In ancient times, the Gnostics sought for salvation through personal, experiential knowledge of the Divine. Their methods of self-reliance and their sublime knowledge profoundly impacted society, such that the dominant powers felt threatened and the tradition was forced to disappear from public view. Now, after centuries of obscurity, the Gnostics have re-emerged, still carrying their profound message of Gnosis: knowledge of self and the Divine. In a simple and elegant way, Samael Aun Weor explains the basic methodology for people in today's world to begin to approach the greater mysteries of the Gnostics. In this basic and practical guide, Samael Aun Weor offers a breadth of exercises guiding the reader to discover within themselves a wealth of insight and understanding. Gnosis, after all, is Greek for knowledge, and the seeker is told, "Know thyself, and thou shalt know the universe and its Gods." "A great author deduced that the human being needs eight important things in life: health and the conservation of life, nourishment, sleep, money and the things money can buy, life in the beyond, sexual satisfaction, the well-being of his children, and a sense of proper importance. We synthesize these eight things into three: 1. Health 2. Money 3. Love "If you really want to acquire these three things, you should study and practice everything that this course teaches you. We will show you the path of success." - Samael Aun Weor Includes the lecture "How to Make Light Within" and the pamphlet "Marriage, Divorce, and Tantra." Topics include: An Exercise to Control Your Anger; The Power of Thought; Mental Force; Concentration of the Mind; The Law of Karma; Favorable Circumstances; The Descent of Cosmic Vibration; Prana; The Names of the Tattvas; Properties of the Tattvas; Money; Clairvoyance; Alcoholism; Meditation and Intoxication; Osmotherapy; Mental Relaxation; Concentration; Meditation; Contemplation; The Universal Mind; Imagination and Will; Mental Action; Mental Epidemics; Mental Hygiene; Vegetarian Diet; Self-observation; Chatter; “I’s” in the Five Centers; Matrimony, Divorce, and Tantra; and more.

Translated by R. McL. WilsonA full-scale study based on the documents of the Coptic Gnostic library found at Nag Hammadi providing a comprehensive survey of the nature, the teachings, the history and the influence of this religion.

Gnosis, in the hands of Roberts Avens, is a perennial philosophy of the heart. This book provides a readable, uncomplicated, and reliable introduction to Gnostic thought in the works of Martin Heidegger and James Hillman. As a psychological philosopher, Avens brings fresh meaning to the basic gnostic ideas about angels, salvation through knowledge, and the world as alive and ensouled. Therapies that encourage personified images and ecology movements concerned with the soul in things can find a profound philosophical ground in this new Gnosis.Third, revised edition

Important essays on Gnosis and Gnosticism. Contributors include Rudolph, Pagels, Grant, and Barrett.

Traces connections between Gnostics, Sufis, Knights Templar, Cathars, Fremasons, the Illuminati, and practitioners of alchemy and magic; predicts a peaceful culmination of human civilization.

This introduction to Gnosis by Christoph Markschies combines great clarity with immense learning.In his Introduction Markschies defines the term Gnosis and its relationship to 'Gnosticism', indicating why Gnosis is preferable and sketches out the main problems. He then treats the sources, both those in the church fathers and heresiologists, and the more recent Nag Hammadi finds. He goes on to discuss early forms of 'Gnosis' in antiquity, Jewish and Christian (New Testament) and the early Gnostics; the main representatives of Gnosis, especially Valentinus and Marcion; Manichaeism as the culmination and end-point of Gnosis; ancient communities of 'Gnostics'; and finally 'Gnosis' in antiquity and the present.There is a useful chronological table and an excellent select bibliography.

This volume introduces what has sometimes been called "the third component of western culture". It traces the historical development of those religious traditions which have rejected a world view based on the primacy of pure rationality or doctrinal faith, emphasizing instead the importance of inner enlightenment or gnosis: a revelatory experience which was typically believed to entail an encounter with one's true self as well as with the ground of being, God. The contributors to this book demonstrate this perspective as fundamental to a variety of interconnected traditions. In Antiquity, one finds the gnostics and hermetics; in the Middle Ages several Christian sects. The medieval Cathars can, to a certain extent, be considered part of the same tradition. Starting with the Italian humanist Renaissance, hermetic philosophy became of central importance to a new religious synthesis that can be referred to as Western Esotericism. The development of this tradition is described from Renaissance hermeticists and practitioners of spiritual alchemy to the emergence of Rosicrucianism and Christian theosophy in the seventeenth century, and from post-enlightenment aspects of Romanticism and occultism to the present-day New Age movement.

An anthology of gnostic writings.

The publication in 2009 of C. G. Jung's The Red Book: Liber Novus has initiated a broad reassessment of Jung’s place in cultural history. Among many revelations, the visionary events recorded in the Red Book reveal the foundation of Jung’s complex association with the Western tradition of Gnosis. In The Search for Roots, Alfred Ribi closely examines Jung’s life-long association with Gnostic tradition. Dr. Ribi knows C. G. Jung and his tradition from the ground up. He began his analytical training with Marie-Louise von Franz in 1963, and continued working closely with Dr. von Franz for the next 30 years. For over four decades he has been an analyst, lecturer and examiner of the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich, where he also served as the Director of Studies. But even more importantly, early in his studies Dr. Ribi noted Jung’s underlying roots in Gnostic tradition, and he carefully followed those roots to their source. Alfred Ribi is unique in the Jungian analytical community for the careful scholarship and intellectual rigor he has brought to the study Gnosticism. In The Search for Roots, Ribi shows how a dialogue between Jungian and Gnostic studies can open new perspectives on the experiential nature of Gnosis, both ancient and modern. Creative engagement with Gnostic tradition broadens the imaginative scope of modern depth psychology and adds an essential context for understanding the voice of the soul emerging in our modern age. A Foreword by Lance Owens supplements this volume with a discussion of Jung's encounter with Gnostic tradition while composing his Red Book (Liber Novus). Dr. Owens delivers a fascinating and historically well-documented account of how Gnostic mythology entered into Jung's personal mythology in the Red Book. Gnostic mythology thereafter became for Jung a prototypical image of his individuation. Owens offers this conclusion: “In 1916 Jung had seemingly found the root of his myth and it was the myth of Gnosis. I see no evidence that this ever changed. Over the next forty years, he would proceed to construct an interpretive reading of the Gnostic tradition’s occult course across the Christian aeon: in Hermeticism, alchemy, Kabbalah, and Christian mysticism. In this vast hermeneutic enterprise, Jung was building a bridge across time, leading back to the foundation stone of classical Gnosticism. The bridge that led forward toward a new and coming aeon was footed on the stone rejected by the builders two thousand years ago.” Alfred Ribi's examination of Jung’s relationship with Gnostic tradition comes at an important time. Initially authored prior to the publication of Jung's Red Book, current release of this English edition offers a bridge between the past and the forthcoming understanding of Jung’s Gnostic roots.

The Greek word "gnosis," defined as direct spiritual knowledge or insight, has its origins in historical offshoots of Christianity in late antiquity. But the terms "Gnosticism" and "gnosis" have become widespread in many other contexts. They are common in contemporary scholarship on religion and in popular usage among magical, religious, and spiritual practitioners. And they have entered popular usage in contemporary society, with applications in numerous political, religious, and cultural contexts. Gnosis and Gnosticism have become leitmotifs in popular culture, in films such as The Matrix and Dark City, as well as in anime and other popular art forms. In American Gnosis, Arthur Versluis explores the fascinating connection between the Gnostic tradition and contemporary American spirituality, politics, and popular media. Versluis surveys themes of Gnosticism and gnosis in American culture, both within the United States and in global contexts. Versluis shows that gnosis is key to understanding a wide spectrum of global syncretic religious and intellectual movements-some sensational, even wild, but all fascinating. American gnosis, he argues, is a defining feature of hybrid new religious forms in the twenty-first century. Versluis provides case studies of major contemporary figures and texts that are emblematic of neo-gnosticism, offering a comprehensive framework of gnosis and an understanding of gnostic trends in modernity. He explores how neo-gnostic memes recur in social media and shows how American gnosis has manifested as spiritual independence, reflecting the ever-growing demographic category "spiritual but not religious." In delving into the intersection of contemporary American spirituality, politics, and literature, American Gnosis uncovers the remarkable prevalence of neo-gnostic elements today.