• Hi guest! As you can see, the new Wizard Forums has been revived, and we are glad to have you visiting our site! However, it would be really helpful, both to you and us, if you registered on our website! Registering allows you to see all posts, and make posts yourself, which would be great if you could share your knowledge and opinions with us! You could also make posts to ask questions!

Most "Important" Gnostic Texts?

The God-King

The Mystical Rebel
Vendor
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
351
Reaction score
714
Awards
13
I'm wondering for those who read the Nag Hammadi Scriptures and/or the Forbidden Gospels & Epistles, what would you say are the most important or influential books within them for you? For the most part this might only apply to those of Gnostic, Hermetic or Christian (Esoteric/Mystic) leanings but I'd love to hear from all of you.

For me it's probably the Prayer of Thanksgiving, Excerpt from the Perfect Discourse and The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth
 

stalkinghyena

Labore et Constantia
Benefactor
Vendor
Joined
Jul 10, 2022
Messages
643
Reaction score
1,235
Awards
11
Man, that's hard to say. I have a general sense of Gnosticism as a loose grouping of diverse historical movements within early Christianity and late Paganism, but its such a vast ground to cover that I can't say what I think is most important. If I take "gnostic" as more of an attitude of approach, then I find I can relate it to Hermetic and Chaldean philosophies, which forms a useful mix.

The Hypostasis of the Archons is kind of important to me, particularly cause I can connect it to the Corpus Hermeticum's creation myth via:

“ A veil exists between the world above and the realms that are below; and shadow came into being beneath the veil; and that shadow became matter; and that shadow was projected apart. And what she (Sophia) had created became a product in the matter, like an aborted fetus. And it assumed a plastic form molded out of shadow, and became an arrogant beast resembling a lion.” It was androgynous, as I have already said, because it was from matter that it derived.
“ Opening his eyes he saw a vast quantity of matter without limit; and he became arrogant, saying, ‘It is I who am God, and there is none other apart from me.’ “ When he said this, he sinned against the entirety.
"And a voice came forth from above the realm of absolute power, saying, ‘You are mistaken, Samael, which is, ‘god of the blind.* “ And he said, ‘If any other thing exists before me, let it become visible to me!’ And immediately Sophia stretched forth her finger and introduced light into matter; and she pursued it down to the region of chaos. And she returned up [to] her light; once again darkness [...] matter."


I don't look at the Demiurge as evil or matter as error, though. I like the drama and the soteriology of the Divine Feminine. I prefer the Hermetic viewpoint that the original androgynous human spirit saw the work of the "craftsman" and wanted to emulate it. I can't draw conclusions to these mysteries, but they do inform me in deep ways,

I also like Thunder, Perfect Mind. It's heavy.

One of my projects is trying to compile a system linking the Valentinian Aeons with the Enochian Aethyrs, which I am sure has been done before. The two systems keep magnetizing themselves towards each other in my awareness.
 

The God-King

The Mystical Rebel
Vendor
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
351
Reaction score
714
Awards
13
Man, that's hard to say. I have a general sense of Gnosticism as a loose grouping of diverse historical movements within early Christianity and late Paganism, but its such a vast ground to cover that I can't say what I think is most important. If I take "gnostic" as more of an attitude of approach, then I find I can relate it to Hermetic and Chaldean philosophies, which forms a useful mix.

The Hypostasis of the Archons is kind of important to me, particularly cause I can connect it to the Corpus Hermeticum's creation myth via:

“ A veil exists between the world above and the realms that are below; and shadow came into being beneath the veil; and that shadow became matter; and that shadow was projected apart. And what she (Sophia) had created became a product in the matter, like an aborted fetus. And it assumed a plastic form molded out of shadow, and became an arrogant beast resembling a lion.” It was androgynous, as I have already said, because it was from matter that it derived.
“ Opening his eyes he saw a vast quantity of matter without limit; and he became arrogant, saying, ‘It is I who am God, and there is none other apart from me.’ “ When he said this, he sinned against the entirety.
"And a voice came forth from above the realm of absolute power, saying, ‘You are mistaken, Samael, which is, ‘god of the blind.* “ And he said, ‘If any other thing exists before me, let it become visible to me!’ And immediately Sophia stretched forth her finger and introduced light into matter; and she pursued it down to the region of chaos. And she returned up [to] her light; once again darkness [...] matter."


I don't look at the Demiurge as evil or matter as error, though. I like the drama and the soteriology of the Divine Feminine. I prefer the Hermetic viewpoint that the original androgynous human spirit saw the work of the "craftsman" and wanted to emulate it. I can't draw conclusions to these mysteries, but they do inform me in deep ways,

I also like Thunder, Perfect Mind. It's heavy.

One of my projects is trying to compile a system linking the Valentinian Aeons with the Enochian Aethyrs, which I am sure has been done before. The two systems keep magnetizing themselves towards each other in my awareness.

I agree with the Hermetic viewpoint as well. Though for me I'd consider it "Christian Hermetics". I don't look at the Demiurge as evil either, though I term him The Workman or The Craftsman. In my worldview, he isn't active in the world at all. He performed the job of creation and now he's done. I resonate (as much as I hate that word) with the Hermetic view that we should master the material world before attempting to master the spiritual, rather than the Gnostic view of denying the material to attain mastery of the spiritual.
 

stalkinghyena

Labore et Constantia
Benefactor
Vendor
Joined
Jul 10, 2022
Messages
643
Reaction score
1,235
Awards
11
I'd like to think we master the world through our creativity, however that manifests, and this is an expression of the divine, through us. Bringing down divine influences into at least our perception of the world shapes it in a special way. One one end, the activity is magical in the spirit of the Emerald Tablet, I suppose, our work receiving the "powers of the superiors and inferiors". On the other end the experience on a deep level of those influences I like to think of as "gnosis". I feel the spiral of our activity, when grasped with intention, can ultimately complete a cycle of our monadic existence and unite us with the highest, however we define that, or, I should say, discover it.
 

Yazata

Site Staff
Staff member
Jr. Staff Member
Archivist
Benefactor
Vendor
Joined
Sep 27, 2021
Messages
1,242
Reaction score
2,919
Awards
28
Only started reading Nag Hammadi a couple of days ago. I remember from long ago the site gnosis.org which I'd regularly browse during work at the office.
 

The God-King

The Mystical Rebel
Vendor
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
351
Reaction score
714
Awards
13
Only started reading Nag Hammadi a couple of days ago. I remember from long ago the site gnosis.org which I'd regularly browse during work at the office.

Also check out Archbishop Wake's Forbidden Gospels & Epistles. I'm not sure if it's on Gnosis.org though. I'll post a copy of mine in the Library in the "Shares" section here on WF.
 

The God-King

The Mystical Rebel
Vendor
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
351
Reaction score
714
Awards
13
I'd like to think we master the world through our creativity, however that manifests, and this is an expression of the divine, through us. Bringing down divine influences into at least our perception of the world shapes it in a special way. One one end, the activity is magical in the spirit of the Emerald Tablet, I suppose, our work receiving the "powers of the superiors and inferiors". On the other end the experience on a deep level of those influences I like to think of as "gnosis". I feel the spiral of our activity, when grasped with intention, can ultimately complete a cycle of our monadic existence and unite us with the highest, however we define that, or, I should say, discover it.

Indeed! I would also say this can be seen as an expression of Beauty which in Hermetics is good. The act of creating is good, and it's beautiful. One of the highest forms of "worship" (I use that term loosely) in Hermetics is giving thanks for that which is good. God is good. His expressions (beauty, creativity, among others) is good. Giving thanks for the creation and the act of creating is beautiful and therefore honors God. And is good.
 
Top