Podcasts about gnostic christianity

Bishop Nathan Wilson pt.1 Welcome back to Gnostic Insights and to the Gnostic Reformation on Substack. Hey, this week I interviewed Bishop Nathan Wilson of the Gnostic Union, and it was a good long interview, so I’ll be breaking it up probably into three segments for the next three weeks here. Bishop Wilson earned a diploma of ministry from the Gnostic Catholic Union, and then he later went on to create The Gnostic Union, and he’ll tell you about that in this week’s episode. Here I’ll read you the intro from their website. “The Gnostic Union is an independent sacramental assembly of Gnostic Christian communities and individuals. It exists to uphold the Gnostic Christian traditions and to encourage and promote the work of Christ and the Holy Sophia in the world.As an international, independent, autonomous, non-political organization, the Gnostic Union is in no way dependent upon any other authority outside of its own administration. We are neither Roman Catholic, Orthodox, nor Protestant. We are Gnostic Christians that encourage self-development and connecting with the spirit within to build a personal relationship with God, the Monad, the Father. Our bishops, priests, and deacons are merely guides to help you on your spiritual journey. The Gnostic Union aligns itself with the history and teachings of the first Christians of early first century Christianity and the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in the Gospel of Thomas. We encourage new members to read from the Nag Hammadi and to understand how different early Christianity is from modern mainstream Christianity. We welcome all people, regardless of past religious backgrounds or faiths. Gnosis means knowledge, not just simple intellectual knowledge, but deep spiritual knowledge within you. Knowledge from the Spirit, from the Holy Spirit, and from and of God.” You see, I felt that that really went along with what we talk about here at Gnostic Insights, and so when Bishop Wilson reached out to me via our Substack Gnostic Reformation site, I was more than happy to engage in conversation with him, and I thought that having a talk with him along with you and then broadcasting it would be helpful to all of us. Here’s the last little bit that it says on their Gnostic Union homepage, which is only one page long. It’s still in development. It says, “Gnostic Christian theology differs greatly from Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Gnostic Christianity does not depend upon the authority of a Pope or the Church. Instead, it emphasizes being reborn in Spirit, building a personal spiritual relationship with God, and becoming Christ-like by enacting the teachings of Jesus Christ in our lives. Gnostic Christianity began from earlier Gnostic traditions, such as Hermeticism and Mysticism, which arose from Jewish mystics. Gnosticism itself is much older than Judaism, and traces back to the Hermetics of ancient Egypt, the Druids, and the ancient Greeks. Although many Gnostic Christian theologies differed, they shared a common theme of a trapped spiritual essence within the material body, the divine spark, the soul, or the spark of Sophia. The ultimate goal for Gnostic Christians was to become like Jesus, to be reborn in Spirit, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Sophia, and to know thyself, reflecting the divine essence within.” As you know, here at Gnostic Insights and the Gnostic Reformation, I stay away from the histories, because it seems to me that what is important is the here-and-now relationship we have with the Christ and with the Fullness of God. And so, I’m just not all that interested in history, but as you’ll hear from these ongoing interviews with Bishop Wilson, he’s all about history. So, for those of you who have been missing that strain of thought in our Gnostic Insights here, you’ll get an earful for the next three weeks. So without further ado, here's part one of my interview with Bishop Nathan Wilson of The Gnostic Union. Cyd: Well, such a pleasure to see you. You have such a nice smile. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure. It’s always lovely to meet other Gnostics, other spiritual people, all those with open hearts and open minds. It’s always lovely to see. Cyd:Yes. Yes. Yes, it’s true. I wish I had more of these people close around me. Do you have neighbors who are Gnostic? Do you have people you can actually face-to-face with? Bishop Nathan Wilson:I’ve met a priest that I can now speak face-to-face, which was really good. So, it was the first real Gnostic I got to speak to face-to-face. Mostly, I was speaking to many online in other parts of the world, and I kind of felt like I was the only one here in Adelaide, Australia. So, I kind of felt like the one odd villager out. So, it was lovely to meet some other people. I’ve trained people, and other people have done what they wanted. Other people carried on as undercover Gnostics in this world. So, yeah. Cyd:Let me get a formal introduction to you here going. This is Bishop Nathan Wilson of the Gnostic Union, and we have connected through Substack, although you don’t have a Substack presence, do you? You don’t have a site? Bishop Nathan Wilson:No, no. We have got a website in the works, but it’s still in development. I’m not too tech-savvy, but we’ve got other people that are. So, we’re mostly on Facebook and YouTube at the moment. Cyd:Well, wonderful. Now, tell me the difference between the Gnostic Catholic Union and just the Gnostic Union. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Well, we used to be the Gnostic Catholic Union as well until I basically got in charge, and then I removed the Catholic part, which they only had for the Latin reasons, meaning universal, but not everyone knows that Latin subject. They’re just going to see Catholic, and usually today’s world, when you have a Catholic Union, it’s mostly those who have been brought up with a Catholic background that have now found Gnosis, and in turn, carry on those old traditions, which I don’t find anything wrong with. I think there’s many different ways to experience Gnosis. Gnosis doesn’t belong to any religion. It’s something you find within. It’s what you experience, spiritual knowledge gifted to you by what’s divine, by God, by the Father, by the Mother-Father, whichever term you like. The Source. It could even be referenced to, given you to by divine beings, by angels, angelic forces. So, Gnosis is something that you experience. So, it’s yours. It’s personal. It’s intimate. So, it’s a beautiful thing. So, with the Gnostic Union, we are more open to different Gnostic schools of thoughts. So, you could be a Sethian, a Valentinian. You could be a Carpucratian Gnostic, whichever. It doesn’t matter. You could be a Jewish Christian. Whichever the path is—we’re not really dogmatic. So, we appreciate all those who come into this spiritual life, seeking answers, and respecting each other’s beliefs, which is also rare. We have to remember, when we looked at the ancient schools of thought regarding Gnosticism, the ancient Gnostics got along. They didn’t kill each other. They didn’t fight. They had some disagreements, but they shared each other’s writings, which is fantastic. So, that’s very rare when you see that in a religious or even a spiritual school of thought. Many people can be my way only. So, that’s where Gnosis comes in, that inner spiritual experience. So, one’s own personal relationship with what’s divine. The Gnostic Union wants to encourage that, not to be bound by traditions. That’s mostly the difference between the Gnostic Union and the Gnostic Catholics, where they will be more bound by tradition, more bound by a dogmatic experience. We’re not really about that, not dissing any of that. We don’t mind, but we’re more open. Cyd:So, the Gnostic Catholics are still going on? That church is still active, but you have stepped away from them then, in that sense? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Yes, pretty much. So, we’ve done our own independent thing. So, that way we can have more schools of thought. I prefer it like that, so we can all grow from each other, which is something that I’m more about. So, that’s why I went into more of the Gnostic Union sense of things and removing the Catholic part. Some people didn’t like Catholic. Some people liked it and others were stoked that I removed that term from the group. I much prefer it. It’s less of a mouthful as well. I like things nice and simple as well. Cyd:Yes. So, it’s union—it's unity. That’s what the union means in the name, not like a labor union, but the union of Gnostics. That’s lovely. That’s very lovely. So, how many people are associating with the Gnostic Union at this point? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Well, we have a couple of other different groups from different parts of the world. We have a Gnostic Catholic group. I think they’re Gnostic Catholic Unitarians located in the Philippines. Then, we have other groups as well that associate with us. Within the Union itself, we have a couple of different ones. We have also side branches as well that used to be a part of the Gnostic Catholic Union, but there was some theological difference. So, some splitting went on. So, there’s other groups. We still recognize each other. Within the Gnostic Union at the moment. There is Bishop Jason, me, Bishop Nathan Wilson, Bishop Lorenzo, David and Michael, Randall over in South Africa. There’s also Priest Jeremy and Edgar and Rus. So, there’s quite a few. At the moment, it’s mostly men. We’re hoping to have some females join as well. We did have a couple of female members back in the Gnostic Catholic Union, but they ultimately retired. So, we’re hoping to expand. So, the Gnostic Union is kind of fresh on the scene. So, everything’s still building. Cyd:How fresh is it? How long have you been in existence here? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Well, in the Union itself, probably about almost two years now. It’s still maybe a year, year and a half, something like that there. So, it’s still growing in a sense. So, we’re doing okay, which is not too bad. We’re mostly on Facebook and YouTube. So, we do our online masses and group gatherings and stuff like that online as well. And mostly, just support each other’s individual works as well as promote each other’s work. And sometimes, I might edit a couple of videos of all of us together, give it to other people with their own channels, their own independent use, and then I’ll put it onto, say, the Union sites. Other people can go check it out as well. Cyd:I’ll be putting this up on my site. I’m going to post this to YouTube and make it for my audio podcast. But I’ll also give you the recording so that you can use it at your site if you’d like. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Oh, lovely. Lovely. I’d enjoy that as well. And again, thanks for reaching out to me. I very much enjoy speaking to like-minded individuals as well. And regarding even my translations that you brought me on to discuss as well, that’s relatively new as well. It took me about two years to fully actually translate. So, to get it all together, I use encyclopedias, I used Greek, Koine Greek dictionaries, as well as I used Bill Mounce, which is one of the top Koine Greek-speaking people in the world. I have a few friends that can speak Koine Greek as well as modern Greek as well. So, that also came in handy. So, it took me a while. I started doing that while I was still with the Gnostic Catholic Union and I didn’t finish it until the Gnostic Union. Cyd:So, tell us about, you’re speaking of your translation, tell us about that. It’s your New Testament, is it? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Yeah, I did the New Testament Gospels. I used Codex Sinaiticus because that was the oldest complete text, but then I wanted to do non-canonical. I didn’t know any Coptic at all, so I didn’t want to use any other people’s work. I just went to the Koine Greek, used what knowledge I did know, and I also used experts as well. So, I was able to look at every definition of the word and term and use. I did the Gospel of Thomas, which I actually first messed up on because I found out that the version I was looking at first was actually inspired by the Coptic version put into Koine Greek, and I realized it’s not the text. So, I went to the actual fragments themselves, and so I translated from there. It’s not very long. I didn’t use any AI recovery, so anything that wasn’t visible to our naked eye, I did not touch. So, I didn’t want to have any guessing involved. So, I just put what it was, and I did the Greek Gospel of Mary, as well as the Gospel of James, the Gospel of Peter, and I did three unknown Gospels, and they are little fragments, and they are Papyrus Oxyrhynchus. I have the names here. Actually, I better put that in—5072, and the other one was Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840 and the other one is Egerton Gospel. So, they’re little fragments. The titles are missing. We don’t know who wrote them, so they’re unknown, but they could and likely do predate the Gospels that we do have. So, they predate the fragments we have. So, that’s interesting. So, all the fragments we have are second century. It’s likely they predate the fragments that we have. So, I chose to do them, but the interesting side was the Egerton gospel, which was actually a two-sided text, and Bart D. Ehrman actually did side two, and I did side one. So, he didn’t realize that there was a side on one. So, that means he was only looking at digital copy only, just like me. So, he didn’t actually look at the actual Papyrus itself, and so when I did one-sided, I didn’t realize there was a double side to that text, and so otherwise I wouldn’t have done it. So, the interesting thing is side one has not been publicly released for public domain, where side two has been released, which is very suspect, if you ask me, and I didn’t like that. So, I thought I’d introduce some texts that are very little looked at that were very Gnostic, such as Jesus insulting the Pharisees for dipping in waters that pigs jumped into and making themselves look like prostitutes to attract men. Cyd:They’re highly offensive, yes. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Yes, and that’s why they really want to release that publicly. So, you have to pay a scholar for their works, and that’s not really fair. All this knowledge should be for free, especially when you’re looking at our own religious or spirituality or the text involved in that. Otherwise, we’re limiting ourselves, and that’s definitely not fair. So, I think we should be more open, and the text should be up for public display, public domain for everyone to have access to. So, that’s what I ultimately believe in. It’s one reason I chose to share my translations and make accessible for free digital copies. I didn’t want people to just buy my work rather than download the digital text and just read it for themselves. Go to the library, print it out. It might be cheaper. So, when I do sell my texts, I donate it, like some of it’s a charity anyway, to Make-A-Wish Foundation. So, that’s something I do on my end. So, everything I do, I try not to make money just for myself. I try to do other things with it because I’m not really materialistic. I live very much a monk lifestyle, so I read a lot. Cyd:Yeah. Yeah, I do too. I live like a nun, I say. I’ve got a little cloister where I sleep. I live in a one-room place, so it’s very interesting. Would you explain to us the difference between the Koine Greek and the Coptic Greek and which was written and why are there two different versions? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Okay, well the Coptic, when you see Coptic Greek, that’s devolving into Coptic. So, very early proto-Coptic is what scholars term, is the developing into it. You see it with Greeks in the very language. Otherwise, Coptic language very much is a mixture of Greek and Egyptian. So, Egyptian hieroglyph turned into writing basically, but mixed in with Greek. So, Greek was like the English of the past back then. Hebrew also borrowed from the Greek during the second temple period of Jesus’ time. So, the word Judaism and synagogue are Greek words, for instance. So, a lot of borrowing, but the Greeks also borrowed from the Canaanites, such as the Phoenician language or the alphabet. So, that’s also fascinating. So, the ancient past, it was all about borrowing and making it your own, you know. But yeah, with Greek as well, that would be also evolving as well. So, you have, within the gospel itself, you might have one word being spelt slightly different, but ultimately meaning the same thing. And all that is, is one dialect from another speaking from one coastal region to a different coastal region. Obviously, saying the same thing, it just might be the accent. So, that’s played different in the language. So, it’s like we see hilios or hilion, but it’s the same root message. It’s just one person’s pronouncing it in the market different from this region, because he’s closer to the shore and other ones closer to the inner cities. And that’s basically all. So, Greek’s very advanced. You can have one word that can mean ultimately different meanings. And some words you come across can have hundreds of meanings, and that can make things difficult when translating. So, with the Koine Greek, we only know 70% to 90% of the language. We know the 100% of the alphabetical, but we don’t know every context of use. So, because of that difficulty, I had to add alternative English translations. So, I realized then that every translation we’re reading is just based on someone else’s interpretation of that translation. And it’s like, oh, that kind of sucks, so I put them all in there. So, when you come across the word aftos, for he, she, it, they, them, this one, I leave it as all of that, so, you can choose what that means. Because Jesus is speaking to diverse audiences. He’s speaking to males and females, not just men. And that’s what people forget. It’s like the word for spirit is also very feminine in Hebrew. In Greek, it’s masculine and feminine. So, it’s used as both, which is fascinating as well for the spirit within us, you know. So, but again, that’s going back to that root meaning of feminine, because when you add in the word hagion pneuma you now have the Holy Spirit, but that’s a feminine word of it. Otherwise, the root word of masculine is hagios, but the female name or the feminine version of that concept is hagion. Cyd:Ah, that’s fascinating. Yeah. You run into the same problem when translating Chinese, because Chinese pictograms can just mean many, many things. So, I’ve studied the Tao Te Ching quite a bit, and everybody’s book that’s famous of the Tao Te Ching, it’s their translation out of a hundred choices for every word. So, it’s, I understand quite a bit what you’re saying there. Well, tell me this, what makes you a bishop? How is it that you’re calling yourself bishop? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Well, I was ordained by, well, back when it was the Gnostic Catholic Union, I was ordained by Bishop Bill Thomas, and he was the bishop of a church in Florida. He was running a church. He was an older man, so he’s kind of, he retired for a bit, and now he’s more of a wandering bishop, because he had trouble with the funds of running a church. It’d be quite expensive. So, he was part of an organization that was the Gnostic Catholic Union. A lot of members retired as well, then he took over, and then it kind of went on for a few years, and then they started retiring, and then I joined from there, and I was ordained, and I took up a course with them, started off as a deacon, then became a priest, and then as they were retiring, I was made bishop, basically, and so then I was left with a little bit of the reins. So, it was from there, it was a lot more—more churches were involved. So, some of that has also, a lot of them have also retired or ultimately changed theologies. One of the original members of the Gnostic Catholic Union, I believe, is now either an Orthodox priest or joined the Orthodox Church, and he renounces all his old Gnostic past, which is kind of a shame. So, sometimes that does happen. So, people become wanderers because of, people basically rely solely on one priest, oftentimes, which is also sad, and when one priest moves, people lose passion, and sometimes that’s how it is. So, I prefer to have people more independently on their own, not just say rely on me, I make other people bishops so they can carry on with their own, and from there, expand it. So, someone might have, say, the coin enough to start their own church, and from there, maybe, from there, do whatever they need. So, it inspires, and still something to bring a bit of community in, and have a little bit of recognition from other people, basically. So, I kept that term. I was almost considering to remove the title, bishops and priests, but a lot of the old members wanted to keep it as well, and some of the young ones did as well. So, I thought, well, I’ll keep the term for them in their sake. Otherwise, I was going to keep it as teachers, or brothers and sisters, but I still encourage our members to, when dealing with each other, not just sit there and call each other bishops, or bishopettes, or priests, or priestess, whichever term they prefer. I prefer to call us brothers and sisters, which is more stressed. Even with the outfit some people are talking about, I would tell them, remember that Jesus wouldn’t be wandering around with fancy robes, or wearing collared shirts, or wearing gold jewelry, and say, I’m doing now, in a sense. He was out in the wilderness, gathering with community. So, as blessed as those who are poor, you know, so, which was rare. So, a lot of people wanted money back then. So, he was very much for the poor, which is beautiful to see. There were rich Christians. It doesn’t mean that was strictly only for poor people only. There were ones who were shipfarers, and in turn, would carry their message throughout the ports, or from region to region. Cyd:I was just wondering–you are obviously a Christian Gnostic, as am I. I know that you’re open to all Gnosticism, but Gnostics who reject the notion of the Christ, or the need for the Christ, doesn’t that create some kind of difficulty, let’s say? Bishop Nathan Wilson:It would conflict a little bit, yes. I haven’t really come across ones that more reject the Christ. I wouldn’t mind. I have come across ones who have debated me over it in a sense, which I don’t mind in a sense, but I would also encourage them to say, look at the message. Ultimately, it’s about finding the Christ within, being Christ-like for yourself. It goes back to that root word of the first Christians for Christanos, being little Christs, little anointed ones. So, those who were taken on their masters teaching to be Christ-like. But say we have ones that don’t believe Jesus existed. I don’t mind that, because ultimately it is the message, but I will tell them I do believe because I have reasons. I would say for them to look up, say, Judas Kriakos, which is a grandson of Jesus, which is recorded in history. We have church father writings that actually whinged about Jesus’ family being Jewish Christians and not Catholic. So, that’s interesting. So, why would you whinge about a family if the man did not exist? For instance like that. But ultimately, there were some Gnostics that didn’t believe that Jesus existed, but was rather a spirit or was the myth that you took on yourself. So, I’m okay with that, as long as we don’t conflict with each other, with our hearts, as long as we’re not hating each other. So, we can have separate beliefs, as long as we respect those beliefs. Ultimately, that’s what would stop the disheartening and also the conflictions. end part one of interview Okay, we’re going to stop for this week. This is a good place to stop because next, Bishop Wilson goes on to discuss his translation of the New Testament and also some other Gnostic texts. So, we’ll spend next week talking about his translation that he calls the Gnostic Christian Truth Bible, and we’ll get into that. Also, I did record this entire interview as a Zoom video, and as soon as I get that edited, I’ll be posting it to YouTube so you will be able to find it and watch the interview as Bishop Nathan Wilson and I discuss these things. So, I hope to see you there, and thank you for listening this week, and we’ll pick it up again next week. Until then, God bless us all, and onward and upward. The Gnostic Union Facebook The Gnostic Union YouTube Channel

Bishop Nathan Wilson pt.1 Welcome back to Gnostic Insights and to the Gnostic Reformation on Substack. Hey, this week I interviewed Bishop Nathan Wilson of the Gnostic Union, and it was a good long interview, so I’ll be breaking it up probably into three segments for the next three weeks here. Bishop Wilson earned a diploma of ministry from the Gnostic Catholic Union, and then he later went on to create The Gnostic Union, and he’ll tell you about that in this week’s episode. Here I’ll read you the intro from their website. “The Gnostic Union is an independent sacramental assembly of Gnostic Christian communities and individuals. It exists to uphold the Gnostic Christian traditions and to encourage and promote the work of Christ and the Holy Sophia in the world.As an international, independent, autonomous, non-political organization, the Gnostic Union is in no way dependent upon any other authority outside of its own administration. We are neither Roman Catholic, Orthodox, nor Protestant. We are Gnostic Christians that encourage self-development and connecting with the spirit within to build a personal relationship with God, the Monad, the Father. Our bishops, priests, and deacons are merely guides to help you on your spiritual journey. The Gnostic Union aligns itself with the history and teachings of the first Christians of early first century Christianity and the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in the Gospel of Thomas. We encourage new members to read from the Nag Hammadi and to understand how different early Christianity is from modern mainstream Christianity. We welcome all people, regardless of past religious backgrounds or faiths. Gnosis means knowledge, not just simple intellectual knowledge, but deep spiritual knowledge within you. Knowledge from the Spirit, from the Holy Spirit, and from and of God.” You see, I felt that that really went along with what we talk about here at Gnostic Insights, and so when Bishop Wilson reached out to me via our Substack Gnostic Reformation site, I was more than happy to engage in conversation with him, and I thought that having a talk with him along with you and then broadcasting it would be helpful to all of us. Here’s the last little bit that it says on their Gnostic Union homepage, which is only one page long. It’s still in development. It says, “Gnostic Christian theology differs greatly from Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Gnostic Christianity does not depend upon the authority of a Pope or the Church. Instead, it emphasizes being reborn in Spirit, building a personal spiritual relationship with God, and becoming Christ-like by enacting the teachings of Jesus Christ in our lives. Gnostic Christianity began from earlier Gnostic traditions, such as Hermeticism and Mysticism, which arose from Jewish mystics. Gnosticism itself is much older than Judaism, and traces back to the Hermetics of ancient Egypt, the Druids, and the ancient Greeks. Although many Gnostic Christian theologies differed, they shared a common theme of a trapped spiritual essence within the material body, the divine spark, the soul, or the spark of Sophia. The ultimate goal for Gnostic Christians was to become like Jesus, to be reborn in Spirit, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Sophia, and to know thyself, reflecting the divine essence within.” As you know, here at Gnostic Insights and the Gnostic Reformation, I stay away from the histories, because it seems to me that what is important is the here-and-now relationship we have with the Christ and with the Fullness of God. And so, I’m just not all that interested in history, but as you’ll hear from these ongoing interviews with Bishop Wilson, he’s all about history. So, for those of you who have been missing that strain of thought in our Gnostic Insights here, you’ll get an earful for the next three weeks. So without further ado, here's part one of my interview with Bishop Nathan Wilson of The Gnostic Union. Cyd: Well, such a pleasure to see you. You have such a nice smile. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure. It’s always lovely to meet other Gnostics, other spiritual people, all those with open hearts and open minds. It’s always lovely to see. Cyd:Yes. Yes. Yes, it’s true. I wish I had more of these people close around me. Do you have neighbors who are Gnostic? Do you have people you can actually face-to-face with? Bishop Nathan Wilson:I’ve met a priest that I can now speak face-to-face, which was really good. So, it was the first real Gnostic I got to speak to face-to-face. Mostly, I was speaking to many online in other parts of the world, and I kind of felt like I was the only one here in Adelaide, Australia. So, I kind of felt like the one odd villager out. So, it was lovely to meet some other people. I’ve trained people, and other people have done what they wanted. Other people carried on as undercover Gnostics in this world. So, yeah. Cyd:Let me get a formal introduction to you here going. This is Bishop Nathan Wilson of the Gnostic Union, and we have connected through Substack, although you don’t have a Substack presence, do you? You don’t have a site? Bishop Nathan Wilson:No, no. We have got a website in the works, but it’s still in development. I’m not too tech-savvy, but we’ve got other people that are. So, we’re mostly on Facebook and YouTube at the moment. Cyd:Well, wonderful. Now, tell me the difference between the Gnostic Catholic Union and just the Gnostic Union. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Well, we used to be the Gnostic Catholic Union as well until I basically got in charge, and then I removed the Catholic part, which they only had for the Latin reasons, meaning universal, but not everyone knows that Latin subject. They’re just going to see Catholic, and usually today’s world, when you have a Catholic Union, it’s mostly those who have been brought up with a Catholic background that have now found Gnosis, and in turn, carry on those old traditions, which I don’t find anything wrong with. I think there’s many different ways to experience Gnosis. Gnosis doesn’t belong to any religion. It’s something you find within. It’s what you experience, spiritual knowledge gifted to you by what’s divine, by God, by the Father, by the Mother-Father, whichever term you like. The Source. It could even be referenced to, given you to by divine beings, by angels, angelic forces. So, Gnosis is something that you experience. So, it’s yours. It’s personal. It’s intimate. So, it’s a beautiful thing. So, with the Gnostic Union, we are more open to different Gnostic schools of thoughts. So, you could be a Sethian, a Valentinian. You could be a Carpucratian Gnostic, whichever. It doesn’t matter. You could be a Jewish Christian. Whichever the path is—we’re not really dogmatic. So, we appreciate all those who come into this spiritual life, seeking answers, and respecting each other’s beliefs, which is also rare. We have to remember, when we looked at the ancient schools of thought regarding Gnosticism, the ancient Gnostics got along. They didn’t kill each other. They didn’t fight. They had some disagreements, but they shared each other’s writings, which is fantastic. So, that’s very rare when you see that in a religious or even a spiritual school of thought. Many people can be my way only. So, that’s where Gnosis comes in, that inner spiritual experience. So, one’s own personal relationship with what’s divine. The Gnostic Union wants to encourage that, not to be bound by traditions. That’s mostly the difference between the Gnostic Union and the Gnostic Catholics, where they will be more bound by tradition, more bound by a dogmatic experience. We’re not really about that, not dissing any of that. We don’t mind, but we’re more open. Cyd:So, the Gnostic Catholics are still going on? That church is still active, but you have stepped away from them then, in that sense? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Yes, pretty much. So, we’ve done our own independent thing. So, that way we can have more schools of thought. I prefer it like that, so we can all grow from each other, which is something that I’m more about. So, that’s why I went into more of the Gnostic Union sense of things and removing the Catholic part. Some people didn’t like Catholic. Some people liked it and others were stoked that I removed that term from the group. I much prefer it. It’s less of a mouthful as well. I like things nice and simple as well. Cyd:Yes. So, it’s union—it's unity. That’s what the union means in the name, not like a labor union, but the union of Gnostics. That’s lovely. That’s very lovely. So, how many people are associating with the Gnostic Union at this point? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Well, we have a couple of other different groups from different parts of the world. We have a Gnostic Catholic group. I think they’re Gnostic Catholic Unitarians located in the Philippines. Then, we have other groups as well that associate with us. Within the Union itself, we have a couple of different ones. We have also side branches as well that used to be a part of the Gnostic Catholic Union, but there was some theological difference. So, some splitting went on. So, there’s other groups. We still recognize each other. Within the Gnostic Union at the moment. There is Bishop Jason, me, Bishop Nathan Wilson, Bishop Lorenzo, David and Michael, Randall over in South Africa. There’s also Priest Jeremy and Edgar and Rus. So, there’s quite a few. At the moment, it’s mostly men. We’re hoping to have some females join as well. We did have a couple of female members back in the Gnostic Catholic Union, but they ultimately retired. So, we’re hoping to expand. So, the Gnostic Union is kind of fresh on the scene. So, everything’s still building. Cyd:How fresh is it? How long have you been in existence here? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Well, in the Union itself, probably about almost two years now. It’s still maybe a year, year and a half, something like that there. So, it’s still growing in a sense. So, we’re doing okay, which is not too bad. We’re mostly on Facebook and YouTube. So, we do our online masses and group gatherings and stuff like that online as well. And mostly, just support each other’s individual works as well as promote each other’s work. And sometimes, I might edit a couple of videos of all of us together, give it to other people with their own channels, their own independent use, and then I’ll put it onto, say, the Union sites. Other people can go check it out as well. Cyd:I’ll be putting this up on my site. I’m going to post this to YouTube and make it for my audio podcast. But I’ll also give you the recording so that you can use it at your site if you’d like. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Oh, lovely. Lovely. I’d enjoy that as well. And again, thanks for reaching out to me. I very much enjoy speaking to like-minded individuals as well. And regarding even my translations that you brought me on to discuss as well, that’s relatively new as well. It took me about two years to fully actually translate. So, to get it all together, I use encyclopedias, I used Greek, Koine Greek dictionaries, as well as I used Bill Mounce, which is one of the top Koine Greek-speaking people in the world. I have a few friends that can speak Koine Greek as well as modern Greek as well. So, that also came in handy. So, it took me a while. I started doing that while I was still with the Gnostic Catholic Union and I didn’t finish it until the Gnostic Union. Cyd:So, tell us about, you’re speaking of your translation, tell us about that. It’s your New Testament, is it? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Yeah, I did the New Testament Gospels. I used Codex Sinaiticus because that was the oldest complete text, but then I wanted to do non-canonical. I didn’t know any Coptic at all, so I didn’t want to use any other people’s work. I just went to the Koine Greek, used what knowledge I did know, and I also used experts as well. So, I was able to look at every definition of the word and term and use. I did the Gospel of Thomas, which I actually first messed up on because I found out that the version I was looking at first was actually inspired by the Coptic version put into Koine Greek, and I realized it’s not the text. So, I went to the actual fragments themselves, and so I translated from there. It’s not very long. I didn’t use any AI recovery, so anything that wasn’t visible to our naked eye, I did not touch. So, I didn’t want to have any guessing involved. So, I just put what it was, and I did the Greek Gospel of Mary, as well as the Gospel of James, the Gospel of Peter, and I did three unknown Gospels, and they are little fragments, and they are Papyrus Oxyrhynchus. I have the names here. Actually, I better put that in—5072, and the other one was Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840 and the other one is Egerton Gospel. So, they’re little fragments. The titles are missing. We don’t know who wrote them, so they’re unknown, but they could and likely do predate the Gospels that we do have. So, they predate the fragments we have. So, that’s interesting. So, all the fragments we have are second century. It’s likely they predate the fragments that we have. So, I chose to do them, but the interesting side was the Egerton gospel, which was actually a two-sided text, and Bart D. Ehrman actually did side two, and I did side one. So, he didn’t realize that there was a side on one. So, that means he was only looking at digital copy only, just like me. So, he didn’t actually look at the actual Papyrus itself, and so when I did one-sided, I didn’t realize there was a double side to that text, and so otherwise I wouldn’t have done it. So, the interesting thing is side one has not been publicly released for public domain, where side two has been released, which is very suspect, if you ask me, and I didn’t like that. So, I thought I’d introduce some texts that are very little looked at that were very Gnostic, such as Jesus insulting the Pharisees for dipping in waters that pigs jumped into and making themselves look like prostitutes to attract men. Cyd:They’re highly offensive, yes. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Yes, and that’s why they really want to release that publicly. So, you have to pay a scholar for their works, and that’s not really fair. All this knowledge should be for free, especially when you’re looking at our own religious or spirituality or the text involved in that. Otherwise, we’re limiting ourselves, and that’s definitely not fair. So, I think we should be more open, and the text should be up for public display, public domain for everyone to have access to. So, that’s what I ultimately believe in. It’s one reason I chose to share my translations and make accessible for free digital copies. I didn’t want people to just buy my work rather than download the digital text and just read it for themselves. Go to the library, print it out. It might be cheaper. So, when I do sell my texts, I donate it, like some of it’s a charity anyway, to Make-A-Wish Foundation. So, that’s something I do on my end. So, everything I do, I try not to make money just for myself. I try to do other things with it because I’m not really materialistic. I live very much a monk lifestyle, so I read a lot. Cyd:Yeah. Yeah, I do too. I live like a nun, I say. I’ve got a little cloister where I sleep. I live in a one-room place, so it’s very interesting. Would you explain to us the difference between the Koine Greek and the Coptic Greek and which was written and why are there two different versions? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Okay, well the Coptic, when you see Coptic Greek, that’s devolving into Coptic. So, very early proto-Coptic is what scholars term, is the developing into it. You see it with Greeks in the very language. Otherwise, Coptic language very much is a mixture of Greek and Egyptian. So, Egyptian hieroglyph turned into writing basically, but mixed in with Greek. So, Greek was like the English of the past back then. Hebrew also borrowed from the Greek during the second temple period of Jesus’ time. So, the word Judaism and synagogue are Greek words, for instance. So, a lot of borrowing, but the Greeks also borrowed from the Canaanites, such as the Phoenician language or the alphabet. So, that’s also fascinating. So, the ancient past, it was all about borrowing and making it your own, you know. But yeah, with Greek as well, that would be also evolving as well. So, you have, within the gospel itself, you might have one word being spelt slightly different, but ultimately meaning the same thing. And all that is, is one dialect from another speaking from one coastal region to a different coastal region. Obviously, saying the same thing, it just might be the accent. So, that’s played different in the language. So, it’s like we see hilios or hilion, but it’s the same root message. It’s just one person’s pronouncing it in the market different from this region, because he’s closer to the shore and other ones closer to the inner cities. And that’s basically all. So, Greek’s very advanced. You can have one word that can mean ultimately different meanings. And some words you come across can have hundreds of meanings, and that can make things difficult when translating. So, with the Koine Greek, we only know 70% to 90% of the language. We know the 100% of the alphabetical, but we don’t know every context of use. So, because of that difficulty, I had to add alternative English translations. So, I realized then that every translation we’re reading is just based on someone else’s interpretation of that translation. And it’s like, oh, that kind of sucks, so I put them all in there. So, when you come across the word aftos, for he, she, it, they, them, this one, I leave it as all of that, so, you can choose what that means. Because Jesus is speaking to diverse audiences. He’s speaking to males and females, not just men. And that’s what people forget. It’s like the word for spirit is also very feminine in Hebrew. In Greek, it’s masculine and feminine. So, it’s used as both, which is fascinating as well for the spirit within us, you know. So, but again, that’s going back to that root meaning of feminine, because when you add in the word hagion pneuma you now have the Holy Spirit, but that’s a feminine word of it. Otherwise, the root word of masculine is hagios, but the female name or the feminine version of that concept is hagion. Cyd:Ah, that’s fascinating. Yeah. You run into the same problem when translating Chinese, because Chinese pictograms can just mean many, many things. So, I’ve studied the Tao Te Ching quite a bit, and everybody’s book that’s famous of the Tao Te Ching, it’s their translation out of a hundred choices for every word. So, it’s, I understand quite a bit what you’re saying there. Well, tell me this, what makes you a bishop? How is it that you’re calling yourself bishop? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Well, I was ordained by, well, back when it was the Gnostic Catholic Union, I was ordained by Bishop Bill Thomas, and he was the bishop of a church in Florida. He was running a church. He was an older man, so he’s kind of, he retired for a bit, and now he’s more of a wandering bishop, because he had trouble with the funds of running a church. It’d be quite expensive. So, he was part of an organization that was the Gnostic Catholic Union. A lot of members retired as well, then he took over, and then it kind of went on for a few years, and then they started retiring, and then I joined from there, and I was ordained, and I took up a course with them, started off as a deacon, then became a priest, and then as they were retiring, I was made bishop, basically, and so then I was left with a little bit of the reins. So, it was from there, it was a lot more—more churches were involved. So, some of that has also, a lot of them have also retired or ultimately changed theologies. One of the original members of the Gnostic Catholic Union, I believe, is now either an Orthodox priest or joined the Orthodox Church, and he renounces all his old Gnostic past, which is kind of a shame. So, sometimes that does happen. So, people become wanderers because of, people basically rely solely on one priest, oftentimes, which is also sad, and when one priest moves, people lose passion, and sometimes that’s how it is. So, I prefer to have people more independently on their own, not just say rely on me, I make other people bishops so they can carry on with their own, and from there, expand it. So, someone might have, say, the coin enough to start their own church, and from there, maybe, from there, do whatever they need. So, it inspires, and still something to bring a bit of community in, and have a little bit of recognition from other people, basically. So, I kept that term. I was almost considering to remove the title, bishops and priests, but a lot of the old members wanted to keep it as well, and some of the young ones did as well. So, I thought, well, I’ll keep the term for them in their sake. Otherwise, I was going to keep it as teachers, or brothers and sisters, but I still encourage our members to, when dealing with each other, not just sit there and call each other bishops, or bishopettes, or priests, or priestess, whichever term they prefer. I prefer to call us brothers and sisters, which is more stressed. Even with the outfit some people are talking about, I would tell them, remember that Jesus wouldn’t be wandering around with fancy robes, or wearing collared shirts, or wearing gold jewelry, and say, I’m doing now, in a sense. He was out in the wilderness, gathering with community. So, as blessed as those who are poor, you know, so, which was rare. So, a lot of people wanted money back then. So, he was very much for the poor, which is beautiful to see. There were rich Christians. It doesn’t mean that was strictly only for poor people only. There were ones who were shipfarers, and in turn, would carry their message throughout the ports, or from region to region. Cyd:I was just wondering–you are obviously a Christian Gnostic, as am I. I know that you’re open to all Gnosticism, but Gnostics who reject the notion of the Christ, or the need for the Christ, doesn’t that create some kind of difficulty, let’s say? Bishop Nathan Wilson:It would conflict a little bit, yes. I haven’t really come across ones that more reject the Christ. I wouldn’t mind. I have come across ones who have debated me over it in a sense, which I don’t mind in a sense, but I would also encourage them to say, look at the message. Ultimately, it’s about finding the Christ within, being Christ-like for yourself. It goes back to that root word of the first Christians for Christanos, being little Christs, little anointed ones. So, those who were taken on their masters teaching to be Christ-like. But say we have ones that don’t believe Jesus existed. I don’t mind that, because ultimately it is the message, but I will tell them I do believe because I have reasons. I would say for them to look up, say, Judas Kriakos, which is a grandson of Jesus, which is recorded in history. We have church father writings that actually whinged about Jesus’ family being Jewish Christians and not Catholic. So, that’s interesting. So, why would you whinge about a family if the man did not exist? For instance like that. But ultimately, there were some Gnostics that didn’t believe that Jesus existed, but was rather a spirit or was the myth that you took on yourself. So, I’m okay with that, as long as we don’t conflict with each other, with our hearts, as long as we’re not hating each other. So, we can have separate beliefs, as long as we respect those beliefs. Ultimately, that’s what would stop the disheartening and also the conflictions. end part one of interview Okay, we’re going to stop for this week. This is a good place to stop because next, Bishop Wilson goes on to discuss his translation of the New Testament and also some other Gnostic texts. So, we’ll spend next week talking about his translation that he calls the Gnostic Christian Truth Bible, and we’ll get into that. Also, I did record this entire interview as a Zoom video, and as soon as I get that edited, I’ll be posting it to YouTube so you will be able to find it and watch the interview as Bishop Nathan Wilson and I discuss these things. So, I hope to see you there, and thank you for listening this week, and we’ll pick it up again next week. Until then, God bless us all, and onward and upward. The Gnostic Union Facebook The Gnostic Union YouTube Channel

For centuries, believers have debated the true identity, mission, crucifixion, miracles, and hidden teachings of Jesus Christ. In this powerful episode, we explore some of the deepest mysteries surrounding Jesus (Isa), including the Transfiguration, the crucifixion, the fig tree prophecy, ancient Christian symbolism, Islamic narrations, hidden biblical meanings, and the connection between Jesus and the awaited Mahdi. Drawing from the Quran, the Bible, Shi'a narrations, and the teachings of Imam Ahmed Al-Hassan, this lecture uncovers astonishing insights rarely discussed in mainstream Christianity or Islam. This episode is essential viewing for Christians, Muslims, truth seekers, students of comparative religion, biblical prophecy researchers, and anyone interested in the hidden mysteries of Jesus, the end times, the Mahdi, Imam Mahdi, Islamic esotericism, Gnostic Christianity, ancient icons, the crucifixion of Jesus, the Second Coming, and the deeper spiritual meanings behind scripture. Watch until the end for a fascinating exploration into one of the most mysterious figures in human history.

Was Joseph Smith restoring more than early Christianity? In this episode, Maxine Hanks explores Mormonism as a wisdom tradition—one rooted in revelation, spiritual vision, Sophia wisdom, apocryphal texts, and direct connection with the divine.Together, Meghan and Maxine discuss Gnostic Christianity, the role of women in early Christianity and early Mormonism, Joseph Smith's engagement with wisdom literature, the First Vision as a wisdom-seeking event, and why many of the truths people search for outside Mormonism may already exist within the Restoration.If you're interested in Mormon mysticism, esoteric Christianity, Sophia, Mary Magdalene, continuing revelation, and the deeper dimensions of the Restoration, this conversation offers a compelling framework for reexamining LDS origins. Timestamps00:00 Intro & Pentecost Themes 02:40 Why Maxine Calls Mormonism a Wisdom Tradition 08:30 Early Christianity & LDS Restoration Parallels 18:00 Women, Priesthood & the Elect Lady 27:00 What Is a Wisdom Tradition? 37:00 Vision Traditions, Mysticism & Revelation 48:00 Esoteric vs. Exoteric Religion 58:00 Apocrypha, Wisdom Literature & Sacred Texts 1:08:00 Joseph Smith, Wisdom of Solomon & the First Vision 1:16:00 Nested Levels of Spiritual Truth 1:20:00 Gnostic Themes in Mormon Theology 1:28:00 Hugh Nibley & Rediscovering Ancient WisdomMaxine Hanks is a Mormon theologian, historian, author, and researcher known for her work on women in Mormonism, early Christianity, mysticism, Gnostic traditions, and Mormon theology. Her scholarship frequently explores the intersections of restoration theology, spiritual experience, the divine feminine, and religious history.Links Mentioned Hidden Wisdom App  Wayfair Festival (Faith Matters) - July 11th, Heber UT The Way of Healing: Restoring Wholeness to the Soul Hidden Wisdom initiates truth-seekers into the Mysteries, guiding listeners toward a lived experience of the Divine that awakens and transforms faith—without dismantling family or community. Pursue your Journey: ✨ Hidden Wisdom App – Join for FREE and enjoy pathway programs, community, expansive library, and more!

Hello and welcome back to Gnostic Insights and the Gnostic Reformation on Substack. Yesterday, my Hindi tech services guy asked me whether or not Gnosis is Christian. It seems like it should be a simple question. Is Gnosticism Christian? I explained to him that I certainly think that Christian Gnosticism is Christian, fully. And in fact, I believe it’s true Christianity—that Jesus was Gnostic, that John the Baptist was Gnostic. But what does that mean? Most of the Christians, pretty much all of the Christians, completely reject Gnosticism as evil, as misleading, as demonic. So that would put me in the camp of being a false teacher or a false witness, which saddens me greatly because I love Jesus. I’ve been a follower of Jesus for 70 years. And I believe that when Jesus said, I and my Father are one, if you have seen me, you have seen my Father, that Jesus was speaking about what we call the Gnostic God, the God Above All Gods, the Father in heaven, the preexistent primordial form, the one consciousness that did beget the only begotten Son. I explained to my Hindi friend that in Hinduism, many gods are accepted. In India, people pray and follow many different gods, and yet they are all considered Hindu because they are honoring and treasuring the Godhead. I don’t pray to many gods. I pray to the Father above, the God Above All Gods, the Father to whom Jesus prayed in the garden. I do not believe in a variety of saviors. I believe in the Christ as the Savior, and that Jesus of Nazareth embodied the Christ. I explained to my Hindi friend that although Christians reject us as being evil, we accept them as being seekers after truth and lovers of God, those who are not hypocritical, that is. Many people sit in Christian churches, and they’re what we would call bench warmers or pew warmers. The point being, you must truly believe in the Father. Jesus believed in the Father. He wanted his followers to believe, to have true knowledge and faith that we come from above, and we are children of the Father, of the one primordial consciousness. Jesus came to remind us of that. He came in human form to speak to us humans, but the Christ is a much greater and larger entity than Jesus alone. The Christ is an ethereal being. The Father is ethereal. The only begotten Son is ethereal. The Aeons of the Fullness of God are all ethereal entities that live above. Jesus was fully human as well as fully God. Just as we are fully human, and we have the potential of fully God inside of us. We’re all born with the life, consciousness, love, remembrance of the Father above and our aeonic parents in the Fullness of God. But we forget once we are sent down here. We were sent down here, according to Christian Gnosticism, for the purpose of reminding the Demiurge, of reminding the Fallen world, this cosmos, this material cosmos, that it didn’t arise from nothing. The Demiurge didn’t spring out of nothing. The Demiurge has forgotten. The Demiurge is known as the amnesiac God, but he is indeed the God of this material world because he put it in order. He took the chaos of the Fall and made it orderly, put the laws of chemistry and the laws of physics, the laws of astronomy, mathematics and the mathematical constants upon this otherwise chaotic material universe that was blasted out of the Fall. In physics, we call it the Big Bang or the origin. The Demiurge is the architect of this cosmos, of this material plane, of this apparently material world that we live in. And do you know what it is, this material world? It’s a copy. It’s an imitation. It’s a deficient imitation of Paradise. The Aeons of the Fullness of God, up above, sit and dream together of this beautiful paradisical world, this Eden. This beautiful, beautiful creation is the dream of the Aeons of the Fullness of God. It comes from upstream from them. It comes from the Totalities of the ALL. It comes from the Son, the only begotten Son, who was the Monad, the One, that represents an otherwise illimitable and unimaginably huge and great and powerful consciousness. We are their derivative. We are fractals of that consciousness. We’re downstream from the Father. We’re downstream from the Son, who is the face of the Father, the presenting face, the bucket dipped into the sea, containing all of its attributes, all of its knowledge and life and free will and creativity and plans. And the Son broke out all of his variables. He indexed every thought that the Father had. And this became the hierarchical structure that is called the Fullness of God, the Hierarchy of the Fullness, the pleroma of the Fullness of God. That is the everything of the Fullness of God—everything broken out and itemized. And then it was one particular Aeon that decided to launch itself back up and reunite with the Father. But it couldn’t, because the Father is far too great and powerful for one single derivative to be able to fully embrace it. And had it actually come into full contact with the Father, it would have been annihilated. In Gnostic Christianity, derived from the book called the Tripartite Tractate of the Nag Hammadi books, this Aeon that launched itself out is known as Logos. In other forms of Gnosticism, the Aeon that launched itself is known as Sophia. It really doesn’t matter. Sophia means wisdom. Sophia represented the highest wisdom of the Fullness of God. Logos means knowledge, reason. Logos represented the highest knowledge and the highest reasoning of the Fullness of God. In truth, they basically represent the same concept. And this singleton wanted to reunite with the Father all on its own, but it couldn’t. And so it fell. And this is the Fall. In Christianity, the Fall has been pushed way downstream onto the human level. It is said that the humans ruined Paradise. We ruined Eden–one decision of the woman tempting the man to eat of the apple of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil caused the Fall. But no, in Gnosticism, we say that the Fall happened upstream from us; ruining Paradise is way above our pay grade. It’s not humanly possible. We’re victims of the Fall. We’re not the creators of the Fall. We are not born as evil. We are born as fruit of the Fullness of God. We are the Second Order Powers fruited down here into this material creation. We’re melded onto this material creation, because the very molecules and atoms and particles that make up our physical body—and it’s not just us humans, it’s everything that’s live from the cellular level on up and all creatures, whether they be bacteria, plants, birds, mammals, humans, we’re all fruit of the Fullness of God, meaning we were dreamed up above—we're part of the dream of Paradise. The dream of Paradise is fully populated. All of the plants and animals and creatures and everything up there pre-exists. That is what would be called intelligent design. So when we are fruited down here, and we begin this life as an organism here in this material world, we are welded onto the material, the particles, the atoms, the molecules. And so we grow up with the perfection of the remembrance of Paradise and the remembrance of the Aeons above and the Fullness of God. But the Fall represents ignorance. The chaos of the Fall—the Demiurge, which is the God of the Fall, doesn’t remember the world above, doesn’t remember the ethereal plane. The Demiurge thinks that when it woke up, it must have created everything. And so it went about ordering the chaos into its recollection of Paradise. But it doesn’t realize it’s a recollection. It thinks it’s creating. It thinks that it’s the creator, the inventor of this world. But really, it’s just a vague recollection of Paradise. And the god of this world—and here’s a heresy, by the way—whom the Bible acknowledges to be Jehovah, or Yahweh, the God of the Jews, the God of the Christians—that is the Demiurge. But Jesus did not acknowledge Jehovah as the Father. When Jesus spoke of the Father, he was talking about the God Above All Gods—God way upstream there before the Fall. The god down here is the god of this world. The god of this world is not Satan. The god of this world is the Fallen god, the Demiurge, that doesn’t realize that it’s from the Fall, doesn’t realize where it came from. That’s the simplest rendition of this Gnostic Christianity. It’s the same Christ that is then sent down into this material cosmos, in the body of the Jesus of Nazareth, who came down with the full knowledge of the Father in the Fullness of God, came down with full memory, free will, consciousness, love, unlimited love. And Jesus loves us all. Christ loves all living things. Christ came to redeem us all, to remind us that we come from above. That’s what Christ came to do, to remind of the love of the Father above, that we are not born of the god of this world. We are born of the God Above All Gods on the ethereal plane. And we are born with the full remembrance of the Fullness of God within us. And Jesus came with the army of Christ, which is called the Third Order of Powers. And this army of Christ is armed with all of the love, and remembrance, and consciousness, and free will, and all of the virtues fully remembered, fully expressed. They all came down along with the Christ. And there is one of these Third Order Powers for every one of us Second Order Powers. You have a soldier of the army of Christ assigned to you who came with not only the face of the Son, the face of the Christ, the full embodiment of the Fullness of God, but it came with your face. So that when you pray for salvation, when you pray for redemption—Oh dear God, I don’t know if I can take this anymore. This world is too tragic. It’s too terrible. It’s too full of pain, and suffering, and death, and illness. Please, Lord, rescue me—that prayer goes to the Third Order of Power assigned to you—your guardian angel, if you will. And it’s part of the body of Christ. It is a Third Order of Power that is assigned to you, and you alone. And that is how it is that when you pray for redemption, you can be redeemed instantly. It’s already been done. The Christ has already brought all the Third Order Powers down, one for every one of us. And when you open yourself up, when you admit that you long for the Father above, you long to be reunited with the Fullness of God, you will instantly be reunited with the Fullness of God. That doesn’t mean you’re going to drop dead and be sucked up to heaven. It means that now you have all the remembrance, all the power, all the consciousness, and all of the free will embodied by Jesus. You are like Jesus, at least for that moment you have accepted your Third Order of Powers to take control of your soul. You’re not giving up power. You’re taking away power from the Demiurge. You’ve already given up your power. You’re being pulled this way and that, pulled down and backwards by the Demiurge and the archons. They’re taking your energy. They’re sucking your soul downward and backward. That’s how they maintain their power. That’s how they maintain their control. But true freedom belongs above. True freedom only comes from above. And that’s why we have to align our prayers and align our sights upward. So, I explained all this yesterday to my Hindi friend, who is my tech services guy, and we’re often on the phone together for long periods of time as he’s cleaning the hard drives or downloading updates and so forth. And he totally agreed with what I was saying, because Hinduism is like that. It accepts everyone’s beliefs about God. In Hinduism, people don’t go to hell because they don’t agree with you. People create hell because they have cut themselves off from the goodness of God. In that, we are very much aligned in our belief systems. All we have to know is that the path to the Father above is straight up. It’s just straight up, like a beam of light. It’s a beam of truth that shines down upon us. Just move that ego off of the throne. Move desire for personal power and recognition off of the throne of your embodiment, of your body, of yourself, and allow the Christ to enter your soul. You will immediately be transformed. You will be immediately put in alignment with the Fullness of God. And then you will see for yourself. This is a first-person experience. It doesn’t have to come from someone else. You do not have to perform arcane rituals. You only need to bump your ego off of the throne and pray to God Above All Gods for Christ to enter and guide you. Let’s start there and see if we can’t do that. Please write back to me. Tell me about your experience. Someone please try this, what I’m recommending today. Just move your ego aside for a moment. Pray to the Father for the Christ to enter you, to remind you of the God Above All Gods, to remind you of truth, simplicity, righteousness, the virtues, our aeonic inheritance. Just ask it to remind you, and you will be reminded because we’re all born with this remembrance. Give it a try. Let me know how it goes. Until next week, God bless us all and onward and upward. We Second Order Powers are the children of the Aeons of the Fullness, who are themselves the Totality of the Son. The Third Order Powers are the army of the Christ, who represent all of the Powers of the ethereal plane, individually and collectively working for our redemption.

Hello and welcome back to Gnostic Insights and the Gnostic Reformation on Substack. Yesterday, my Hindi tech services guy asked me whether or not Gnosis is Christian. It seems like it should be a simple question. Is Gnosticism Christian? I explained to him that I certainly think that Christian Gnosticism is Christian, fully. And in fact, I believe it’s true Christianity—that Jesus was Gnostic, that John the Baptist was Gnostic. But what does that mean? Most of the Christians, pretty much all of the Christians, completely reject Gnosticism as evil, as misleading, as demonic. So that would put me in the camp of being a false teacher or a false witness, which saddens me greatly because I love Jesus. I’ve been a follower of Jesus for 70 years. And I believe that when Jesus said, I and my Father are one, if you have seen me, you have seen my Father, that Jesus was speaking about what we call the Gnostic God, the God Above All Gods, the Father in heaven, the preexistent primordial form, the one consciousness that did beget the only begotten Son. I explained to my Hindi friend that in Hinduism, many gods are accepted. In India, people pray and follow many different gods, and yet they are all considered Hindu because they are honoring and treasuring the Godhead. I don’t pray to many gods. I pray to the Father above, the God Above All Gods, the Father to whom Jesus prayed in the garden. I do not believe in a variety of saviors. I believe in the Christ as the Savior, and that Jesus of Nazareth embodied the Christ. I explained to my Hindi friend that although Christians reject us as being evil, we accept them as being seekers after truth and lovers of God, those who are not hypocritical, that is. Many people sit in Christian churches, and they’re what we would call bench warmers or pew warmers. The point being, you must truly believe in the Father. Jesus believed in the Father. He wanted his followers to believe, to have true knowledge and faith that we come from above, and we are children of the Father, of the one primordial consciousness. Jesus came to remind us of that. He came in human form to speak to us humans, but the Christ is a much greater and larger entity than Jesus alone. The Christ is an ethereal being. The Father is ethereal. The only begotten Son is ethereal. The Aeons of the Fullness of God are all ethereal entities that live above. Jesus was fully human as well as fully God. Just as we are fully human, and we have the potential of fully God inside of us. We’re all born with the life, consciousness, love, remembrance of the Father above and our aeonic parents in the Fullness of God. But we forget once we are sent down here. We were sent down here, according to Christian Gnosticism, for the purpose of reminding the Demiurge, of reminding the Fallen world, this cosmos, this material cosmos, that it didn’t arise from nothing. The Demiurge didn’t spring out of nothing. The Demiurge has forgotten. The Demiurge is known as the amnesiac God, but he is indeed the God of this material world because he put it in order. He took the chaos of the Fall and made it orderly, put the laws of chemistry and the laws of physics, the laws of astronomy, mathematics and the mathematical constants upon this otherwise chaotic material universe that was blasted out of the Fall. In physics, we call it the Big Bang or the origin. The Demiurge is the architect of this cosmos, of this material plane, of this apparently material world that we live in. And do you know what it is, this material world? It’s a copy. It’s an imitation. It’s a deficient imitation of Paradise. The Aeons of the Fullness of God, up above, sit and dream together of this beautiful paradisical world, this Eden. This beautiful, beautiful creation is the dream of the Aeons of the Fullness of God. It comes from upstream from them. It comes from the Totalities of the ALL. It comes from the Son, the only begotten Son, who was the Monad, the One, that represents an otherwise illimitable and unimaginably huge and great and powerful consciousness. We are their derivative. We are fractals of that consciousness. We’re downstream from the Father. We’re downstream from the Son, who is the face of the Father, the presenting face, the bucket dipped into the sea, containing all of its attributes, all of its knowledge and life and free will and creativity and plans. And the Son broke out all of his variables. He indexed every thought that the Father had. And this became the hierarchical structure that is called the Fullness of God, the Hierarchy of the Fullness, the pleroma of the Fullness of God. That is the everything of the Fullness of God—everything broken out and itemized. And then it was one particular Aeon that decided to launch itself back up and reunite with the Father. But it couldn’t, because the Father is far too great and powerful for one single derivative to be able to fully embrace it. And had it actually come into full contact with the Father, it would have been annihilated. In Gnostic Christianity, derived from the book called the Tripartite Tractate of the Nag Hammadi books, this Aeon that launched itself out is known as Logos. In other forms of Gnosticism, the Aeon that launched itself is known as Sophia. It really doesn’t matter. Sophia means wisdom. Sophia represented the highest wisdom of the Fullness of God. Logos means knowledge, reason. Logos represented the highest knowledge and the highest reasoning of the Fullness of God. In truth, they basically represent the same concept. And this singleton wanted to reunite with the Father all on its own, but it couldn’t. And so it fell. And this is the Fall. In Christianity, the Fall has been pushed way downstream onto the human level. It is said that the humans ruined Paradise. We ruined Eden–one decision of the woman tempting the man to eat of the apple of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil caused the Fall. But no, in Gnosticism, we say that the Fall happened upstream from us; ruining Paradise is way above our pay grade. It’s not humanly possible. We’re victims of the Fall. We’re not the creators of the Fall. We are not born as evil. We are born as fruit of the Fullness of God. We are the Second Order Powers fruited down here into this material creation. We’re melded onto this material creation, because the very molecules and atoms and particles that make up our physical body—and it’s not just us humans, it’s everything that’s live from the cellular level on up and all creatures, whether they be bacteria, plants, birds, mammals, humans, we’re all fruit of the Fullness of God, meaning we were dreamed up above—we're part of the dream of Paradise. The dream of Paradise is fully populated. All of the plants and animals and creatures and everything up there pre-exists. That is what would be called intelligent design. So when we are fruited down here, and we begin this life as an organism here in this material world, we are welded onto the material, the particles, the atoms, the molecules. And so we grow up with the perfection of the remembrance of Paradise and the remembrance of the Aeons above and the Fullness of God. But the Fall represents ignorance. The chaos of the Fall—the Demiurge, which is the God of the Fall, doesn’t remember the world above, doesn’t remember the ethereal plane. The Demiurge thinks that when it woke up, it must have created everything. And so it went about ordering the chaos into its recollection of Paradise. But it doesn’t realize it’s a recollection. It thinks it’s creating. It thinks that it’s the creator, the inventor of this world. But really, it’s just a vague recollection of Paradise. And the god of this world—and here’s a heresy, by the way—whom the Bible acknowledges to be Jehovah, or Yahweh, the God of the Jews, the God of the Christians—that is the Demiurge. But Jesus did not acknowledge Jehovah as the Father. When Jesus spoke of the Father, he was talking about the God Above All Gods—God way upstream there before the Fall. The god down here is the god of this world. The god of this world is not Satan. The god of this world is the Fallen god, the Demiurge, that doesn’t realize that it’s from the Fall, doesn’t realize where it came from. That’s the simplest rendition of this Gnostic Christianity. It’s the same Christ that is then sent down into this material cosmos, in the body of the Jesus of Nazareth, who came down with the full knowledge of the Father in the Fullness of God, came down with full memory, free will, consciousness, love, unlimited love. And Jesus loves us all. Christ loves all living things. Christ came to redeem us all, to remind us that we come from above. That’s what Christ came to do, to remind of the love of the Father above, that we are not born of the god of this world. We are born of the God Above All Gods on the ethereal plane. And we are born with the full remembrance of the Fullness of God within us. And Jesus came with the army of Christ, which is called the Third Order of Powers. And this army of Christ is armed with all of the love, and remembrance, and consciousness, and free will, and all of the virtues fully remembered, fully expressed. They all came down along with the Christ. And there is one of these Third Order Powers for every one of us Second Order Powers. You have a soldier of the army of Christ assigned to you who came with not only the face of the Son, the face of the Christ, the full embodiment of the Fullness of God, but it came with your face. So that when you pray for salvation, when you pray for redemption—Oh dear God, I don’t know if I can take this anymore. This world is too tragic. It’s too terrible. It’s too full of pain, and suffering, and death, and illness. Please, Lord, rescue me—that prayer goes to the Third Order of Power assigned to you—your guardian angel, if you will. And it’s part of the body of Christ. It is a Third Order of Power that is assigned to you, and you alone. And that is how it is that when you pray for redemption, you can be redeemed instantly. It’s already been done. The Christ has already brought all the Third Order Powers down, one for every one of us. And when you open yourself up, when you admit that you long for the Father above, you long to be reunited with the Fullness of God, you will instantly be reunited with the Fullness of God. That doesn’t mean you’re going to drop dead and be sucked up to heaven. It means that now you have all the remembrance, all the power, all the consciousness, and all of the free will embodied by Jesus. You are like Jesus, at least for that moment you have accepted your Third Order of Powers to take control of your soul. You’re not giving up power. You’re taking away power from the Demiurge. You’ve already given up your power. You’re being pulled this way and that, pulled down and backwards by the Demiurge and the archons. They’re taking your energy. They’re sucking your soul downward and backward. That’s how they maintain their power. That’s how they maintain their control. But true freedom belongs above. True freedom only comes from above. And that’s why we have to align our prayers and align our sights upward. So, I explained all this yesterday to my Hindi friend, who is my tech services guy, and we’re often on the phone together for long periods of time as he’s cleaning the hard drives or downloading updates and so forth. And he totally agreed with what I was saying, because Hinduism is like that. It accepts everyone’s beliefs about God. In Hinduism, people don’t go to hell because they don’t agree with you. People create hell because they have cut themselves off from the goodness of God. In that, we are very much aligned in our belief systems. All we have to know is that the path to the Father above is straight up. It’s just straight up, like a beam of light. It’s a beam of truth that shines down upon us. Just move that ego off of the throne. Move desire for personal power and recognition off of the throne of your embodiment, of your body, of yourself, and allow the Christ to enter your soul. You will immediately be transformed. You will be immediately put in alignment with the Fullness of God. And then you will see for yourself. This is a first-person experience. It doesn’t have to come from someone else. You do not have to perform arcane rituals. You only need to bump your ego off of the throne and pray to God Above All Gods for Christ to enter and guide you. Let’s start there and see if we can’t do that. Please write back to me. Tell me about your experience. Someone please try this, what I’m recommending today. Just move your ego aside for a moment. Pray to the Father for the Christ to enter you, to remind you of the God Above All Gods, to remind you of truth, simplicity, righteousness, the virtues, our aeonic inheritance. Just ask it to remind you, and you will be reminded because we’re all born with this remembrance. Give it a try. Let me know how it goes. Until next week, God bless us all and onward and upward. We Second Order Powers are the children of the Aeons of the Fullness, who are themselves the Totality of the Son. The Third Order Powers are the army of the Christ, who represent all of the Powers of the ethereal plane, individually and collectively working for our redemption.

After some ecstatic & triumphant kirtan (which you can watch in the last video here) at our second session at our second Denver retreat in April 2026, we take up our evening's lecture, an Easter special featuring some of my most inspired reflections on Tantra, gnostic Christianity and the politics of spirituality to answer the question:Who has the right to teach & practice Tantra? We reference some of Cynthia Bourgeault's and Elaine Pagel's academic work on the early history of Christianity to consider the politics around the resurrection of Christ (i.e Mary vs Peter, Gnostic Christianity vs Orthodox Christianity) which I'm going to argue mirrors the politics of Left-Hand Path vs Right Hand Path (read also: institutional) Tantra. Much of this lecture is my loving middle finger to those who say we should not be doing what we're doing. Whatever such people may say and however good their intentions, with love and respect we say to them, like the Gnostics before us: we're going to do it anyway. Support the showLectures happen live every Monday at 7pm PST and again at Friday 11am PST Use this link and I will see you there:https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at:https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnishTo get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM

In Episode 4 of Seeing Tarot, artist Anna Rose Stabler and tarot reader Gina Wisotzky continue their card-by-card exploration of the tarot, moving through the aces of the Minor Arcana.Rather than defining cards through fixed meanings, this podcast explores what happens when you live with their energy over time: through art-making, daily life, season, and conversation.This month's focus: The Ace of CupsIn this episode, Anna and Gina discuss:* Water as a fluid, transformative element that dissolves the hardness of Swords and Wands into something tender and ineffable* The shadow side of Cups: beneath the softness, what is sinister, soporific, and hidden* The Grail legend as tarot mirror: the holy fool, purity of heart, and the quest for impossible wholeness* How the five streams in the card's imagery connect to the senses and the facets of being alive* The upside-down M on the chalice and its possible allusion to the Virgin Mary* Rachel Pollack's framing of the Ace of Cups as “an emblem of love underpinning life”* Psychedelics, blue lotus, and states of perception beyond language* The Cocteau Twins as the ultimate Cups band* Gina's March forecast and how the Eight of Cups, Ten of Cups, and Six of Wands illuminate the art of following the flow* Anna's illustration process: gray skies, a sun-sized wafer, and a Medieval-style border* A preview of the Ace of Pentacles and the turn toward earthThe conversation moves freely between the mystical and the grounded — from Arthurian legend and Gnostic Christianity to perfume and Pokémon. The Ace of Cups emerges the place where the full spectrum of emotional life gathers: seeking, melancholy, beauty, and the underlying unity beneath it all.References & InfluencesThe Grail Legend by Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von FranzSeventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom by Rachel PollackThe Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer BradleyElaine Pagels and the Gnostic GospelsThe Cocteau TwinsAce of Cups MoodboardScents & Sensory CorrespondencesAce of CupsFragranceGina's PickParfum de Thérèse by Frédéric Malle — created by Edmond Roudnitska in the late 1950s for his wife, who wore it exclusively until Frédéric Malle later brought it to market. Notes of melon, green violet, and moss that together evoke a secret shaded pool with water lilies — romantic, melancholy, and quietly watery.Anna's PickUn Jardin sur le Nil by Hermès — light, aquatic, luminous. Anna's mother's signature fragrance.Natural MaterialStill water and lily padsRain on a gray afternoonViolets Blue lotus (flagged for future Cups exploration)EnvironmentA shaded garden pool, secret and stillClouds heavy before rainThe surface of things — and what moves beneathAbout the HostsGina Wisotzky The founder of Incandescent Tarot, Gina has been reading and practicing tarot and the intuitive arts for over two decades. Her work weaves tarot, writing, seasonal practice, and somatic inquiry through readings, classes, and audio reflections.Incandescent Tarot / AlchemagAnna Rose Stabler Anna Rose Stabler is an illustrator whose work centers symbolism, still life, and narrative imagery. Her practice explores how meaning forms through visual language, material, and seasonality.Website / Instagram / Tumblr This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit incandescenttarot.substack.com

Welcome back to Gnostic Insights and to the Gnostic Reformation on Substack. And Happy Easter, everybody! This is the time of year when Christians all over the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. Holy Week leading up to the resurrection is a rough one because it’s the passion of the Christ where the scriptures talk about and people reenact the trial of Christ, his walk with the cross to the hill of Calvary, and then his agony on the cross. We all know that story. But what does it mean? Why is there such a story? Many people who doubt the veracity of the early Christian histories think it’s all made up, think it’s a fairy tale. But I’ve got a couple of ways to talk about that. One way is this. If the story of Jesus is nothing but a made-up story, who made it up? And how did they know exactly how to make up the story to create this gigantic movement that is called Christianity? You can’t accidentally bumble into the salvation story. People aren’t that clever. And if someone was that clever to write a believable salvation story that wasn’t true, to what end? Why would they want to do that—making up a gigantic lie that is going to hoodwink millions and millions of people, do such a thing and get away with it and be so successful at it? And why would they do that? Because the salvation story I’m telling you does save people, does pull people out of their traps and their desperation and their addictions. You may be saying to yourself, hey, wait a minute, I thought this was a Gnostic podcast. What’s all this talk about Christ and Easter? Well, there is a branch of Gnosticism that’s referred to as Christian Gnosticism or Valentinian Gnosticism, and that happens to be what I believe in. And Christ is a central salvific figure in that form of Gnosticism. The conventional Christian church desperately needs Gnostics. They need us to bring them the depth of understanding of the Gospels, the depth of understanding of the writings that have been admitted into the New Testament, as well as the writings that were excluded from the New Testament, such as those found in the Nag Hammadi books and the Tripartite Tractate in particular. These are as Christian as Christian can be, more so than most conventional Christians’ understanding of their role and the role of Jesus and the role of Christ and the nature of the Father, the understanding of virtue and vice. We Gnostics carry that knowledge with us. We remember. That’s the process of Gnosticism, is remembering. That’s called anamnesis. You might have run across that word before. You know, amnesia means don’t remember, anamnesia means I remember. Just like agnostic means I don’t know, but gnostic means I know. Now, why do I say that the Christian church needs Gnostics? You know, they don’t want us there. They think we’re misleading people, taking them away from the cross, taking them away from heaven and salvation. But it couldn’t be more incorrect. Gnostic Christians are true Christians, because in order to consider yourself a Gnostic, you need to be in touch with the Holy Spirit. You need to have a relationship and an understanding of the Father and the Son and the Fullness of God. Almost by definition, if you are Gnostic, you carry the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now, these things are very important to Christians, but they have excluded the means to get there. They have excluded the books from the same period as the books of the New Testament. They’ve excluded the ones that speak of Gnosis and speak of the way things are and who the nature of the Father is and how the Christ came about and who is the Son. Is the Son the same as Christ? Not exactly. The Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. And by the way, the Holy Spirit, that’s what we Gnostics call the Fullness of God. The hierarchy of the Fullness of God as an aggregate, as a place, as an entity, is what is called the Holy Spirit in conventional Christianity. You have the Father, the original, illimitable, omnipotent, omniscient consciousness that predates everything. And the Father conceives in his own mind or in its own mind, because obviously the Father is not an old man with a beard, even though we tend to represent him that way. That’s more of a metaphorical expression. Even in my children’s book, Children of the Fullness, I picture the Father as the old man in the beard and the Son as his small child being held in his arms. But it’s not really that. That’s a metaphor. The Father is consciousness, pure consciousness, without form. The Son is all of the Father’s consciousness and omniscience and omnipotence, but in a place, in a form. He’s a monad, or it’s a monad, because again, there’s no sex, there’s no gender, there’s no DNA. So, we shouldn’t be getting all hung up with the pronouns for the entities of the ethereal plane. Now, in the other form of Gnosticism, the Phoenician, Egyptian-derived mythologies that make up Sethian Gnosticism, they do have genders, but I think that’s because they are adopting the gendered pantheon of ancient gods that were written about. But in the purest philosophical form, there is no gender, because the Aeons do not procreate through sex, the way second-order powers do down here on earth. You know the way the Aeons procreate? By giving glory together to the Father, by singing. It’s vibrational. And in various combinations, the Aeons sing together, like a choir here and a choir there and a choir over there. And those various combinations of giving glory give birth to more and more Aeons. That’s the way Aeons multiply. Where conventional Christianity differs from Gnostic Christianity is that we have a different Genesis story. We have a different backstory to how we all came to be here. Now, it doesn’t seem to me that that should be enough to separate us as brothers and sisters in Christ, because we all agree on the importance of the Christ. The Christ, the Christ as we Gnostics say, Christ as conventional Christians say, and it irritates them to hear the in front of the word Christ. The Christ was conceived by all of the Aeons praying as one for salvation to come to the cosmos and all of the second-order powers that populate the cosmos. The Aeons are the first order of powers. Everyone that was conceived by the Aeons and sent out of the ethereal plane into this material plane are the second order of powers. That’s all of us. It’s the humans, but it’s everything that’s alive on the planet. The Christ is the third order of powers. The Aeons were the first order of powers. We living creatures here in the cosmos are the second order of powers. And Christ is the third order of powers. And it comes with the entirety of the Fullness and the blessings of the Son and the Father. The backstory where we disagree is the idea of who the fallen angel is, because the Christians also believe in fallen angels, and they often say that Lucifer was the most beautiful and highest of the angels who fell to Earth and became Satan. Well, it’s a version of the Gnostic tale. In the Gnostic mythology, the highest Aeon wanted to go out and create paradise on its own, and in the Sethian Gnosticism, that’s Sophia. In the Valentinian or Christian Gnosticism, that character is known as Logos. In the Tripartite Tractate, which is the book that I study, the name of that Aeon is Logos. And this Aeon overreaches, takes more upon itself than it was assigned. It wasn’t supposed to go out and build paradise on its own, and so when that Aeon, Sophia or Logos, attempted to do that, it fell from the ethereal plane, and it is the brokenness of that attempt that is our material plane. That’s what materiality is. It’s the shadows of the effort of the fallen Aeon. That’s why our material existence is solid, dark, heavy, full of confusion and forgetfulness, full of ego overreaching—because ego is what characterizes that Aeon who fell. And the character who stays down here and becomes the god of this world and puts it all back together is the shadow of that fallen Aeon. Sethians call it Yaldabaoth. We Gnostic Christians call it the Demiurge, as did Plato. Plato used this word Demiurge as architect–what it means. So the Aeon who overreached had all the plans in mind, knew all the blueprints. The Aeon who overreached, Logos, carried within itself a little copy of all the knowledge of all the other Aeons. We are children of the Elohim of Adonai Elohim The Aeon who fell was a fractal level down from the entirety of the Fullness of God, you see? So whatever you picture the Fullness of God to be, and I always picture it to be a pyramidal stack because it’s a hierarchy and that’s the shape of hierarchies, not because I am a worshiper of ancient Egyptian traditions or Phoenician or whoever came before them and actually built the pyramids. The pyramids themselves are replicas of the hierarchy of God. That’s the nature of the pyramidal shape. The mountain of God is a hierarchy representing the Fullness of God. So the Aeon that was sitting at the very top overreached, fell, and split off from its overreaching ego. That stayed down below and became the God of this universe, of the cosmos, that we call the Demiurge, even though that’s a Greek name. Same concept—the architect of the universe. And we second order powers were sent into the cosmos to bring the life, consciousness, love, knowledge, and remembrance of the Father down into this shadowy place that we live in. However—same catch as happened to the Aeon who fell—we forget. When we become melded to the materiality of this thick and slow cosmos, we forget our primary mission. And our primary mission is to bring life, consciousness of the Father, love, knowledge, remembrance into this cosmos, primarily to remind the Demiurge, the piece of the fallen Aeon that’s stuck down here, of where it comes from, that it is not the highest power, that it is not the ultimate God. And in Christian Gnosticism, the Demiurge, when it remembers, this entire physical, material space will disappear, and everything will roll back up into the ethereal plane from whence we all came. So that’s our mission, to bring remembrance to the Demiurge, and remembrance to each other, because it takes all of us working together to bring remembrance and demonstration of love to the Demiurge. We’re not doing a very good job, are we? All of the hatred, all of the violence, the wars, the fighting, even just the quibbling inside of families and friends, this is not a demonstration of love. It’s about power and control. And that’s what rules the cosmos, power and control, and at the godly (small g) plane that is wielded by the Demiurge. And the archons of the Demiurge are extensions of the Demiurge, they are not in themselves self-aware, conscious entities, because the Demiurge forgets where it all comes from. The Demiurge doesn’t realize consciousness itself. It’s the shadow of the consciousness of the fallen Aeon, who is no longer down here, by the way, who went back up. So that fallen Aeon who went back up and abandoned the mess down here below, that Aeon, the entirety of the Fullness of God, and the Son, pray together to the Father to bring stability and order, remembrance, love, and salvation to this earth, to the cosmos as a whole. And that is the Christ. So the Christ is not exactly the same as the Son, although the Christ embodies all of the power and remembrance of the Son. But he came a bit downstream, although frankly there is no such thing as time in eternity. But there are steps, there are places, and the Christ embodies the entirety of the Fullness of God that includes the Son and the full knowledge and presence of the Father. And in that sense, Christ is the Son of the Father. So when Christ says, I and my Father are one, that’s true. Why do we even need Christ? Because we can’t do it on our own. And you know that whenever you fall, whenever we have our mistakes, our forgetfulness, when we fight with someone, when we make big mistakes and hurt ourselves, when we find ourselves in some terrible situation of our own doing, or someone else’s doing, you can’t pull yourself out. You know that. All you want to do is lie down and cry. You feel weak. You feel burdened. It is the job of the Christ to lift that burden, to bring remembrance, love, and the consciousness of the Father to you, to remind you that you’re not abandoned. You are not a motherless child, a fatherless, child. You are a much-loved, designed, desired child of the Fullness of God who has lost its way. We second-order powers, particularly the humans, become confused down here, forgetful, just like the Demiurge. And most of us latch on to the leading of the Demiurge, mistaking the Demiurge for God. But the Demiurge is not God the Father. Our Father lives in eternity above, and Christ is the emissary of that Father. And Christ came to earth in human form so that we would identify with Him, so that we would recognize Him, so that we would believe Him when He says, I have come to save you. So it’s not a foolishness. It’s not a fairy tale. It’s the truth incarnate. And whether or not you happen to believe in the historicity of Jesus the Christ is really very immaterial to your salvation, because it is possible to believe in God the Father directly. It is possible to feel the Holy Spirit of the Fullness of God within you directly. And that’s where the gnosis comes in. The cross of Jesus bridges the gap between the Fullness and the Demiurge and overcomes the never-ending war we second order powers are trapped in. Gnostics commune with their aeonic parents, the Aeons of the Fullness of God. And through the Aeons, we commune directly with the Son of God. And by communing with the Son of God who loves us, who knows us, we were known and pre-designed by the Son and the Aeons before we came down to populate this earth. We were supposed to bring their love and consciousness down here and make everything nice and right, but we have failed. That’s our failure. It’s a failure to remember. It’s amnesia. And what the Christ does is bring us anamnesia. We remember. And when you accept the Christ into your heart, whether you call yourself a Christian, whether you call yourself a Gnostic, or whether you are in some other tradition, when you accept the salvation of the Christ directly into your heart, and you open yourself up and you pray for help, salvation, remembrance, forgiveness, take this burden off of me—that’s the job of the Christ. And that’s why all Gnostics need Christ, and everyone, all second-order powers need Christ. I think the flowers and the dogs and the cows and all the other animals, they’re not as fallen, if you want to use that term, as we humans are, because we get all balled up with the Demiurge. But the other second-order powers, they seem to be more true. They seem to be more in touch with the love of paradise and the consciousness of paradise, as they bask in the sunshine, doing their jobs of bringing life and love. And there will be a tipping point when all of us second-order powers believe in the mission of the Christ, which brings us the salvation and remembrance of the Fullness and the Son and the Father. The Christ comes to us all. Jesus, the Christ, was the first incarnation of Christ here on the Earth. But whenever one of us accepts the Christ, it comes into us the same way it inhabited Jesus, although the Christ inhabited Jesus to perfection, because Jesus never erred. He was born with the Christ and he lived his entire life embodying the Christ. We all embody the Christ when we accept the Christ into our hearts. That is where we get the true power to overcome the Demiurge and the problems and confusion of this world. And when we have that realization, we’re able to exit this material plane. And when we exit this material plane and all of us start sticking our landing up above, the Demiurge is going to look around and go, What? Where’d everybody go? And he’s going to remember. And then everything rolls up and it’s all ethereal once again. The Tripartite Tractate refers to “heaven” as the Third Economy. The First Economy was the ethereal plane and the Fullness of the God. The Second Economy is the material cosmos. The Third Economy is coming and it’s all good. We will live with the Aeons above. No shadows, no Demiurge, no archons, no strife. Only joy. And as my Greek mother taught me to say, Ο Χριστός ανέστη. Αληθώς ανέστη. O Christos anesti. Alithos anesti, which means Christ has risen. Truly He is risen. Happy Easter. Remember the Christ. Remember the Son and the Father. Remember your Aeonic parents above. God bless us all and onward and upward. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Name *FirstLastEmail *Stripe Credit Card *Choose your item *Item A - $10.00Item B - $25.00Item C - $50.00Total$0.00Submit

Welcome back to Gnostic Insights and to the Gnostic Reformation on Substack. And Happy Easter, everybody! This is the time of year when Christians all over the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. Holy Week leading up to the resurrection is a rough one because it’s the passion of the Christ where the scriptures talk about and people reenact the trial of Christ, his walk with the cross to the hill of Calvary, and then his agony on the cross. We all know that story. But what does it mean? Why is there such a story? Many people who doubt the veracity of the early Christian histories think it’s all made up, think it’s a fairy tale. But I’ve got a couple of ways to talk about that. One way is this. If the story of Jesus is nothing but a made-up story, who made it up? And how did they know exactly how to make up the story to create this gigantic movement that is called Christianity? You can’t accidentally bumble into the salvation story. People aren’t that clever. And if someone was that clever to write a believable salvation story that wasn’t true, to what end? Why would they want to do that—making up a gigantic lie that is going to hoodwink millions and millions of people, do such a thing and get away with it and be so successful at it? And why would they do that? Because the salvation story I’m telling you does save people, does pull people out of their traps and their desperation and their addictions. You may be saying to yourself, hey, wait a minute, I thought this was a Gnostic podcast. What’s all this talk about Christ and Easter? Well, there is a branch of Gnosticism that’s referred to as Christian Gnosticism or Valentinian Gnosticism, and that happens to be what I believe in. And Christ is a central salvific figure in that form of Gnosticism. The conventional Christian church desperately needs Gnostics. They need us to bring them the depth of understanding of the Gospels, the depth of understanding of the writings that have been admitted into the New Testament, as well as the writings that were excluded from the New Testament, such as those found in the Nag Hammadi books and the Tripartite Tractate in particular. These are as Christian as Christian can be, more so than most conventional Christians’ understanding of their role and the role of Jesus and the role of Christ and the nature of the Father, the understanding of virtue and vice. We Gnostics carry that knowledge with us. We remember. That’s the process of Gnosticism, is remembering. That’s called anamnesis. You might have run across that word before. You know, amnesia means don’t remember, anamnesia means I remember. Just like agnostic means I don’t know, but gnostic means I know. Now, why do I say that the Christian church needs Gnostics? You know, they don’t want us there. They think we’re misleading people, taking them away from the cross, taking them away from heaven and salvation. But it couldn’t be more incorrect. Gnostic Christians are true Christians, because in order to consider yourself a Gnostic, you need to be in touch with the Holy Spirit. You need to have a relationship and an understanding of the Father and the Son and the Fullness of God. Almost by definition, if you are Gnostic, you carry the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now, these things are very important to Christians, but they have excluded the means to get there. They have excluded the books from the same period as the books of the New Testament. They’ve excluded the ones that speak of Gnosis and speak of the way things are and who the nature of the Father is and how the Christ came about and who is the Son. Is the Son the same as Christ? Not exactly. The Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. And by the way, the Holy Spirit, that’s what we Gnostics call the Fullness of God. The hierarchy of the Fullness of God as an aggregate, as a place, as an entity, is what is called the Holy Spirit in conventional Christianity. You have the Father, the original, illimitable, omnipotent, omniscient consciousness that predates everything. And the Father conceives in his own mind or in its own mind, because obviously the Father is not an old man with a beard, even though we tend to represent him that way. That’s more of a metaphorical expression. Even in my children’s book, Children of the Fullness, I picture the Father as the old man in the beard and the Son as his small child being held in his arms. But it’s not really that. That’s a metaphor. The Father is consciousness, pure consciousness, without form. The Son is all of the Father’s consciousness and omniscience and omnipotence, but in a place, in a form. He’s a monad, or it’s a monad, because again, there’s no sex, there’s no gender, there’s no DNA. So, we shouldn’t be getting all hung up with the pronouns for the entities of the ethereal plane. Now, in the other form of Gnosticism, the Phoenician, Egyptian-derived mythologies that make up Sethian Gnosticism, they do have genders, but I think that’s because they are adopting the gendered pantheon of ancient gods that were written about. But in the purest philosophical form, there is no gender, because the Aeons do not procreate through sex, the way second-order powers do down here on earth. You know the way the Aeons procreate? By giving glory together to the Father, by singing. It’s vibrational. And in various combinations, the Aeons sing together, like a choir here and a choir there and a choir over there. And those various combinations of giving glory give birth to more and more Aeons. That’s the way Aeons multiply. Where conventional Christianity differs from Gnostic Christianity is that we have a different Genesis story. We have a different backstory to how we all came to be here. Now, it doesn’t seem to me that that should be enough to separate us as brothers and sisters in Christ, because we all agree on the importance of the Christ. The Christ, the Christ as we Gnostics say, Christ as conventional Christians say, and it irritates them to hear the in front of the word Christ. The Christ was conceived by all of the Aeons praying as one for salvation to come to the cosmos and all of the second-order powers that populate the cosmos. The Aeons are the first order of powers. Everyone that was conceived by the Aeons and sent out of the ethereal plane into this material plane are the second order of powers. That’s all of us. It’s the humans, but it’s everything that’s alive on the planet. The Christ is the third order of powers. The Aeons were the first order of powers. We living creatures here in the cosmos are the second order of powers. And Christ is the third order of powers. And it comes with the entirety of the Fullness and the blessings of the Son and the Father. The backstory where we disagree is the idea of who the fallen angel is, because the Christians also believe in fallen angels, and they often say that Lucifer was the most beautiful and highest of the angels who fell to Earth and became Satan. Well, it’s a version of the Gnostic tale. In the Gnostic mythology, the highest Aeon wanted to go out and create paradise on its own, and in the Sethian Gnosticism, that’s Sophia. In the Valentinian or Christian Gnosticism, that character is known as Logos. In the Tripartite Tractate, which is the book that I study, the name of that Aeon is Logos. And this Aeon overreaches, takes more upon itself than it was assigned. It wasn’t supposed to go out and build paradise on its own, and so when that Aeon, Sophia or Logos, attempted to do that, it fell from the ethereal plane, and it is the brokenness of that attempt that is our material plane. That’s what materiality is. It’s the shadows of the effort of the fallen Aeon. That’s why our material existence is solid, dark, heavy, full of confusion and forgetfulness, full of ego overreaching—because ego is what characterizes that Aeon who fell. And the character who stays down here and becomes the god of this world and puts it all back together is the shadow of that fallen Aeon. Sethians call it Yaldabaoth. We Gnostic Christians call it the Demiurge, as did Plato. Plato used this word Demiurge as architect–what it means. So the Aeon who overreached had all the plans in mind, knew all the blueprints. The Aeon who overreached, Logos, carried within itself a little copy of all the knowledge of all the other Aeons. We are children of the Elohim of Adonai Elohim The Aeon who fell was a fractal level down from the entirety of the Fullness of God, you see? So whatever you picture the Fullness of God to be, and I always picture it to be a pyramidal stack because it’s a hierarchy and that’s the shape of hierarchies, not because I am a worshiper of ancient Egyptian traditions or Phoenician or whoever came before them and actually built the pyramids. The pyramids themselves are replicas of the hierarchy of God. That’s the nature of the pyramidal shape. The mountain of God is a hierarchy representing the Fullness of God. So the Aeon that was sitting at the very top overreached, fell, and split off from its overreaching ego. That stayed down below and became the God of this universe, of the cosmos, that we call the Demiurge, even though that’s a Greek name. Same concept—the architect of the universe. And we second order powers were sent into the cosmos to bring the life, consciousness, love, knowledge, and remembrance of the Father down into this shadowy place that we live in. However—same catch as happened to the Aeon who fell—we forget. When we become melded to the materiality of this thick and slow cosmos, we forget our primary mission. And our primary mission is to bring life, consciousness of the Father, love, knowledge, remembrance into this cosmos, primarily to remind the Demiurge, the piece of the fallen Aeon that’s stuck down here, of where it comes from, that it is not the highest power, that it is not the ultimate God. And in Christian Gnosticism, the Demiurge, when it remembers, this entire physical, material space will disappear, and everything will roll back up into the ethereal plane from whence we all came. So that’s our mission, to bring remembrance to the Demiurge, and remembrance to each other, because it takes all of us working together to bring remembrance and demonstration of love to the Demiurge. We’re not doing a very good job, are we? All of the hatred, all of the violence, the wars, the fighting, even just the quibbling inside of families and friends, this is not a demonstration of love. It’s about power and control. And that’s what rules the cosmos, power and control, and at the godly (small g) plane that is wielded by the Demiurge. And the archons of the Demiurge are extensions of the Demiurge, they are not in themselves self-aware, conscious entities, because the Demiurge forgets where it all comes from. The Demiurge doesn’t realize consciousness itself. It’s the shadow of the consciousness of the fallen Aeon, who is no longer down here, by the way, who went back up. So that fallen Aeon who went back up and abandoned the mess down here below, that Aeon, the entirety of the Fullness of God, and the Son, pray together to the Father to bring stability and order, remembrance, love, and salvation to this earth, to the cosmos as a whole. And that is the Christ. So the Christ is not exactly the same as the Son, although the Christ embodies all of the power and remembrance of the Son. But he came a bit downstream, although frankly there is no such thing as time in eternity. But there are steps, there are places, and the Christ embodies the entirety of the Fullness of God that includes the Son and the full knowledge and presence of the Father. And in that sense, Christ is the Son of the Father. So when Christ says, I and my Father are one, that’s true. Why do we even need Christ? Because we can’t do it on our own. And you know that whenever you fall, whenever we have our mistakes, our forgetfulness, when we fight with someone, when we make big mistakes and hurt ourselves, when we find ourselves in some terrible situation of our own doing, or someone else’s doing, you can’t pull yourself out. You know that. All you want to do is lie down and cry. You feel weak. You feel burdened. It is the job of the Christ to lift that burden, to bring remembrance, love, and the consciousness of the Father to you, to remind you that you’re not abandoned. You are not a motherless child, a fatherless, child. You are a much-loved, designed, desired child of the Fullness of God who has lost its way. We second-order powers, particularly the humans, become confused down here, forgetful, just like the Demiurge. And most of us latch on to the leading of the Demiurge, mistaking the Demiurge for God. But the Demiurge is not God the Father. Our Father lives in eternity above, and Christ is the emissary of that Father. And Christ came to earth in human form so that we would identify with Him, so that we would recognize Him, so that we would believe Him when He says, I have come to save you. So it’s not a foolishness. It’s not a fairy tale. It’s the truth incarnate. And whether or not you happen to believe in the historicity of Jesus the Christ is really very immaterial to your salvation, because it is possible to believe in God the Father directly. It is possible to feel the Holy Spirit of the Fullness of God within you directly. And that’s where the gnosis comes in. The cross of Jesus bridges the gap between the Fullness and the Demiurge and overcomes the never-ending war we second order powers are trapped in. Gnostics commune with their aeonic parents, the Aeons of the Fullness of God. And through the Aeons, we commune directly with the Son of God. And by communing with the Son of God who loves us, who knows us, we were known and pre-designed by the Son and the Aeons before we came down to populate this earth. We were supposed to bring their love and consciousness down here and make everything nice and right, but we have failed. That’s our failure. It’s a failure to remember. It’s amnesia. And what the Christ does is bring us anamnesia. We remember. And when you accept the Christ into your heart, whether you call yourself a Christian, whether you call yourself a Gnostic, or whether you are in some other tradition, when you accept the salvation of the Christ directly into your heart, and you open yourself up and you pray for help, salvation, remembrance, forgiveness, take this burden off of me—that’s the job of the Christ. And that’s why all Gnostics need Christ, and everyone, all second-order powers need Christ. I think the flowers and the dogs and the cows and all the other animals, they’re not as fallen, if you want to use that term, as we humans are, because we get all balled up with the Demiurge. But the other second-order powers, they seem to be more true. They seem to be more in touch with the love of paradise and the consciousness of paradise, as they bask in the sunshine, doing their jobs of bringing life and love. And there will be a tipping point when all of us second-order powers believe in the mission of the Christ, which brings us the salvation and remembrance of the Fullness and the Son and the Father. The Christ comes to us all. Jesus, the Christ, was the first incarnation of Christ here on the Earth. But whenever one of us accepts the Christ, it comes into us the same way it inhabited Jesus, although the Christ inhabited Jesus to perfection, because Jesus never erred. He was born with the Christ and he lived his entire life embodying the Christ. We all embody the Christ when we accept the Christ into our hearts. That is where we get the true power to overcome the Demiurge and the problems and confusion of this world. And when we have that realization, we’re able to exit this material plane. And when we exit this material plane and all of us start sticking our landing up above, the Demiurge is going to look around and go, What? Where’d everybody go? And he’s going to remember. And then everything rolls up and it’s all ethereal once again. The Tripartite Tractate refers to “heaven” as the Third Economy. The First Economy was the ethereal plane and the Fullness of the God. The Second Economy is the material cosmos. The Third Economy is coming and it’s all good. We will live with the Aeons above. No shadows, no Demiurge, no archons, no strife. Only joy. And as my Greek mother taught me to say, Ο Χριστός ανέστη. Αληθώς ανέστη. O Christos anesti. Alithos anesti, which means Christ has risen. Truly He is risen. Happy Easter. Remember the Christ. Remember the Son and the Father. Remember your Aeonic parents above. God bless us all and onward and upward. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Name *FirstLastEmail *Stripe Credit Card *Choose your item *Item A - $10.00Item B - $25.00Item C - $50.00Total$0.00Submit

Welcome back to Gnostic Insights. Today is part three of my book report on David Bentley Hart's book called That All Shall Be Saved, Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation. The past two weeks we covered the beginning of his book, the Introduction. I'm going to begin this section by reading out of his final remarks, because he does a good job of simplifying his arguments here at the end of the book. So we'll start with that. Hart says on page 201, It may offend against our egalitarian principles today, but it was commonly assumed among the very educated of the early church that the better part of humanity was something of a hapless rabble who could be made to behave responsibly only by the most terrifying coercions of their imaginations. Belief in universal salvation may have been far more widespread in the first four or five centuries of Christian history than it was in all the centuries that followed, but it was never, as a rule, encouraged in any general way by those in authority in the church. Maybe there are great many among us who can be convinced to be good only through the threat of endless torture at the hands of an indefatigably vindictive god. Even so much as hint that the purifying flames of the age to come will at last be extinguished, and perhaps a good number of us will begin to think like the mafioso who refuses to turn state's evidence because he is sure he can do the time. Bravado is, after all, the chief virtue of the incorrigibly stupid. He goes on to say, I have never had much respect for the notion of the blind leap of faith, even when that leap is made in the direction of something beautiful and ennobling. I certainly cannot respect it when it is made in the direction of something intrinsically loathsome and degrading. And I believe that this is precisely what the Infernalist position, no matter what form it takes, necessarily involves. And to remind you, if you didn't hear the past two episodes, Infernalist refers to the notion that there is an unending hell of pain and torture for the unregenerate or the unrepentant. Further down page 202, Hart says, I honestly, perhaps guilelessly, believe that the doctrine of eternal hell is prima facie nonsensical for the simple reason that it cannot even be stated in Christian theological terms without a descent into equivocity, which is equivocation, so precipitous and total that nothing but edifying gibberish remains. To say that, on the one hand, God is infinitely good, perfectly just, and inexhaustibly loving, and that, on the other, he has created a world under such terms as oblige him either to impose or to permit the imposition of eternal misery on finite rational beings is simply to embrace a complete contradiction. All becomes mystery, but only in the sense that it requires a very mysterious ability to believe impossible things. [Jumping down the page, he says,] Can we imagine logically, I mean not merely intuitively, that someone still in torment after a trillion ages, or then a trillion trillion, or then a trillion vigintillion, is in any meaningful sense the same agent who contracted some measurable quantity of personal guilt in that tiny, ever more vanishingly insubstantial gleam of an instant that constituted his or her terrestrial life? And can we do this even while realizing that, at that point, his or her sufferings have, in a sense, only just begun, and, in fact, will always have only just begun? What extraordinary violence we must do both to our reason and to our moral intelligence, not to mention simple good taste, to make this horrid notion seem palatable to ourselves. And all because we have somehow, foolishly, allowed ourselves to be convinced that this is what we must believe. Really, could we truly believe it all apart from either profound personal fear or profound personal cruelty? Which is why, again, I do not believe that most Christians truly believe what they believe they believe. So, what he's saying here, what I've been talking to you about, is the idea that God, the God Above All Gods, what we call the Father in Gnosticism, would condemn people to everlasting torment, everlasting torment, with no other goal than to punish, because they're never going to get out of it. That's what everlasting means. And so it's just punishment for the sake of punishment, and that that great, unlimitable God would impose this punishment on little, limited, finite beings who only lived a brief millisecond of time in the great span of time of God. That God would create these people for the purpose, basically, of condemning them to everlasting torment. You see, that is not even rational. It doesn't make any sense. Not if you believe God is good. It's impossible. Now, if you think that God is evil, well, then that's not God, is it? By definition, if you believe that God is cruel and vindictive and unreasonable, well, that's not the God Above All Gods. And this should come as relief to those of you who think you can't believe in God, because God is so cruel and vindictive. Perhaps you were raised in an extremely cruel household with extremely vindictive parents, or schoolteachers, or somebody got to you and, in the name of God, inflicted cruelty upon you. Then you have come to accidentally transpose their human cruelty onto God, because they told you to. But that's not God, by definition, you see? And when I say, by definition, that means, like, cold is not hot, by definition. Cold is cold. And if you're going to start arguing, oh no, cold is hot, well, then you're not talking about cold, you're talking about hot. Do you see what I mean? And if you have been rejecting God, the God Above All Gods, because you have this view of God as merciless and vindictive, cruel, illogical, unfair, unjust, take comfort, because that's not God you're talking about. Now, it may be the small g god of this world. It could be the guy whose best friend is Satan, because remember, that is a small g god of confusion. And its main job is to cause you to forget that you come from transcendent goodness, that you come from above, from the God Above All Gods, and that you do have freedom. You do have free will. You are meant to inherit joy. You are to do good works, and to be happy, and to be in love, and to love everybody else. Don't let some evil archon, or evil Demiurge, or evil human, redefine God in such a way that you reject God, because that's the mistake. That's a categorical error. And that's why I say, take comfort, have joy, receive the love that was meant for you. Throwing out the baby with the bath water means to reject the Good because you can't sort it out from the bad. Refusing to accept God or Christ because you reject the flawed Christian Church is an example of throwing out the baby with the bath water. Okay, back to the book. On page 205, Hart says, It was not always thus. Let me at least shamelessly idealize the distant past for a moment. In its dawn, the gospel was a proclamation principally of a divine victory that had been won over death and sin, and over the spiritual powers of rebellion against the big G God that dwells on high, and here below, and under the earth. It announced itself truly as the good tidings of a campaign of divine rescue on the part of a loving God, who by the sending of his Son into the world, and even into the kingdom of death, had liberated his creatures from slavery to a false and merciless master, and had opened a way into the kingdom of heaven, in which all of creation would be glorified by the direct presence of big G God, [or the Father, as we call him in Gnosticism]. And by the way, this paragraph that I just read about early Christianity, is entirely consistent with this Valentinian Christianity that I share with you here. That is the entire purpose of we second-order creatures being sent down here below, to bring the good tidings of life and love and liberty to the fallen Demiurge, and now subsequently to all of the people who have been hoodwinked by the Demiurge and Satan into believing in the false god that does not incorporate love. Hart goes on to say, It was above all a joyous proclamation and a call to a lost people to find their true home at last, in their father's house. It did not initially make its appeal to human hearts by forcing them to revert to some childish or bestial cruelty latent in their natures. Rather, it sought to awaken them to a new form of life, one whose premise was charity. Nor was it a religion offering only a psychological salve for individual anxieties regarding personal salvation. It was a summons to a new and corporate way of life, salvation by entry into a community of love. Nothing as yet was fixed except the certainty that Jesus was now Lord over all things and would ultimately yield all things up to the Father, so that God might be all in all. Now we're going to go back into the earlier part of the book to explain some of these concepts in more depth. Hart has broken his book into four meditations, or four subjects we could call it. The first meditation is, who is God? The second meditation is, what is judgment? The third meditation is, what is a person? And the fourth meditation is, what is freedom? A reflection on the rational will. So in the first meditation, who is God? Hart explains to us that, The moral destiny of creation and the moral nature of God are absolutely inseparable. As the transcendent good beyond all things, God is also the transcendental end that makes every single action of any rational nature possible. Moreover, the end toward which He acts must be His own goodness, for He is Himself the beginning and end of all things. This is not to deny that, in addition to the primary causality of God's act of creation, there are innumerable forms of secondary causality operative within the creative order. But none of these can exceed or escape the one end toward which the first cause directs all things. And so what he is saying here is that the first causality is the expression of God's goodness, the purity of God reaching out through the Son and into the Fullness of God—emanating. That is the principal causality. That is the prime mover of all things, what we call the base state of consciousness, the matrix. But then there is a secondary causality that takes place subsequent to that. And I guess the first act of secondary causality was probably the fall, in that it was the first act of will prompted by ego that apparently deviated from God's original plan, although the Tripartite Tractate does say we shouldn't blame Logos because the fall was the cause of the cosmos which was destined to come about. But whereas the Father is the prime mover and remains shielded in purity and fullness and goodness—you see, all the love emanates from the Father, evil doesn't swim back upstream. It's all emanating from the Father, and it's all good. But we do have secondary causality down here in the created cosmos, primarily due to the actions of the Demiurge and the never-ending war that runs amuck down here. Hart says, page 70, First, as God's act of creation is free, constrained by neither necessity nor ignorance, all contingent ends are intentionally enfolded within his decision. And second, precisely because God in himself is absolute, absolved, that is, of every pathos of the contingent, every affect of the sort that a finite substance has the power to visit upon another, his moral venture in creating is infinite. One way or another, after all, all causes are logically reducible to their first cause. This is no more than a logical truism. In either case, all consequence are, either as actualities or merely possibilities, contingent upon the primordial antecedent, apart from which they could not exist. In other words, all the things that happen down here in the cosmos couldn't have happened without God giving it the first start, without the Father giving it the initial emanation. He goes on to say, And naturally, the rationale of a first cause, its definition, in the most etymologically exact meaning of that term, is the final cause that prompts it, the end toward which it acts. If, then, that first cause is an infinitely free act emerging from infinite wisdom, all those consequence are intentionally entailed, again, either as actualities or as possibilities within that first act. And so the final end to that act tends is its whole moral truth. The traditional definition of evil as a privation of the good, lacking any essence of its own, in other words, what we would call in Gnosticism, evil is the shadow of the good. Evil is the shadow of Logos. It's not a thing in itself. It's the absence of the love and the light of the Father. It is also an assertion that when we say God is good, we are speaking of Him not only relative to his creation, but as he is in himself. All comes from God, and so evil cannot be a thing that comes from anywhere. Evil is, in every case, merely the defect whereby a substantial good is lost, belied, or resisted. For in every sense, being is act, and God, in his simplicity and infinite freedom, is what he does. He could not be the creator of anything substantially evil without evil also being part of the definition of who he essentially is, for he alone is the wellspring of all that exists. Jumping down the page on 71, Hart says, “God goes forth in all beings, and in all beings returns to himself.” That's how I describe as we all carry the Fullness of God within our being, and within every cell of our being. And since we are carrying the Fullness of God within us, we will have to return to the Fullness of God ultimately. We can't be lost in everlasting torment, because we are the Fullness of God, and God cannot torment itself. Hart says, God has no need of the world. He creates it not because he is dependent upon it, but because its dependency on him is a fitting expression of the bounty of his goodness. Doesn't that remind you of, in the beginning, the Father was alone, and he admired his goodness and beauty and love. He was full of love and beauty, and gave birth, so to speak—He emanated the Son. And the Son and the Father gave glory to one another. And in that giving of glory to one another, then the Son emanated the Fullness. And then in giving glory to one another in the Fullness and to the Son, the Fullness emanates us, the second order of powers. And it's all because you can't love without having an object to love, even if it's only in your own mind. Love requires an object of devotion, and giving glory is the reciprocal of love. We give glory because we were first loved. It's a fitting expression of the bounty of goodness, as Hart puts it. Then he goes on to say, This, however, also means that within the story of creation, viewed from its final cause, there can be no residue of the pardonably tragic, no irrecuperable or irreconcilable remainder left behind at the end of the tale. For if there were, this irreconcilable excess would also be something God has directly caused. Now, in our Gnostic gospel, there is a remnant “left behind at the end of the tale.” And that is the shadowy archons that were never a part of the original creation because they did not come from the “first cause” discussed earlier. The shadows of the Demiurge did not come from the Fullness or the fallen Aeon, but are only the absence of the qualities of that Aeon, this is why they are referred to as shadows. They are figments that do not have a reality outside of the Deficiency. Therefore, they have no home to return to in the Fullness of God. They are not from the Fullness. And he talks a bit about Hegel's system and dismisses it, and I'm not going to go into it. Hart says, The story Christians tell is of creation as God's sovereign act of love, neither adding to nor qualifying His eternal nature. And so it is also a story that leaves no room for an ultimate distinction between the universal truth of reason and the moral meaning of the particular, or for any distinction between the moral meaning of the particular and the moral nature of God. Only by insisting upon the universality of God's mercy could Paul, in Romans 11.32, liberate himself from the fear that the particularity of that mercy would prove to be an ultimate injustice, and that in judging His creatures, God would reveal Himself not as the good God of faithfulness and love, but as an inconstant God who can shatter His own covenants at will. Hart reminds us that down through the centuries, Christians have again and again subscribed to formulations of their faith that clearly reduce a host of cardinal Christian theological usages, most especially moral predicates like good, merciful, just, benevolent, loving, to utter equivocity, and that by association, reduce their entire grammar of Christian belief to meaninglessness. [On the next page, 75, he says], consider, to begin with the mildest of moral difficulties, how many Christians down the centuries have had to reconcile their consciences to the repellent notion that all humans are at conception already guilty of a transgression that condemns them justly to eternal separation from God and eternal suffering, and that in this doctrine's extreme form, every newborn infant belongs to a massa damnata, hateful in God's eyes from the first moment of existence. Hart loves to throw in Latin. Massa damnata obviously means that the masses would be damned. The very notion of an inherited guilt is a logical absurdity, rather on the order of a square circle. All that the doctrine can truly be taken to assert, speaking logically, is that God willfully imputes to innocent creatures a guilt they can never have really contracted out of what, from any sane perspective, can only be called malice. But this is just the beginning of the problem. For one broad, venerable stream of tradition, God, on the basis of this imputation, consigns the vast majority of the race to perpetual torment, including infants who die unbaptized. And may I point out that in Gnostic Christianity there is no inherited guilt at all because the Fall was not caused by the first humans, Adam and Eve, but occurred at the Aeonic level. Christianity carries a remnant of that understanding forward when it refers to “fallen angels,” but it does not connect the dots to realize their culpability in original sin. And then the theology of grace grows grimmer, for according to the great Augustinian tradition, since we are somehow born meriting not only death but eternal torment, we are enjoined to see and praise a laudable generosity in God's narrow choice to elect a small remnant for salvation, before and apart from any consideration of their concrete merits or demerits, and this further choice either to predestine or infallibly to surrender the vast remainder to everlasting misery. So it is that, for many Christians down the years, the rationale of evangelization has been a desperate race to save as many souls as possible from God. The time has really gotten away from us, and we've only touched the first meditation, so I hope you are enjoying this theology. It's theology, and I know that's difficult slog, but I'm sharing with you these thoughts because they comprise basically the sum total of Christian theology for the past 2,000 years, and it has gone through changes here and there. David Bentley Hart is a scholar of Eastern Orthodoxy and a scholar of religion and philosopher and so forth, and I think that he has very clear sight. So we'll pick this up one more time next week, and I promise we'll wrap it up. Onward and upward! God bless us all! This book gathers the essential insights of gnosis into a clear, approachable form. Gnosis can be as simple or as intricate as you choose to make it, but its heart is always accessible. A Simple Explanation guides you through the often tangled vocabulary and shifting landscapes of Gnostic thought, offering a path that is both illuminating and easy to follow. The glossary alone is a treasure—an indispensable reference for anyone exploring ancient Christian mysticism, the Nag Hammadi texts, or the deeper layers of spiritual philosophy. Now available in paperback, hardback, Kindle, and audiobook editions through amazon and your local booksellers.

Welcome back to Gnostic Insights. Today is part three of my book report on David Bentley Hart's book called That All Shall Be Saved, Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation. The past two weeks we covered the beginning of his book, the Introduction. I'm going to begin this section by reading out of his final remarks, because he does a good job of simplifying his arguments here at the end of the book. So we'll start with that. Hart says on page 201, It may offend against our egalitarian principles today, but it was commonly assumed among the very educated of the early church that the better part of humanity was something of a hapless rabble who could be made to behave responsibly only by the most terrifying coercions of their imaginations. Belief in universal salvation may have been far more widespread in the first four or five centuries of Christian history than it was in all the centuries that followed, but it was never, as a rule, encouraged in any general way by those in authority in the church. Maybe there are great many among us who can be convinced to be good only through the threat of endless torture at the hands of an indefatigably vindictive god. Even so much as hint that the purifying flames of the age to come will at last be extinguished, and perhaps a good number of us will begin to think like the mafioso who refuses to turn state's evidence because he is sure he can do the time. Bravado is, after all, the chief virtue of the incorrigibly stupid. He goes on to say, I have never had much respect for the notion of the blind leap of faith, even when that leap is made in the direction of something beautiful and ennobling. I certainly cannot respect it when it is made in the direction of something intrinsically loathsome and degrading. And I believe that this is precisely what the Infernalist position, no matter what form it takes, necessarily involves. And to remind you, if you didn't hear the past two episodes, Infernalist refers to the notion that there is an unending hell of pain and torture for the unregenerate or the unrepentant. Further down page 202, Hart says, I honestly, perhaps guilelessly, believe that the doctrine of eternal hell is prima facie nonsensical for the simple reason that it cannot even be stated in Christian theological terms without a descent into equivocity, which is equivocation, so precipitous and total that nothing but edifying gibberish remains. To say that, on the one hand, God is infinitely good, perfectly just, and inexhaustibly loving, and that, on the other, he has created a world under such terms as oblige him either to impose or to permit the imposition of eternal misery on finite rational beings is simply to embrace a complete contradiction. All becomes mystery, but only in the sense that it requires a very mysterious ability to believe impossible things. [Jumping down the page, he says,] Can we imagine logically, I mean not merely intuitively, that someone still in torment after a trillion ages, or then a trillion trillion, or then a trillion vigintillion, is in any meaningful sense the same agent who contracted some measurable quantity of personal guilt in that tiny, ever more vanishingly insubstantial gleam of an instant that constituted his or her terrestrial life? And can we do this even while realizing that, at that point, his or her sufferings have, in a sense, only just begun, and, in fact, will always have only just begun? What extraordinary violence we must do both to our reason and to our moral intelligence, not to mention simple good taste, to make this horrid notion seem palatable to ourselves. And all because we have somehow, foolishly, allowed ourselves to be convinced that this is what we must believe. Really, could we truly believe it all apart from either profound personal fear or profound personal cruelty? Which is why, again, I do not believe that most Christians truly believe what they believe they believe. So, what he's saying here, what I've been talking to you about, is the idea that God, the God Above All Gods, what we call the Father in Gnosticism, would condemn people to everlasting torment, everlasting torment, with no other goal than to punish, because they're never going to get out of it. That's what everlasting means. And so it's just punishment for the sake of punishment, and that that great, unlimitable God would impose this punishment on little, limited, finite beings who only lived a brief millisecond of time in the great span of time of God. That God would create these people for the purpose, basically, of condemning them to everlasting torment. You see, that is not even rational. It doesn't make any sense. Not if you believe God is good. It's impossible. Now, if you think that God is evil, well, then that's not God, is it? By definition, if you believe that God is cruel and vindictive and unreasonable, well, that's not the God Above All Gods. And this should come as relief to those of you who think you can't believe in God, because God is so cruel and vindictive. Perhaps you were raised in an extremely cruel household with extremely vindictive parents, or schoolteachers, or somebody got to you and, in the name of God, inflicted cruelty upon you. Then you have come to accidentally transpose their human cruelty onto God, because they told you to. But that's not God, by definition, you see? And when I say, by definition, that means, like, cold is not hot, by definition. Cold is cold. And if you're going to start arguing, oh no, cold is hot, well, then you're not talking about cold, you're talking about hot. Do you see what I mean? And if you have been rejecting God, the God Above All Gods, because you have this view of God as merciless and vindictive, cruel, illogical, unfair, unjust, take comfort, because that's not God you're talking about. Now, it may be the small g god of this world. It could be the guy whose best friend is Satan, because remember, that is a small g god of confusion. And its main job is to cause you to forget that you come from transcendent goodness, that you come from above, from the God Above All Gods, and that you do have freedom. You do have free will. You are meant to inherit joy. You are to do good works, and to be happy, and to be in love, and to love everybody else. Don't let some evil archon, or evil Demiurge, or evil human, redefine God in such a way that you reject God, because that's the mistake. That's a categorical error. And that's why I say, take comfort, have joy, receive the love that was meant for you. Throwing out the baby with the bath water means to reject the Good because you can't sort it out from the bad. Refusing to accept God or Christ because you reject the flawed Christian Church is an example of throwing out the baby with the bath water. Okay, back to the book. On page 205, Hart says, It was not always thus. Let me at least shamelessly idealize the distant past for a moment. In its dawn, the gospel was a proclamation principally of a divine victory that had been won over death and sin, and over the spiritual powers of rebellion against the big G God that dwells on high, and here below, and under the earth. It announced itself truly as the good tidings of a campaign of divine rescue on the part of a loving God, who by the sending of his Son into the world, and even into the kingdom of death, had liberated his creatures from slavery to a false and merciless master, and had opened a way into the kingdom of heaven, in which all of creation would be glorified by the direct presence of big G God, [or the Father, as we call him in Gnosticism]. And by the way, this paragraph that I just read about early Christianity, is entirely consistent with this Valentinian Christianity that I share with you here. That is the entire purpose of we second-order creatures being sent down here below, to bring the good tidings of life and love and liberty to the fallen Demiurge, and now subsequently to all of the people who have been hoodwinked by the Demiurge and Satan into believing in the false god that does not incorporate love. Hart goes on to say, It was above all a joyous proclamation and a call to a lost people to find their true home at last, in their father's house. It did not initially make its appeal to human hearts by forcing them to revert to some childish or bestial cruelty latent in their natures. Rather, it sought to awaken them to a new form of life, one whose premise was charity. Nor was it a religion offering only a psychological salve for individual anxieties regarding personal salvation. It was a summons to a new and corporate way of life, salvation by entry into a community of love. Nothing as yet was fixed except the certainty that Jesus was now Lord over all things and would ultimately yield all things up to the Father, so that God might be all in all. Now we're going to go back into the earlier part of the book to explain some of these concepts in more depth. Hart has broken his book into four meditations, or four subjects we could call it. The first meditation is, who is God? The second meditation is, what is judgment? The third meditation is, what is a person? And the fourth meditation is, what is freedom? A reflection on the rational will. So in the first meditation, who is God? Hart explains to us that, The moral destiny of creation and the moral nature of God are absolutely inseparable. As the transcendent good beyond all things, God is also the transcendental end that makes every single action of any rational nature possible. Moreover, the end toward which He acts must be His own goodness, for He is Himself the beginning and end of all things. This is not to deny that, in addition to the primary causality of God's act of creation, there are innumerable forms of secondary causality operative within the creative order. But none of these can exceed or escape the one end toward which the first cause directs all things. And so what he is saying here is that the first causality is the expression of God's goodness, the purity of God reaching out through the Son and into the Fullness of God—emanating. That is the principal causality. That is the prime mover of all things, what we call the base state of consciousness, the matrix. But then there is a secondary causality that takes place subsequent to that. And I guess the first act of secondary causality was probably the fall, in that it was the first act of will prompted by ego that apparently deviated from God's original plan, although the Tripartite Tractate does say we shouldn't blame Logos because the fall was the cause of the cosmos which was destined to come about. But whereas the Father is the prime mover and remains shielded in purity and fullness and goodness—you see, all the love emanates from the Father, evil doesn't swim back upstream. It's all emanating from the Father, and it's all good. But we do have secondary causality down here in the created cosmos, primarily due to the actions of the Demiurge and the never-ending war that runs amuck down here. Hart says, page 70, First, as God's act of creation is free, constrained by neither necessity nor ignorance, all contingent ends are intentionally enfolded within his decision. And second, precisely because God in himself is absolute, absolved, that is, of every pathos of the contingent, every affect of the sort that a finite substance has the power to visit upon another, his moral venture in creating is infinite. One way or another, after all, all causes are logically reducible to their first cause. This is no more than a logical truism. In either case, all consequence are, either as actualities or merely possibilities, contingent upon the primordial antecedent, apart from which they could not exist. In other words, all the things that happen down here in the cosmos couldn't have happened without God giving it the first start, without the Father giving it the initial emanation. He goes on to say, And naturally, the rationale of a first cause, its definition, in the most etymologically exact meaning of that term, is the final cause that prompts it, the end toward which it acts. If, then, that first cause is an infinitely free act emerging from infinite wisdom, all those consequence are intentionally entailed, again, either as actualities or as possibilities within that first act. And so the final end to that act tends is its whole moral truth. The traditional definition of evil as a privation of the good, lacking any essence of its own, in other words, what we would call in Gnosticism, evil is the shadow of the good. Evil is the shadow of Logos. It's not a thing in itself. It's the absence of the love and the light of the Father. It is also an assertion that when we say God is good, we are speaking of Him not only relative to his creation, but as he is in himself. All comes from God, and so evil cannot be a thing that comes from anywhere. Evil is, in every case, merely the defect whereby a substantial good is lost, belied, or resisted. For in every sense, being is act, and God, in his simplicity and infinite freedom, is what he does. He could not be the creator of anything substantially evil without evil also being part of the definition of who he essentially is, for he alone is the wellspring of all that exists. Jumping down the page on 71, Hart says, “God goes forth in all beings, and in all beings returns to himself.” That's how I describe as we all carry the Fullness of God within our being, and within every cell of our being. And since we are carrying the Fullness of God within us, we will have to return to the Fullness of God ultimately. We can't be lost in everlasting torment, because we are the Fullness of God, and God cannot torment itself. Hart says, God has no need of the world. He creates it not because he is dependent upon it, but because its dependency on him is a fitting expression of the bounty of his goodness. Doesn't that remind you of, in the beginning, the Father was alone, and he admired his goodness and beauty and love. He was full of love and beauty, and gave birth, so to speak—He emanated the Son. And the Son and the Father gave glory to one another. And in that giving of glory to one another, then the Son emanated the Fullness. And then in giving glory to one another in the Fullness and to the Son, the Fullness emanates us, the second order of powers. And it's all because you can't love without having an object to love, even if it's only in your own mind. Love requires an object of devotion, and giving glory is the reciprocal of love. We give glory because we were first loved. It's a fitting expression of the bounty of goodness, as Hart puts it. Then he goes on to say, This, however, also means that within the story of creation, viewed from its final cause, there can be no residue of the pardonably tragic, no irrecuperable or irreconcilable remainder left behind at the end of the tale. For if there were, this irreconcilable excess would also be something God has directly caused. Now, in our Gnostic gospel, there is a remnant “left behind at the end of the tale.” And that is the shadowy archons that were never a part of the original creation because they did not come from the “first cause” discussed earlier. The shadows of the Demiurge did not come from the Fullness or the fallen Aeon, but are only the absence of the qualities of that Aeon, this is why they are referred to as shadows. They are figments that do not have a reality outside of the Deficiency. Therefore, they have no home to return to in the Fullness of God. They are not from the Fullness. And he talks a bit about Hegel's system and dismisses it, and I'm not going to go into it. Hart says, The story Christians tell is of creation as God's sovereign act of love, neither adding to nor qualifying His eternal nature. And so it is also a story that leaves no room for an ultimate distinction between the universal truth of reason and the moral meaning of the particular, or for any distinction between the moral meaning of the particular and the moral nature of God. Only by insisting upon the universality of God's mercy could Paul, in Romans 11.32, liberate himself from the fear that the particularity of that mercy would prove to be an ultimate injustice, and that in judging His creatures, God would reveal Himself not as the good God of faithfulness and love, but as an inconstant God who can shatter His own covenants at will. Hart reminds us that down through the centuries, Christians have again and again subscribed to formulations of their faith that clearly reduce a host of cardinal Christian theological usages, most especially moral predicates like good, merciful, just, benevolent, loving, to utter equivocity, and that by association, reduce their entire grammar of Christian belief to meaninglessness. [On the next page, 75, he says], consider, to begin with the mildest of moral difficulties, how many Christians down the centuries have had to reconcile their consciences to the repellent notion that all humans are at conception already guilty of a transgression that condemns them justly to eternal separation from God and eternal suffering, and that in this doctrine's extreme form, every newborn infant belongs to a massa damnata, hateful in God's eyes from the first moment of existence. Hart loves to throw in Latin. Massa damnata obviously means that the masses would be damned. The very notion of an inherited guilt is a logical absurdity, rather on the order of a square circle. All that the doctrine can truly be taken to assert, speaking logically, is that God willfully imputes to innocent creatures a guilt they can never have really contracted out of what, from any sane perspective, can only be called malice. But this is just the beginning of the problem. For one broad, venerable stream of tradition, God, on the basis of this imputation, consigns the vast majority of the race to perpetual torment, including infants who die unbaptized. And may I point out that in Gnostic Christianity there is no inherited guilt at all because the Fall was not caused by the first humans, Adam and Eve, but occurred at the Aeonic level. Christianity carries a remnant of that understanding forward when it refers to “fallen angels,” but it does not connect the dots to realize their culpability in original sin. And then the theology of grace grows grimmer, for according to the great Augustinian tradition, since we are somehow born meriting not only death but eternal torment, we are enjoined to see and praise a laudable generosity in God's narrow choice to elect a small remnant for salvation, before and apart from any consideration of their concrete merits or demerits, and this further choice either to predestine or infallibly to surrender the vast remainder to everlasting misery. So it is that, for many Christians down the years, the rationale of evangelization has been a desperate race to save as many souls as possible from God. The time has really gotten away from us, and we've only touched the first meditation, so I hope you are enjoying this theology. It's theology, and I know that's difficult slog, but I'm sharing with you these thoughts because they comprise basically the sum total of Christian theology for the past 2,000 years, and it has gone through changes here and there. David Bentley Hart is a scholar of Eastern Orthodoxy and a scholar of religion and philosopher and so forth, and I think that he has very clear sight. So we'll pick this up one more time next week, and I promise we'll wrap it up. Onward and upward! God bless us all! This book gathers the essential insights of gnosis into a clear, approachable form. Gnosis can be as simple or as intricate as you choose to make it, but its heart is always accessible. A Simple Explanation guides you through the often tangled vocabulary and shifting landscapes of Gnostic thought, offering a path that is both illuminating and easy to follow. The glossary alone is a treasure—an indispensable reference for anyone exploring ancient Christian mysticism, the Nag Hammadi texts, or the deeper layers of spiritual philosophy. Now available in paperback, hardback, Kindle, and audiobook editions through amazon and your local booksellers.

Ethereal Encounters Welcomes David Sereda LIVE, Friday, November 21st, 2025 - 3 PM EST Topic: 3I/Atlas and the Hyperdimensional: A New Solar System Bio: David Sereda is an inventor, author, filmmaker, and spiritual researcher known for his work in quantum harmonics, frequency-based healing technologies, UFOs, and consciousness development. Born on August 21, 1961, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, he grew up as the second eldest in a family of five boys. His father, Dr. Lynn Sereda, a Ph.D. in educational psychology from UC Berkeley, profoundly influenced him by introducing meditation at age 13 to pursue "God Consciousness" and spiritual growth. The family briefly relocated to Berkeley, California, in 1964 for his father's studies, amid a period of social and spiritual change that shaped David's early interests. His childhood included significant challenges, such as his parents' divorce, which deepened his quest for spiritual enlightenment. Over 23 years, David worked as a tree planter in British Columbia, personally planting more than 1.3 million trees while integrating physical labor with daily meditation practices. He has over 40 years of experience in meditation, studying world religions (including Buddhism, Hinduism, Gnostic Christianity), yoga, breathwork, sound healing, philosophy, physics, UFOs, crop circles, sacred sites, and consciousness. David's career spans multiple fields: he has authored books like Mona Lisa's Little Secret, Face to Face with Jesus Christ, and The Great Pyramid and The Harmony of the Order (co-authored with his wife, Crystal Sereda); directed and produced documentaries such as Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs (2005), Quantum Communication (2009), and From Here to Andromeda (2017); and appeared on numerous radio and TV shows. In 1994, he reported a profound spiritual encounter, describing a face-to-face meeting with Jesus Christ, which led him to become a disciple while honoring his diverse past teachers. With Crystal, whom he met in Los Angeles through Dan Aykroyd during a UFO footage analysis session at the House of Blues, David co-developed the Quantum ReGenesis meditation and consciousness course series (audio/video). They founded Lightstream Harmonics Technologies, focusing on natural technologies to imprint frequencies and vibrations into jewelry, crystals, and gem-powered EMF Rife frequency devices for healing and DNA activation. Their work explores Tesla technologies, scalar energy, and quantum science for spiritual and physical wellness. David continues to innovate in bio-electric healing systems and harmonic frequencies, offering courses and products through davidsereda.co. Regarding your reference to www.davidsereda.co, that site primarily showcases his inventions and products under Lightstream Harmonics Technologies (e.g., gem-powered healing devices), with limited biographical details—it positions him as the creator of these authentic, handcrafted items and provides contact info (email: DavidSereda@hotmail.com; phone: 250-551-7176)

Gnosticism is one of the most confusing and enigmatic early Christian groups, whose beliefs were considered secret knowledge meant only for a select few. Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman answers my questions about what Gnostics thought about Jesus - where he came from, what he was doing on earth, and whether or not he was divine.

Ready to untie the red thread holding the New Age, Gnostic Christianity, and the antichrist together? Join me in an episode explaining and exposing the fabrics of Kabbalah, also known as Jewish mysticism.  Learn how it's woven itself into the biggest psychological operation to exist, Lucifer's lie sewn into the Garden of Eden.In this episode I discuss what tempted Eve, Lucifer's fall, how everything stems from Kabbalah, the meaning of 6,000,000, Saturn worship and the hexagram, the New Age and Kabbalah, how all paths do not lead to God, how Gnostic Christianity grew from the roots of Kabballah, the keys to understanding Kabballah, the Protestant Reformation, quantum physics, the Big Bang and Catholicism, ecumenism, Seraphim Rose and his book "Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future," the Noahide Laws, the Royal Academy, cabals, and so much more!Want more? Let's be friends. Join the Friendship Membership.Want to read my memoir, Here Comes Trouble? It's available now. Order your copy.

Send us a Positive Review!Series Title: A Two-Hundred Year Old Mirror: How the Faith Expansion Journey has Always Made Christian Leadership Sweat! [Episode I of II]In the next two Monday episodes you are going to LOVE this conversation between Valerie and her friend Casey McFarland (of @pioneerparadox) as they discuss a fascinating aspect of early Christian history that is sure to resonate with you on your own faith expansion journey. They delve into the world of early Christian Gnostics and their progressive beliefs that challenged the early church general leadership by claiming that while a church can be a useful resource in one's journey towards spiritual light and truth, God could be found within each of us and is not controlled by any other human person or institution. If you don't want to feel alone in your wrestles with institutional authority, these two episodes will hit home in every way. Also stay tuned for the end of the episode where Casey & Val make an exciting announcement that you will not want to miss! 00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome01:11 Casey's Background and Interests03:26 Early Christian History and Book Discussion06:49 Comparing Early Christianity and Modern LDS Church11:48 The Role of Early Christian Leaders30:40 Valentina and Progressive Early Christians36:43 Ancient Philosophical Schools and Heresies37:32 The Threat of Competing Beliefs38:24 Valentina's Following and the Church's Response40:00 Gnostic Beliefs and Self-Discovery40:59 Quotes from Gnostic Texts43:13 Gnostic Christianity vs. Traditional Christianity48:23 The Concept of Maya and Moksha52:58 Stages of Faith and Compassion01:01:34 The Transforming Power of LoveSupport the showSupport the show Listen, Share, Rate & Review EPISODES Friday Episodes Annual Access $89 Friday Episodes Monthly Access $10 Valerie's Support & Processing Groups Gift a Scholarship Download Free Resources Visit our Website

Are we living in a simulation… or are we part of a dream imagined by God?In this thought-provoking episode of The Infinite Spark of Being, we explore the ancient and modern theories that question the very nature of reality. From Hinduism's concept of Maya to Gnostic Christianity, Sufi mysticism, and Buddhist philosophy—alongside modern thinkers like Elon Musk, Nick Bostrom, and quantum physicists—you'll hear powerful perspectives that suggest this world may not be as solid as it seems.We also explore indigenous cosmologies, paranormal researchers, and simulation theorists who all point to one central truth: what we're experiencing might be a dream, a test, or a program. But more importantly—does it matter? If this was proven to be a simulation, what would change about how you live?Whether you believe in the divine, simulation theory, or just want to think more deeply about your place in the cosmos, this episode is your invitation to wake up from the illusion and live with presence and purpose.✨ Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

In this episode, Krista sits down with Jet'aime Cheree, Ordained Energy Priestess of the Magdalene Isis Lineage, to dive deep into the sacred, sexy mysteries of Gnostic Christianity, Mary Magdalene, and the true meaning of living as a modern goddess.  Ready to open your heart (and maybe your third eye) to what the Bible didn't tell you about feminine power? Jet'aime explains ancient hierarchies, the return of the divine feminine, and how YOU can reclaim your own sacred magic—even if you're still untangling old church wounds.  Jet'aime also spills secrets about Mary Magdalene's real story, and how awakening to your lineage can spark true personal growth, deep relationships, and alignment with your desires. If you've ever asked, “Who am I, really?” or crave more fulfillment, intimacy, and purpose—don't miss this convo! We also talk about: -The rise of mystic + Gnostic Christianity in modern spiritual circles   -The true meaning of “living scripture” + why the Bible is just the beginning -Mary Magdalene as a rebel priestess + keeper of the divine feminine mysteries   -Why sex + sensuality are essential gateways to spiritual awakening   -The esoteric vs. exoteric traditions—hidden knowledge decoded   -How ancestral DNA + lineage can activate your untapped personal power   -Dispelling the myths of Lucifer + “demons”— and why darkness is just unrecognized light   -Permission practices to unlock your feminine magic (mirror gazing, dreamwork & more)   -The difference between matrilineal + patriarchal societies—and what it means for us now   -Practical ways to embody your own Magdalene essence in love, career, and daily life Resources -Website: https://www.jetaimecheree.com/home -Instagram: @jetaimecheree -Get our book, Almost 30: A Definitive Guide To A Life You Love For The Next Decade and Beyond, here: http://bit.ly/Almost30Book.  Sponsors: AX3 | AX3 has generously offered a 20% discount on your first order when you visit AX3.life and use promo code ALMOST30 at checkout. BetterHelp | This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/almost30 and get on your way to being your best self with 10% off your first month. Primally Pure | Use code “ALMOST30” to get 15% off your Primally Pure purchase. Ka'Chava | Go to https://kachava.com and use code ALMOST30 for 15% off your next order. IQ Bar | Get 20% off all IQBAR products, plus get FREE shipping. Just text ALMOST to 64000 to get your discount. To advertise on this podcast please email: partnerships@almost30.com. Learn More: -https://almost30.com/about -almost30.com/morningmicrodose -https://almost30.com/book Join our community: -facebook.com/Almost30podcast/groups -instagram.com/almost30podcast -tiktok.com/@almost30podcast -youtube.com/Almost30Podcast Podcast disclaimer can be found by visiting: almost30.com/disclaimer.  Find more to love at almost30.com! Almost 30 is edited by Garett Symes and Isabella Vaccaro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Full episodes at Patreon.com/slopquest O’Neill has a concussion and Andy smells blood in the water and goes nuts on O’Neill. Then he reveals that the concussion has given him impression powers. There’s some Princess and The Pee talk, Pocket Watch hypnosis, and performing stand up concussed. Then White Lotus breaks the R word taboo. Andy tells O’Neill about Jimmy Carter and the “prison planet” conspiracy and O’Neill converts to Gnostic Christianity. They reminisce about trashy ladies with Tweetie Bird tattoos. Then Andy and Ryan come up with a game plan for having to sit next to a dead guy on a plane. Ryan tries to hypnotize Andy with a dangling finger. A rich guy blows his penis out with enlargement surgery. Then O’Neill sings the praises of David LoPan . Then he humble brags about a woman attacking him in his sleep. Andy criticizes O’Neill’s impression of his own voice which he considers “performativly sexy”. Then they talk about a fair price for crimes. A cab driver tries to bang Andy’s ex girlfriend and left hilarious messages. Then Andy plays a heart warming story of a pastor beating up a kid for “playing games with God”.

In this episode, David and Gene delve into the fascinating world of Gnostic Christianity, exploring its origins, philosophical concepts, and enduring influence.The episode explores the historical and philosophical landscape that gave birth to Gnostic Christianity, focusing on Alexandria's crucial role as a melting pot of Eastern and Western thought. David and Gene also discuss the significance of the Septuagint and the works of Philo of Alexandria, in bridging Jewish and Greek philosophical traditions.The main Gnostic sects are introduced: the Sethians, Valentinians, Basilideans, Ophites, and Carpocratians, as well as the key texts associated with them, that were discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. In preparation for later discussions, this episode summarizes many fundamental Gnostic concepts such as the Pleroma, Nous, Aeons, Barbelo, Sophia, the Demiurge, and the Archons.Carl Jung's contributions to understanding Gnosticism are examined, as are his interpretations of Gnostic concepts as representations of psychological processes and structures, shedding light on the potential of Gnostic thought to illuminate the human psyche.Deep Dive:Gnostic ChristianityChapters:01:15 Introduction02:43 Gnostic Christianity05:28 The Septuagint07:04 Philo of Alexandria09:34 Gnostic Sects11:54 Nag Hammadi Texts12:50 Gnostic Concepts15:14 Seven Sermons to the Dead17:04 Gnostic Psychology19:28 Gnostic Jung22:27 ConclusionsResources:MiddleChamber.org (A Symposium of Masonic Esoterika)Morals & Dogma: Annotated EditionThe Nag Hammadi ScripturesThe Red Book: A Reader's Edition by Carl JungSeven Sermons To the Dead by Carl JungGnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing by Stephan A. Hoeller

In the Anurag Sagar, India's most Gnostic scripture, souls are depicted as being held captive inside the Palace of Kal, the lord of time and illusion (called "the Demiurge" by the Gnostics). The Satguru does battle with Kal to free the souls. The genuine Living Teacher, the Sant Satguru, guides his or her students through this internal struggle with the mind or ego (the agent of Kal in the matrix of mind), this labyrinth of self-sabotaging, limited belief-systems of the negative power (Kal Mat: the teachings of Kal), so that the initiates may experience Divine Love, Light and Sound within and follow the Path back to God (Dayal, the Merciful One), the Ocean of Love. Today we explore the following, a outline or playlist of what we're covering during this satsang podcast: mystic poems of Sant Dadu Dayal of Rajasthan: The Results of True Love, and, The Vision of the Beloved; a saying from the Gnostic Gospel of Judas which sounds a bit like a Rumi poem; definitions of the term "Demiurge" from Platonism, Gnostic Christianity, Judaism, and the Sant Tradition of India; definitions of the eastern term for the Demiurge: the Kal Niranjan: a false god, negative power, lord of time and illusion as described in footnotes by Russell Perkins in the English edition of a key Sant Mat spiritual classic, India's most Gnostic scripture: The Anurag Sagar (The Ocean of Love, about the teachings of Kabir and Sant Dharam Das); Kal Mat vs. Dayal Mat, Illusion vs. Truth, by Shiv Dayal Singh, also known as Swami Ji Maharaj of Agra from his collection of mystic verses called the Sar Bachan Radhasoami Poetry; also a description of Swami Ji's meditation room-within-a-room and on how we too can create our own meditation space at home; several mystic terms are defined based on the Glossary of Sant Mat and additional footnotes from, The Anurag Sagar; a satsang discourses by Hazur Baba Sawan Singh titled, What's Really Going On Here -- During This Life the Disciple or Devotee Contends With Mind as They Attempt to Merge into the Positive Power; a satsang discourse by Baba Ram Singh titled, If You Really Resolve To Have A Desire To Go Within And Transform To God Almighty, That Is Possible In This Human Form; and I conclude with mystic poetry verses from: Sant Ramdasa of Maharashtra, Maharshi Mehi Paramhans from his Padavali (Hymn 135); a reading from the Sukhmani of Guru Arjan Dev, also from Guru Ram Das (both from the Adi Granth, Sikh Scriptures). The Gnostic Demiurge vs. The God of Love (KAL Mat vs. Dayal Mat) - Anurag Sagar Studies on Spiritual Awakening Radio In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami (Radhaswami) James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Santmat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls Spiritual Awakening Radio Website: https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com/anurag-sagar  

Cub Kuker Supernatural Podcast EP451 I read a lot of ancient scriptures in my life, and some have even bordered on the paranormal. However, none of them have taken me as deep down the rabbit hole as The Gospel of Thomas! The Gospel of Thomas: A Brief History: The Gospel of Thomas is an early Christian text that is part of a collection of writings known as the Nag Hammadi library. This library was discovered in 1945 near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, and contains a number of Gnostic texts. The Gospel of Thomas itself is believed to have been composed in the early to mid-2nd century CE, making it one of the oldest Christian texts known. The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus, many of which are distinct from those found in the canonical Gospels of the New Testament. It is often associated with Gnostic Christianity due to its emphasis on secret knowledge and the mystical aspects of Jesus' teachings. The Gospel of Thomas was excluded from the Bible for several reasons. Early Christian leaders and councils were concerned with establishing orthodoxy and unity within the Church. Texts like the Gospel of Thomas, which emphasized esoteric and mystical knowledge, were seen as diverging from the orthodox teachings that the early Church sought to promote. Additionally, the Gospel of Thomas was not widely accepted or circulated among early Christian communities, contributing to its exclusion from the canonical Bible. The discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts in the 20th century provided a deeper understanding of early Christian diversity and the various perspectives that existed about Jesus' teachings. Readings from: The Gospel of Thomas: Modern Interpretation by Jacob Kuker (Cub) available only on my research blog as a part of my CKS Member Pass! NOTE: For entertainment only. My only account is @CubKuker _________________________________________

In this episode of "Way of the Hermit," David and Gene dive down the rabbit hole, into the world of Gnosticism and its connection to Freemasonry. They explore how Gnostic teachings, once considered heretical, were driven underground and lay buried for centuries until their rediscovery in the 20th century. They discuss the core principles of Gnosticism, emphasizing its focus on direct inner knowledge of the divine (gnosis) rather than adherence to dogma or external rules.The episode traces the historical suppression of Gnostic ideas by early Christian literalists and examines key figures in Gnostic thought, including Simon Magus, Philo of Alexandria, and G.R.S. Mead. David and Gene highlight the significance of the Nag Hammadi texts discovered in 1945, which provided unprecedented insights into Gnostic Christianity. They also explore the symbolic interpretations of religious and Masonic stories, arguing that these allegories contain deeper truths about human consciousness and spiritual awakening.The discussion draws intriguing parallels between Gnostic concepts and Masonic symbolism, suggesting that Freemasonry is perhaps a form of Gnosticism. They propose that the three degrees of the Masonic Blue Lodge, as well as the Masonic quest for the “Lost Word”, the three names of God and three temples in the Scottish Rite, correspond to the three stages of Gnostic awakening.Deep Dive:Nag Hammadi's Gnostic RevelationsChapters:01:15 Introduction01:36 Gnosticism04:02 Masonry is Gnosticism06:33 The Key to the Mysteries09:56 Church of the Antichrist13:19 Simon Magus15:49 Philo of Alexandria18:05 G.R.S. Mead21:21 Nag Hammadi24:45 ConclusionsResources:The Gnostics: The First Christian Heretics by Sean MartinJesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians by Tim Freke & Peter GandyNovo Clavis Esoterika by Timothy HoganGnostic Religion in Antiquity by Roelof van den BroekPistis Sophia: The Gnostic Tradition of Mary Magdalene, Jesus, and His Disciples by G.R.S. MeadFragments Of A Faith Forgotten by G.R.S. MeadCorpus Hermeticum by G.R.S. MeadSimon Magus: The Gnostic Magician by G.R.S. MeadGnostic John the Baptizer by G.R.S. MeadGnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing by Stephan A. HoellerThe American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation by Harold BloomThe Gnostic Gospels by Elaine PagelsGod is a Verb by David Cooper

This week on Black Hoodie Alchemy, we have a podcast-swaparoo with my homie Joe Rupe, host of Lighting the Void, and we're both celebrating the fresh release of my audiobook Dive Manual: Empirical Investigations of Mysticism. With the paperback released in 2020, Joe has lended his narration and editing talents to help me bring this book into audio form, and since he took the time to read the entire thing -- including all the outtakes and re-reads -- he now has quite a bit to say about it all. I admittedly have a hard time explaining this book briefly, but it is data-driven research about my own investigations into mysticism, magick, and the religious experience. I look heavily into scientific concepts like Jungian psychoanalysis, sleep paralysis, dream analysis, phantom limb syndrome, memetics, and chaos theory. In addition, I also investigate the mechanics and history of things like alchemy, astrology, tarot, numerology, reincarnation, the Trees of Life & Death, Hermeticism, Gnostic Christianity, Taoism, Buddhism, Kabbalah, Paganism, and much more. Lastly, it has at times a semi-fictional framework that includes me as the narrator guiding you as the reader through the proverbial diving experience. There's more I could say, but I will leave it at that for now! It's a winding journey about insanity, neuroticism, catharsis, unexplainable phenomena, and ineffable transcendence. Don't forget -- if you dig Dive Manual, check out my second work Hunt Manual: 21st Century Demonology & Forteana. Joe has plans to bring this to audiobook form soon as well! DIVE MANUAL AUDIOBOOK HERE my linktree to my books, website, comedic character shorts & more This week's featured music is brought to you by the extremely badass rock n' roll talents of ZIG MENTALITY, including some of their collaborations with their well-known homies CLEOPATRICK. I'm very excited to be able to bump these killer musicians and you really oughta check em out! Best Direction - ZIG MENTALITY Hate to Say I Told You So (The Hives Cover) - ZIG MENTALITY x CLEOPATRICK BMF #13 - ZIG MENTALITY x CLEOPATRICK Triggered Emotion - ZIG MENTALITY --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blackhoodiealchemy/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/blackhoodiealchemy/support

These days you can't shake a stick without running into some version of Gnostic Christianity. Why is that?  Gnosticism is absolutely wild and psychedelic, that plays a part. But did counterculture collectively decide one day that Gnosticism was pretty groovy? Well, apart from fragments of texts, writings about Gnosticism from the Catholic church's perspective (heresy!), and underground currents of mystic knowledge, mainstream culture didn't really know anything about what the Gnostics believed until the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices, a jar of 13 papyrus scrolls containing 52 books from Gnosticism, Hermeticism, and other mystic traditions. The collection was discovered in Egypt, 1946 by a pair of probable graverobbers, and wouldn't be fully translated and published until the 1970s. This week we're going to look at some core texts and definitely get some stuff wrong as we explore Gnosticism and the Nag Hammadi Codices.  Help us get a JSTOR subscription and get less stuff wrong by joining our Patreon, where you'll get access to bonus episodes and our patron Discord server, all for just 5 shmucks a month.    https://patreon.com/thenonsensebazaar

On Thursday June 3rd, 2021 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a reading off the newly drafted Corpus Christi ceremony which will represent the Rosicrucian climax of the ancient pagan seasonal ceremony round. It will be performed following the Spring Sacred Marriage Nuptiae rite. In keeping with the Sacred Marriage being the supreme sacrament and passion of early Gnostic Christianity. The ritual will follow the ancient Naassene document honoring Jesus as the last of the pagan dying Gods coming down to rescue and marry Mary Magdalene so that they may rule together as King and Queen of Israel. So if you want experience the Second Coming, Valentinian style, tune in and receive the Gnosis.

In the upcoming episode of the School of Divine Mysteries, we traverse the vast landscapes of religious traditions, exploring the profound concepts of heaven and hell. Join our host, Aba Al-Sadiq (fhip) and his student Tiffany, as we journey through the intricate teachings in Judaism, Christianity (including Gnostic Christianity), and Islam.

Cub Kuker Supernatural Podcast EP351 Today I want to talk about what we have all been missing when it comes to interpreting, reading, and practicing scripture and lives. Unfortunately, we all have a tendency to look for a dogmatic “this is this” and “that is that” doctrine when the actual power of scripture may be hidden within the ancient Gnostic scriptures, and the esoteric view they hold within. The Gnostic Scriptures "The Hymn of the Pearl" and "The Acts of Thomas," are part of a collection of ancient religious texts that fall under the umbrella of Gnosticism. Gnosticism is a diverse set of religious and spiritual beliefs that emerged in the early centuries of the Common Era. It encompasses a variety of sects and teachings, characterized by the belief in special knowledge (gnosis) that leads to salvation. The Hymn of the Pearl    - Context: The Hymn of the Pearl is a poetic and symbolic narrative found within the Acts of Thomas, an apocryphal work associated with Gnostic Christianity.    - Symbolism: The hymn tells the story of a prince who descends into the material world, forgets his royal origin, and becomes entangled in earthly affairs. Eventually, he remembers his true identity and undertakes a journey to reclaim a valuable pearl, which symbolizes spiritual knowledge or enlightenment.    - Meaning: The narrative is often interpreted allegorically, representing the soul's journey into the material realm, its forgetfulness of its divine origin, and the quest for self-discovery and reunification with the divine.    - Gnostic Influence: The text reflects Gnostic themes, emphasizing the importance of knowledge and spiritual insight. It also includes elements of asceticism and an emphasis on the divine within. It's important to note that Gnostic texts were often rejected by mainstream Christian groups, and many Gnostic sects faced persecution. The Nag Hammadi library, discovered in Egypt in 1945, contained a significant number of Gnostic texts, contributing to modern scholars' understanding of Gnostic beliefs and practices. These texts provide valuable insights into the diverse religious landscape of the early centuries of the Common Era and the various theological perspectives that existed within the broader Christian tradition. What do you think of this text? × NOTE: My interpretations are purely my creative and theoretical opinion. Always do your own research in regard to any theory. × I Explore Supernatural Mythōs. Unlock More As A Member! ↘️

On Thursday May 21st 2020 the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Twisted History of Christianity. The general theme of this presentation is how the distortion of its original principles perverted its mission for the following two thousand years of world history. We will examine how the Christian religion, which was supposed to bring peace, love and comfort to the people who accepted it, brought instead War, hatred, persecution and despair. We will begin by recalling what Christianity was supposed to be and who Jesus's Father in Heaven really was. We will remember how his wife, Mary Magdalene and later the bishop Valentinian and his follower Marcus tried to carry on the original teachings. We will recall how the Roman Church created its Inquisition to stamp out the resurgence of original Gnostic Christianity in Southern France where Mary Magdalene and Marcus had preached, and how the Roman Church launched a genocidal crusade against these innocent Cathars killing millions. The Inquisition went on to murder thousand of heretics and witches while the Church bishops exploited the poor and offered salvation for money. Finally Northern European Christians revolted in a movement called the Reformation, but the Protestants failed to correct the original mistake the Roman Church had made in accepting Yahweh as the father of Jesus and incorporating the corrupted Old Testament as part of the Christian Bible. By the 18th century all forms of Christianity were challenged by the rise of a new atheistic religion that offered the same promise: peace, love and comfort. It emerged from the horror of the French Revolution. You can call it socialism, humanism, or communism – but what ever name it goes under, it is actually a Christian Heresy. It is Christian altruism without salvation. So, If you want to want to know how the early Christians got it wrong and how we can fix it, tune in and we'll reveal a real New Testament.

This marks part 1 of a 5-part series where I will read aloud chapters from Manly P. Hall's “The Wisdom of the Knowing Ones: Gnosticism, the Key to Esoteric Christianity,” a collection of inter-related essays concerning the "esoteric keys" to the early movement of Christianity. In this episode, we'll be reading the introduction of the book, titled "What Do The Knowers Know?" Together, we'll explore the importance of the 1945 dicovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices, a collection of early Christian Gnostic texts, which were originally written in the 2nd and 4th centuries AD. What you'll learn: What is Gnosticism? What were the main Gnostic beliefs and practices? What does Gnosticism have to do with esoteric Christianity? What is the significance of the Nag Hammadi library and what sacred texts were found there?? Is Jesus in the Nag Hammadi writings? ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Manly Palmer Hall was a Canadian author, lecturer, astrologer, mystic, and Freemason. Over his 70-year career he gave thousands of lectures and published over 150 volumes of written work. Early in his life, he became drawn to mysticism, esoteric philosophies, and their underlying principles. While visiting London in the early 1930s, Hall acquired from an auction agent at Sotheby's, a substantial collection of rare books and manuscripts about alchemy and esotericism. Owing to economic conditions resulting from the Great Depression, he acquired the collection for an insanely low price due to the economic circumstances of the time.SELECTED READING: “The Wisdom of the Knowing Ones: Gnosticism, the Key to Esoteric Christianity.” (Pages 1-22)YOUR FAVORITE MYSTICAL BEDTIME STORY PODCAST: Can't sleep? This adult bedtime story podcast invites you to escape the burdens of sleeplessness and immerse yourself in a mystical world of relaxation and enchantment. Sometimes our weary minds need a break from the endless scrolling that often accompanies insomnia. Each episode allows you to unwind and prepare to embrace deep sleep while awakening to arcane wisdom at the same time. Designed to alleviate nighttime anxiety, each audio journey will offer an oasis of serenity amidst the chaos of the waking world. Choose to embrace restful sleep or enjoy a conscious, meditative state—it's your choice. Prepare to be transported to a realm where dreams and relaxation intertwine. Bid farewell to restless nights and awaken to a newfound sense of peace and rejuvenation. FOLLOW AND SUPPORT THE PODCAST: Follow the podcast on Instagram at @nightnightb1tch. To make a one-time or recurring donation to support the continued production of NNB, visit https://ko-fi.com/nightnightbitch. Disclaimer: episodes of Night Night, Bitch are for the purpose of research, study, entertainment, meditation, sleep, and discussion. The views and opinions expressed in each episode belong to the original author(s)/creator(s)/speaker(s) and may not necessarily reflect those of Night Night, Bitch, its host, or its affiliates. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We always look forward to our enlightening chats with good Alfacast compatriot, Marty Leeds, and this one will definitely be special.  The ever-present stellar canopy just overhead has quite a story to tell, and master-decoder Marty Leeds is our go-to man to decipher what the Sky Clock is trying to tell us. Marty's new book, Scripture in the Stars does just that, as it takes the reader through a journey of the Bible like they have never had before. Linking the stories of the Good Book to the constellations in our night skies, this book unveils the deeply spiritual and celestial meanings of the ancient biblical tales. Every chapter uncovers for the reader, step by step, how the stories of the Old and New Testament are found in the celestial characters, symbols and animals above our heads. Scripture in the Stars is easy to read, full of large graphics for reference and study, and is a must have for any serious religious student. Past interviews with Marty have traversed through a diversity of subject matter from Gnostic Christianity, to the mathematics, symbolism, astrology, and mysticism encoded within the Bible. Marty always brings it, and this episode is one not to be missed! Show links: https://gnosticacademy.org/ https://gnosticacademy.org/product/scripture-in-the-stars-by-marty-leeds/ Join Mike in Nashville this June. Use code ALFAVEDIC to get 5% off.   https://alfavedic.com/rebels Music and Sky Tickets Now Avail!  https://musicandsky.com Follow Alfa Vedic: https://linktr.ee/alfavedic Follow Mike Winner: https://linktr.ee/djmikewinner

Marty Leeds returns to Alfacast, and he always brings it.  Marty is a genuine seeker of truth, a brilliant teacher of the mysteries and a preacher of the heart. In our last interview with Marty we traversed through a diversity of subject matter from Gnostic Christianity, to the mathematics, symbolism, astrology, and mysticism encoded within the Bible. Marty's seminal works, Pi - The Great Work, Pi & The English Language, and The Peacock's Tales - The Alchemical Writings of Claudia Pavonis were inspiring explorations of sacred number, geometry and the mathematics that rule our Universe, but ultimately as a study of oneself. On this episode we'll go deep into his latest work Lord Jesus Christ, a textbook to the decoded truths in the Holy Bible.  We'll contrast Hermeticism with Gnosticism and further discuss banned books of the Bible, why the bible is not a history book, the bible/Kabbalah overlap and the absolute relevance to current global events. Show links: https://gnosticacademy.org/  

Author Amor Russell joins us this week on ABR to talk about the Gnostic Christianity, Ancient Mystery Schools, Freemasonry, Yoga and Alchemy. This was an epic conversation covering a wide variety of topics, how they connect and how they can help you be the strongest version of yourself. Enjoy Fam! If you like what we covered in this episode you can purchase Amor's works here https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AAmor+Russell&s=relevancerank&text=Amor+Russell&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1 https://gnosticacademy.org/ The Airey Bros. IG @aireybros / https://www.instagram.com/aireybros/ https://www.blacksheependurance.com/podcast Premium Content : AB/DC Programming / B-Role & Mix Tapes / Accountability Coaching https://www.patreon.com/AireyBros Value for Value https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=BHCAKFGH6TNF2

Author Amor Russell joins us this week on ABR to talk about the Gnostic Christianity, Ancient Mystery Schools, Freemasonry, Yoga and Alchemy. This was an epic conversation covering a wide variety of topics, how they connect and how they can help you be the strongest version of yourself. Enjoy Fam! If you like what we covered in this episode you can purchase Amor's works here https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AAmor+Russell&s=relevancerank&text=Amor+Russell&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1 https://gnosticacademy.org/ The Airey Bros. IG @aireybros / https://www.instagram.com/aireybros/ https://www.blacksheependurance.com/podcast Premium Content : AB/DC Programming / B-Role & Mix Tapes / Accountability Coaching https://www.patreon.com/AireyBros Value for Value https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=BHCAKFGH6TNF2

Brother Marty Leeds is a teacher of the mysteries and a preacher of the heart. For years he has been on a truth seeking journey that has ultimately led him to Gnostic Christianity. Marty has authored numerous books, recorded multiple records, and appeared on hundreds of podcasts. He currently delivers weekly sermons to his online Gnostic Academy.  Look Into It!SUPPORT BROTHER MARTY LEEDS www.gnosticacademy.orgJOIN THE DGRP TELEGRAM FOR 15% OFF PROMO CODE FOR ALL MERCHWE ARE NOW ON ODYSEE!debragetsredpilled@protonmail.com DGRP ODYSEEDGRP YouTubeDGRP TwitterDGRP MerchTelegram Group ChatWe are a Value For Value Production. Please support the show with TIME, TALENT or TREASURE equivalent to the value that you are getting. Subscribe, rate, review and recommend us to your family and friends. DGRP PaypalVenmo: @adam-alamano CashApp: @$ALLSKREWEDUP  CRYPTO ACCEPTEDFOOD FOREST ABUNDANCE: If you would like to invest in blueprints for an edible permaculture forest on your property please contact Adam. www.foodforestabundance.comfoodforestpdx@gmail.com

***Join THC+ for full uninterrupted 2 hour episodes, a dedicated Plus RRS feed, lifetime forum access, merch discounts, & other bonuses like free downloads of THC music: thehighersidechats.com/plus-membership   See detailed sign up options down below. About Today's Guest: The great mathemagical Marty Leeds makes his 4th appearance on THC, discussing his latest work Lord Jesus Christ, a textbook to the decoded truths in the Holy Bible. His new website is gnosticacademy.org  and his videos can be found on his Odysee channel. THC Links: Website: TheHighersideChats.com MeetUps: HighersideMeetups.com Merch Store: thehighersideclothing.com/shop Leave a voicemail for the Joint Session Bonus Shows: thehighersidechats.com/voicemail Leave us an iTunes review: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-higherside-chats/id419458838 THC Communities: Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/RIzmxk8_m_qCW7JZ Subreddit: reddit.com/r/highersidechats THC Plus Sign-Up Options: Subscribe via our website for a full-featured experience: thehighersidechats.com/plus-membership Subscribe via Patreon, including the full Plus archive, a dedicated RSS feed, & payment through Paypal:: patreon.com/thehighersidechats?fan_landing=true To get a year of THC+ by cash, check, or money order please mail the payment in the amount of $96 to: Greg Carlwood PO Box: 153291 San Diego, CA 92195 Cryptocurrency If you'd like to pay the $96 for a year of THC+ via popular Cryptocurrencies, transfer funds and then send an email to support@thehighersidechats.comwith transaction info and your desired username/password. Please give up to 48 hours to complete. Bitcoin: 1AdauF2Mb7rzkkoXUExq142xfwKC6pS7N1 Ethereum: 0xd6E9232b3FceBe165F39ACfA4843F49e7D3c31d5 Litecoin: LQy7GvD5Euc1efnsfQaAX2RJHgBeoDZJ95 Ripple: rnWLvhCmBWpeFv9HMbZEjsRqpasN8928w3

In this episode we examine scriptures about knowledge and their relevance with salvation in Gnostic Christianity.My website is http://jimdukeperspective.comMy music can be heard on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpr2Xrq6fdQbY4MJEQjmOgYou can purchase my music through any music site.

Gnostic thought

Come sit down as Q learns us about the world of Gnostic Christianity! We go deep into some background and also tie it into some pop culture! -Follow Us: Instagram/Twitter -Follow the Boys: -John: YouTube/Instagram/Twitch/Twitter -Q: Instagram/Twitch/Twitter -Tim: Instagram/Twitter/Twitch/Letterboxd Thanks for all the listens and Support! Kisses! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Today's conversation is one that you really don't want to miss! Rainbows, initiations, temples, spirituality and LGBTQ, & the Azores islands.. there are soooo many special moments in today's epidode! As a thank you, if you'd like to treat Rachel to a cup of coffee, you can do so here! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/rachelgo Jeremiah already has a successful career as a baker! 'Called a “master of his craft,” by pastry chef Johnny Iuzinni Jeremiah Duarte Bills is a baker, a musician and an ambassador for all things Portuguese.' Now he re-emerges through Arco Iris Music, combining his skills as a Juilliard trained flutist, and innate spirituality - his music tracks are sacred transmissions of energy! He has a deep connection to the holy family and his first ritual mystic pop album Hierofante, incorporates symbolism from the Tarot, Gnostic Christianity and channelings from Mary Magdalene. There are also some pretty profound conversations about Sarah, Mary Magdalene's daughter as well ;-) Website: www.iamarcoiris.com (coming soon) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamarcoirismusic/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamarcoirismusic Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUe2DnUySlPEMdP1c7ArSaQ Listen or purchase the “Hierofante” here: https://iamarcoiris.bandcamp.com/album/hierofante https://music.apple.com/us/album/hierofante/1563827298 https://open.spotify.com/album/5p2rZghuFJfwINp3yGeZaF?si=xJqHm-PxQiCc36lSktf37Q https://music.amazon.com/albums/B092XGR9VG?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory

On Thursday June 3rd, 2021 the Hermetic Hour with host Poke Runyon will present a reading off the newly drafted Corpus Christi ceremony which will represent the Rosicrucian climax of the ancient pagan seasonal ceremony round. It will be performed following the Spring Sacred Marriage Nuptiae rite. In keeping with the Sacred Marriage being the supreme sacrament and passion of early Gnostic Christianity. The ritual will follow the ancient Naassene document honoring Jesus as the last of the pagan dying Gods coming down to rescue and marry Mary Magdalene so that they may rule together as King and Queen of Israel. So if you want experience the Second Coming, Valentinian style, tune in and receive the Gnosis.

TRIGGER WARNING. Contains a combination of words CHRISTIAN and/or GNOSTIC and/or FREEMASON. The one and only, Marty Leeds - https//martyleeds33.com - was kind enough to join James Maiden and now fellow Wisconsinite, David Barski for a very chill Saturday night discussion. Topics include State Laws, Federal Laws, Hawaii, Permaculture, Gnosticism, Christianity, Gnostic Christianity, Academia, and anything and everything under the son sun son. Heads WILL explode for those sticking around long enough to hear such trigger words as CHRISTIAN and/or GNOSTIC and/or FREEMASON. Buckle in. You have been trigger warned. For all things Mathemagical hit him up on his page: https://martyleeds33.com Be a dear and check out Marty Leeds' youtube channel here: https://youtube.com/c/martyleedslive If you enjoy the show and wish to help us continue asking questions whilst sharing a laugh please consider donating any amount if you're able. We rely on you to keep the show free from the corporate overlords of the cryptechnocracy. Paypal: Weavingspiders@icloud.com Cashapp: $Weavingspiders Venmo: @weavingspiders Crypto wallet addresses $BTC 36EqucfpVizaSQthVpAbqMTzdw5RhBwnmu $ETH 0xe8616e737B6d19be08ac40D4b5988Fbe1C28A6e6 $LTC MMBroc8NDwPqd2STWewQ5dBbrrZgoNMeJ8 $Dash XawxY2DM9a516m5TcsudjB8D81TWprC5cj $ZEC t1NdxpxGGb6hTeZ3PAydu2NikpUCS1BWa6g $ADA addr1v863qyp7q5z72e4ynqt73nlhsqlzzutrrda0sq0sqm6dsfg0z9t0u --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/weavingspiders/message

Are prophesies real?  Are these indeed the 'end times'? We brought on our friend, Marty Leeds to give his take on this topic so many are focused on these days.  In Marty Leeds' own words: "I am a genuine seeker of truth. I am not afraid to discuss any issues or talk about any subject. I am not an expert on anything, nor do I declare myself any sort of guru, prophet or spiritual guide. I certainly am no saint." "I often explain my role as a teacher of the mysteries and a preacher of the heart. I wish to share with you the things I have learned along the way, the light I have gained, the wrongs I have made, and how I see the world." "The mathematical, symbolic and linguistic work that I teach has been rooted in my own personal journey to God." "I teach about many different schools of thought, and I cover many different subjects and topics, but ultimately, my main focus is that of sharing and teaching what I have come to learn about Gnostic Christianity, the mathematics, symbolism, astrology, and sheer mysticism that is encoded within the Holy Bible, and moreover, how those encodings withhold a sacred science of apotheosis." Show links: https://martyleeds33.com​ Also please look into donating to our current GoFundMe!  https://alfavedic.com/fundraiser​​

Today on HeimdallR's Home we spoke of the modern cult of Anti-Life that is continued via anti child agenda, anti family agenda, and the way the culture has come to vilify both the human form and the continuing of our line by having children, the push for nonexistence in Gnostic Christianity and the "Holy Family" of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and how these figures are actually anti-life. We spoke of the beauty of our children, the joys of family, the importance of living dangerously and being willing to get your hands dirty, and how we are wild at heart and should not live in a sanitized environment as we do now. This was one of our best check it out.

Are you ready to escape the human zoo? This week we talk to Michelle and Keith Norris, founders of Paleo f(x), about their new book, “Primal Uprising: The Paleo f(x) Guide to Optimizing Your Health, Expanding Your Mind and Reclaiming Your Freedom.” Michelle and Keith are passionate about empowerment and becoming healthy and whole in all aspects of our lives. In our chat with Michelle and Keith, we cover: * The divine timing at play for their book getting published.
 * How we're indoctrinated to believe we need the system and don't have power to be free on our own.
 * The touching story of their daughter Brittany's life, and how her untimely passing inspired their work.
 * How living the so-called American Dream left them feeling empty inside.
 * The power of questioning EVERYTHING as a way to deprogram ourselves.
 * How learning the rules of the game enables you to disengage from it.
 * Accepting that we are responsible for being in this situation AND that we can take the steps to get out of it.
 * Gnostic Christianity & how finding the god within gives you true empowerment. (Elaine Pagels reference)
 * Michelle's plant medicine experience of purging many dark past lives and the powerful healing of welcoming those parts back in with compassion.
 * Why it's important to be specific in what and how you want to manifest something.
 * What were some of the blessings of 2020?
 * Empowerment through resilience.
 * What are the 7 Pillars for being an optimized human?
 * Beauty in the ashes - “everything is happening for your good”
 * What's antifragility and how can it help?
 Michelle and Keith Norris are the cofounders of Paleo f(x)™, the largest-of-its-kind health and wellness platform and event in the world. They are passionate speakers and motivators to those seeking deliverance from a broken healthcare system and disabled economic system. Having left the corporate grind far behind, they are now serial entrepreneurs in the health and wellness space, as well as tireless firebrands for advancing the Paleo movement - a cultural reawakening of self-empowerment for the 21st century. In addition to leading the Paleo f(x)™ movement, Michelle and Keith speak at events and conferences worldwide on the topic of self empowerment and breaking free of the human zoo. Order their book “Primal Uprising: The Paleo f(x) Guide to Optimizing Your Health, Expanding Your Mind and Reclaiming Your Freedom” at paleofx.com/primaluprising. Find Michelle on Social Media: @DanaMichelleNorris and Keith at keithnorris.substack.com. If you're enjoying listening to Beyond the Illusion Podcast, please leave a rating on Apple or Google Podcasts. This will help other people to find us.

Russell Sturgess has been described as a thought leader in Western Mindfulness.  This is based on the idea of an approach to  mindfulness that had roots in the west, as opposed to the more commonly known eastern practice that emerged from Buddhism.  In 2007, he lived in southern Italy for a year while he researched and wrote his first book Metanoia, which presented the thesis that a western approach to mindfulness emerged during the middle ages in northern Italy.  This approach was inspired by Gnostic-Christianity which re-emerged throughout Europe with the heretical Cathar.  This western approach to mindfulness was inspired by the teachings from the Sermon of the Mount and in particular the Beatitudes. In this podcast, we also discuss and emphasize Russel's wonderful new book, The Spiritual Roots of the Tarot, which was just released by Inner Traditions. Related Links: Russell's Website:  https://www.westernmindfulness.com.au/ Facebook Link:  https://www.facebook.com/westernmindfulness/ Inner Tradition link: https://www.innertraditions.com/author/russell-a-sturgess This podcast is available wherever you listen to favorite podcast, or here:  https://endoftheroad.libsyn.com/episode-150-russell-sturgess-the-mystic-journey-part-1-christ-consciousnessthe-cathar-codethe-beatitudesthe-spiritual-roots-of-the-tarot Have a great week!

For this episode of The Alchemical Mind, I depart a bit from our recent discussion of Gnostic Christianity to dive into one of my favorite quotes, and one I use all the time, from Sufi mystic Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari - "the real is not veiled from you, rather it is you who are veiled from seeing it." Through this quote and the passage from which it is derived, I analyse the mystical experience, understanding how to acquire truth, and what ultimately prevents us from "getting it" - ourselves. Books mentioned on this episode: The Spirit In The Sky - https://amzn.to/35xP9VJ DMT Deities, Myth & Tryptamines - https://amzn.to/3mnRQ3a The Book Of Aphorisms - https://amzn.to/31JCPk6 The website is now live - https://thealchemicalmind.com. There you can also find links to our Discord channel as well as the Patreon which will be launching officially this week. If you'd like to check in touch, follow the podcast on Twitter, @MindAlchemical, or just leave a voicemail directly on Anchor.fm. If you haven't subscribed yet, be sure to do so: Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1511325742 Google Podcasts - https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xYjRmN2JlYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZOhy8aSpJEU5mtfT5ia2T RSS - https://anchor.fm/s/1b4f7bec/podcast/rss Leave a review, and share the podcast with a friend. Music provided by Kabbalistic Village (https://kabbalisticvillage.com/) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-alchemical-mind/support

Marty Leeds is an accomplished author, mathematician, musician and genuine seeker of truth. Marty explains his role as a teacher of the mysteries and a preacher of the heart. To quote Marty, "I teach about many different schools of thought, and I cover many different subjects and topics, but ultimately, my main focus is that of sharing and teaching what I have come to learn about Gnostic Christianity, the mathematics, symbolism, astrology, and sheer mysticism that is encoded within the Holy Bible, and moreover, how those encodings withhold a sacred science of apotheosis.We've followed Marty since his initial work, Pi & The English Alphabet and Pi - The Great Work, and have been great fans ever since. Take our word for it, this is one Alfacast not to be missed.Show links: https://martyleeds33.com/ Alfa Vedic is an off-grid agriculture & health co-op focused on developing products, media & educational platforms for the betterment of our world. By using advanced scientific methods, cutting-edge technologies and tools derived from the knowledge of the world's greatest minds, the AV community aims to be a model for the future we all want to see.Get exclusive content by joining our Co-Op on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/alfavedic Or you can make a one-time small donation to help keep this content coming! https://paypal.me/alfavedic Bitcoin: 3Mz8NcWiYzsZ4cHqbU4X5q3Vz4UeYgbSUkLitecoin: MRM8wETvGHwCPyxCj7DxVGeuNBggaU7yLTJoin Our Telegram: https://t.me/alfavedic

Marty is a genuine seeker of truth. He is not afraid to discuss any issues or talk about any subject. He is not an expert on anything, nor does he declare himself any sort of guru, prophet or spiritual guide. he is certainly no saint. He often explains his role as a teacher of the mysteries and a preacher of the heart. He wishs to share with you the things he has learned along the way, the light he has gained, the wrongs he has made, and how he sees the world. The mathematical, symbolic and linguistic work that he teaches has been rooted in him own personal journey to God. He teaches about many different schools of thought, and covers many different subjects and topics, but ultimately, his main focus is that of sharing and teaching what he has come to learn about Gnostic Christianity, the mathematics, symbolism, astrology, and sheer mysticism that is encoded within the Holy Bible, and moreover, how those encodings withhold a sacred science of apotheosis. He has a moral commitment and undying desire to help others understand the divine within and without. Above and below.     Thank you for listening to the 13 Questions podcast by ManTranscending.  Sign up for our free discord chat and you will receive a new link for the podcast with extended bonus questions, and interviews for each episode. As well as the extended podcast, you will also receive the following... - Exclusive content from our affiliates such as communication courses from TJ Walker totaling over a hundred hours of content.  - A live private Discord chat room - The ability to record your own fathers, grandfathers, or even yourself to be submitted for the podcast. We are also adding new content all the time, so take the plunge today, the community is waiting...   Sign up 13 Question Discord for the extended questions and bonus content. https://discord.gg/mAX6GAu   Or support 13 Questions here https://www.13questionspodcast.com/sign-up/   Contact the show at 13questionspodcast@gmail.com   Closing Music by Supaman - Why https://supamanhiphop.com/    

Ways to Connect With Sarah:Instagram: @21stCenturyPriestessYouTube: MoonDay SermonsLearn How to Work with Sarah in her 1-on-1 - Mind-Soul Coach programSchedule a Discovery Call with SarahRegister for The Modern Temple Mystery School of Feminine Witchcraft - Dedicant Class Dedicant Class Description:"Can I be a Witch?"If you have ever wondered if you are, or could be, a Witch - the answer is Yes.In this 7-Week Course, learn:* What IS a Witch, really? Is it a religion, or is it a skill that anyone can learn?* Creating sacred space* Relationships with the Divine and Sacred Archetypes* Working with the Moon, Sun, and Planets to create change in your life and the world* Living in alignment with seasons of the year* Connecting with nature, elemental energies, Angels Guardians and Guides* Understanding the power of herbs and crystals* The Art of Ritual* Spell Craft 101Students will have the opportunity to become a Dedicant-level Witch - the equivalent of the First-Degree in modern Paganism.Conversion to Paganism is not required to complete this course or to become a Dedicant Witch. Witches can be found in every faith, and the skills in this course will allow you to practice witchcraft in your own spiritual path.The course will be offered via Zoom and will be recorded. Students should plan to attend all classes in person as often as possible in order to get the full benefit of the course.Reading and reference materials will be provided for each class. There will be a suggested reading list, and a list of required tools and supplies provided upon registration in the course.Please note: This is a pre-requisite for the Maiden Priestess - Level Two Course, offered beginning in February 2021.Questions? Email Sarah - Sarah@sevabodymindsoul.comWork with Alainna Garlick:Instagram: @peace.lilithFacebook: Peace Lilith - Transition DoulaPeaceLilith.com Follow Sassy Esoterics:Instagram: @sassyesotericsFacebook: Sassy EsotericsInterested in being featured on the show? Do you have questions for us?Message us on either social media platform. We would love to hear from you!Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you love the show, please leave us a 5-star review and share the podcast with your friends. We appreciate all of the support! 

In this episode we start by introducing ourselves briefly and then dig into a broad range of topics such as: - What would a Utopian society look like? What if the financial game was removed? Focusing on improving community vs thinking globally - Gnostic Christianity, Christ as Aeon, Cosmic Christ - Meeting Guardian Angels and Christ through psychedelics - Self-actualization being the way to change the world - What jiu-jitsu is and what it means to express your purest jiu-jitsu as a form of art - Creating - getting out of your own way and being a conduit for God to express itself through you Join the Lifecraft Discord and get in on the conversation! >> https://discord.gg/CXGbjUY Join our life changing jiu-jitsu community! Visit https://cagejsa.com

On Thursday May 21st 2020 the Hermetic Hour, with host Poke Runyon will present a discussion on the Twisted History of Christianity. The general theme of this presentation is how the distortion of its original principles perverted its mission for the following two thousand years of world history. We will examine how the Christian religion, which was supposed to bring peace, love and comfort to the people who accepted it, brought instead War, hatred, persecution and despair. We will begin by recalling what Christianity was supposed to be and who Jesus's Father in Heaven really was. We will remember how his wife, Mary Magdalene and later the bishop Valentinian and his follower Marcus tried to carry on the original teachings. We will recall how the Roman Church created its Inquisition to stamp out the resurgence of original Gnostic Christianity in Southern France where Mary Magdalene and Marcus had preached, and how the Roman Church launched a genocidal crusade against these innocent Cathars killing millions. The Inquisition went on to murder thousand of heretics and witches while the Church bishops exploited the poor and offered salvation for money. Finally Northern European Christians revolted in a movement called the Reformation, but the Protestants failed to correct the original mistake the Roman Church had made in accepting Yahweh as the father of Jesus and incorporating the corrupted Old Testament as part of the Christian Bible. By the 18th century all forms of Christianity were challenged by the rise of a new atheistic religion that offered the same promise: peace, love and comfort. It emerged from the horror of the French Revolution. You can call it socialism, humanism, or communism – but what ever name it goes under, it is actually a Christian Heresy. It is Christian altruism without salvation. So, If you want to want to know how the early Christians got it wrong and how we can fix it, tune in and we'll reveal a real New Testament.

https://www.lightingthevoid.comLive Weeknights Mon-Fri 9 pm, PacificOn The Fringe FMhttps://thefringe.fmMarty is a genuine seeker of truth, not afraid to discuss any issues or talk about any subject and is not an expert on anything nor declare to be any sort of guru, prophet or spiritual guide. He describes his role in life as a teacher of the mysteries and a preacher of the heart and would like to share with you the things he has learned along the way.Marty teaches about many different schools of thought and covers many different subjects and topics. Ultimately his main focus is that of sharing and teaching what he has come to learn about Gnostic Christianity, the mathematics, symbolism, astrology, and sheer mysticism that is encoded within the Holy Bible, and moreover, how those encodings withhold a sacred science of apotheosis.https://www.martyleeds33.comMusic By Chronox at https://www.chronoxofficial.comDy Steezy Stevie https://www.steezymusic.com/

Get excited for round 2 with Rev. Brother Mark Donato on episode 127 (part 2). Gnosticism is the teaching based on Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior, intuitive means. Although Gnosticism thus rests on personal religious experience, it is a mistake to assume all such experience results in Gnostic recognitions. It is nearer the truth to say that Gnosticism expresses a specific religious experience, an experience that does not lend itself to the language of theology or philosophy, but which is instead closely affinitized to, and expresses itself through, the medium of myth. Indeed, one finds that most Gnostic scriptures take the forms of myths. The term “myth” should not here be taken to mean “stories that are not true”, but rather, that the truths embodied in these myths are of a different order from the dogmas of theology or the statements of philosophy.--Excerpt from “The Gnostic Worldview: A Brief Summary of Gnosticism” by +Dr. Stephan Hoeller *Rev. Donato is the prior (administrator and mentor) of the Oblates (lay monks) of the Order of Saint John, the monastic side of the Apostolic Johannite Church. He left the Episcopal Church he grew up in for Buddhism, first Tibetan and later Thai Theravada, for 20 years. Although Buddhism still informs much of Mark’s theology and practice, he moved toward his Christian roots and found Gnosticism. For the past 8 years, Mark has been studying and practicing Gnostic Christianity and was ordained as prior of religious orders in 2016. If you are a fan of this episode and/or other Brew Theology shows, give this episode a share on the interwebs, rate Brew Theology on iTunes and give BT a brewtastic review! Head over to the Brew Theology website, www.brewtheology.org to learn more, and/or become a local partner, sponsor and financial contributor. Questions & inquiries about Brew Theology, the alliance/network, Denver community or podcast, contact Ryan Miller: ryan@brewtheology.org &/ or janel@brewtheology.org. /// Join Janel and Ryan at THE Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, NC, July 11-14. Learn more at www.wildgoosefestival.org.  /// Follow us on Facebook & Instagram (@brewtheology) & Twitter (@brew_theology) Brew Theology swag HERE. T-shirts, tanks, hoodies, V-neck's, women's, etc. all in multiple colors /// Always, a BIG THANK YOU to Dan Rosado, our BT editor.

Get hopped up for Rev. Brother Mark Donato on episode 126 (part 1). Let's brew up some Gnosis! Gnosticism is the teaching based on Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior, intuitive means. Although Gnosticism thus rests on personal religious experience, it is a mistake to assume all such experience results in Gnostic recognitions. It is nearer the truth to say that Gnosticism expresses a specific religious experience, an experience that does not lend itself to the language of theology or philosophy, but which is instead closely affinitized to, and expresses itself through, the medium of myth. Indeed, one finds that most Gnostic scriptures take the forms of myths. The term “myth” should not here be taken to mean “stories that are not true”, but rather, that the truths embodied in these myths are of a different order from the dogmas of theology or the statements of philosophy.--Excerpt from “The Gnostic Worldview: A Brief Summary of Gnosticism” by +Dr. Stephan Hoeller *Rev. Donato is the prior (administrator and mentor) of the Oblates (lay monks) of the Order of Saint John, the monastic side of the Apostolic Johannite Church. He left the Episcopal Church he grew up in for Buddhism, first Tibetan and later Thai Theravada, for 20 years. Although Buddhism still informs much of Mark’s theology and practice, he moved toward his Christian roots and found Gnosticism. For the past 8 years, Mark has been studying and practicing Gnostic Christianity and was ordained as prior of religious orders in 2016. If you are a fan of this episode and/or other Brew Theology shows, give this episode a share on the interwebs, rate Brew Theology on iTunes and give BT a brewtastic review! Head over to the Brew Theology website, www.brewtheology.org to learn more, and/or become a local partner, sponsor and financial contributor. Questions & inquiries about Brew Theology, the alliance/network, Denver community or podcast, contact Ryan Miller: ryan@brewtheology.org &/ or janel@brewtheology.org. /// Join Janel and Ryan at THE Wild Goose Festival in Hot Springs, NC, July 11-14. Learn more at www.wildgoosefestival.org.  /// Follow us on Facebook & Instagram (@brewtheology) & Twitter (@brew_theology) Brew Theology swag HERE. T-shirts, tanks, hoodies, V-neck's, women's, etc. all in multiple colors /// Always, a BIG THANK YOU to Dan Rosado, our BT editor.

In this episode, I had the honor of interviewing: Bishop Fred Bower, also known as Tau Taliesin, is the bishop of New Hampshire for the Liberal Catholic Union and pastor of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.  He was ordained a priest and then a bishop in the Liberal Catholic Rite in 1994. He is a professionally certified Achologist focusing on transformational Life Coaching and Neuro-linguistic Programming.   He is currently studying Transformation Storytelling and working on his certification as an end of life doula. He has a diverse spiritual background. Having explored esoteric and Gnostic Christianity, Zen and Nichiren Buddhism, as well as Theosophy and Revival Druidry.  Fred is a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, also known as OBOD, where he finds a connection to the sacred through the power of myth and story.  He is an organizer of Silent Heron Seed Group, an OBOD affiliated contemplative Druidry group exploring the connection to the natural world through meditation and ritual. In the episode, we talked about several things, including:  His elevator speech? How he integrates the spirituality found in the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids into his understanding of Christianity. And he talks about what is the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. He talks about his acceptance within Druidry while also being a Christian. His greatest challenge as a bishop within the Independent Sacramental Movement. And finally, we talk about his greatest blessing within ministry. Convergent Streams: The Premier ISM Magazine.  This episode is sponsored in part by Convergent Streams, why?  Because I read it, and I love it and think you will love it too.  If you haven’t checked out Convergent Streams, I encourage you to do so.  Check it out at convergentstreams.org.  I like the print copy, but you can also get it in ebook format. This Podcast is produced by the Community of Saint George (The Young Rite).

Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy Welcome to Day 1101 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me. I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Who Determined the Canon of Scripture? – Wisdom Wednesday Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek! Where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase wisdom and create a living legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is https://wisdom-trek.com/day-1101/ (Day 1101) of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. Creating a Biblical worldview is important to have a proper perspective on today's current events. To establish a Biblical worldview, you must also have a proper understanding of God's Word. Especially in our western cultures, we do not fully understand the Scriptures from the mindset and culture of the authors. In order to help us all have a better understanding of some of the more obscure passages in God's Word, we are investing Wisdom Wednesday reviewing a series of essays from one of today's most prominent Hebrew scholars Dr. Micheal S. Heiser. He has compiled these essays into a book titled “I Dare You Not to Bore Me With the Bible.” Today is the last essay in Dr. Heiser's book, and next week we will begin a new series. As we explore this final essay today, we will explore information about… Who Determined The Canon of Scripture? Dan Brown's best-selling conspiratorial thriller The Da Vinci Code seems like ancient history now. At its peak of popularity, the novel set records both for sales and for irritating scholars with its view that Jesus and the 12 apostles held to Gnostic heresies. The book's bizarre plot focuses on Jesus' bloodline extending through a child born by Mary Magdalene. Within that narrative, Brown asserts that the New Testament canon was determined by the Roman Emperor Constantine, who was not friendly to Gnostic Christianity, at a time much later (fourth-century AD) than any New Testament scholar would endorse. Unfortunately, this myth has since taken on a life of its own. The notion that Constantine decided which books should constitute the New Testament springs from the ancient Life of Constantine by Eusebius of Caesarea (ad 263-339). Eusebius reports that in a letter written in AD 331, the emperor instructed him to …order fifty' copies of the sacred Scriptures, the provision and use of which you know to be most needful for the instruction of the Church, to be written on prepared parchment in a legible manner, and in a convenient, portable form, by professional transcribers thoroughly practiced in their art. This same Constantine had earlier convened the Council of Nicea (AD 325), famous for its focus on the full deity of Christ against Arianism, which taught that Jesus was a created being. Brown carelessly conflated the two events in The Da Vinci Code to put forth the preposterous idea that Constantine had decided at Nicea which books belonged in the New Testament. But can we be sure this didn’t happen? If not, what exactly did Constantine demand in this letter? We can be certain that the Council of Nicea did not determine the books of the New Testament at Constantine's request. The date of Eusebius correspondence tells us that Nicea did not consider the issue of the canon. Today, anyone can read the 20 decisions rendered at Nicea (coincidentally called “canons”). None of them concerns the New Testament Scriptures. In addition, accounts of what happened at Nicea were described by several early church historians and theologians who lived at the time of the event or shortly thereafter. Their testimony is unanimous in opposition to the idea that Constantine determined the books of the New Testament. So what did Constantine want?...

Ryan McGranahan chooses his own religion! Ryan is a storyteller from Los Angeles and a member of Ecclesia Gnostica, a Gnostic Christian church here in Los Angeles, and he came on the show to explain Gnostic Christianity to me. We talk about Jesus in the Gnostic tradition, the inversion of Christian tropes, little-g gnosticism, the divine feminine, magic, rituals, cosmological differences, the importance of belief, prayer, symbolism, and how it all comes back to the Matrix.

“It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS VALIS is the first book in Philip K. Dick's incomparable final trio of novels (the others being The Divine Invasion and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer). This disorienting and bleakly funny work is about a schizophrenic hero named Horselover Fat; the hidden mysteries of Gnostic Christianity; and reality as revealed through a pink laser. VALIS is a theological detective story, in which God is both a missing person and the perpetrator of the ultimate crime. Originally published: 1981 Author: Philip K. Dick Page count: 271 Genres: Postmodernism, Philosophical fiction, Science Fiction

In this week's episode Neela Bhattacharya Saxena speaks with Joanna about: Kali and the Black Madonna; the womb from which all creativity arises; dancing dualities; the wounded masculinity and the longing for the Mother; the ecological, psycho-spiritual consequences of a male-only Divinity; the mystical, redemptive darkness in Gnostic Christianity; the similarities between the Gnostic traditions and Tantric Buddhism; Mary Magdalene from a Tantric perspective; facing all aspects in us; Tantric ecology; the hunger to re-enchant the world; "Black Panther" and the foundational vibration; AI as Awakened Intelligence; the mystic river where all religions identities dissolve; recognizing that we are the heart of totality. The post Pregnant Nothingness appeared first on Future Primitive Podcasts.

T!M FREKE is a pioneering philosopher, Gnostic scholar and spiritual guide who speaks and runs ‘Deep Awakening’ retreats internationally. He is the author of 35 books, translated into more than 15 languages, including The Jesus Mysteries on Gnostic Christianity, which … Continue reading →

We read from and discuss portions from our paperback book, "Christianity of Blasphemy: A Gnostic Lie," to educate about the original Gnostic lie with its continuation into modern Christendom.  We discuss the subtle replacement of YHWH/Jesus with the Serpent/Cheezitz in many of today's church organizations and ministries.  The anti-Christ spirit is subtle and hidden, making true discernent of vital eternal importance in these dangerous times.  

Jessica Michelle Singleton chooses her own religion! Jessica is a comedian from Anchorage, Alaska with a #1 iTunes comedy album “Please. Don’t. Leave. Me.”, and hosts the podcast “Ignorance is #Blessed”. We talk about southern Christianity, tribalism, Gnostic Christianity, comedy, making beliefs your identity, and the place of disagreement within communities. Go to iTunes to buy “Please. Don’t. Leave. Me.” and check out jessicamichellesingleton.com for more Jessica!

Tyler Meznarich chooses his own religion! Tyler is a comedian from Montana and a former Catholic turned atheist. On this episode, Tyler tells me about his journey away from the Church and into the arms of Nietzschean existentialism. We also talk about Gnostic Christianity, William Blake, and whether the concept of Grace is actually messed up. Follow Tyler on Twitter @TylerMez!

This episode is brought to you by New Belgium Citradelic. It’s the beer you drink to be drinkin’ beer.™ Addison complains about the cat for about 5 minutes to start it off. There’s some discussion about the Fourth of July, and that leads into some thought about America being a Christian nation, and a biblical history lesson from Matt. Matt also gives us a lesson in Gnostic Christianity, there’s an argument with the cat, and some lengthy discussion about the FBI recommending that Hillary Clinton is not indicted. Follow Matt (@Suburban_Wizard) and Addison (@AddisonTodd) on Twitter. Follow the show on Twitter: @GiveThoughtShow…

This episode is brought to you by New Belgium Citradelic. It’s the beer you drink to be drinkin’ beer.™ Addison complains about the cat for about 5 minutes to start it off. There’s some discussion about the Fourth of July, and that leads into some thought about America being a Christian nation, and a biblical history lesson from Matt. Matt also gives us a lesson in Gnostic Christianity, there’s an argument with the cat, and some lengthy discussion about the FBI recommending that Hillary Clinton is not indicted. Follow Matt (@Suburban_Wizard) and Addison (@AddisonTodd) on Twitter. Follow the show on Twitter: @GiveThoughtShow… The post GTST Episode 111: IPA-Cast first appeared on Tripod Broadcasting.

If you like this podcast support the emergence of new paradigm media by contributing to: https://www.patreon.com/rakrazam Join an intimate bro chat with experiential journalist Rak Razam and the author of The Electric Jesus, co-founder of Reality Sandwich and the Evolver network (the Velvet Underground of its day), Jonathan Talat Phillips. Listen as they discuss Gnostic Christianity and energy work, as well as Talat’s own personal shamanautic journey through the last decade of Burning Man and the evolving countercultural networks of the West. Talat has an irreverent, holistic approach to consciousness and reminds us of the cosmic joke and to keep things light in a world of dark. He teaches self pleasure, tantra and the Fuck Yeah Frequency, and reclaiming the God and Goddess within an androgynous, gender-fluid reclaimation of the sexual eros energy for personal and planetary healing. Are we undergoing a ‘quantum rebirth’ of sensuality, identity, archetypes and god forms? How can we express our cosmic natures? Can psychonauts explore consciousness in its full spectrum of mind, body and soul? Let’s GALACTIVATE, baby! For more info: http://www.psychonaut-talat.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Aired Wednesday, 17 February 2016, 2:00 PM ETToday’s Rising Star is Robert KopeckyWhen you nearly die three times, you learn a thing or two about how to live… An Emmy-nominated art director for television, Robert Kopecky never dreamed he’d end up writing a book about how to survive life and death. But what else could he do?About the Guest Robert KopeckyRobert Kopecky survived a traumatic childhood, traveled extensively as a young man. His journeys – from the remote South Pacific to the capitals of Europe to the deserts of Arizona and the canyons of New York City – were punctuated by three dramatic “Near Death Experiences.” Interspersed through a life of professional successes and personal setbacks, and his own “dark nights of the soul,” the three NDEs, and the subsequent need for answers, led him to years of study and meditation. Elements of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Gnostic Christianity, physics, philosophy and more, have contributed to his unique transpersonal realizations about life and death. All of which inspired the calling to write his direct, humorous transformational prose, and to joyfully pass along all the lessons he’s learned – obviously the hard way. He has gathered them together in his book, How to Survive Life (and Death): A Guide for Happiness in This World and Beyond.Website: http://robertkopecky.blogspot.com

Aired Wednesday, 17 February 2016, 2:00 PM ETToday’s Rising Star is Robert KopeckyWhen you nearly die three times, you learn a thing or two about how to live… An Emmy-nominated art director for television, Robert Kopecky never dreamed he’d end up writing a book about how to survive life and death. But what else could he do?About the Guest Robert KopeckyRobert Kopecky survived a traumatic childhood, traveled extensively as a young man. His journeys – from the remote South Pacific to the capitals of Europe to the deserts of Arizona and the canyons of New York City – were punctuated by three dramatic “Near Death Experiences.” Interspersed through a life of professional successes and personal setbacks, and his own “dark nights of the soul,” the three NDEs, and the subsequent need for answers, led him to years of study and meditation. Elements of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Gnostic Christianity, physics, philosophy and more, have contributed to his unique transpersonal realizations about life and death. All of which inspired the calling to write his direct, humorous transformational prose, and to joyfully pass along all the lessons he’s learned – obviously the hard way. He has gathered them together in his book, How to Survive Life (and Death): A Guide for Happiness in This World and Beyond.Website: http://robertkopecky.blogspot.com

Robert Kopecky is an Emmy-nominated art director and the author of "How to Survive Life (and Death)," the story of his three 'near death experiences,' and what he learned from them. He designed the credits for Showtime’s Weeds and he art directs the PBS children’s show Word World. He contributes to Evolver.net, NewBuddhist.com, TheMindfulWord, and Gaia.com, among others. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Sue Pike, the Animal Talker. His journeys - from the remote South Pacific to the capitals of Europe to the deserts of Arizona and the canyons of New York City - were punctuated by three dramatic "Near Death Experiences." Interspersed through a life of professional successes and personal setbacks, and his own "dark nights of the soul," the three NDEs, and the subsequent need for answers, led him to years of study and meditation. Elements of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Gnostic Christianity, physics, philosophy and more, have contributed to his unique transpersonal realizations about life and death. All of which inspired the calling to write his direct, humorous transformational prose, and to joyfully pass along all the lessons he's learned - obviously the hard way. Read more about Robert here - robertkopecky.blogspot.com Like this episode? SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES  Click here to leave us a rating & review on iTunes Follow us on social media: | Facebook | Twitter | Join our Facebook group

GOD RECONSIDERED: Searching for Truth in the Battle Between Atheism and Religion by Scott S. Smith (being published by Motivational Press). Scott shares his thoughts on Gnostic Christianity. I am a freelance business journalist with over 1,200 published articles, specializing in interviews with top CEOs. Cell: 310/254-4951 (6 a.m.-9 p.m. Pacific seven days) Landline for live interviews: 310-659-3567 scottstanleysmith1950@gmail.com www.GodReconsidered.com This show is broadcast live on W4CY Radio – (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (http://www.talk4radio.com/) on the Talk 4 Media Network (http://www.talk4media.com/).

It is with great honor but also regret we are able to present Vincent's last interview before he passed away the weekend after this recording...Vincent  (OM, FWMS, OE) was an Author, esoteric historian and researcher. He co-wrote six books, and has been featured in, or consulted on, 13 television documentaries on subjects ranging from Atlantis to the Holy Grail but primarily focused on Nostradamus. A self-proclaimed “anthropologist of the strange,”Rev. Bridges was an initiate of five major traditions: Buddhism, Islam, Gnostic Christianity, Wicca and Western Ceremonial Magick. He was also a pioneer in the field of psycho-acoustic therapy for early childhood trauma. Vincent also organized and lead tours to sacred sites in Southern France and the Czech Republic, and had led tours in India, Tibet and Egypt.  He was also the consultant to an alchemical museum in Prague where he lived. Highly recommended to the show we comb through Vincent's vast knowledge on the occult world and looked forward to getting him back on the show for more. RIP Vincent.   Related links: http://www.vincentbridges.eu www.muzeumpovesti.cz

In this pilot episode of the IBHM Podcast Arizona Verse & Dick Papo wax philosophically about the sagging pants myth, if white people can say the N-Word, the big misconception about the Paula Deen lawsuit, Arizona VerSe's interracial relationship, the Trayvon Martin verdict and what black people can do to avoid this in the future, album reviews of Watching Movies With The Sound Off, Born Sinner, The Gifted, Yeezus, Magna Carta Holy Grail, Gnostic Christianity and if Jay Electronica could possibly be Black Jesus... Contact Us: Leave a voicemail: 480-588-4688 Email Us: arizonasoulpodcast@gmail.com Subscribe: On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7z0hEIuLv91JN5tdtdPOeA On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=38104&refid=stpr On Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/arizonasoulpodcast Follow Us: On Twitter: https://twitter.com/arizonasoulpod On Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/ArizonaSoulPodcast On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arizonasoulpodcast/ On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arizonasoulpodcast/

God At The Bookstore - Bruxy Cavey - Sermon Notes Available at www.themeetinghouse.ca

In addition to natural mind enhancing supplements, McKenna spoke on the subjects of virtual reality (which he saw as a way to artistically communicate the experience of psychedelics), 'techno-paganism,' artificial intelligence, evolution, extraterrestrials, ancestor-worship (or, as he put it, contacting 'dead people'), and aesthetic theory (art/visual experience as 'information,' hence the significance of hallucinatory visions experienced under the influence of psychedelics). He advised the taking of psychedelics in relatively-to-extremely large doses (asserting that those who had only sampled psychedelics in small doses failed to access their full potential), particularly alone, in a dark space, without music or other forms of external stimulation. Philosophically and religiously, he expressed admiration for Marshall McLuhan, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Gnostic Christianity, and James Joyce (calling Finnegans Wake the best literary representation of the psychedelic experience). He remained opposed to all forms of organized religion or guru-based forms of spiritual awakening. He believed DMT was the apotheosis of the psychedelic experience and spoke of the 'jeweled, self-dribbling basketballs' or 'self-transforming machine elves' that one encounters in that state. Although he avoided giving his allegiance to any one interpretation (part of his rejection of both monotheism and monogamy), he was open to the idea of psychedelics as being 'trans-dimensional travel, literally,' enabling an individual to encounter what could be aliens, ghosts/ancestors, or spirits of the earth.

In addition to natural mind enhancing supplements, McKenna spoke on the subjects of virtual reality (which he saw as a way to artistically communicate the experience of psychedelics), 'techno-paganism,' artificial intelligence, evolution, extraterrestrials, ancestor-worship (or, as he put it, contacting 'dead people'), and aesthetic theory (art/visual experience as 'information,' hence the significance of hallucinatory visions experienced under the influence of psychedelics). He advised the taking of psychedelics in relatively-to-extremely large doses (asserting that those who had only sampled psychedelics in small doses failed to access their full potential), particularly alone, in a dark space, without music or other forms of external stimulation. Philosophically and religiously, he expressed admiration for Marshall McLuhan, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Gnostic Christianity, and James Joyce (calling Finnegans Wake the best literary representation of the psychedelic experience). He remained opposed to all forms of organized religion or guru-based forms of spiritual awakening. He believed DMT was the apotheosis of the psychedelic experience and spoke of the 'jeweled, self-dribbling basketballs' or 'self-transforming machine elves' that one encounters in that state. Although he avoided giving his allegiance to any one interpretation (part of his rejection of both monotheism and monogamy), he was open to the idea of psychedelics as being 'trans-dimensional travel, literally,' enabling an individual to encounter what could be aliens, ghosts/ancestors, or spirits of the earth.

In addition to natural mind enhancing supplements, McKenna spoke on the subjects of virtual reality (which he saw as a way to artistically communicate the experience of psychedelics), 'techno-paganism,' artificial intelligence, evolution, extraterrestrials, ancestor-worship (or, as he put it, contacting 'dead people'), and aesthetic theory (art/visual experience as 'information,' hence the significance of hallucinatory visions experienced under the influence of psychedelics). He advised the taking of psychedelics in relatively-to-extremely large doses (asserting that those who had only sampled psychedelics in small doses failed to access their full potential), particularly alone, in a dark space, without music or other forms of external stimulation. Philosophically and religiously, he expressed admiration for Marshall McLuhan, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Gnostic Christianity, and James Joyce (calling Finnegans Wake the best literary representation of the psychedelic experience). He remained opposed to all forms of organized religion or guru-based forms of spiritual awakening. He believed DMT was the apotheosis of the psychedelic experience and spoke of the 'jeweled, self-dribbling basketballs' or 'self-transforming machine elves' that one encounters in that state. Although he avoided giving his allegiance to any one interpretation (part of his rejection of both monotheism and monogamy), he was open to the idea of psychedelics as being 'trans-dimensional travel, literally,' enabling an individual to encounter what could be aliens, ghosts/ancestors, or spirits of the earth.

In addition to natural mind enhancing supplements, McKenna spoke on the subjects of virtual reality (which he saw as a way to artistically communicate the experience of psychedelics), 'techno-paganism,' artificial intelligence, evolution, extraterrestrials, ancestor-worship (or, as he put it, contacting 'dead people'), and aesthetic theory (art/visual experience as 'information,' hence the significance of hallucinatory visions experienced under the influence of psychedelics). He advised the taking of psychedelics in relatively-to-extremely large doses (asserting that those who had only sampled psychedelics in small doses failed to access their full potential), particularly alone, in a dark space, without music or other forms of external stimulation. Philosophically and religiously, he expressed admiration for Marshall McLuhan, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Gnostic Christianity, and James Joyce (calling Finnegans Wake the best literary representation of the psychedelic experience). He remained opposed to all forms of organized religion or guru-based forms of spiritual awakening. He believed DMT was the apotheosis of the psychedelic experience and spoke of the 'jeweled, self-dribbling basketballs' or 'self-transforming machine elves' that one encounters in that state. Although he avoided giving his allegiance to any one interpretation (part of his rejection of both monotheism and monogamy), he was open to the idea of psychedelics as being 'trans-dimensional travel, literally,' enabling an individual to encounter what could be aliens, ghosts/ancestors, or spirits of the earth.

In addition to natural mind enhancing supplements, McKenna spoke on the subjects of virtual reality (which he saw as a way to artistically communicate the experience of psychedelics), 'techno-paganism,' artificial intelligence, evolution, extraterrestrials, ancestor-worship (or, as he put it, contacting 'dead people'), and aesthetic theory (art/visual experience as 'information,' hence the significance of hallucinatory visions experienced under the influence of psychedelics). He advised the taking of psychedelics in relatively-to-extremely large doses (asserting that those who had only sampled psychedelics in small doses failed to access their full potential), particularly alone, in a dark space, without music or other forms of external stimulation. Philosophically and religiously, he expressed admiration for Marshall McLuhan, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Gnostic Christianity, and James Joyce (calling Finnegans Wake the best literary representation of the psychedelic experience). He remained opposed to all forms of organized religion or guru-based forms of spiritual awakening. He believed DMT was the apotheosis of the psychedelic experience and spoke of the 'jeweled, self-dribbling basketballs' or 'self-transforming machine elves' that one encounters in that state. Although he avoided giving his allegiance to any one interpretation (part of his rejection of both monotheism and monogamy), he was open to the idea of psychedelics as being 'trans-dimensional travel, literally,' enabling an individual to encounter what could be aliens, ghosts/ancestors, or spirits of the earth.