*The Myth of Sophia*

* *
Recalling an Ancient Gnostic Creation Story

(part1)

Sophia, Oh dearest Goddess, Oh Great Light of Ineffable Consciousness, how
can I sing the song of your soul? Am I not vain to think that I can
describe the wonders of your emanation? No woman can even fathom your
magnificence much less a man.

I humbly bow before you now and pray that your light, the Light
of Wonder that is our birthright, may return.

-DCM

O Eternal Light Shine

Down on me.

O Eternal Light glow

within me.

O Eternal Light

Be

Me

O Eternal Love pour

down on me

O Eternal Love burn

within me

O Eternal Love

Be

Me

- John Ashby

1. The Myth of Sophia

To hear the story of Sophia is to catch a glimpse of a forgotten
state of ecstasy. Few have tasted this inexplicable power of Sophia
consciousness, but cloaked images of her existence appear periodically to
remind us that she is not lost. The lady of the stars who stands on the
unfilled crescent moon waits for humans to "let go"1 and release these
shards of the great universal consciousness into the darkness of our
misperceived limitations.

This elusive creation myth has traveled a rugged road to reach
us here, in an age where it might finally be welcomed. Gnostic wisdom
teachings have been so threatening to institutionalized religion that they
have suffered a nearly total eradication of its literature. This tragic
history accompanies a four thousand year old cultural wave of patriarchy
that has forced the feminine aspect of life into subordination. Now, as
the paradigm of brute power and control is loosening its hold on the minds
of the modern world (as some have argued), the doors are opening for a long
forgotten Goddess to return and to help us back to a center of calm and
loving luminosity.

2. The Presentation of a Gnostic Creation Story

On May 1, 1998, I presented "The Myth of Sophia, Recalling an
Ancient Gnostic Creation Story" at The University of Creation Spirituality.
I used a variety of acoustic instruments including hammered dulcimer,
zither, Indian or Taos drum, guitar, dumbec and conga drums to provide a
back drop of various sound textures that roughly corresponded to the
different characters in the story.

I presented a brief historical overview of the origins of this
myth and referred to a variety of areas where this myth has appeared in the
course of this past millenium. In my bardic presentation, I described how
life sprang from the Godhead and how a youthful Sophia struggled with a
phenomenal fall from grace to finally meet with her lost beloved, the
Christ, who rescued her from her entrapment in matter.

The evening concluded with a musical composition that I wrote
for the occasion. The audience helped to sing a simple chorus part that
was based on a popular line from the Song of Solomon and my vocally talented
wife, Melissa, sang the verses. (see Appendix B) Seven people, including my
five year old daughter, Inanna, participated on stage with me where we sang,
drummed and improvised our way through a celebration of the Sophia and
Christ within.

3. The Choice of a Story Line

For Sophia, there remains no Gospel. No single complete
rendition of the myth survived various inquisitions perpetrated against the
gnostics by the Roman Catholic Church.2 Prior to the discovery of the Nag
Hammadi texts in 19453, most of what was known of gnostic creation mythology
came from the Catholic records of heresies.

My task was to piece together the tale from the array of gnostic
literature that is currently available. Amidst the tremendous array of the
details from a variety of different gnostic texts, I have composed a story
line that is cohesive and is mostly based on the accounts from the original
texts. The primary text that I used in this research project is called,
The Gnostic Scriptures, by Bentley Layton. This collection consists of
classic (Sethian) scripture, the writings of Valentinus, the works of his
followers, scripture from the school of St. Thomas and a selection of other,
related writings.4 Layton's translations and historical analysis provided,
for me, a highly readable look into the writings of an obscure people.

I have also drawn from one source that is not found within the
gnostic genre of the early centuries after Christ. The resource I used to
explain the story of "The Deep" or the Godhead is an example of this.5 I
chose to include an explanation of the Godhead's release of the Emanation by
turning to what I consider to be one of the most profoundly beautiful
passages in cosmological literature. In a channeled book called The Seth
Material6 a consciousness called Seth speaks through the late Jane Roberts.
He describes how this original Great Mystery, exploded into existence. (see
Appendix C) Based on my familiarity with gnostic literature, the description
of the conditions that led the unexpressed aspects of the Godhead to burst
into creative expression does not seem to contradict common gnostic
sentiment and cosmology. It may even provide a valuable insight into
circumstances that led to a creation which gnostic literature strives to
explain.

The Seth Material is the only non-gnostic source used in my
version of the tale. All other elements within the story were drawn from
three primary texts: The Gnostic Scriptures by Bentley Layton, The Gnostic
Religion, by Hans Jonas and The Tree of Gnosis, by Ioan P. Couliano. Other
books, as noted in my bibliography, brought added tone and spice and
understanding to the mix of my interpretation.

4. Sophia

Who is this elusive figure who claims the grand title of Wisdom
but who is also shrouded in mystery? Most of my discoveries came from
references to the character of Sophia, found in the few surviving gnostic
texts, derived primarily from the Nag Hammadi library.

Sophia, the Greek word for wisdom, has been described as the
great light of divine consciousness that emanates from the source of the
universe. She is no less than the anima mundi, the soul of the world. She
is "the flowing Fire of the Godhead."7 She is the mind or "forethought" of
creation who evades clear description through contradicting qualities. In
one beautiful passage, she is praised as "the silence of silent silence."8
And yet she herself says in an early Christian text, First Thought in Three
Forms , "It is I who am the mother [of] sound...It is I who impart the voice
of the sound into the ears of those who have become acquainted with me, who
are children of the light."9

Sophia is the Spirit of God, the Emanation and the Holy Spirit,
whose feminine nature became masculinized over the ages.10 Possibly it was
her strongly feminine archetypal qualities that were so threatening to the
Church. This religious institution acted on the decision to assimilate the
image of Christ into Sophia's image, ovrlaying the themes of the Christ's
descent, passion and resurrection over her own passage through matter and
hiding references to the individual's capacity for direct
(non-institutional) connection with the divine.

"The aspect of the godhead as Holy Spirit - as Hokhmah and
Sophia - was feminine in Hebrew and Greek until it became assimilated to the
masculine concept of Logos, and then to the Latin Spiritus Sanctus, which
also had a masculine gender." 11

In the ancient gnostic texts, the emanation from the Godhead is
named, Barbelo, the "Forethought," (a higher manifestation of "Sophia") who
precedes the "Afterthought", Sophia, the youngest of the aeons.12 Sophia,
the daughter, falls from heaven and undergoes an initiatory journey through
the dark chaos. Sophia is the naive, over-confident youth who falls from
the span of heavenly aeons. She then bears, in the absence of her male
counterpart, a misshapen offspring, Ialdabaoth. This beastly character
steals the divine light from the fallen Sophia and he throws her down into
the dark abyss. In this isolated state, Sophia's torment knows no bounds.
From this, she is rescued by her consort, the incarnated Christ, and
together they travel to the 8th heaven. From this vantage point, she sets
out to retrieve her lost light by tricking Ialdabaoth into blowing it into
Adam. Through both Adam and Eve and their offspring, Seth, this spark of
Sophia's divine light is spread into generations of individual humans. Sophia
waits for the reawakening of the light that has been scattered throughout
humanity. From here, she mediates God's return to humankind and
humankind's return to God. When the return of Sophia's light is achieved,
she will be able to then enter the "Bridal Chamber" with the Christ. Creation
will be returned to the original balance of the Pleroma that was shaken with
Sophia's Fall.

Hence, three aspects of this cosmological divine being called
"Sophia" are depicted: 1) the Emanation (Barbelo), 2) Sophia, the young
thirteenth aeon, and 3) the monad, or divine spark that is latent within
mortal humans. She also holds a three-fold position in the family
hierarchy of the gnostic Pleroma or heaven. She is the Divine Mother, Wife
of the bridegroom, Christ, and she is the fallen daughter, Sophia, to the
Great Mother, Barbelo.13

Archetypal images of the recovered Fallen Sophia often depict
her from this position of anticipation in the 8th heaven. From the book of
Revelations (12:1) she is "a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under
her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars". St. Thomas of Aquinas
writes of his ecstatic vision of Sophia shortly before his death:

This is the Wisdom, Queen of the South, who has come from the east like the
rising dawn to hear and understand the wisdom of Solomon. In her hand is
power, honour, glory, and the kingdom. She has a crown of twelve shining
stars on her head like a bride decorated for her bridegroom, and on her
garment there is a golden inscription in Greek...and Latin; "As a queen I
will rule and my kingdom will not come to an end for those who find me with
subtlety and the spirit of invention and constancy."14

[Sono state eliminare la parti non di testo del messaggio]