, that was, as is usual with mankind, spun around and made to be the opposite of what it originally meant. What was meant to free mankind, was turned into a Thing of Fear and loathing by The Church, this is the beginning of Blasphemy because the Church actually perverted the Knowledge into The MYSTERY doctrines…
The archons placed a curse upon the snake, as well as on Adam and Eve for disobeying them.
Angry with their disobedience, Yaldabaoth put them out of the Garden of Eden. Yaldabaoth saw that Epinoia was within Eve, so that she was luminous. When Yaldabaoth saw that Eve was faithful to Adam, the archon snatched Eve. But Epinoia escaped again, leaving Eve’s physical body before Yaldabaoth raped Eve, and begot two sons upon her. The sons of Yaldabaoth and Eve were named Eloim and Yave, whom we know by their names as Cain and Abel. But in the other Gnostic texts, only Cain was Yaldabaoth’s son, while Abel was Adam’s.
The Family of Adam, according to The Apocryphon of John
The results of the rape, Yaldabaoth planted sexual desire into the human race, so that he would have more people to have his counterfeit spirit(the Soul of dark energy), who were susceptible to his blandishment and fall into sins and wickedness. Because through this mechanism, he was able to consume them completely if they fell too far into the Abyss. This is the meaning of sin, the entanglement with dark energy and its result, the horror of the Abyss and what is called the Second Death. Total consumption of the soul and the spirit.
According to the The Hypostasis of the Archons, Yaldabaoth had raped Eve, before Adam and Eve ate the apple from the Tree of Knowledge. When Epinoia left Eve’s body before ravishment, the spirit (Epinoia) entered the snake, who encouraged Eve and Adam to eat the forbidden fruits.
Like in the Genesis, Cain was a creature of envy and killed his brother Abel, and God cursed Cain for the murderous deed.
Adam’s real son was Seth, the son of man. Eve said —
“I have borne another man through God, in place of Abel.”
– The Hypostasis of the Archons
It is from Seth’s descendants who would possess the Gnosis. The Apocryphon of John went on to say, Sophia prepared a place for the souls in heaven, where Jesus, the human incarnation of the First Aeon; The Messiah, would disclose the true knowledge of how to return to their true home in the Spirit (The Pleroma of The All), where they would ascend past the rulers (archons) and be healed of all deficiency and become holy and faultless. To gain these higher realms, one must ascend above the Seven Heavens of Chaos into the Aeons of the Pure Light.
In some Gnostic literature, Seth played a major role.
Here, The Apocryphon of John ended, but The Hypostasis of the Archons continued. The Hypostasis of the Archons is actually quite different in detail, and can be supplemented with another longer text, known as On the Origin of the World.
Norea
Seth was a son of Adam and Eve, and he would be ancestor of holy men, before the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Seth was a good man, and faithful follower of the Gnosis. Seth has a sister, named Norea, who was even wiser than him. At Norea’s birth, Eve said —
“He has begotten on me a virgin as an assistance for many generations of mankind.”
–The Hypostasis of the Archons
After generations have passed, the archons decided to destroy mankind with the deluge, but save only Noah. Noah was instructed to build an ark. When Norea arrived, Noah refused to allow Norea aboard his ark. Norea blew on the ark, and the flame destroyed the vessel. Noah was forced to build a second ark.
Family of Adam, according to The Hypostasis of the Archons and the Origin of the World
The archons seeing her power decided to use Norea. Norea, however, defiantly rebuked them, when they claimed that her mother belong to him, as she would be too. Norea claimed that he (Yaldabaoth) was not her God, but a creature of darkness. In anger, Yaldabaoth would have raped her, but she cried out to the True God for help. The evil archons withdrew when the angel (aeon) Eleleth appeared before her.
Eleleth told her that he was here not only to save her, but to teach her about her origin, and the nature of the Enemy (Yaldabaoth). Eleleth told her that she actually has more power than Yaldabaoth. He also described Yaldabaoth’s origin, which is slightly different in details from what I wrote in Sophia and the Demiurge.
Again, he boasted before his offspring that he was the god of entirety. This time, it was Zoe (Life), daughter of Sophia, who rebuked the chief archon. Zoe called him Sakla, and she breathed on him. The breath became a fiery angel, who bound Yaldabaoth and hurled him into Tartarus(the lake of fire also called the Archa), which is below the abyss.
One of Yaldabaoth’s offspring witnessed the power of the aeon, repented and changed allegiance. His name was Sabaoth. Sophia and Zoe rewarded Sabaoth, by making him ruler of the seventh heaven. On his throne, Zoe sat on his right, to teach Sabaoth about the eighth heaven. On his left, sat the angel of wrath.
Yaldaboth seeing the splendour that his son was given, filled the chief archon with envy for Sabaoth. Yaldaboth was the first to create envy, and from envy he created death. Death engendered countless other offspring. Yaldabaoth placed these beings to rule his seven heavens of chaos. It is Yaldabaoth who brought death to mankind. It is these ‘rulers’ of the 7 ‘heavens'(harmonic energy layers) of Chaos that souls must pass through in order to ascend to the Aeons. The Christ is the Avatar of the Light that sacrificed His own self, and left behind His ‘vesture’, His own dark soul body, that was pure enough to ‘judge’ souls, and provide a Way to the Light that bypassed the Rulers. This is the Tunnel of Light, that people who die and come back, are witness to.(NDE’s or Near Death Experiences.)
Eleleth also prophesied when mankind is released from the hold of the archons that the spirits of men will return to its true home (pleroma). It would happen at the time of the true man (Jesus), who will reveal the word of truth (Gnosis). Jesus came and gave the Gnosis, and it, again, was wrapped in darkness and fear, and it was called ‘heretic’. This was the true tragedy of the crime of Rome. But even their own works indicts them, through their fruits of war, division, hatred, arrogance, and the doctrines of devils.
Conclusion
One of the most interesting things about the Gnostic texts is the roles of feminine principles and women, particularly Barbelo and Sophia, and then Eve, Norea, the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. Eve played a far more important role than Adam in the Gnostic creation.
Mary Magdalene played a leadership role in the discourses of Jesus and the Disciples. It was in the Gnostic scriptures that we read about Peter not being able to ‘abide this woman’, and Jesus rebuking Him. It is through the Gnostic scriptures that we read of Jesus’ humor concerning certain ritual’s that are considered cannibalistic. It is through the Gnostic scriptures that we see the Universal Redemption that is intended through the power of the Light of Love. It is only through the Gnostic scriptures, that we are able to finally see, the Grail of Light and Dark, which is proof of the dark aethereal reality and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as the design patterns of life, which is emanated onto the aether by the Holy Spirit and manifested in 3D reality through the God tangent power of Pi, as the Medicine wheel.
It is only when you see why the Romans had to remove the Gnostic scriptures that you see the imposition of the MYSTERY theology of feel good doctrines through the elimination and outright banning of knowledge and philosophy. The Romans changed the very structure of the Universe into a Crime and Punishment paradigm of superstition, from a Cause and Effect Universe. The idea that nobody can understand the Mysteries of God, as they substituted a Jewish God of Judgement and war, in place of a nonjudgmental God of Forces. It is only in the works of Enoch that we see that God had no intention of this happening because He wanted Enoch’s books to be given to mankind. It is in the works of Origen that we see the intention of the Roman’s to create a new paradigm, a simpler narrative for the peasant class, that was ultimately more useful for the authority of the church and the empire.
At the time it was not a malicious act, it was merely the competition of mysteries, the crime, as usual, was in the cover up afterwards. The Roman’s had to eliminate any work that was in conflict with their constructed mystery narrative. Their primary blasphemy was in the elimination of the Gnostic teachings of Jesus, and the substitution of the personal letters of Paul, a man who never studied with the Light Bringer called Christ. It is now known, a man, whose teachings appalled the church in Jerusalem. It is only through the revelation of Enoch and the Gnosis, is the Revelation seen as a condemnation of the mystery churches, as the knowledge of the 12 powers of the light and dark, that is called the lady of 12 stars in her crown clothed in the light of the Sun while standing on the Moon(the Pistis Sophia), played in a New Song in the Revelation of John, that is condemning the Churches of the Mystery narrative, so that the Mystery of God is finished. The true meaning of The Revelation, is the Revealing of Knowledge, thus the Knowledge that was destroyed by the Catholics, was hidden and then revealed again, and written as an indictment of the Church as a divine prophecy.
The Ophite Diagram
Classical Gnosticism was by nature both mythological and psychological. It undoubtedly also had symbolic elements that were almost entirely lost to us.
One of the few surviving descriptions of a Gnostic symbol is found in the works of the early Christian scholar and theologian Origen (ca. 185–ca. 254). Origen wrote a long refutation to a philosophical pagan named Celsus who had written a critique of Christianity. We know nothing about Celsus beyond what Origen tells us — Celsus’ original treatise, and all knowledge of the author, are lost.(In the burning of the Libraries by the Orthodox zealots.)
Within Origen’s refutation we are provided a long description of a diagram belonging to an early Christian Gnostic sect. It appears both Celsus and Origen had independent access to a similar diagram attributed to a Gnostic group called the “Ophites”. Origen summarizes Celsus’s description of the diagram (which Celsus gives in context of describing an initiation ritual), then proceeds with his own further description.
The full text of Origen’s description is found in Origen Contra Celsus Book 6, Chapter 24 to 38. We give here two summary excerpts from these chapters describing the Ophite diagram. Click the link above to read the full text of Origen’s extended discussion.
In examining the Ophite diagram closely, one will note several similarities with the early evolving concepts of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Indeed the Kabbalistic Sephirotic Tree (which probably began to take form in a slightly later epoch) may be the closest relevant parallel to the complex symbology of the Ophite diagram.
Celsus’ Description of the Ophite Diagrams (according to Origen)
[Short excerpts of text from Origen Contra Celsus Book 6, Chapter 24 to 38:] Celsus says there is a diagram consisting of ten [or seven] separate circles, circumscribed by one circle which is said to be the world-soul and is called Leviathan. The diagram is divided by a thick black line, which is called Gehenna, or in Greek Tartarus. The “seal” is that of the one who imposes it, who is called Father, the one sealed is called Youth and Son, and he responds, “I have been anointed with the white chrism from the tree of life”.(Piper note: Chrism = spirit, the Tree of life is the Aeons of the Pleroma of the Light. When in combination with the Archonic powers, gives the full Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Life therefore is emanated from the Pleroma, and manifested in The ALL. )
There are seven angels, who delivered the seal; they stand on both sides of the soul set it free from the body; and there are other angels of light who are called Archontics. The Archon of the so-called Archontics is the accursed god of the Jews, who makes rain and thunder.(Piper note: Yah, the short name of Yaltabaoth.)
He is the Demiurge of this world, the God of Moses described in his creation narrative. Of the Seven archontic demons, the first is lion-shaped; the second is a bull; the third is amphibious and hisses horribly; the fourth is in the form of an eagle ; the fifth has the appearance of a bear, the sixth, that of a dog ; and the seventh, that of an ass named Thaphabaoth or Onoel.(Piper note: The Totem animals of the Medicine wheel that provides the Animal soul of dark energy.)
Some persons return to the archontic forms so they become lions or bulls or serpents or eagles or bears or dogs. There is a square, and there are words said at the gates of Paradise.
They add still further matters; the sayings of prophets, and circles upon circles, and emanations of the earthly church and of circumcision, and the power emanating from a certain virgin Prunikos, and a living soul, and a Heaven slain that it may live, and earth slain with a sword, and many slain that they might live, and death stopped in Heaven, when the world’s sin dies, and a narrow way back, and doors opening automatically. Everywhere there is the Tree of Life and a resurrection of flesh of the tree.(Piper note: ‘circles upon circles = Pi and the Entanglement of the Infinities.
They say that some things are written within the two super-heavenly circles, the greater and the lesser, those of the Son and the Father.
Origen’s Description of the Ophite Diagrams
[Short excerpts of text from Origen Contra Celsus Book 6, Chapter 24 to 38:] In this diagram are the greater and the smaller circle. On their diameters is inscribed “Father” and “Son.” Between the greater, in which the smaller lies, and another circle, consisting of two circles, the outer yellow and the inner dark blue, is the barrier, shaped like a two-edged axe. Above it is a small circle, smaller than the larger of those already mentioned, with “love” written on it.
Below it is another with the word “Life” [Zoe] . In the second circle, combining and circumscribing the other two circles as well as another rhomboid shape, is written “Foreknowledge of Wisdom” [Pronoia Sophia] , and above their common intersection is a circle which is written “Knowledge” [Gnosis], and below, another in which is written “Understanding”….
The Ophite Diagram
The similarity of function and layering of the Universal elements, should be familiar if you have read The Grail and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The structure of the higher to lower architecture of the human being within the primal energy matrix. In the center is the Tree bisected by the Sword of Truth, that reveals all things. When this structural reference is used as the basis for the Tree of Life of the Kabbalists, you can see the complex energy relationships and interactions between the delegated powers of the Creator to form a DNA molecule, combined with an animal soul and the spirit, to form a human being. You can see how the Light of the Holy Spirit, modulated or mixed with the Voice of God, emanating through the Aeons, is manifested through the power of Pi at the prism of the magnetic aether, the power of the Archa, the Leviathan.
The Tree of Life of the Kabbalah
If one looks closely you can see the elements of light and dark, and God and animal, all the powers of the 12 Aeons, manifested in the darkness of reality, at all the levels or layers of reality, that when combined, reveal the structure of the Medicine wheel manifested by the power in the darkness, the cyclical power of Pi.
It is magnificent when you see the alignments between ancient cultures and philosophies, from ancient China in the Yin, the Yang and the Tao, through the ancient works of Enoch and the Gnostics, all the way through the native Indian spiritualists, that when compared and integrated with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, you see a perfectly logical and rational picture of the Entire Reality as nothing but a 3 dimensional energy hologram, emanated from the Root of Barbelo of the Tree, (Holy Spirit and The Ineffable One, God, and the First Son, The Christ Spirit), to the film of the delegated powers, the Aeons, onto the surface of the magnetic aether of space time, all manifested in reality through the spiritual geometry of Pi, that is the Voice of God, which is also the Universal feedback mechanism of the Awareness, the Oneness, or the collective consciousness that is proven in the Global consciousness project.
And at the top of all these things, is the Proof of the Holy Grail, The Revealing given as a vision to a Witness of the Light, that was given the Proof, in the God Calculus. A science of God, for a new generation of men, who are spiritually evolved in Knowledge, that reject The Mysteries of the Church(the Great Falling away), and seek Absolute Truth through science.
Piper Michael 