Gnostic Lexicon

[deviadah]

I think it might be a good idea to get a Gnostic Lexicon going (and I also think there should be one for alchemy on AF too).

I'll get this lexicon going by posting the following (with permission from the author):

Abraxas (or Abrasax); The letters of this word add up to 365. In Tertullian's outline of the beliefs of Basilides, the term seems to refer to the unknown Father, the Prime Source. In Hippolytus, what is described seems to be the Demiurge. In the surviving Gnostic texts, Abrasax is one of a number of "light bringers".

Aeon; These are the emanations from first cause, the Father. The word not only refers to the "worlds" of emanation, but to the personalities. Sophia, Logos, and the other high principles are aeons.

Agape; Unconditional love. A love that stems from the ability of the initiate to see the divine spark in all life.

Agnoia; Literally "ignorance" or the act of not paying attention.

Agnosia; The state of not having insight or Gnosis.

Allogenes; Means "alien". The existance of spiritual force in the material realm is "alien" to it. This includes both aeons, such as the Logos, as well as the Gnostic him/her self. It is the name given to the teacher figure in the book by the same name, and can very likely be identified with Seth.

Anthropos; "Man". This is the cosmic human as well as the philosophical form of the regular human.

Antinomianism; While this word literally refers to the belief that legal precepts are no longer applicable to a "saved" individual, it has come to be used in regards to any libertine doctrine or practice. Thus, the groups that are experiential rather than ascetic have been referred to as antinomian. There is reason to doubt that the "any thing goes" ideas that have been ascribed to Gnostics like Carpocrates and Corinthus are accurate.

Apochryphon; "Secret Book". The notion of secrecy was important for a wide variety of reasons. Thus the development of the "secret writings" amongst the Gnostics.

Apolutrosis; Secret "Redemption" is seen as being helped by the rite of initiation which helps to impart gnosis. This word refers to both the rite and what is received from it.

Aponoia; "Unreason" is the misuse of thought. This is different than simply not having thought, as the inability to "put things together" can be worse than not even knowing they do in fact fit.

Archigenitor; The "first begetter". A Greek reference to the Demiurge.

Archon; "Ruler". Refers to the creators and governing forces in the material world. The Demiurge and his angels.

Arete; Means "virtue". In Platonic thought it is a reference to the importance of meaning above technical skill (techne). In other words it denotes deeper value such as mythological or philosophical meaning.

Autogenes; "Self Generated". In Gospel to the Egyptians it is equated with the Logos. In Allogenes we see this as one of the three aspects of the Barbelo

Barbelo; Generally it is the first aeon, from which the other Aeons come. As the woman who is "the first male virgin", she has is androgynous.

Boule; the "will" of God which in turn leads to the word (Logos) of God.

Bythos; or "Depth". Another Valentinian term for the Father.

Choic; "Earthly" same as "hylic".

Chrestos; "Friendly" Is a play on the word Christ (anointed). Both refer to the Logos.

Demiurge; The "Craftsman" or creator of the material world. Usually viewed in a negative fashion. If nothing else, the material is less than the spirit so that the creator is lower than the spiritual world.

Docetism; From the root word meaning "image". This is a theological premise that states that Christ's actions on the earth (including the "passion") is illusory.

Ennoia; Means "thought". Sophia in her high form, or Barbelo, is often equated with the first thought. Creation of the spiritual realm, in Allogenes (for instance), happens in the triad of Vitality, Intellection (or Thought), and Being.

Epinoia; Means "insight" as it comes from the higher connections of spirit. In the Apocryphon of John it is the luminous source of Sophia, and the spirit that gives life to Adam.

Eros; This is the love that comes from the desire to reunite. It is a passion contrast with agape which is compassion). Eros originates when the Demiurge sees "light Adam" or the primal man (see Anthropos).

Esaldaios; This is the name that the Naasenes used for the Demiurge.

Gnosis; The common literal translation for this word is "knowledge". We should not confuse this with other Greek terms for knowledge, such as "plerophoreo" which is a purely intellectual understanding, or "eurisko" which is more of a knowledge of the heart, intuited and experiential. Gnosis is the complete comprehension that comes from both rational and intuited means. In the Gnostic context this includes revelation, intiatory progression, a knowing of the function of the internal spirit and the external source as they relate in the Gnostic system.

Gnostic; Both a specific sect mentioned by heresiologists, and a category for a number of sects that believed "Gnosis" had a salvational purpose.

Gnosticism; the word was created by modern scholors to refer to the sects of the Late Antiquities that shared a similar cosmology and soteriology. More recently the definition has been widened in some circles to mean any form of mysticism or esotericism. However, this has largely happened as a result of ignorance as to the technical purpose of the term.

Hebdomas; The kingdom of the "Seven", referring to the spheres of the planets and thus the Archons and heimarmene.

Heimarmene; Literally "destiny". Hylics are controlled by the spheres of the stars, which represent different base drives. Destiny does not apply to the pneumatic, who has broken past such connections.

Hylic; "of matter" This level of thinking (one of the three aspects of existance) deals with the lowest portion of human nature. The world and the instinctual drives with no sublimation.

Kenoma; "Emptyness", the physical universe as opposed to the pleroma.

Logos; often translated as "word", it's true meaning is much more multifunctional (a better translation would be "reason"). The Logos is the light that gives Gnosis via communication. It is the Christ (not to be confused with Jesus). First there was a thought, then the word.

Metennoia; This is the "change of mind" or perspective that happens to the initiate.

Monogenes; The "Only begotten", See Autogenes and Logos.

Nous; "Mind", The soul, which is not the same as the pneuma or spirit. Also a name for the First Thought.

Ogdoad; This is the "eight" kingdoms including the hebdomas (7) and the one above it. It is the realm of the Demiurgos (or sometimes that is the 7th, with the eighth being that of Sabaoth), as well as usually being the realm of the zodiac (dodecon). Sometimes it is also seen as the beginning of freedom from the Archons, and the beginning of connection to the Aeons. Accurding to Tertullian the Valentinians used the term for the realm of the Bythos and Aeons instead

Ouroboros; This familiar image of the serpent biting it's own tail is meant to imply infinity. Or, possibly, eternally being stuck in the material cycle.

Paraklete; "Comforter".

Pharmakeia; Is roughly equivalent to witchcraft. Contrary to the accusations of the heresiologists, Gnostic writers seemed to be have generally been against sympathetic magic or divination as part of the realm of Heimarene. There does seem to be indication of the practice in Apocryphon of John, and we are told by the heresiologists that Basilides bracticed magical formulas for health.

Pistis; "Faith".

Plane; means "error" and can be used for both the cosmic mistake, and a personal lack of understanding.

Pleroma; The word means "fullness". It refers to all existence beyond matter but not including the Bythos that is beyond it.

Pneumatic; One who identifies with the spirit (pneuma) as opposed to the material world (hylic) or rational existance (psychic) alone. The pneuma is the spark (spinther) that came from and is drawn to reunite with the spiritual realm. One who awakens it within the self does it through gnosis.

Poimandres; "Good Shepard" A Hermetic (rather than Gnostic) term that is a guiding force like the Logos.

Praxis; practice.

Pronoia; forthought, "First Thought", or sometimes "providence".

Prunikus; "Slut" Sophia is sometimes referred to as "Pistis Sophia Prunikus". The fallen Sophia.

Psychic; This level of thinking is the one right above "hylic". It's drive is the animal reason, or normal understanding of the mind.

Saklas; Literally means "fool". It is another name for the Demiurge.

Samael; The word "Samael" means "blind god" (or God of the Blind) and is another name for the Demiurge.

Sarkic; "Fleshly". Same as "hylic".

Sethian; It is a name for a specific sect of Gnostics, but also a category created by scholors to refer to a number of sects that are similar in thier difference to Valentinians.

Sophia; Means "wisdom". Like the Logos this is a primal form. While the Logos is personified as male, Sophia is female. Logos has a direct and intellectual basis for guidance, Sophia is inspirational and experience based. The begettor of the Demiurge who falls from grace in some texts

Soter; "Savior" is a name for the Logos.

Soteriology; the study of principles of salvation within a religion. In the most basic sense it is possible to look at much of western religion based on a particular emphasis in the process of salvation. For instance, most Christians believe salvation is gained by faith (pistis) alone, which could be called a "Pistic" soteriology. Manichaeans believed salvation was gained through certain actions (praxis) so they could be said to have a "Praxic" soteriology. Gnostics, of course, believed that salvation was gained through Gnosis.

Spinther; The "spark" or "splinter" that is awakened with Gnosis is the spirit (not the same as soul see "nous"), which is a piece of the divine source. Also see "pneumatic".

Syncratism; Syncratism is the interworking of two or more cultural perspectives into one system. Gnosticism (and therefore Christianity), as well as Kabbalah and the Mysteries of Mithras etc grew from syncratism. This has often been confused with eclecticism but is not the same thing. The latter is a picking and choosing according to taste, without the cultural framework. The former is when two systems come together with cultural perspectives that need to be worked out.

Synesis; Means "insight" in a relization of the physical inter-workings and is an aspect of Gnosis. It is one of the lower powers that was bound into man from the Aeons, by the Demiurge.

Syzygos; Literally means "consort". Sometimes used to refer to the twin. Is generally meant to imply the thing to which one is driven to connect with. A person's syzygos is their spirit. Sophia's mistake was said to be her drive to create without her syzygos.

Yaldabaoth (Ialdabaoth Jaldabaoth); From the Aramaic, meaning "begetter of the Heavens". A name for the Demiurge.

Zoe; Means "Life" and is usually equated with "Eve" which means the same thing. This is essentially the fallen Sophia.

(C) 2001 Karl Nygren (http://www.geocities.com/pmcvflag/)

[m1thr0s]

thanks d...this list has received a lot of attention on the web and some of it is pretty good. other bits are not. I would remind people that any of these terms really needs to be examined from as many sources as possible, and not only those sources claiming expertise in Gnosticism per se. Since Gnosticism is (apparently) a highly syncretic metaphysic, it is essential to cross-reference its tenets and terms as broadly as may be logically relevant.

The above definition of Ouroboros (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros), for instance, is surprisingly weak and tells us virtually nothing we might not have guessed for ourselves without recourse to anything other than our own basic common sense. Yet the symbolism of the Ouroboros (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros) is truly global in scope, being (in many respects) better defined from an Eastern perspective than a Western, where metaphysical constructs like the I Ching are better geared to defining its greater technical implications...

Lists like the above are a great starting point but this is all they can really be. So long as this is understood it needn't be a problem...I suppose what would ultimately be more ideal would be to have as many as half a dozen or more divergent definitions on tap for each term we are examining...

gotta start someplace though so thanks for the *starter kit*... :thumbsup:

m1thr0s

[deviadah]

That goes without saying!

And even if some of the descriptions of what a word means are weak, well at least we got a lot of words listed. ;)

I am sure others got more somewhere hidden away on their harddrives...

[m1thr0s]

That goes without saying!well...that's the whole problem though...it actually needs to be said...and often. For whatever reasons, people are way too quick at oversimplification. Best to try to establish a safeguard against that right from the start I think.

note: in reference to its syncretic nature, I thought this wiki link on gnosticism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism) was fairly decent...again, just a starting point...

m1thr0s

[deviadah]

For whatever reasons, people are way too quick at oversimplification. Best to try to establish a safeguard against that right from the start I think.
I'm sure you are right. Altough it is good to get a rough view of a word just to know what someone is talking about. I usually look stuff up and then discover more than I bargained for, but perhaps not everyone does so. Anyway here are some more lexicons (and I post the links only because I have no permission from these gals/girls to copy & paste):

A Glossary of Gnostic Terms (http://www.gnosticq.com/az.text/glos.af.html)
Gnostic Jesus (http://www.gnostic-jesus.com/gnosticglossary.html)
Wikipedia - important terms/concepts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism#Important_terms_and_concepts)
Wikipedia - list of gnostic terms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gnostic_terms)

:cool:

The word Abraxas (http://forums.abrahadabra.com/showthread.php?p=28864) is a favourite of mine, like abrahadabra (http://www.abrahadabra.com) it starts with abra. :p

[Frater Yechidah]

Here's the beginning of my own lexicon. I'll try to update and expand on it soon (feel free to recommend words):

Allogenes – Literally “foreigner” in Greek, this is the title of one Sethian Gnostic text (found here (http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/allogene.html)). The “foreigner” in this case is seen to be the Gnostic, who, while in the physical world, is foreign to it (having his/her true origin in God).

Apocryphon – Literally “secret book” in Greek (plural: apocrypha), this is appended to many Gnostic texts (such as the Secret Book of John) to show that it is a text, unlike other texts, that explores the secret truth (which many Gnostics felt was withheld from more generic texts that Christians, etc., used). This is generally employed by Sethian Gnostics (the Valentinians would have seen the secret truth in the more generic texts as well).

Archon – Literally “ruler” in Greek, this is the name of one of the adversary forces that rule the Cosmos, under the dominion of the Demiurge. Some Gnostics saw these as numbering into hundreds (i.e. angels), while others saw seven Archons (i.e. the seven old planets), one of which was the Demiurge (Saturn).

Cosmos – From the Greek (kosmos), meaning “system”, this is seen as the cage from which the Gnostics are to break free from. A good modern myth of this is the Matrix.

Demiurge – Literally “artisan” or “craftsman” (from the Greek demiurgos), this is the name/title of the main adversarial force in Gnostic cosmology. He is variously seen as the Creator God (differentiated from the True God who is beyond Creation), Saturn, Satan, or a more abstract force of bondage. The term was first introduced by Plato, who influenced many of the Gnostic movements.

Gnosis – Literally “knowledge” in Greek, this is the experiential knowledge of the divine that turns a person into a Gnostic. It is a revelatory and salvational experience of communion with God, not to be confused with intellectual or book knowledge (known as episteme in Greek).

Hylic – Literally “of matter” (from the Greek hulikos), this was a Valentinian title for the people who were devoid of spirituality entirely, those who had rejected God in any of his guises (even non-Gnostic ones). They were the people who clung to matter (hyle), and made up the first group of the Valentinian three-fold division of souls.

Logos – Literally “word” in Greek (though that is but an approximate translation). Originally introduced by Plato, it was taken by many Gnostics (via the introductory passages of the Gospel of John) as a title of the Christ, and is often seen as one of the primary Aeons.

Pistis – Literally “faith” or “trust” in Greek, this is often seen as the opposite of Gnosis (upheld by the psychic group of the Outer Church), but the Valentinian Gnostics saw it as a necessary prerequisite of the attainment of Gnosis (though it was never seen as offering salvation).

Pleroma – Literally “fullness” in Greek, this is a title for the totality of the Divine, the realm of the Aeons and the True God. Reunion with the Fullness is seen as one of the primary goals of Gnosticism.

Pneumatic – Literally “of spirit” (from the Greek pneumatikos [from pneuma – spirit]), this was a Valentinian title for the people who belonged to the third of their three-fold system of grouping. These were the Gnostics, the Valentinians themselves (among others of similar theology), and were seen to be members of the “Inner Church”, the Church of Gnosis, and the highest of all three groups.

Praxis – Literally “practice” in Greek, this is a common term for practical (as opposed to intellectual) exercises that a Gnostic might undertake as part of spiritual observance or attempts towards Gnosis. Examples include ritual, prayer, and community action.

Psychic – Literally “of soul” (from the Greek psychikos [from psyche – soul]), this was a Valentinian title for the people who belonged to the second of their three-fold system of grouping. They were seen as people who had embraced a limited aspect of the divine (given in Faith), and were members of the “Outer Church”. This generally referred to the orthodox Christians.

Saklas – Literally “fool” in Aramaic, this is a common title for the Demiurge (who is seen as foolish for denying the reality of the God above him).

Samael – Literally “blind god” (or “god of the blind”) in Aramaic, this is a title for the Demiurge. The name is also found in Jewish and Christian works, variously as the Angel of Death or a demon, often equated with Satan (further enforcing its usage for the Demiurge, who was sometimes seen as Satan).

Sethian – This is the name of a dominant group of Gnostics (who were the only ones to actually use the term “Gnostic” [calling themselves the Gnostikoi], generally of a strong Jewish background. They usually refrained from using Christian references, but upheld similar theology to the Valentinians (gnosis as salvational, emanationist cosmogony, etc.). They saw themselves as the followers/children of the biblical Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, who was seen as the balancing of the forces of Abel and Cain.

Somatic – Literally “of flesh” (from the Greek soma – flesh), this is an alternative title for a Hylic. See the entry entitled “Hylic” for more information.

Sophia – Literally “wisdom” in Greek (giving rise to the word philosophy, love of wisdom [from philo love/r and sophia wisdom), this is the name of one of the primary Aeons in Gnostic cosmology, variously seen as the feminine aspect of the Divine, as the mother of the Demiurge (who created him in an attempt to mimic the actions of God), as the fallen aspect of Divinity (in much the same way as Eve) trapped in Creation, and as the spiritual consort of the Christ (in various forms, most notable of which is Mary Magdalene).

Soter – Literally “saviour” in Greek, this is a title of the Christ. Just as Jesus is seen to be the Saviour in orthodox Christianity, Gnostics saw the Logos/Christ as the salvational Aeon that descended to rescue Sophia (and the trapped sparks of the divine within humanity) from the Cosmos and the bondage of the Demiurge.

Soteriology – Literally “study of salvation”, this is a common term in theology to describe the discussions on what is required to save humanity. In orthodox Christianity it is seen as Faith, but Gnostics taught that Gnosis was the only thing that could grant salvation.

Valentinian – This is the name of perhaps the most dominant group of Gnostics to date, the followers of the teachings of Valentinus and his disciples. They upheld a moderate form of Gnosticism, embracing the ecclesia of Christianity with Gnostic and Platonic theology, doctrine, and practice. Most modern Gnostics and Gnostic Churches are seen as Valentinian.

Valentinus – The founder of the Valentinian Gnostic movement, he was a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church (who was narrowly defeated for the honour of Bishop of Rome ) and the most influential and popular Gnostic to date. He taught a more moderate form of Gnosticism, which was less adversarial to the Church and its teachings, and was therefore considered more dangerous as he converted more and more members of the Church to Gnosticism. His name is sometimes spelled [I]Valentinius, and he is sometimes considered (mostly by Gnostics) as the saint to which Saint Valentine’s Day is named.

Yaldabaoth – Literally “come here, child” in a Semitic tongue (alternatively spelled Ialdabaoth or Jaldabaoth), this is a title of the Demiurge. There is no direct and accurate translation available of this, so any provided can only be an educated guess on the part of scholars.

Yaweh – A pronounced form of the Tetragrammaton (YHVH), the four-lettered name of God. This is the Creator God of Genesis, and he was often described as the Demiurge by Gnostics (especially those who raised how contradictory he seemed to the God shown in the New Testament), especially those with an anti-Semitic bent. This led to further conflict with Jews and Christians alike.

Zoe – Literally “life” in Greek, this is a name used for Eve. In this context she is seen as the daughter of Sophia (or an emanated aspect of her as the fallen goddess).
LLLSHJ,
Yechidah.