The Christic Intercession

Sophia Morphing into the Planetary Body

According to Against Heresies by Irenaeus (fl c. 150- 200 AD)

BOOK 1 CHAP. IV. ACCOUNT GIVEN BY THE HERETICS OF THE FORMATION OF ACHAMOTH; ORIGIN OF THE VISIBLE WORLD FROM HER DISTURBANCES.

1. The following are the transactions which they narrate as having occurred outside of the Pleroma [galactic core]: The enthymesis [impetuous desire] of that Sophia who dwells above, which they also term Achamoth [from Hebrew Hokmah, a code name for a power contained in the Organic Light of Sophia, Ain-Soph-Aur], (14) being removed from the Pleroma, together with her passion, they relate to have, as a matter of course, become violently excited in those places of darkness and vacuity (to which she had been banished) [galactic limbs, spiral arms].

For she was excluded from light [Organic Light, central stellar mass of the galaxy](15) and the Pleroma, and was without form or figure, like an untimely birth, because she had received nothing(16) (from a male parent) [her counterpart, Christos]. But the Christ [Christos Aeon, not the Pauline Redeemer] dwelling on high took pity upon her; and having extended himself through and beyond Stauros [boundary of the galactic nucleus], (17) he imparted a figure to her, but merely as respected substance, and not so as to convey intelligence [formatted the rampant life-forms emergent in her planetary body, but did not impose on their innate intelligence or life-plans, i.e, earth-based instinctual programs].

(18) Having effected this, he withdrew his influence, and returned, leaving Achamoth to herself, in order that she, becoming sensible of her suffering as being severed from the Pleroma, might be influenced by the desire of better things, while she possessed in the meantime a kind of odour of immortality left in her by Christ and the Holy Spirit [the aftterimage of the Mesotes, "the everlasting healer," intermediary].

In a more specific sense, the untimely birth / abortion / premature fetus image indicates the species of locust-like entities that erupt from this impacted zone, the archons. The fallen goddess does not merely produce a messy spash in the outer regions of the galaxy, the Kenoma. Due to her superanimating powers as an Aeon, she unwittingly causes an anomalous species to spring to life. The archons take the form of her messy accident, like an untimely birth. That is, they have the form of a prematurely born human being, "neonate."

It so happens, big surprize, that the embryonic-neonate form is the way humans have come to imagine alien intruders, the Gray ETs. The power of the Gnostic metaphor is this: it is not just a metaphor. Rather, it is a kind of probe that can extract from human imagination a phantom presence looming in the depths of the mind, and in the depths of the universe as well.

In Castaneda’s final book, The Active Side of Infinity (1998), don Juan challenges Castaneda to reconcile man’s intelligence, demonstrated in so many achievements, with “the stupidity of his systems of beliefs... the stupidity of his contradictory behaviour.” Don Juan relates this blatant contradiction in human intelligence to what he calls “the topic of topics,” “the most serious topic in sorcery.” This topic is predation. To the horrified astonishment of his apprentice, the elder sorcerer explains how the human mind has been infiltrated by an alien intelligence:

We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos and took over the rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The predator is our lord and master. It has rendered us docile, helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don’t do so...
Sorcerers believe that the predators have given us our systems of beliefs, our ideas of good and evil, our social mores. They are the ones who set up our hopes and expectations and dreams of success or failure. They have given us covetousness, greed and cowardice. It is the predators who make us complacent, routinary and egomaniacal.

Consistent with the metaphor of untimely birth, I make the archons out to appear like Grey ETs: the species that springs up in the impact zone produced by Sophia's plunge from the galactic center has the same characteristics of the impact. Such is the logic of imagination in this crucial passage of the scenario. It may seem like quite a stretch from the messy impact to the species spawned from the impact. But in the natural world, all species are a product and mirror of their environment, aren't they?

Directly following this passage on the Christis intercession, Ireneaus presents a paraphrase of the morphing of the Aeon Sophia into the material elements of the biosphere and solid earth:

2. This collection (of passions) [emotions felt by Sophia] they declare was the substance of the matter from which this world was formed. For from (her desire of) returning (to him who gave her life), every soul belonging to this world, and that of the Demiurge (3) [the overlord of the archon species] himself, derived its origin. All other things owed their beginning to her terror and sorrow. For from her tears all that is of a liquid nature was formed; from her smile all that is lucent; and from her grief and perplexity all the corporeal elements of the world. For at one time, as they affirm, she would weep and lament on account of being left alone in the midst of darkness and vacuity; while, at another time, reflecting on the light which had forsaken her, she would be filled with joy, and laugh; then, again, she would be struck with terror; or, at other times, would sink into consternation and bewilderment.

3. Now what follows from all this? No light tragedy comes out of it, as the fancy of every man among them pompously explains, one in one way, and another in another, from what kind of passion and from what element being derived its origin. They have good reason, as seems to me, why they should not feel inclined to teach these things to all in public, but only to such as are able to pay a high price for an acquaintance with such profound mysteries. For these doctrines are not at all similar to those of which our Lord said, "Freely ye have received, freely give."(4) They are, on the contrary, abstruse, and portentous, and profound mysteries, to be got at only with great labour by such as are in love with falsehood. For who would not expend all that he possessed, if only he might learn in return, that from the tears of the enthymesis of the Aeon involved in passion, seas, and fountains, and rivers, and every liquid substance derived its origin; that light burst forth from her smile; and that from her perplexity and consternation the corporeal elements of the world had their formation?

Note that Irenaeus is writing against the Gnostics, so he accuses them of selling their obscure teachings (my italics), which was not the case. There is no record that teachers of the Mysteries charged to recount this myth. Irenaeus's claim is unfounded and inconsistent with the transpersonal spirit of the telestai, the veteran seers and teachers in the Mystery Schools who were selflessly dedicated to the higher education of the human race. Those who were aimed by this story did not hold it in secrecy as a power-play, or to fleece the public, but as a cautious measure to preserve its special character. The myth requires deep participation, intimate involvement, and "great labour," not likely to come from those who are "in love with falsehood." It is easy enough to lie and make things up. It is even easy to maintain a lie in the face of exposure. It is far more difficult to maintain, and test, the veracity of a vast exercise in imaginative learning. Such was the Sophia Mythos.

Irenaeus was an ideologue fanatically convinced of the salvationist doctrine of Pauline Christianity, centered on the figure of the divine messiah. He condemns Gnostics for their mythmaking extravagance but fails to refute their brilliant refutation of salvationism. Never forget that the magnificent myth of the fallen goddess comes to us with a warning about the belief-system propagated by ideologues like Irenaeus.

"Alien Priest"

jll: October 2010 Andalucia