DeConick A.D

98
SUPERPOWERS AND MONSTERS
human Seth is the reflection of his divine archetype, Seth. Whereas Adam
is the progenitor of all humans, including the vast majority who were not
Gnostics, Seth is the progenitor of the Gnostics.
In other words, the luminous spirit that Ialdabaoth blew into Adam’s
nostrils had lodged itself within Adam and Eve’s child Seth and his offspring,
although the offspring were not always aware of this. Ialdabaoth
tries at every turn to keep them in the dark about their true nature and
strength. And God tries to keep them informed via a string of emissaries
who serially descend to earth as instructors.
History was viewed by the Sethians as a real struggle, because most of
the population had been blinded or distracted from the truth and went
on worshipping Ialdabaoth. In the Apocalypse of Adam, we find a Sethian
version of history that divides the human race into thirteen kingdoms and
one kingless tribe. Twelve of the kingdoms represent the twelve tribes of
Israel, who swear fealty to Ialdabaoth. A thirteenth kingdom is produced
from their “seed,” too. This is a reference to early Apostolic Catholic
Christians, who the Sethians say also worship Ialdabaoth.
The people of all thirteen kingdoms failed to recognize the Gnostic
superpowers, including the greatest of all the superpowers, Jesus, who had
descended incognito to illuminate them in the last age. Only the kingless
tribe, the tribe that does not worship Ialdabaoth, has recognized all the
emissaries and has learned from them the correct way to baptize in order
to liberate the spirit. These emissaries teach them that they actually are
superior to Ialdabaoth and his lieutenants, that they have been trapped
in perpetual servitude to false gods, that they have been incarcerated in
bodies that, like kryptonite, subdue their innate power. These emissaries
teach them water rituals, including a ceremony they call the Five Seals.
The Sethians believed that these water rituals aid in the release of the spirit
from its incarceration and progressively guide the spirit into the realms of
the divine world of the supreme God.
Samaritan Gnosticism and Simon the Great Power
The revolutionary message of Gnostic spirituality quickly migrated north
into the district of ancient Palestine known as Samaria, a region that extended
from Judaea in the south to Galilee in the north and to the Jordan
River in the east. It was home to a group called the Samaritans, who
understood themselves to be the true keepers of the law of YHWH. They