CREATION in NUMBERS

THE LIGHT THAT WAS CRUCIFIED

"We have often said that the primary purpose of all established religions is to prevent, to remove from the mind, the perception of the immediate all-pervading mystery: the fact that the mere existence of anything at all cannot and never will be explained.

We think that justice has been done to Moses in ignoring his miracles and in stating that his religion was the building of a protective shell for a profound truth: a shell that has no longer any purpose.

Likewise, we must do justice to Jesus in eliminating his miraculous aspects that have nothing to do with the truth which can be discovered in the original Hebraic myth: the game of indetermination played by Aleph and Yod.

When that game is truly perceived by us, YHWH springs alive and the spirit of truth (John XIV, 16-17), foretold by Jesus, dwells within us.

The important point of contact between Hebraism and early Christianity can only be shown in the almost unknown link between the original Qabala and Gnosticism, against which the Church built its defences."

from THE CIPHER OF GENESIS: The original Code of the Qabala as Applied to the Scriptures by Carlo Suarès (p. 209)

SACRED WHORE SERIES: Gnostic & Hindi practices

Responsible sex between two self-aware, individuals can help them separate and differentiate between physical lust and soul love. The experience can create more clarity in the relationship. Even if the relationship isn’t intended to be long term, responsible, consensual sex can be beneficial.


In times past, in some Gnostic and Hindu practices, ‘temple whores’ were incorporated into meditative practice as a way to achieve spiritual union between the male and female. Here, the word whore does not mean a lustful indulgence in eroticism. When honored, the sacred prostitute was ‘virgin’ in the original sense of the word (one-in-herself); a person of integrity whose welcome for the stranger was radiant, self-confident and sensuous. Her purpose was to bring the Love of God into direct contact with mankind. Sexuality and the religious attitude were inseparable.

Jungian psychologist Nancy Qualls-Corbett describes the Holy Whore as "a woman, who, through ritual or psychological development, has come to know the spiritual side of her sexuality; her true Eroticism, and lives this out according to her individual circumstances.” By this definition, a Sacred Prostitute uses sex as a means to enlightenment; a way to experience God.

The Sacred Prostitute is a woman who has reclaimed her Self and reconnected with her own self-will; she has reclaimed the sacredness of her body. When a woman reprograms her thinking from the dogma she has been fed and has come to accept as truth, she frees herself to explore her deeper sacred, sexual feelings; those feeling that are just waiting to be tapped.

If women felt more in control with their sexual selves and how to connect with God through their sexual selves, it is speculated that the divorce rate would decrease because it would force men to see women in a new and different way, making the sexual relationship more sacred.

If we as humans saw each other in this new way, relationships would change dramatically, and change quite possibly for the better. by Rich Ernest


(A rework of an earlier post by Santee Featherarms)

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Gnostic creation myths

photo: actress Gina Torres

Background: Gnosticism was sort of a variant of Christianity that existed until the late fifth century. It was more rooted in Greek philosophical traditions (and in the Syrian version of Zoroastrianism) than in Judaism. There wasn't really one single religion called Gnosticism, but rather a series of movements generally characterized by a belief in a secret knowledge ("Gnosis") imparted by God for the salvation of humanity, and an extreme duality between the material (which is very bad) and the spiritual (which is very good). Some went so far as to say that the Old Testament Creator of the Earth was really Satan, distinct from the divine and heavenly God of the New Testament. Under this circumstance they viewed death by self-inflicted starvation was the only correct answer. The point is that many of these people thought the bodies they lived in were horrible and irredeemable weights on their immortal souls.

Gnostics had a wide array of creation myths. One Gnostic myth says that humans existed in the distant past, but were destroyed by Darkness (or Satan or any of a number of evil Greek gods). Darkness then created Adam and Eve as a corrupted image (i.e. one in which the sinful/materialist acts like sex, eating, and the like are involved) of these ancient humans. Jesus was sent by God with secret gnosis to redeem these creatures from their evil, corporeal selves.

Another is the story of the 2nd century AD Egyptian Greek writer Hermes Trismegistus. He said man was created in the image of God, who is androgynous. God also created the Demiurge, who was the god of the material world. Man fell in love with the reflection of God in the waters of the material world, and went to look at it. This brought man under then control of the Demiurge, who created gender, the need for food, and so forth.

Most other Gnostic creation myths follow the general theme of a good, spiritual Creator God and a material seducer. The most interesting point is that the main creator is almost always the evil counterpart to God. Some scholars claim that the creation story in the Book of John ("In the beginning was the Word") is a variant on the Gnostic creation story, but I have not been convinced of this. "Logos" (Greek for "word") is a Gnostic construct, but using one Gnostic buzzword did not a Gnostic make.

Source: a half dozen religious studies classes and "Encyclopedia of Creation Myths" by David Adams Leeming with Margaret Adams Leeming (Denver: ABC-CLIO, 1994).

QABALISTIC MAGIC LESSON 3: HISTORY AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ORTHODOX HEBREW QABALAH AND WESTERN ESOTERIC QABALAH

Western Esoteric Qabalah is a blend of traditional Qabalistic teachings, Gnosticism, Hermetic Philosophy, Neo-Platonism, Neo-Pythagoreanism, Alchemy, Astrology, and Tarot. All of the Western Wisdom traditions can be understood through the medium of the Qabalistic symbol - the Tree of Life. That being said, we use the name Qabalah which is obviously Hebrew, and a large proportionate amount of what we are dealing with here had its beginnings in the Hebrew Qabalah, the oral tradition of mysticism practiced by the ancient Hebrews. Scholem who is one of the foremost scholars of Jewish Qabalah states that its beginnings were in Jewish Gnosticism and Neo-Platonism a philosophy and theory developed by the Greek Plato. In this theory, Plato espoused that the universe was made up of emanations of energy which hierarchically descend and radiate from the Godhead through intermediate stages finally forming physical matter and the world we live in. This theory of Emanations is where the idea of the Sephirotic spheres was developed.

Traditional Hebrew Qabalah today, on the other hand, functions as a part of the spiritual practices and wisdom of Judaism. In Orthodox Judaism, Qabalah is used only to interpret the workings of God, the Penteteuch (the first 5 books of the Bible) and the Holy texts of Judaism. Qabalah is a part of this tradition and is used in a very specific way. Hebrew Qabalah of today tries not to vary from its beginnings in Judaism's mystical traditions and is still taught orally, although utilizing various texts as well, only to men over 30 years of age. The Sephir Yetzirah-Book of Formation is the first important text, originating from the oral tradition and was written down sometime between the 3rd-6th centuries C.E. It contains six brief chapters and is the first book in which the word Sephiroth appears. This book describes the creation of the Universe in terms of the Hebrew alphabet and symbolic numbers undoubtedly related to Neo-Pythagoreanism.

The Sephir Yetzirah then became the foundation of later texts. The next flurry of writing and work with the Holy Qabalah was in the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance. Other important texts include the Bahir, written around 1200 CE in southern France. Here we have the first references to the Secret Tree (the Tree of Life) and the description of the Sephiroth as vessels of the Divine Light. It is theorized that the Bahir was probably assembled from other texts that were probably of Eastern origin.


Then between 1280-1286 CE, Moses de Leon wrote perhaps the greatest text on QBL, the Zohar, a series of commentaries on the Bible and on mystical cosmology. For generations considered an ancient work written in Ancient Aramaic, a language which is the root of Hebrew and Arabic, Moses de Leon felt that his work would be taken more seriously if rather than naming himself as the author, instead should be attributed to an ancient author, thus 2nd century rabbi Simeon ben Yohai. There exists no complete translation in a European language - Simon and Sperling translated only 35%, while Kabbalah Unveiled contains three more books.


At this time Spain was a hotbed of knowledge under Muslim rule with scholars studying alchemy, astrology and with much tolerant exchange of ideas between Muslims and Jews, even Christians, in Muslim Spain. Another important work, Gates of Light, Sha'are Orah, was also produced at this time which is an excellent text on Hebrew names of God.


In the Renaissance man considered himself the jewel in the crown of the Universe, becoming the measure of all things, rather than the lowly sinner atoning for the fall. Hermetic philosophy came to the fore and another great exchange of ideas with Qabalah being studied by the Christian Scholar magicians. Under this influence Qabalah now was grasped by Christians as a universal system and a great tool. A few Jewish converts to Christianity helped speed this occurrence. This exchange of ideas and interest dovetails with Hermeticism as a major interest of the time. In 1460 CE Cosimo De Medici, realizing the value of the Hermetica, asked his translator to do it first before even a text of Plato's Republic.

GNOSTIC CREATION MYTHS

Background: Gnosticism was sort of a variant of Christianity that existed until the late fifth century. It was more rooted in Greek philosophical traditions (and in the Syrian version of Zoroastrianism) than in Judaism. There wasn't really one single religion called Gnosticism, but rather a series of movements generally characterized by a belief in a secret knowledge ("Gnosis") imparted by God for the salvation of humanity, and an extreme duality between the material (which is very bad) and the spiritual (which is very good). Some went so far as to say that the Old Testament Creator of the Earth was really Satan, distinct from the divine and heavenly God of the New Testament. Under this circumstance they viewed death by self-inflicted starvation was the only correct answer. The point is that many of these people thought the bodies they lived in were horrible and irredeemable weights on their immortal souls.


Gnostics had a wide array of creation myths. One Gnostic myth says that humans existed in the distant past, but were destroyed by Darkness (or Satan or any of a number of evil Greek gods). Darkness then created Adam and Eve as a corrupted image (i.e. one in which the sinful/materialist acts like sex, eating, and the like are involved) of these ancient humans. Jesus was sent by God with secret gnosis to redeem these creatures from their evil, corporeal selves.


Another is the story of the 2nd century AD Egyptian Greek writer Hermes Trismegistus. He said man was created in the image of God, who is androgynous. God also created the Demiurge, who was the god of the material world. Man fell in love with the reflection of God in the waters of the material world, and went to look at it. This brought man under then control of the Demiurge, who created gender, the need for food, and so forth.


Most other Gnostic creation myths follow the general theme of a good, spiritual Creator God and a material seducer. The most interesting point is that the main creator is almost always the evil counterpart to God.


Some scholars claim that the creation story in the Book of John ("In the beginning was the Word") is a variant on the Gnostic creation story, but I have not been convinced of this. "Logos" (Greek for "word") is a Gnostic construct, but using one Gnostic buzzword did not a Gnostic make.


Source: a half dozen religious studies classes and "Encyclopedia of Creation Myths" by David Adams Leeming with Margaret Adams Leeming (Denver: ABC-CLIO, 1994).

photo: Convergence