The different schools of Gnosis have differing attitudes about reality and the creator. From Jehovah being genuinely evil to just being fallible, and from any partaking of reality as being damning of yourself to the problem being misperception of reality.
Asceticism? Yes. To a most meditative attitude, mostly. Some say you can’t achieve gnosis without abstinence. Some say you can.
So, Jehovah is? A lesser God, and semantics would be as the movie title said, “Children of a Lesser God.”
And Samuel? Samael is one of Jehovah’s archons, but synonymous with Jehovah’s creation and thus him.
What is the role of Christ according to the Gnostics? They differ. Some say he was a Gnostic. Well, they actually all do. Some say he succeeded and gave the message in his mystery, the passion of the Christ. Some say he failed and even twisted the teachings he got from John the Baptist who was also a Gnostic, and some say he was a special emanation. But he was not the “true God”, and there are obscure references in the Bible that do say this. Or obscured? Yes, and in fact there are a collection of “Gnostic” gospels.
Okay, and Gnosticism is? Gnosticism takes the teaching of orthodox Christianity literally. That we are made/exist in Gods shape. We are as God.
It’s Egyptian, isn’t it? Yes. There is an Egyptian school of Gnosticism. The exact origin of the first Gnostic teachings isn’t known for certain.
“Know ye not ye are Gods and sons of Gods.”? That passage is in the Bible. It’s the Gnostic message. I think the apostle John said, “That which is, is not made of things that do appear.” Basically, what you see isn’t real.
Now they do describe the real reality, though even they admit it’s imperfect as their perception before ascending could not be perfect. This is why they say Jesus ascended. They say that part of why the other divinities disapproved of Jehovah’s creation (and Jehovah repeatedly says almost like a psychotic, “It is good”) is that the real reality is in touch with the first emanation itself.
So, we’re the pawns of some lesser Gods game of creation? Yes. In Gnostic teachings we are.
Other divinities being who? Sophia, and if I recall Abraxas. The names are countless. They don’t really have a pantheon. In the Manichean sect Ahura Mazda was seen as one, and Ahirman was the creator. Sophia is one, and they have other names. Many actually, but it’s Sophia who attends to Jehovah’s issue the most. Sophia = wisdom and is a daughter of a divinity some schools of Gnosticism refer to only as the Great Mother.
No wonder the goddess bashing? And the secret goddess worship.
How does Gaia fit into this as a organism? Gaia is the Great Mother, the World Serpent. Pistis Sophia and the patron of the pythian oracle.
So there is a distinction between the world Jehovah made vs. Gaia? Yes. Sophia is said to have entered in as a thief.
There is a sect of Gnostics knows as the “Ophites.” Ophite = serpent, and they were sort of Gnostics cynics and believed that the only things of any virtue were natural. Nature was the truth and human nature was virtue. Basically, human impulses like lust were gnosis.
So Neophite? Newsnake? And many sought to conquer the serpent. Not all, and the children of Jehovah are the conquerors. Can’t listen to the world, it’s the white snake whispering in your ear. They feared the dragon back then for that very reason. There was the king and the dragon. You couldn’t side with the dragon against the king. The king had to “slay the dragon”, not cooperate with it, and a loyal subject sides with the king.
Naga. How can one slay a natural energy? Valid question, and the idea is straight from the Great Father/ Father of Lies. Even in Babylonian belief, Marduk, or the God of city/empire/nation created the world by slaying Tiamat. Tiamat was a dragon and female, but Tiamat even in their belief doesn’t rest easy. She’s still aware and angry, and thus the Babylonian apocalypse prophecy. Jehovah didn’t stick with the Jews.
Do they ascribe a color to Tiamat? Yes. Tiamat is red or many colored. Both are said. It’s a transformer and took many forms before Marduk “slew” her.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~