RGIA Update

We now have six people signed up for the RGIA pilot, and I'm assembling the first missive this weekend. For the most part the participants seem way past the need for a "very basic introductory overview" but I have great hopes that their individual experiences and perspectives will enrich the course. We are beating a path for those who follow.

Stay tuned.

Stay in School, Kids!

Vectors, like maps and Venn diagrams, get cranked out by the gazillions when academics study religion. But I do despair that we have almost no students even looking at the subject of contemporary Gnosticism. I know of one student doing a Masters in Classical Gnosticism - and we're grateful for him (a shout-out, Jesse) - but really I think we need a Margot Adler, and soon. And we're looking for a PhD. thesis here - in Canada anyway anybody can wake up at the age of 25 from an alcohol-induced coma with a $50,000 student loan and a Masters degree. On to the show.

The horizontal represents a continuum of Gnostic thought, from the Christian Gnosticism flowing into and overlapping the Sophian through to the Hermetic. The vertical is from orthodoxy as it is conventionally understood through to heterodoxy. If you don't like the terminology for this oh-so-disposeable exercise, please make your own and jump in on the comments section - stimulating dialogue is what all of this is for.

A more accurate (larger) diagram would show fields, with each idea being blobby shapes stretching along continua, but I've attempted to put the "heart" of each artefact in an approximate space relative to the others.

Supahstah!

Allow me this phenomenal act of unbridled narcissism in directing you to Tim Boucher's interview with an obscure heretic Priest. There are a few quotes that came up that I like, once I got my rant on.

When I say that Protestantism is Spiritually bankrupt I mean that it’s evident that the Spirit has abandoned it. It’s anemic, suburban, vapid. The spiritual Geiger counter doesn’t tick there. There is no deeply resonant myth in guitar masses, big screen tv’s, mega-church mega-missions, or applied pop-psychology. All those smarmy websites with picnicking shampoo-and-conditioner couples holding up babies or golden retrievers in the sunshine. Only those traditions which are sombre, iconic, and dimly lit create space for Hermetic reflection and illumination. Glossalalia, interpretive dance masses and Kumbaya are just embarrassing for everybody. And if your congregation is larger than your high-school grad class, flee.

[...] Sola Scriptura is a fool’s errand. While I do sympathize with those who’s searching leads them to House Churches, I do have concerns about possible cultic tendancies. I think people need to ask themselves, “Where is the Mystery?”. There has to be more of a choice than between Jack Chick and Buddy Christ, and I just don’t see that choice in Protestantism –with the exception of ECUSA, which appears to have converted to a kind of Gnostic Christianity anyway.

[...] Religion is a disease when it’s too safe. That’s why Satanists are always such a disappointment. “We don’t sacrifice babies.” Why the hell not? You’re supposed to be evil! It’s such a letdown. All you get are sullen teenagers and flaccid polemics.

Aside from alienating Protestants and Satanists, I go off to say some fairly give-the-new-kid-a-break stuff about the Bishop of Rome, and consider the Gnostic conversion of Scarlett Johansen. Thanks, Tim!

Towards a Rite of Gnostic Initiation for Adults

Proposed is a pilot project for an 8 week course of readings and online discussions aimed at providing those new to Gnosticism with an overview of its history, language, theology and ethics.

All reading material is freely available online, but participants are strongly encouraged to read the books in the sidebar. There is no cost to participate, but there is a limit of ten participants.

The RGIA is completely Open Source, its structure made available to all Gnostic clergy for application and improvement. It is not particular to any one Gnostic Communion, but rather hopes to serve as a broad introduction to contemporary Ecclesiastical Gnosticism in general.

I will facilitate the first intake, but would love to have a co-facilitator, ideally from EG / EGM / EGCA continuum (+Rosa? Sam+?) as I will no doubt bring my Johannite perspective.

Each week, a reading assignment will be delivered via e-mail on the following topics (in order);

1. Myths of Creation and Redemption

2. The Gnostic Road and Personal Experience

3. Dramatis Personae: Who's Who 200 BCE - 1890 CE

4. Sophia: The Divine Feminine and the Magdalene

5. The Logos: Christology, Myth, and Heresy

6. The Hermetic Tradition

7. The Living Tradition: Gnosticism in the Modern World from 1890 CE

8. The Gnostic Liturgical Year: Major dates of celebration and remembrance.

At the end of the week, there will be an hour-long online chat via AOL Instant Messenger. Upon completion of this course the partcipants should have a good cursory knowledge of most of the central themes in contemporary Ecclesiastical Gnosticism, as well as a solid grasp of the often overwhelming terminology.

Those interested should write a one page mini-bio of their spiritual journey to date, and include their AIM user name and e-mail address.

Interested?

Is There a Gnostic Church In My Area?

Um, maybe. Here is a map with the two largest Ecclesiastical Gnostic Communions (Communia?), the Ecclesia Gnostica / Eglise Gnostique and the Apostolic Johannite / EG Catholica Hermetica, but why we're not just one Gnostic Communion is beyond me.

A slapdash first effort, I'll make a prettier / less confusing one later.

[This is in no way meant to be a complete map, there are quite a few blue dots missing, such as the wonderful EGM, but they're big dots and a small map, so, sorry. I'll try better next time.]

"Neo"Catholic?

[ I heart this poster. I want thirty.]
The story is here.

Okay so I wonder how many of these young Sems are going to be fetishizing this blatantly Gnostic virus of a movie? How many are going to start understanding the Roman world view, in fact the entire constructed world, as a system that can be hacked? And how many of those are going to be looking for those hacks in the "Matrix in a Nutshell" that is Gnosticism? I couldn't do this better if I planned it.

Ah, but I forget myself. We're not heretic Catholics, we're Buddhists with spiffy outfits.

New AJC Website

The Apostolic Johannite Church has a new website. Particularly check out the Message from Bishop +Shaun, the Statement of Principles, and the FAQ.

I made this, and there are a lot of holes to fill. There's some great old content there that I have to figure out what to do with (it's actually all still up there so you're old bookmarks will work) but it'll take some time to get all the old stuff into the new format.

Be sure to check out the wonderful icons by Eileen McGuckin who was kind enough to let us use them.

I Said, Can You Feel The Love?

Here is an urban version, in 1280 x 1024, for you whiners. Tell your co-workers it's for a DJ or a brand of jeans or something.

Gnostic Desktop

Represent! This is a desktop I made, so your co-workers can look at you funny. The actual 1024 x 768 image is here. Can you feel the love?

The Seven Principles of Cosmic Spirituality

1. The entire cosmos is the manifestation of Divine Mind—every molecule, every cell, every creature, every rock, tree, mountain, planet, blazing star, whirling galaxy and universe of galaxies.

2. We are all an integral, interconnected part of the whole cosmos and our own inner world is a holograph of the cosmos within us.

3. One basic datum underlies every religion under the sun, the principle of Incarnation. The Word or Logos, God’s self-expression made manifest, has given the light of its divine spark to every mind/soul coming into the world. Christians call this the Christ or "Christ in us." Other faiths have different names or modes of expression for this same inner reality.

4. Every religion whose ethical core is summed up by the word "compassion" or "loving-kindness" to all other creatures without exception has a vision of the truth and is a valid "way" to Transcendence.

5. No one faith or religion—whatever its claims may be, alone has The Truth.

6. True cosmic spirituality is steeped in, flows from, and derives its most powerful analogies and metaphors from the natural world – from the tiniest bit of dust to the spiralling stars above.

7. The core aim of cosmic spirituality is radical transformation, both personal and societal.

– Tom Harpur

[Sounds pretty Gnostic to me. Also check out The Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity]

Anthem of the Exiled Princes

We are the Gnostics. We are exiled Princes, all of us; and in our exile we taste sorrow, and hope, and a secret prayer. Before a darkness greater than what we are, yet less than what we were, we tremble but do not cower. We greive, but we do not despair.

We are the Knights of the Lost Queen, Companions to the Beloved: She of red egg and alabaster jar. The Alchemists and Kabalists, the Witches and Magicians are of us. We are the keepers of a Flame far older than the world, and we seek it out where we may find it, and breathe it to life with our wit, our humility, our art and our joy.

We stood before the murderers of Hypatia, and again before the fires of Montsegur, even as our blood stained both smoke and snow. Our history is forbidden, our language contraband. Our knowing sleeps beneath our anonymous skin.

We are the heirs of the Temples of Kemet, of the Mysteries of Helenic vineyards, of the River. Those who Quest are of us, whether armed with sword and chain in service to the Graal, or by alembic and crucible in the unveiling of Wisdom's Stone. We are all that stands against the returning of gold into lead. We are they of the serpent and apple, the tree and the dove; the prayers of the Morning Star are known to us. When the Word was rendered and His body cast into the triumphant dark, our mourning made cold the blazing spheres.

We are exiled Princes; our coins are of a foreign land, and we remember songs that were old when the stars were kindled into being. We have suffered and withstood the Forgetting Wild, and upon our remembrance have put away childish things. We are Perfect and Immortal; we are flawed and absurd. The flag of our Kingdom was unearthed and its revelation set a cooling balm on a burning world.

Gnostic Myth: Sightings

A few weeks back, Jeremy had an excellent post on Gnostic myths in which he outlined a starting point toward a criteria for identifying such. While I think he made excellent inroads, I tend to side with Bishop +Hoeller when he speaks of having a "musical ear" for Gnosticism - you know it when you hear it.

For me, I recognize a Gnostic myth in the juxtaposition of the issues of authority, identity, and memory. There has in recent years been a tremendous interest in these themes, and I propose a few sightings for your consideration.

Ghost in the Shell: The protagonist Motoko is a created being, essentially a robot - but her person is recognized as valid, in that she has a "ghost" a sum total of experience, memory, bias, intelligence, intuition, that is considered equal to a human soul. In fact no distinction is made between the "ghost" of a manufactured person and that of a human. Motoko's ghost comes into contact with an emerging intelligence, offering her Gnostic initiation, even quoting Gnostic chunks of Paul in the process. While as a law enforcement officer Motoko is locked in a binary, dualist battle (cops vs. terrorists) she awakens to a much broader understanding of her world and its workings.

Promethea: This is an Hermetic Initiation disguised as a comic book, with a particular emphasis on Kabala. The product of avowed Gnostic artist Alan Moore – possibly our only Gnostic celebrity – it is a Jungian exploration of myth, with a Phildickian bent of finding divinity in trash, in this case, pulp fiction and comics.

V for Vendetta: Also an Alan Moore project, but this upcoming film, based on Moore's graphic novel, is directed by the will-you-PLEASE-come-out-and-say-it Gnostic duo of Larry and Andy Wachowski, who made another little Gnostic film or three you may have seen. It concerns an alternative near-future, and a Guy Fawkes-masked anarchist raging against a totalitarian England. Again, authority, identity, memory.

Immortel (Ad Vitam): The inbreaking of the God Horus into the body of an imprisoned civil rights actvist, and the manipulation of the memory of a celestial, mysterious girl. The heroine Jill even takes a red pill (!) as the final stage in her spiritual mission on earth, although this requires her full incarnation and therefore a kind of amnesis of her origins (much like the Fall of Sophia).

There is also a tremendous Aporian resonance in this song, the sense of despair and defeat after Epiphany, once one realizes what one has lost and what one is up against.

All of this dust
All of this past
All of this over and gone
And never coming back
All of this forgotten
Not by me

I find comfort here
'Cause I know what is lost
Hope is always fear
For the pain it may cost
And I have searched for the reason to go on
I’ve tried and I’ve tried
But it’s taking me so long

I might be better off
Closing my eyes
And God will come looking for me...

– Sarah Bettens, All of This Past