126 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
The maternal angels are Babel, Achamoth, Naas, Bel, Belias, Satan,
Sael, Adonaios, Kauithan, Pharaoth, Karkamenos, and Lathen.
Of these twenty-four the paternal ones side
with the father and obey his will in everything,
and the maternal ones hear their mother, Edem.
Their common domain is paradise,
about which Moses tells us,
"God planted paradise east of Eden,"^15
before the face of Edem, and therefore
she always looks at paradise, her angels.
The angels of paradise are allegorically called trees,
and the tree of life is the third paternal angel,
and his name is Baruch,
while the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
is the third maternal angel, and he is Naas.
Moses spoke these things covertly
because not everyone can hold the truth.THE CREATION OF ADAM AND EVE
After paradise came into being through the love
of Elohim and Edem,
the angels of Elohim took some of the best earth
(not from the bestial, naked part of Edem
but from her upper, civilized regions)
and from that good earth they made man,^16
but from the bestial land came wild beasts and creatures.
They made man a symbol of their union and love
and planted some of their powers in him.
Edem provided the soul and Elohim the spirit.
The man Adam was a seal and memory of their love,
an eternal symbol of the wedding of Edem and Elohim.
And, as Moses wrote, Eve was image and symbol,- Genesis 2:8. The relevant phrase in this verse may be translated "east of Eden" or "before
Eden," as here in the Book of Baruch. - Genesis 2:7.