User talk:Girlfawkes

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Wow! I'm surprised no one has welcomed you yet, so here:

Welcome!

Hello, Girlfawkes, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

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From it. You know who... Alright, fine. Bellito 15:17, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Contents 1 Re: Wikignome 2 Hell-o 3 Gnosticism, Satan & God 4 Sophia (Gnosticism) page

[edit] Re: Wikignome

Oo-kay, I'll help you later on (once I'm done with school.) Bellito, master of all things Mac-related 21:05, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hell-o

Hey Girlfawkes, How are we? :)

A little birdy told me you were feeling a little 'wikilost' in this fine 'wikiworld', so I thought I'd drop by, and let you know if you ever need anything, just buzz me and I'll be sure to lend a hand.

I'd love to stay and talk about the effects of Neoplatonic and Hermetic philosophy on early Christianity in the Greco-Roman/Judaic matrix of the Mediterranean world of the 2nd and 3rd centuries but I'm sure you wouldn't be interested in the little (none) I know about it :P

Well have a good one, and, as I said, let me know if you need anything =) — Deon555^talk 04:40, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gnosticism, Satan & God

Hi Girlfawkes. Just replied to your reply on th Gnosticism page. Hope you find it stimulating. Always good to find someone to debate with. I get very bored typing out big tracks of text which no-one responds to. I'm interested in why you say the OT God/Satan equation may have come from Catholicism. I have never heard of this before. Tell me more, either here, on the Gnosticism discussion page or on my talk page. Stay well. ThePeg 23:10, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi Girlfawkes. Thanx for your post on my talk page. I've just posted this response:

No.You're very much not alone. There's someone over here who feels the same. I got to chapter eight of that stupid book and couldn't get any further. The simplistic way in which he presents massive ideas is little better than Tabloid Journalism. The Gnostics would have been embarressed by his thinking. Ah well. That's a resistance movement of two then. You're right about the way in which Gnosticism is equated with other movements. However, the term Gnosis is used in the Hermetica and I suppose the broadest translation of the term is 'Individual Knowledge'. I guess that strictly speaking all direct individual experiences of God or the Divine are Gnostic by that definition. ThePeg 21:16, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

And I would like to add that it suprises me how few people are interested in this subject. Well, actually no it doesn't suprise me. No-ones very interested in the origins of Western Spitituality or how its been supressed and perverted by established religion. Except for Dan Brown lobotomy cases. Ah well.... ThePeg 21:19, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Also, as a matter of interest, what sparks your interest in this period/culture? ThePeg 15:38, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Just added this to your reply on my Talk Page:

Hiya Girlfawkes, nice to hear from you. You probably had one of those glitches where the computor forgot to sign you in so your entry didn't know you were Girlfawkes. Happens to me all the time.

My interest in this stuff is a bit wierd and has two elements - Part One: I was brought up with by a Jewish father and a Catholic mother, neither of whom were practising and had rejected their faith but who were hugely influenced by the spirituality and thought processes they grew up with. I therefore had an open door onto spirituality from birth but was able to encounter them free of any upbringing or indoctrination as a child. Hence when I read the original texts I experience them without prejudice. This lines like 'I give you a new commandment, love one another' means to me just that, rather than an element in an eternal football game between God and the Devil for human souls if you don't do the right thing.

The second element is more recent and to do with something which set me on a path which involved a lot of delving into the real traditions of these faiths, in particular the esoteric traditions. I was led to the Gnostics via the Cathars and was led to the Cathars via the Rosicrucians. Since then I have moved about in all the amazing movements which existed in thea early days of Christianity - Marcionism, Gnosticism, the Essenes, Hermeticism, the Valentinian school, Mani, Pseudo-Dionysius, Byzantine Christianity - as well as Jewish Gnosticism, Kaballah and Sufism. I have found that delving into the reality of these periods reveals just how rigid and repressive Christianity has become and how extraordinarily rich, open and visionary the early reaction to Christ was. My view is that there seems to have been a moment when an all-embracing, egalitarian, fluid, visionary appreciation of the Gospels and Christianity gave way to an oppressive, orthodox, reactionary, patriarchal, almost materialist one, the effect of which has been to cripple us spiritually and turn people away from the Western spiritual tradition in droves. The period of the struggle between the Cathars and the Roman Church when all sorts of extraordinary visionaries sprang up all over Europe in all the great Western religions - Abulafia, Ibn Arabi, St Francis & St Clare, Hildegard von Bingen etc - was the last throw of the dice for the way in which things would go. In the end the established Church won, the mavericks lost and the visionary experience went underground into secret esoteric groups.

All very interesting. What's your take on this? And I know exactly what you mean about the Valentinian school. His vision is very appealing. ThePeg

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:ThePeg"

And here's my reply to your reply on my page:

Quite agree. These movements weren't about being nice to each other, waving crystals about and hugging trees, the Gnosis was a massive event which could drive you mad if you weren't careful. As with the Cathars, an initiate underwent a lot of training before they achieved Gnosis. It was a pretty austere way of doing things and was very much NOT a 'believe what you like' approach to Christianity. Also, there were plenty of people within the established church who were gnostic without knowing it. Juliana Of Norwich, for instance, whose works I am reading at the moment. If you understand Gnosis as Divine/Direct Knowledge and Christian Gnosis as a personal revelation of God then she was one. In fact the way she describes her encounter with the Devil and God's means of overcoming him begins to make sense to me of what you were saying about Cathar doctrine. If you see the Devil as Matter distracting you from God then it makes complete sense of your thesis. Anyway I'm babbling, but its good to talk. ThePeg 23:32, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:ThePeg"

And while I've got you, have you checked out the Paulist Press series CLASSICS OF WESTERN SPIRITUALITY? They have an amazing array of Christian, Jewish & Islamic texts all from the visionary traditions of these three religions. Check it out. Oh and Merry Christmas! ThePeg 17:35, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi Girlfawkes. Just replied to your last. Check out the Beguines and Marguerite Porete most especially. Something very special going on there. And to save this rather laborious process of chatting over two TalkPages feel free to email me. It would be good to chat more. Always good to meet likeminded people. Hope you had a good Xmas and wish you a Happy New Year. ThePeg 19:17, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sophia (Gnosticism) page

Thanks for the posts on the Sophia (Gnosticism) discussion page. I think you're probably the third person in the world to have had a look at it after me! A small band we make - you, me, Percevalles and a guy called Mazoo who left a really nice message on my TalkPage about it. Interesting subject, but I hope you don't think I'm nuts. ThePeg 17:20, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Hi Girlfawkes. Just found something interesting out about the Sophia/Christ Szyzygy. Have posted it on the Sophia (Gnosticism) talk page. ThePeg 15:10, 31 January 2007 (UTC)