DeConick A.D

176
GNOSTIC ALTERED STATES
through three regions, specifically the underworld below the earth, the
celestial sphere above the earth, and the transcendent realm above the
cosmos.
Add to these universal bodily orientations such as verticality the fact
that ancient people were all speculating about the incarnation of the soul.
A very popular theory was that the soul originates from a high cosmic
sphere, usually the zodiac belt of fixed stars. It has to pass through the
planetary spheres and the stars on its way down into the body. This passage
negatively affects the soul’s constitution, weighing it down. For the soul
to be liberated it must be purged of these negative effects. This purgation
allows it to become lighter and fly home. This commonly known cycle
is what forms the basis of second-century Gnostic initiation ceremonies.
When we realize that Gnostic spirituality is not focused on the liberation
of soul but on the spirit, we find an innovation that makes its way
into Gnostic myth and ritual performance. If the gods of this world are
false, then the spirit has to come from wherever the true God lives. So we
see in Gnostic thought the emergence of a transcendent realm that houses
the true God and the human spirit. It is this spirit that descends down
through the spheres and takes on a soul and a body in the process. Its
liberation means purgation of the soul’s negativity and the body’s inclinations
so that the spirit can become lighter and fly home.
Gnostic rites, whatever their form, were meant to be personally therapeutic,
to awaken, purge, mature, and integrate the alienated human
spirit, the real self, with its transcendent root. The goal was to heal the
separation anxiety that had started it all. Usually, divinities from the transcendent
world come to earth to assist and teach humans about their
predicament and whatever rituals are needed to liberate the spirit. In the
case of Jesus, many Gnostic Christian groups thought that his job was to
clear-cut the spirit’s path home.
Second-century Gnostic rites fall into four categories: ceremonies to
awaken or quicken the spirit from unconsciousness; ceremonies to purge
the soul of its demons; ceremonies to mature the fledgling spirit into an
adult divinity; and ceremonies to integrate the mature spirit, the real self,
with its transcendent root. This process brings healing because it repairs
the separation that was the root cause of the person’s anxiety and fear,
without completely wiping out the individual’s identity.