Reforming Gnosticism

When people say, “My goodness, your Gnosticism is so different than what I have come to understand Gnosticism to be,” that’s because I didn’t take it from secondary sources. I took it from the original sources.  Then of course, Valentinian Gnosticism is an early form of what has come to be called Christianity. Christianity diverged immensely from the original message around the 300’s and on up, when the gnostic books were taken out of Orthodoxy. Those folks that are called heresiologists are the people that went around slapping heresy labels on the early Christianity—the early Valentinian Gnosticism. They weeded it out of the official sacred texts that made their way into the New Testament.

The main book of the Nag Hammadi that I relate to is called the Tripartite Tractate. I believe it to be the purest form of gnosis. It has very little in the way of mythologies, of extraneous characters, of the names of things and the numbers of things and the astrology of it all.

Valentinian Gnosticism from the Tripartite Tractate is unique in that the fallen Aeon is not called Sophia, a female character. The Aeon who fell is called Logos, not to be confused with the Son of God, Christ, or Jesus.

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Tag: imitations of the deficiency

  • Thumbnail for Spirit, Mind, Body: Spirit down, mud up

    Gnostic Insights Podcasts, New Gnostic Gospel Simply Explained & Illustrated

    Spirit, Mind, Body: Spirit down, mud up

    When we second order powers came down, we came not only with the good thoughts of the Fullness of God, but we came down with the presumptuous thought that Logos had peeled off of himself, that being his over-reaching ego. And that is why we have both the higher Self and we have an egoic structure, the ego. Our ego is a reflection of the Fall. All of the Aeons, the first order of powers, also have egos. But their egos are simply their position, place, name, rank, and duties. It’s the thing that defines them as individuals, and their relationship with neighbors. Down here below, our egos also reflect the over-reaching, presumptuous thought, and that’s how we second order power egos differ from the first order power egos. It’s not just who we are—our sense of identity—it’s also a drive for power, a striving to be on top.

  • Thumbnail for Lust for Domination

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    Lust for Domination

    No sooner did the Second Order of Powers begin manifesting on the material stage, they found themselves in mortal combat with the shadows of the imitation.

    The Second Order Powers “fought against the order of those of the likeness, while the order of those of the likeness wages war against the representations and acts against it alone, because of its wrath. As a result, they were submerged in forces and natures in accord with the condition of mutual assault, having lust for power and all other things of this sort. It is from these that the vain love of glory draws all of them to the desire of the lust for power, while none of them has the exalted thought nor acknowledges it…”

  • Thumbnail for The Fall and the Deficiency

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    The Fall and the Deficiency

    Logos had not realized the impossibility of approaching the illimitable consciousness of the Father. Logos could “not attain him,” because the Father “did not receive him.” Because of his self-exaltation, another good synonym for ego, Logos fully expected to reach the Father and to reproduce his own glorious reflection that would populate a new Paradise of emanations based upon himself. In other words, Ego’s opinion was not based on reality or truth, only his high opinion of his own capabilities. Abandoning the Aeonic rules and his brothers in the Fullness, Logos “went beyond himself” and this overreach brought the sickness of self-doubt onto his soul.