DeConick A.D

219
HELL WALKS AND STAR TREKS
(Hippolytus, Refutation 5.7.30–32; cf. Homer, Odyssey 24.1–2). Hermes
is understood to be Christ, who, according to Ephesians 5:14, awakens
those who sleep and gives them light (Hippolytus, Refutation 5.7.33). In
the Naassene mythology, Hermes is the Christ, harrowing hell.
The language here suggests that the Naassenes, like other Gnostic
groups that staged hell walks, were practicing incubation as part of their
journey. The first-level Naassene initiates are understood to be among the
sleeping souls in the realm of the dead. A priest or elder probably stood in
for Hermes, who swings the staff he carries, selecting particular souls for
initiation by smacking them awake. A number of awakened souls press
close around Hermes, crying out. The screaming souls follow Hermes
closely as they make their way along the arduous path out of the rodentinfested
cave of the dead (Hippolytus, Refutation 5.7.34; cf. Homer, Odyssey
24.5–8). Hermes’s job is to lead initiates along the rotting paths of hell
into the eternal realms where there is no evil.
Along the way, the initiates display the secret seals revealed to them
by Jesus, and use a secret password, “ saulasau ,” to defeat the dark lords
of the underworld that they meet (Hippolytus, Refutation 5.10.1, 5.8.4).
This secret password is a Hebrew phrase that the Naassenes derived from
Isaiah 28:13, where it is written that the “word of the Lord will be to them
precept upon precept [ sau la sau ].” In this case, the Naassenes understood
that the dark lords of the underworld would be thwarted by the word of
the Lord, saulasau . It was the magic word that held the power to get the
person out of the realm of the dead.
With this, the initiate is resurrected from the grave. Through this experience,
the initiate’s infant spirit becomes a paidos (child), seven years
of age (Hippolytus, Refutation 5.7.20). The initiate’s new status may have
been displayed communally in a robing ceremony in which the seven
robes of Isis were given to the initiate, as was done in Isis’ mysteries. According
to the Naassenes, these are the seven ethereal robes of the planets
(Hippolytus, Refutation 5.6.22–24). They represented for the Naassenes
the resurrected soul released from the body.
Up to Venus and the House of God
The second phase of initiation, which the Naassenes thought was comparable
to the first of the Greater Mysteries of Eleusis, is when the child