“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan press on has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”

–John Calvin Coolidge

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Sabaoth and Zoe

by

Tom Saunders

Sabaoth is a term that is specific to the writings of those who practiced the Secret Christianity.  “The Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster,” contain the a reference to Sabaoth, and in the same document is a sequencing description for the trilogy in the Monadic system. This makes it possible for anyone who knew enough about the Monadic system to have put it together, and applied it. Its only possible and      as of yet there is no proof anyone in history since the 4th century knew the study of the Monad.

However there are indications that Benjamin Franklin, and Gottfried Leibnitz, did in fact know the secret, and kept it. Leibnitz (Leibniz), did coin the phrase Monadology for modern science. His work explaining the Monad would have made the early Gnostic Alexandrians fall down laughing.  That may in fact be what these men intended, and they kept the secret of the Monadology, just that a secret.

In the time of Franklin and Leibnitz, the Church would have put them to death if it had connected them with the heresies described by Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Tertullian, regarding the study of the Gnostic secrets. Possession of ”The Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster,” might also be very looked down upon by the Church at the time. It was very dangerous. But in France, there were secret societies that may have actually kept real secrets.

The ‘Oracles,’ are certainly occult writing, but Sabaoth connects the text to Sethian Christians. It is very difficult to say how much they knew in regard to the connection to the Secret Christianity.

There are four major Nag Hammadi texts that contain an explanation of Sabaoth, “Hypostasis of the Archons,” “On the Origen of the World,” “The testimony of Truth,” and the Apocryphon of John.”

To make it short Sabaoth represents the evil side of duality. Zoe represents, the good. This is another allegory for yin and yang.  In this case, Sabaoth, or evil comes in seven forms, and this proves out when you study the Monadology.  The ”Gospel of Mary,” contains the template form, the Seven Forms of Wrath.  At least in the Gnostic scripture Sabaoth represents the seven set master template of all evil like…

“Thus, when the prime parent of chaos saw his son Sabaoth and the glory that he was in, and perceived that he was greatest of all the authorities of chaos, he envied him. And having become wrathful, he engendered Death out of his death: and he (viz., Death) was established over the sixth heaven, <for> Sabaoth had been snatched up from there. And thus the number of the six authorities of chaos was achieved. Then Death, being androgynous, mingled with his (own) nature and begot seven androgynous offspring. These are the names of the male ones: Jealousy, Wrath, Tears, Sighing, Suffering, Lamentation, Bitter Weeping. And these are the names of the female ones: Wrath, Pain, Lust, Sighing, Curse, Bitterness, Quarrelsomeness. They had intercourse with one another, and each one begot seven, so that they amount to forty-nine androgynous demons. Their names and their effects you will find in the Book of Solomon.

And in the presence of these, Zoe, who was with Sabaoth, created seven good androgynous forces. These are the names of the male ones: the Unenvious, the Blessed, the Joyful, the True, the Unbegrudging, the Beloved, the Trustworthy. Also, as regards the female ones, these are their names: Peace, Gladness, Rejoicing, Blessedness, Truth, Love, Faith (Pistis). And from these are many good and innocent spirits. Their influences and their effects you will find in the Configurations of the Fate of Heaven That Is Beneath the Twelve. “ (“Origin of the World.”)

It is important to understand the above passages are about what is called the ‘psychic aeon.’  This denotes that man’s mind works like heaven’s, This is because of the power of duality in the form of Sabaoth, i.e. seven parts came out of the heavens and into the mind of men. I have models for most of the words below in sets of seven parts…(“Seven Gnostic Demons.”)

“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.)

The Sethians explain the androgyny, and gender through the term Barbelo.  In other words when Sabaoth and Zoe combined to become duality, i.e. yin and yang, the sexual energy of this bond took the form of Barbelo. The Chinese equivalent of this energy is called Jin (Chen).  This is the energy which makes Monadic sets subject to the power of duality, like good/evil, offense/defense, and other types of duality, not all opposites.

Learning the Monad was a way that early Gnostics learned to control chaos, and evil. They learned to use the Monad as a multi-purpose, and multi-applicable heuristic device.  They saw the separation of man from the Pleromic state as highly flawed, and not connected with the natural flow of the Monadic forces. They found plugging into this flow as useful as the Chinese and others who knew how to use the flow of Chi, or the Monadic ‘template.’

Sabaoth, and Zoe, represent forces of duality that are in the natural flow of Wisdom, known to those who studied the Books of Solomon, and Books of Zoroaster. The extant document. “The Chaldean Oracles of Zoroaster,” describes the Monadic sequence as follows…

“25. The Monad first existed, and the Paternal Monad still subsists.
26. When the Monad is extended, the Dyad is generated.
27. And beside Him is seated the Dyad which glitters with intellectual sections,
to govern all things and to order everything not ordered.
28. The Mind of the Father said that all things should be cut into Three, whose
Will assented, and immediately all things were so divided.
29. The Mind of the Eternal Father said into Three, governing all things by Mind.
30. The Father mingled every Spirit from this Triad.
31. All things are supplied from the bosom of this Triad.
32. All things are governed and subsist in this Triad
33. For thou must know that all things bow before the Three Supernals.
34. From thence floweth forth the Form of the Triad, being preexistent; not the
first Essence, but that whereby all things are measured.
35. And there appeared in it Virtue and Wisdom, and multiscient Truth.
36. For in each World shineth the Triad, over which the Monad ruleth.”

This is an example of medieval occult writing. If you don’t know that the Monadology is almost mechanically exact to Ba Gua Science, this description above is likely to confuse you, which is part of its purpose.  If you understand the Monadology, this passage makes perfect sense, and that is probably also a built-in feature of occult writing. It means what it says, but you have to know the underlying philosophy that supports the statement in line with the model. The right model.

The above passage merely counts to three in a system that goes up to much larger sets. If you do not understand that the term “Sabaoth” as a template for seven types, then the meaning is probably lost. It is an underlying philosophy you have to know first to really understand the references to it in occult writing. The Nag Hammadi texts have many of these hidden references to the Monadic system.  Sabaoth has equivalent names in the Gnostic collections.

For a brief video explanation of the Monadic system, see….

“The Hypostasis of the Archons,” also known as the “Reality of the Rulers,” contains a description of Sabaoth, and Zoe, which somewhat mirrors what is said in the “Origin of the World.” Sabaoth is mentioned in the “Testimony of Truth,” however the passage is highly damaged and relates only that Sabaoth has powers.

In the “The Apocryphon of John,” Sabaoth is in a mixed context.  http://gnosis.org/naghamm/apocjn-davies.html  Sabaoth in the context of the ”Secret Book,” is put into a matrix with other supposed powers which are governed by the same flows of energy which form the basic Monadic template. John’s book describes an organization of heaven and earth in the context of what emanates out the the abyss, or ”great void.” This seems to in fact be an influence of the Zoroastrians, who are referenced in the longer versions of the ”Secret Book.”

The text, “Zostrianos,” is a Zoroastrian text found in the Nag Hammadi, but this text mentions Seth and Autogenes, which is another name for the powers of duality like Sabaoth, and Zoe. This may suggest that Zoroastrians who converted to Sethianism, later converted to Jesus as the Monad, or that is to say, Christianity.

Zoe, is often associated with Eve, and in context Sabaoth and Zoe, are a duality like Adam and Eve, but the Gnostic texts do not look at creation in the same context as the mainstream Orthodoxy.

The Sethians saw the creation of man a separation from the perfection of the Pleromic state. They saw the creation of man as a mistake, and saw man in the hylic state as flawed.

The study of the Monad, and Sabaoth were ways to learn to apply the powers of duality and relate to the Word, or virtual ‘Mind of Heaven’ in the form of the natural flow of Wisdom. This natural flow was sought after in the study of Gnosis and contact with this power is referenced as the epinnoia. Sabaoth and Zoe, are the equivalent powers mentioned in other Sethian texts, that mention, autogenes, monogenes, Sophia, Seth, and associated powers which emanate from the emptiness, or void. This void is called in regard to Jesus as ”Silence.” In the Sethian use of the Monad, Jesus Wisdom serves as the Word, or like in the ”Gospel of John,” the ”Word was God.”

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