The Hierarchy of the Pleroma

The Hierarchy of the Pleroma

Or

The Hierarchy of the Aeons

There are many parallels between Gnosticism and Christianity, including a belief in angels. One key difference between these two religious belief systems is that Gnostics recognize a divine hierarchy above the angels. This hierarchy, known as the Pleroma, is populated by beings called aeons. Angels are messengers between humankind and the aeons of the Pleroma, and ultimately between humankind and the true God. As messengers, angels are not directly worshipped, but they are called upon to take prayers to the true God on behalf of humankind -- a practice similar to Catholics praying for the intercession of saints.

While the transcendent Deity or invisible spirit is inconceivable and ineffable, the pleroma (Greek: “full perfection”) of the divine is a hierarchical family of personified aeons, who emerge as the fruit of the spirit’s self-contemplation or self-expression. 

The fullness become a massive number of Self-Aware Aeons that sorted themselves into the Hierarchy of the Pleroma

The Pleroma is a hierarchy where each aeon occupies a station according to a certain level of gnosis

The primal Tetrad is both an individual entity and a quartet of unities—a complex unity. The unities relate to each other in a hierarchy and sequence modeled upon their character.

Names are important in this Ogdoad, just as they are in Epiphanes’ Tetrad. They are patterned to reinforce the numerical structure of the aeonic realm. They indicate hierarchy and function.

So the hierarchy proceeds from the Pleroma downward, to the spiritual realm of Wisdom’s Resolution, to the Demiurge, and finally to the material world.

Because the Demiurge creates the seven heavens, he is called the Hebdomad; and Akhamoth (i.e. Wisdom) is called the Ogdoad, thus “preserving the number of the original, first Ogdoad of the Pleroma” (Against Heresies 1.5.2–4)

Sophia (Wisdom) or simply the Logos. This being is described as the final emanation of a divine hierarchy, called the Plêrôma or "Fullness," at the head of which resides the supreme Deity, the One beyond Being.

Aeons are arranged into so many hypostases, angelic orders or hierarchies around the One, although all are ultimately one with their source.
- In the Gospel of the Egyptians, there are at least five orders of aeons: thrones, powers, glories, authorities and angels. 

- “...and the thrones which are in them, and the powers which surround them, glories, authorities, and the powers” (Gospel of the Egyptians) 

“She (Providence) passed through all the aeons which I mentioned before. And she established thrones of glory, and myriads of angels without number who surrounded them, powers and incorruptible glories, who sing and give glory, all giving praise with a single voice, with one accord, with one never-silent voice, (...) to the Father, and the Mother, and the Son.” (Gospel of the Egyptians)

- Aeons may also be arranged in a hierarchy from the One to ‘the countless myriads’: 

“Among the things that were created the monad is first, the dyad follows it, and the triad, up to the tenths. Now the tenths rule the hundredths; the hundredths rule the thousandths; the thousands rule the ten thousands. This is the pattern among the immortals.” (Eugnostos)

In order to emphasize unity at every level, the numerical order of aeons is composed of the monad (one-fold), dyad (two-fold), triad (three-fold) etc, as follows:

1. monad - onefold
2. dyad - twofold
3. triad - threefold
4. tetrad - fourfold
5. pentad - fivefold
6. hexad - sixfold
7. heptad or hebdomad - sevenfold
8. ogdoad - eightfold
9. ennead - ninefold
10. decad - tenfold
12. dodecad - twelvefold

In Sethian Gnosticism, there is a hierarchy of feminine principles most likely rooted in Jewish Wisdom Literature: the ultimate saviour and exalted divine mother Barbelo and a lower figure, Sophia, who gave rise to Yaldabaoth, the creator of the material world. The creator wanted to confine Adam, so he created a physical body to contain him and placed parts of his mother’s essence in humanity. Finally, Epinoia, spiritual Eve, appears to enlighten Adam (mankind) with the knowledge of his association with Barbelo, the divine Protennoia (first thought).

Some Gnostics taught of the Beyond the Deep, a hierarchy of Deeps; and curiously enough in The Untitled Text from the Bruce Codex we meet with such hierarchies, and also find them assumed in the Pistis Sophia treatise. What absurdity, then, to seek a "beginning" in infinitude! Such a conception as a beginning was low down in the scale of being; we can speak of the "beginning" of some special phenomenal universe, but there is an infinitude of such universes, and infinitude has no beginning. 

This is he who is sought in every place. And this is the Father from whom, like a light-spark, the monad came forth, beside which all the worlds are as nothing. . . . It is this which moved all things with its shining. And they received gnosis and life and hope and rest and love and resurrection and faith and rebirth and the seal. This is the ennead which came from the Father of those without beginning,  who alone is Father and Mother unto himself, whose pleroma surrounds the twelve deeps -

1. The first deep is the all-wise from which all sources have come.

2. The second deep is the all-wise from which all the wise have come.

3. The third deep is the all-mystery from which, or out of which, all mysteries have come.

4. The fourth deep moreover is the all-gnosis out of which all gnoses have come.

5. The fifth deep is the all-chaste from which everything chaste has come.

6. The sixth deep is silence. In this is every silence.

7. The seventh deep is the insubstantial door from which all substances has come forth.

8. The eight deep is the forefather from whom, or out of whom, have come into existence all forefathers.

9. The ninth deep moreover is an all-father and a self-farther, that is, every fatherhood is in him and he alone is father to them.

10. The tenth deep is the all-powerful from which has come every power.

11. The eleventh deep moreover is that in which is the first invisible one, from which all invisible ones have come.

12. The Twelfth deep moreover is the truth from which has come all truth. (The Untitled Text from the Bruce Codex)

In the Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex, there are at least five types of angels, though the order is uncertain: powers, glories, angels, archangels, ministers. 

“These are the powers which were given to the forefather who was placed in the aeon of the mother. And there were given to him myriads upon myriads of glories, and angels and archangels and ministers, so that those that are of matter should serve him.” (Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex)

Basilides does not call upon his hearers to abandon the material realm only to dissolve into negativity; instead, he offers them a new life, by appealing to the grand hierarchy of rulers persisting above the material realm (cf. Fragment D). When one turns to the greater hierarchy of Being, there results a "creation of good things" (Fragment C, translation modified). Love and personal creation—the begetting of the Good—are the final result of Basilides' vaguely dialectical system, and for this reason it is one of the most important early expressions of a truly Christian, if not "orthodox," philosophy.

The Gnostic Understanding of the Tabernacle

 The Valentinian Teachings on the Tabernacle 

Tabernacle (Hebrew: מִשְׁכַּן‎, mishkan), a transportable tent of worship used by Israel; at times also called “the tent of meeting.” (Ex 39:32, 40; .) In Hebrew it is called mishkan´ (residence; dwelling; tabernacle), ´o´hel (tent), and miqdash´ (sanctuary). In Greek it is referred to as skene´, which means “tent; booth; residence; dwelling place.”

Irenaeus provides evidence that the Valentinians envisaged the divine world as a complex structure resembling a series of temple rooms, with the ‘Pleroma’ (Fullness) as the holy of holies. According to the Valentinian myth which he relates, in the Pleroma is the invisible and incomprehensible First-Father, who is responsible for a series of emanations, or Aeons. For the Valentinians entry into the Pleroma is the ultimate stage of salvation for the ‘spiritual’.

For Valentinians there are multiple levels of interpretation when it comes to the temple or Tabernacle for example the Gospel of Philip understands the three structures or three rooms or chambers of the Temple to refer to baptism, redemption; and the bridal chamber:

There were three structures for sacrifice in Jerusalem. One opened to the west and was called the holy place; a second opened to the south and was called the holy of the holy; the third opened to the east and was called the holy of holies, where only the high priest could enter. The holy place is baptism; the holy of the holy is redemption; the holy of holies is the bridal chamber. (Gospel of Philip)

Here in the Gospel of Philip the Temple is divided into three sections "the holy place, the holy of the holy and the holy of holies" the holy place could refer to the Inner Court (1 Kings 6:36), or Court of the Priests (2 Chr. 4:9), outside the temple building were the brazen altar and Laver are located. 

It is possible that the porch or vestibule is counted here as a separate room. Philo also mentions three sections in Mos. 2. 101, but he describes the Tabernacle, not the Temple in Jerusalem, like the passage in the Gospel of Philip.

Heracleon understands the holy of holies to refer to the divine realm or Peroma: 

The sanctuary is the Holy of Holies, into which only the High-Priest enters, into which the spiritual go. The temple courtyard, where the Levites also enter, is a symbol of the animate ones who attain a salvation outside the Fullness (Pleroma). (Heracleon: Fragments from his Commentary on the Gospel of John)

The Testament of Levi recounts an ascent into the heavenly Temple comparable to 1 Enoch. Researchers have argued that earlier versions of this text rely on a cosmology of three heavens through which Levi journeys. Later versions have expanded the heavens to seven ( See RH. Charles, The Greek Versions of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (repr.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1960), p. xxviii; Kee, O T P , I, pp. 775-80 and 788-89 nn. 2d and 3a; )

Whoever belongs to the priestly order can go inside the curtain along with the high priest. For this reason the curtain was not torn only at the top, for then only the upper realm would have been opened. It was not torn only at the bottom, for then it would have revealed only the lower realm. No, it was torn from top to bottom. The upper realm was opened for us in the lower realm, that we might enter the hidden realm of truth. (Gospel of Philip)

Therefore, he says, it has a veil in order that the things may not be destroyed by the sight of it. And only the archangel enters it, and to typify this the high priest every year enters the holy of holies. From thence Jesus was called and sat down with Space, that the spirits might remain and not rise before him, and that he might subdue Space and provide the seed with a passage into the Pleroma. (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)

According to Valentinians theologians, the divine Fullness (pleroma) corresponds to the Holy of Holies in the Temple (Herakleon Fragment 13). Like the Holy of Holies, the Pleroma is separated from the "outer tent" (i.e. the cosmos) by a boundary or Limit which is often described as a curtain or "veil". 

The Gospel of Philip compares the hidden nature of the Pleroma to that of the Holy of Holies: "At the present time we have access to the visible aspects of creation. We say that they are mighty and glorious, but the hidden things are powerless and contemptible. Are the hidden aspects of Truth like this? Are they powerless? Are they contemptible? No, rather it is these hidden aspects that are mighty and glorious. The mysteries of Truth are manifestly representations and images. Thus the bridal chamber (i.e. Pleroma) remains hidden. It stands for the Holy in the Holy." (Gospel of Philip 105)

In the Extracts from the Works of Theodotus. 38 the allegory of the Temple is related to the ascent of the pneumatics to the Pleroma. Jesus is identified with the High Priest who is allowed to enter into the Holy of Holies. Strikingly, the Holy of Holies does not depict the Pleroma, but the throne of the Demiurge, which has a veil so that the spiritual human beings are not destroyed by the sight of it. The task of the Savior is to subdue the flames and to provide an entrance for the pneumatics to the Pleroma. For the allegory of the Temple in the Gospel of Philip, see Ronald McL. Wilson, The Gospel of Philip. Translated from the Coptic Text, with an Introduction and Commentary (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., 1962), 139-141.

The Heavenley Tabernacle

Gen 1:6 Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."

expanse: the Hebrew word raqia sometimes translated "firmament" means, literally, an "expansion", and so indicates the Scriptural anticipation by many thousand years, of the modern scientists' "expanding universe". Raqah the verb is used by Jeremiah to speak of "silver spread into plates" (Jer. 10:9). Job speaks of Him "which alone spreadeth out the heavens" (Job 9:8), and who "stretcheth out the north over the empty place" (tohu, "without form" of Genesis 1:2), (Job 26:7). The stretched-out heavens are likened to a tent or tabernacle.

"That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in" (Isa. 40:22).

"He that created the heavens, and stretched them out" (Isa 42:5).

"That stretched forth the heavens alone" (Isa. 44:24; 51:13; Zech. 12:1)

Not only is the firmament spoken of in language that reminds of the Tabernacle, there is a reference in Job, that suggests that the earth too, is looked upon as the ground upon which this tabernacle of the sky rests.

Psa 19:5 LXX (18:5) In the sun he has set his tabernacle; and he comes forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber: he will exult as a giant to run his course.

Hebrew 9:11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made by hands and is not a part of this creation.

Ex 25:9 According to all that I shew thee, [after] the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make [it].

Heb 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, [that] thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

The tabernacle was built after the pattern that was shown to Moses in the mount.

XXXI. (95) Now, Bezaleel, being interpreted, means God in his shadow. But the shadow of God is his word, which he used like an instrument when he was making the world. And this shadow, and, as it were, model, is the archetype of other things. For, as God is himself the model of that image which he has now called a shadow, so also that image is the model of other things, as he showed when he commenced giving the law to the Israelites, and said, "And God made man according to the image of God."{46}{#ge 1:26.} as the image was modelled according to God, and as man was modelled according to the image, which thus received the power and character of the model. (Allegorical Interpretation, III)

The Zohar, a mystical text believed to have been written in the 13th century, saw the tabernacle as a reflection of the process of the creation of the universe. Indeed, the Zohar points out, the language used to describe how God created the universe in the Book of Genesis is identical to the language used to describe the artist Bezalel’s building of the tabernacle in the Book of Exodus.

The Building of the Tabernacle

The tabernacle is symbolic of inner purification

The setting up of the tabernacle means the establishing of a new state of perception within the mind.

"The tabernacle or the tent of meeting" means that a definite point shall be established in mind where we shall dwell in the spirit of the Divine Mind composed of archetype ideas, which moves as a tent wherever we go.

It was not that God needed a physical sanctuary on earth, but that each one of us is called to build a tabernacle for God in our hearts, preparing ourselves to become a sanctuary for God.

"The  tabernacle of Meeting" can also be said to symbolize the indwelling spirit in a believer 

Bestowal for Bestowal

The first step toward the building was the giving of gifts (Exod. 25:1-9). A great variety was called for. The gifts included jewels, gold, silver, brass, spices, oil, skins, linen, acacia wood, and help in preparing the materials for the tabernacle and its furnishings, and in erecting it. The gifts had to be a freewill offering from the heart (Exod. 25:2). We are here shown that we must give up the material things of value before we can build the spiritual. Back of these material ideas, however, is the substance that is converted into the new. Nothing is lost in the divine economy. Every experience leaves its form in the soul, and in the divine alchemy may be converted into gold for the tabernacle.

The freewill offering would refer to the aeon Theletos

The Tabernacle as a body

The Tabernacle is a tent this tent is symbolic of the human body:

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2 Peter 1:13 Yes, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

Exodus 26:6 New Living Translation

Then make fifty gold clasps and fasten the long curtains together with the clasps. In this way, the Tabernacle will be made of one continuous piece.

The phrase, "the Tabernacle will be one continuous piece" demonstrates that all its parts together form a single whole.

In man too, there are a number of different limbs, upper and lower. Some are on the inside [such as the brain, heart, liver etc.], and some are on the outside [such as the arms and legs]. Yet all together they form one composite body called a man.

The Talmud tells us (Tractate Makkot 23b) that there are 613 commandments (mitzvot) in the Torah; 248 Positive Commandments (do's) and 365 Negative Commandments (do not's).

the various parts of the Tabernacle, just like the 248 mitzvot and the 248 limbs of the human body, all form a composite whole that reflects the Divine Image in which man was created.

The tabernacle represents the temporal body:

From these slides above we can see the Tabernacle is made up of human body parts on a natural level it is symbolic of the church of God which is supposed to be a living Tabernacle joined together in fellowship. This is called the body of Christ or the multitudinous Christ

Next the Tabernacle is symbolic of Adam Kadmon the Cosmic Man in kabbalah the 10 Sefirot make up the body of Adam Kadmon

The anthropomorphic name of Adam Kadmon denotes that it contains both the ultimate divine purpose for mankind, as well as an embodiment of the Sefirot (divine attributes).

The tabernacle is symbolic of the human body. Yet it is not the natural body but the spiritual body this body is known to most people as Adam Kadmon the Cosmic Man the 10 Sefirot make the body of Adam Kadmon

There are ten Sefirot there are ten items in the Tabernacle which symbolize the sefirot as follows

The cherubs on the Ark - keter

The Ark - bina

The Curtain - chochma

The Menorah (Lampstand) - chesed
The Table - gevura
The Altar - tiferet with its connection to malchut
The Basin and Jug or Laver - netzach and hod

All in its Weight/shekel - malchut

Because of this [that all is included in its weight/shekel] Israel were commanded, "This [in Hebrew 'zeh'] they shall give…half a shekel according to the shekel of the Sanctuary." (Ex. 30:13)
The word 'zeh' hints at the sefira of malchut as in the verse "This [zeh] is the gate to God" (Psalms 18:20). We enter the realm of the spiritual through a properly rectified reality (malchut).

Note that malchut would correspond to the lowest aeon wisdom or Sophia 

The Pleroma is also described as a body: 

His members, however, needed a place of instruction, which is in the places which are adorned, so that they might receive from them resemblance to the images and archetypes, like a mirror, until all the members of the body of the Church are in a single place and receive the restoration at one time, when they have been manifested as the whole body, namely the restoration into the Pleroma. (The Tripartite Tractate)

The Aeons are also described as a body:

Just as the present aeon, though a unity, is divided by units of time and units of time are divided into years and years are divided into seasons and seasons into months, and months into days, and days into hours, and hours into moments, so too the aeon of the Truth, since it is a unity and multiplicity, receives honor in the small and the great names according to the power of each to grasp it - by way of analogy - like a spring which is what it is, yet flows into streams and lakes and canals and branches, or like a root spread out beneath trees and branches with its fruit, or like a human body, which is partitioned in an indivisible way into members of members, primary members and secondary, great and small. (The Tripartite Tractate)

Aeon=Age. Age= period. As a period of time is an accurate description of a interpretation of Aeon as applied to the Bible. However with Gnosticism Aeons are more complex Aeons are first aspects or attributes of the Father. For example, logos is an Aeon, Wisdom, hope, grace etc. Next aeons are spatial as well as temporal. They can be divine beings which have also emanated from the Father   

Body meaning: 

the use of the body domain to archetypal things that do not from the outset have anything to do with the human body, in other words, body metaphors. The body should be understood as a corporate being like the Body politic in Hobbes' Leviathan

Basically the pleroma is a body made up of the emanations of the Aeons 

The Aeons Make Up the Spiritual Tabernacle

According to Irenaeus in Against Heresies (Book I, Chapter 18) the Tabernacle is made up from the aeons or emanations. Irenaeus does not go into detail only a summary of the teaching. I believe the purpose of the Aeons in the Tabernacle was to show the levels of ascension in the divine realm. However Philo of Alexandria gives us some information on how we are to understand this: 

XXXIII. (132) But, if indeed one is to understand these things as said not of the tabernacle or altar of sacrifice which are visible, and which are made of inanimate and perishable materials, but of those objects of speculation which are invisible and perceptible only by the intellect, of which these other things are only the images perceptible by the outwards senses; he will all the more marvel at the explanation. (133) For since the Creator has in every instance made one thing a model and another a copy of that model, he has made the archetypal pattern of virtue for the seal, and then he has on this stamped an impression from it very closely resembling the stamp. Therefore, the archetypal seal is the incorporeal idea being a thing as to its intrinsic nature an object of the outward senses, but yet not actually coming within the sphere of their operations. Just as if there is a piece of wood floating in the deepest part of the Atlantic sea, a person may say that the nature of wood is to be burned, but that that particular piece never will be burnt because of the way in which it is saturated with salt water. XXXIV. (134) Let us then look upon the tabernacle and the altar as ideas, the one being the idea of incorporeal virtue, and the other as the emblem of an image of it, which is perceptible by the outward senses. Now it is easy to see the altar and the things which are on it, for they have all their preparations out of doors, and are consumed by unquenchable fire, so as to shine not by day alone, but also by night; (135) but the tabernacle and all things that are therein are invisible, (Philo of Alexandria, On Drunkenness)

Philo tells us to look upon the tabernacle and the altar as ideas. These incorporeal ideas are the archetypal pattern from which the tabernacle was made. These ideas as Philo refers to them are the aspects or attributes of the Father which are called Sefirot in Kabbalah and Aeons in Gnosticism.

 According to Philo this tabernacle is wisdom:

Do you not see that also when he received the tabernacle from God, and this tabernacle is wisdom, in which the wise man tabernacles and, dwells, he fixed it firmly and founded and built it up strongly, not in the body but out of it; for he likens this to an encampment, to a camp I say full of wars and of all the evils which war causes, and which has not portion with peace. "And it was called the tabernacle of Testimony;"{29}{#ex 33:7.} that is to say wisdom was borne witness to by God.

 

The Following is a taken adapted and amplified from Against Heresies (Book I, Chapter 18): 

The Triacontad

The outside length of the structure is calculated from the figures respecting the side boards in Exodus 26:16-18 which says each side contained 20 boards, each 1½ cubits wide, yielding 30 cubits overall for the Tabernacle’s outer side measurement.

Now the length of the holy tabernacle was thirty cubits; corresponds to the Triacontad.

The Triacontad is a group of 30 aeons

Each part of the Tabernacle is related to different Aeons. Each level has its emanations. it's Syzygies of male and female aeons. By level I mean the groups of the aeons which are referred to as the Tetrad, the Ogdoad, the Decad and the Dodecad 

Thirty is the sum total of the number of the Aeons the union of all these, which is called the Triacontad

Thirty is compounded of 6 χ 5 which is the number of flesh (6) blended with grace (5). That number was accepted of the angel.

Allowing thirty days to a month in a lunar year, the number of days totals 370. However, it is claimed that every alternate month in the Jewish calendar is limited to 29 days, making this period approximately 365 days, or a solar year.

The number 30 (2+4+6+8+10=30), which is also the total number of aeons in the Pleroma is called the Triacontad

triacontad: The group of thirty aeons divided into the ogdoad (eight), the duodecad (twelve), and the decad (ten). 

 the Dodecad (2+4+6) as well as the Triacontad (2+4+6+8+10=30)

The form of Valentinianism most familiar today espoused thirty aeons, the Triacontad. In this system, which seems to have been widespread and popular even then, the classical Ogdoad is expanded to include a Decad and a Dodecad. (chs.harvard.edu/)

In the Valentinian Exposition from The Nag Hammadi Library refers to the Triacontad four times:

But the Decad from Word and Life brought forth decads so as to make the Pleroma become a hundred, and the Dodecad from Man and Church brought forth and made the Triacontad so as to make the three hundred sixty become the Pleroma of the year. And the year of the Lord (Valentinian Exposition)

Sometimes the Triacontad led to yet more aeons. In a variation of this extended system, the Ogdoad, Decad, and Dodecad are synthesized to get 360 (8 × 10 × 12), “the Pleroma of the year,” which is then linked to the year of the Lord (Isaiah 61.2). What role these 360 aeons played is unclear (chs.harvard.edu/)

The Duodecad

As to the Duodecad, the twelve sons of Jacob, Genesis 35:22, Genesis 49:28 from whom also sprung twelve tribes — the breastplate of the high priest, which bore twelve precious stones and twelve little bells, — the twelve stones which were placed by Moses at the foot of the mountain, Exodus 24:4 

The Duodecad a group of twelve Aeons

A believer starts off in ignorance and error (See the Gospel of Truth) before entering the gate of the court 

The gate of the court would represent wisdom (Sophia) the last or the lowest aeon her partner is willed or Will (Theletos) a person has to will themselves into the outer court of the Tabernacle. 

Theletos meaning natural or free will,

This is the beginning of Ascension 

Upon entering the Tabernacle a believer becomes a Child of Ecclesia (Ecclesiasticus) and enjoys the Blessedness (Macariotes)

  

The Decad

The Tabernacle has ten curtains (Exodus 26:1, Exodus 36:8), and the gates measure ten cubits, all symbols of the Decad.

Exodus 36:21 Now the columns of ten cubits [high], and the ten sons of Jacob who were at first sent into Egypt to buy corn, and the ten apostles to whom the Lord appeared after His resurrection,--Thomas being absent,--represented, according to them, the invisible Decad.

Ex 26:1 Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle [with] ten curtains [of] fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: [with] cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them.

Moses carefully enumerated the curtains as being ten, declaring these a type of the ten Aeons;

The length of the pillars as being ten cubits, with a reference to the Decad of Aeons.

The Decad is a group of ten aeons

The Ogdoad

Exodus 26:19 "You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards, two sockets under one board for its two tenons and two sockets under another board for its two tenons;

"And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver" — Forty represents eight multiplied by five. Eight is the number of a new beginning, being the day of Christ's resurrection: the eighth day, and the first at the same time.

Exodus 26:22 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards.

"Thou shalt make six boards" —This is the number of flesh, but with two corner boards, the west required eight boards in all, the number of perfection. In association with the Most Holy, flesh is perfected.

Exodus 26:25 "There shall be eight boards with their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board and two sockets under another board.

"And they shall be eight boards"

The eight boards were made up of six conventional boards, and two corner boards, split in two, and set at right angles to form two angle boards. This made eight in all, the number of perfection

The Hebdomad

Ex 25:31 “Make a lampstand of pure gold. Hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. 32 Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. 33 Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. 34 And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. 35 One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. 36 The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold. 37 “Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it.

What of the lamp-stand, which had seven branches and seven lamps these indicate the holy hebdomad

hebdomad a group of seven aeons it also represents the seven heavens and the seven archangels

The Tetrad

The tabernacle was made of four things, and the stones on the high priest’s robe were arranged in four rows of precious stones, indicates the Tetrad (Genesis 1:14–19; Exodus 26:1, 28:17).

Ex 27:16 And for the gate of the court [shall be] an hanging of twenty cubits, [of] blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: [and] their pillars [shall be] four, and their sockets four.

The courts of the tabernacle constructed by Moses, being composed of fine linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, refer to the number of the Tetrad. 

Ex 28:17 And thou shalt set in it four rows of stones; in the first row will be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald;

Now, the long robe of the priest coming down to his feet, as being adorned with four rows of precious stones, the precious stones arranged in four rows indicates the Tetrad; 

Tetrad a group of four aeons 

Bythos and Sige

Exodus 25:20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.

brother (Exodus 25:20 37:9) and sister (Exodus 26:3) refer to the first syzygies Bythos (βυθός, "depth" Romans 11:33-36) and Sige ("silence Romans 16:25) 

The Archangels or Cherubims of Glory over-shadowing the Mercy Seat with their wings covering the mercy seat the two Cherubim represent Bythos and Sige. The top or lid of the Mercy Seat were the wings covering it represents the boundary between the One and the rest of the Pleroma

Summary

The Tabernacle is basically about ascension into the divine realm 

This 

Valentinian Teaching on Sin

 Gnostic Teaching on Sin

Valentinian Teaching on Sin

The Valentinian understanding of sin is fundamentally Christian in nature, and that it emerges naturally out of Pauline speculations about sin" Valentinian theology Desjardins (1990 , page 131)

The original Greek term for "sin" derives from archery and literally means "missing the mark." According to Valentinian theologians, sin was a natural consequence of ignorance of God.

Ignorance is described as a physical substance within mankind:

Ephesians 4:18 being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,

Ignorance alienates from the life of God: 

Ignorance appears to be a physical substance of human nature since Ignorance leads to death:

Ignorance is the mother of [all evil]. Ignorance leads to [death, because] those who come from [ignorance] neither were nor [are] nor will be (gospel of philip)

According to the Gospel of Philip 'Ignorance is slavery, knowledge is freedom.' in all of which slavery, ignorance, sin and wickedness are contrasted with freedom and with knowledge.

The process of revealing the truth also reveals the evil and error that is deep in our hearts:

(Gospel of Thomas 45) Jesus said, "Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they do not produce fruit. A good man brings forth good from his storehouse; an evil man brings forth evil things from his evil storehouse, which is in his heart, and says evil things. For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil things."

(Gospel of Philip) Let each of us also dig down after the root of evil within us and pull it out of our hearts from the root. It will be uprooted if we recognize it. But if we are ignorant of it, it takes root in us and produces fruit in our hearts. It dominates us. We are its slaves, and it takes us captive so that we do what we do [not] want and do [not] do what we want. It is powerful because we do not recognize it. As long as [it] exists, it stays active.

sin includes the desire as well as the action, for "it is always a matter of the will, not the action" 

From this we learn that ignorance is the source of all evil and sin it is is internal, not external. It is "the law which wars against the law of my mind" (Romans 7:23) 

In Valentinian theology, matter itself is derived from and in some ways identical with ignorance:

ignorance of the Father caused anguish and terror, and the anguish grew thick like a fog, so that no one could see – Error was strengthened. It worked on its own matter in vain, not knowing the Truth. (Gospel of Truth)

For now, their works lie scattered. In time, Unity will complete the realms. Within Unity each one will receive themselves, and within knowledge they’ll purify themselves from multiplicity into Unity, consuming matter (=ignorance) within themselves like fire, and darkness by light, death by life (Gospel of Truth)

Error is also used as an equivalent of ignorance and is personified in the Gospel of Truth:

Error was strengthened. It worked on its own matter in vain, not knowing the Truth. It happened in a deluding way, as it (Error) prepared with power, in beauty, a substitute for the Truth. (Gospel of Truth)

For Valentinians both sin and death are a natural consequences of ignorance of the Father: 

This ignorance of the father brought about terror and fear. And terror became dense like a fog, so no one was able to see. Because of this, error became strong. (Gospel of Truth)

Speak of the Truth with those who search for it, and of knowledge with those who’ve sinned in their Error. (Gospel of Truth)

Ignorance of the Father is the true nature of sin and error.

Sin

The Hebrew word “chattaah” is translated sin in English, and primarily is associated with both the offense and its penalty, or sacrifice, so in English we often define the Hebrew word “chattaah” as transgression. However, sin is often used as a translation for the root of “Chattaah” or “chata”, and so Vine’s Expository Dictionary says the basic nuance or feeling of this word, “Chattaah”, is missing the road or mark. So a question we should be asking ourselves, is what is the road or mark God is speaking of when He uses the word “chattaah” in His word? Our initial response is that “the mark” is obedience to His law and commandments, and we sin when we fail to obey them and thus miss the mark. However when we consider God’s plan with His creation we find that obedience to His laws is only part of the mark. The actual mark is on a much higher plane.

The Greek word hamartia is a Feminine Noun meaning missing the mark; hence: (a) guilt, sin, (b) a fault, failure (in an ethical sense), sinful deed.

awon´ is the Hebrew term most frequently linked with or used in parallel with chat·ta´th´ (sin, missing the mark) In the Septuagint the Hebrew word 05771 עון ‘avon is translated by the word G4108 πλάνη plánē G4108 πλάνη plánē, plan'-ay; feminine of G4108 (as abstractly); objectively, fraudulence; subjectively, a straying from orthodoxy or piety:—deceit, to deceive, delusion, error.

Sin, in it's most comprehensive definition is "to miss the mark" - whether morally (transgression) or physically. Mankind was initially created with the intention of sharing in God's glory, both physically and morally. Mankind has "missed the mark" both physically and morally. Due to the events in Eden, we are created (in the womb) in that fallen state, and thus born in sin.

The word sin is used in two major ways in the scripture. It signifies in the first place, "the transgression of law;" and in the next, it represents that physical substance or element of the animal nature, which is the cause of all its diseases, death, and resolution into dust. It is that in the flesh "which has the power of death;" and it is called sin, because the development, or fixation, of this evil in the flesh, was the result of transgression. 

The Fall

In the Tripartite Tractate the Fall in the Garden of Eden is described as a work of providence and part of the divine plan:

This is the expulsion which was made for him, when he was expelled from the enjoyments of the things which belong to the likeness and those of the representation. It was a work of providence, so that it might be found that it is a short time until man will receive the enjoyment of the things which are eternally good, in which is the place of rest. This the spirit ordained when he first planned that man should experience the great evil, which is death, that is complete ignorance of the Totality, and that he should experience all the evils which come from this and, after the deprivations and cares which are in these, that he should receive of the greatest good, which is life eternal, that is, firm knowledge of the Totalities and the reception of all good things. Because of the transgression of the first man, death ruled. (Romans 5:17) It was accustomed to slay every man in the manifestation of its domination, which had been given it as a kingdom because of the organization of the Father's will, of which we spoke previously (see 106:35-107:1). (The Tripartite Tractate)

Sin and Error

Valentinian use the words ignorance (ἄγνοια agnoia), forgetfulness (ἐπιλανθάνομαι epilanthanomai), error (πλάνη plánē) and sin to describe transgressions and human nature 

The Body

According to the Extracts from the Works of Theodotus the Saviour referred to this body [of flesh] as the adversary or Satan the devil:

52 This body the Saviour called an "adversary" and Paul said a " law warring against the law of my mind" and the Saviour advises us "to bind it" and to "seize its possessions" as those of "a strong man" (Extracts from the Works of Theodotus)

Inasmuch as this evil principle pervades every part of the flesh, the animal nature is styled "sinful flesh," that is, flesh full of sin; so that sin, in the sacred style, came to stand for the substance called man. In human flesh "dwells no good thing" (Rom. 7:18, 17); and all the evil a man does is the result of this principle dwelling in him 
The nature of the lower animals is as full of this physical evil principle as the nature of man; though it cannot be styled sin with the same expressiveness; because it does not possess them as the result of their own transgression; the name, however, does not alter the nature of the thing. (Elpis Israel)

This quotation from Elpis Israel by Dr. Thomas helps us to understand the Valentinian teaching, that matter, nature or creation itself (Rom 819-23) is derived from and in some ways identical with ignorance or sin. ignorance or sin  represents that physical substance of the animal nature

Ignorance

Ignorance is described as a physical substance within mankind:

Ephesians 4:18 being darkened in the understanding, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,

The word Ignorance (Greek G52 ἄγνοια agnoia [ag-no-eh’-o which comes from the root 50 ἀγνοέω agnoeo [ag-no-eh’-o) means not to know, lack of knowledge, moral blindness [{Ac 3:17 } 3) to err or sin through mistake, to be wrong, spoken mildly of those who are not high handed or wilful transgressors [{Heb 5:2 }

Ignorance is an absence of knowledge. It may also be called ‘Unknowing’
- Ignorance is a form of ‘mindlessness’, ‘forgetfulness’ or ‘oblivion’
- It is imagined as ‘darkness’ or a ‘cavern’

Ignorance alienates from the life of God: but light to those who enter Christ, brings that life.

The descendants of Adam are born under condemnation to death and in a state of ignorance and alienation from God for Adam's 'offence'" (Rom 5:19)

The descendants of Adam are in a state of alienation from God at birth. Alienation is only applicable to those who are capable of reconciliation.

alienation the term 'alienation' in describing a state that exists between God and man due to his sin stricken nature.

Before being baptised a believer is dead in being alienated from God by ignorance, condemnation inherited from Adam, and trespasses and sins.”

Close to ignorance stands the term forgetfulness the state of having forgotten, heedlessness, and sleep. Planē herself forgets (she is in a fog concerning the Father, 17:31), indeed she arose out of the fog of Forgetting, but primarily she causes (man's) Forgetting.

Sin and Ignorance are the physical substance which brings forth death or kills the body and soul:

For without the soul, the body does not sin, just as the soul is not saved without the spirit. But if the soul is saved (when it is) without evil, and the spirit is also saved, then the body becomes free from sin. For it is the spirit that raises the soul, but the body that kills it; that is, it is it (the soul) which kills itself. (The Apocryphon of James)

In Fragment 40 Heracleon in his Commentary on the Gospel of John says without the Savior, human beings exist in a sickened state in "ignorance and sins", living under the "law which kills through sins":

 The “child” “in Capernaun” is one who is in the lower part of the Middle (i.e. of animate substance), which lies near the sea, that is, which is linked with matter. The child’s proper person was sick, that is, in a condition not in accordance with the child’s proper nature, in ignorance and sins. (In John 4:47, “When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his child , for it was at the point of death.”) The words “from Judea to Galilee” mean ‘from the Judea above.’. . . By the words “it was at the point of death,” the teaching of those who claim that the soul is immortal is refuted. In agreement with this is the statement that “the body and soul are destoyed in Hell.” (Matthew 10:28) The soul is not immortal, but is possessed only of a disposition towards salvation, for it is the perishable which puts on imperishability and the mortal which puts on immortality when “its death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:54) On “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” (John 4:48): It is fittingly said to the kind of person whose nature is determined through works, and who is convinced by means of sense-perception and does not believe the word. The words, “Come before my child dies” (John 4:49) were spoken because death is the goal and end of the law which kills through sins. (Fragment 40 Heracleon)

 

The person who has gnosis (knowledge) is thus freed of his sinful material self.

He who has knowledge of the truth is a free man, but the free man does not sin, for "He who sins is the slave of sin" (Jn 8:34). (Gospel of Philip)

Valentinian theologians emphasize that the elect must abstain from sin

Fear not the flesh nor love it. If you fear it, it will gain mastery over you. If you love it, it will swallow and paralyze you. (Gospel of Philip)

As Theodotus says about the sinful nature, "Be well disposed to it, not nourishing it and strengthening it by the power to commit sin, but putting it to death here and now, and thereby showing it as transitory by our refraining from evil." (Excerpts of Theodotus 52:2).

He wanted us to be circumcised, not in regard to our physical foreskin but in regard to our spiritual heart; to keep the Sabbath, for he wishes us to be idle in regard to evil works; to fast, not in physical fasting but in spiritual, in which there is abstinence from everything evil. (Ptolemy's Letter to Flora)

The Role of Jesus

The role of Jesus is to bring gnosis (knowledge) of the Father and thereby to remove sin. 

Christ came to ransom some, to save others, to redeem others. (Gospel of Philip) 

This is the one who is called the savior, since that is the name of the work that he must do for the redemption of those who have not known the father. (Gospel of Truth)

 

According to Heracleon Jesus is  "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’  (In John 1:29, Heracleon goes on to say:

John spoke the words, "Lamb of God" as a prophet, but the words, "who takes away the sin of the world" as more than a prophet. The first expression was spoken with reference to his body, the second with reference to Him who was in that body. The lamb is an imperfect member of the genus of sheep; the same being true of the body as compared with the one that dwells in it. Had he meant to attribute perfection to the body he would have spoken of a ram about to be sacrificed. (Fragment 10, on John 1:29)

Sin, I say, is a synonym for human nature. Hence, the flesh is invariably regarded as unclean. It is therefore written, "How can he be clean who is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4) "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." (Job 14:4) "What is man that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous? Behold, God putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, who drinketh iniquity like water?" (Job 15:14-16) This view of sin in the flesh is enlightening in the things concerning Jesus. The apostle says, "God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21); and this he explains in another place by saying, that "He sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3) in the offering of his body once (Heb. 10:10,12,14). Sin could not have been condemned in the body of Jesus, if it had not existed there. His body was as unclean as the bodies of those for whom he died; for he was born of a woman, and "not one" can bring a clean body out of a defiled body; for "that", says Jesus himself, "which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6). (Elpis Israel)

"the second with reference to Him who was in that body" the one that dwells in the body is the logos or the anointing spirit

That which was imperfect was the nature with which the Logos, that came down from heaven to do the Father's will, clothed himself. That nature was flesh of the stock of Abraham, compared in Zech. 3:3 to "filthy garments," typical of the "infirmity with which he was compassed."

The Spirit clothed Himself with weakness and corruption - in other words, "Sin's flesh's identity" - that He might destroy the "DIABOLOS." It is manifest from this the Diabolos: must be of the same nature as that which the Spirit assumed; for the supposition that He assumed human nature to destroy a being of angelic nature, or of some other more powerful, is palpably absurd. The Diabolos is something, then, pertaining to flesh and blood, and the Spirit or Logos became flesh and blood to destroy it. -(Eureka 1:246)

Error tried to kill the savior by nailing to a tree 

That is the gospel of him whom they seek, which he has revealed to the perfect through the mercies of the father as the hidden mystery, Jesus the anointed.  Through him he enlightened those who were in darkness because of forgetfulness. He enlightened them and gave them a path. And that path is the truth that he taught them.  For this reason error was angry with him, so she persecuted him. She was distressed by him, and she was made powerless. He was nailed to a tree.  He became a fruit of the knowledge of the father. He did not, however, destroy them because they ate of it. He rather caused those who ate of it to be joyful because of this discovery. (Gospel of Truth)

For this reason Jesus appeared. He put on that book. He was nailed to a cross. He affixed the edict of the father to the cross. (Gospel of Truth)

Here Jesus and the gospel are one: it is nailed to the tree in his person. Thought only nailed to a tree, the gospel became a fruit of knowledge, thereby making its tree into a tree of knowledge — but not knowledge of good and evil ( Gen. 2:9) — knowledge of the Father

According to the Interpretation of Knowledge, "when the great Son was sent after his little brothers, he spread abroad the edict of the Father and proclaimed it, opposing all. And he removed the old bond of debt, the one of condemnation. And this is the edict that was: Those who reckoned themselves slaves have become condemned in Adam. They have been brought from death, received forgiveness for their sins and been redeemed." (Interpretation of Knowledge 14:28-38)


Christ, having the same nature as we do in every respect, had our same temptation “chattaah”. He destroyed his “chattaah” when he offered himself up on the cross. He glorified God both by his obedience and by his destruction of his “chattaah”.


The chattaah is the law of sin and death

He included Himself in the Living Offering

He included himself in the living offering, together with your offspring. He offered them up as an offering to the All. For it is not cattle that you will offer up for sin(s) of unbelief, and for the ignorances, and (for) all the wicked deeds which they will do [...]. And they do not reach the Father of the All [...] the faith ...... (20 lines unrecoverable) (The Nag Hammadi Library Melchizedek)

... (2 lines unrecoverable)
... is the sacrifice of [...], whom Death deceived. When he died, he bound them with the natures which are leading them astray. Yet he offered up offerings [...] cattle, saying, "I gave them to Death, and the angels, and the [...] demons [...] living offering [...]. I have offered up myself to you as an offering, together with those that are mine, to you yourself, (O) Father of the All, and those whom you love, who have come forth from you who are holy (and) living. And <according to> the perfect laws, I shall pronounce my name as I receive baptism now (and) forever, (as a name) among the living (and) holy names, and (now) in the waters. Amen." (The Nag Hammadi Library Melchizedek)

What does the text of Melchizedek mean when it says "He (Jesus) included himself in the living offering, together with your offspring. He offered them up as an offering to the All."

The same idea is found later on in the text "I have offered up myself to you as an offering, together with those that are mine, to you yourself, (O) Father of the All"

The interpretation of this is the Lord's sacrifice was necessary for his own redemption. His sacrifice was a public demonstration that his flesh was rightly related to death and a declaration of the righteousness of God that required the offering of his life in devotion to Him. By his sacrifice the ungodly propensities (diabolos) of his nature was destroyed (Heb. 2:14; 9:12; 7:27), thus providing for the granting of immortality.

It was necessary that Jesus should offer for himself for the purging of his own nature, first, from the uncleanness of death, that having by his own blood obtained eternal redemption for himself, he might be able afterward to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him

What is Kabbalah?

What is Kabbalah?

What is Kabbalah?

In the 12th and 13th centuries C.E., a mystical form of Judaism, called Cabala, started gaining popularity.

According to Cabalistic teachers, the simple meaning of the Bible text is not its true meaning. They believe that God used the individual letters of the Hebrew Bible text as symbols, which when properly understood reveal a greater truth. In their view, each Hebrew letter and its position in the Bible text was set by God with a specific purpose in mind.

The Jewish kabbalists had a system called athbash (Hebrew: אתבש‎; also transliterated Atbaš), whereby the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is read as the last one, the second letter as the second to last letter.

The earliest documented Kabbalistic writing is called the Sepher Yetzirah, or the book of formation. 

One tradition says that the Rabbi Akiva wrote it. He is supposed to be one of the greatest Kabbalists of all time.

Moses De Leon, a 14th century Spanish Kabbalist presented the Zohar, an extremely influential book in Kabbalistic philosophy.  De Leon originally claimed that he found the scrolls that have been written much earlier, more than a thousand years earlier.  Recent scholarship supports the idea that he is the one who wrote the Zohar.

What does Kabbalah mean? 

What does Kabbalah mean? 

There are slightly different definitions of the word "Kabbalah". One source says it comes from the three Hebrew kbl which means "reception". Another source says "Kabbalah is a word meaning "tradition."

Kabbalah is also know as cabala, cabalah, kabala, caballah, qabala, qabalah, etc. You do not have to be Jewish to study Kabbalah and its proponents state that it can adapt itself to any religious system.

Furthermore, the Kabbalist is supposed to gain understanding about God and himself by learning to understand these 10 aspects, their relationship to each other, and then apply the principles thus learned in his own life to help him return back to God -- Kabbalah teaches the soul's pre-existence. 

Kaballah is the way of viewing reality based upon subjective, experiential interpretations of the world, life, death, creation, meaning, purpose, etc.  It is an inner-contemplative movement and is considered to be a way of life.  

Christian Gnostic traditions pre-date the classical Kabbalah of the Zohar

Christ also has his name from chrism, for the father anointed the son, the son anointed the apostles, and the apostles anointed us. (gospel of philip)

Clement of Alexandria records that Valentinus was instructed by Theudas, and that Theudas in turn was taught by Paul (Clement of Alexandria Stromata 7:17)

The Sepher Yetzirah

  

     The  is also known as the "Book of Formation" and the "Book of Creation." It is the oldest known Kabbalistic writing from which the Zohar is derived. It "describes a total of 32 intelligences or emanations that make up the body and mind of God."  Kabbalistic traditions says that the origins of the Book of Formation go back to Abraham. Others say it goes back to Rabbi Akiva of the first century. However, modern scholarship dates the book as originating in the fifth century A.D. 

     The Sepher Yetzirah is not a creation narrative.  It is a writing on one aspect of the formation of the universe and mankind and is considered to be a compilation of Hebrew Kabbalistic rabbis.  It expounds on the basic structure of Kabbalah, describes creation, through the 32 paths, the ten sephiroth (from the ), and the twenty two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet.

The Zohar

     The Zohar is one of the most important texts, if not the most important in Kabbalah. The Zohar is not a single book. Instead it is allegedly a 2nd century A.D. collection of Aramaic writings from various Kabbalists that is a commentary on the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy with some commentary on the song of songs, also known as the song of Solomon.  Its interpretations of the Torah are highly mystical and subjective and often in contradiction to what the Torah reveals. it seeks to explain as well as the video the relationship between God and man.  But, the book is generally believed to have been authored by a 13th Century Jewish mystic named Moses De Leon (1250-1305) partly because it was never mentioned in the Talmud (a collection of commentaries used to explain the the oral law concerning the first five books of the Old Testament).  Additions were added to the Zohar in the 14th century.

What are the main teaching of Kabbalah? 

What are the main teaching of Kabbalah? 

1. God has 10 aspects through which creation was realized. 

1. God has 10 aspects through which creation was realized. 

2. The the truths of Kabbalah were given to the angels first, then to Adam, then Abraham, and finally to Moses. 

3. The human soul preexisted before coming to earth. cooper, 107. 

4. Reincarnation of the soul. 

5. Higher realms of consciousness 

6. Multiple universes 

7. The interconnectedness of all levels of consciousness, angels, demons, thoughts, incarnations, etc. 

8. "There are four primary archangels:  Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael.  (Cooper, David A., God is a Verb. New York, New York: Riverhead Brooks, 1997, p. 135.) 

1. "Liliel is the Angel of the Night...Lilith is considered to be the arch she-devil."  Sandalphon is the angel of prayer as is Michael, (Cooper, p. 135) 

9. There are two Messiahs, one from the lineage of Joseph and the other from David, (cooper, p. 181. 

10. The fall of Adam and Eve was because they failed to make a rectification that would bring "the universe to a new level of consciousness."  cooper, 107 

11. It is possible to have a direct experience with God without the need of a mediator such as Jesus. 

The Sephirot (also spelled "sefirot"; singular sefirah) are the ten emanations and attributes of the Deity through which The Infinite One reveals Himself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher spiritual realms.

The Infinite One emanated himself in stages to create the universe. There are ten Sefirot, which are vessels or containers called the Sephirot (the word Sephirot means emanations).

These emanations or attribute that are manifested are powers and virtues, wisdom, knowledge, justice, mercy, and so on these are still referenced in attributions to the seven lights of the Jewish synagogue, which you will find on the altar in a synagogue with seven lights this seven lights will reference 10 Sefirot.

The seven lamps allude to the branches of human knowledge, represented by the six lamps inclined inwards towards, and symbolically guided by, the light of God represented by the central lamp.

There are 22 paths that connect these ten Sephirot and that makes 32 names of God. The root attributes of the powers and virtues of God were understood as a kind of tree like the tree of life. It was the image of God in mankind as the blind men said I see men as trees walking we find a lot of this tree language in this tree of life are ten Sefirot ten vessels

The tree of sefirot also has a numerological significance. Between the 10 sefirot run 22 channels or paths, which connect them, a number which can be associated with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Together the spiritual forces of the 10 sefirot and the 22 connecting channels are called the "32 Paths of Wisdom".

According to Christian Gnostic tradition there are 30 aeons which are the emanations of the Deity they are called the Triacontad

The Aeons in the Valentinian system are given biblical names
First generation
Bythos (the Depth) and Sige (Silence, Charis or Grace, Ennoea, etc.)
Second generation
Nous (Nus, Mind) and Aletheia (Veritas, Truth)
Third generation, emanated from Nous and Aletheia
Sermo (the Word) and Vita (the Life)
Fourth generation, emanated from Sermo and Vita
Anthropos (Homo, Man) and Ecclesia (Church


This, then, is the Tetrad begotten according to the likeness of the Uncreated (Tetrad). And the Tetrad is begotten [... ] the Decad from Word and Life, and the Dodecad from Man, and Church became a Triacontad.

One analogy might be that the Valentinians were to proto-orthodox Christianity what Kabbalah is to Judaism.

Gnostic ideas found a Jewish variation in the mystical study of Kabbalah. Many core Gnostic ideas reappear in Kabbalah, where they are used for dramatically reinterpreting earlier Jewish sources according to this new system The Kabbalists originated in 13th-century Provence, which was at that time also the center of the Gnostic Cathars.

Sethian Gnosticism was always anti-Jewish, even when it arose among Jews or Jewish Christians, for its radical dualism of an alien God set against an evil universe is a total contradiction of the central Jewish tradition, in which a transcendent God allows Himself to be known by His people as an immediate presence, when He chooses, and in which His creation is good except as it has been marred or altered by man's disobedience or wickedness.