Friday, September 01, 2006
NEO-GNOSTICISM/NEO-CATHARISM - THE NEW HOMOSEXUAL SPIRITUALITY
The network of Neo-Gnostic/Neo-Cathar groups is becoming more concrete via the web. This is gay spirituality, as the Sexual Minorities Ministry page in the website of The Apostolic Gnostic Church in America (AGCA) demonstrates.
Take a look as the links webpage of the Church.
In the first bank of links (the navigation links for the webpage) the last entry is for "Fellow-Travelers: Spiritual and Religious Sites". It takes you to their list of websites "that are not Gnostic, but represent religious and spiritual traditions or perspectives that pursue many kindred goals and spiritual themes to those that Gnosticism does". The list is at the bottom of the webpage. Among them:
Catholics for a Free Choice
Conference for Catholic Lesbians
Dignity USA: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Catholics
Gay Gospels: Homilies for GLBT Community
Integrity (GLBT Episcopalians)
Another bank of links in the website lists "Contemporary Neo-Classical Gnosticism" which are "groups active today that describe themselves as Gnostic, but generally are either not part of the classical/Nag Hammadi tradition, or have incorporated significant elements from outside Gnosticism into their system." The Apostolic Gnostic Church of America who own this website attempts to distance themselves from these other groups but at the same time says they "welcome them as partners in the pursuit of gnosis and human spiritual liberation." The list includes:
Authentic Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (branch of the OTO)
Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), U.S. Grand Lodge
Ordo Templi Orientis Australia
Ordo Templi Orientis, Scarlet Woman Lodge (Texas)
Ordo Templi Orientis Sverige (Sweden)
Up at the top under the Subheading "AGCA Parishes, Circles, and Groups" there are five linked websites of groups that belong to this network, two of which are particularly noteworthy:
Circle of Mary and Thomas includes a long description of their beliefs in which a number of words typical of Gnosticism appear:
Divine spark*
Alchemy+
Circle & companions circle
Sophia+
Tree of Life*
Grail+
Awaken**
Magik**
Ongoing revelation+
Spiritual consort+
Architect+
Blood relation of Christ*
Torah*
Lucifer
Kataphatic
Apophatic
Universal restoration*
The Way+
Sacred Geometry+
Chaos**
Vibrational**
* = Jewish/Kabbalah language
+ = Alchemical/Rosicrucian/Masonic language
** = Gurdjieffian spirituality
Some can be placed into more than one grouping. The "Vibrational" entry is reminiscent of Vibrant Parish Life. "The Way" belongs to progressive/liberal Chatholicism ala Fr. Thomas Berry. Obviously Lucifer is right out of Roman Catholicism as well as all of the other systems. Kataphatic and apophatic refers to the source of knowledge. An example of apophatic knowledge is described here. Kataphatic knowledge is more concrete--words, symbols, prayers--the things we can perceive with our senses.
The other significant linked AGCA website is the Gnostic Center: Gnosticism in the 21st Century. I've linked it for the G. I. Gurdjieff quote that appears at the top of the website:
The law for man is existence in the circle of mechanical influences, the state of the 'man-machine.' The way of the development of hidden possibilities is a way against nature, against God."
That quote is immediately followed by one from William Blake:
When the doors of perception are cleansed, man will see things as they truly are, infinite.
I'd like to end this blog post with a quote of my own:
But the serpent said to the woman: "You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad." The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened...(Genesis 3:4-7)
This "wisdom", woman's work as it tends to be passed off using "Sophia", has been with mankind from the beginning. It has gone underground and resurfaced many times in recorded human history. It has been rejected by the Church, particularly by St. Irenaeus, the Saint who is referred to by the AGCA as "the violently crazed anti-Gnostic misanthrope and "heretic-hunter" Irenaeus of Lyon."
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
