Birth of the Demiurge
Sophia drew a veil around infinity and her veil cast a shadow outside it. From the depths of darkness arose Yaldabaoth, the blind, foolish Demiurge. Declaring himself “God”, Yaldabaoth fled the divine realms and used some of his stolen fire to build a prison planet called “Earth.” He created seven heavens like invisible cosmic cages and populated them with sinister fallen angels called “Rulers.”
The Demiurge and Disorder
The Biblical creator god’s greatest flaw is his ignorance – he literally does not understand where he came from. The Demiurge’s limited awareness made him the target of many cruel jokes in the gnostic scriptures, not least of which were the insulting nicknames he was given: “This gloomy ruler has three names: “The first name…
!["A veil exists between the World Above and the realms that are below; and Shadow came into being beneath the veil; and that Shadow became Matter; and that Shadow was projected apart. And what she [Sophia] had created became a product in the Matter, like an aborted fetus."
”Hypostasis of the Archons.” The Other Bible. Ed. Willis Barnstone. Harper San Francisco, 1984. 79.](https://www.gnosticshock.com/storage/bb-plugin/cache/asleep_moloch_w_sig-610x790-square-82ee3da97f17cd073acf4f3fcffa522f-.png "The Demiurge Emerges fron the Darkness")
The Creation of Chaos
At the beginning of time, Sophia (the world soul) broke away from Christ (the world spirit) and gave birth to Yaldabaoth, the arrogant creator-god of the Old Testament. The exact process by which this cosmic fiasco occurred was the subject of much debate among the gnostics; in perhaps the oldest version of the story, Sophia’s…
Birth of the Demiurge
As Sophia looked down into the swirling void, a monstrous creature swam forth from the darkness – an insane fallen angel called “the Demiurge”: “…a Ruler first appeared out of the waters… having a great authority within himself, but not knowing whence he came into being.” ((”On the Origin of the World.” The Other Bible.…
Blasphemy of Samael
The Demiurge looked at his surroundings, realized that he was alone, and declared himself “god”; Sophia acted quickly to punish this cosmic usurper, blinding and banishing him in one fell swoop: “Opening his eyes he saw a vast quantity of Matter without limit; and he became arrogant, saying, “It is I who am God, and…
This Footstool Earth
Cast down from the worlds of light, Yaldabaoth carved a new home for himself out of the darkness: “When the Ruler saw his greatness, he saw only himself; he did not see another one except water and darkness. Then he thought that he alone existed. His thought was made complete by means of the word,…
Origin of the Seven Archons
Fleeing Sophia’s presence, Yaldabaoth/Yahweh used the divine energy he had stolen from her to create offspring of his own: “Yaldabaoth is the first ruler, who took great power from his Mother. Then he left her and moved away from the realms where he was born. He was strong, and created for himself other realms by…
Many Heavens of the Hebdomad
In the gnostic view, Yaldabaoth built the universe as a sort of cosmic penal colony where “dimensions, times, and seasons” were created in order to keep humans “blinded” and “bound” to the cycle of reincarnation. ((“The Secret Book of John.” The Secret Teachings of Jesus. Trans. Marvin W. Meyer. Vintage, 1984. 64.)) As a soul…