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Old Apr 14th, 2006, 02:45 AM       
I believe it was either Hypostasis of the Archons or the unnamed tractate On the Origin of the World, or maybe the Apocalypse of Adam. Maybe more than one of them.
I don't believe it was Eve who ever turned into Sophia, but I believe in one of those texts Pistis (faith) was described as the original female divine entity from whon emanated Sophia, who then became the mother of the demiurge for some reason and so on.

Gnostic creation mythology seems to be a lot more detailed and rich in symbolism than the Christian creation mythology. Although that probably has something to do with the fact that there's like half a dozen related 'gnostic' creation myths, and just one christian one. It's kind of important to remember that gnosticism wasn't actually a specific religion, it's really just a term used to describe a bunch of similar christian heresies, confused neoplatonist movements and other assorted weirdos. I think we use the term 'Gnostic' actually because of the phrase 'against those... who falsely claim to possess 'gnosis'' or something in the title of Iraneus' antiheretical polemic.

The symbolism of it was that Eve's spirit escaped her body (and soul) and became the tree, which was representative of the spiritual knowledge of good and evil. In the gnostic anthropology the spirit represented the divine portion of the human being, while the soul and body were the material parts. The spirit is also of course what allowed humans to become 'gnostic', in that it was the only part of the human being that could be aware of divine 'gnosis'. I think the Mandeans talked about themselves as the 'Tribe of Souls' but they're an exception. And I'm pretty sure what they really meant was 'Tribe of Spirits' anyway.


There's supposed to be a bunch of other gnostic myths about archons raping women and making them give birth to 'giants' or some such, though I haven't read that in any of the few texts I've looked at. I don't think I ever read enough about that to even get an idea of what the meaning of it was, but, hey, more examples of cosmic raping.


Ah, it was from the Hypostasis of the Archons:
Quote:
And when they saw his female counterpart speaking with him, they became agitated with great agitation; and they became enamored of her. They said to one another, "Come, let us sow our seed in her," and they pursued her. And she laughed at them for their witlessness and their blindness; and in their clutches she became a tree, and left before them her shadowy reflection resembling herself; and they defiled it foully
AGITATED WITH GREAT AGITATION

I guess I'm kind of assuming that her spirit escaped to become the tree of knowledge of good and evil, in any case, but the idea of a 'shadowy reflection' is consistent with a body/soul deprived of a spirit in the gnostic symbolism, and the fact that she was able to escape from them because they were blind and unable to take hold of her indicates that by 'her' it is meant her spirit. Earlier in the text it talks about some divine spiritual being that the archons were also 'enamored' with:

Quote:
As incorruptibility looked down into the region of the waters, her image appeared in the waters; and the authorities of the darkness became enamored of her. But they could not lay hold of that image, which had appeared to them in the waters, because of their weakness - since beings that merely possess a soul cannot lay hold of those that possess a spirit
The whole idea that a spirit dispossesed of its body and soul is superior to the gods of creation is to me one of the most important of the gnostic beliefs. It carries the implication of unlimited, but secret and untapped human capacity to escape or alter reality, and is analagous to the whole modern totalitarian project of recreating human beings in order to recreate the world.

anyway, my whole opinion on this stuff is mostly just from the fact that I just took a class on that crazy German, Eric Voegelin, who thought that everything bad that ever happened was because of the gnostics. And I pretty much wear my recent studies on my sleeve all the time :/
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