world gnosis Archives

THE GNOSTIC SERPENTS : The Ophites and Naaseni 🐍

The Serpent Gnostic sects of Egypt included known as the Ophites and Naaseni. Both names are Greek and denote “Serpents.” The Fourth Century historian Philaster maintained that these sects, along with the Sethians and Cainites, were specially united by having descended directly from the First Instructor and Serpent on the Tree. Of these sects the Ophites (from Ophidian, “snake”) and Nasseni (from Hebrew Naas or Nachash, “snake”) were unique in being the pre-eminent worshipers of live snakes. Like Serpent Gnostics worldwide, they were also renown for having “knowledge of the deepest things.”

The Naaseni are believed to have descended from the original gnostics in the west, and to have existed well before the birth of Christ. They are related to the Nasurai, the enlightened gnostics of the Mandeans, who blended with the Essenes to form the sect of Nasoreans or “Nazarenes.” The Mandaean Nasurai Jesus was born into this Essene Serpent sect and known by his peers as the Nasorean (or the Nazarene). Long after his Ascension, his Apostles continued the Serpent tradition of Jesus and named their little group Nasoreans. Jesus’s brother, James, oversaw this small group and continued to tradition of remaining in contact with other Serpent Gnostics in the Middle East. According to historical record, James sent “Mariam” with some very secretive “Serpent” teachings to transmit to the Nasseni of Alexandria. This Nasorean Mariam is believed to be none other than Mary Magadalene, who was apparently in association with the Apostles and their Nasorean sect long after the departure of Jesus.

According to the historian Epiphanius, the most important live snake of the Nasseni and Ophites was venerated as the First Instructor and commonly kept in a special chest known as the Cista Mystica, which was only opened during the most sacred of rituals. At mealtimes the favored snake, which the Serpent Gnostics addressed as their Savior, was coaxed out of its box and let loose to consecrate their food by slithering over and around it. Afterwards, the Ophites would take turns kissing the sacred snake upon the mouth and then sinking to their knees in humble worship of the reptile. These and other more secretive rites of the Ophites were timed with the ascension of the Celestial Serpent, the constellation of Draco the Dragon, which was acknowledged by them to be the eternal heavenly manifestation of the First Instructor.

The Ophites and Nasseni employed various Greek and Hebrew names for their Serpent Savior, including Nachash, Kneph, Chnouphis, and the Agathodeamon. For protection they carried coins, talismans and gems with images of their serpent deity carved deeply into them. The gems and talismans were often bright red in color, thus reflecting the fiery nature of the serpent engraved upon them, and covered with Greek mantras and symbols. The red gems also activated the Kundalini, which was a form of the Serpent Savior in the human body. Ophite initiate’s were known to spend long periods of time in the caves of the Egyptian desert while propitiating their Serpent Savior and his transformative power.

For their academic contemplation the Gnostic Nasseni studied The Gospel According to Thomas and they were known to have been great fans of The Gospel According to the Egyptians. They were also inveterate devotees of the Goddess and adopted many of Her rites that had been observed in the Eleusinian Mysteries and other Left Hand Path schools.

From: “World Gnosis: The Coming Gnostic Civilization” 🐉 by Mark Amaru Pinkham

IMPORTANT GNOSTIC SECTS OF THE WEST 🐉
The Gnostic Manichaeans

Beginning in the 3rd Century a virtual explosion of Gnosticism took hold of Asia and Europe through the “Religion of the Prophet Mani.” Known as Manichaeism, this planetary gnostic faith would endure for 1000 years and bring gnosticism to countless people living in the lands that stretched from China to Britain.

The Prophet Mani was born in 217 CE to a father of the Gnostic Mandaeans and a Persian Princess. His mission began when his guardian angel, who identified itself as the Paraclete, the “Comforter” promised by Jesus, appeared to Mani and instructed him to complete the work of all the great prophets who had come before him, including Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha and Jesus. They had all brought pieces of the gnostic “puzzle” on Earth, and now it was time for Mani to synthesize all these pieces into one all-encompassing universal faith designed for everyone.

Mani’s religion encouraged the development of both the right and left hemispheres of the brain through both intellectual and intuitive training, thus supporting the development of gnosis. The teachers of his sect were from both sexes; they were highly educated and intuitive, and most were adepts on the gnostic-alchemical path. Besides committing themselves to studying, translating and copying all the available spiritual writings of their era, the priests of Manicheaeism also observed a celibate lifestyle, a vegetarian diet, and long days and nights of meditation, fasting and prayer. They embraced a traditional gnostic ideology which maintained that all humans were divine spirits imprisoned in physical forms, and they followed Mani’s guidance to extricate their souls from the shackles of dense matter. Until their release from matter was permanent they knew they were destined to continue to revolve on the wheel of reincarnation indefinitely.

Manichaeism was composed of lay persons known as Auditors or “Hearers,” and their teachers, priests and adepts were known as the Pure or “Elect.” The Pure lived an intensely austere lifestyle that allowed only one meal per day and required at least 100 days of fasting over the course of a year, with at least one of those fasts continuing for a period of 30 days. They were required to daily chant eight very long hymnal prayers, and when not meditating or studying texts they were enjoined to enroll in service work to benefit their communities. The Elect were supported materially by the lay persons, who lived normal, worldly lives until they were ready to surrender to the life of a Pure. At the time of his or her advancement a Hearer would be absolved of all sin and have the Holy Spirit power transmitted into them by a facilitating Elect to catalyze the awakening of the inner Serpent Power or Kundalini. Any future sin could be rectified with mentanoia, “repentance,” except for one, observes the gnostic author Kurt Rudolph: “Unforgivable is only the sin of the conscious resistance against the redeeming knowledge, the illumination by the light-nous, the Holy Spirit….”

Mani was supported early in his ministry by the Persian King Shappur, but when the King died, his son Bharam colluded with the Persian high priest Kartir to cleanse the world of all “heretical” sects, including Manicheanism. Mani was sent to prison, and after years of torture he died an agonizing death in his cell. In the year 277 his dismembered and flayed corpse was put on public display, which at the time was the traditional fate of all condemned heretics.

From: “World Gnosis: The Coming Gnostic Civilization” by Mark Amaru Pinkham 🐍