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GNOSTIC ALTERED STATES
Figure 6.2 Zodiac man (1475) at the British Library. Reprinted with permission.
ated with that demon, and intoned the proper prayer for relief. Medicinal
plants and popping noises helped, too.
The Gnostic Cure
So the ultimate concern of the Gnostic is to mend our damaged psyches
and bodies through deep spiritual therapy. That said, we must recognize
that ancient Gnostics did not work like modern psychologists or like TV
evangelist faith healers such as Kenneth Copeland or Benny Hinn. Instead,
the Gnostics’ therapy was bound up with religious ceremonies of initiation
strikingly similar to Greco-Roman and Egyptian mystery religions.
In fact, ancient writers agree that Gnostic mysteries are most comparable
to the mysteries of the Great Mother, Demeter, and her daughter
Persephone, which were characterized by solemn oaths of silence, revelation
of specialized knowledge, a protracted course of expensive induction,
and the bodily torment and suffering of the initiates (Irenaeus, Against the
Heresies 1.4.3, 1.21.3–4; Tertullian, Against the Valentinians 1; Hippolytus,