Lost Secrets of the Sethian Gnostics and Other Mystic Paths, by James Bean

 

Lost Secrets of the Sethian Gnostics and Other Mystic Paths, by James Bean

At one of the forums I belong to someone asked me about why mystic paths like the Sethian Gnostics kept the techniques of the spiritual practice a secret, for initiates only, between master and student. My reply is below.

Have attempted to find out what the Sethians used the names for according to a few scholarly texts on Sethianism: The Five Seals: Baptismal Rites in Sethian Gnosticism, by By J. Pedro Feliciano, Apocalypse of the Alien God, Dylan M. Burns, also, Sethian Gnosticism and The Platonic Tradition, by John Turner.

The five Sethian names (Harmoz-el, Oroia-el, Daveithai, El-eleth, and Autogenes, the “Self-Begotten One”) likely were used at an initiate’s baptism, five immersions in a river (living water). Since these names also correspond to five heavenly realms, one wonders if these names, these passwords of power, were also used in their spiritual practice as part of the ascension of the soul. Names corresponding to heavenly regions are used that way in other schools of spirituality (Kabbalah, Sufism, and Sant Mat). Also, even the baptism itself might have been about more than a water ritual bath and could have had a meditative component, a mystical experience. Some of the texts suggest this.

On secrecy. The downside of secrecy is that these sorts of mystic traditions do quickly get lost, are quite fragile. Usually mystic paths die off or dry up after a few generations. Without a master there are no more students and the secrets disappear. There are many reasons why esoteric paths keep their practices secret. If their methods were in the public domain such far-out talk of visions and experiencing the heavens would invite persecution from various hylic brethren committed to other religious ideologies that have no room for mysticism or a present-tense kingdom of God. The hylics seem to be really good a wielding the sword.

Another reason for the secrecy is to preserve their ways from being corrupted by those who would plagiarize and set up their own neo Sethian paths. Inner experience is something not only taught, but also caught. Students meditating with a genuine master are given a jump-start. The heavens open more easily in the presence of such saints.

So the purity of the path rests upon it being lead by a competent spiritual teacher who himself or herself experiences the heavens and mysteries being discussed. Thus the secrecy factor is an attempt at accreditation, to preserve the integrity of a line of masters, successors, with them and only them initiating people.

This never is a complete success however. There are opportunists in every generation giving rise to fake or deceptive gnostic teachers, fake sants, fake sufis, pseudo kabbalists, and so on. But there is at least some hope many will reach a good teacher who was legitimately appointed by their teacher and faithfully lives the path they represent.

My friend Don Howard has written about this: Evaluating Spiritual Teachers — In Search of a Worthy, Genuine, Competent, Qualified Spiritual Teacher: https://spiritualawakeningradio.com/QualifyingASpiritualTeacherByDonHoward.pdf

One of my blogs: Recognizing Genuine, Advanced Spiritual Masters of Inner Light and Sound — Helpful Points: https://medium.com/sant-mat-meditation-and-spirituality/recognizing-genuine-advanced-spiritual-masters-of-inner-light-and-sound-helpful-points-976f3f2c730d

Some Thoughts About the Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens in the Nag Hammadi Library, by James Bean

 

Some Thoughts About the Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens in the Nag Hammadi Library, by James Bean

Turned the new translation of The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth into an audio book using the Read Aloud extension, something I often do with various texts. The new translation of this Discourse is to be found online here: https://othergospels.com/89

Was fun hearing my Read Aloud extension chant the two triangle-shaped collections of vowels, the vowel chant present in the book:

ZŌXATHAZŌ

A

ŌŌ EE

ŌŌŌ ĒĒĒ

ŌŌŌŌ ĒĒ

ŌŌŌŌŌŌ OOOOO

ŌŌŌŌŌŌ UUUUUU

ŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌŌ

ZŌZAZŌTH

A

Ō EE Ō ĒĒĒ

ŌŌŌ III

ŌŌŌŌ OOOOO

ŌŌŌŌŌ UUUUUU

ŌŌŌŌŌŌ ŌŌŌŌŌ

ŌŌŌŌŌŌŌ ŌŌŌŌ

According to Dr. Samuel Zinner's footnote at the bottom of the page this is an esoteric divine name, various vowels arranged into the shape of triangles being chanted.

Vowel chant is present in several collections of Gnostic texts, a kind of "AUM" or "OM" of the West, even as Egypt once-upon-a-time was a kind of Tibet of the West with otherworldly monastic traditions. 

There are different ways one can sing or chant these names. In esoteric traditions of the east and west mental chant is considered to be higher, more "within" than the verbal chanting of alphabetical sacred names. Esoteric paths have mantras including sacred words that are to be repeated within one's mind, such as the mental prayer approach of doing the Jesus Prayer in Hesychasm; in Sethian Gnosticism there are the Five Names or Seals which are passwords that correspond to various higher planes; Kabbalah has various Hebrew names corresponding to higher heavenly regions, and mental zikhr is practiced at the higher stages of Sufism. In the Sant tradition this practice is called manas jap (mental chant) and is also known as simran, the remembrance and repetition of various Names of God repeated in one's mind while concentrating during meditation. 

I notice some references to mental singing and chanting in the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth: 

"O my son, return to praising, and sing while remaining silent. Silently petition for what you desire. 

Also: ”I sing a hymn inside myself." 

“I remain silent, O my father. I desire to sing a hymn to you while I remain silent.”

And: "It would be beneficial from now on to maintain silence with a reverential posture."

There are mystical visionary and auditory states recorded in the Discourse of the Eighth and Ninth. With these the-chant-chants-itself. In other words, a higher form of Name that repeats itself beyond language reverberates in the heavens, sometimes described in these old mystical texts as the Hymns of Angels:

"Language is incapable of revealing this, because, O my son, the entire Eighth and the souls that dwell inside it, as well as the angels, silently sing a hymn, and I, Mind, understand."

"When he had finished praising, he cried out: 'Father Trismegistus! What am I to say? We have obtained this Light, and I behold for myself this very same vision inside of you, and I behold the Eighth, and the souls dwelling inside of it, and the angels singing a hymn to the Ninth and to its powers, and I behold him who possesses all of their power, who creates those who dwell inside the Spirit.'"

The Hermetic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth Heavens illustrates so well that, in the Gnostic and Hermetic Nag Hammadi texts there is at the heart of these ancient schools of spirituality, the master-student relationship -- the living teacher with their inner circle of living students -- with an initiation into the mysteries being offered, the sharing of spiritual practices to be kept secret. These pertain to sacred names and meditation methods for gaining revelations of the various heavenly regions including the Eighth and Ninth heavens as described in this Hermetic discourse.