Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
*THE GNOSTIC

Return to Occult Library Index

0 0

it included commentaries on the torah. gnosticism: gnosis is a greek term for knowledge. the term gnosis applies to certain religious sects that emerged during the early formative years christianity, and which believed in hidden spiritual knowledge. the main factor that differentiated them from christianity was their emphasis on knowledge rather than faith. the christian church fathers considered the gnostics heretical, or heretics. kether: the first emanation on the tree of life. occultists identify kether as the state of consciousness where creation merges with the veils of nonexistence. kether lies on the middle pillar and transcends the duality of chokmah (male) and binah (female) which lie immediately below on the tree. it is therefore symbolized in mystical tradition by the heavenly

ABRAMELIN3

abramelin the mage 142 no. e is a square of e j squares. pelagim, hebrew plgim divisions, strata, etc. no. f is a square of d g squares. kiloin= hebrew qloim, excavations. no. g is a gnomon of j squares taken from a square of c f squares. nakab- hebrew, nqb= piercing. perforation. no. h is a square of d g squares. kittik may mean= to arrange in a store-place. tinnat recalls a name used on some of the gnostic magical gems. tannit is the name of a tyrian goddess. no. i is a gnomon of j squares out of a square of c f squares. marak, from hebrew mrq= to cleanse, purge, or refine. the sacred magick 143 the seventh chapter. o cause the spirits to perform with facility and promptitude all necessary chemical labours and operations, as regardeth metals especially( b) to make all metals( c) to make

ALEISTER CROWLEY AD MEIORUM CTHULHI GLORIAM

e and use it to their own advantage, and to the advantage of humanity as was the original intent. the raising of the cone of power through the circle dancing is probably the simplest method of attaining results in "rousing leviathan, and has been used by societies as diverse as the dervishes in the middle east and the python dancers of africa, not to mention the round dances that were familiar to the gnostic christians, and the ones held every year in the past at chartres. the witches of today, however, while acknowledging the importance of the male element of telluric power, generally prefer to give the greater honour to the female principle, personified as the goddess. the goddess has also been worshipped all over the world, and under many names, but is still essentially the same goddess

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

babe in the egg (harpocrates on the lotus) that of "agape" is as follows: dionysus (capital alpha- the virgin earth gamma- the babe in the egg (small alpha- the image of the father- the massacre of the innocents, pi (winepress- the draught of ecstasy, eta. the student will find it well worth his while to seek out these ideas in detail, and develop the technique of their application. there is also the gnostic name of the seven vowels, which gives a musical formula most puissant in evocations of the soul of nature. there is moreover abraxas; there is xnoubis; there is meithras; and indeed it may briefly be stated that every true name of god gives the formula of the invocation of that god<degree of the o.t.o. are well aware of a magick word whose analysis contains all truth

n admirable introduction to the study of gnosticism. the oracles of zoroaster. an invaluable collection of precepts mystical and magical. the dream of scipio, by cicero. excellent for its vision and its philosophy. the golden verses of pythagoras, by fabre d'olivet. an interesting study of the exoteric doctrines of this master. the divine pymander, by hermes trismegistus. invaluable as bearing on the gnostic philosophy. the secret symbols of the rosicrucians, reprint of franz hartmann. an invaluable compendium. scrutinium chymicum, by michael maier. one of the best treatises on alchemy. science and the infinite, by sidney klein. one of the best essays written in recent years. two essays of the worship of priapus, by richard payne knight. invaluable to all students. 210 the golden bough, by

beast, thou i a o" iaeo "breaths of my soul, breaths of mine angel" ioou "lust of my soul, lust of mine angel" abrasax (vide supra. sabriam "ho for the sangraal! ho for the cup of babalon! ho for mine angel pouring himself forth within my soul" oo "the eye! satan, my lord! the lust of the goat" ff "mine angel! mine initiator! thou one with me- the sixfold star" 271 ad-on-a-i<hebrew, adni, 65. the gnostic initiates transliterated it to imply their own secret formulae; we follow so excellent an example. on is an arcanum of arcana; its significance is taught, gradually, in the o.t.o. also ad is the paternal formula, hadit; on is its complement nuit; the final yod signifies "mine" etymologically and essentially the mercurial (transmitted) hermaphroditic virginal seed- the hermit of the tar

ALEISTER CROWLEY MAGICK WITHOUT TEARS

age in a realm ever splendid "if thou extend the fiery mind to the work of piety, thou wilt preserve the fluxible body."35 it appears that the levant, from byzantium and athens to damascus, jerusalem, alexandria and cairo, was preoccupied with the formulation of this school in a popular religion, beginning in the days of augustus caesar. for there are elements of this central idea in the works of the gnostics, in certain rituals of what frazer conveniently calls the asiatic god, as in the remnants of the ancient egyptian cult. the docmagic without tears get any book for free on: www.abika.com 94 trine became abominably corrupted in committee, so to speak and the result was christianity, which may be regarded as a white ritual overlaid by a mountainous mass of black doctrine, like the baby

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE LOST CONTINENT

hu) for many ideas connecting with wind, asi means 'cum quasi serpens, obviously the name of an actual high priestess. ra is pure atlantean for sun, and 'mse (egyptian chomse) for moon. the idea in 'mse is that of a strong woman('m) closing the mouth of a serpent (s) or dragon, and from this we have the xith card of the bohemian tarot, and the legend in the apocalypse. in the mystic greek used by the gnostics we find similar traces, sophia being from s ph, giving the idea of 'serpent breath' i.e. wisdom. iao is phallos, kteis, proktos. the word logos means the boy (g) naturally engendered of the virgin (l) and the serpent (s. theos (root o, first written 0) means the sun in his strength and also the lingam-yoni conjoined. christos is 'the love of passion of the rising sun (r) and the serpe

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE OLD AND NEW COMMENTARIES TO LIBER AL

the "secret temple" refers also to knowledge incommunicable- save by experience. the new comment it is evident that our lady, in her personality, contemplates some more or less open form of worship suited for the laity. with the establishment of the law something of this sort may become possible. it is only necessary to kill out the sense of 'sin, with its false shame and its fear of nature. p.s. the gnostic mass is intended to supply this need "liber xv. it has been said continuously in california for some years. al i,63 "sing the rapturous love-song unto me! burn to me perfumes! wear to me jewels! drink to me, for i love you! i love you" the new comment all those acts which excite the divine in man are proper to the rite of invocation. religion, as understood by the vile puritan, is the

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE OTO GNOSTIC MASS

e master therion crowley composed the o.t.o. gnostic mass on a visit to moscow in 1915 e.v. it is the central ritual of the o.t.o, public and private. he gave it its first publication in new york in the international several years later. variant versions subsequently appeared in the equinox iii(1 (detroit: universal, 1919) and in magick in theory and practice (paris: lecram, 1929. this edition of the gnostic mass is a composite of the three versions. prepared by frater halayl, it was first published in the journal ecclesia gnostica i(3, and is here republished with frater halayl's annotations--h.b. i of the furnishings of the temple in the east, that is, in the direction of boleskine, which is situated on the south-eastern shore of loch ness in scotland, two miles east of foyers, is a shri

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE QABALAH

a short pause, or else he substitutes for it the name ynda, adonai, lord. the radical meaning of the word is to be, and it is thus, like hyha, eheieh, a glyph of existence. it is capable of twelve transpositions, 23 in the equinox publication this replaced a reference to one of the tables accompanying mathers introduction t.s. 24 samael is various glossed as poison of god or blind god. in some of the gnostic texts found at nag hammadi samael is identified with the demiurge t.s. 25 by gematria, 864, jryw cmc, shemesh va-yerich, sun and moon, and \ycdq cwdq, qadesh qadeshim, holy of holies. draw your own conclusions (possibly along the lines of you can prove anything with gematria if you try hard enough) t.s. liber lviii 15 which all convey the meaning of to be; it is the only word that will

g its wonderful harmonics, gives an excellent idea of the way in which qabalistic analysis is conduct. first, the letters have been written in hebrew characters. then the attributions of them to the zodiac and to planets are substituted, and the names of egyptian gods belonging to these are invoked. the christian idea of i.n.r.i. is confirmed by these, while their initials form the sacred word of the gnostics. that is, iao. from the character of the deities and their functions are deduced their signs, and these are found to signal (as it were) the word lux (rwa, which itself is contained in the cross. a careful study of these ideas, and of the table of correspondences, which one of our english brethren is making,31 will enable him to discover a very great deal of matter for thought in thes

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE SWORD OF SONG

ite being; man; satan and his angels; man certainly, satan presumably, finite beings. these are not aspects of one being, but separate and even antagonistic existences. all are equally real; we cannot accept mystics of the type of caird as being orthodox exponents of the religion of christ. the hindus enumerate brahm, infinite in all dimensions and directions indistinguishable from the pleroma of the gnostics and maya, illusion. this is in a sense the antethesis of noumenon and phenomenon, noumenon being negated of all predicates until it becomes almost extinguished in the nichts under the title of the alles (cf. max m ller on the metaphysical nirvana, in his dhammapada, introductory essay) the buddhists express no opinion. let us consider the force-quality in the existences conceived of b

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

its wonderful harmonies, gives an excellent idea of the way in which qabalistic analysis is conducted. first, the letters have been written in hebrew characters. then the attributions of them to the zodiac an to planets are substituted, and the names of egyptian gods belonging to these are invoked. the christian idea of i.n.r.i. is confirmed by these, while their initials form the sacred word of the gnostics. that is, iao. from the character of the deities and their functions are deduced their signs, and these are found to signal (as it were) the word lux (hb:resh hb:vau hb:aleph, which itself is contained in the cross. a careful study of these ideas,and of the table of correspondences, which one of our english brethren is making, will enable him to discover a very great deal of matter fo

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

cco, t.e.g, n.d" 7"s" 6"d" portion of contents- ever-burning lamps- the hermetic philosophers- the hermetic brethren- mystic history of the fleur-de-lis- sacred fire- fire-theosophy of the persians- ideas of the rosicrucians as to the character of fire- monuments raised to fire-worship in all countries- druidical stones and their worship- the round towers of ireland- cabalistic interpretations by the gnostics- mystic christian figures and talismans- the rosy cross in indian, egyptian, greek, roman, and mediaeval monuments- the great pyramid- myths of the scorpion, or the snake in its many disguises- rosicrucians celestial and terrestrial- alchemy- rosicrucians in strange symbols- robert flood- indian mystic adoration of forms, etc, etc. mysteries of magic: a digest of the writings of eliph

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 1 2

s together. how utterly hopeless it makes one feel! one thinks one is at least always good for a fair average performance and one is undeceived. this, by the way, is the supreme use of a record like this. it makes it impossible to cheat oneself. well, he has got to get up more steam somehow, though the boiler bursts. perhaps early dinner, with ritual, may induce that enthusiastic energy of which the gnostics write. this morning the whole sankhara-dhatu (the tendency of the being john st. john) was operating aright. now by no effort of will can he flog his tired cattle along the trail. so poor a thing is he that he will even seek an oracle from the book of zoroaster. done. zoroaster respectfully wishes to point out that "the most mystic of discourses informs us his wholeness is in the sup

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3 2

rther ritual. further, they being now in tiphereth, they will formulate that which is kether in tiphereth, the rose and cross. the key to the vault is the rose and cross_ life. that which is alive is buried there: not that which is dead in very truth. also we must first be crucified. also the rose and cross resumes inri. now inri conceals iao, and iao besides its apophis signification (for iao is the gnostic name of the most high iaida) is amoun descending_ he, the concealed one! when isis and osiris are united. it is the ankh which is held in the hand of chesed, and reveals the man whose majesty is that of the ten sephiroth (which are combined in the ankh);10 but in a passive way. this and the wands are the 224 correlatives of the serpent and the sword; 10 see diagram 61. for the sword is

he ruach and synthesises all with "ex "deo nascimur &c &c. the altar and lid are restored, showing that the full glorification is not yet. the aspirant quits the portal, showing that to complete the great work one must go out into the world and work""third point" represents iao, the synthesis of that three-fold work. osiris not only risen but glorified, for iao is the name also of the highest, as the gnostics do assure us. here then the "chief adept" is the glorified osiris: the postulant being only the risen osiris. again the higher genius is formulated. the 27 heaven. postulant is now well in touch with the higher soul in kether; but has not yet "begun" the great work. the pastos is without "for it will never be wanted again" but in south- east and north-east are the grades and minutum m

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6 2

half-morocco, t.e.g" n.d. portion of contents- ever-burning lamps; the hermetic philosophers; the hermetic brethren; mystic history of the fleur-de-lis; sacred fire; fire-theosophy of the persians; ideas of the rosicrucians as to the character of fire; monuments raised to fire- worship in all countries; druidical stones and their worship; the round towers of ireland; cabalistic interpretations by the gnostics; mystic christian figures and talismans; the rosy cross in indian, egyptian, greek, roman and mediaeval monuments; the great pyramid; myths of the scorpion, or the snake in its many disguises; rosicrucians celestial and terrestrial; alchemy; rosicrucians in strange symbols; robert flood; indian mystic adoration of form; etc, etc. real history of the rosicrucians, founded on their own

ALICE A BAILEY09 A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME I ESOTERIC PSYCHOLOGY I

sub-rays, 5.4.3. 2. and 1, it has been suggested that this period of the alchemists and rosicrucians may have been dominated by the fifth sub-ray; the epoch of the flagellants and other fanatical enthusiasts who practised self -torture and mutilation was influenced by the fourth sub-ray; and the time when astrology was widely practised as representing the third sub-ray; while the earlier epoch of the gnostics may have been the outcome of the second sub-ray. but these are only conjectures, and while the last named is possible, there can be no such correspondence of time in the previous cases, as the alchemists, flagellants, and astrologers were all more or less contemporary during the middle ages. the rise of modern spiritualism is no doubt due to the seventh sub-ray influence, and it may a

ALICE A BAILEY10 FROM BETHLEHEM TO CALVARY

its existence in form, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps. but we in the west have forgotten the transfiguration and lost touch with divinity, and we should now stand ready to accept from the eastern christian what he has so long believed. this gnosis has always been in the world. long before christ came the divinity of man was affirmed and divine incarnations were recognised. the gnostics themselves claimed to be the custodians of a revelation which was not uniquely theirs, but which had always been present in the world. g.r.s. mead, an authority on these matters, remarks that "the claim of these gnostics was practically that the good news of christ (the christos) was the consummation of the inner doctrine of the mystery-institutions of all the nations; the end of them

AN INTRO TO STUDY OF THE KABALAH

ve been incarnated here have arrived at perfection, the evil angels are also to be raised, and all lives will be merged into the deity by the kiss of love from the mouth of the holy one, and the manifested universe shall be no more, until again vivified by the divine fiat. it has been suggested by some learned authors that these kabalistic ideas resemble those of the alexandrian philosophy and of the gnostics, embodying notions derived from the pythagoreans, the platonists and from indian brahmanism and buddhism. let us more fully consider the conceptions of the divinity. isaac myer writes--god may be regarded from four points of view; as the eternal one, or ain sup, ain suph; as ahih, aheie, i am; as ihvh, who was, is and will be; and as alhim, elohim, god in nature, called adonai or lord

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

souls, had to disappear from view with their bodies "the breath returning to the eternal bosom which exhales and inhales them" says our catechism "ideal nature" the abstract space in which everything in the universe is mysteriously and invisibly generated, is the same female side of procreative power in nature in the vedic as in every other cosmogony. aditi is sephira, and the sophia- achamoth of the gnostics, and isis, the virgin mother of horus. in every cosmogony, behind and higher than the creative deity, there is a superior deity, a planner, an architect, of whom the creator is but the executive agent. and still higher, over and around, within and without, there is the unknowable and the unknown, the source and cause of all these emanations. it thus becomes easy to account for the rea

odaemon, the eldest benevolent logos, became with theology the "adversary" or satan. but is this warranted by the correct interpretation of any old scripture? the answer is, most certainly not. as the mazdean scriptures of the[[footnote(s* the same idea is found in the first four chapters of genesis, with their "lord" and "god" which are the elohim and the androgynous eloha[[vol. 2, page] 61 what the gnostics say. zend-avesta, the vendidad and others correct and expose the later cunning shuffling of the gods in the hindu pantheon, and restore through ahura the asuras to their legitimate place in theogony, so the recent discoveries of the chaldean tablets vindicate the good name of the first divine emanations. this is easily proved. christian angelology is directly and solely derived from t

as can be, on a fragment which remained unbroken, so that there can be no dubious reading, that the "rebellious angels" had been created in the lower part of heaven, i.e, that they belonged and do belong to a material plane of evolution, although as it is not the plane of which we are made cognizant through our senses, it remains generally invisible to us, and is thus regarded as subjective. were the gnostics so wrong, after this, in affirming that this our visible world, and especially the earth, had been created by lower angels, the inferior elohim, of which, as they taught, the god of israel was one. these gnostics were nearer in time to the records of the archaic secret doctrine, and therefore ought to be allowed to have known better than non-initiated christians, who took upon themsel

is creation was aimless and even cruel, if produced by an omnipotent and perfect god. but adam and eve are shown, even in genesis, to be created by a class of lower divine beings, the elohim, who are so jealous of their personal prerogatives as reasonable and intelligent creatures, that they will not allow man to become "as one of us" this is plain, even from the dead-letter meaning of the bible. the gnostics, then, were right in regarding the jewish god as belonging to a class of lower, material and not very holy denizens of the invisible world[[vol. 2, page] 96 the secret doctrine. darkness in the realms of truth. good and evil are twins, the progeny of space and time, under the sway of maya. separate them, by cutting off one from the other, and they will both die. neither exists per se

stical reasoning on the part of the roman catholic church can give it another meaning, once that the mystery language is well studied, and that the hebrew scrolls are read numerically. the occultists know that the serpent, the naga, and the dragon have each a septenary meaning; that the sun, for instance, was the astronomical and cosmic emblem of the two contrasted lights, and the two serpents of the gnostics, the good and the evil one; they also know that, when generalised, the conclusions of both science and theology present two most ridiculous extremes. for, when the former tells us that it is sufficient to trace the legends of the serpents to their primal source, the astrological legend, and to meditate seriously on the sun, conqueror of python, and the celestial virgin in the zodiac f

hristians dreaded it and hated it, for they slew and devoured it" heathens, at any rate, do not eat their sacred symbols. we know of no serpent, or reptile-eaters except in christian civilized countries, where they begin with frogs and eels, and must end with real snakes, as they have begun with lamb and ended with horse-flesh "pantheon" 3* the solar chnouphis, or agathodaemon, is the christos of the gnostics, as every scholar knows. he is intimately connected with the seven sons of sophia (wisdom, the seven sons of aditi (universal wisdom, her eighth being martanda, the sun, which seven are the seven planetary regents or genii. therefore chnouphis was the spiritual sun of enlightenment, of wisdom, hence the patron of all the egyptian initiates, as bel-merodach (or bel-belitanus) became la

itself as a double principle of good and evil" were it light alone, inactive and absolute, the human mind could not appreciate nor even realise it. shadow is that which enables light to manifest itself, and gives it objective reality. therefore, shadow is not evil, but is the necessary and indispensable corollary which completes light or good: it is its creator on earth. according to the views of the gnostics, these two principles are immutable light and shadow, good and evil being virtually one and having existed through all eternity, as they will ever continue to exist so long as there are manifested worlds. this symbol accounts for the adoration by this sect of the serpent, as the saviour, coiled either around the sacramental loaf, or a tau, the phallic emblem. as a unity, ennoia and op

usive metaphor to its wickedness and depravity. for he is one with the logos "the first son, eldest of the gods" in the order[[vol. 2, page] 235 the shadow of god. of microcosmic (divine) evolution; saturn (satan, astronomically "is the seventh and last in the order of macrocosmic emanation, being the circumference of the kingdom of which phoebus (the light of wisdom, also the sun) is the centre" the gnostics were right, then, in calling the jewish god "an angel of matter" or he who breathed (conscious) life into adam, and he whose planet was saturn. 34 "and god hath put a girdle about his loins (the rings of saturn, and the name of the girdle is death" in anthropogony this "girdle" is the human body with its two lower principles, which three die, while the innermost man is immortal. and n

rning- the very highest title 'out of heaven 'for in heaven it cannot be, but out of heaven it is everything. in an apparently incredible side of his character- qualities are of no sex- this archangel, st. michael, is the invincible, sexless, celestial 'energy- to dignify him by his grand characteristics- the invisible 'virgin combatant' clothed. and at the same time armed, in the denying mail of the gnostic 'refusal to create' this is another 'myth within myths. a stupendous 'mystery of mysteries' because it is so impossible and contradictory. unexplainable as the apocalypse. unrevealable as the 'revelation"(p. 213. nevertheless, this unexplainable and unrevealable mystery will now be explained and revealed by the doctrines of the east. but as the very erudite, but still more puzzling aut

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

13 moses copied from sargon. 319 identity of ancient symbols. 323- iii. primordial substance and divine thought. 325 divine thought, or cineritious matter. 327 ether and intelligence. 330 the seven prakritis. 335 the mystic fire. 339 one tree of knowledge. 341- iv. chaos- theos- kosmos. 342 the union of chaos and spirit. 343 the birth of mind. 345- v. the hidden deity, its symbols and glyphs. 349 the gnostic idea. 351 international correlation of gods. 355[[vol. 1, page] xiii contents. page. vi. the mundane egg. 359 egg-born logoi. 363 the winged globe. 365- vii. the days and nights of brahma. 368 human gods and divine men. 369 the rebirth of gods. 371 the puranic prophecy. 377- viii. the lotus as a universal symbol. 379 exoteric and esoteric. 381 the purity of early phallicism. 383 the eg

us inversus. 411 death is life. 413 the fall of the angels. 418 transformation of the legend. 421- xii. the theogony of the creative gods. 424 the point within the circle. 426 the logos or verbum. 429 the factors of creation. 432 identity of the hierarchies in all religions. 438 difference between the aryan and semitic systems. 444[[vol. 1, page] xiv contents. page. xiii. the seven creations. 445 the gnostic and the hindu versions. 449 the seven puranic "creations. 450- xiv. the four elements. 460 the "gods" and the "elements. 463 the language of the elements. 464 pagan and christian worship of the elements. 467- xv. on kwan-shi-yin and kwan-yin. 470 kwan-shi-yin and phallicism. 471 the real meaning. 472- book i- part iii. science and the secret doctrine contrasted. i. reasons for these ad

ce of one primeval, universal wisdom- at any rate for the christian kabalists and students. the teachings were, at least, partially known to several of the fathers of the church. it is maintained, on purely historical grounds, that origen, synesius, and even clemens alexandrinus, had been themselves initiated into the mysteries before adding to the neo-platonism of the alexandrian school, that of the gnostics, under the christian veil. more than this, some of the doctrines of the secret schools- though by no means all- were preserved in the vatican, and have since become part and parcel of the mysteries, in the shape of disfigured additions made to the original christian programme by the latin church. such is the now materialised dogma of the immaculate conception. this accounts for the gr

alous convert had no money to purchase two statues or "idols" as they, very properly, were called by a witness- another but a non-converted hindu. blasphemous this will appear to a dogmatic christian, but the theosophist and the occultist must award the palm of logic to the converted hindu. the esoteric christos in the gnosis is, of course, sexless, but in exoteric theology he is male and female* the gnostic sophia "wisdom" who is "the mother" of the ogdoad (aditi, in a certain sense, with her eight sons, is the holy ghost and the creator of all, as in the ancient systems. the "father" is a far later invention. the earliest manifested logos was female everywhere- the mother of the seven planetary powers* see "chinese buddhism" by the rev. j. c. edkins, who always gives correct facts, altho

e (diabolos, diable, diavolo, teufel. but the pagans have always shown a philosophical discrimination in their symbols. the primitive symbol of the serpent symbolised divine wisdom and perfection, and had always stood for psychical regeneration and immortality. hence- hermes, calling the serpent the most spiritual of all beings; moses, initiated in the wisdom of hermes, following suit in genesis; the gnostic's serpent with the seven vowels over its head, being the emblem of the seven hierarchies of the septenary or planetary creators. hence, also, the hindu serpent sesha or ananta "the infinite" a name of vishnu, whose first vahan or vehicle on the primordial waters is this serpent* yet they all made a difference between the good and the bad serpent (the astral light of[[footnote(s* like t

he good and the bad serpent (the astral light of[[footnote(s* like the logoi and the hierarchies of powers, however, the "serpents" have to be distinguished one from the other. sesha or ananta "the couch of vishnu" is an allegorical abstraction, symbolizing infinite time in space, which contains the germ and throws off periodically the efflorescence of this germ, the manifested universe; whereas, the gnostic ophis contained the same triple symbolism in its seven vowels as the one, three and seven-syllabled oeaohoo of the archaic doctrine; i.e, the one unmanifested logos, the second manifested, the triangle concreting into the quaternary or tetragrammaton, and the rays of the latter on the material plane[[vol. 1, page] 74 the secret doctrine. the kabalists- between the former, the embodimen

t. the universe, as well as the earth and man, cast off periodically, serpent-like, their old skins, to assume new ones after a time of rest. the serpent is, surely, a not less graceful or a more unpoetical image than the caterpillar and chrysalis from which springs the butterfly, the greek emblem of psyche, the human soul. the "dragon" was also the symbol of the logos with the egyptians, as with the gnostics. in the "book of hermes" pymander, the oldest and the most spiritual of the logoi of the western continent, appears to hermes in the shape of a fiery dragon of "light, fire, and flame" pymander, the "thought divine" personified, says: the light is me, i am the nous (the mind or manu, i am thy god, and i am far older than the human principle which escapes from the shadow("darkness" or

and descend" are the "hosts" of what we loosely call "celestial beings" but they are, in fact, nothing of the kind[[footnote(s* these voluntary re-incarnations are referred to in our doctrine as nirmanakayas (the surviving spiritual principles of men* sukshma-sarira "dream-like" illusive body, with which are clothed the inferior dhyanis of the celestial hierarchy* compare this esoteric tenet with the gnostic doctrine found in "pistis-sophia (knowledge= wisdom, in which treatise sophia achamoth is shown lost in the waters of chaos (matter, on her way to supreme light, and christos delivering and helping her on the right path. note well "christos" with the gnostics meant the impersonal principal, the atman of the universe, and the atma within every man's soul- not jesus; though in the old co

orse. this is a repetition of the failure of the "fathers" the lords of light who fail one after the other (book ii, sloka 17) we will now quote from our earlier volumes "then steps on the stage of creation the spirit (of the earth so-called, or the soul, psyche, which st. james calls 'devilish) the lower portion the anima mundi or astral light (see the close of this sloka. with the nazarenes and the gnostics this spirit was[[footnote(s* explaining kabalistic views, the author of the "new aspects of life" says of the fallen angels that "according to the symbolical teaching, spirit, from being simply a functionary agent of god, became volitional in its developed and developing action; and, substituting its own will for the divine desire in its regard, so fell. hence the kingdom and reign of

BLUE EQUINOX

iation, with a clear solution of many cosmic and ethical problems. liber cccxxxiii. the book of lies, falsely so called: with an extended commentary by the master therion. this book contains some of the most valuable mystic epigrams ever written, and also some very important secret rituals. it is the official text-book of a.a. for .babes of the abyss. liber xv: the canon of the mass, according to the gnostic catholic church, which represents the original and true pre-christian christianity. liber li. the lost continent. an account of the continent of atlantis: the manners and customs, magical rites and opinions of its people, together with a true account of the catastrophe, so called, which ended in its disappearance. liber cvi. a treatise on the nature of death, and the proper attitude to

roduction to the study of gnosticism. the oracles of zoroaster. an invaluable collection of precepts mystical and magical. the equinox 22 the dream of scipio, by cicero. excellent for its vision and its philosophy. the golden verses of pythagoras, by fabre d.olivet. an interesting study of the exoteric doctrines of this master. the divine pymander, by hermes trismegistus. invaluable as bearing on the gnostic philosophy. the secret symbols of the rosicrucians, reprint of franz hartmann. an invaluable compendium. scrutinium chymicum by michael maier. one of the best treatises on alchemy. science and the infinite, by sidney klein. one of the best essays written in recent years. two essays on the worship of priapus, by richard payne knight. invaluable to all students. the golden bough, by j.g

luminati in the united states of america etc, etc, etc. 197 liber lii manifesto of the o.t.o. peace, tolerance, truth salutation on all points of the triangle respect to the order. to all whom it may concern: greeting and health do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. 1. the o.t.o. is a body of initiates in whose hands are concentrated the wisdom and knowledge of the following bodies: 1. the gnostic catholic church 2. the order of the knights of the holy ghost. 3. the order of the illuminati. 4. the order of the temple (knights templar. 5. the order of the knights of st. john. 6. the order of the knights of malta. 7. the order of the knights of the holy sepulchre. 8. the hidden church of the holy graal. 9. the hermetic brotherhood of light. 10. the holy order of rose croix of here

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

the priests also declare, but i for one do not credit it, that the god comes down in person into this chamber, and sleeps upon the couch."10 on a tomb found in rome and dated between the first and fourth centuries ad the inscription read "i am a son of the earth and the stars of the sky, but i am of the celestial race. may the knowledge be passed on!"11 the birth of y'shua (jesus, as described in the gnostic gospels, also has similarities to modern day et experiences. the protoevangelion of james is the oldest of the gnostic gospels which were removed from christian orthodoxy at the notorious council of nicaea in 325ad (see the robots' rebellion. the gnostic text describes the birth of y'shua and how people and animals froze in mid-gesture in a powerful, though temporary paralysis, while j

DAVID ICKE CHILDREN OF THE MATRIX

to 1296. the balliol family were big time bloodline and given the illuminati's astonishing obsession with symbols and the sound of names and words, there may well be some connection between belial and balliol. certainly there is in spirit because balliol college, like oxford university in general, is an illuminati stronghold turning out future generations of placemen and women. early accounts by the gnostic sect (gnostic "knowledge) tell of the serpent gods in a positive light. they claim that lilith (eve) was their first creation and then adam followed as her partner. the hebrew talmud also claims that lilith, a vampire, was adam's first wife. this is symbolism, of course, but symbolising what? lilith (also lillibet and elizabeth) is one of the code names for the bloodlines on the female

lil to the sumerians and lilitu in babylon. hebrew traditions say that lilith rebelled against adam and his god and fled to a cave after eating her own child. there she lived with the demons of the underground world and bred with them. she told adam and eve that she and her offspring would always abduct human children and take them to their subterranean world. the roman church savagely suppressed the gnostics, not least because they did not believe that people needed a middleman between themselves and god. went down very well with the christian priests, that one. hippolytus, an early christian "father" and historian, wrote that many of the first gnostics in north africa were known as the naaseni or "serpents" and they worshipped nahustan, the golden or brazen serpent, the image of whom the

the literal existence of a jesus-in-the-flesh and wrote the jesus story symbolically. marcion was a gnostic (a word meaning "knowledge) and they wrote widely in symbolism and allegory. gnostic texts referring to the jesus story which were found in 1945 at nag hammadi in egypt, have been used as "proof" that jesus existed, but they are not. first they were written long after the "event" and second the gnostics were allegorical writers. moses maimonedes, the hebrew philosopher and gnostic of the 12th century, wrote "every time that you find in our books a tale, the reality of which seems impossible, a story which is repugnant to both reason and common sense, then be sure that the tale contains a profound allegory veiling a deeply mysterious truth; and the greater the absurdity of the letter

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

airs of each animal go into theark and seven pairs of each type of bird. there are seven days between the prediction of thedeluge and the rain and seven days between the sending of the doves. the ark comes torest on the 17th day of the seventh month, noah leaves the ark on the 27th day, and afterthe flood he begins his seventh century. many of the names for the symbolic deities, suchas abraxas of the gnostics and serapis of greece have seven letters. then there is 40.adam enters paradise when he is 40 years old; eve follows 40 years later; during the greatflood it rains for 40 days and 40 nights; seth is carried away by angels when he is 40 andis not seen for 40 days; moses is 40 when he goes to midian and he stays for 40 years;joseph is 40 years old when jacob arrives in egypt; jesus goes

pel.27 let me stress that i am not condemninghomosexuality here. good luck to those who wish to live their lives in this way so longas its the choice of all concerned. i am making the point that the christian hierarchyhave been deceiving and lying to their followers right from the start. bishop clementsletter was replying to a christian who was very perturbed to be told the above story ofjesus by the gnostic group called the carpocrates. it had apparently been leaked tothem by an official in alexandria. clements advice, after confirming the story, was thatanything which contradicts the official church view must be denied, even if it is true.the letter says of those who question official orthodoxy:for even if they should say something true, one who loves the truth should not, even so,agree

the sign of authority, is also, according toastrologers, the astrological sign of england, that centre of global control. the name,baphomet, is reckoned to derive from greek words meaning baptism of wisdom orknowledge (initiation) and dr hugh schonfield, one of the experts on the dead seascrolls, says that using the code of the essenes, the word baphomet can be translated tosophia, the goddess of the gnostics, and the greek word for wisdom.13 sophia is anothername for the female energy. schonfield is sure there is a link between the templars and theessenes and so am i. he has demonstrated that the templars used the same code, theatbash cipher, employed in some of the dead sea scrolls.14 other accusations against thetemplars were of killing children and teaching women how to abort.15 it is

DEMONIC BIBLE

protons within the atom are composed of waves with various charges and rates of vibration. the universe is not, but is becoming! god is not, but is becoming! when lucifer has risen, when man has become god, then it shall be known that the aeon of lucifer has begun. concerning christianity the earliest christians approached christianity as a philosophy compatible with other philosophical beliefs. the gnostic christians saw no conflict between the christian religion and the mystery schools of greece and rome. among the celts, christianity was adopted by the druids and was practiced alongside the earlier pagan religion. the greeks and romans approached christianity from an intellectual perspective. the scriptures were accepted within the context in which they had been written and were not in

DIABOLUS

ick michael w. ford 2004 michael w. ford for the order of phosphorus members only. succubus publishing website http//algol.chaosmagic.com psychonaut 75 website http//www.psychonaut75.com e-mail: keteb75@psychonaut75.com 2 contents introduction i. set the egyptian god of darkness ii. ahriman the persian devil and the whore of darkness iii. the adversary and the bride of the devil, cain the son iv. the gnostic yaltabaoth, child of chaos v. the path of the crooked serpent leviathan and beelzebub end introduction the very intent and purpose of this essay is to bring to light the roots of the adversary in magick from a historical and mythological standpoint. as a practitioner of magick from a satanic and luciferian viewpoint, many often inquire on my sources and inspirations from which i form m

d pentagram in the center. this is made reference to the number 8, being of baphomet and chaos, and the pentagram representing the five points of the adversary, details are found in the grade workings of the black order of the dragon38, which is a non-public initiatory circle. the inverted pentagram in an outer sense represents the manifestation of the will through the manipulation of matter. iv. the gnostic yaltabaoth, child of chaos "and when she saw (the consequences of) her desire, it changed into a form of a lionfaced serpent. and its eyes were like lightning fires which flash. she cast it away from her, outside that place, that no one of the immortal ones might see it, for she had created it in ignorance. and she surrounded it with a luminous cloud, and she placed a throne in the mid

DION FORTUNE PSYCHIC SELF DEFENSE

christianity, which has no roots in tradition, has forgotten it. protestant christianity threw away its occult aspect at the reformation. all the pagan pantheons have gross aspects of divinities as well as etherial ones. we need to search the refuse-heap of history for the lost parts of our own tradition if our faith is to be complete, and the most profitable line of search is in the qabalah and the gnostic literature. the literature of the gnosis has been largely destroyed by systematic persecution, but in the qabalah there is still left us a complete system. the jews, being strictly monotheistic, did not speak of gods, but they recognised a hierarchy of angels and archangels which is the equivalent of the pagan pantheons. it is through these etherial messengers that the all-father forme

DONALDTYSON CORONZON

t the fruit of the tree of knowledge (see genesis 3:1-7. god stated that if adam and eve ate the fruit, they would die; the serpent told eve that she would not die, but would become "as gods, knowing good and evil" and when eve and later adam ate the fruit, this is exactly what happened. god lied. the serpent told the truth. it was this obvious, but strangely, seldom acknowledged, truth, that led the gnostics, who began as serpent worshippers, to present the serpent in the garden as the savior of mankind, the benevolent being who began the process by which mankind would be restored to their rightful status as gods. the gnostics viewed the hebrew god of genesis as a kind of malicious evil demon who had kept man in a state of ignorance in the prison of the garden so that man would not realiz

erior to his spiteful master. how we regard coronzon thus depends on how we regard the serpent of genesis. if we are good, unquestioning christians and jews, we will look upon this serpent as the persecutor of mankind, the view we have been commanded to accept in scripture and by the leaders of religion. but if we are hermetics or gnostics, or even more open-minded kabbalists, we may suspect that the gnostic opinion has virtue, and that the serpent initiated the reformation and salvation of mankind that will ultimately result in the ascent of humanity to the status of gods (the elohim, a status that the jealous god of the old testament concealed from mankind at our time of origin. once we understand that the enochian angels viewed coronzon as equivalent to lucifer or satan, we can learn so

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

in astronomian (venice, 1506, and flores astrologici (augsburg, 1488. he died at wasid, central asia. sources: mcintosh, christopher. the astrologers and their creed: an historical outline. new york: frederick a. praeger, 1969. alchemy the art and science by which the chemical philosophers of medieval times attempted to transmute the baser metals into gold and silver. alchemy is also the name of the gnostic philosophy that undergirded the alchemical activity, a practical philosophy of spiritual purification. there is considerable disagreement as to which, the scientific or the philosophical, is the dominant aspect and the manner in which the two were integrated (which to some extent varied tremendously from alchemist to alchemist. there is also considerable divergence of opinion as to the

echobus the supposed writings of st. methodius of olympus (martyred 311 c.e; or the saint of the same name who was patriarch of constantinople and who died in 846. the real name of the work is bea-methodius, a contraction for beatus methodivo, which was misprinted bermechobus. the work is of the nature of a prophetic apocalypse and tells the history and destiny of the world. it was handed down by the gnostics and printed in the mirabilis liber. there are no grounds, however, to suppose that the writings were the work of either of the saints mentioned. the book recounts how seth sought a new country in the east and came to the country of the initiates, and how the children of cain instituted a system of black magic in india. the author identifies the ishmaelites with those tribes who overth

turies, beginning in the first century c.e. gnosticism developed its own form of christian theology, an alternative to that presented in the writings later assembled as the new testament. a basic tenet of gnosticism is that the created, material world is evil. it was not created by the true god but by a lesser being. only by escape from the material into the spirtual world can there be salvation. the gnostics believed that this ex- encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. crucifixion, gnostic conception of 361 plained the presence of evil in the world, because the true god could not have created anything less than perfect. because the material body is inferior and evil, the spirit of an individual is dwelling in an alien environment. this belief led the gnostics to view jesus as

completely ignorant of his mission. at the crucifixion, therefore, christ ascended to god, from whom he had come, for he did not (and could not) physically suffer on the cross and die; rather, simon of cyrene, who bore his cross, suffered in his place: and they compel one simon a cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of alexander and rufus, to bear his cross (mark 15:21. the gnostics contended that a portion of the real history of the crucifixion was never written. at the resurrection, the gnostics believed, the man jesus was given another body, made up of ether, which was why the disciples did not recognize him after the resurrection. during his sojourn on earth after he had risen, he received from god the perfect knowledge of spiritual truth, or gnosis, which he

n, the gnostics believed, the man jesus was given another body, made up of ether, which was why the disciples did not recognize him after the resurrection. during his sojourn on earth after he had risen, he received from god the perfect knowledge of spiritual truth, or gnosis, which he communicated to the small number of the apostles who were capable of receiving it. sources: lacarriere, jacques. the gnostics. london, 1977. mead, g. r. s. pistis sophia: a gnostic miscellany. london, 1921. reprint, new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1974. crumbaugh, james c(harles (1912) american psychologist and parapsychologist. he was born december 11, 1912, in terrell, texas, and educated at baylor university (b.a, 1935, southern methodist university (m.a, 1938, and the university of texas (ph.d, 195

s objectively present in the world and pictured the apostles as trying to drive them away. considering demons as having an objective existence placed many questions about the nature of their origin, existence, operation, and habitation on the theological agenda. by the third century, the angel lucifer, who fell from heaven (isa. 14:12, was identified with satan, and the fallen angels with demons. the gnostics (who competed for members with the early christians, imitating plato s classification of the orders of spirits, attempted a similar arrangement with respect to a hierarchy of angels. the first and highest order was named seraphim; the second, cherubim; the third was the order of thrones; the fourth, dominions; the fifth, virtues; the sixth, powers; the seventh, principalities; the eig

new gnostic church, including gerard encausse, better known as papus, and the man who eventually succeeded him as patriarch, leonce eugene joseph fabre des essarts. doinel died in 1894. the nouvelle eglise gnostique universelle has continued to the present, though it fractured over the twentieth century and now exists as a number of small gnostic churches. among its more important derivatives is the gnostic catholic church associated with the ordo templis orientis (oto. some claim that both theodor reuss and aleister crowley were consecrated by papus, but the documentary evidence is lacking. herman joseph metzger (1919.1990, who eventually became head of the largest german-speaking branch of the oto, accepted consecration as a gnostic bishop through a separate lineage from doinel. sources

association reported on the negative results. these texts made drown and anyone using her techniques open to charges of medical malpractice, and she soon disappeared from the public eye and lived the rest of her life in relative obscurity. through most of her life, drown was also a metaphysical teacher and she developed her own system, which is presented in her book the forty-nine degrees (1957. the gnostic system discusses the soul s journey from heaven to earth and its eventual return, and the knowledge needed for that return. drown died in 1965 while awaiting trial for fraud. sources: drown, ruth, ed. the forty-nine degrees: the road to divine truth. new york: greenwich book publishers, 1957. inglis, brian. the case for unorthodox medicine. new york: berkley books, 1965. drugs (psyched

ed to have made contact with a number of higher spiritual intelligences, among them an entity named aivas (the same name of the entity contacted by aleister crowley when he channeled the book of the law early in the twentieth century. bertiaux had become a thelemic magician and the leader of a collection of magical and gnostic organizations, including a branch of the ecclesia gnostica cattolicae. the gnostic catholic church had its origins in the visionary experiences of jules-benoit doinel, its first bishop, and one line of apostolic succession passed to bertiaux through haiti. from aivas bertiaux received knowledge of occult methods that were claimed to be the deepest gnostic initiations and was told to prepare a set of adepts to spread the new gnostic awareness. among the people he bega

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

t attainment, plato said. the most enlightened will be reborn as a philosopher, musician, artist, or lover. at the lowest level, he placed tyrants. once a soul has beheld true being, it will pass from animal into human form, he said. plato also put forth the idea that a person chooses his next life, the very choice being a sign of his character. the idea of metempsychosis was also held by some of the gnostics, and it became a source of disagreement between them and the leaders of the christian church. irenaeus, the second century bishop of lyons, wrote at length against the gnostics in his pacesetting contra heresies and singled out metempsychosis as an idea that was incompatible with christianity. the church has essentially followed irenaeus s lead in its con- metals encyclopedia of occul

do templi orientis, the initiatory magical group then led internationally by karl johannes germer (1885.1962. he also joined the world league of the illuminati, an organization that had attempted to revive the eighteenth-century german illuminati. in 1955, the leader of the swiss chapter of the world league died and left the small organization to metzger. in 1957 he was consecrated as a bishop in the gnostic catholic church, one of several small ecclesiastical bodies that traced its apostolic succession to the mystical consecration of french bishop jules- benoit doniel (1842.1894. then in 1960 metzger became the new patriarch of the church. in 1963, after hearing of the death of germer, he called the german-speaking leadership of the oto together and had himself elected the new internation

sh- speaking countries did not recognize him. by this time metzger was already putting together a new organization that would unite the teachings and practices of the several organizations he had inherited. his headquarters was established in appenzell in northeast switzerland. a variety of cottage industries emerged, from a bakery to a movie theater. there was also a chapel for the gatherings of the gnostic catholic church. metzger led the group until he fell ill toward the end of the 1980s. he died on july 14, 1990. his ashes are kept enshrined at the chapel at appenzell. sources: koenig, peter r. herman joseph metzger.oho of the o.t.o. and patriarch of the gnostic catholic church. http/ www.cyberlink.ch/ koenig/bishops.htm. april 23, 2000. mexico and central america sorcerers and astrol

en approach the gods. however, in the hands of the later pythagoreans and platonists, the principles of the hellenic masters were carried off into popular magical speculations. many of the pythagoreans joined the various orphic (mystery religion) associations, becoming little more than itinerant vendors of charms. it is probable that even before he left alexandria plotinus began to absorb some of the gnostic mysticism circulating throughout the mediterranean basin. but everywhere he also found a growing indifference to religion as known to the more ancient greeks and egyptians. by this time, the pantheons of greece, rome, and egypt had become fused in the worship of serapis, and this fusion had been forwarded by the works of plutarch, apuleius, and lucian. the position of metaphysical phil

e objects we contemplate, and that which contemplates are identical; both are thought. all truth is then easy. reduce the soul to its most perfect simplicity, and we find it is capable of exploration into the infinite; indeed it becomes one with the infinite. this is the condition of ecstasy, and to accomplish it, a stoical austerity and asceticism was necessary. the neoplatonists were thus, like the gnostics, ascetics and enthusiasts. plato was neither. according to plotinus, the mystic contemplates the divine perfection in himself; all worldly things and logical distinctions vanish during the period of ecstasy. this approach has some similarity with the stages of yoga meditation. plotinus regarded the individual existence as phenomenal and transitory, and subordinated reason to ecstasy w

satanic group, which grew out of the appearance of satanas, the horned god, to herbert arthur sloane of toledo, ohio. sloane was a child at the time. he later saw the same entity pictured on the dust jacket of a study of witchcraft, the god of the witches. when sloane was 25 years old, satanas appeared again. in structuring our lady of endor coven, sloane was heavily influenced by his reading of the gnostic religion, a scholarly treatise on gnosticism by hans jonas. in gnosticism, the creator god (of the christians, is considered a lesser deity than another god. satan is that god s messenger. satan brought knowledge of god to eve in the garden of eden. that god takes no direct interest in this world, except for his concern that the sparks of deity trapped in this world return to their ori

s the serpent which has its poison according to two compositions and one is all and through it is all and by it is all and if you have not all, all is nothing. the symbol of ouroboros has also been interpreted as the unity of sacrificer and sacrificed, relating to the symbolism of the mystical life. the symbol dates back to mesolithic (azilian) culture and appeared in the symbolism of many races. the gnostic text pistis sophia, describes the disc of the sun as a great dragon with his tail in his mouth. the fourth-century writer horopollon stated the egyptians represented the universe as a serpent devouring its own tail, a symbol of eternity and immortality, an image also found on gnostic gems. in alchemy, the tail-eating dragon represented the guardian of mystical treasure, symbolized by t

michael bertiaux, a thelemic magician residing in chicago, illinois, who noted that while a new form of magical gnostic teachings, master leo s perspective was very close to his own and that of kenneth grant, the head of the ordo templi orientis organization based in london, england. following the opening of the path of gnostic light, a set of inner orders were created. they include the order of the gnostic black serpent (for males, the order of the gnostic black dove (for females, the order of the gnostic black star (for both males and females) and a fourth order known only by its initials, p.o.k.a. included in the work of these orders is the practice of left-hand tantra, that is, sex magick. the teachings of the path are a path of self-exploration that begins in the direct experience of

ives washburn, 1931. prudens one of the spirit controls of william stainton moses, said to be plotinus. he contributed a greek philosophical tone of thought to the spirit teachings. at an early stage he was appointed one of moses s guardians and was left in charge of him during the absence of the controls imperator and doctor. pryse, james morgan, jr (1859.1942) james morgan pryse, jr, founder of the gnostic society, was born on november 14, 1859, in new london, ohio, the son of a welsh presbyterian minister. his father, who belonged to the welsh order of druid bards, filled pryse with the legends of the druids along with the presbyterian faith. as a young man pryse pursued a law career but gave it up for journalism. he moved around frequently during his early adulthood, joined in the effo

EXTRAORDINARY ENCOUNTERS AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EXTRATERRESTRIALS AND OTHERWORLDY BEINGS

o one knowledgeable observe r, the pro p h e c i e s of knight and ramtha seem to have move d closer to those of right-wing surv i valists and a n t i- semites, who foresee a world held in the sinister group of international bankers as part of a new world ord e r (brown, 1997. knowledgeable observers, such as religiousstudies scholar j. gordon melton, say that much of ramtha s teaching comes from the gnostic tradition, which holds that god exists within each of us and is to be found there through contemplation and self-mastery. see also: atlantis; channeling; lemuria further reading brown, michael f, 1997. the channeling zone: american spirituality in an anxious age. cambridge, ma: harvard university press. carroll, robert todd, n.d. the skeptic s dictionary: ramtha aka j. z. knight. http/

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

ptian wisdom, not much later than the wisdom of the hebrew patriarchs and prophets, and much earlier than plato and the other philosophers of greek antiquity, who had all so the renaissance magus firmly believed drunk from its sacred fountain. he is returning to the pagan background of early christianity, to that religion of the world, strongly tinged with magic and oriental influences, which was the gnostic version of greek philosophy, and the refuge of weary pagans seeking an answer to life's problems other than that offered by their contemporaries, the early christians. the egyptian god, thoth, the scribe of the gods and the divinity of wisdom, was identified by the greeks with their hermes and sometimes given the epithet of "thrice great".1 the latins took over this identification of h

works of reitzenstein, particularly his poimandres (leipzig, 1904) are still fundamental for this subject. w. scott's prefaces and critical apparatus in his edition of the hermetica have been consulted as well as the prefaces and notes in the nock-festugiere edition. other useful works are a. d. nock, conversion, oxford, 1933; c. h. dodd, the bible and the greeks, london, 1935; r. mc. l. wilson, the gnostic problem, london, 1958. 2 there is general agreement that the first treatise of the corpus hermeticum, the pimander, contains some jewish elements but opinions differ as to the amount of the writers' indebtedness to hellenised judaism. 3 most scholars are of the opinion that there is very little, if any, christian influence in the hermetica. dodd, who stresses the jewish influence, thin

placed man in a dignified position, as the highest of terrestrial beings, as spectator of the universe, as the microcosm containing within himself the reflection of the macrocosm. all these orthodox notions arc in the oration on the dignity of man,2 but the dignity of man as magus, as operator, having within him the divine creative power, and the magical power of marrying earth to heaven rests on the gnostic heresy that man was once, and can become again through his intellect, the reflection of the divine mens, a divine being. the final revaluation of the magician in the renaissance is that he becomes a divine man. once again one is reminded of a parallel with the creative artists for this was the epithet which their contemporaries awarded to the great, of whom they often speak as the divi

f. 2 hence he was, for ficino, not only the oilmen of platonism but the columen of christian theology (commentary on dionysius' liber de trinitate; ficino, p. 1013. 117 pseudo-dionysius and theology of a christian magus nevertheless, though the dionysian orders are not, strictly speaking, a cosmological religion, there is something in the whole idea of orders set out in this fashion which recalls the gnostic religion of the world, or religious experience in the setting of the cosmic orders. r. roques has drawn attention to the parallels between the dionysian mysticism and gnosticism, particularly of the hermetic type, and has suggested a possible influence of hermetism on the hierarchies.1 thus, once again the phenomenon of misdating comes into play in the renaissance synthesis, and the gr

der the impression that the copernican discovery has abolished the spheres to which the stars were formerly thought of as attached, he sees this as a breaking of those envelopes by which the hermetic gnostic ascended and descended through the spheres, as described in the pimander, when the magus man "leant across the armature of the spheres, having broken through their envelopes" 2 bruno has made the gnostic ascent, has had the hermetic experience, and so has become divine, with the powers within him. even more significant for comparison with bruno's description of himself in this passage as, to give the phrase in the original italian "quello ch'ha varcato l'aria, penetrato il cielo, discorso le stelle, trapassato gli margini del mondo",3 is the description in cornelius agrippa's de occult

r than the heavens, elevating himself above the angels to the archetype itself, with whom he then becomes co-operator and can do all things.1 these words are almost exactly the same as those in which bruno describes his ascent, except that bruno leaves out the angels. it is characteristic of bruno's extraordinary style, with its mixture of magic, philosophy, and poetry, that he chooses to express the gnostic trance, in which the soul leaves the body which is left asleep in the ligature of the senses (as described in pimander) in terms of the experience of ecstatic love described in ariosto's orlando furioso: chi salira per me, madonna, in cielo, a riportarne il mio perduto ingegno? what could the oxford doctors have made of this man? what can anyone make of him? the megalomania of the magi

atens est (i am giving the treatises their ficinian titles. it also allowed him to accept unchristian doctrines, which had been carefully avoided by the christian hermetists, for example. metempsychosis (to be found particularly in the asclepius and in corpus hermeticum x2) which bruno openly accepts in his cabala del cavallo pegaseo* and implies in some passages of the cena and elsewhere.4 also, the gnostic ascent through the spheres had been 1 see above, p. 212. 2c.h, i, p. 116; ii, p. 311. 3 cabala del cavallo pegaseo, dial. 2 (dial, ital, pp. 892 ff. 4 see particularly eroici furori, pt. i, dial. 4 (dial, ital, pp. 1026 ff. 249 giordano bruno in england: the hermetic philosophy avoided, though ficino may have had some hankerings after it in his interest in the doctrine of the astral bo

no himself is aware of the absence of theology in his work and explains it by saying that he does not attempt to go above nature, and speaks as a pure natural philosopher. he does not want to be contrary to theology, but he seeks his divinity in the infinite worlds.3 through this approach, bruno's hermetism perhaps almost does interpret the hermetic writings in their true sense, as expressions of the gnostic "religion of the world, which he has expanded to infinite worlds, and, in the case of the asclepius, as a late antique neoplatonised egyptian mystery cult. yet bruno, like everyone else, has no idea of the true date of the hermetica, and thinks that he is returning to an egyptian philosophy and religion earlier than moses. the question of bruno's philosophy is immensely complicated by

FRATER TENEBROUS CULTS OF CTHULHU

h laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling injoy. then the liberated old ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom. 2 there is a marked similarity between this passage and the teachings of many actual secret societies of the past, including the assassins, the gnostics, and the templars, but in particular to the law of thelema, as expounded by lovecraft s contemporary, aleister crowley. the main distinction is one of moral interpretation whereas lovecraft regarded his ancient gods as essentially evil, crowley saw the return of such atavistic deities as being in full accord with the progression of the aeons. following the call of cthulhu, lovecraft p

FRATER U D PRACTICAL SIGIL MAGIC

personification) for its collective development. only then will we be able to use its huge power resources. despite all the dangers which are entangled with the use of specific or less specific animated atavisms, a small number of magicians will always consider this to be the crown of their art and one of their highest aspirations. today is the product of yesterday, and if we are inclined to take the gnostic questions gwho am i, h gwhere do i come from? h and gwhere do i go to? h seriously, we cannot afford to do without the s ll it the big bang, god, ain, bythos, chaos, or whatever we like. in this respect, the magic of the gre-animated atavisms h also represents a mystical and philosophical method, a method which chooses the path gdirectly through the flesh h instead of, as is regular we

FREEMASONS SATANISM AND SYMBOLISM

ill might be skeptical. masonry cleverly masks its references to satan. there are 77 names which pagans have used to refer to satan over the centuries and they are in the satanic bible. we'll review some of these "infernal names" of satanism found within masonry [satanic bible, anton lavey, p. 144-46] we shall list the freemason teaching on each of these names, and then the explanation. baphomet "the gnostics held that it [universal agent] composed the igneous [pertaining to fire] body of the holy spirit, and it was adored in the secret rites of the sabbat or the temple under the hieroglyphic figure of baphomet or the hermaphroditic goat of mendes [pike, op. cit, p. 734, teaching of the 28th degree; emphasis added] we find it absolutely incredible that the freemasons should portray the hol

GAMBLE ELIZA BURT THE GOD IDEA OF THE ANCIENTS OR SEX IN RELIGION

h appeared above the horizon at the winter solstice, or at the time when the sun had reached its lowest point and had begun to return. at this time, the 25th of december, and just as the days began to lengthen, this virgin gave birth to the sun-god. it is said that he issued forth from her side, hence the legend that gotama buddha was produced from the side of maya, and also the story believed by the gnostics and other christian sects that jesus was taken from the side of mary.[31 [31] the fact will doubtless be remembered that a similar belief was entertained concerning the birth of julius caesar. within the churches and in the streets of many cities of germany are to be observed figures of this traditional virgin. she is standing, one foot upon a crescent and the other on a serpent's hea

ious emblem always typifies desire--creative energy--which, proceeding from the sun, is manifested in man and in animals. whether it be a veritable snake in a box, a serpent connected with the figure of a woman, or as a carved representation on monuments or stones, or as chains or wreaths on columns, bas-reliefs or friezes, the signification is the same. the sacred character of this reptile among the gnostics is shown by the accounts given of their religious rites and ceremonies. by many of these sects this holy creature was kept in a box, ark, or chest, and when the eucharistic service was to be performed, he was enticed forth from his resting- place by a bit of bread. so soon as his holiness had wound himself about the offering, the sacrifice was complete and the service was concluded by

m the facts recorded in the foregoing pages, we have seen that true christianity was but a continuation of that great movement which was begun in persia seven or eight centuries before, and whose gathering strength had been emphasized by the humane doctrines set forth in the various schools of greek philosophy. in the first century of the christian era may be observed among various sects, notably the gnostics, a desire to popularize the teachings of an ancient race, and to accentuate those principles which had been taught by buddha, pythagoras, the stoic philosophers, the roman jurisconsults and others. in other words the object of the new religion was to stimulate the altruistic characters which had been developed during the evolutionary processes, and to strengthen and encourage the almo

to the symbolism of the pagan worship these facts are not without signification. because of the peculiar tendency of christ's teachings women soon became active factors in their promulgation. if there were no other evidence to show that they publicly taught the new doctrines, the injunction of st. paul "i suffer not a woman to teach" would seem to imply that they were not silent. the doctrines of the gnostics were particularly favorable to women. marcellina, who belonged to this order, was the founder of a sect called marcelliens. of her works waite observes "it would scarcely be expected that the heretical writings of a woman would be preserved amid such wholesale slaughter of the obnoxious works of the opposite sex. the writings of marcellina have perished"[143] not only did women teach

her was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man; thus was re-established and emphasized the absurd doctrine of the lingaites, that the male is an independent entity, that he is spirit and superior to the female which is matter. after this indication of the policy to be pursued under the new regime, it would scarcely be expected that theefforts put forth by the various sects among the gnostics toreinstate the female element either on the earth or in heavenwould be successful, and as might be anticipated from the factsalready adduced, as early as the year 325, at the council of nice, a male trinity was formally established, and soon thereafter, the collylidians, a sect which rigorously persisted in the adoration of the female principle, were condemned. at the council of laod

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

ot simply a christian one. the claim alsoto magical power negatives the idea that the doctrines were orthodox; and yet we find a profession of christianity running through the volume. we must remember that c.r. began life as a pupil in a cloister, and was the associate in early life of monks: we must bear in mind that out of europe, in the east, christianity was gnostic,22themagical masonand that the gnostics and neo-platonists, although to a roman catholic or protestant decidedly heretical, were yet inspired by christian ideals- although they could not realize the accepted admixture of the god and man in christ, yet insisted on the christ teaching of the man jesus; similarly so we today, having mostly entered upon the eastern theosophy from a christian education, still are largely tinctur

taught his immediate disciples the true keys, but to others he spake only in parables 'and without a parable spake he not unto them. such, my fratres, are suitable subjects for the attention of your members,butthere are many allied topics which might form suitable centres of interest and instruction, for example: the whole range of church architecture as crystallized symbol255 ism, the dogmas of the gnostics, the several systems of philosophy of the hindoos, the parallelism between rosi255 crucian doctrine and eastern theosophy, for which read max heindel'srosicrucian cosmo-conception,and that enticing subject, the origin and meaning of the 22 trumps or symbolic designs of the 'tarocchi' or pack of tarot cards, which eliphaz levi says form a group of keys which will unlock every secret of

um,about 200, and justin martyr, 160, give short accounts condemning the mithraic cult as a form of paganism. these notices were in the last century commented on by encyclopedistsandby writers on forms of religion, and were fancifully exaggerated by some mystics, as by eliphaz levi, and were mentioned by masonic authors such as kenneth mac255 kenzie and r. f. gould, also quoted by c. w. king from the gnostic pointofview, and by hammer purgstall, the german critic, in hismithraica,1833. montfaucon, in his splendidly illustrated twelve volumes ofl'antiquite expliquee, 1719,furnishes numerous plates of ancient mithraic sculptures. thomas hyde, ontheremains ofthereligion of ancient persia (1700, may be consulted, and g. r. s. mead hasprintedamithraic ritual,1907.themost complete account of mit

he christian ideas of archangels. then followed a second series of angelic eman255 ations named the izeds or yazatas (adored ones, who were twenty-eight in number, of whom the earlier sun god mithra was called the first and chief; he was the invincible hero fighting the evil powers.athird series then followed, and were named the ferouers, who were unlimited in number. c. w. king, in his work upon the gnostics, looks upon these as the active thoughts of god. the evil being ahriman also prod255 uced a numerous progeny of wicked spirits, but he was cast down by ormuzd from his high estate. he is comparable to the christian ideal of satan as the devil. ormuzd, the creator, formed the world and set life upon it; the same zend word meant both 'life' and a 'bull, which was the persian symbol of t

GILBERT THE SORCERER AND HIS APPRENTICE

nguishthem.from the rest of the suit. the deuce of sceptres forms a cross with two roses and two lilies in the opposite angles; the cross between the rose of sharon and the lily of the valley. the deuceofcups shows a tesselated pavement or cloth whereon the cups stand; between them is a species of caduceus, whose serpents are replaced by lion-beaded foliations, which recall the chnuphisserpent of the gnostics, and. certain familiar. forms. of the elemental spirits;practicaloccultists will know to what i allude. the deuce of swords forms a species ofvesicapiscisenclosing a mystic rose of the. primary colours. the deuce of pentacles is bound together by a continuous band in such a manner as to form a figure 8, and represents the one as being the reflection of theother,asthe universe is thato

d uncognisable by man, and the seven cognisable by man. here we havetheseven principlesofman. sevenisthe key tothemosaic condition, and there we get the second key: the 7 days of creation, the 7. principles of man, the 7 great planets, the 7 archangels, and 7 angels, and soon, symbolised in every great religion;the 7 great gods and the 7 demons;andthesegods answer precisely to the 7 archangels .ofthe gnostics, hermetists, and, later on, of the christian scheme. they existed before the timeofchrist, and wereif not actually worshippedlooked upon as mediators. but at the incarna" tion of christ, thosewhobelieved that here was the prophesied fulfilment of the pleroma banished the 7 great gods from their position of being worshipped; the 7 being now included in one, as returning to the primitiv

GNOSTIC CATECHISM

s here append the initials by which they are known to each other within the c.v. in succession to l.s. l.s may 25th, 1910 m.w.0 s.r dated this 25th day of may, in the year of our lord 1903. back to homepage back to waite appendix a appendix b appendix c appendix d the masonic career of a.e. waite the publications of a.e. waite lectures given by a.e. waite constitution of the secret college of ridethe gnostic handbook the institute for gnostic studies introduction 1 what is gnosticism? gnosticism as a form of perception, the source of our tradition, gnosticism and other ways of knowing, esotericism and modern language. 2 the great chain of being flatland, the traditional model of the universe, the axis mundi and the sacred tree, characteristics of the traditional model, the neo-platonic cos

GNOSTIC HANDBOOK

ophia, the polarity of the god and goddess, impersonal to personal, the solar logos:christ, gods and spirits, the seven spirits (logoii, the seven planes, the earth and the underworld, the immortals. 4 the secret of saturn the secret of saturn, perceptional dualism, the watchers of enoch, archons, dominions and thoughts that run wild, the battle within, summary:the nature of evil in gnosticism. 5 the gnostic concept of time the gnostic concept of time (yugas, historical models of cyclic time, rene guenon and julius evola and evola and "the revolt against the modern world. 6 the gnostic view of time ii the great year, egyptian star gnosis and heraldic cycles. 7 the continuum of the gnosis the gnostic identity message, origins, the israel connection, el, yahweh and reconsidering the bible, t

nst the modern world. 6 the gnostic view of time ii the great year, egyptian star gnosis and heraldic cycles. 7 the continuum of the gnosis the gnostic identity message, origins, the israel connection, el, yahweh and reconsidering the bible, the sacred serpent, israel on the world stage, the druid connection, the essene link, the essenes, jesus and the foundations of gnosticism, table of contents the gnostic handbook hyperlinked index just click the gnostic handbook page 3 8 conditional immortality and reincarnation the aim of life, the bible and reincarnation, the mechanism of reincarnation, heaven and hell, hell on earth and what is heaven. 9 the mystery of deification what is the aim of this spiritual process? the nature of theosis, the mystery, to be born again, the nature of transfigu

tion, the anointing and living the life of a gnostic:overcoming the dialectic system and life on the path 11 the secret way celestial transfiguration, going beyond the law, the parfait, wisdom from india, the secret of the qadesh and the bridal chamber 12 restoring the bible restoring the bible, what about the old testament? bible narratives, multiple levels of truth and continuing revelation, 13 the gnostic apostolic church churches and temples, the use of ritualism, the monastic life, the gnostic tradition: a brief history of the church, the role and purpose of the gnostic apostolic church, membership and priesthood, sacraments of the church and conclusion. table of contents continued the gnostic handbook page 4 all rights reserved 1997-2000 institute for gnostic studies gnostic apostoli

and priesthood, sacraments of the church and conclusion. table of contents continued the gnostic handbook page 4 all rights reserved 1997-2000 institute for gnostic studies gnostic apostolic church po box 492 armidale nsw 2350 australia email:pleroma@ozemail.com.au web: http//www.ozemail.com.au/ pleroma we have felt for many years that there is a great need for a study of the principles on which the gnostic tradition is built. at first we avoided such a task as our knowledge of the gnostic tradition was still evolving and because any outline of religious symbolism can come across as dogmatic. however, as time progressed we realized that if we waited until all the facts were in and we worked to avoid all possible misconceptions, we would end up with the gnostic handbook never being written

was still evolving and because any outline of religious symbolism can come across as dogmatic. however, as time progressed we realized that if we waited until all the facts were in and we worked to avoid all possible misconceptions, we would end up with the gnostic handbook never being written. accordingly, we believe that within this handbook is a comprehensive summary of the basic principles of the gnostic tradition. we realize that what we outline in this text is unusual and rightly so, gnosticism is a unique form of perception and hence offers a very different worldview from that found in christian, pagan or esoteric and occult traditions. gnosticism is the essence behind such outer forms and hence offers the framework from which religion, occultism and mythology create the form. in re

d is. it does not represent dry dogmatism or a simple recital of facts, but a real and personal experience of god within human experience. it is in this spirit we issue this handbook. the structure of this handbook is aimed to facilitate easy access of information on basic religious questions. this is not meant to be an exhaustive theological exposition but a summary of the teachings which embody the gnostic legacy which has been passed onto the institute for gnostic studies. the approach we have taken in this handbook has been a religious one, our primary source of symbolism has come from within the essene, greek, gnostic, zoroastrian and christian mystical traditions. other interpretations are certainly possible and for those who wish to get behind the symbols, interpretations and belief

s been a religious one, our primary source of symbolism has come from within the essene, greek, gnostic, zoroastrian and christian mystical traditions. other interpretations are certainly possible and for those who wish to get behind the symbols, interpretations and beliefs we suggest you study the various publications and courses issued by the institute for gnostic studies. we hope you will find the gnostic handbook edifying as well as enjoyable reading. introduction gnosticism as a form of perception what do we mean when we say gnosticism is a form of perception? to truly understand the gnostic vision it is important to grasp what gnosticism is and not to be bogged down in various historical manifestations of the gnostic way of looking at things. gnosis literally means wisdom but does no

at cannot be easily imagined or explained. the problem is that algebra is an academic form of mathematics and has little effect on everyday life while spirituality controls and influences us more than we would care to admit. only be removing religious iconography from the realm of the emotions and appreciating it as a symbol system, as a form of divine algebra can we really understand its nature. the gnostic handbook is one application, one representational system for the ancient gnosis. it can be seen in many forms and using many symbol systems. accordingly, it is important to realise the difference between the representational letter and the thing that is represented, between the essence and the form. the institute hence differentiates between its philosophical works (such as gnostic the

, one representational system for the ancient gnosis. it can be seen in many forms and using many symbol systems. accordingly, it is important to realise the difference between the representational letter and the thing that is represented, between the essence and the form. the institute hence differentiates between its philosophical works (such as gnostic theurgy) and its religious works (such as the gnostic handbook. to give an example, while all gnostic traditions agree on the universe being in some sense dualistic, there are many divergent ways of expressing this dualism and even more ways to understand. some gnostic schools have two a true and false god, one the essence behind all things, the other a demiurge or false creators, others see the dualism as relative and only existing betwe

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

nt transforms them into children of the treasury of light. for more information see: the institute for gnostic and gnostic apostolic church web: http//www.ozemail.com.au/ pleroma or write to: institute for gnostic studies po box 492 armidale nsw 2350 austra opage 3 all rights reserved 1996-2000 email: pleroma@ozemail.com.au gnostic apostolic church institute for gnostic studies note: please study the gnostic handbook before studying this volume. gnostic theurgy page 4 the gnostic teachings were central to the esoteric schools of all traditions. even though separated by time, space and cultural forms, they were linked together by a common wisdom, a nexus which spans time and space to form a lineage of oral and written teaching which continue to this day. in the earliest stages of man s pres

the gnosis is alive, it is a life transforming vortex, it is the voice originating from a world from which mankind is utterly alienated. gnostic theurgy page 5 the teachings offered in these books may, at first glance, seem to have much in common with materials you could receive from other occult, esoteric or spiritual organisation, but there also much that is at variance. the unique thing about the gnostic tradition is that it really comprehends the condition of modern man and his alienation from the energies which are the source of all illumination. while other traditions may have knowledge to offer, until they come to terms with the nature of the cosmic battle- the dualism which is at the centre of modern life, they cannot hope to offer real initiation or real spiritual transformation

o escape its grip, death still arrives inevitably to the master or student. the form we have used in outlining the gnosis is to offer the original mystery teachings coupled with research and validation from modern sources. we believe that it is of great value to see the way in which philosophical, scientific and psychological research has validated much of what has been known for centuries within the gnostic schools. but this, of course, has it limits. while modern psychology and science may agree with us that there are altered states of being, even perhaps other dimensions, it is only the gnostic who realises that through correspondence the altered state can be used as a gateway to explore the world outside. certainly it is also only the gnostic who undertakes the adventure to get there

rse, has it limits. while modern psychology and science may agree with us that there are altered states of being, even perhaps other dimensions, it is only the gnostic who realises that through correspondence the altered state can be used as a gateway to explore the world outside. certainly it is also only the gnostic who undertakes the adventure to get there. by using the master keys provided in the gnostic and esoteric traditions and correlating these with modern research, the institute for gnostic studies can offer you techniques and theories which will change the way you experience yourself and the world forever. and this, by the way, is the aim of the gnosis, the transformation of lead into gold, man into god, the transfiguration of the student from a seeker of the mysteries to a part

6ff. plato, then, is illustrating for us the state of man. his insight is clear and precise. man is chained by his attachment to matter and his fallen condition. the only reality he sees is a reflection and forms a illusionary world around him. this is known as the dialectic system or the world of the archons. the true source of all things is found in the world of ideals- the spiritual planes. in the gnostic school these are known as the static system or the treasury of light. the allegory of plato is an important place to start as it gives us a keen understanding of mans search for meaning. man search is a battle, a cosmic battle, between two distinct systems. in many traditions these two distinct systems are not only seen to be at odds with each other, but in antagonism and conflict. for

scussion in alice in wonderland between humpty dumpty and alice. when i use a word humpty dumpty said "it means just what i choose it to mean- neither more nor less. the question is said alice, whether you can make words mean so many different things. the question is said humpty, which is to be the master- that's all. through the looking glass. lewis carroll. gnostic theurgy page 10 to appreciate the gnostic worldview you will need to put aside your beliefs and assumptions and reconsider most of what you have been taught. it is imperative that you understand the terms we use and the context they are used in. many of the words and concepts we present, though obviously from the language of the christian tradition, have little or no connection to the concepts of the same name in modern christ

certain association for you. for example, you would probably relate the term occult to something sinister and evil, and yet the word itself simply means hidden. members of the medical profession, for example, use the term occult bleeding for bleeding which comes from an unknown source. hardly sinister or demonic i would suggest. again and again we must emphasise that to understand and appreciate the gnostic worldview you need to put aside the associations, prejudices and pre-conceptions you have and consider new meanings for the terms that are used. it is important for you to understand the language we use in the context of how we use it, and not in terms of prevailing religious terminology. we are not asking you to just accept everything we say or blindly agree with our redefinition of o

odmother of all intellectual forces, the key to all divine obscurities and the absolute queen of society in those ages when it was reserved exclusively for the education of priests and of kings. transcendental magic, eliphas levi. x gnostic theurgy page 13 the timeline where to begin? that is the question. the logical place might be at the beginning, but that opens the biggest can of worms within the gnostic system. for the gnostic, things are not as they seem and the material world is very different from that which is perceived at first examination. if we are to start at the beginning then we have to consider exactly what we are talking about. the beginning of what? the beginning of everything, you may say, but what exactly are we discussing? what is everything? this may seem like semanti

ussing, let us suggest that time and all related forces (such as space and matter) may be described in such a way as to form a line, on which we can define four major events. that which is before (even beyond) the framework of the line, the start of the line (the alpha event, the line itself and the end of the line (the omega point (fig 1. for ease, let us call this line the cosmic timeline. from the gnostic understanding what which exists before and beyond the timeline is perfection, the treasury of light (we will return to this soon, the end of the timeline is the omega day or the apocalypse, the timeline itself is formed by the various stages of human development, while the alpha event is how time, space and matter began. it is not the point where or when everything began, but only the

GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS ZAM2

refreshed and returned back unto f, the virginal state. 3 this brings forth the three primary forces in the egyptian pantheon of: isis birth life apophis death destruction osiris rebirth resurrection it is the mystical cycle of: life- death- rebirth the letters: isis i apophis a osiris o a notarikon formulated from the first three letters of isis, apophis, and osiris, formulate the divine name of the gnostic iao. this is pronounced in ritual work as: eeeee- aaaahh- oooohhh (reference of a deeper understanding of iao can be found in the book of enoch 3) hwchy is a symbol of resurrection and it is only through death that we can rise again unto life "for if you will die with hwchy ye shall rise with him" osiris becomes osiris onnophoris, the justified one, only after death and resurrection. t

GREENFIELD ALLEN SECRET CIPHER OF THE UFONAUTS

nd the chakra system of the body. according to the primal occult and frequently secret and subversive view, the manifest universe emerges from an ultimate not-thing, a consciousness or beingness beyond words or expressions sometimes referred to as the unmanifest or the secret cipher of the ufonauts 59 limitless light. this unmanifest cannot be understood in the external sense, but can be known in the gnostic sense by the initiate or perfected sentient being, the ubermensch. it can be plugged into. for reasons equally inexpressible, this uniqueness unfolds itself in manifestation. thus, the limitless light becomes a series of emanations or expressions or intelligences that devolve increasingly toward our material form of existence and thus towards accessibility in the conventional sense. bu

towards accessibility in the conventional sense. but the manifestations also increasingly become subject to subdivision into arbitrary concepts such as good and evil as these are commonly understood. and they also become closer and closer in form and content to our own mundane reality, though in the relativity of things, these higher intelligences may seem unspeakably powerful, mythic and divine. the gnostic view has tended to be that what the external world of the conventional person understands as god, devil demon, angel or, more recently, extraterrestrial beings are, in fact, such emanations of the unspeakable ultimate. indeed, the ancient gnostics saw the god and devil of conventional theology as an ego-maddened entity under the delusion that it, indeed, is the ultimate being! the late

d, when undistorted, appears (according to legend) guided by intelligences associated with the dual star system sirius or sothis in some manner. this brotherhood also seems to have the purpose of uplifting human character and initiating biological and social evolution designed to move towards identification with ultimate being. what is sometimes called the black lodge, which we may associate with the gnostic demiurge or phil dick s valis, is generated to keep humanity in a state of materialist trance and evolutionary stagnation. mystics generally consider that understanding the motivations of either of these sources may be beyond our knowledge or even our capabilities. existentially, however, it may be stated with confidence that one is dedicated to keep us in subjugation, misery and stagn

erica, to disenchant the man of earth with his destiny; to fill him with the facts and fancies that enthrall etiolated and degenerated idealists and unfit him for his evident purpose, that of supplying society with supermen. the black lodge in the nazi era totally discredited the concept of the evolved human supermen by grafting it onto german nationalist and racialist conceits, while suppressing the gnostic church, the oto, the anthroposophical society and even lost-word freemasonry- in short, anyone who might have an actual understanding of the coming being. the leading figure of the oto in germany, the future grand master karl germer, was placed in a concentration camp. his official crime was that he knew and maintained relations with aleister crowley. the chief bishop of the universal

has been found to make some sense of the mysterious and often ridiculous utterances of trance channels and those who have been contacted by the ultra-terrestrials. this book reveals to a wider public that which initiates have known, it is fair to say, since at least the 1940s, if not earlier. there have been ciphers and codes worked into religious and magical teachings since at least the times of the gnostics. ciphers and codes have been used to conceal vital information, sensitive data, secret communications. before blaise de vigini re s famous table of combinations, used in cryptography, it was known as the right and averse table of combinations of the letters, revealed to us in cornelius agrippa s seminal magnum opus, the three books of occult philosophy, from renaissance times. later i

subject matter some of us can speak of in short-hand. what may seem like high-weirdness, fringe material, talk of little green men (women and trans-genders too) to the casual reader, or to the uninitiated actually makes perfect sense and can be regarded as a sort of everyday concensus reality among the illuminati. as it was written upon parchment solis sacerdotibus. having gained acquaintance, in the gnostic context, of things things of which i speak in part, but not in their entirety in my writings and elsewhere (and i can recognize those who have achieved initiation into the same or similar mysteries) it is rather amusing (when it isn t just a plain old damned nuisance) when people say i speak in enigmas, or in riddles, or in a manner that they cannot understand, when most of the people

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

ssession only of the hierogrammatists, or initiated egyptian priests. ammonius saccas, as his biographers tell us, bound his pupils by oath not to divulge his higher doctrines except to those who had already been instructed in preliminary knowledge, and who were also bound by a pledge. finally, do we not find the page 8 the key to theosophy- hp blavatsky.txt same even in early christianity, among the gnostics, and even in the teachings of christ? did he not speak to the multitudes in parables which had a two-fold meaning, and explain his reasons only to his disciples? he says: to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables the essenes of judea and carmel made similar distinctions, dividing their adher

corporeal death. it becomes in time entirely disintegrated and disappears from view, being annihilated as a whole. q. then you also reject resurrection in the flesh? a. most decidedly we do! why should we, who believe in the archaic esoteric philosophy of the ancients, accept the unphilosophical speculations of the later christian theology, borrowed from the egyptian and greek exoteric systems of the gnostics? q. the egyptians revered nature-spirits, and deified even onions: your hindus are idolaters, to this day; the zoroastrians worshiped, and do still worship, the sun; and the best greek philosophers were either dreamers or materialists-witness plato and democritus. how can you compare! a. it may be so in your modern christian and even scientific catechism; it is not so for unbiased min

ite-whether because it had a beginning, or must have an end-can remain stationary. it must either progress or recede; and a soul which thirsts after a reunion with its spirit, which alone confers upon it immortality, must purify itself through cyclic transmigrations onward toward the only land of bliss and eternal rest, called in the zohar "the palace of love; in the hindu religion "moksha; among the gnostics "the pleroma of eternal light; and by the buddhists "nirvana" and all these states are temporary, not eternal. q. yet there is no reincarnation spoken of in all this. a. a soul which pleads to be allowed to remain where she is, must be preexistent, and not have been created for the occasion. in the zohar, however, there is a still better proof. speaking of the reincarnating egos (the

k on conic sections; nicomachus, the arithmetician: for astronomers, natural philosophers, anatomists such as herophilus and erasistratus; physicians, musicians, artists, etc. but it became still more famous for its eclectic, or new platonic school, founded by ammonius saccas in 173 ad, whose disciples were origen, plotinus, and many other men now famous in history. the most celebrated schools of the gnostics had their origin in alexandria. philo-judaeus, josephus, iamblichus, porphyry, clement of alexandria, eratosthenes the astronomer, hypatia, the virgin philosopher, and numberless other stars of second magnitude, all belonged at various times to these great schools, and helped to make of alexandria one of the most justly renowned seats of learning that the world has ever produced. altr

vine essence which pervades, permeates, animates, and informs all things, from the smallest atom of matter to man and god. it is in a sense "the seven-skinned mother" of the stanzas in the secret doctrine; the essence of seven planes of sentience, consciousness, and differentiation, both moral and physical. in its highest aspect it is nirvana; in its lowest, the astral light. it was feminine with the gnostics, the early christians, and the nazarenes; bisexual with other sects, who considered it only in its four lower planes, of igneous and ethereal nature in the objective world of forms, and divine and spiritual in its three higher planes. when it is said that every human soul was born by detaching itself from the anima mundi, it is meant, esoterically, that our higher egos are of an essen

f emanation was at one time universal. it was taught by the alexandrian, as well as by the indian philosophers, by the egyptian, the chaldean, and hellenic hierophants, and also by the hebrews (in their cabala, and even in genesis. for it is only owing to deliberate mistranslation that the hebrew word asdt was translated "angels" from the septuagint, while it means emanations, aeons, just as with the gnostics. indeed, in deuteronomy the word asdt or ashdt is translated as "fiery law" whilst the correct rendering of the passage should be "from his right went (not a fiery law, but) a fire according to law" viz, that the fire of one flame is imparted to and caught up by another-like as in a trail of inflammable substance. this is precisely emanation, as shown in isis unveiled. in evolution, a

l virtues, and is himself called the third life (third logos. in the codex he is addressed as the helm and vine of the food of life. thus he is identical with christ (christos) who says "i am the true vine and my father is the husbandman" it is well known that christ is regarded in the roman catholic church as the "chief of the aeons" as also is michael "who is as god" such also was the belief of the gnostics. javidan khirad (pers) a work on moral precepts. j ana (sans) knowledge: occult wisdom. josephus flavius a historian of the first century; a hellenized jew who lived in alexandria and died at rome. he was credited by eusebius with having written the 16 famous lines relating to christ, which were most probably interpolated by eusebius himself, the greatest forger among the church fathe

ut preserving individuality, so that, e.g, buddhas, after entering nirvana, may reappear on earth-i.e, in the future manvantara. noumena (gr) the true essential nature of being as distinguished from the illusive objects of sense. nous (gr) a platonic term for the higher mind or soul. it means spirit as distinct from animal-soul, psyche; divine consciousness or mind in man. the name was adopted by the gnostics for their first conscious aeon, which, with the occultists, is the third logos, cosmically, and the third principle (from above) or manas, in man (see nout) page 164 the key to theosophy- hp blavatsky.txt nout (eg) in the egyptian pantheon it meant the "one-only-one" because it does not proceed in the popular or exoteric religion higher than the third manifestation which radiates from

ISIS UNVEILED

ything through his wisdom, which u his verlmm, and which the christian bme named the beginning" thus adopting the exo- teric meaning of the word abandoned to the multitudes "hie kabala the oriental as well as the jewish shows that a number of emanatione (the jewish sephiroth) issued from the firat principle, the chi^ c^ which was wiedom. this wisdom is the logos of philo, and michael, the chi^ of the gnostic eons; it is the ormazd of the persians; minerva, goddess of wisdom, of the greeks, who emanated from the head of jupiter; and the second person of the christian trinity. the eariy fathers of the church had not much call to exert their imagination; they found a ready-made doctrine that had existed in every theogoay for thousands of years before the christian era. their trinity is but th

he logos of plato; and the "beginning" of st. john are all the rasit, n'^vkh, of the book of genesis. if rightly interpreted it overturns, as we have remarked, the whole elaborate system of christian theology, for it proves that behind the cretuixe deity there was a hioheb god, a planner, an architect; and that the former was but his executive agent a dmple poweb! they [the christiana] persecuted the gnostics, murdered the philo- sophers, and burned the kabalists and the masons; and when the day of the great reckoning arrives, and the li^t shines ui darkness, what will tfaey have to offer in the place of the departed, expired religion? what will they answer, these pretended monotheists, these worshipers and jwrado-servants of the one living grod, to their creator? how will they account for

n this religious philosophy of the orient, which has penetrated into the mystic symbousm of christianity? we an- swer: this philosophy, the traces of which we find among the magians, the cbaldaeans, the egyptians, the hebrew kabalists and the chris- tians, b none other than that of the hindfi br&hmanas, the sectarians of the piirit, or the spirits of the invisible worlds which surround us" but if the gnostics were destroyed, the gnosis, based on the secret science of sciences, still lives. it is the earth which helps the woman, and which is destined to open her mouth to swallow up medieval chris- tianity, the usurper and assassin of the great master's doctrine. the ancient kabala, the gnosis, or traditional aecrh knowledge, has never been without its representatives in any age or country

ne thouqht, and had to be regarded as co-equal and co- etemal with its first manifestation. if we now stop to consider another of the fundamental dogmas of christianity, the doctrine of atonement, we may trace it as easily back to heathendom. this comer-stone of a church which had believed her- self built on a firm rock for long centuries, is now excavated by science, and proved to have come from the gnostics. professor draper shows it as hardly known in the days of tertuuian, and as having "originated among the gnostic heretics" we will not permit ourselves to contra- 71. cf. a. kirdicr: sp/tinx mgitagoga, n. 52: amstelodami, 1676. 72. cmffiia bttioeta rtu^ion and seieiux, p. 224. digitizecoy google 4s isis unveiled diet such a learned authority, further than to state that it originaud am

the hindq brahmi and sara- svatt" and the pagan dionysus and demeter. and here we are on firm ground, if it were only because it is now proved that the new tehameni never appeared in its complete form, such as we find it now, till 300 years after the period of apostles^ and the zohar and other kabalistic books are found to belong to the first centtuy before our era, if not to be far older still. the gnostics entertained many of the essenean ideas; and the esaenes had their 'greater' and 'minor' mysteries at least two cen- turies before our era. they were the itarim or initiates, the descendants of the egyptian hierophants, in whose country they had been settled for several centuries before they were converted to buddhistic monas- ticism by the missionaries of king asoka, and amalgamated l

uries before they were converted to buddhistic monas- ticism by the missionaries of king asoka, and amalgamated later with the earliest christians; and they existed, probably, before the old egyptian temples were desecrated and ruined in the incessant in- va^ons of persians, greeks, and other conquering hordes. the hiero- phants had their atotwment enacted in the mystery of initiation ages before the gnostics, or even the essenes, had appeared. it was known among hierophants as the baptism of bixx>d, and was considered not as an atonement for the 'fall of man' in eden, but simply as an ex- piation for the past, present, and future sins of ignorant but nevertheless polluted mankind. the hierophant had the option of offering eitb^ his pure and sinless life as a sacrifice for his race to the

te all tbeir sacred book* according to the command td god or by 'ditine revelation' the oompaukin and inatructor of iiia and onrit wai tboth, or hennca ii, who was an iocunation of the celestial ucnoes. digitizecoy google 60 isis unveiled isis is alao by right the queen of heaven, and ia generally represented carrying in her hand the crux anaata compoaed of the mundane cross and of the staurot of the gnostics, she is a great dea] younger than the celestial virgin, neith. in one of the tombs of the pharaohs that of barneses in the valley of biban- 1-muluk in thebes, champollion junior discovered a picture, according to his opinion the most ancient ever yet found. it represents the heavens symbolized by the figure of a woman bedecked with stars. the birth of the sun is figured by the form of

far as to accept the ceremonies hitherto celebrated by tbe pagan world in honor of the god of the gardmt, in all their primitive nncerity^ it was time to sever the connexion. either the pagan worship and the neo- putonic theurgy, with all ceremonial of magic, must be crushed out for- ever, or the christians become neo-platonists. the fierce polemics and single-handed battles between irenaeus and the gnostics are too well known to need repetition. they were carried on for over two centuries after the unscrupulous bishop of lyons had uttered bis last rehgtous paradox. celsus, the neo-natonist, and a disciple of the school of ammonius saccas, had thrown the christians into perturbation, and even had arrested for a time the progress of prosdytism by successfully proving that the original and

e of mecca has grown till we find it in the present century over- shadowing nearly two hundred millions of people. the recent bulgarian atrocnties are but the natural outgrowth of the triumph of cyril and the mariolaters. the cruel, crafty politidan, the plotting monk, glorified by ecclesias- tical history with the aureole of a martyred saint; the despoiled philo' aophers, the neo-platonists, and the gnostics, daily anathematized by the church all over the world for long and dreary centmiea; the curse of the unconcerned deity hom-ly invoked on the magian rites and theurgic' practice, and the christian clergy themselves using lorcery for ages; hypatia, the glorious maiden-philosopher, torn to pieces by the christian mob; and such as catherine de m dicis, lucrezia borgia, joanna of naples, a

JENNINGS HARGRAVE ROSICRUCIANS RITES MYSTERIES

uiry as to the possibility of miracle. 114 chapter the fourteenth. can evidence be depended upon? examination of hume s reasoing. 120 chapter the fifteenth. footsteps of the rosicrucians amidst architectural obejcts. 130 chapter the sixteenth. the round towers of ireland. 137 chapter the seventeenth. prismatic investiture of the microcosm. 142 chapter the eighteenth. cabalistic interpretations by the gnostics. 147 chapter the nineteenth. mystic christian figures and talismans. 157 chapter the twentieth. the rosy cross in indian, egyptian, greek, roman, and medi val monuments. 165 chapter the twenty-first. myth of the scorpion, or the snake, in its many disguises. 173 chapter the twenty-second. ominous character of the colour white to english royalty. 177 contents xv chapter the twenty-thir

they should die, or be expected to die, merely changing their names, and reappearing in another place as new persons, they having long survived all who knew them, and thus being safe from the risk of discovery. the rosicrucians always most jealously guarded these secrets, speaking in enigmas and parables for the most part; and they adopted as their motto the advice of one of their number, one of the gnostics of the early christian period: learn to know all, but keep thyself unknown. further, it is not generally known that the true rosicrucians bound themselves to obligations of comparative poverty but absolute chastity in the world, with certain dispensations and remissions that fully answered their purpose; for they were not necessarily solitary people: on the contrary, they were frequen

case, as the planetary powers and influences are septenary which, in the ideas of the rosicrucians, produce both. talisman of the jaina kings. chapter the seventh. mythic history of the fleur-de-lis. he maypole is a phallus. the ribbons depending from the discus, or ring, through which the maypole pierces, should be of the seven prismatic colours those of the rainbow (or r gne beau. according to the gnostics and their remains, ancient and medi val, a work by the rev. c.w. king, m.a, published in 1864, horapollo has preserved a talisman, or gnostic gem, in yellow jasper, which presents the engraved figure of a cynocephalus, crowned, with b ton erect, adoring the first appearance of the new moon. the phallic worship prevailed, at one time, all over india. it constitutes, as mr. sellon asser

l heavens each sign with its ten decans, or decumens, or lenders of hosts. they are also astronomically called stalls, or stables. we may here refer to porphyry, horapollo, and chifflet s gnostic gems. the speckled beetle was flung into hot water to avert storms (pliny, nat. hist, lib. xxxvii, ch. x) the antiquary pignorius has a beetle crowned with the sun and encircled with the serpent. amongst the gnostic illustrations published by abraham gorl eus is that of a talisman of the more abstruse gnostics an onyx carved with a beetle which threatens to gnaw at a thunderbolt. see notes and queries; bee mythology. the lilies are said not to have appeared in the french arms until the time of philip augustus. see montfau on s monumens de la monarchie fran aise, paris, 1729, also jean-jacques chif

term logan, as applied to the druidical stones. had dr. borlase been acquainted with the irish mss, significantly adds colonel vallancey, he would have found that the druidical oracular stone called loghan, which yet retains its name in cornwall, is the irish logh-oun, or stone into which the druids pretended that the logh, or divine essence, descended when they consulted it as an oracle. logh in the gnostic abraxas. 47 celtic is the same as logos in the greek; both terms mean the logos( word) or the holy ghost. sanchoniathon, the phoenician, says that ouranus contrived, in boetulia, stones that moved as having life. stukeley s abury, p. 97, may be here referred to for further proofs of the mystic origin of these stones, and also the celtic druids of godfrey higgins, in contradiction to th

ing life. stukeley s abury, p. 97, may be here referred to for further proofs of the mystic origin of these stones, and also the celtic druids of godfrey higgins, in contradiction to those who would infer that these poised stones simply mark burial-places, or foolish conclusions of shallow and incompetent antiquaries. the basilidans were called by the orthodox docet, or illusionists. the deity of the gnostics was called abraxas in latin, and abrasax in greek. their last state, or condition for rescued sensitive entities, as they termed souls, was the pleroma, or fulness of light. this agrees precisely with the doctrines of the buddhists or bhuddists. the regulating, presiding genius was the pantheus. the pythagorean record quoted by porphyry (vit. pythag) states that the numerals of pythag

that the numerals of pythagoras were hieroglyphical symbols by means whereof he explained ideas concerning the nature of things. that these symbols were ten in number, the ten original signs of the zodiac, and the ten letters of the primeval alphabet, appears from aristotle (met, vii. 7. some philosophers hold, he says, that ideas and numbers are of the same nature, and amount to ten in all. see the gnostics and their remains, p. 229. but to return to the arms of france, which are the fleurs-de-lis, and to the small representative creature (sublime enough, as the farthest-off symbol which they are imagined in their greatness to indicate. a bible presented to charles the second, a.d. 869, has a miniature of this monarch and his court. his throne is terminated with three flowers of the form

tau. the whole first chapter of genesis is said to be contained in this latter emblem this magnificent, all-including tau. three bent spikes, or nails, are unmistakably the same symbol that belus often holds in his extended hand on the babylonian cylinders, afterwards discovered by the jewish cabalists in the points of the letter shin, and by the mediaeval mystics in the three nails of the cross. the gnostics and their remains, ancient and medi val, p. 208. this figure, which is clearly a nail, has also characteristics, which will be remarked in its upper portion, which suggest a likeness to the obelisk, pin, spike, upright, or phallus. the hebrew letter shin, or sin, counts for 300 in the hebraic numeration. each spica, or spike, may be taken to signify 100, or ten tens. we have strong hi

lustrated with numerous admirably executed copperplates of magical statuettes, architectural ornaments, mystical inscriptions, vases, and coins. amidst these there is a bearded, yet female, figure, mete (magna, or maxima) whom von hammer, following theodosius and others, makes the same as the sophia of the ophites. some particulars referring to these subjects are contained 52 the rosicrucians. in the gnostics and their remains, ancient and mediaeval; although there is an evident betraying total ignorance on the part of the author, throughout his book, as to the purpose, meaning, and reality of the whole of these remote and mysterious subjects: to which he is, however, blindly constantly referring, without the merit of even feeling his way. it is well known that the preservation of gnostic

KARR DON NOTES ON THE STUDY OF EARLY KABBALAH JEWISH MYSTICISM IN ENGLISH

sh ethics and jewish mysticism in sefer ha-yashar [sefer ha yashar be-misgeret sifrut ha-musar ha- fivret ba-me fah ha 13] translated by roslyn weiss [jewish studies, vol. 8] lewiston: the edwin mellen press, 1991. 1.d. castile: in the second half of the 13th century, a circle of kabbalists grew around the brothers r. jacob and r. isaac ha-cohen (or kohen. scholem refers to their developments as gthe gnostic reaction h.reaction, that is, to the philosophic leanings of the gerona mystics (ref. scholem, kabbalah [1974, pp. 55-6. references to the cohens. ek pp. 36-7; translations 151-182; ok pp. 355-64. dan, joseph. gthe emergence of messianic mythology in 13th-century kabbalah in spain, h in occident to orient: a tribute to the memory of a. scheiber, edited by robert dan (budapest: akademia

. c. b. mohr (paul siebeck, 1993. 5. greflections on the nature and origins of jewish mysticism, h in gershom scholem fs major trends c (see note 4. 6. in particular see peter schafer, gershom scholem reconsidered: the aim and purpose of early jewish mysticism [the twelfth sacks lecture delivered on 29th may 1985 (oxford: oxford centre for postgraduate hebrew studies, 1986) and nathaniel deustch, the gnostic imagination: gnosticism, mandaeism, and merkabah mysticism [brill fs series in jewish studies, vol. xiii (leiden: e. j. brill, 1995. an essay which takes a critical look at contemporary gkabbalah studies h in general, but with a rather different approach from that of the present discussion, is gil anidjar fs gjewish mysticism 20081 31 alterable and unalterable: on orienting kabbalah st

in the history of religions (numen book series, volume lxx (leiden/new york/koln, e.j. brill, 1996. following mystical trends inevitably leads through apocryphal christianity into gnosticism. for an overview of this complex subject, see gnosis: the nature and history of gnosticism, by kurt rudolph (edinburgh: t&t clark ltd, 1984; new york: harper and row, 1987. for texts, see (forgive the title) the gnostic scriptures: ancient wisdom for the new age, translated, annotated, and introduced by bentley layton (new york: doubleday, 1987, and the gnostic bible, edited by wallis barnstone and marvin meyer (boston& london: shambhala, 2003. 15. the more comprehensive english edition of the mishnah by herbert danby (1933) is still available from oxford university press. 16. a possible alternative t

LEADBEATER C W THE HIDDEN LIFE IN FREEMASONRY 2E

ot of various hues, except at sunrise and sunset, but is blue. the real celestial canopy is the aura of the man whom we have thought of as lying on his back; it is the vividly tinted thought-form that is made during the working of the lodge. we see this symbolism appearing elsewhere also, in joseph fs coat of many colours in the v.s.l, in the robe of glory which the initiate puts on, according to the gnostic hymn; and also in the augoeides of the greek philosophers, the glorified body in which the soul of man dwells in the subtle invisible world. bro. wilmshurst in the meaning of masonry also interprets the canopy as the aura of man, which is surely more reasonable than to suppose with dr. mackey that because the early brn. met on the highest hills and in the lowest vales this symbol must

t without deliberate intention; and when it had been determined that the third virtue should be charity, we can understand why the cup was sometimes changed into a heart. the cup may stand also as suggesting charity, as being the cup of life from which the overflow is charity; but many people would feel the heart to be an easier symbol for that virtue. 289. those who have read greek philosophy or the gnostic systems will remember that the krater or cup plays a prominent part in them. it was the vessel into which the wine of the divine life was poured. in christian thought it is the holy grail filled with the precious blood of christ; the chalice used at the institution of the holy eucharist, the cup which joseph of arimathea is supposed to have held to catch the sacred blood of jesus as he

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

hat he calls somatic christianity (the merely physical form of the religion) and the spiritual christianity offered by the gnosis or wisdom. he makes it perfectly clear that by somatic christianity he means that faith which is based on the gospel history. he says of it: what better method could be devised to assist the masses? in dean inge s christian mysticism he is quoted as teaching that: 465. the gnostic or sage no longer needs the crucified christ. the eternal or spiritual gospel which is his possession shows clearly all things concerning the son of god himself both the mysteries shown by his words and the things of which his acts were the symbols origen regards the life, death and resurrection of christ as only one manifestation of a universal law, which was really enacted not in thi

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

t that was prominent in the hellenistic mediterranean world that influenced paganism, judaism, and christianity. its core teachings were that this world, and especially the human body, were the products of an evil deity the demiurge who had trapped human spirits in the physical world. our true home is the absolute spirit, referred to as the pleroma, to which we should seek to return. according to the gnostic myth of creation, sophia, one of the spiritual beings (one of the aeons) residing in the pleroma inadvertently creates another entity often called yaldabaoth who creates our familiar world (e.g, the apocryphon of john 2, in robinson 1981, 9f. this creation involves the emanation of the seven levels of the classical cosmos, corresponding to seven planetary spheres of the ptolemaic astro

9f. this creation involves the emanation of the seven levels of the classical cosmos, corresponding to seven planetary spheres of the ptolemaic astronomical scheme. the archons are the rulers who govern each of these levels, and who act as guardians preventing the sparks of light (i.e, the divine essence of individual human beings) from returning to the pleroma. part of the knowledge imparted to the gnostics is information on how to bypass these archons on their journey back to the pleroma (e.g, the first apocalypse of james v, robinson 1981, 33f. one of the results of conceptualizing the cosmos as being the creation of an evil divinity is that the angelic beings in the heavenly spheres surrounding the earth the archons are also evil. familiarity with gnosticism allows us to understand ce

alypse of james v, robinson 1981, 33f. one of the results of conceptualizing the cosmos as being the creation of an evil divinity is that the angelic beings in the heavenly spheres surrounding the earth the archons are also evil. familiarity with gnosticism allows us to understand certain otherwise unintelligible passages in the writings of certain early christians, who were clearly influenced by the gnostic perspective; for example, the oftquoted passage about spiritual warfare from the 16 ascendancy book of ephesians: we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (6:12).what, one might well ask, is the meaning of the spir

an magic;magic and magical groups for further reading: lavey, anton szandor. the satanic bible. new york: avon, 1969. schueler, gerald j. enochian magick: a practical manual. st. paul, mn: llewelly, 1987. suster, gerald, ed. john dee: essential readings. wellingborough, northamptonshire, uk: crucible, 1986. demiurge the demiurge is the chief archon or evil spiritual being who creates the world in the gnostic system. gnosticism refers to a movement and school of thought that was prominent in the hellenistic mediterranean world that influenced paganism, judaism, and christianity. according to the gnostic myth of creation, sophia, one of the good spiritual beings (one of the aeons) residing in the pleroma (the pure spiritual realm, inadvertently creates another entity often called yaldabaoth

s such doctrines as the notion that this world, and especially the human body, were the products of an evil deity the demiurge (a term originally utilized by plato to refer to a demigod who created the world in the timaeus) who also created the human body for the purpose of trapping human spirits in the physical world. our true home is the absolute spirit, referred to as the pleroma. according to the gnostic myth of creation, sophia, one of the spiritual beings residing in the pleroma, inadvertently created the demiurge. the demiurge then created the cosmos by emanating a series of different levels, ranging from as few as three to as many as 360. each of these levels is governed by an archon, who acts as a guardian preventing the sparks of light (i.e, the divine essence of individual human

in the pleroma, inadvertently created the demiurge. the demiurge then created the cosmos by emanating a series of different levels, ranging from as few as three to as many as 360. each of these levels is governed by an archon, who acts as a guardian preventing the sparks of light (i.e, the divine essence of individual human beings) from returning to the pleroma. part of the knowledge imparted to the gnostics is information on how to bypass these archons on their journey back to the pleroma. one of the results of conceptualizing the cosmos as being the creation of an evil divinity is that the beings in the heavenly spheres surrounding the earth the archons are also evil. familiarity with gnostic ideology allows us to understand certain otherwise unintelligible passages in the writings of e

se archons on their journey back to the pleroma. one of the results of conceptualizing the cosmos as being the creation of an evil divinity is that the beings in the heavenly spheres surrounding the earth the archons are also evil. familiarity with gnostic ideology allows us to understand certain otherwise unintelligible passages in the writings of early christians, who were clearly influenced by the gnostic perspective; for example, the oft-quoted passage about spiritual warfare in the book of ephesians: we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (6:12. what, one might well ask, is the meaning of the spiritual hosts of

locus of evil spiritual forces in hell, which is traditionally conceptualized as being below rather than above the earth? in this passage and others that might be cited, heavenly wickedness refers to the archons. even the word rulers here is a translation of the greek archon, so that the original passage reads, archons of this present darkness. a standard tenet of gnostic christianity was g 95 96 the gnostic order and temple of satanas that yahweh, the god of the old testament, was one and the same as the evil demiurge. pointing to the discrepancy between the jealous, vengeful god of the old testament and the teachings of the gentle jesus, the gnostics asserted that jesus was a teacher sent from the pleroma to guide us back to our true home, and that the father to which he referred was dif

was our lady of endor coven, the ophite cultus satanas, founded in 1948 by herbert arthur sloane. sloane drew from a number of different sources to construct his religion, including the speculative scholarship of margaret murray one of the same sources utilized by gerald gardner, founder of the modern wiccan movement. sloane was also heavily influenced by hans jonas s classic study of gnosticism, the gnostic religion, which provided him with his basic understanding of gnosticism. sloane was briefly associated with anton lavey s church of satan, although it did not appear to significantly change his teachings. our lady of endor coven did not survive sloane s passing in the 1980s. see also church of satan; our lady of endor coven for further reading: jonas, hans. the gnostic religion: the me

LIBER ALEPH

hostly enemies, do thou work constantly by the means prescribed in our holy books. neglect never the fourfold adorations of the sun in his four stations, for thereby thou doest affirm thy place in nature and her harmonies. neglect not the performance of the ritual of the pentagram, and of the assumption of the form of hoor-pa-kraat. neglect not the daily miracle of the mass, either by the rite of the gnostic catholic church, or that of the phoenix. neglect not the performance of the mass of the holy ghost, as nature herself prompteth thee. travel also much in the empyrean in the body of light, seeking ever abodes more fiery and lucid. finally, exercise constantly the eight limbs of yoga. and so shalt thou come to the end. n the book of wisdom or folly 17 p de clavicula somniorum (of the ke

reward of our chief work, the making whole of mankind from the conscience of sin which divideth him, and afflicteth his spirit. h the book of wisdom or folly 191 zq de pace perfecta (of perfect peace) my son, is it not a marvel, this light whereof we are the quintessence and the seed? by it are we made whole, dissolved in the body and in the soul of our lady nuith even as her lord hadith, so that the gnostic sacrament of the cosmos is perpetually elevated before us. we behold all that is and comprehend its mystery, and its order in this high mass eternally celebrated among us, acknowledging the perfection of the rite, neither confusing the parts thereof, nor discriminating in worship between them. so unto us is every phenomenon a shew of godliness, proceeding continually in a pageant that

LIBER DCCCLX JOHN ST

ds together. how utterly hopeless it makes one feel! one thinks one is at least always good for a fair average performance.and one is undeceived. this, by the way, is the supreme use of a record like this. it makes it impossible to cheat oneself. well, he has got to get up more steam somehow, though the boiler bursts. perhaps early dinner, with ritual, may induce that enthusiastic energy of which the gnostics write. liber dccclx 88 this morning the whole sankhara-dhatu (the tendency of the being john st. john) was operating aright. now by no effort of will can he flog his tired cattle along the trail. so poor a thing is he that he will even seek an oracle from the book of zoroaster.1 done. zoroaster respectfully wishes to point out that .the most mystic of discourses informs us.his wholene

LIBER DCCCXI ENERGIZED ENTHUSIASM

past eight. in the first printing, times were repeated at the top of each page; this has not been followed (c) ordo templi orientis. original key entry by bill heidrick for o.t.o. further proof-reading, formatting &c. by frater t.s. for celephais press. this e-text last revised 21.07.200filiber dcccxi energized enthusiasm a note on theurgy v a a publication in class c 1 i i a o the supreme one of the gnostics, the true god, is the lord of this work. let us therefore invoke him by that name which the companions of the royal arch blaspheme to aid us in the essay to declare the means which he has bestowed upon us! ii the divine consciousness which is reflected and refracted in the works of genius feeds upon a certain secretion, as i believe. this secretion is analogous to semen, but not ident

LIBER LLL PARADIGMAT PIRATE

sleep. signs of success with sleep deprivation include, but are not limited to, the following observed phenomenon: the physical distortion of objects and shadows; divinatory questions being answered by disembodied voices; a rapid multiplication of observed synchronicities and deja vu; time distortion. fasting the human body-mind can survive from six to eight weeks existing only on water. however, the gnostic state of fasting can usually be obtained in a time frame of one to two weeks, during which time the magician subsists wholly on water alone. it is important that you at least drink water if you are going to fast in this fashion to obtain a state of gnosis. two weeks without water will kill you, so you need to drink water constantly during a fast. eight glasses a day to be precise. you

recollections in anyone fs life, both during and after childhood. it can be fun to have symbolic things to destroy as part of a ritual while in this state. don ft have anything you might want the next day close to you when doing this type of gnosis. stay away from any children or pets. panic apart from its use in ritual work, there are two added benefits to mastering a state of fear that becomes the gnostic state of panic. the first is the ability to resist the feeling of fear when you need to and, secondly, is the ability to orchestrate the proper atmosphere for creating panic in others. the best way to induce panic is to place oneself in a position where you must confront your fear of the unknown (which is the root of fear gnosis. this gnosis arises from the gfight or flight h reaction

LIBER LVII

can be grasped. whose exaltation into binah is found in the christian assumption of the virgin. the tetragrammaton hwhy is referred to the sephiroth thus: the uppermost point of the letter yod, y, is said to refer to kether; the letter y itself to chokmah, the father of microprosopus; the letter h, or .the supernal he. to 24 [samael is various glossed as .poison of god. or .blind god. in some of the gnostic texts found at nag hammadi, samael is identified with the demiurge. t.s] 25 [by gematria, 864, jryw cmc, shemesh va-yerich, sun and moon, and \ycdq cwdq, qadesh qadeshim, holy of holies. draw your own conclusions (possibly along the lines of .you can prove anything with gematria if you try hard enough. t.s] on the qabalah 17 binah, the supernal mother; the letter w to the next six seph

g its wonderful harmonics, gives an excellent idea of the way in which qabalistic analysis is conduct. first, the letters have been written in hebrew characters. then the attributions of them to the zodiac and to planets are substituted, and the names of egyptian gods belonging to these are invoked. the christian idea of i.n.r.i. is confirmed by these, while their initials form the sacred word of the gnostics. that is, iao. from the character of the deities and their functions are deduced their signs, and these are found to signal (as it were) the word lux (rwa, which itself is contained in the cross. a careful study of these ideas, and of the table of correspondences, which one of our english brethren is making,31 will enable him to discover a very great deal of matter for thought in thes

LIBER LXVII THE SWORD OF SONG

ite being; man; satan and his angels; man certainly, satan presumably, finite beings. these are not aspects of one being, but separate and even antagonistic existences. all are equally real; we cannot accept mystics of the type of caird as being orthodox exponents of the religion of christ. the hindus enumerate brahm, infinite in all dimensions and directions.indistinguishable from the pleroma of the gnostics.and maya, illusion. this is in a sense the antethesis of noumenon and phenomenon, noumenon being negated of all predicates until it becomes almost extinguished in the nichts under the title of the alles (cf. max m ller on the metaphysical nirvana, in his dhammapada, introductory essay) the buddhists express no opinion. let us consider the force-quality in the existences conceived of b

LIBER SAMEKH

erty! soul of all souls! word of all words! come forth, most hidden light! h ede g devour thou me! h edu g thou dost devour me! h angelos ton theon g thou angel of the gods! h10 anlala g arise thou in me, free-flowing, thou who are naught, who art naught, and utter thy word! h lai g i also am naught! i will thee! i behold thee! my nothingness! h gaia g leap up, thou earth! h* in hebrew, adni, 65. the gnostic initiates transliterated it to imply their own secret formula; we follow so excellent an example. on is an arcanum of arcana; its significance is taught, gradually, in the o.t.o. also ad is the paternal formula, hadit; on is its complement, nuit; the final yod signifies gmine h etymologically, and essentially the mercurial (transmitted) hermaphroditic virginal seed. gthe hermit h of th

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

trations in the text 11 introduction 12 the ancient mysteries and secret societies which have influenced modern masonic symbolism ancient systems of education--celsus concerning the christians--knowledge necessary to right living--the druidic mysteries of britain and gaul--the rites of mithras--the mithraic and christian mysteries contrasted. 21 the ancient mysteries and secret societies, part ii the gnostic mysteries--simon magus and basilides--abraxas, the gnostic concept of deity--the mysteries of serapis--labyrinth symbolism--the odinic, or gothic, mysteries. 25 the ancient mysteries and secret societies, part iii the eleusinian mysteries--the lesser rites--the greater rites--the orphic mysteries- the bacchic mysteries--the dionysiac mysteries. 29 atlantis and the gods of antiquity pla

on, augustinianism elevated the church and its dogmas to a position of absolute infallibility--a position which it successfully maintained until the reformation. gnosticism, a system of emanationism, interpreting christianity in terms of greek, egyptian, and persian metaphysics, appeared in the latter part of the first century of the christian era. practically all the information extant regarding the gnostics and their doctrines, stigmatized as heresy by the ante-nicene church fathers, is derived from the accusations made against them, particularly from the writings of st. iren us. in the third century appeared manich ism, a dualistic system of persian origin, which taught that good and evil were forever contending for universal supremacy. in manich ism, christ is conceived to be the princ

le of the supreme heavens-god--putting the sun out of court--is the only one that answers all requirements. it will be evident that here we have origins in abundance for the freemason's eye and 'its nunquam dormio" the reader must nor confuse the persian mithra with the vedic mitra. according to alexander wilder "the mithraic rites superseded the mysteries of bacchus, and became the foundation of the gnostic system, which for many centuries prevailed in asia, egypt, and even the remote west" click to enlarge mithras slaying the bull. from lundy's monumental christianity. the most famous sculpturings and reliefs of this prototokos show mithras kneeling upon the recumbent form of a great bull, into whose throat he is driving a sword. the slaying of the bull signifies that the rays of the sun

s was born in a grotto, or cave. according to dupuis, mithras was put to death by crucifixion and rose again on the third day. next: the ancient mysteries and secret societies, part two sacred texts esoteric index previous next p. 25 the ancient mysteries and secret societies part two the entire history of christian and pagan gnosticism is shrouded in the deepest mystery and obscurity; for, while the gnostics were undoubtedly prolific writers, little of their literature has survived. they brought down upon themselves the animosity of the early christian church, and when this institution reached its position of world power it destroyed all available records of the gnostic cultus. the name gnostic means wisdom, or knowledge, and is derived from the greek gnosis. the members of the order clai

acting upon the other, and it takes place in the middle plane, or point of equilibrium, called the pleroma. this pleroma is a peculiar substance produced out of the blending of the spiritual and material ons. out of the pleroma was individualized the demiurgus, the immortal mortal, to whom we are responsible for our physical existence and the suffering we must go through in connection with it. in the gnostic system, three pairs of opposites, called syzygies, emanated from the eternal one. these, with himself, make the total of seven. the six (three pairs) ons (living, divine principles) were described by simon in the philosophumena in the following manner: the first two were mind (nous) and thought (epinoia. then came voice (phone) and its opposite, name (onoma, and lastly, reason (logismo

ductions of a clever egyptian christian, basilides by name, who claimed to have received his instructions from the apostle matthew. like simon magus, he was an emanationist, with neo-platonic inclinations. in fact, the entire gnostic mystery is based upon the hypothesis of emanations as being the logical connection between the irreconcilable opposites absolute spirit and absolute substance, which the gnostics believed to have been coexistent in eternity. some assert that basilides was the true founder of gnosticism, but there is much evidence to the effect that simon magus laid down its fundamental principles in the preceding century. the alexandrian basilides inculcated egyptian hermeticism, oriental occultism, chaldean astrology, and persian philosophy in his followers, and in his doctri

er, and to him he gave the qabbalistical appellation abraxas, as being symbolical, numerologically, of his divine powers, attributes, and emanations. abraxas is usually symbolized as a composite creature, with the body of a human being and the head of a rooster, and with each of his legs ending in a serpent. c. w. king, in his gnostics and their remains, gives the following concise description of the gnostic philosophy of basilides, quoting from the writings of the early christian bishop and martyr, st. iren us "he asserted that god, the uncreated, eternal father, had first brought forth nous, or mind; this the logos, word; this again phronesis, intelligence; from phronesis sprung sophia, wisdom, and dynamis, strength" in describing abraxas, c. w. king says "bellermann considers the compos

two supporters, nous and logos, expressed in the serpents, symbols of the inner senses, and the quickening understanding; on which account the greeks had made the serpent the attribute of pallas. his head--that of a cock--represents phronesis, that bird being the emblem of foresight and of vigilance. his two arms hold the symbols of sophia and dynamis: the shield of wisdom and the whip of power" the gnostics were divided in their opinions concerning the demiurgus, or creator of the lower worlds. he established the terrestrial universe with the aid of six sons, or emanations (possibly the planetary angels) which he formed out of, and yet within, himself. as stated before, the demiurgus was individualized as the lowest creation out of the substance called pleroma. one group of the gnostics

arently influenced medi val rosicrucianism, which viewed jehovah as the lord of the material universe rather than as the supreme deity. mythology abounds with the stories of gods who partook of both celestial and terrestrial natures. odin, of scandinavia, is a good example of a deity subject to mortality, bowing before the laws of nature and yet being, in certain senses at least, a supreme deity. the gnostic viewpoint concerning the christ is well worthy of consideration. this order claimed to be the only sect to have actual pictures of the divine syrian. while these were, in all probability, idealistic conceptions of the savior based upon existing sculpturings and paintings of the pagan sun gods, they were all christianity had. to the gnostics, the christ was the personification of nous

MASTERING WITCHCRAFT

endings. he is referred to by some witches as alpha and omega, the first and the last. another version of the horned one. janicot. a southern french diminutive of janus or dianus. the devil. literally "little god" derived from early aryan stem div or dev, meaning "holy" or "shining" lucifer "the light bearer" the god seen as the spirit of light and, hence, the sun. simon. possibly a reference to the gnostic magician, simon magus. herne. witch name derived from early english version of the anglo-saxon god, odin or woden. a god of wisdom and storm, and also a guide of the dead, he leads his wild rout across the winter skies accompanied by the baying of his death hounds! gogmagog. prehistoric version of the god and goddess in giant form. andros. the god as worshipped in the weald. adonai or

MATHERS MACGREGOR THE GREATER KEY OF SOLOMON VOL 1

lated from the hebrew into the latin language by the rabbin agognazar. it is in french, exquisitely written in printing letters, and the pentacles are carefully drawn in colored inks. though containing similar matter to the others, the arrangement is utterly different; being all in one book, and not even divided into chapters. the antiquity of the planetary sigils is shown by the fact that, among the gnostic talismans in the british museum, there is a ring of copper with the sigils of venus, which are exactly the same as those given by the mediaeval writers on magic. where psalms are referred to i have in all instances given the english and not the hebrew numbering of them. in some places i have substituted the word azoth for alpha and omega, e.g, on the blade of the knife with the black h

MEANING OF MASONRY

facit--it either finds him holy or makes him so. virgil's account in the sixth aneid of the initiation of aneas into elysium (or the supernatural light, or that of lucius (again a name signifying enlightenment) in the "golden ass" of apuleius, when he was permitted to" see the sun at midnight" are instructive instances. so also the exclamation of clement of alexandria, who had been received into the gnostic school" o truly sacred mysteries! o pure light! i am led by the light of the torch to the view of heaven and of god. i become holy by initiation. the lord himself is the hierophant who, leading the candidate for initiation to the li ght, seals him and presents him to the father to be preserved for ever. these are the orgies of my mysteries. if thou wilt, come and be thou also initiated

MICHAEL FORD WITCHMOON

luciferic shadows and promethean light! shaitan asmodeus belial lilith hecate eko, eko" the witch would now make a cut and draw blood, letting it drop into the soil. this would be followed by the vision of a brilliant white light which is followed by the ascent of the morning star, lucifer. this symbolism is based on the essence of lucifer in the pre- christian gnostic status of bringer of light. the gnostic method of overcoming the self, becoming all and none. the initiate should then disrobe and begin traveling through the forest, running, jumping until complete exhaustion overtakes their very being. this would be a very close and early representation of what is the death posture, which the initiate would undertake some time later. this is the manifestation of what is known as the green

ct of 63 63 hecate, diana, is based on the more balanced side of the lunar goddess. she was the watcher of mountains, forests, childbirth and women. in her dark aspect she was known as the huntress or destroyer. the magick light of hecate is the backwards or 'black' wisdom of lucifer, the morning star. hecate is the lunar mother, to which dream and desire give birth to the flesh of manifestation. the gnostic god lucifer or the morning star is the god of the sun, being of solar energy. lucifer's goddess counter part is the arabian al-uzza, a warrior of the morning star. a combination of both lunar and solar energy, strength and vision. the zos kia cultus presents the 'all- prevailing woman' as a combination of both hag and young woman. the combination equals experience and focus with beauty

MICHAEL TSARION ATLANTIS ALIEN VISITATION AND GENETIC MANIPULATION

city with streets, palaces, and ruled by a god-king. its last days speak of abloody war, of revolution, volcanic eruptions, extraordinary meteorological phenomena, pestilence,starvation, the desperation of the populace, leading finally to wholesale flight and then to catastrophe.(p. 42)chaldea, the culdees, and druidsmay come from the word celi de, meaning people of god. this becomes the culdees, the gnostic sectthat spread to the british isles, or perhaps even came from there, forming the druids (see p. 51.)samothracethis great city and peoples, considered by beaumont to have actually been in gotland, sweden, wasreported by historian diodorus to have been destroyed by a terrific deluge (see footnote on p. 60.)dragons teetha term used to describe ancient monoliths and sacred sites, like av

e of symbols found on products and that are used by corporations, religions and themedia (presentation includes 600+ digital slides).log on to www.taroscopes.com and visit the merchandise page for more information. atlantis, alien visitation, and genetic manipulation433 also by michael tsarion divination and the goddess tradition males immortal live, renewed by female deaths william blakewho were the gnostics and what did they teach?what are astrology and tarot? what is the inner zodiac?do rocks (planets, floating in space, really affect the human con-sciousness and destiny? why does the prohibition against making graven images come even before thou shalt not kill.why are the biological cycles of the female in unison with the planets and luminaries? why have women been hated, marginalized

MICHAEL W FORD THE VAMPIRE GATE

k magick that have established ford as the most cutting-edge exponent of the left hand path tradition in america today. the book begins with a lengthy and highly scholarly exposition of the place of the draconic adversary within historical magick. set typhon, the egyptian god of darkness, ahriman, the persian devil and his whore of darkness, the adversary and the bride of the devil, cain the son, the gnostic yaldabaoth "child of chaos, the path of the crooked serpent- leviathan and beelzebub and tiamat, pazuzu, and moloch are only some of the topics and figures covered. the second part of the book,the grimoires of luciferian witchcraft, includes several of his most infamous graveyard workings, together with the complete version of the luciferian goetia- a completely revised and updated ver

MORALS AND DOGMA

torical descriptions of it; but also, and yet more, from the details of the imaginary reconstructed edifice, seen by ezekiel in his vision. the apocalypse completes the demonstration, and shows the kabalistic meanings of the whole. the symbola architectonica are found on the most ancient edifices; and these mathematical figures and instruments, adopted by the templars, and identical with those on the gnostic seals and abrax, connect their dogma with the chaldaic, syriac, and egyptian oriental philosophy. the secret pythagorean doctrines of numbers were preserved by the monks of thibet, by the hierophants of egypt and eleusis, at jerusalem, and in the circular chapters of the druids; and they are especially consecrated in that mysterious book, the apocalypse of saint john. all temples were

hich lay concealed therein. the writings of the apostles, they said, in addressing themselves to mankind in general, enunciated only the articles of the vulgar faith; but transmitted the mysteries of knowledge to superior minds, to the elect--mysteries handed down from generation to generation in esoteric traditions; and to this science of the mysteries they gave the name of[[greek: g??s] gnosis. the gnostics derived their leading doctrines and ideas from plato and philo, the zend-avesta and the kabalah, and the sacred books of india and egypt; and thus introduced into the bosom of christianity the cosmological and theosophical speculations, which had formed the larger portion of the ancient religions of the orient, joined to those of the egyptian, greek, and jewish doctrines, which the ne

int within a circle, was the son of phtha; and tiphe, his wife, or the celestial firmament, with the seven celestial bodies, animated by spirits of genii that govern them, was represented on many of the monuments, clad in blue or yellow, her garments sprinkled with stars, and accompanied by the sun, moon, and five planets; and she was the type of wisdom, and they of the seven planetary spirits of the gnostics, that with her presided over and governed the sublunary world. in this degree, unknown for a hundred years to those who have practised it, these emblems reproduced refer to these old doctrines. the lamb, the yellow hangings strewed with stars, the seven columns, candlesticks, and seals all recall them to us. the lion was the symbol of athom-re, the great god of upper egypt; the hawk

epetition of the first hermes; who taught men the arts, science, and the ceremonies of religion; and then ascended to heaven or the moon. osiris was the principle of good. typhon, like ahriman, was the principle and source of all that is evil in the moral and physical order. like the satan of gnosticism, he was confounded with matter. from egypt or persia the new platonists borrowed the idea, and the gnostics received it from them, that man, in his terrestrial career, is successively under the influence of the moon, of mercury, of venus, of the sun, of mars, of jupiter, and of saturn, until he finally reaches the elysian fields; an idea again symbolized in the seven seals. the jews of syria and judea were the direct precursors of gnosticism; and in their doctrines were ample oriental eleme

, and esther or astar, his cousin, was the monarch's wife. the magi of babylon were expounders of figurative writings, interpreters of nature, and of dreams--astronomers and divines; and from their influences arose among the jews, after their rescue from captivity, a number of sects, and a new exposition, the mystical interpretation, with all its wild fancies and infinite caprices. the _aions_ of the gnostics, the _ideas_ of plato, the _angels_ of the jews, and the _demons_ of the greeks, all correspond to the _ferouers_ of zoroaster. a great number of jewish families remained permanently in their new country; and one of the most celebrated of their schools was at babylon. they were soon familiarized with the doctrine of zoroaster, which itself was more ancient than kuros. from the system

n and woman. then ormuzd created 28 _izeds, of whom mithras is the chief. they watch, with _ormuzd_ and the _amshaspands, over the happiness, purity, and preservation of the world, which is under their government; and they are also models for mankind and interpreters of men's prayers. with _mithras_ and _ormuzd, they make a _pleroma [or complete number] of 30, corresponding to the thirty aions of the gnostics, and to the _ogdoade, dodecade, and _decade_ of the egyptians _mithras_ was the sun-god, invoked with, and soon confounded with him, becoming the object of a special worship, and eclipsing _ormuzd_ himself. the third order of pure spirits is more numerous. they are the _ferouers, the thoughts of ormuzd, or the ideas which he conceived before proceeding to the creation of things. they

ome of everlasting happiness. ahriman, his evil demons, and all wicked men, will also be purified in a torrent of melted metal. the law of ormuzd will reign everywhere; all men will be happy; all, enjoying unalterable bliss, will sing with sosiosch the praises of the supreme being. these doctrines, the details of which were sparingly borrowed by the pharisaic jews, were much more fully adopted by the gnostics; who taught the restoration of all things, their return to their original pure condition, the happiness of those to be saved, and their admission to the feast of heavenly wisdom. the doctrines of zoroaster came originally from bactria, an indian province of persia. naturally, therefore, it would include hindu or buddhist elements, as it did. the fundamental idea of buddhism was, matte

says lao-tseu "a single being existed, immense and silent, immovable and ever active--the mother of the universe. i know not its name: but i designate it by the word _reason. man has his _type_ and _model_ in the earth; earth in heaven; heaven in reason; and reason in itself" here again are the _ferouers, the _ideas, the _aions--the reason or intelligence??a, silence s, word, and wisdom s?f?a of the gnostics. the dominant system among the jews after their captivity was that of the pharoschim or pharisees. whether their name was derived from that of the parsees, or followers of zoroaster, or from some other source, it is certain that they had borrowed much of their doctrine from the persians. like them they claimed to have the exclusive and mysterious knowledge, unknown to the mass. like t

other: while the jews of palestine, having less communication with greece, or contemning its teachings, rather imbibed the oriental doctrines, which they drank in at the source and with which their relations with persia made them familiar. this attachment was particularly shown in the kabalah, which belonged rather to palestine than to egypt, though extensively known in the latter; and furnished the gnostics with some of their most striking theories. it is a significant fact, that while christ spoke often of the pharisees and sadducees, he never once mentioned the essenes, between whose doctrines and his there was so great a resemblance, and, in many points, so perfect an identity. indeed, they are not named, nor even distinctly alluded to, anywhere in the new testament. john, the son of

MOTTA MARCELO THE COMMENTARIES OF AL

ling forth the flame of the hearts of all in her love-chant. it is evident that our lady, in her personality, contemplates some more or less open form of worship suited for the laity (absolutely not. see our note below) with the establishment of the law something of this sort may become possible. it is only necessary to kill out the sense of 'sin, with its false shame and its fear of nature. p.s. the gnostic mass is intended to supply this need. liber xv. it has been said continuously in california for some years. c. was wrong. the verse states quite clearly "as she stands bare and rejoicing in my secret temple" the temple is secret. worship of nu is reserved for her 'chosen which means, those who love her. on the plane of religions, the influence of the law consists in making them tolerat

NAGEL CARL AMAZING SECRETS OF OCCULT POWER

the tree of life, giving the path to perfection. the idea is that you follow a complex path of spiritual enlightenment up the tree passing through each sepher (divine emanation) until you achieve union with god in kether the crown. an interesting aspect of the cabala is that the achieving of knowledge is likened to sexual union with shekinah, a female personification of wisdom. this is similar to the gnostic sophia, wisdom given a female personification, only with a much stronger sexual connection since she was a prostitute. gnosticism was the main competitor to christianity in ancient rome. the gnostics believed that the christian jehovah was not the real god but an evil creator of an evil world. the power of the spheres sit or lie down, whichever you find most comfortable, at the center

NAUDON PAUL THE SECRET HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

ssential points of the doctrine, the origin, and the historical affiliation of the true masonic science" each of these seasoned brothers, who came from all points on the horizon, brought with him his own pertinent opinion. the resulting understanding generally agreed upon was that freemasonry was the "original religion" handed down from such diverse sources as king arthur, richard i, ramon lulle, the gnostics and the school of alexandria, the templars (as instructed by judas of galilee, disciple of the hermit banon, pythagoras, plato, jesus christ and the apostles, the persian philosopher each-ben-mohammed- eleansi, ormus, the egyptians, the benedictines, the rosicrucians, zoroaster, abbaris, channondas, eudoxus, hermippis, hermes trismegistus, porphyrus, plotinus, proclus, jamblique, the

PATH OF INITIATION

nature and the animal nature; this is also a further "arrival" of outside forces that were called by the soul of the initiate. this is the kindling of the cunning fire. 5. the meeting with the fetch mate, or otherworldly lover- the congress of the incubi/succubi, the faery marriage between the mortal and the immortal, this world and the next, soul and spirit, or the "wedding chamber" sacrament of the gnostics; this is the final culmination of the divine chain of events set into motion by the call of the initiate, the merging and union of the balanced human nature (a balance achieved by the merging with the puckril) and the divine nature. this is the invisible mystery or the spirit-essence of all. it is strange but true that even though the initiate "travels" or journeys to the locations wh

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

in the eos angeles area and combines traditional therapy with golden dawn techniques. she is a poet, musician, and composer, and lives with her two sons, aaron and adam. she is interested in inquiries regarding golden dawn work and therapy. please address letters to her care of llewellyn publications. hal sundt, born august 14, 1950, b.a. in history presently working on master's thesis regarding the gnostic influence on jacob boehme and the rosicricians. has been studying/working with golden dawn groups for 12 years. sam webster, 25, b.a. in english. a student of symbolism and consciousness. he is a practitioner of thelemic magick and affiliated with several branches of the o.t.o. and other thelemic groups. during 1983-84 he traveled to study with magickal practitioners scattered around t

d who is quoted as stating "this is my body, which i destroy in order that it may be renewed."he is the symbolic prototype of the perfected solar man, who suffered through earthly experience, was glorified by trial, was betrayed and killed, and then rose again to renew all things. the final analysis of the keyword sums up the formula with the initials isis, apophis, osiris=iao, the supreme god of the gnostics (iao is pronounced eeah- oh) since the sun is the giver of life and light, the formula must refer to light as the redeemer. the order was predicated on the age-old process of bringing light to the natural man. in other words, it taught a psycho-spiritual technique leading to illumination, to enlightenment. in this connection, one should always remember those beautiful versicles about

tartled introduction 13 to hear the strangely-worded invocation "khabs am pekht. konx om pax. light in extension" in other words, may you too receive the benediction of the light, and undergo the mystical experience, the goal of all our work 'the enlightenment by a ray of the divine light which transforms the psychic nature of many may be an article of faith" says hans jonas in his excellent book the gnostic religion "but it may also be an experience. annihilation and deification of the person are fused in the spiritual ecstasis which purports to experience the immediate presence of the acosmic essence "in the gnostic context, this transfiguring face-to-face experience is gnosis in the most exalted sense of the term, since it is knowledge of the unknowable. the mysticalgnosis theou-direct

cosmogony of the secret tradition operating in the darkness and silence behind the inner order of the golden dawn. for insight into these matters, go to book five, page 150-151 of vol. 111, and study the egyptian-gnostic mythology behiid the opening exordium and particular exordium of the z-documents. then you can profit by pursuing florence fam (s.s.d.d, book on egyptian mngic, and from there to the gnostic religion by hans jonas. h.s. ritual of the portal 203 3rd ad. gives phil. candle and takes his station on the left hand of phil. 2nd ad. honoured frater pharos illuminans, we are here assembled to open for you the portal of the vault of the adepti, which admits you to the <165> second degree and brings you to the threshold of the inner or second order. but because of the increased infl

ltar in= sign, while hiereus and heg. come to n. and "note: the four kembim, through their assignment to the four archangels, are thus four of the seven in the presence of the lord. the hebrew qaballah, the egyptian gnostics and the enochian system of john dee each express in their own terms the recognition of the reality of these four and the seven: qaballist gnostic enochian (the book of enoch: the gnostic "four lights" john dee: ch. ix. v. i (nag hammadi) god names of the quarters the 1 michael armozel bataivah four 2 uriel oroiael iczhikal arch- 3 raphael daveithe raagiosl angels 4 gabriel eleleth edlpmaa 'the seven" 1 uriel the 2 raphael seven 3 raguel in 4 michael the 5 zerachiel presence 6 gabriel 7 remiel the seven thrones (papyri graecae magicae) achlal lalaphenourphen baleeo bolb

RITUALS OF THE SOCIETAS ROSICRUCIANIS IN ANGLIA

ual course.on the triangular altar in the centre of the hall are 12 burning tapers in a circle, with the globularmirror in the centre. a golden mirror is preferable. chief adept east of, and novice west of altar.chief adept:the central figure in the zodiacal system, represents the source of light. the "seal of the sun"opened by divine will at the seventh sounding of the trumpet. it is the aeon of the gnostics ofphoenicia, which is the point of development as ion signified the generative faculty; it is the yoni ofthe indians, the yin off the chinese, and the ionia of the greeks, the sun is emblematically inharmony and consonance with its creator, in its essence is imaged the father, in its light the word,and in its heat the spirit.the sun, the great centre of the solar system, from which em

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART I

ween one extremity of the earth and the other; to see, like apollonius, what is taking place on the other side of the world; to heal or injure at a distance; to give speech a universal success and reverberation. this agent, which barely manifests under the uncertain methods of mesmer's followers, is precisely that which the adepts of the middle ages denominated the first matter of the great work. the gnostics represented it as the fiery body of the holy spirit; it was the object of adoration in the secret rites of the sabbath and the temple, under the hieroglyphic figure of baphomet or the androgyne of mendes. all this will be proved. here then are the secrets of occult philosophy, and such is magic in history. let us glance at it now as it appears in its books and its acts, in its initiat

angles around the same point. that which is above equals that which is below, says hermes. here then is the duad serving as the measure of unity, and the relation of equality between above and below forms with these the triad. the creative principle is the ideal phallus; the created principle is the formal cteis. the insertion of the vertical phallus into the horizontal cteis forms the stauros of the gnostics, or the philosophical cross of masons. thus, the intersection of two produces four, which, by its movement, defines the circle with all degrees thereof' is man; h is woman; 1 is the principle; 2 is the word; a is the active; b is the passive; the monad is boaz; the duad is jakin. in the trigrams of fohi, unity is the yang and the duad is the yin. the pillars of the temple 9 boaz and j

tions of st. john, the priests only are permitted to pronounce it. this versicle, completely kabalistic, is found in the greek text of the gospel according to st. matthew, and in several hebrew copies, as follows. the sacred word malkuth substituted for kether, which is its kabalistic correspondent, and the equipoise of geburah and chesed, repeating itself in the circles of heavens called eons by the gnostics, provided the keystone of the whole christian temple in this occult versicle. it has been retained by protestants in their new testament, but they have failed to discern its lofty and wonderful meaning, which would have unveiled to them all the mysteries of the apocalypse. the triangle of solomon 17 there is, however, a tradition in the church that the manifestation of these mysteries

ds, and these three words have established three dogmas and three hierarchies. all science reposes upon three principles, as the syllogism upon three terms. there are also three distinct classes, or three original and natural ranks, among men, who are called to advance from the lower to the higher. the jews term these three series or degrees in the progress of spirits, assiah, yetzirah and briah. the gnostics, who were christian kabalists, called them hyle, psyche and gnosis; by the jews the supreme circle was named atziluth, and by the gnostics pleroma. in the tetragram, the triad, taken at the beginning of the word, expresses the divine copulation; taken at the end, it expressed the female and maternity. eve has a name of three letters, but the primitive adam is signified simply by the l

the domain of invisible nature, or secondary causes are in strict proportion and analogous to the manifestations of the first cause. so is this first cause revealed invariably by the cross that unity made up of two, divided one by the other in order to produce four; that key to the the tetragram 19 mysteries of india and egypt, the tau of the patriarchs, the divine sign of osiris, the stauros of the gnostics, the keystone of the temple, the symbol of occult masonry; the cross, central point of the junction of the right angles of two infinite triangles; the cross, which in the french language seems to be the first root and fundamental substantive of the verb to believe and the verb to grow, thus combining the conceptions of science, religion and progress. the great magical agent manifests

lobe divided by two crescents; for mars, a dragon biting the hilt of a sword; for venus, a lingam; for mercury, the hermetic caduceus and the cynocephalus; for jupiter, the blazing pentagram in the talons or beak of an eagle; for saturn, a lame and aged man, or a serpent curled about the sun-stone. all these symbols are found on engraved stones of the ancients and especially on those talismans of the gnostic epochs which are known by the name of abraxas. in the collection of the talismans of paracelsus, jupiter is represented by a priest in ecclesiastical garb, while in the tarot he appears as a grand hierophant crowned with a triple tiara, holding a three-barred cross in his hands, forming the magical triangle, and representing at once the sceptre and key of the three worlds. by collating

which tongues of flame are passing; the phallus is replaced by a caduceus; the sun and moon figure on the right and left breast; the figure is bearded, crowned and holds a sceptre in his hand. this is the azoth of the sages on its pedestal of salt and sulphur. the symbolic head of the goat of mendes is occasionally given to this figure, and it is then the baphomet of the templars and the word of the gnostics, bizarre images which became scarecrows for the vulgar after affording food for reflection to sages innocent hieroglyphs of thought and faith which have been a pretext for the rage of persecutions. how pitiable are men in their ignorance, but how they would despise themselves if only they came to know! 96 xx w u the universal medicine caput resurrectio circulus the majority of our phy

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART II

redeemer. it is this which the mystagogues of the middle ages represented in their nocturnal assemblies by the exhibition of a symbolical goat, carrying a lighted torch between its two horns. in the fifteenth chapter of this gritual h we shall describe the allegorical forms and strange cultus of this monstrous animal, which represented nature doomed to anathema but ransomed by the sign of light. the gnostic agapae and pagan priapic orgies which followed in its honour sufficiently revealed the moral consequence which the adepts drew from the exhibition. all this will be explained, together with the rites, decried and now regarded as fabulous, of the great sabbath and of black magic. within the grand circle of evocations a triangle was usually traced, and the side towards which the upper po

f light, the living and astral fire of the earth. was represented by the serpent with the head of an ox, goat or dog, in ancient theogonies. it is the dual serpent of the caduceus, the old serpent of genesis, but it is also the brazen serpent of moses, twined about the tau, that is, the generating lingam. it is, moreover, the goat of the sabbath and the baphomet of the templars; it is the hyle of the gnostics; it is the double tail of the serpent which forms the legs of the solar cock of abraxas. in fine, it is the devil of m. eudes de mirville and is really that blind force which souls must overcome if they would be freed from the chains of earth; for, unless their will can detach them from this fatal attraction, they will be absorbed in the current by the force which produced them, and w

multitude; fables, mysteries, definite hopes and terrors having a physical basis, are needful for these. it is for this reason that the priesthood has been established in the world. now, the priestthe ceremonial of initiates 55 hood is recruited by initiation. religious forms perish when initiation ceases in the sanctuary, whether by the betrayal of the mysteries or by their neglect and oblivion. the gnostic disclosures, for example, alienated the christian church from the high truths of the kabalah, which contains all secrets of transcendental theology. hence the blind, having become leaders of the blind, great obscurities, great lapses and deplorable scandals have followed. subsequently, the sacred books, of which the keys are all kabalistic from genesis to the apocalypse, have become so

by imprecation, was set at liberty in the desert. a strange ordinance, but one 82 the ritual of transcendental magic of deep symbolism, signifying reconciliation by sacrifice and expiation by liberty! now, all the fathers of the church, who have concerned themselves with jewish symbolism, have recognized in the immolated goat the figure of him who assumed, as they say, the very form of sin. hence the gnostics were not outside symbolical traditions when they assigned this same mystical figure to christ the liberator. all the kabalah and all magic, as a fact, are divided between the cultus of the immolated and that of the emissary goat. we must recognize therefore a magic of the sanctuary and that of the wilderness, the white and the black church, the priesthood of public assemblies and the

o of the assembly. the reports of some who had been present served as a type for all nightmares of hallucination, and from this chaos of impossible realities and demoniac dreams have issued the revolting and foolish histories of the sabbath which figure in magical processes and in the books of such writers as sprenger, delancre, delrio and bodin. 86 the ritual of transcendental magic the rites of the gnostic sabbath were imported into germany by an association which took the name of mopses. it replaced the kabalistic goat by the hermetic dog, and the candidates, male or female. for the order initiated women. were brought in with eyes bandaged. the same infernal noise was made about them which surrounded the name of sabbath with so many inexplicable rumours; they were asked whether they wer

res. we have a chinese tarot before us, and the imperial library contains samples of others that are similar. m. paul boiteau, in his remarkable work on playing-cards, has given some admirably executed specimens. the chinese tarot preserves several primeval emblems; the deniers and swords are plainly distinguishable, but it would be less easy to discover the cups and clubs. it was at the epoch of the gnostic and manichaean heresies that the tarot must have been lost to the church, at which time also the meaning of the divine apocalypse perished. it was understood no longer that the seven seals of this kabalistic book are seven pantacles, the representation of which we give (facing this page, and that these pantacles are explained by the analogies of the numbers, characters and figures of t

RUBY TABLET OF SET

reading list: hellenistic philosophy provides, though he deems it to be only an introduction to the higher gnosis of the christian way. philosophy teaches only "the elementary doctrine" the true gnostic "having grown old in the scriptures" is he who has attained that deeper gnosis that comes through agape, love, the fundamental principle of the christian life. if we go on to ask on what authority the gnostic teachers based their doctrines, it is not very easy to give an answer. the christian fathers are never tired of asking where valentinus or basilides got their ideas from, and on what authority they teach their doctrines. i do not suppose that the disciple of valentinus or basilides asked such questions. ipse dixit, they said; our master taught so-and-so. they believed in valentinus or

us the term has to be understood as intimately related to the human mind and will. scientism as i employ it is thoroughly humanistic, anthropologically oriented, and man centered. gnosticism, motivated by a spirit of scientism, is therefore said to be man-centered and pervasively humanistic. gnosticism speaks of the "pleroma" the spiritual man and such spiritual entities, but we must realize that the gnostics were basically thinking and working in terms of the material cosmos and naturalistic forces. i repeat, i do not ignore the spiritual aspects of the gnostic systems. these were there, but they were not primary in the structure of the gnostic system. ii. the gnosis as a philosophical hermetism in discussing the philosophical roots concerning hermetism, one must be careful to distinguish

s st. hippolytus reduces to one common ground of censure- antagonism to holy scripture" hippolytus deals with the various factors which definitely establish the scientistic motivations and impulses in gnosticism: a) magic. hippolytus repeatedly refers to magic as an integral element in the origin and source of gnosis. b) astrology. hippolytus finds astrology to be even a more prevalent source for the gnostic heresies that plagued the church. c) simonian thinking. much discussion has been raised by hippolytus' reference to simon magus. d) pythagorean influences. hippolytus indicates a good awareness of the various philosophies and their specific characteristics extant in his days. 3. the old gnostics first we have to name menander, also a samaritan by birth, a perfect adept in the practice

f menander and simon. the next gnostic is carpocrates, and his associates practiced also magical arts and incantations; philters also and love potions "another man is cerdo who came to live in rome" and who held the ninth place in the episcopal succession from the apostles downward. marcion from pontus succeeded him and developed his doctrine. iii. some basic gnostic methods the exact meanings of the gnostically employed terms can only be determined by a careful study of the entire gnostic system. on the basis of my study, i suggest that the following aspects of gnosticism are properly understood if we consider the spirit of scientism to be the basic motif underlying all systems. 1. cosmology the first thing to be stressed is that the gnostics had no place for the conception of a personal

nostically employed terms can only be determined by a careful study of the entire gnostic system. on the basis of my study, i suggest that the following aspects of gnosticism are properly understood if we consider the spirit of scientism to be the basic motif underlying all systems. 1. cosmology the first thing to be stressed is that the gnostics had no place for the conception of a personal god. the gnostics did refer to the living father, to god, to jesus christ as his son. this was strictly borrowed language put to use in their framework. though the gnostics seemed to distinguish between god and the pleroma, in fact they are indistinguishable. the pleroma is the fullness of all things. this idea of the pleroma, according to markus, can only be properly understood when the hermetic liter

ar spheres, but large, long extending arcs which are so placed that the universe does appear to be a perfect sphere having seven layers. however, there is a small opening between the points of the various arc-like layers, and the spiritual man is able by gnosis to detect these, pass through each layer individually, and finally escape into the great beyond. 2. anthropology what is man according to the gnostics? jonas answers that he is flesh, soul, and spirit, mundane and extra mundane. indeed, if we read the gospels contained in the nag hammadi library we must agree with these statements. however, man as thus described must be conceived of as homogeneous to the scientistically conceived dualistic cosmos. man partakes in the good to an extent, however, his lot is to be involved predominantl

h aeon and ever sang hymns to the light she had seen. hereupon the rulers in the twelve aeons below hated her, because she had ceased to do their mystery- the mystery of intercourse or sexual union- and desired to go into the height and be above them all" it may be remarked that the name pistis-sophia is itself a "barbarous" formation, not properly paralleled in greek. there is some evidence that the gnostic "sophia (philosophy) was also named by other gnostics "pistis (faith: it is only in coptic that we find the names run together. similarly we have "zorokothora-meljisedek" run together; melchisedec whose genealogy is not given in the bible, is identified, not with shem as the jews sometimes do, but with the heathen zoroaster, and the names are fantastically coupled. we may add that the

hora-meljisedek" run together; melchisedec whose genealogy is not given in the bible, is identified, not with shem as the jews sometimes do, but with the heathen zoroaster, and the names are fantastically coupled. we may add that the functions assigned to zorokothora-meljisedek have nothing to so with those of the biblical melchisedec or the persian zoroaster! only the mere names were borrowed by the gnostic. 2. the mystery of the first mystery "but he who shall have received the complete mystery of the first mystery of the ineffable, that is to say, the twelve mysteries of the first mystery, one after another. shall have the power of exploring all the orders of the inheritance of light, of exploring from without within, from within without, from above below, and from below above, from the

nding it but dramatically vitalizing it. clement of alexandria, teresa of avila, pascal, kierkegaard, and berdyaev are examples that spring readily to mind. none could be less parasitic on their respective traditions. on the contrary, without men and women of this caliber, the traditions out of which they have sprung would have dried out long ago. the truth is, indeed, the other way around: it is the gnostics and the existentialists, the mystics and the religious humanists, to say nothing of the heretics, to which the church is indebted for its survival. too often the parasites are the institutions that survive through sucking, however inefficiently and therefore in the long run fruitlessly, from those superabundantly life-filled sources. vi. conclusion my initial intention when i began th

SATANGEL

y, through the first three choirs. thus the seraphim are the purest, whilst the thrones are the point at which matter first appears. 1st choir: seraphim the fiery flying serpents of lightning, from the hebrew ser meaning higher being and rapha meaning healer. the name thus suggests the image of the caduceus, the serpent or dragon as a symbol of healing sacred to aesculapius, and the ourobouros of the gnostic ophites. their appearance before humankind is as six winged and four headed beings. the prophet isiah saw flaming angels above the throne of god; each had six wings: two covered the face, two covered the feet and two were used for flying. it is they who endlessly circle the throne of god, chanting the hebrew trisagion- kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, commonly translated as holy, holy, holy is

he tail of a serpent. rides a bear, carries a goshawk, speaks hoarsely. tells fortunes, gives invisibility, makes men witty. baphomet this character has long been identified with the devil and the goat of mendes, and as purely male. such has played its part in the continuation of that myth which states that the templars were the agents of darkness. the name baphomet is also that of the goddess of the gnostics, sophia. it is hidden through the cabbalist codes of temurah. in this, the letters of words are substituted, transposed and altered, so that any word may yield a hidden meaning. in writing the twenty two letters of the hebrew alphabet in a special order and in two lines, the letters above and below are substituted for each other. in the most direct form of this code the alphabet is wr

s. his picture is that of a hermaphrodite, displaying both male genitalia symbolised as the two caduceus serpents, and female breasts. barbatos (goetia, 8th spirit. duke commanding 30 legions, formerly of the angelic order of virtues. teaches the speech of animals, breaks enchantments on hidden treasures, knows past and future, reconciles friends and those in power. barbelo (gnostic. according to the gnostic sect called the sethians, the daughter of pistis-sophia. was so great in her glory that it is said that she outshone god. bathin (goetia, 18th spirit. duke commanding 30 legions. appears as a strong man with a serpent tail, riding a pale horse. knows herb-lore, precious stones, teleportation. beast 666 (hebrew. scarlet hued monster with ten horns and seven heads, the body of a leopard

lanets, transforms men, gives dignities, favour with friends and foes. orobos (goetia, 55th spirit. prince commanding 20 legions. appears as a horse. tells fortunes, favour of friends and foes, and true answers concerning divinity and the creation of the world. said to be very faithful. the name itself, however, is probably corrupted from orabous, the serpent swallowing its tail, a sacred sign of the gnostics. paimon (goetia, 9th spirit. formerly of the angelic order of dominations. appears as a man with a glorious crown, or as a female devil wearing a crown and riding a camel, who supplants the thoughts of mortals with her own. mistress of ceremonies in hell, ruling over 25 demonic legions. demon king/queen of fire. possibly related to the tamil pey, who were necrophagian demons and gobli

rcle is cast, calling at the four quarters. this is achieved through the vibration of various magical names and words of power. these should be vibrated with the full capacity of the lungs, and also with the totality of the mind. there is a progressive self identification as the dweller in the void place of spirit, akephelos, who may be identified as a face of chaos and the abyss, the demiurge of the gnostics, both and neither holy or infernal. the way being opened, and the sorcerer being thus empowered, it may be directed in any of a thousand different ways. servitors may be given form, planetary telesmata charged, or further acts of evocation and spirit binding may be performed. though it may be turned to many ends, it is more suited to the summoning of demons, shades, and qlippoth than

SETH IN THE MAGICKAL TEXTS

n the magical texts the scope of this paper is to clear up two misconceptions about the identity of seth in the magical texts. although it may appear to be rather modest, the scope is an entirely appreciable one, for the name of seth is prevalent in magical literature. i at the yale conference on gnosticism (1978, b.a. pearson read a paper entitled "seth in gnostic literature. pearson showed that the gnostic figure of seth derives from jewish tradition. in an excursus at the end of the paper named "egyptian influences, the author laid down that the egyptian god seth is never identified with seth, the son of adam.1 in the discussion following pearson's paper, however, c. colpe asserted (p. 510 "in a single magical papyrus from egypt a mistaken identification has been made between egyptian s

is, i.e "osiris the beautiful being. among his names, doresse counts "arbathiao, seth, iao, sabaoth and abrasax (p. 105. let us consider doresse's evidence and arguments. to begin with, it must be pointed out that there is no evidence to the effect that the egyptian god seth was seen as a positive figure in gnosticism. fauth has shown that the ass-headed seth-typhon is always a negative archon in the gnostic texts("seth-typhon [above, n. 2] 106-120. moreover, as has been stated above, seth-typhon is never welded with seth, the son of adam, in gnostic literature. can there be found "traces of a cult of seth-typhon presiding over judeo-gnostic rituals in which adam plays the leading part? if the answer proves to be affirmatory, we should inquire whether the evidence for this "cult" shows a w

referred to fauth. asserting that such a welding was made on egyptian soil, fauth simply relied on bleeker and bohlig. the latter has been proven wrong that the gospel of the egyptians shows an amalgamation of egyptian seth and jewish seth. bleeker only referred to doresse in substantiation of his statement that such an identification could be found. there is no evidence for doresse's theory that the gnostics took seth-typhon to be a beneficial deity and merged him with jewish seth. furthermore, when seth-typhon appears as the sun god in the magical papyri, there is no trace of a welding with the jewish figure of seth. ii in his article "egyptian seth and gnostic seth (above, n. 3, b.a. pearson says that, to his knowledge, the jewish figure of seth does not occur in the greek magical papyr

ys denotes the good shepherd surrounded by the twelve apostles. cf. also his discussion on p. 270-272. 21 see worrell "a coptic wizard's hoard, american journal of semitic languages and literatures 46 (1930) 239-262. standing in the tradition inaugurated by wunsch (see n. 5, worrell says that the god is "set- typhon-seth.the good, the evil, the powerful god, the storm demon, the hebrew patriarch, the gnostic christ, the ass-headed on the crucifix (255. as for the theory that the famous palatine graffito is a christian gnostic work showing an identification of christ and the egyptian seth, see already the refutation in procope- walter "iao und set (above n. 15) 50-51. 22 see mirecki "the coptic 'wizard's hoard, to be published in the proceedings of the conference on magic in the ancient wor

SIR WALLIS BUDGE EGYPTIAN MAGIC

ribed the name of a god or his emblem, or picture, became an amulet with protective powers; and it seems that these powers remained active as long as the substance lasted and as long as the name, or emblem, or picture, was not p. 64 erased from it. the use of amulets was common in egypt from the earliest times to the roman period, and when the egyptians embraced christianity, they, in common with the gnostics and semi-christian sects, imported into their new faith many of the views and beliefs which their so-called heathen ancestors had held, and with them the use of the names of ancient egyptian gods, and goddesses, and demons, and formula, which they employed in much the same way as they were employed in the days of old. footnotes 27:1 i.e, chapter xxiv, which is entitled "the chapter of

daughter of the great god, as messengers from heaven to earth (pepi, line 422. 54:2 pepi, line 200. 54:3 pepi, line 471. 54:4 see my chapters of coming forth by day, translation, p. 270. 55:1 see the papyrus of ani, 2nd edition, pl. 22. 55:2 see pepi, line 196. 55:3 i.e, cxl. 57:1 one for each month of the year. 57:2 kenyon, catalogue of greek papyri, p. 61. 57:3 the seven vowels were supposed in the gnostic system to contain all the names of god, and were, therefore, most powerful when used as a spell. 58:1 see goodwin, fragment of a graco-egyptian work upon magic, p. 7. 60:1 see the description of this ceremony in chapter vi. 60:2 menat is connected with the root from which the word for "nurse (menat) is derived; see the article by lefebure "le menat et le nom de l'eunuque" in proc. soc

boat. the god with two faces represents the double aspect of the sun in setting and rising, and the god with the rams' heads, who is being adored by apes, is a mystical form of khnemu, one of the great gods of reproduction, who in still later times became the being whose name under the form of khnumis or khnoubis occupied such an important position among the magical names which were in use among the gnostics. the two following prayers from the hypocephalus will illustrate the words of power addressed to amen, i.e, the hidden one, quoted above--1 "i am the hidden one in the hidden place. i am a perfect spirit among the companions of ra, and i have gone in and come forth among the perfect souls. i am the mighty soul of p. 120 saffron-coloured form. i have come forth from the underworld at p

ee. at the end of the papyrus in which the above extracts occur we find a series of magical names which may be read thus--atir- atisa, atirkaha-atisa, samumatnatmu-atisa, samuanemui-atisa, samutekaari-atisa, samutekabaiu-atisa, samutchakaretcha-atisa, tauuarehasa, qina, hama, senentuta- batetsataiu, anrehakatha-sataiu, haubailra-haari. from these and similar magical names it is quite certain that the gnostics and other sects which held views akin to theirs obtained the names which they were so fond of p. 176 inscribing upon their amulets and upon the so-called magical papyri. the last class of documents undoubtedly contains a very large proportion of the magical ideas, beliefs, formula, etc, which were current in egypt from the time of the ptolemies to the end of the roman period, but from

ning "hosts; some of the remaining names could be explained, if space permitted, by hebrew and syriac words. on papyri and amulets the vowels are written in magical combinations in such a manner as to form triangles and other shapes; with them are often found the names of the seven archangels of god; the following are examples- 3 4 5 in combination with a number of signs which owe their origin to the gnostics the seven vowels were p. 179 sometimes engraved upon plaques, or written upon papyri, with the view of giving the possessor power over gods or demons or his fellow creatures. the example printed below is found on a papyrus in the british museum and accompanies a spell written for thepurpose of overcoming the malice of enemies, and for giving security against alarms and nocturnal visio

the sun as an old man; on his head is a pylon-shaped object with figures of various animals, and above it a pair of horns which support eight knives and the figure of a god with raised hands and arms, which typifies "millions of years" the god stands upon an oval wherein are depicted figures of various "typhonic" animals, and from each side of his crown proceed several symbols of fire. whether in the gnostic system abraxas absorbed all the names and attributes of this god of many forms cannot be said with certainty. footnotes 157:1 line 169. 158:1 pepi ii (ed. maspero, 1. 669, ff. recueil, tom. xii. 1892, p. 146. 161:1 see my paper in archaologia, vol. lii, london, 1891. 162:1 see chapters of coming forth by day, p. 49. 163:1 see chapters of coming forth by day, p. 191. 164:1 see chapters

SOLOMON

urther mischief. for they wish to provide money by means of memory (commemoration, but i supply a little to those who worship me fairly" 18. and i solomon questioned her about her birth, and she replied "i was born of a voice untimely, the socalled echo of a man's ordure [1] dropped in a wood [1. for the demon born of an echo we have an analogue in the hebrew bath kol "the daughter of a voice" in the gnostic hymn to hermes, edited by dieterich, abrasax, p 19, we read, l. 104] 19. and i said to her "under what star dost thou pass" and she answered me "under the star of the full moon, for the reason that the moon travels over most things" then i said to her "and what angel is it that frustrates thee" and she said to me "he that in thee [or "through thee] is reigning" and i thought that she m

SPENSER THE CULT OF THE ALL SEEING EYE 1960

pictured as a serpent in a fiery circle''he was regarded as the first emanation of the supreme being, the good genius of the world, the demiurgus, the efficient reason of all things, and the architect of the universe. kneph is identified with the sun, hence the rays of glory around his head. both serpent and sun were emblems of the celestial father. as the solar deity, kneph became the cristos of the gnostics. was regarded as the spiritual sun of enlightenment, or wisdom."61 in the egyptian pantheon "osiris himself was said to have been the son of kneph. and he was essentially identical with kneph" the worship of isis, the moon-goddess, was equally entwined wilh ophiolatry. her emblem was the horned viper'"in the british museum there is a head of isis wearing a coronet of them" the egyptia

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

ook over the pagan establishment. looking back on another classic study, samuel angus mystery religions and christianity, theodore gaster protested that many of the things claimed to have come from the mysteries might really xviii christianity as mystical fact have been transmitted from judaism. the situation has only really been clarified by the notable discoveries of new texts in 1945 and 1947. the gnostic texts from nag hammadi showed that christianity had been involved with mysteries at a much earlier stage, leading to the complex situation of the second-century crisis. the dead sea scrolls from qumran showed that the judaism of the type that influenced christianity was itself cosmic religion, centered on initiation into mysteries like those of the essenes. the discovery of other gnost

things are entrusted to speech, not to writing, as is the case with god. god gave to the church some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of christ. 164 individuals sought by the most varied routes to find their way from the ancient ideas to christian ones. the gnostic crisis meanwhile, however, the external organization of the church was becoming more and more strongly established, and those who thought that they were on the right path called the others heretics. as more power went to the institution of the church, the decisions of the councils increasingly took the place of personal search 148 christianity as mystical fact for recognition of the ri

and striving to comprehend christianity from the viewpoint of the mysteries. from their perspective christ is above all a spiritual being, the logos. in this his primal form he cannot have an external relationship to humanity, but must be awakened to life in the soul. at the same time, there must be a connection between the spiritual logos and the jesus of history, and here we come to the crux of the gnostic controversy. the issue could be resolved in various ways, but the decisive fact remained: the idea of the christ, for them, could only be grasped on the basis of mysteriosophy and not of ordinary historical traditions. the essence of christianity 149 some of them appealed to the neoplatonic philosophy, which also had its roots in the mysteries. the gnostics were confident that the wisd

eritance of the people of god and extend it to universal community: and the christ-spirit is active wherever that process is being carried forward. steiner often referred in this context to the christ-impulse as a spiritual and evolutionary power, at work in humanity. 161. cf. steiner, the gospel of st. matthew, pp. 79-83; exactly this idea underlies the extraordinary apocalypse of adam, found in the gnostic discovery at nag hammadi in egypt, but having jewish (probably essene) connections. cf. welburn, beginnings of christianity, pp. 44ff. 162. see further steiner, building stones for an understanding of the mystery of golgotha (rudolf steiner press, london, 1985. 228 christianity as mystical fact 163. zohar ii, 110 b. 164. clement of alexandria, miscellanies i, l (citing eph. 4:11-12. 16

TECHNICIANS GUIDE TO THE LEFT HAND PATH

is approximately five thousand years old and has its initial use in ancient egypt and mesopotamia, first as a potter mark, and in later egyptian dynasties as a mason s mark. symbolically, it was connected to the souls separate journey through the universe. gerald gardner (considered the founding father of modern wicca) utilized the inverted pentagram as representive of the second degree of wicca. the gnostics called the pentagram the blazing star and related it to night time magic. pagan, druids, celts, pythagoreans, greeks and romans all used the pentagram- with one point or two points upward as various symbols of perfection, truth and magic. within the paradigm presented in this book, the pentagram in its inverted (two points up) position is restored to its original purity as a symbol of

TEXE MARRS CODEX MAGICA SECRET SIGNS MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS AND HIDDEN CODES OF THE ILLUMINATI

wears a pendent of the crowned double-headed eagle as a talisman around his neck. the cross, meanwhile, is relegated to the left side of the satanic talisman. that ravenous dark bird 257 the magical head of zohar is a cabalistic design illustrating the concept of opposites, the principle of "as above, so below" it is widely used by cabalists and jewish rabbis as an instructional device. abraxas, the gnostic rooster god, symbolic of the sun god. notice the two serpent legs, indicating the satanic doctrine of duality. 258 codex magica in tarot card decks, one of the cards depicts "the magician (also called the magus or the juggler, a young man holding up a wand in his right hand, and pointing to the earth with his left. on a table before him are the four elemental symbols, and above his hea

a be written down in an inverted triangle like this: black magic, masonic witchcraft, and triangle powers 365 next, the paper on which the word was written was to be tied round the patient's neck for nine days and then thrown backwards over the shoulder into a stream running eastwards. the fever then would shrink to nothing, the patient was told. the magical word abracadabra comes from worship of the gnostic god, abraxas. it literally means: the dead body, or corpse, of abraxas. witches often use the triangle as a protective symbol. they foolishly believe it can be used as a talisman, especially if the tetragrammaton, the hebrew letters for god, are inserted inside the triangle. the masons do the same thing essentially in the masters jewel of the 4th degree. the triangle is inscribed on th

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 1

differences of climate or creed. in hinduism, in neoplatonism, in sufism, in christian mysticism we find the same recurring note, so that there is about mystical utterances an eternal unanimity perpetually telling of the unity of man with god. many scholars of the early christian church believed strongly that the various church councils had erred in removing reincarnation from official doctrine. the gnostics, who strongly influenced early christian doctrine, believed in reincarnation, and when the teachings of origen (185 c.e. 254 c.e, who championed preexistence, was anathematized in 553, they, along with other believers in reincarnation, were condemned as heretics. in later centuries, those who held gnostic views were forced to remain silent regarding their beliefs in reincarnation, so

the east bent their knees to diana, isis, and cybele, they had worshipped the great mother as inanna in sumeria, as ishtar in babylonia, and as astarte among the hebrews. most scholars agree that among the first images of the black madonna and her son were representations of isis and horus. the black madonna may also refer to mary magdalene, who, in the traditions of many christian sects, such as the gnostics, was the wife of jesus (c. 6 b.c.e. c. 30 c.e) in this interpretation of the events that occurred after jesus death at the hands of the romans, mary brought the cup used at the last supper the holy grail from palestine to southern france, where it would eventually be guarded by the knights templar. there is also a belief that mary arrived in france carrying within her womb a child fat

from the devil-worshipping heretics that pope innocent iii decreed warranted extermination, the albigenses were devout, chaste, tolerant christian humanists, who loathed the material excesses of the medieval church. they were metaphysicians, spiritual alchemists, herbalists, healers, and social activists with a pragmatic turn of mind. similiar expressions of their belief concepts may be found in the gnostic gospels, in the essenic teachings discovered at qumran, and in the egyptian mystery schools. t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 276 mystery religions and cults carcassonne in cathar country (f. c. taylor/fortean picture library) it would appear that the greatest heresy to the christian church lay in the cathars denial that christ e

ely differing beliefs all bearing the label of gnostic arose in the first century, strongly competing with the advent of christianity. the term gnostic is derived from the greek gnosis, meaning to know, and the adherents of gnosticism unabashedly declared that members of their form of religious expression knew from firsthand experience the truths that other beliefs had to accept on faith. many of the gnostic sects blended elements of christianity with the eleusianian mysteries, combining them with indian, egyptian, and babylonian magic, and also bringing in aspects of the jewish kabbalah as well. whatever the expression of the various gnostic belief structures, they all emphasized a detachment from the material world and an elaborate series of spiritual hierarchies through which those init

ngly rebuked by peter when he sought to purchase the wonder-working power of the holy spirit (acts 8:9 24. those gnostic christians influenced by such charismatic individuals as simon magus believed that there was a secret oral tradition that had been passed down from jesus that had much greater power and authority than the scriptures and epistles offered by the orthodox teachers of christianity. the gnostics, like the initiates of the greek and egyptian mysteries, sought direct experience with the divine and they believed that this communion could be achieved by uttering secret words of wisdom that god had granted to specially enlightened teachers. the gnostics considered themselves much more spiritually advanced than the larger community of christians, whom they regarded as ignorant plod

considered themselves much more spiritually advanced than the larger community of christians, whom they regarded as ignorant plodders and easily led sheep. nearly everything that was known about the christian gnostics prior to the discovery of the nag hammadi library in 1945 was taken from the highly prejudiced writings of such church fathers as irenaeus, hippolytus, and epiphanius, who condemned the gnostics as heretics and devil-worshippers. the library that was found in upper egypt consists t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d 278 mystery religions and cults simon magus: the earliest known gnostic. magnus construed that the garden of eden, the exodus from egypt, and the red sea crossings were symbols. marcion (85 160 c.e: organizer of

oughout the nag hammadi library there are admonitions to resist the lures and traps of trying to be content in a world that has been corrupted by evil. the world created by god is good. the evil that has permeated the world, although alien to its original design, has risen to the status where it has become the ruler of earth. rather than perceiving existence as a battle between god and the devil, the gnostics envisioned a struggle between the true, most high, unknowable god and the lesser god of this earth, the demiurge, that they associated with the angry, jealous, rule-giving deity of the ancient hebrews. they believe that all humans have the ability to awaken to the realization that they have within themselves a spark of the divine. by attuning to the mystical awareness within them, the

the divine. by attuning to the mystical awareness within them, they may transcend all earthly entrapments and regain their true spiritual home. jesus had been sent by god as a guide to teach humans how to free themselves from the control of the demiurge and to understand that the kingdom of god was within, a transcendental state of consciousness, rather than a future reward. as if the theology of the gnostics was not enough to have them branded as heretics by the orthodox christian establishment, their doctrines and their scriptural texts often utilized feminine imagery and symbology. even more offensive to the patriarchal church fathers was the gnostic assertion that jesus had close women disciples as well as men. in the gospel of phillip it is written that the lord loved mary magdalene a

ghts and t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d mystery religions and cults 279 illustrations of gnostic gems from mensa isaica (1669) by lorenzo pignoria. fortean picture library) gnosticism ceased to be a threat to the christian church by the fourteenth century. writings of many scholars and intellectuals down through the centuries. elements of the gnostic creeds surfaced again in the new age movement of the late twentieth century. an impetus to study the writings of the gnostic texts was provided by psychologist carl gustav jung (1875 1961, who perceived value in the writings of valentinus, a prominent gnostic teacher. in jung s opinion, gnosticism s depiction of the struggle between god and the false god represented the turmoil that ex

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL

ne] http//conspiracies. about.com/newsissues/conspiracies/cs/thebilderbergs. vankin, jonathan, and john whalen. the 60 greatest conspiracies of all time. new york: barnes& noble, 1996. bilderbergers plan for a new world order teenth century to signify those alchemists and magicians who appeared to possess the glight h of spiritual illumination from a higher source. the term may have originated in the gnostic dualism of the forces of light and darkness, and many individuals who claimed to be illuminati, those enlightened by a higher wisdom, joined the rosicrucians and took refuge in france to escape the fires of the spanish inquisition. the secret society known as the order of the illuminati was founded in the city of ingolstadt in the southern german monarchy of bavaria on may 1, 1776 by a

ke. new york: causeway books, 1973. seligmann, kurt. the history of magic. new york: meridian books, 1960. spence, lewis. an encyclopedia of occultism. new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1960. simon magus (c. first century) several cults with widely differing beliefs all bearing the label of ggnostic h arose in the first century, very strongly competing with the advent of christianity. many of the gnostic sects blended elements of christianity with the eleusianian mysteries, combining them with indian, egyptian, and babylonian magic, and bringing in aspects of the jewish kabbalah as well. the first gnostic of importance was simon magus, a samarian sorcerer, a contemporary of the apostles, who was converted to christianity by philip. although he had been a highly respected magus, simon c

ers, the demons fled the artificial wings supporting simon, and the magus crashed to the ground, breaking both legs. the story of simon magus fueled the beliefs of generations of magi and alchemists that there was a secret oral tradition that had been passed down from jesus that had much greater power and authority than the scriptures and epistles offered by the orthodox teachers of christianity. the gnostics, like the initiates of the greek and egyptian mysteries, sought direct experience with the t h e g a l e e n c y c l o p e d i a o f t h e u n u s u a l a n d u n e x p l a i n e d magic and sorcery 69 eliphas levi fs magical instruments (fortean picture library) divine and they believed that this communion could be achieved by uttering secret words of wisdom that god had granted to s

cient egyptian wisdoms believed to be instilled in the cards. although many authorities have suggested that the tarot cards were adapted from the pages of the legendary egyptian book of magic, the book of thoth.and certain of the imagery on the cards encourages these perceptions.such an assertion cannot be proved. what does appear to be authentic lore in regard to the tarot cards is the fact that the gnostics, during a period of persecution, recorded the fundamentals of their beliefs on plates similar to the cards of the tarot fs major arcana. adepts of the kabbalah formalized the figures and established 22 allegories to correspond to the 22 letters of the hebrew alphabet, maintaining that each letter was itself a divine being with occult powers of its own. in the tarot, the two constituen

THE GOLDEN ESSENCE

hole lives, will find a lot of time to continue to wait in death, because now is the only time there is, or will ever be, and now will retain its basic character (which for most people is a series of precarious and strange journeys through many life-conditions, alternating with dark periods of rest, fear, and forgetfulness in the underworld) until awareness and realizations of truth transform it. the gnostic teacher in the gospel of thomas states the reality of the issue best when he says, the kingdom of heaven has already come, spread out upon the earth, only men do not see it you see, the entire universal process is not happening on a linear timeline. the cunning fire, and all the forms and events it flows through, from what we call first and last, and even what we call eventual renewal

THE MAGICIAN S KABBALAH

st sephiroth, and is represented by the four-sided pyramid. this completes the sequence from the ain soph aur: no space (ain, point (kether, vector/direction (chockmah, space (binah, and time (chesed. the axiom of maria prophetissa applies to chesed "one becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth. chesed is the kether of the manifest, jupiter as the demiurge, the gnostic creator god. the fours of the tarot represent the action of chesed in the four worlds as follows: four of wands atziluth perfected work four of cups briah lord of pleasure four of swords yetzirah rest from strife four of pentacles assiah lord of earthly power the atziluth of chesed is the both the completion and source of all manifest power. the fire of all that may be called energy pl

THE MARTINIST OPERATIVE GENERAL RITUAL

ct' of the old testament, even before it was mentioned in the revelation of st. john (the apocalypse) and also well prior to its adoption by the christians as a sign recalling the passion of christ. for example we read in ezekiel that it was supposed to have been traced upon the foreheads of the elect by the angel of yaveh. 11 the ancient egyptians, the eleusinian mysteries and those of dionysos, the gnostics, all had known and used this tau for the same reason as ancient israel and her kabbalists- thus it can be used by initiates of any religious or philosophical appurtenance. it used to be traced in oil of unction upon the forehead of the high priest of israel at the moment of his consecration. lastly, it is a 'sign of salvation' for christians of all denominations, a sign which makes th

THE MIDDLE PILLAR

greater neshamah, is the intuitive soul located in binah, although it lends its name to the other supernals as being generally descriptive of the soul's greatest aspirations. it is also the most approachable of the three supernal parts of the soul. the neshamah in psychology and magic 133 binah is symbolized by the feminine soul image of the anima, as well as the shekinah, the supernal mother, or the gnostic sophia. it is the source of human perception, comprehension, and spiritual understanding. the neshamah in binah initiates delineating ways in which the self can be defined as being unique to the individual as well as limitless in archetypal manifestation. it is the understanding of how the divine manifests itself through a multitude of archetypal forms, and how it can express itself mo

is a potent symbol of strength and justice. the pentagram has always been misunderstood and feared by those who do not comprehend its sacred meaning: we proceed to the explanation and consecration of the sacred and mysterious pentagram. at this point, let the ignorant and superstitious close the book; they will either see nothing but darkness, or they will be scandalized. the pentagram, which in the gnostic schools is called the blazing star, is the sign of intellectual omnipotence and autocracy. it is the star ofthe magi; it is the word madejlesh..the sign of the pentagram is also the sign of the microcosm, and it represents what the kabalists of the book zohar term the microprosopus. the complete comprehension of the pentagram is the key of the two worlds. it is absolute philosophy and

h a great amount of energy. lbrp: lesser banishng ritual of the pentagram. le-olahm, amen: hebrew phrase meaning roughly "the world forever, unto the ages" see amen. glossary 257 libido: according to freud, it is the sexual urge, but according to jung it is total of all psychic energy and vitality, and its expression is through instinct, desire, and function. logos: a greek word meaning "word" to the gnostics this was the term for deity manifest in the universe. the creative principle and underlying law of the universe. lower unconscious: an unconscious part of the psyche which contains fundamental drives, primitive urges and complexes. see id, nephesh. magic: the art of causing change to occur in one's environment and one's consciousness. willpower, imagination, intention, and the use of

THE NECRONOMICON SIMON VERSION

e and use it to their own advantage, and to the advantage of humanity as was the original intent. the raising of the cone of power through the circle dancing is probably the simplest method of attaining results in "rousing leviathan, and has been used by societies as diverse as the dervishes in the middle east and the python dancers of africa, not to mention the round dances that were familiar to the gnostic christians, and the ones held every year in the past at chartres. the witches of today, however, while acknowledging the importance of the male element of telluric power, generally prefer to give the greater honour to the female principle, personified as the goddess. the goddess has also been worshipped all over the world, and under many names, but is still essentially the same goddess

THE STAR IN THE WEST BY CAPTAIN FULLER A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

ce and the second failure, for love will out, and if not as a limpid and sparkling stream, then as a turbid and roaring torrent, reckless and horrible. this extraordinary phase of diverted* love is very strongly illustrated in gthe fatal force, h gthe mother fs tragedy, h and also in gjezebel h; not so in gtannhauser h and gthe nameless quest, h where love is not restrained, but rather cramped by the gnostic idea of evil in the objective. this curious idea we will go into more fully later on, at present we shall content ourselves in dealing with the first phase of love. love in youth* hperverted h i object to here, as it is but a synonym of econverted f from a different point of view. in gwhy jesus wept, h which is a satirical serio-comedy, mingled with heterodox ribaldry, and a shrewd and

eity. having magnified their friend into a god, they then proceeded to enlarge their enemy into a devil. this gross materialism in accordance with the universal law of polarity, set in motion by the hand of idealism, produced as effect a fanciful spiritualism, which sought in the mysteries of life an answer that lay still on the cold lips of death. these two powers, the pantheonic materialism and the gnostic spiritualism, bore the hybrid. christianity. as all religions have finally become subservient to an interested priesthood, so have all religions (however spiritual they may have been in their youth) been materialized and sacrificed on the altar of gain. to this rule christianity forms no exception; once crudely and sincerely spiritual, it has become deceitfully materialistic. god, who

THE ABYSS AND TABAET

k magick that have established ford as the most cutting-edge exponent of the left hand path tradition in america today. the book begins with a lengthy and highly scholarly exposition of the place of the draconic adversary within historical magick. set typhon, the egyptian god of darkness, ahriman, the persian devil and his whore of darkness, the adversary and the bride of the devil, cain the son, the gnostic yaldabaoth "child of chaos, the path of the crooked serpent- leviathan and beelzebub and tiamat, pazuzu, and moloch are only some of the topics and figures covered. the second part of the book, the grimoires of luciferian witchcraft, includes several of his most infamous graveyard workings, together with the complete version of the luciferian goetia- a completely revised and updated ve

THE SECRET RITUALS OF THE OTO

he so-called charter of larmenius, an eighteenthcentury forgery, which purported to show that jacques de molay9 had been secretly succeeded by a certain larmenius. from him had come a line of grand masters under whom the templars had survived into the nineteenth century. this preposterous nonsense was taken seriously by several nineteenth-century occultists and eliphas l vi asserted that theoclet the gnostic pontiff who had supposedly passed on the apostolic succession to the templars had initiated hugues de payens into the mysteries and hopes of his pretended church, he lured him by the ideas of sacerdotal sovereignty and supreme royalty, he indicated him finally as his successor; so the order of the knights templar was stained from its origin with schism and conspiracy against kings! 10

ley received a direct voice communication entitled, the book of the law, an intensely beautiful prose-poem in three short chapters purporting to give an initiated interpretation of the new aeon of horus, or, as it is now often called, the age of aquarius .20 under crowley s influence the rituals of the o.t.o. were revised in order to conform to the book of the law; simultaneously crowley produced the gnostic mass (for both the o.t.o. and reuss s gnostic catholic church) and, at reuss s request, revised some of the o.t.o. instructional material pertaining to the ninth degree.21 reuss resigned his chieftainship of the o.t.o. in 1922 he had suffered a stroke some two years earlier verbally nominating crowley his successor. it was not until 1925, however, that a majority of the german o.t.o. a

life freely. he that overcometh shall inherit all things; and i will be his god and he shall be my son (apocalypse) come unto me, that i may declare unto ye the wonder ineffable! know that our beginning is in god, and our end in god; wherefore this is the great work, to attain unto the godhead. pitiful and of tender love, hath he revealed unto the wise men of old time, the way of this attainment. the gnostics and manichees preserved it in their most secret assemblies as they had received it from the greatest of the magi of egypt; nor were the ophites ignorant of this mystery, nor the men that did worship unto mithras, and the secret is hidden in the fable of samson; our lord jesus christ established it through the mouth of the beloved disciple. this was the inmost secret of the knights of

TRUE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

officially' met gardner in the 1940s, much of the former's lifelong efforts had, if not totally disintegrated, at least were then operating at a diminished and diminishing level. through his long and fascinating career as magus and organizer, there is some reason to believe that crowley periodically may have wished for, or even attempted to create a more populist expression of magickal religion. the gnostic mass, which crowley wrote fairly early-on, had come since his death to somewhat fill this function through the oto-connected gnostic catholic church (egc. as we shall see momentarily, one of crowley's key followers was publishing manifestos forecasting the revival of witchcraft at the same time gardner was being chartered by crowley to organize an oto encampment. the oto itself, since

hat is associated with gardner's friend crowley. the third degree ritual, perhaps wicca's ultimate rite, is, essentially, a nonsymbolic gnostic mass, that beautiful, evocative, erotic and esoteric ritual written and published by a true history of witchcraft get any book for free on: www.abika.com 19 crowley in the equinox, after attending a russian orthodox mass in the early part of this century. the gnostic mass has had far-reaching influence, and it would appear that the wiccan third degree is one of the most blatant examples of that influence. take, for example, this excerpt from what is perhaps the most intimate, most secret and most sublime moment in the entire repertoire of wicca rituals, the nonsymbolic (that is, overtly sexual) great rite of the third degree initiation, as related

ng to do something of note with regard to actualizing a new aeon here which bears scrutiny? or is this mere speculation, and of little significance for the great work today? if the charter crowley issued gardner is, indeed, the authority upon which wicca has been built for half a century, then it is perhaps no coincidence that i acquired that charter in the same year i was consecrated a bishop of the gnostic catholic church. further, it was literally days after my long search for the original of gardner's book of shadows ended in success that the holy synod of t michael bertiaux's gnostic church unanimously elected me a missionary bishop, on august 29, 1986. sometimes, i muse, the inner order revoked wicca's charter in 1986,placing it in my hands. since i hold it in trust for the oto, perh

TWO ESSAYS ON THE WORSHIP OF PRIAPUS

f martial: rideto, multum, qui te, sextille, cin dum dixerit, et digitum porrigito medium. martial, ep. ii, 28. nevertheless, this gesture of the hand was looked upon at an early period as an amulet against magical influences, and, formed of different materials, it was carried on the person in the same manner as the phallus. it is not an uncommon object among roman antiquities, and was adopted by the gnostics as one of their symbolical images. the second of these forms of the phallic hand, the intention of which is easily seen (the thumb forming the phallus, was also well known among the romans, and is found made of various material, such as bronze, coral, lapis lazuli, and chrystal, of a size which was evidently intended to be suspended to the neck or to some other part of the person. in

c. constant. panarium versus h res, vol. i, p. 459, ed. petav. generative powers 173 controversialists to several sects, such as the followers of florian, and of carpocratian, who were accused of putting out the lamps in their churches at the end of the evening service, and indulging in sexual intercourse indiscriminately;1 the nicolait, who held their wives in common; the ebionei; and especially the gnostics, or followers of basilides, and the manich ans. the nicolaites held that the only way to salvation lay through frequent intercourse between the sexes.2 epiphanius speaks of a sect who sacrificed a child in their secret rites by pricking it with brazen pins, and then offering its blood. 3 the gnostics were accused of eating human flesh as well as of lasciviousness, and they also are sa

aving been recognized, mutual confidence was established, and the stranger was invited to supper; after they had eaten their fill, the husband removed from the side of his wife, and said to her, go, exhibit charity to our guest, which was the signal for those further scenes of hospitality.5 this account is given us by st. epiphanius, bishop of constantia. we are told further of rites practiced by the gnostics, which were still more disgusting, for they were said, after these libidinous scenes, to offer and administer the semen virile 1 in ecclesia sua post occasum solis lucernis extinctis msceri cum mulierculis. philastri de h resibus liber, c. 57. 2 epiphanii panarion, vol. i, p. 72. 3 epihphanius, vol. i, p. 416. 4 on the secret worship and the character of the gnostics see epihanii pana

e j o sron tr pontai. ka m n n r t j gunaik j pocwr saj f skei legwn t ato gunaik ti n sta l gwn, po hson t n g phn met to delfo. o d t lanej mig ntej ll loij. epihan. panarion, vol. i, p. 86. 174 on the worship of the as their sacrament.1 a similar practice is described as existing among women in the middle ages for the purpose of securing the love of their husbands, and was perhaps derived from the gnostics and manich ans, whose doctrines, brought from the east, appear to have spread themselves extensively into western europe.2 of these doctrines, however, we have no traces at least until the eleventh century, when a great intellectual agitation began in western europe, which brought to the surface of society a multitude of strange creeds and strange theories. the popular worship display

t two inches thick. it was found in burgundy. on the lid is sculptured a figure, naked, with a head-dress resembling that given to cybele in ancient monuments, holding up a chain with each hand, and surrounded with various symbols, the sun and moon above, the star and the pentacle below, and under the feet a human skull.1 the chains are explained by von hammer as representing the chains of ons of the gnostics. on the four sides of the coffer we see a series of figures engaged in the performance of various ceremonies, which are not easily explained, but which von hammer considers as belonging to the rites of the gnostics and ophians. the offering of a calf figures prominently among these 1 see our plate xxxviii. 200 on the worship of the rites, a worship which is said still to exist among t

la sidna, which is more correctly fella sidna, i. e. o god, our lord! the formula itself, to which this is an introduction, commences on the right side, and the first part of it reads houv mete zonar feseba (or sebaa) b. mounkir teaala tiz. there is no such word in arabic as mete, and von hammer considers it to be simply the greek word mti j, wisdom, a personification in what we may perhaps call the gnostic mythology answering to the sophia of the ophianites. he considers that the name baphomet is derived from the greek words baf m teoj, i. e. the baptism of metis, and that in its application it is equivalent with the name mete itself. he has further shown, we think conclusively, that baphomet, instead of being a corruption of mahomet, was a name known among the gnostic sects in the east

sects in the east. zonar is not an arabic word, and is perhaps only a corruption or error of the sculptor, but von hammer thought it meant a girdle, and that it alluded to the mysterious girdle of the templars, of which so much is said in their examinations. the letter b is supposed by von hammer to stand here for the name baphomet, or for that of barbalo, one of the most important personages in the gnostic mythology. mounkir is the arabic word for a person who denies the orthodox faith. the rest of the formula is given on the other side of the figure, but as the inscription here presents several corruptions, we will give von hammer's translation (in latin) of the more correct copy of the formula inscribed on the bowl or goblet preserved in the museum at vienna. in the vienna bowl, the fo

es of the formula of faith are more or less defective, but, from a comparison of them, the general form and meaning of the whole is made perfectly clear. this may be translated, let mete be exalted, who causes things to bud and blossom! he is our root; it (the root) is one and seven; abjure (the faith, and abandon thyself to all pleasures. the number seven is said to refer to the seven archons of the gnostic creed. there are certainly several points in this formula which present at least a singular coincidence with the statements made in the examinations of the templars. in the first place the invocation which precedes the formula, yalla (jah la, agrees exactly with the statement of raymond rubei, one of the provencal templars that when the superior exhibited the idol, or figure of baphome

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

he enghsh occultist francis barrett, and from this latter publication exerted an influence on the ritual practice of modern magicians (see the illustration at the top of page 289. the greek alphabet found its way into modern magic through the influence of the magical texts of the graeco-egyptian magicians, who lived and practiced their art in egypt in the early centuries after the time of christ. the gnostic grimoires and hermetic wisdom texts contain many barbarous invocations that rely heavily on greek vowels. for example, in the nag hammadi tract titled "the discourse on the eighth and ninth" which the editors describe as "hermetic" appears this invo- cation "the one mighty in power, who is exalted above majesty, who is better than the honored ones, zoxathozo a g6 ee 6% zez w i% eicic o

TYSON DONALD SOUL FLIGHT

station to human perceptions is intended, so that witches will be able to see and hear herodias, or aradia, allowing her to instruct them in diana's forbidden arts. until spirits manifest on the astral level, they have no existence to human 15. guazzo, compendium maleficarum, 34. 16. scot, bk. 111, chap. 16, p. 37. 17. leland, aradia, 4. 22 soul flight consciousness. there is also an echo here of the gnostic myth of sophia, goddess of wisdom, who incarnated as a mortal woman in order to aid human souls mired in ignorance to regain their divine birthright to dwell among the stars. witch's power of flight witchcraft is ancient in italy, and even in its pagan beginnings involved soul flight. the second-century roman writer lucius apuleius, in his novel the golden ass, described the flight of

earnt or taught; it can only be spontane us' fortune is a bit misleading, in that it is perfectly possible to teach anyone to vibrate a word of power in a physical sense. what cannot be easily taught is the inner vibration of the word, which occurs on higher levels of the mind. the general concept of vibrating power words to control spiritual beings was derived from the magic of the egyptians and the gnostics, who used words composed of vowel sounds as weapons and as instruments of compulsion on the astral levels. these words were meaningless in the ordinary sense, and came to be known as barbarous words of evocation, since it was believed that they derived from ancient and forgotten languages. however, the words used by the golden dawn were not meaningless, but were hebrew names of god th

TYSON DONALD THE MAGICAL WORKBOOK

and ris-en" ritud of the rose cross 179 draw another breath, hold it four beats, and slowly raise your arms higher, keeping them straight and turning your palms upward, as you vibrate the three names isis-apophis-osiris. as you do so, gradually turn your face upward. maintain this pose of aspiration to the light and take another breath, hold it four beats, then vibrate the three latin letters of the gnostic divine name i. a. 0 "eye-ay-oh" maintain the pose of aspiration, take another breath, hold it four beats, and vibrate the four names of the enochian tablet of union: exarp, hcoma, nanta, bitom. concentrate upon the light of the blue-white star high above your head. extend your desire and pull a beam of light from the star downward to shine upon your upturned face. feel the cooling radi

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

fall) yields the meanings "he who causes to fall" or "he who strikes down" the name has also been connected by some scholars with the arab hawa (the void between heaven and earth, leading to the interpretation "he who rides the wind" or "he who makes the winds to blow" earlier speculations that there is a connection between tetragrammaton and the greek god of thunderbolts (jehovah= jove, or with the gnostic deity iao, are generally discounted (although gershom scholem finds a connection between iao and the truncated name ihv used in sepher yetzirah to seal the six directions of space-see scholem, kabbalah, p. 27. so are wilder claims that the name can be traced back to ancient china, egypt, or babylonia. all these propositions have been put forth at different times, but there is little ha

ionships are tabulated below: first: father second: son third: east fourth: south fifth: west sixth: north seventh: east eighth: south ninth: west tenth: north eleventh: east twelfth: south thirteenth: west fourteenth: north fifteenth: east sixteenth: south seventeenth: west eighteenth:north nineteenth to forty-eighth: thirty spheres, or degrees the symbolism of the keys contains strong echoes of the gnostic gospels, particularly the key of the thirty aethers, which might almost have been dictated by yaldabaoth himself geoffrey james considers these gnostic connections at some length (the enochian magick of dr. john dee, pp. xix-xxi) and speculates that kelley may have plagiarized portions of a secret gnostic text in his possession unknown to dee. i should state here explicitly that i do n

licitly that i do not believe kelley concocted the keys, or the majority of his communications with spirits recorded in dee's diaries. his other writings cannot even approach the complex and beautiful symbolism of the enochian communications. i believe kelley was a genuine seer, despite his many personal shortcomings, and that he was in contact with the same class of spiritual beings who inspired the gnostic writings. the spirits by turns bored, infuriated, and terrified kelley, who did not like them moving in his head. he would much earlier have broken off communications with them, had dee not paid him to continue, which kelley did only under formal protest. it is my belief that kelley first came to dee at mortlake seeking secret knowledge about the making and use of the fabled red powder

nt. madimi constantly refers to the authority of her mother, who is a kinswoman of nalvage, the spirit who delivers the enochian keys. dee asks madimi's mother her name, and the spirit answers "i am of the word, and by the word (casaubon, p. 27. when dee persists, the spirit becomes annoyed and says "i am; what more will you" and then flies away like a fire. the mother may perhaps be a version of the gnostic goddess barbelo and may be the subject of the unexpressed primordial key. she is also the queen of heaven described in revelation 12, who is clothed with the sun, has the moon under her feet, and wears a crown of twelve stars. it is not widely recognized by occultists who employ the keys in their magic that the forty-eight keys, taken as a whole, represent a complex ritual working whos

ssary to go through the first eighteen keys to call them to visible appearance in the scrying crystal or black mirror-the manner by which dee and kelley observed the angels and interacted with them. it is curious that the spirits who dwell in the aethers are called "heavens" since the aethers themselves might be regarded as heavenly spheres. perhaps a better translation would have been "aeons" in the gnostic sense of emanations of god that govern the universe. an aeon is also an age of the universe-very appropriate, in view of the many time references throughout the keys. these heavens are responsible for the constantly changing diversity of forms in the manifest universe. they are "mighty in the parts of the earth" and "execute the judgment of the highest" all thirty of the aethers have t

e warrior messiah. those humans who give up their power of independent judgment- a power reserved only to god-will be permitted into the heavenly city of new jerusalem. the rest who remain defiant will be tortured and killed by the angels of wrath. meanwhile, the goddess earth is to be continually tormented and degraded because she harbors rebellious human beings. 234 tetragrammaton little wonder the gnostics regarded this patriarchal god of the old bstament as a misbegotten monster who made adam solely for the purpose of delivering sacrifices and worship, and then when adam became aware of his own divine spark and began to think for himself, turned against his creation like a petulant child. little wonder they saw the serpent in eden as an emissary of the true god, who is much higher and

ten monster who made adam solely for the purpose of delivering sacrifices and worship, and then when adam became aware of his own divine spark and began to think for himself, turned against his creation like a petulant child. little wonder they saw the serpent in eden as an emissary of the true god, who is much higher and more detached than yaldabaoth (as they called the god of moses. that is why the gnostics worshipped the serpent. the serpent was the symbol of freedom and transcendent wisdom, twin birthrights of all human beings, withheld from adam by jealous yaldabaoth. in gnostic myth, the soul of the world voluntarily allows herself to be degraded and abused by the vindictive malice of the inferior yaldabaoth in order to bring about the restoration of human souls to their rightful pla

understanding with darkness) is usually symbolized in the various myths by prostitution. in the vision of st. john, the goddess earth becomes the great whore babylon, who from a gnostic perspective is a degraded form of the queen of heaven. among some gnostic sects, she was called barbelo or sophia. in the myth of the simonian gnostics, she is helena, one of whose incarnations was helen of troy. the gnostic prophet simon, who was confused with the biblical simon magus by the fathers of the church, taught that he was himself the highest power, god the father. according to irenaeus, a very biased reporter, simon found helen working as a prostitute in tyre and took her with him, calling her the first thought of his mind and the mother of all things, by whom he had conceived the angels. the m

ant strife, human souls will be made to forget their original heavenly origins "the dwelling places, let them forget their names" the soul of the world, of which all human souls, and indeed the spiritual essences of all things, are but splinters, or sparks, is to be ceaselessly and pitilessly tormented. there is no reference to deliverance for either mankind or the earth from these torments. from the gnostic point of view, the speaker of this key is yaldabaoth himself, who appointed the various angelic powers as archons over the innumerable parts of the world and who here instructs them to continue to multiply and transmute her forms in order to keep her in a bewildered and forgetful state. this is a kind of rape of the world by the archons, and her child, the human race, is also made to s

VOX SABBATUM

tum the witches sabbat 23 lucifer is the djinn of which you seek to communicate with through yourself; by the meditative state of the luciferian sabbat you uplift and rise in the psyche to vox sabbatum the witches sabbat 24 that aethyric storm of wind and weightlessness, and by your will alone you pronounce those secret words which shall be you re making. other names of lucifer or azazel are from the gnostic ancient texts, he is called yaltabaoth, samael and saklas. he was the djinn or spirit of darkness which gave to many other angels (who fell with him) the black flame, those being athoth, who is called the reaper, the second is harmas, who is an eye of envy, kalila-oumbri is the third, yabel, the fifth being adonaiou, who is also sabaoth, cain is the sixth, who is called the sun, sevent

k flame, those being athoth, who is called the reaper, the second is harmas, who is an eye of envy, kalila-oumbri is the third, yabel, the fifth being adonaiou, who is also sabaoth, cain is the sixth, who is called the sun, seventh is abel, the eight is abrisene, the ninth yobel and armoupieel. the eleventh of the fallen angels are melceir- adonein and the twelfth is belias, who is over hades. in the gnostic text of the apocryphon of john lucifer is the darkness which gained a light, and found himself as a god. his word is i am god and there is no other god beside me, he was one of the most powerful archons under the throne of light. the archon samael-lucifer was said to have a multitude of faces, being able to change form among the angels as he so desired. the luciferian sabbat is the sel

n for refusing to bow before clay (adam) and thus fell into the darkness. it was ayn al-qozat hamadani who symbolized iblis being a guardian of the threshold, a black light and the tresses which hide the beloved s face. thus shaitan was a guardian and initiatory focus24, from which one could move through to godhead. it is essentially, self-deification through separation from the natural order. in the gnostic christian text, the apocryphon of john, yaltabaoth or lucifer came forth from a beautiful angel in islamic lore to a lion headed serpent, its eyes were like lightening flashes the antinomian djinn was born, who would fall as lightening and know both the highest celestial realms and the chthonic depths of the earth and hell. in summary as the reader has moved through the darkness of thi

WEOR SAMAEL AUN ESOTERIC COURSE OF KABBLAH

then 1+ 1= 2. one is the father; two is she, nuit, the divine mother kundalini. practice: 1. lay down on your bed, facing up and with your body relaxed. 2. achieve the state of slumber by meditating upon the sacred serpent that dwells in the coccygeal chakra. 3. thereafter, pray with all of your heart, meditating on the following sacred ritualistic prayer: invocation be thou, oh hadit, my secret, the gnostic mystery of my being, the central point of my connection, my heart itself, and bloom on my fertile lips, made verb! up above, in the infinite heavens, in the profound height of the unknown, the incessant glow of light is the naked beauty of nuit. she reclines, she bends in delectable ecstasy, to receive the kiss of secret fervor of hadit. the winged sphere and the blue of the sky are yo

se consciousness; in those moments the hierophant would take the students out of their physical bodies (thus, they would already be in the astral plane) and into the profundities of the sanctuary. then he would teach them the grandiose mysteries of life and death. the volcanic emanations of the earth produced that apparent state of death. some disciples fall in that apparent state of death within the gnostic lumisials. the ceremony of carrying the cross (as was practiced in the gnostic lumisials, serves in order to humbly confirm some internal esoteric initiation. each one of the seven bodies of the human being must be crucified and stigmatized. all students of kabbalah must be familiar with all of the elementals of fire, air, water and earth. the present human being is still not a king or

s. the serpent slumbers in that coccygeal center entwined three and a half times. the serpent must inevitably leave from its church. if the serpent rises through the medullar channel we convert ourselves into angels and if the serpent descends we convert ourselves into demons. now you can comprehend why there are always two serpents around the caduceus of mercury. the sexual force is the hilum of the gnostics. los tres traidores constituyen el ego reencarnante. el yo psicol gico. el sat n que debe ser disuelto para encarnar al cristo interno constituido por kether, chokmah, binah. el tri ngulo superior es el resplandeciente drag n de la sabidur a. el tri ngulo inferior es el drag n negro. en el centro de los dos tri ngulos se halla el signo del infinito o la cruz tau. ambos signos son f li

de oro de brahma sale el universo; as tambi n del huevo filosofal, sale el maestro. en la ilustraci n del viridarium chymicum, la muerte est representada por un cad ver, la putrefacci n por unos cuervos, la siembra por un humilde agricultor, el crecimiento por una espiga de trigo, la resurrecci n por un muerto que se levanta del sepulcro y por un ngel que toca la trompeta del juicio final. 55 we, the gnostics know that the corpse, the death in the 8th key of basil valentine represents the two witnesses of the apocalypse [revelations, 11:3-6] that are now dead. by means of alchemical putrefaction represented by the crows, by means of alchemy, the two witnesses resurrect. our motto is thelema. the entire power is found enveloped within the seed that is symbolized in the wheat stalk. the sacr

re lunar forces. these solar and lunar energies rise through the pair of sympathetic cords that are known as the two witnesses- id and pingal. the medullar channel has an internal orifice that normally is found closed in common people. however the seminal vapors open up this orifice so that the sacred serpent [of brass nachash] can enter there within that medullar channel. it is necessary to warn the gnostic-rosicrucian brethren that they must learn how to polarize the sacred fire of the kundalini. some devotees eat meat everyday and drink alcohol; with the pretext of working in the great work they pleasurably enjoy lust, they bestially enjoy carnal passion even when they do not waste their ens seminis. therefore, the outcome of this is that these devotees totally polarize the fire within

ng themselves into violence. gentlemen (that in their sane judgment) are not capable of uttering a bad word, in these cases, have insulted and thrown stones, co-mingled with the multitude. behold here the power of fascination. one forgets oneself, then one dreams and while dreaming one does many completely absurd things. after the dream is gone, come shame and problems arise. it is necessary that the gnostic student not become fascinated with anything. gnostic students must remember themselves while in the presence of any kind of interesting representation, one must remember oneself and ask oneself the following questions: where am i? what am i doing here? could i be out of my physical body? then, carefully observe everything surrounding you; observe well the sky with inquisitive eyes; any

eric content of this arcanum, we will discover the perfect alchemy. we need to work with the gold and with the silver, with the sun and with the moon in order to incarnate the star, this star has eight points. indeed, the star of eight points is venus. whosoever attains the venusian initiation has the bliss of incarnating the dragon of wisdom (the inner christ, the arcanum 17 represents the hope. the gnostic student should be very careful with the work in the laboratorium oratorium. since the betrayal of the sanctuary of vulcan, the doctrine of ahriman was spread everywhere; this is the doctrine of the nicholaitans that transforms human beings into disgusting sub-lunar demons. the adepts of the left hand color their doctrine a very beautiful hue filled with ineffable and sublime mysticism

el cristo. 116 arcanum 18 now, let us study the eighteenth arcanum of kabbalah. this is the arcanum of the crepuscule [twilight. it becomes necessary for our gnostic disciples to profoundly reflect on the esoteric content of this arcanum. we have been strongly criticized for not continuing with the already known hebraic monotony. certainly, we do not want to follow the same hebraic monotony. we, the gnostics, are only interested in that which is called comprehension. we want our students to comprehend each arcanum and thereafter develop it within themselves. first, we want our disciples to discover each arcanum firstly within themselves, then within all of nature. the arcanum xviii is light and darkness, white magic and black magic. on the eighteenth card appears a dog and a wolf barking/

dos los filtros y toda la brujer a de tesalia. aqu est la cocina de canidia. puede leerse en las pocas de horacio, como esa horrible bruja de roma, compon a todos sus venenos. los libros de los grimorios est n llenos de recetas tenebrosas muy propias del arcano xviii. ceremonias m gicas er ticas, ritos para hacerse amar, peligrosos filtros, etc, etc, todo eso es del arcano xviii. 119 we must warn the gnostic students that the most dangerous potion that the tenebrous use in order to take the student off of the path of the razor's edge is the intellect. bluntly we warn our disciples that out of two million people living in this world, only a small handful of souls (which we could count on our fingers) will be worthy of the angelic state! the rest, the great majority, is a lost harvest who wi

WESTERN MANDALAS OF TRANSFORMATION SR AL

ness in the future. it is represented by pluto because true plutonian energy is transformative beyond the power of the ego to control. it is rather like the chain reaction of a nuclear bomb, which is beyond anyone's control once its effects are underway. its power is released both from breakdowns (fission) and union (fusion. as the eighth planetary chakra it may be likened to the eighth heaven of the gnostics. it is this chakra that forms the gateway to other universes, and in this sense can be compared to the singularity of modern physics, a boundary point beyond which lies a different understanding of reality altogether. the astrological glyph of pluto represents the universalized upreach of soul embracing the circle of spirit while resting on the cross of matter (see figure 12-c. at the

art echoed this thought when he said that "god's nichts fills the entire world; his something though is nowhere" this "nowhere" is often thought of in qabalistic terms as the chaos from which the divine being created the world. god, it is thought, made the universe from nothing. the sepher yetzirah tells us that "he formed something actual out of chaos and made what is not into what is (2: 6. and the gnostic basilides said that the non-existent god made the cosmos out of the non-existent, casting down and planting a single seed containing within itself the whole seed-mass of the cosmos (jonas, 1963. the book of proverbs tells us "with wisdom god established the earth, with understanding he established the heavens, and with his knowledge, the depths (chaos) were broken up (prov 3: 19, 20. i

WICCA WITCHCRAFT TODAY

elevation of the spirits, coca in south america, peyotil in mexico and many other substances. they have a varying effect on the nervous system, bringing about what might be the opening of the inner eye or perhaps hallucinations. alcohol has the effect of increasing precognition, as the society for psychical research records prove. another charge made against witches, the templars, the waldenses, the gnostics and many others was the 'osculum infame. this may have been a stock charge against anyone the clerics disliked, and seems to have been used on the principle that any stick is good enough to beat a dog with. it was first used against all the various sects of heretics, then against the knights templar. witches do not kiss the devil's posterior, first because they never kiss anyone's pos

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

t lore of the lamas and buddhists. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott upon egyptian numbers consult the works of e. a. wallis budge; flinders petrie; sir john gardner wilkinson; life in ancient egypt, by adolf erman; and egyptian belief, by james bonwick. mystics will find much food for thought in the yi-king, a very curious product of ancient chinese lore. the gnostic philosophy has a deep numerical basis, and the works of c. w. king and g. r. s. mead my be suitably studied. 9. many volumes of bijou notes and queries have been published by s. c. gould of manchester, usa, and these are full of numerical ideas. i am prepared to find that critics will declare this volume to be an undigested collection of heterogeneous information, still i prefer to lea

of the seed of abraham. the number of abrm is 1, 2, 200, 40 or 243, the number of the man figure, seir anpin, representing microprosopus. read pistorius, ars cabalistica, for the effect of adding h 5 to men s names, see page 969. also inman, numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott ancient faiths, article abraham. secret doctrine, i. 578, ii. 77. also c. w. king, the gnostics. the name sarah also has a curious set of similars in hebrew- srh, princess; sar, flesh; sor, gate; schr, black; sor, hairy seir; srt, incision; sr and srr, navel; and note the sacti of brahma is sara-swati, watery. sara refers to sri, lakhsmi, aphrodite, and all are related to water and luna, vach, sophia of the gnostics, and the ideal holy ghost, all feminine. 30. the 243 of abram b

a truth; as in genesis xli. judges vi, first book of kings, chapters ix. and xi. the animal kingdom shows all sexual generation to arise from pairs of contrasted beings, the male and female; the microscope now discovers to us the spermatozoon and the ovum, but the truth was known of old to phinumbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott losophers of india, egypt and the gnostics, in whose lore we find human generation to spring from the serpent and the egg# 41. chapter s ix the triad. three, 3. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott hotius observes that the triad is the first odd number in energy, is the first perfect number and is a middle and analogy. the pythagoreans referred it to physiology; it is the cause of all that

f midian compass thee around? if these are not the evil elementals, what are they? francis barrett mentions the 4 consecrated animals, lion, eagle, man and calf, emblems of the kerubim on the terrestrial plane; 4 archangels, michael, gabriel, numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott uriel, raphael; note, all end in the deity name, el, i.e. al, of the hebrews. 54. the gnostics said that all their edifice rested on a 4- pillared basis; truth, intelligence, silence, bathos. note the earth was formed on the 4th day, according to the allegory found in the jewish genesis, and is the 4th world in a chain of spheres, say the hindus. the figure of 4, as ragon remarks, is the upright man, carrying the triangle or divinity, a type of the trinity of godhead. on the he

) and saturn (oo. these symbols were used in mystical knowledge, as an inscription at the temple of apollo at delphi shows, numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott where e i meant the sun and its nearest planet, i.e, sun and mercury; and mercury was often represented as a dog, following a sun man. the oracle of claros (macrobius, saturnalia, i. 18) said that ia (the gnostic deity) was the sun and the first and last of the planetary set, hence the 7 concentric spheres. duncan assigns these minerals and animals to the 7 heavenly bodies known to the ancient world and are as follows: table of planets, aniiimals and metals planet animal metal moon bull silver mercury serpent quicksilver venus dove, copper sun lion gold mars wolf iron jupiter eagle pewter satur

eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott without a consonant. thus iehooua (the h is the greek eta, long e; and the first o is the greek long o, omega. in the zoroastrian theology, we read of the highest beings the 7 amshaspands. ormuzd, source of life; bahman, the king of this world; ardibehest, fire producer; shahrivar, the former of metals; spandarmat, queen of the earth (the gnostic sophia; khordad, the ruler of times and seasons; and amerdad, ruling over the vegetable world. below there are the 27 izeds, ruled over by mithras. in opposition to these were powers of darkness, the 7 arch devs and the 27 devs, or devils as we call them. 84. the historic city of rome, pagan before it was christian, was built upon seven hills. the palatine, coelian, aventine, viminal

d to procure agreement among married people. hebrew ancient lore did not reckon the number 13 as unlucky; this idea arose from the fate of judas after the last supper of jesus, yet not for some centuries, but since the notion was started it has been prevalent among all christians. the 13 cards of each suit of a pack of cards are sometimes applied to the 13 lunar months for purposes of divination. the gnostic gems are often inscribed with a 13-lettered name for god, ablana th analba. rabbi eliezer on account of a serious drought proclaimed 13 fasts, at the end of which rain fell at once. the temple used 13 collecting horns; and in it were 13 tables and 13 devotional reverential bows were used in the full service. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott whe

recited in three series of 14 names, the first under patriarchs and judges, the second under kings, the third under priests and governors. the ancient physicians considered that the 14th day was the crisis of fevers. the moon waxes and wanes, each for 14 days. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott 15 was the number of pairs of the aeons, or holy principles in the gnostic scheme of valentinus. 15 is the number by gematria of the 8th sephirah, hod. there were 15 steps in the temple between the antecourt of israel and the women s court and in these were sung the 15 psalms of degrees. psalms cxx- cxxxiv, 15 is the number of jah, a name of god. so the jews who wrote letters for numbers, never wrote jah, 10, 5, for 15, but tv, 9, 6=15. the great day of joyfu

WILLIAM WESCOTT THE CHALDEAN ORACLES OF ZOROASTER TRANSLATION

s passed during the sojourn of the soul in the tenement of flesh, and frequent are the exhortations to rise to communion with those divine powers, to which nought but the highest theurgy can pretend "let the immortal depth of your soul lead you" says an oracle "but earnestly raise your eyes upwards" taylor comments upon this in the following beautiful passage "by the eyes are to be understood all the gnostic powers of the soul, for when 6 of 13 these are extended the soul becomes replete. with a more excellent life and divine illumination; and is, as it were, raised above itself" of the chald an magi it might be truly said that they "among dreams did first discriminate the truthful vision" for they were certainly endowed with a far reaching perception both mental and spiritual; attentive t

WOLFSON ELLIOT ALEF MEM TAU KABBALISTIC MUSINGS ON TIME TRUTH AND DEATH

the role of history and eschatology in early christian thought is quispel, time and history, pp. 85 107. finally, it is worth recalling here the thesis of peuch, gnosis and time, pp. 38 84, that the mythological orientation of ancient gnosticism rejected the linear temporality of christianity and the cyclical atemporality of hellenism. from another perspective, however, the mythic perspective of the gnostics was a bastard conception, clumsily uniting the two worldviews in a manner that the temporal penetrated the atemporal and the atemporal absorbed the temporal. it strikes me that with regard to this crucial issue medieval kabbalah is to be distinguished from gnosticism, for the kabbalists embrace of rabbinic ritual enabled them to a rm both the teleological indeterminacy of history and

abbinic dicta (see following note) that posit an order of time before the time of creation or a series of alternate worlds that were created and destroyed. see guide, 2.30, pp. 349 350. 111. genesis rabbah, 3:7, p. 23. urbach, the sages, pp. 211 221, suggests that the notions of a sequence of times prior to the world and worlds that preceded our world found in rabbinic literature is a response to the gnostic conception (influenced by platonic philosophy) of a world of eternity set in diametric contrast to the created world of time. 112. cordovero, pardes rimmonim, 6:6, 30b. for analysis of this theme, see ben- shlomo, mystical theology, pp. 246 and 260. 113. cordovero, pardes rimmonim, 3:1, 11b; ben-shlomo, mystical theology, p. 56. 114. maimonides, guide, 1.57, p. 132, and 1.63, pp. 154 1

ian hobson. chicago: university of chicago press, 2003. speech and phenomena and other essays on husserl s theory of signs. translated with bibliography 275 an introduction by david b. allison. preface by newton garver. evanston: northwestern university press, 1973. desmond, william. desire, dialectic, and otherness: an essay on origins. new haven: yale university press, 1987. deutsch, nathaniel. the gnostic imagination: gnosticism, mandaeism, and merkabah mysticism. leiden: e. j. brill, 1995. guardians of the gate: angelic vice regency in late antiquity. leiden: e. j. brill, 1999. de vries, s. j. observations on quantitative and qualitative time in wisdom and apocalyptic. in israelite wisdom: theological and literary essays in honor of samuel terrien, edited by john g. gammie, walter a. b

Return to Occult Library Index



Related Matches
abraxas adam ancient angel angels apocalypse archons baphomet bible birth bishop black catholic celestial chaos child christ christian christians christianity church circle consciousness cosmos creation creator cross crowley darkness death degree deity demiurge demons devil divine divinity doctrine doctrines earth east egypt egyptian elements emanations emblem energy esoteric evil existence father fathers female fire flesh form forms genesis gnostic gnosis gnostics goat god gods goddess golden greek greeks heaven heavenly hebrew hermes hermetic history holy human indian infinite influenced initiates initiation isis jesus jews jewish kabbalah kether key keys king knowledge logos lord lucifer magic magick magical magus male material matter michael mind modern moon mother mysteries mystery mystic mystical mysticism nature occult order osiris pagan pentagram people persian physical planetary plato power powers religion religions religious rites ritual roman rosicrucians sacred satan schools secret sects serpent set seth seven sophia soul souls spheres spirit spirits spiritual star state stones sun supreme symbol symbols symbolism tarot teachings templars temple theology three tradition traditions triangle truth typhon universal universe virgin wisdom witches women world worlds worship


http://www.hollywoodinsiders.net
MWLibCreator Ver.2 By:Michael Wynn