What am I telling you now?  The living will die.
How do they live in illusion?
The rich become poor and kings are overthrown.
All changes.  The world is an illusion.
Why do I seem to shout?
The resurrection has nothing of this character.
It is truth standing firm.  It is revelation of what is,
and the transformation of things,
and a transition into freshness.
Incorruptibility floods over corruption.
Light rivers down upon the darkness, swallowing obscurity.
The pleroma fills the hollow.
These are the symbols and images of resurrection.
They establish its’ goodness.

From the The Valentinian Treatise on Resurrection

Jesus said: I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and two out of ten thousand, and they shall stand as a single one. His disciples said: Show us the place where thou art, for it is necessary for us to seek it. He said to them: Whoever has ears let him hear. Within a man of light there is light and he lights the whole world. When he does not shine, there is darkness.

Gospel according to St. Thomas

Happy Candlemas!

“This is important, because we learn that our job
is not to set up a battleground to eradicate evil,
but to search out its spark of holiness.
Our task is not to destroy but to build;
not to hate but to find a place of yielding;
not to polarize but to discover the points of
commonality so that we can work together.
Learn this lesson, dear friends, it will serve you well.”
~ Reb Zalman,
quoted by Rabbi David A. Cooper

Congratulations to +Jordan Stratford on completing his kick-ass Gnosticism 101 book. Bought it, finished it yesterday; loved it!

Father Jordan takes you on a journey from the beginnings of Gnosticism through to contemporary practice. He answers questions that many would ask, allows you to grasp basic Gnostic ideas and perceptions, outlines important personalities who have influenced, or have been influenced by Gnostic thought, and tops it off with a list and explanation of the Gnostic Liturgical year.

This is an absolute MUST READ for anyone interested in contemporary Gnosticism.

Well done, Father Jordan!

Added a new link, today.  Looks like another interesting Gnostic blog.

Seeker of Sophia

Enjoy!

Wow…just, wow. After reading a supposedly “religiously tolerant” message board today I am appalled at what I have read. It seems that in order to classify oneself as ‘Christian’, one must be of the ‘Biblical Christian’ sort that is represented well on the board, and not espouse anything that is in opposition, particularly, in this case, any Gnostic leanings, to the beliefs of this “wider Christian Community”. The wider-what? Do they mean the Catholic Christian world majority which is much closer to Gnosticism than Protestantism? Hmm.

I would expect this sort of message on a protestant Christian board, but, coming from a board that supposedly promotes tolerance for, and communication with those of other belief systems (particularly a moot between Christians and Pagans), I am simply amazed.

It must be hard to run a venue such as that when Christians are pigeon-holed to one particular sort. At least a ‘Pagan’ can still be a ‘Pagan’ there….oh wait….maybe I should first check for a “You’re not a Pagan if…” thread …

Who said the Gnostics had a monopoly on elitism, eh?

In the tradition of the Church calendar, the 3rd Sunday in Advent is often called Rose Sunday, because it represents a lightening of the dark violet of the rest of the penitential season of Advent. This lightening has two points of significance. One is that of a greater light shining through the violet to reveal the rose tint signifying the coming of the Light, the other is a lightening of the mood, for which reason the Church has traditionally ascribed this Sunday to the quality of joy. The rose color expresses the joy of recognition, the recognition of the One who shines from beyond the veil of violet, who is the Messenger of the Light.

More…

When the pearl is cast down into the mud, it becomes greatly despised, nor if it is anointed with balsam oil will it become more precious. But it always has value in the eyes of its owner. Compare the Sons of God: wherever they may be, they still have value in the eyes of their Father.

The Gospel of Philip

I have to say that I have struggled a lot with the idea of an inherent sinful nature of humanity. I always believed that people were inherently good, then, external influences created the ‘not so good’ that we can do.

What I have come to understand, is that it is not so much inherent sin, but rather, inherent (and some learned) flaws that are responsible for some of our negative expression.

Can you be callous? Mean? Lazy? Sarcastic? Impatient? Indifferent? A know-it-all? Insecure? Be honest.

There comes a point in our lives when we must face the qualities within us that we do not like. We must face that within us that the Archons put there.

I came across a great exercise for facing your flaws in a productive way.

The Premiseless Imperative: If You Want to be Saved, First Admit You are a Sinner

I think everyone should do this exercise at least once. It would also be useful to repeat the process when you feel the need.  You will be surprised at how much more aware you will be when your flaws surface.  Gnosticism is about being aware, not only of your light, but also your dark.  And being aware of your dark means that you can begin to fix it….to heal it.

I hope you enjoy the exercise as much as I did.

“We are on the path of experience, just waking up to the real fact of our true being; as we awake, we find we are surrounded by many false conditions, but there is something within which remembers the real state.” - Dr. Ernest Holmes

If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear the author of the above quote was Gnostic. Dr. Ernest Holmes is the found of the ‘Science of Mind’ philosophy. I find that his ideas are particularly compatible with root Gnostic principles — The Fullness, the Spark of The Divine within, (as the quote above reveals) and the need for praxis to come from the depths of our True, Inner Selves, Our Divine’ness’ — Our True Will. He supports the idea that waking up to the reality of our True Nature gives way to living truly in happiness. An interesting concept.

Dr. Holmes focuses on ‘the mind’ and thought and the power of these in forming healing and “True Happiness” in our lives. Not so very different than the use of magick. Crowley states that magick is:

“…the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with the Will.”

How wonderfully appropriate and complimentary this Thelemic thought is to the Science of Mind philosophy.

I’m not surprised that his ideas have survived so long (The Science of Mind was written by Dr. Holmes in 1929) and that the philosophy is experiencing a lot of support these last couple of decades.

As I began my journey into the world of Gnosticism, it quickly became apparent that there was sooooo much I didn’t know or understand.  I realized that there were some EXTREMELY learned people in Gnostic communities and I, almost immediately, was intimidated and went into ‘lurk mode’.

I decided that until I felt I had learned enough to participate in the community and in conversations I would simply sit back, watch and learn.  As time went on, it became clear that the more I learned, the more I realized I still needed to learn.  I found myself getting lost in the historical aspects of gnostic texts, their relation to ancient society, their influences on the people and on contemporary religion. (I am an anthropology/archaeology student so I suppose you can’t blame me for wanting to learn about these aspects)  With Gnosticism, though, even a lifetime’s worth of study would still leave one with speculation, hypotheses and unanswered questions.
After months of study, I realized the meaning of the texts — their true essence, had eluded me.  Don’t get me wrong.  I got the basics; understanding what gnosis is, the Wisdom that is Sophia, the Pleroma, The Spark of the Divine, the Demiurge, but, I was so busy with the scholarship aspect of it, I completed neglected the spiritual side of it all….the REAL reason I had decided to start on this path in the first place.

Once I realized this, I dissected my situation a little more and came to the conclusion that I had felt that if I didn’t understand Gnosticism the way all those other learned and highly respected Gnostics did, I couldn’t be a ‘Good Gnostic’….I even questioned if I was, indeed, a Gnostic at all.
Needless to say I’ve gotten past the above.  I do feel that I am not alone here, and I post this so that others can learn from my mistakes and save themselves some time and frustration.

Beyond that, I hope to contribute some practical ways of relating to the Gnostic texts here to a:  keep myself in check, and b:  share with others some realistic and practical ways of nurturing and expressing gnosis.

Remember, it’s not how much you ‘know’, it’s what you ‘Gnosis’.

I’ve recently developed a fondness for the archangels.  I don’t know if it was because of seeing “Archangel” in the new Xmen movie…but, the timing coincides nicely. *wink*

At any rate, I found a list of the archangels and their attributes along with their associated Kabbalistic Sephirah that I thought might be nice to add to my blog:

1. Keyter - Voice of God - Metatron (Brother/Twin Flame of of Sandalphon)
2. Chokmah - Wisdom and teaching - Raziel
3. Binah - Compassion and Knowing - Tzaphquiel (zuff quiel)
4. Chessed - Mercy and Order - Tzadquiel (zud quiel)
5. Geburah - Strength and Courage - Kamael
6. Tipharet - Healing and Hormony - Raphael
7. Netzach - Caregiver - Haniel
8. Hod - Speaker of truth - Michael
9. Yesod- Bestower of blessing - Gabriel
10 Malkuth - Humility - Sandalphon (Brother/Twin Flame of of Metatron)

Take note that all but two of the archangels have names that end in ‘el’.  ‘El” in Hebrew means ‘of God’.  Metatron and Sandalphon are the exception to the rule.  There is one distinct difference between Metatron, Sandalphon and the rest of the archangels…..Metatron and Sandalphon were both, once human; Metatron being Enoch from the Sefer Hekhalot, and Sandalphon being the prophet Elijah.

If the archangels peak your interest, there is tons of info online you can mine.  I’ll add anything more about them I find intriguing as I continue my perpetual spiritual journey.

Added: I really should put a little disclaimer here, so, I will. The ideas expressed here are my own, and do not nessecarily reflect those of the Gnostic community as a whole, nor those who identify themselves as a Witch. What you find here are musings on MY understanding and experience as, what I understand to be, a Gnostic Witch.

I am a Gnostic Witch. Bet your bottom there are people out there who feel this is completely incompatible. I mean, the Gnostics are dualists. They hate the Earth and the physical plain, and a witch relishes in and worship it, right? I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this.

The problem is that Gnostics are not dualist. They simply see the worldly plain as a limited manifestation of being or existance. Being a Witch aids one in cutting through the physical and connecting with The Divine. So, for me the two paths fit perfectly together.

Now I’m going to make it even more complicated.

Gnostics believe that everyone and everything are part of the Pleroma, or ‘The Fullness’; God. Here is a quote from the following website: http://www.gnostic-church.org/misperceptions.htm (an interesting read for anyone interested in learning about gnosticism)

The picture above is Athena, in whom the ancient Greeks recognized the manifestation of the divine feminine in all forms of Wisdom. We see in Athena one of the many aspects of Sophia.

Ultimately, every God/Goddess in any pantheon can be seen as an aspect of The Divine. And each and every God/Goddess is going to have something unique to offer to help with your goal of gnosis.

This is all so simplistic, but it is a base for me to work with, here.

Are we having fun yet?

Gnostic Witch. What is that? I’ll explain it all…..as I go.