The Fravartis pt.4

Henri Corbin:speaking of “Geosophy“(he begins by a description of the “transfigured earth

experienced by the `Urafa (Gnostics in terms of devotees of

the Spenta Armaiti/Sophia) as a bounty won by their “choosing” in emulation of the Fravarti (“choosers”))

“The very term geosophy suggested is merely a

translation of the name Spenta Armaiti, the Sophia and the Feminine Angel of the Earth. What this term makes apparent from the start is the striking difference between a

vague feeling (and the commonplace notion) of being a “son of the earth” on the one hand and on the other the feeling and knowledge characteristically expressed in the Mazdean profession of faith, and impressed on the adept in that context, of being a human

individual who is the son of Spenta Armaiti, the feminine Archangel of the Earth.The second term in the filial relationship is now no longer a man imprisoned between the boundaries of terrestrial birth and death, but a human being in his totality, including the past of his pre-existence and the future of his superexistence.”

The Gnostic notion of direct filiation with Sophia and the Pleroma is here expressed in a different context; in the Barbeloite system Spenta Armaiti would correspond to Eleleth, one of the Four Lights/Luminaries..they are also

specified as female – and in conjunction with five “Male offspring” of Monogenes..