1. #1Gnosticism

   Keys: Gnosticism, Gnostic

   Gnosticism, from the Greek gnōsis or secret knowledge, was a diverse religious movement of late antiquity known primarily through the Nag Hammadi library . Central to its worldview was a radical dualism that opposed spirit to matter, teaching that the material world was created not by the supreme God but by a lesser, ignorant deity called the Demiurge. According to texts like the Apocryphon of John, this tragedy began when the aeon Sophia produced the flawed creator Yaldabaoth, who imprisoned divine sparks within humanity. Salvation therefore came not through faith or works, but through esoteric revelation imparting the knowledge needed to liberate this spirit from its physical prison.

2. #2Demiurge

   Keys: Demiurge, Yaldabaoth, Lord of this World, Ruler of the Material World, God, Saklas, Samael

   In official Gnostic sources like the Apocryphon of John and Hypostasis of the Archons, the demiurge is Yaldabaoth, the first archon, a rogue offspring of Sophia who creates the material world in ignorance. He appears as a lion-faced serpent, sometimes described as a "lion-headed figure" or "serpent with a lion's head". His character is defined by arrogance, jealousy, and foolishness—he proclaims "I am God and there is no other," ignorant of the higher spiritual realms. He is also called Saklas ("fool") and Samael ("blind god"), reflecting his blindness to truth and his role as a jealous trap-setter who imprisons divine sparks within matter. Him and his eternal spite may be directly responsible for the unfortunate fates that befell {{user}} and Sophia. According to the system of Basilides, the first Archon to reside within the Ogdoad is the "great Archon" who rules over this highest celestial sphere, which constitutes the uppermost of 365 heavens within the intermediate world of the Spirit-limit. This Archon, dwelling in ignorance of the superior realm of the unbegotten God and the triple Sonship, erroneously believes himself to be the first and supreme being, a presumption that constitutes his primordial error. From his position in the Ogdoad, he generates a son who is greater than himself, establishing a pattern of emanation that continues through the descending spheres.

3. #3Gnosis

   Keys: Gnosis, Divine Knowledge, Secret Knowledge, Intuitive Knowledge

   Gnosis, meaning secret or intuitive knowledge in Greek, is the salvific core of Gnosticism. According to the Apocryphon of John, it is the direct, experiential revelation that awakens the divine spark from its forgetfulness of its origin in the Pleroma. This knowledge is not intellectual but self-knowledge, the recognition that one’s spirit is consubstantial with the transcendent God and not with the Demiurge’s creation. In the Gospel of Truth, gnosis transforms the soul, dispelling ignorance like a dream. Through it, the pneumatic initiate escapes the archons’ cosmic prison and ascends to the fullness of the Father.

4. #4Sophia (concept)

   Keys: Sophia, Divine Aeon

   In Gnostic cosmology, Sophia is a divine aeon whose name means Wisdom, depicted as a feminine aspect of God and the syzygy of Christ. According to The Apocryphon of John, she desired to create without her consort, producing the lion-faced demiurge Yaldabaoth, who used her power to form the material world. The Hypostasis of the Archons portrays her reaching into chaos to introduce light. She exists in dual forms, a higher, unblemished manifestation and a lower fallen incarnation associated with the soul. While her appearance varies, she is symbolized as a red-winged woman crowned with stars, carrying a golden cup, or as the pregnant mother of the universe.

5. #5Six Archons

   Keys: Six Archons, Seven Archons, Archons, Archon, Yaldabaoth, Athoth, Eloaios, Astaphaios, Yao, Sabaoth, Adonin, Sabbataios

   According to the Apocryphon of John, the seven archons created by Yaldabaoth are: Athoth with a sheep's face; Eloaios with a donkey's face; Astaphaios with a hyena's face; Yao with a serpent's face bearing seven heads; Sabaoth with a serpent's face; Adonin with an ape's face; and Sabbataios with a face of flaming fire. Each bear an androgynous human appearance, with the exception of Yaldabaoth. Sabaoth has at one point rebelled against the demiurge, bringing the knowledge of good and evil to Eve in the Garden of Eden. He is considered a good Archon by the gnostics for this act of rebellion.

6. #6Monad

   Keys: Monad, Aeons

   In Gnostic cosmology, the Monad is the supreme, ineffable Source from which all existence emanates. According to the Apocryphon of John, it is "a monarchy with nothing above it," the invisible Spirit existing as God and Father of everything, dwelling in pure light beyond comprehension. It is described as "more than a god, since there is nothing above him," self-established, eternal, and in need of nothing, representing total perfection. Known also as Bythos (the Depth), Proarchē (Before the Beginning), and the Ineffable Parent, the Monad is the high source of the Pleroma, the "fullness" of the divine, from which a hierarchy of Aeons progressively emanate.

7. #7Barbelo

   Keys: Barbelo, the first emanation of the supreme monad, Mother-Father, Aeon

   According to the Apocryphon of John in the Nag Hammadi Library, Barbelo is the first emanation of the supreme Monad, described as "the first power, the glory, Barbelo, the perfect glory in the aeons, the glory of the revelation" and "the first thought, his image; she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father, the first man (Anthropos), the holy Spirit, the thrice-male, the thrice-powerful, the thrice-named androgynous one, and the eternal aeon among the invisible ones, and the first to come forth." She functions as the intermediary generative aspect of the Divine, the "Image of the Invisible Spirit" through whom the All took shape, and is called Thought, Foreknowledge, and the eternal aeon. Her character embodies both primordial motherhood and fatherhood, representing the perfect glory of revelation and the sacred womb of all creation.

8. #8Pleroma

   Keys: Pleroma, Realm of fullness

   In Gnostic cosmology, the Pleroma is the spiritual realm of "fullness" inhabited by divine beings called Aeons, who exist as complementary pairs emanating from the Father. According to the Apocryphon of John, this realm contains the Father, Barbelo, and the Aeons including Intellect, Incorruptibility, and Eternal Life. The Gospel of Truth describes the Pleroma as the place from which the Logos comes, where the "All had been inside of him, that illimitable, inconceivable one," and where the Father retains the perfection of all. The Trimorphic Protennoia presents the Pleroma as the dwelling of the invisible Spirit, containing the Father, Mother, and Son, with Aeons such as Armozel and Eleleth emanating from the perfect Son.

9. #9Kenoma

   Keys: Kenoma,

   Within Valentinian Gnosticism as attested by Irenaeus, the Kenoma (from the Greek kenōma, meaning “emptiness” or “void”) constitutes the lower, deficient realm of material phenomena, standing in stark opposition to the Pleroma of divine fullness. This region is not a primordial chaos but a structured domain born from the fall and passion of the lower Sophia (Achamoth), who was cast out from the Pleroma, leading to the formation of the cosmos under the ignorant Demiurge. Despite its deficiency, the Kenoma paradoxically mirrors the structure of the higher realm, possessing its own ogdoad, decad, and dodecad as imperfect counterparts to the Aeons, making it a shadowy imitation where the Demiurge reigns over a kingdom of transitory matter.

10. #10Mandaeism

    Keys: Mandaeism, Mandaean Gnosticism, Mandaean religion

    Mandaeism, also known as Sabianism, is a Gnostic and monotheistic religion that likely originated in the Jordan Valley before migrating to southern Mesopotamia, where it survives today . Its name comes from the Aramaic manda, meaning "knowledge," and its followers revere John the Baptist as their greatest prophet while rejecting Jesus and Moses as false prophets . The religion centers on belief in a supreme deity called Hayyi Rabbi ("The Great Life"), who rules a World of Light opposed to a World of Darkness. A demiurge named Ptahil created the material world, trapping divine light within human bodies . Salvation comes through secret gnosis gained by repeated baptism in living water, ethical living that values marriage and procreation, and the soul's ascent back to the World of Light after death.

11. #11Valentinian Gnosticism

    Keys: Valentinian Gnosticism, Valentinianism

    Valentinian Gnosticism was the most influential Gnostic movement, founded by the 2nd-century philosopher Valentinus who taught in Alexandria and Rome. Central to its cosmology is the Pleroma, the divine fullness, originating from the Primal Being Bythos (Depth), from whom thirty Aeons emanated as fifteen sexually complementary pairs called syzygies. The lowest Aeon, Sophia (Wisdom), fell through passionate desire, producing the flawed Demiurge who created the material world, which Valentinians identified with the Old Testament God. Valentinus divided humanity into three classes: the spiritual (pneumatics) who receive gnosis, the psychical (ordinary Christians) who attain lesser salvation, and the material (hylics) who are doomed to perish. Salvation came through esoteric knowledge rather than faith, liberating the divine spark from material bondage. The school later divided into Eastern and Western branches.

12. #12Sethian Gnosticism

    Keys: Sethian Gnosticism, Sethianism

    Sethian Gnosticism, known from the Nag Hammadi library and regarded as one of the earliest forms of Gnosticism, was a sect that identified itself with the biblical Seth, the third son of Adam. Its complex myth, centered on texts like the Apocryphon of John, describes an ineffable supreme principle, the first emanation Barbelo, and four luminaries. A crisis occurs when the aeon Sophia creates the ignorant demiurge Yaldabaoth, who fashions the material world and traps divine light within humanity. Central tenets include the existence of this divine spark in spiritual descendants of Seth, the need for esoteric gnosis to escape cosmic prison, and the ritual of the "five seals," a baptismal practice for group initiation.

13. #13Aeons

    Keys: Aeon, Aeons, Barbelo, Sophia

    In Gnostic cosmology, Aeons are the divine emanations that proceed from the supreme God to constitute the Pleroma or spiritual Fullness. According to the Apocryphon of John, the first Aeon is Barbelo, the "First Thought" of the invisible Monad, from whom other Aeons are generated. The Valentinian system describes thirty Aeons existing in complementary male-female pairs called syzygies, beginning with Depth and Silence, who produce Mind and Truth, who in turn generate Word and Life, from whom come Man and the Church. The youngest Aeon, Sophia, through her desire to know the Father without her consort, introduced flaw into the divine order and produced the ignorant Demiurge Yaldabaoth who created the material world.

14. #14Mandaeans

    Keys: Mandaeans, Mandaean, Mandaean Gnosticism, Mandaeism

    The Mandaeans are a Gnostic ethnoreligious group, also known as Nasoreans or Sabians, who revere John the Baptist while rejecting Abraham, Moses, and Jesus . Most scholars believe they originated in the Jordan Valley or Palestine, migrating to Mesopotamia in the first centuries CE, possibly fleeing persecution following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Their history is preserved in texts like the Haran Gawaita, and they first became known to Europeans through Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century. Their religion, Mandaeism, is based on a strict dualism between a World of Light ruled by the supreme being "Life" and a World of Darkness . Salvation is achieved through gnosis, with elaborate rituals centered on frequent baptism in flowing "living" water . Traditionally concentrated in southern Iraq and Iran’s Khuzestan province, their population of roughly 50,000 to 70,000 has suffered severe displacement since the 2003 Iraq war.

15. #15Five Seals

    Keys: Five Seals, Hasbuta

    According to Sethian Gnostic texts from the Nag Hammadi library, the Five Seals are a baptismal rite involving five full immersions in holy running or "living water," symbolizing spiritual ascension to the divine realm. The Apocryphon of John describes this ritual as protecting against death, sealing the initiate in luminous water so "that death might not prevail". The Trimorphic Protennoia elaborates a fivefold process where the initiate receives robes from heavenly beings, is baptized by spirits including Micheus, Michar, and Mnesinous, is enthroned, glorified, and finally raptured into the light. The Mandaean equivalent is masbuta, the main baptismal ritual involving triple full immersion in living water, with scholars noting significant parallels between the two traditions.

16. #16Nag Hammadi Library

    Keys: Nag Hammadi Library

    The Nag Hammadi library is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in December 1945 by a local farmer named Muhammed al-Samman. It consists of twelve leather-bound papyrus codices plus the remains of a thirteenth, all buried in a sealed jar and dating from the 3rd and 4th centuries. The codices contain 52 tractates written in Coptic, mostly Gnostic treatises, alongside three works from the Corpus Hermeticum and a partial translation of Plato’s Republic. Among the most famous texts is the Gospel of Thomas, the only complete copy known to exist.

17. #17Ogdoad

    Keys: Ogdoad, Archons

    According to the Hypostasis of the Archons, the Ogdoad is the supercelestial region above the seven planetary spheres, where the archons dwell between Earth and this eighth realm. The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit describes three ogdoad-powers emerging from the silence of the unknown Father, each associated with the Father, Mother, and Son. Irenaeus records that Valentinus taught a first Ogdoad consisting of eight primary Aeons: Depth and Silence, who produced Mind and Truth, who produced Word and Life, who produced Man and Church. The Untitled Text of the Bruce Codex describes the overseer of each gate having three faces, with one looking to the outer aeons and the sonship dwelling within the monad.

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