Seven Gnostic Demons

Seven Gnostic Demons

Tom Saunders

The Sethian Gnostics, ones that were in the Jewish pre-Christian communities, who converted to Christianity, brought with them a science of the Monad which is only just beginning to be understood. The study of the Monad was known as a secret study first developed by Pythagoreans. Then Hermeticists, Zoroastrians, and apparently Sethians adopted the practice of the study, as an occult science. As to the historical lineage of the study of the Monad in Christianity, it began before Jesus. Sethian Christianity began when Jesus became the Monad.

Most ancient Gnostics and the Gnostic scripture declare that the Monad, is absolutely an adopted teaching of the historical Jesus. Jesus used parables in reference to using the following theory and study of this science. As a modern Gnostic Priest I am proud to resurrect part of this teaching. There are too many references laying around in Christian history to deny the study of the Monad. I note most Biblical scholars have a foolish wisdom about ignoring the Monad’s presence in Gnostic scripture. This work is dedicated to teaching this tool of thought and logic…

The study of the Monad is a matter of putting related terms into a form for contemplation and meditation. This means that the terms of the list are functional together as a synergy. A Monadology, in modern terms is used as a heuristic device.

A “heuristic device” like the Tai Chi or Monadology works as an abstract concept or model applied to contemplation about physical, mental, verbal, and social phenomena. Not only are they good devices for contemplation, they can be applied to a number of human skills. Playing chess is an example of one type of system considered a heuristic device mentioned in “The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy.”

It happens that the Sethian Monadology works like what is known in Chinese philosophy, as Ba Gua Science. The following sets portray Gnostic Demons, which are conditions of the human Mind. These psychic forces effect the individual, the collective consciousness, and collective subconscious. Gnostics recognize man is subjected to these forces as a being of kenomic (earlthly) conditions. These demons in the patterns they are in, are Monadic seven unit sets called a ‘Hebdoads.’

These sequences emerge from emptiness (Silence) both in the collective, and individual Mind. This is consitent with the perception of the creation of the Universe, in the Gnostic version where the Monad comes from emptiness or Silence. From Silence comes the Logos or Word in the Sethian schema, of what emerges from Silence. This is the Monad, or the Sethian representation of Oneness. What emerges next is duality, and in duality are both balance, and imbalance, in any of Life’s experienced cause and effects of duality. (See; “Eugnostos the Blessed,” for a description of the emerging Monad.)

Duality is a force like the Monad, in that it effects every part of the Monadic set. The forces of duality create polarities from one extreme of a duality to the other. It is these forces the Gnostics call archons or even evil angels. It is these forces the Gnostic seeks to overcome.

From the creation of Man in the Universe, Gnostics believe that a spark of divinity is in the beings which have souls. The Gnositic soul is a creation of the Mind, and can be explained in the Monadic form as the evil sets below. The heavens and the Mind are contracted by the forces of the Aeons, also known as Autogenes, and Monogenes……

“Next the psychic aeon. It is a small one, which is mixed with bodies, by begetting in the souls (and) defiling (them). For the first defilement of the creation found strength. And it begot every work: many works of wrath, anger, envy, malice, hatred, slander, contempt and war, lying and evil counsels, sorrows and pleasures, basenesses and defilements, falsehoods and diseases, evil judgments that they decree according to their desires.” (On the Concept of Our Great Power, NHL, Codex VI.)

Gnostics saw the essence of evil as a natural phenomena caused by the natural forces of duality that create chaos and imbalance in the material world. They saw this as part of the natural flow of Energies (Spirit) from the Pleroma, (heaven) meaning the ‘All.’ They learned to map this energy like the Chinese did with the study of Ba Gua science, only they called their system a Monadology. (Note: Codex III is a primary source of references to the Sethian Monadology, as is ”A Valentinian Exposition,” and the Bruce Codex.)

Below are Seven Demons, put into the form of the Monadology, and they can be used as a learning and teaching heuristic device, as they are explained. They can be used to heal yourself or others, but they can also be used as weapons.

Gnostic evil in the form of these sets are fashioned from the ”Seven Forms of Wrath,” contained in the ”Gospel of Mary.” These sets are from the Evil Trilogy of Darkness, Desire, and Ignorance, which are Sethian specific as to what they mean. They are the primary forces of evil.

“The Seven Forms of Wrath,” become a total of seven units because the Gnostic laws of form and limit as far as Wrath, need only have seven parts to be a complete thing. This seems to be a standard in evil, including lies. The following passage describes the ”Seven Forms of Wrath.”

“When the soul had overcome the third power, it went upwards and saw the fourth power, which took seven forms.

The first form is darkness, the second desire, the third ignorance, the fourth is the excitement of death, the fifth is the kingdom of the flesh, the sixth is the foolish wisdom of flesh, the seventh is the wrathful wisdom. These are the seven powers of wrath.” (Chapter 8., “Gospel of Mary”) (In other works, darkness, desire, and ignorance of Sethian Gnosis, is called the ‘Evil Trinity.’ Darkness takes over the power of the Monad.}

The Evil Monad, or the Demon in the text, enters Mary’s soul, as Darkness, it made her lust or have Evil Desire, and she was Ignorant of the Truth or Light and did not Desire it. She felt the excitement of death, or wanting to kill that Wrath evokes. She felt the hatred, pain and fear in the Kingdom of the Flesh, and material world. The Wrath made her think and act dangerously like the Gnostic demon Saklas (foolishness) in her thinking and Wisdom, as to her Flesh.

The above passage from the Mary gospel is typical of how Monadic sequences are written into, or imbedded into Sethian texts. Sethians use the Evil Trilogy of Darkness, Desire and Ignorance in one order or another to describe all kinds of evil. Refernces to this trilogy permeate Gnostic texts. The types like excitement of death, are not clear to exactly what is meant, without the Sethian epistemology, so I have seven examples, of Gnostic Demons.

They are Wrath, Lust, Deceit, Hatred, Sorrow, Slander, and Fear. Defeating these Demons is inclusive of the Sethian Gnostic studies, however, fighting them is another matter where the Gnostic seeks the Wisdom of the Logos, or Word, to fight these demons…….

The Seven Forms of Wrath

1. Darkness 2. Desire 3. Ignorance 4. Excitment of death 5. Kingdom of the Flesh 6. Foolish Wisdom of the Flesh 7. Wrathful Wisdom.

1. Darkness means the essence of evil from the standpoint that in darkness there is no rightful power of doing good over evil. The power of Wrath puts you in darkness where you are in a state of evil.

2. Desire refers to the mental urges that drive a person toward evil action over righteousness. In this set desire is the part of duality that is a driving force for each of the rest of the units in this set. Desire or lust for anger is a driving force.

3. Ignorance refers to the state of not knowing or ignoring the righteous influence of the good within the boundaries of your own Knowledge that would overcome the powers of Wrath.

4. Excitment of death refers to those conscious, and subconcious drives present during mental states of wrath were one thinks about violence and homocide, as a participant or witness.

5. Kingdom of the Flesh, refers to the hylic state of humans as beings trapped and influenced by the evil qualities of being flawed in the material (kenomic) world.

6. Foolish submission to the Flesh is when one acts and reacts to the baseness of hylic desires, not realizing the aspects of one’s consequences to himself or others.

7. Wrathful wisdom is that knowledge applied to doing or thinking in evil terms, guided by the desires created by Wrath. This is the wisdom that is applied for the sake of wrath, and when done in darkness and ignorance, wrath becomes an evil act, which the controller of the sequence chooses. This is the position in the set that represents the person who will submit to wrath or overcome it.

The Seven Forms of Lust

1. Desire (Want), 2. Ignoranc 3. Darkness, 4. Excitment of Lust (Vice) 5. The Kingdom of the Flesh, 6. Foolish Submission to the Flesh, 7. Knowledge of Lustful Wisdom.

An Explanation of the forms of lust, as a Monadic set…..

1. Desire or Want, is the essence of Lust, any lust, and Clement of Alexandria lists a lot of them along with other Gnostics. Chinese philosophy from ancient times identify the sexual powers of duality, Jing, or Chen. The sex drive in humans can become overwhelming. This is the primary energy that effects the whole set.

2. Ignorance, means in Gnostic terms the the neglect of awareness for your responsibility for your actions, or thoughts. to your Gnostic obligation to become the Word. As it turns out ancients did not have the science to justify some of their beliefs, so the concept of ignorance would be different today. Ignorance is the duality in the set, because submitting to the sex act out of lust, requires forgetting certain responsibilities. Ignorance will be a factor in all of this set.

3. Darkness, is when you act outside the perimeters of the Word, and therefore you do evil, or think about it. Darkness is synonymous with the Gnostic concept of Satan. There are many Gnostic warnings about the faction of mankind that will do evil for evil’s sake.

4. Excitment of Lust, can be characterized by what pornography does to the psyche. (Nous, meaning mind and body.) Excitment of Death to the ancients would be like the psychic reactions from seeing the carnage of the Roman gladiators. People are driven by the same kinds of psychic and mental influences like you see in packs of dogs who try and kill one of their own, out of the lust and excitement of the blood and noise.

5.The Kingdom of the Flesh, is the state of man, as a material being. The Gnostic perception is that man is trapped in matter, and therefore flawed. When the Gnostic chooses to be Ignorant of his roots in the Word, he submits to being a lower form of human. When doing evil the Kingdom of the Flesh is an evil aspect of the Kenoma, or material environment. There are all sorts of human vanities related to the Kingdom of the Flesh, to tempt anyone. To know somebody’s weakness would enable you to use the factors in this Monadic sequence for pure evil.

6. Foolish submission to the Flesh, would be submitting to lust with reckless abandon. Lust means more than sexual lust, Clement says revenge is a “lust for hatred.” Foolish wisdom is a ‘thing’ attributed to the power of foolishness, Saklas. Foolish submission to the flesh would include rape, and sexual preditor kinds of behavior, as well as semi-innocent romps, with unprotected sex. Foolish submission, depends upon the degree of Ignorance, and/or darkness involved with the act.

7. The last unit of a Moandic set represents the ‘person’ (Gnostic) who through free will controls the duality which is in this case is Ignorance. The ancients could not control connections between the sexual act, and conception, so in those days ‘free sex,’ could not be separated from the holy potentials. Sexual lust is a thing that can be understood and controlled by the Gnostic, as well as anything that seems motivated by a type of lust.

The Seven Forms of Deceit

1. Evil Monad, (Darkness) deny truth (Lie) 2. Delay truth (Primary Duality and Evil Desire) 3. Distract (Create Ignorance) 4. Discredit (Create hatred) 5.Spotlight (Create Confusion) 6. Scapegoat (Blame Others) 7. (Apply/Control/ Defend) Evil Knowledge.

What you see is not just a list, these types have power. Each type represents what has developed from oneness, into duality, and then into a seven unit device. The seventh unit is allegorically the controller, of the device, meaning you or an opponent controls the elements or types and how they are used.

Understand, when you are the controller of the set as the liar, you can use the types, like ingredients to a recipe added when they are needed. To detect a lie you, as the controller you can spot one of these types (ingredients) and when you start to find more, you can know how to reveal the truth. There are other signs like non verbal communication that can be applied to detecting lies, but below is how you could make a lie, come alive and crawl through other’s minds like a serpent…

1. The Evil Monad in this case is the lie, from the liar. There can be many kinds of deceit. In this case the deceit or lie, creates the primary power through the following set. If you are the liar you are both first and last in this set.

2. Delay is the dyad or duality of the set. It represents the type of duality between delay and no delay. Because it is an evil sequence, delay will become a factor effecting all the rest of the members in the set. The dyad, as duality has the same kind of power over the set as the Monad to effect the rest of the types in the set. If there is no lie, then delaying would probably not be necessary.

3. A liar will try and Distract as a ploy to try and divert one’s attention away from the possible lie. It is a way to delay finding out the truth. Good liars are sophics who can create revolving door arguments and they can use verbal pivots to distract from the focus of the evil.

4. A liar will try and discredit his prey, or discredit what might reveal his lie. This is related to the dyad, and the power to delay, and distract.

5. A liar will Spotlight issues and factors that may confuse the prey, in order to hide any evidence of his evil. This is also another ploy to delay.

6. A liar will try and Scapegoat himself out of guilt when discovered. He/she will blame others for his/her evil. This is the last ploy a liar will use, when he knows he has been spotted.

7. This is the Knowledge position or ‘you,’ and ‘you’ can control the flow of the lie, whether you are offense or defense, liar, or victim. In the Monadic set, you as the controller are the recipient of the lie, and you control the power of duality in the set over the power of the types. The ‘Perception’ you gain with this set starts with Silence, or emptiness, i.e. Wu Chi, the great void. Perception and Consciousness are the two key tools of developing this power.

The Seven Forms of Hatred

1. Darkness 2. Desire 3. Ignorance 4. Excitment of death 5. Kingdom of the Flesh 6. Foolish Wisdom of the Flesh 7. Hateful Wisdom

1. Darkness refers to the state where one is influenced by the lusts of hatred, and thinks in terms of doing evil in reaction to the emotional state of hatred.

2. Desire refers to the emotional drives hatred generates in the pysche. Desire serves as the primary motivator for actions influenced by hatred.

3. Ignorance refers to the state of not recognizing those positive qualities within that can overcome the states of emotional hatred.

4. Excitment of death refers to those conscious, and subconcious drives present during mental states of hatred were one thinks about violence and homocide, as a participant or witness.

5.The Kingdom of the Flesh, is the state of man, as a material being. When the Gnostic chooses to be Ignorant of his roots in the Word, he submits to desires of hatred he bocomes a lower form of human. When doing evil the Kingdom of the Flesh is an evil aspect of the Kenoma, or material environment, and makes acting in regard to hatred an evil endeavor.

6. Foolish wisdom of the Flesh refers to the reckless actions done out of pure emotions in regard to being overcome by hatred, and its related desires.

7. Hateful Wisdom refers to those actions taken by or thought about by the controller or person undergoing the emotional state of hatred, who selects to act out of hatred.

The Seven Forms of Sorrow

1. Darkness 2. Desire 3. Ignorance 4. Excitment of Sorrow 5. Kindom of the Flesh 6. Foolish Wisdom of Sorrow 7. Sorrowful Wisdom

1. Darkness is an evil after-effect of what makes us feel sorrow or anguish. Sorrow is an effect rather than a cause.

2. Desire in regard to sorrow comes in the form of relieving the negative power of the force of sorrow, which grips the psyche, and is like having a ‘monkey on your back.’ Sorrow as to desire in the extreme is when sorrow becomes self destructive.

3. Ignorance refers to not knowing or having the power to overcome the desire and darkness of the cause and effects of sorrow. Self destructiveness can lead one to select to be ignorant of the forces that would or might relieve the emotional burden of sorrow.

4. Excitment of Sorrow refers to those psychological states of being in, or creating sorrow, within yourself or others. Death and bad fortune are among elements creating the ‘excitment’ or anxiety of sorrow.

5. Kingdom of the Flesh refers to man in the hylic state, and the cause and effect of sorrow in the human psyche, that is in direct relation to the flesh, and that which would relate to flesh and sorrow.

6. Foolish wisdom refers to sorrow in relation to causing sorrow out of foolish thoughts and actions. It is more or less acting foolishly in regard to the cause and effects of sorrow.

7. Sorrowful Wisdom refers to the knowledge of what creates sorrow, and what eliminates it, within the controller’s domain to act, in good or evil.

The Seven Forms of Slander

1. Darkness 2. Desire 3. Ignorance 4. Excitment of Slander 5. Kindom of the Flesh 6. Foolish Wisdom of Slander 7. Slanderous Wisdom

1. Darkness in regard to slander lies in regard to its evil cause, effects, and intentions. Slander is a form of lie.

2. Desire refers to the emotional drives to create a state of slander for others. Desire is the driving force for the evil act of slander. Desire as the dyad drives the forces below as the imbalance desire can create in the psyche.

3. Ignorance is the choice of one who decides to slander. One selects to be ignorant of the facts, and ignorant to the cuase and effects of the act of slander.

4. Excitment of slander is both the anticipation of doing the slander, and realizing the possible and then real cause and effects of the act.

5. Kingdom of the Flesh in regard to slander are those elements of the hylic condition that can be applied in the act of slander.

6. Foolish wisdom in regard to slander is the act of doing slander without regarding the cause and effects of the act.

7. Slanderous Wisdom is that which is applied to doing slander, or stopping it.

The Seven Forms of Fear

1. Darkness of Fear 2. Ignorance of Fear 3. Desire of Fear 4. Excitment of Fear 5. Kingdom of the Flesh 6. Foolish Wisdom of fear 7. Fearful Wisdom

1. Darkness of Fear is evil when it is caused by forces which are guided by evil intentions, other than those of enlightened uses of fear. Fear in itself is not evil, but when applied to the darkness is a very destructive power.

2. The driving force of fear is Ignorance, and it creates the dualities that make fear work against the psyche of a person and the collective.

3. Desire in regard to fear can be a lust for fear, or a lust for causing fear. It is one of man’s most destructive forces.

4. Excitment of fear is in regard to having or causing fear for the sake of the destructive ‘excitment’ it causes in the human psyche.

5. The Kingdom of the Flesh is the primary target of what causes fear in human beings. The state of man in the kenoma or earthly environment, is the basis for man’s flaw as not being entirely ‘Spirit.’

6. Foolish Wisdom of Fear is the use or cause of fear out of pure ignorance and lack of forethought.

7. Fearful Wisdom is that wisdom which is used to cause fear, or stop it.

Conclusion:

Fighting Gnostic Demons, in terms of this science of how to study evil, is relatively easy. I mentioned above that Jesus used parables to apply the principles of Monadic science, and a collection of 13 parables in imbedded in the “Secret Sayings of the Living Jesus.” Also known as ”The Gospel of Thomas.”

Parables are riddled with Gnostic Demons. The Thomas gospel allows one to contemplate the contents of the parables, which are devoid of the Word, meaning Jesus Wisdom, i.e. Logos. This wisdom is in other Jesus sayings, and by incorporating your own thoughts into contemplation about the parables, you bond with the ”Living Words of Jesus,” in your reasoning.

In terms of the above Demons, when you add the Gnostic concept of Word to the sets describing the Demons, you take control of the Demon, with the ‘Word of Gnosis,’ or the Holy Spirit, i.e. Logos, Word, Monad, Jesus Wisdom.

All of the above Demons in all their forms are part of your life, and any other Demons can be studied, defined and defeated with the Word, just from the wisdom of the science and study of ‘Secret Living Words.’ If you can apply them to the parables, you can defeat the Demons above, and others you might encounter.