INTRODUCTION 5
spiritual love. Often the aeons are identified as spiritual attributes of the di-
vine, are given names, and are joined together as couples, spiritual lovers
in the fullness of the divine. In the Mandaean divine world the great life is
surrounded by other lives and a host of Jordans, or heavenly waters; in the
Manichaean kingdom of light the father of greatness is surrounded by 12
aeons and 144 aeons of aeons; and in the Mother of Books the exalted king is
surrounded by seas, angels, lights, and colors.
Among the aeons and manifestations of the divine is often a figure who
represents the divine in this world, fallen from the light above yet present as
the light of god with us and in us. In many gnostic texts this is the figure called
Sophia or wisdom, as mentioned above. In Valentinian traditions two forms
of wisdom are evident, a higher wisdom called Sophia and a lower wisdom
called Achamoth. Wisdom is closely linked to Eve in the creation stories, and
Eve is portrayed as the mother of the living and a revealer of knowledge. Wis-
dom may also be linked to the gnostic revealer, and wisdom may take part in
the process of salvation. In the Gospel of John and other texts the divine logos,
or word, plays a similar role. Such is also the case with Ruha, the spirit, in
Mandaean texts, and perhaps Salman, including great Salman and lesser
Salman, in the Islamic Mother of Books.
As noted, the demiurge or creator of this world is commonly distinguished
from the transcendent deity in gnostic texts. The demiurge is ignorant, tragic,
megalomaniacal. In the Secret Book of John he is depicted as the ugly child of
Sophia, snakelike in appearance, with the face of a lion and eyes flashing like
bolts of lightning. He is named Yaldabaoth, Sakla, Samael, and he is the chief
archon and an arrogant, jealous god. In the Gospel of Truth error behaves like
the demiurge, for it becomes strong and works in the world, but erroneously.
Similar, too, are the actions of nature in the Paraphrase of Shem, Ptahil in
Mandaean literature, the five evil archons in Manichaean literature, Azazi'il
in the Mother of Books, and Lucifer or Satan among the Cathars.
The gnostic revealer awakens people who are under the spell of the demi-
urge. Within a Jewish context the gnostic revealer is Seth, the child of Adam
and Eve, or Derdekeas, probably Aramaic for "male child," or the first thought
or the afterthought or the wisdom of the divine. Within a Christian context
the revealer is Jesus the anointed, within a Manichaean context Jesus of light,
as well as others. More abstractly, the call to revelation and knowledge—the
wake-up call—is a winged divine messenger in the Song of the Pearl, instruc-
tion of mind in Hermetic literature, and enlightened Manda dHayye, knowl-
edge of life, in Mandaean literature. In other words, the call to knowledge is