7
Three Forms of
First Thought
^ I 1
I he Three Forms of First Thought, or the Trimorphic Protennoia,
I is a Sethian tractate that reached its present form around 200 CE.
•JL. It features a divine triad of father, mother, and child (or son), who
each descend as first thought, Protennoia. First thought's descents from the
pleroma to earth are also symbolized as voice, speech, and word.
The profound poetry of Three Forms of First Thought shares with most
gnostic scripture an exuberant gift for mythopoetic language. In its lexicon
and three stages, Three Forms of First Thought resembles the Secret Book of
John, probably written about the same time: both apocalyptic treatises offer a
philosophical meditation on the formation and history of the universe.
In the Secret Book of John there is a triple descent of the redeemer—from
the riches of light in the heavenly pleroma; to the second period in darkness,
chaos, and the prison of the body; to the third phase, where, being the pure
light in light, the redeemer speaks to the redeemable and pronounces a wak-
ening call for their deliverance. In its revelation of the creation, fall, and salva-
tion of the world and its people, the Secret Book of John resembles the Three
Forms of First Thought's discourse by the personified Protennoia in her three
revelatory descents as heavenly redeemer. Protennoia's ultimate purpose is to
combat the darkness that earth's inhabitants have fallen under as a result of
the plots of their chief creator, the boasting demiurge, and offer the children
of light hope of redemption.