Barbelo
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The Gnostic term Barbēlo refers to the first emanation of God in the various Sethian gnostic cosmogonies. This figure is also variously referred to as 'Mother-Father' (hinting at her apparent androgyny), 'First Human Being', 'The Triple Androgynous Name', or 'Eternal Aeon'.
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[edit] The nature of Barbēlo
In the Apocryphon of John, a tractate in the Nag Hammadi Library containing the most extensive recounting of the Sethian creation myth, the Barbēlo is described as "The first power, the glory, Barbēlo, the perfect glory in the aions, the glory of the revelation." All subsequent acts of creation within the divine sphere (save, crucially, that of the lowest aeon Sophia) occurs through her co-action with God. The text describes her thus:
- "This is the first thought, his image; she became the womb of everything, for it is she who is prior to them all, the Mother-Father, the first man (Anthropos), the holy Spirit, the thrice-male, the thrice-powerful, the thrice-named androgynous one, and the eternal aeon among the invisible ones, and the first to come forth."
The emanation of Barbēlo may be said to function as an intermediary generative aspect of the divine, or as an abstraction of the generative aspect of the Divine through its Fullness. In gnostic accounts of God, the notions of impenetrability, stasis and ineffability are of central importance. The most transcendent hidden invisible Spirit is not depicted as actively participating in creation. This significance is reflected both in her apparent androgyny (reinforced by several of her given epithets), and in the name Barbēlo, which may be an ad hoc Coptic construction signifying both 'Great Emission' (according to Bentley Layton's The Gnostic Scriptures) and 'Seed' according to F.C. Burkitt (In Church and Gnosis).
[edit] Gnostic texts that refer to Barbēlo
- The Apocryphon of John
- The Thunder Perfect Mind is the extended address of an immanent saviour that may be identified with the Barbēlo.
- Trimorphic or 'Triple' Protennoia ('First Thought in Three Forms')
- The Gospel of the Egyptians (aka The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit) refers to a divine emanation called 'Mother', who is also identified as the Barbēlo.
- Zostrianos
- The Foreigner makes refence to a Triple Powerful Invisible Spirit, a masculine female virgin, who is the Barbēlo.
- The Three Steles of Seth
- Gospel of Judas (Judas Iscariot says to Jesus that he knows that Jesus is from the immortal realm of Barbēlo.)
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Daniélou, Alain (1984). Shiva and Dionysos: The Religion of Nature and Eros. Inner Traditions. ISBN 0-89281-057-2.
- Free Encyclopedia of Thelema. Barbelo. Retrieved March 5, 2005.
- Hoeller, Stephan A. (1989). Jung and the Lost Gospels. Quest Books. ISBN 0-8356-0646-5.
- Jonas, Hans (2001). The Gnostic Religion, 3rd edition, Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-5801-7.
- Layton, Bentley (1987). The Gnostic Scriptures. SCM Press. ISBN 0-334-02022-0.
- The Nag Hammadi Library. The Apocryphon of John Retrieved Oct. 21, 2004.
- Rudolph, Kurt (1987). Gnosis: The Nature & History of Gnosticism. Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-067018-5.
- Woodroffe, Sir John (1929). Shakti and Shakta. Ganesh & Co..
