Subject: Saint Sophia

Canonical adaptation of the Gnostic Great Mother...the spirit of Female Wisdom. Symbolized by the Dove of Aphrodite (later transformed into a sign of the Holy Ghost), Sophia once respresented God's female soul, source of his power, just as Kali-Shakti served to vitalize the Hindu gods...A Gnostic creation myth said Sophia was born from the primordial female power Sige (Silence). Sophia gave birth to a male spirit, Christ, and a female spirit, Achamoth. The latter gave life to the elements and the terrestrial world, then brought forth a new god named Ildabaoth or Jehovah...who forbade men to eat the fruit of knowledge, but his mother Achamoth sent her own spirit to earth in the form of the serpent Ophis to teach men to disobey the jealous god. The serpent was also called Christ, who taught Adam to eat the fruit of knowledge despite the god's prohibition.


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