The research and wisdom of french orientalist Henry Corbin (1903-1978) have influenced me greatly the last four years.

A particularly Gnosis-oriented book of his I have been reading on and off since 1996 when I rediscovered it (began reading it in 1991, but it was too “unhermetic” for my tastes, a very poor judgement) and saw a new relevance for it in my own studies…

The book in question is Henry Corbin`s The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism,
it is wonderfully relevant to the Gnostic path since it is all about
the acquiring of the Vision, of communication with and union with
the Angel, the divine celestial twin – as well as listening to the interior
witness…especially interesting is the red thread of excerpts from
Persian Ishraqist Najmoddin Kobra`s journal on the Visio Smaragdina
; one favourite Gnostic theme is:

“Natural existence is made up of four elements superimposed on one another, all of which comes to constitute a darkness: Earth, Water, Fire, Air;
and you yourself are buried beneath them all. The only way to separate yourself from them is to act in such a way that every rightful part in you comes together with that to which it rightfully belongs, that is, by acting in such a way that each part comes together with its counter-part: Earth receives the earthly part, Water the watery part, Air the etheric part, Fire the fiery part. When each has received its share, you will finally be delivered of these burdens.”

It has an Alchemical, a Reintegrationalist (cf. the teachings of Martinist “founder Louis Claude de Saint Martin and his first initiator, Martinez de Pasqually) , a Manichaean, a Valentinian and a Hermetic practical address, in my view.

Another book of great interest to me, is the collection of his later papers:
Temple and Contemplation. The chief portion of the book , ‘The Imago Templi in Confrontation with Secular Norms,’ one of Corbin’s last Eranos lectures (1974), pursues the motif of the Temple from its introduction into the Abrahamic faiths (Judaism-Islam and Christianity) to the great masonic romances of the 17th century, such as Wolfgang von Eschenbach`s Parzival.
In the paper to the Eranos conference of 1950, “Sabian Temple and Ismailism” we find Corbin investigating a dense and obscured landscape of dialogue between astral religion (such as found in Babylon) and a
beginning of interior-oriented mysticism à la Sufism; the result could be read as a Gnostic criticism of different kinds of ceremonial magic ..
The theme of the Holy Guardian Angel is also central to the study, and shows how he is transformed from an exterior “single star” visualized as a direct corollary in the stellar firmament into the Interior _shahid_ or Witness, this is important for any deeper acquiantance with the texts of the chief Sufi teachers, among whom we find the unimitable Suhrawardi and Ibn al-Arabi, but also Mansur al-Hallaj.

His Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth is an anthology of ancient Iranian; Mazdean through Sufi – texts written by the greatest teachers of the traditions, I were especially captivated by the theme of the Fravartis and the Daena and wrote a series of meditations on the text, which I shared with the Philosophia forum at Yahoo among other places. In time I might edit and publish it on my website or some such…

Further Resources
A Henry Corbin forum at MSN.com Henry Corbin World of the Imaginal

I´d appreciate it very much if those Gnostics out there who have a blog of their own, would share the address with me..

I found Thomas Leavitt, with whom I have had contact through the net, on and off for almost 8 years now, have a relatively recent blog. Thomas Leavitt founded and donated space for the Gnosis Archive and have participated in a heap of the same discussion lists I have. He and his father, Michael Leavitt, participate in the same Church as I do, Ecclesia Gnostica, which is a continuation of an English revival of the Ancient Christian Gnoses.

The Gnostics did not honour customs in the intended way, they interpreted events marking festivals,ceremonies and public mysteries in terms of an archaic historia; the notion of Emanation as not only the manner in which the universe came into being, but as the nature of all relationships and processes found within it. The Chief mystery of Gnosticism revolves around The Man, the arche-anthropos, it is the model upon which the Image is based, thus Man goes through three refractions, or conceptions, before he actually becomes what we with our category mean in modern time – an example of this can be found in

The Apocryphon of John:

“And he (The Chief Archon) said to the authorities which attend him, ‘Come, let us create a man according to the image of God and according to our likeness, that his image may become a light for us.’ And they created by means of their respective powers in correspondence with the characteristics which were given. And each authority supplied a characteristic in the form of the image which he had seen in its natural (form). He created a being according to the likeness of the first, perfect Man. And they said, ‘Let us call him Adam, that his name may become a power of light for us.’

“And the powers began: the first one, goodness, created a bone-soul; and the second, foreknowledge, created a sinew-soul; the third, divinity, created a flesh-soul; and the fourth, the lordship, created a marrow-soul; the fifth, kingdom created a blood-soul; the sixth, envy, created a skin-soul; the seventh, understanding, created a hair-soul. And the multitude of the angels attended him and they received from the powers the seven substances of the natural (form) in order to create the proportions of the limbs and the proportion of the rump and the proper working together of each of the parts.”

Thus the second image were generated by the collective of archons, the Creative angels to which the early gnostics Satornil and Menander refered, The first being the inspiration from which the negation of Yaltabaoth`s boast “I am God and There is No One beside me”, came,

“You are in error, Saklas for ‘The Man exists and the son of Man.'”.

Portraying the son of Man, the archons were exhausted, more ire they begot in themselves when Sophia had let a light of intelligence incarnate into the astral/subtle anatomy they had created.

Further in the Apocryphon of John:

“And when the mother wanted to retrieve the power which she had given to the chief archon, she petitioned the Mother-Father of the All, who is most merciful. He sent, by means of the holy decree, the five lights down upon the place of the angels of the chief archon. They advised him that they should bring forth the power of the mother. And they said to Yaltabaoth, ‘Blow into his face something of your spirit and his body will arise.’ And he blew into his face the spirit which is the power of his mother; he did not know (this), for he exists in ignorance. And the power of the mother went out of Yaltabaoth into the natural body, which they had fashioned after the image of the one who exists from the beginning. The body moved and gained strength, and it was luminous.”

Not only were the anatomy informed by the power which had dislodged in the Chief Archon when he thus blew into Adam`s face , but we find

“And the man came forth because of the shadow of the light which is in him. And his thinking was superior to all those who had made him. When they looked up, they saw that his thinking was superior. And they took counsel with the whole array of archons and angels. They took fire and earth and water and mixed them together with the four fiery winds. And they wrought them together and caused a great disturbance. And they brought him (Adam) into the shadow of death, in order that they might form (him) again from earth and water and fire and the spirit which originates in matter, which is the ignorance of darkness and desire, and their counterfeit spirit. This is the tomb of the newly-formed body with which the robbers had clothed the man, the bond of forgetfulness; and he became a mortal man. This is the first one who came down, and the first separation. But the Epinoia of the light which was in him, she is the one who was to awaken his thinking. ”

The newly-fashioned mold of the already created man – becomes the third form, which would be father and mother of the generations.

Why bring this up?

This season, according to mainstream, so-called Historic Christianity, is the advent of the light into the world, the birth of the god-man – the most important event, overshaddowing with great passion the great event of Easter which has become a stumblingblock to a Christian culture informed and twisted out of true by the reformation and renaissance humanism, augustinian utilitarianism and similar diseases.

The Gospel of John tells an alternative “conception of the Logos” which informs us that each human being is the place wherein such birth takes place.

The Gospel of Phillip says of the event:

“Indeed, one must utter a mystery. The Father of everything united with the virgin who came down, and a fire shone for him on that day. He appeared in the great bridal chamber. Therefore his body came into being on that very day. It left the bridal chamber as one who came into being from the bridegroom and the bride. So Jesus established everything in it through these. It is fitting for each of the disciples to enter into his rest.

Adam came into being from two virgins, from the Spirit and from the virgin earth. Christ therefore, was born from a virgin to rectify the Fall which occurred in the beginning.”

Although the traditions we see today of Christmas is entirely secular, even those which displays the mannerisms of religiousity – we might with good conscience participate at a watchful distance to the interpretations, perhaps grasping the meaning which inspired them.

Gnostics readily recognize the existence of evil (1), which is ultimately separate (2) from God and the Pleroma – moreover it is recognized by that tradition that within any man born into the world is a dichotomy consisting of an authentic life-spark, a spiritual being which is part of divinity – and a counterfeit _spirit_. This duality, exemplified by St.Paul´s admission that “what good I wish to do, I do not” and “what ill I do not wish to do, I do” – is a condition of unredeemed identity.
In the Gospel of Thomas a saying is directed towards this problem:
Jesus says, in Logion 24, “There is a light existing within a person of light. And it enlightens the whole world: If it does not enlighten (shine), that person is darkness.”
We, as human beings, partake of the role of _mirrors_ unto our fellows; and when those mirrors – our perception of things as well as the bias through which everything is filtered – are clouded over and blackened, we broadcast a particular darkness; we hand back a distortion of our fellows. And likewise, we more than often _receive_ the same kind of distortion, and this goes on into perpetuity and oblivion.
Therefore the Blade of Discernment, the Sword – and the other symbol associated with St.Michael _and_ the exorcist archetype- the Scales represent quite powerful evocations of what needs to be done.

I meant to just post this little link for the Catholic Encyclopedia´s historical entry on Exorcists,
but I also thought it pertinent to make a distinction between the Catholic use of the concept, and the Gnostic Christian adaptation of the role. Above all concerns; discernment and a swift dispatch of errenous associations/identifications which emanate/originate from the presence of the Counterfeit, interior as well as exterior – is the most important to us Gnostics.It is this activity I have now endeavoured to study and participate in.
So, whereas the title I received, the “office”, is Exorcist, I am not authorized, neither by my Church, nor in any other capacity – to cast out spirits in the dramatic way which the Catholic office of Exorcist (which were almost extinct, but come the Third Millenium it became quite increased)…I would never presume such authority, nor advocate it.

I have neglected this blog for quite a while. It would be an absolute understatement to say that I had nothing to report. It just didn`t seem to be a moments quiet for me to jot anything down.

Yesterday, 29th September, The Festival of the Archangel Michael,

at Capella Santa Sophia, Oslo – I were raised as Exorcist in the Minor Orders

of Ecclesia Gnostica Norvegia, by the parish priest, my long time friend Jan Valentin Saether.

For me it was a very powerful event and an inspiration to press onwards towards differentiating between myself and whatever exterior influences which threaten the integrity of my identity,my decisions and my emotions.

That the ceremony fell on the feast day of St.Michael the Archangel assisted in making it an memorable experience which will inspire me in the years to come.

Philosophical Action movies appears to be a sign of the times..

In 1999 (I know it is three years ago) The Matrix were released

upon the world, and currently there are plans for a 2nd Matrix..sequels

being instrumental in disseminating all the potentional nonsense which

somehow didn`t make it into the movies…

The linked article : Wake Up! Gnosticism and Buddhism in the Matrix, by Frances Flannery-Daily and Rachel Wagner

is featured in the Journal of Religion&Film and were brought to my attention at

Tinka`s Sixth.Edition weblog as a fun and interesting link.. Im trailing through

the weave of weblogs now to find kindred as well as new inspiration, and this article

were indeed interesting.

The abstract/blurb (which I hope the authors of the article will forgive me for citing)

says :

[1] The Wachowski

view of reality.

—

This is precisely the reason why movies like The Truman Show and The Matrix

deserves note as having some relevance in terms of the discussion concerning

the re-emergance of Gnosticism or The Gnostic Revival in Modernity, which

is how I personally would term it. A boy of Six might indeed be capable of asking

questions of an Ontological complexity which stifles contemporary Philosophers.

What is real? is ancient and perhaps instinctual to all growing children,

especially in context of being indoctrinated into a mode, not only of “understanding”

reality, but also of accepting context.

The response of prince Siddharta`s parents, to the prophecy that their son would

renounce his birthright and become a great “seer” – were to build a new “world”

wherein all subjects,animals and servants alike, would not _apparently_ be subject

to old age,poverty,sickness and all other ailments which would provoke a questioning

attitude towards the _nature_ of the World, in its nakedness. Parents don`t want their

children to experience anguish or pain, and would dearly like to shelter them from the

sight of evil (as we can see in the endless Censorship campaigns, while children are

being protected from products which “corrupt” them morally, the product of such

_apparent_ safety is precisely that, and what is more treacherous and fragile than

an outright lie, may I ask?)- as such, the response to the unease in themselves

about the _nature of the world_ and the fact that there are things which do not

explain or even lend support to _things as such they are_, since they are not

– sets off the parents in the manner they are conditioned to respond: Shut everything off, close the blinds and hope that it blows over..

However, I have derailed..

A.I. – the intelligent organism of ultimate technology, is the hidden god-mind

in the Matrix “mythos”, and upon discovering that what brings about the doom

of mankind is the autonomy of her creature: Technology, we recognize a theme which isn`t necessarely wrought out of a conscious reading of the Gnostic mythos when it comes to

past cinematic and literary escapades in the same territory… Science Fiction is riddled with Doomsdays brought about by the sudden Autonomy of Technology..

What makes it relevant is the presentation of how _things are only so in appearance_,

that the world we are likely to see, upon leaving the dark of the movie theatre..

possibly could be an artificial one we are conditioned to accept and relate to as

real, and that behind its paper-thin facade the “truth” lays lurking, namely, we

have been had.. Buddhism and Gnosticism shares in common an _attitude_ towards

consensual reality (not reality itself, but a judgment/definition of what reality is)

– namely that the senses and even the analytical mind which processes the signals from

our senses – can only reach as far as the illusion, and therefore they cannot reinforce

anything but the illusion.

More reading on the same

The Matrix: Gnosticism Reborn

My interest in Gnosticism,Manichaeanism,the Mystery religions in antiquity,early Christian heresies,Mysticism etc. has brought me to several forums, most of them have a high noise/signal ratio.

Gnosticism I have subscribed to since late 1999, while I have had to see many forums on the subject die, or had to unsubscibe for various reasons, I have been around there for quite some time.

Eglise Gnostique is an online community for those churches in modern time which belongs, in some way or other, to the current of the Gnostic Revival in France during the late 19th century with figures such as Jules Doinel,Papus,Jean Bricaud,Charles Detre etc. at the head. Quite a lot of my confreres in the Gnose, since I have been active in Ecclesia Gnostica since 1995, subscribe to or participate in that forum.

Martinism is a forum dedicated to the study and research in the Initiatory tradition begun by Louis Claude de Saint-Martin at the end of the 18th century and revived by, among others, Papus (Gerard Encausse) in the late 19th century. I am not a Martinist in the sense of having been initiated or being active in a Martinist order, but I consider myself an Reintegrationist, pointing towards the main objective of the Orders – namely to consciously assist in the Reintegration of all Beings into their Origin, in another word, Greek one at that, the Apokatastasis panthon – of which doctrine Origen, Evagrius of Pontus and Gregory of Nyssa are the chief ancient representatives. This forum, like Eglise Gnostique, hosts quite a few Confreres in the Gnose.

Finally I´d like to mention atroubador´s Philosophia forum which is dedicated to the Courtly Love/Troubador/Fedeli de Amore tradition…it has been quite a place growing on me, but things have changed since last year, and there is little activity there..

the aformentioned Gnostic and Esoteric forums are hosted by Yahoo, although I do not agree with the ways the new management are running things, its nice that a lot of other people than myself have also put up with the changes and inconveniences caused by the takeover..

Apparently I am not alone in the writing of Gnostic themed weblogs,I discovered by chance, on the Gnosticism discussion forum at yahoogroups.com – Enheduanna`s Gnostic Kitten weblog.
It consists mainly of snippets of news,reviews,reports concerning things which
are tangentially related to a Gnostic`s orientation, or reorientation – as I would have put it, with regards to self,universe and divinity. I´ll post further suggestions about other “gnostic” weblogs later.