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sophiaserpentia) wrote2010-08-11 12:14 pm
sophiaserpentia) wrote2010-08-11 12:14 pm
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Lately I've been coming back to the Gnostic literature. This morning I encountered a text that hadn't really stood out in my mind before: the Revelation of Adam to Seth, a Sethian text with strong Hellenic overtones that has a really interesting hymn in the middle.
By this I mean the passage that gives fourteen different accounts of the origin of the savior, 13 of them attributed to thirteen kingdoms, the last attributed to "the generation without a king over it," which means in the context of the document the descendants of Seth, who are free from the spiritual fetters of the archons. The number 13 is interesting; if it was 12 we could easily see this as a reference to the 12 tribes of Israel -- which they may be, except that several of the savior-origin stories refer to various aspects of the Christian gospel (orthodox and otherwise). I'm losing my edge, or else I'd've already figured out who the 13 kingdoms were supposed to be. My instinct tells me this hymn is a ritual rubric.
There's also a reference to Solomon's 'army of demons,' which is a rather esoteric reference -- Bentley Layton says in a footnote that at the time there was a myth that Solomon had the ability to control and command demons, note for example the goetic grimoire named "the Lesser Key of Solomon the King." I wasn't aware the myth went back to antiquity... fascinating.
By this I mean the passage that gives fourteen different accounts of the origin of the savior, 13 of them attributed to thirteen kingdoms, the last attributed to "the generation without a king over it," which means in the context of the document the descendants of Seth, who are free from the spiritual fetters of the archons. The number 13 is interesting; if it was 12 we could easily see this as a reference to the 12 tribes of Israel -- which they may be, except that several of the savior-origin stories refer to various aspects of the Christian gospel (orthodox and otherwise). I'm losing my edge, or else I'd've already figured out who the 13 kingdoms were supposed to be. My instinct tells me this hymn is a ritual rubric.
There's also a reference to Solomon's 'army of demons,' which is a rather esoteric reference -- Bentley Layton says in a footnote that at the time there was a myth that Solomon had the ability to control and command demons, note for example the goetic grimoire named "the Lesser Key of Solomon the King." I wasn't aware the myth went back to antiquity... fascinating.
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There's something about the 72 bright spirits of the Shemhamphorash having an inner relationship to his power over the goetic spirits... the word Goetia has a fascinating history excavated by historian Sarah Iles Johnston; it goes back to goes, a shamanic figure in archaic Greece with the power to call spirits back to this plane through singing.
I've been meaning for years now to read up on all this lore... it gets very complicated because some of this sources, such as the rabbinical exegeses collected in the Mishnah, have very complex histories in and of themselves.
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A number of Gnostic grimoires give names of archons and lesser demons whose names are made up mostly of vowels -- and there was a comment by Plotinus complaining about the Gnostics doing invocations with "songs and cries and hissing sounds."
This also underscores the Hellenic influence on Judaism around the 2nd and 1st century BCE, when the wisdom literature was written. Most of it was attributed to Solomon. "Wisdom" as understood in this context went on to become the Gnostic goddess Sophia.
So the interesting thing here is that Solomon appears to be cast as a villain in this text. Intrigues upon intrigues. Someone has a feud with someone else and suddenly the other guy's patron saint or whatever becomes a villain rather than hero.