Let's say I want to get some prophetic insight into a matter I need to confront in real life, and I consult the Tarot cards, or say coins of the 'I Ching.' I get an answer that seems logical and then I proceed to address the matter armed with the prophecy. This means I have put my faith in Numerology, and/or Astrology, coupled with my own or somebody else's psychic energy. This is what these tools of soothsaying depend, and it is not science.
The problem is the soothsayer’s prophecy has narrowed the use of my own volition in dealing with the matter, and thus I have abandoned my powers of faith and Mind. I may as well be letting the fortune from Chinese fortune cookies rule my fate. The powers of Gnostic faith give me the ability to most of the time effectively design my own fate in matters, but always with the Word....
The Orthodox Christian option is to put your faith in God's will. This means to give up the perception of fate as instrument of your own free will, at least to a degree. This perception makes you alien to the Body of God, as a mutual Pleromic force, which is a goal of the Gnostic in Gnostic sacrament the living resurrection. The Orthodox Church banned the 'living resurrection,' and declared salvation only possible through the practicing body of the organized church. (Council of Carthage, 251 A.D.)
This means the Orhtodox Christian must deal with the organization for salvation, and sanctioned prayer, hoping the Church will influence God in his favor over his problems. This unfortunately is like the power of the fortune cookie; it avoids the power of rational volition.
The mainstream Christian view depends upon an ideal of God that can act like a sentient being, and control the forces of the universe, and your personal fate. I base this statement on the Baylor University study published in "USA Today." http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2006-09-11-religion-survey_x.htm
The Dominionist Christian view is that a literal interpretation of Biblical Law is the only viable answer to obeying God's law on earth, and they believe somehow they are Regents of God, and therefore should rule the Kingdom of Man. If their life is 'screwed' it’s because God is punishing them, probably for 'your' and certainly 'my' sins.
The Christian Sethian option to what you are armed with in confronting issues is to put to use the tools of the Monadic Gnosis. This method is the metaphysical linking of you and the direct power of Jesus Wisdom. These can include a multitude of personally developed skills, using the Monadic model. But it starts with the Word. The Word for the Sethian Gnostic is to start with the secret sayings of the living Jesus, ''The Gospel of Thomas.'' This is the epistemology, of the Word; the Monad is the metaphysical application of the Word.
Sethian Christians use Jesus as the Word, or controlling power of their Mind, in the confrontation of a particular problem. They are called Craftsmen. This way you are part of the controlling factor in what happens with the problem, and you don't abandon free will, and you don't let fate alone decide in the solving of the issue. The Word, or Jesus Wisdom is bonded with the Gnostic's Mind in his actions, and is a syzygos with the entire Sacred form, Monad to dyad, to triad, etc.
Facing your issue with the Monadic tool can be understood by using Mead's idea of the Monad as spheres of energy for models of Monadic form of the Sacred Tetrad. The Monad could be described in different ways but Mead's idea of the Monadic sphere will do. (below) You learn to occupy the center of this meditative sphere, then let the Sacred Tetrad grow, adding new elements to your psychic arsenal. It is like a student who by study, develops knew skills to use in the real world.
The Sacred Tetrad, Word, Man, Life, and Knowledge, emanates from the realm of the great void or Silence. This was known by Gnostics from before the time of Basilides. Word means Jesus as the Monad or first unit of the set. The rest of the Sacred Tetrad is defined below in the Ogdoad. Remember that each element or type becomes an integral part of each member of the set, but can still act independently. There are some other mechanics to the sets that have to be learned through experience.
Unfortunately, learning to use Monadic sets involves learning the evil ones. Darkness, Desire, Ignorance, and Wrathful Wisdom, could expand and develop into pure evil if used against another. I've seen it happen. When you start using Monadic sets you recognize them in the real world. The Gnostic learns these tools, because it’s the only way to guard against this kind of evil. The Gnostic learns to use the Sacred Tetrad, and expand it, like a karate fighter expands his skills.
The Sethian Christian must learn to use the Sacred Ogdoad, like the fighter learns the Fighter's Octagon of the Tai Chi. (Punching, Kicking, Grabbing, Throwing, Chokes/Squeezing, Joint Locks, Groundwork, and Counters.) The Sethian Craftsman is somebody who develops lots of skills with the Monadic model. Like the karate fighter, the Sethian has developed thousands of techniques or tools ready for his use. Like the trained fighter he learns to take charge of his fear, and life's harder situations.
The Sethian Monadology, and the Tai Chi, can be shown to be generally the same tool. The developments of this tool in Chinese history reflect the same uses possible in the Christian model. Wu Chi or the 'great void' becomes Tai Chi, the Tai Chi becomes the San Ti, and dualities are formed all the way up to sets of eight. The Sethian Monadology works pretty much the same way, with minor variations here and there.
Wu Chi to Tai Chi, to San Ti, etc., is the same model as Monad to dyad, to triad. The process of Monad to tetrad and higher is explained in the Nag Hammadi text, "Eugnostos the Blessed."
"As I said earlier, among the things that were created the monad is first, the dyad follows it, and the triad, up to the tenths. Now the tenths rule the hundredths; the hundredths rule the thousandths; the thousands rule the ten thousands. This is the pattern <among the> immortals. First Man is like this: His monad [...].
Again it is this pattern that exists among the immortals: the monad and the thought are those things that belong to Immortal Man. The thinkings are for <the> decads, and the hundreds are the teachings, and the thousands are the counsels, and the ten thousands are the powers. Now those who come from the [...] exist with their [...] in every aeon [...]. " (Ibid.)
"The intelligent student of symbolism will thus endeavour to free his mind from the limitations of three-dimensional space, and think within into the state of the so-called "fourth dimension." For it is only along this line of thought that there is any hope of the faintest conception of æonic being. As the matter is of the first importance for a student of Gnosticism, and at the same time one of great difficulty, the following line of thought may be suggested as a preliminary exercise. Think of an atom, or monad, as a sphere which generates itself, or swells out, from a point and refunds itself again into that point. This gives the simple idea of position. Take two of such spheres at the same moment of expansion, that is to say two equal spheres, and place them in mutual contact. This can be done in an infinite number of ways, so that they may be in any direction the one with the other.
Reduce these spheres in thought to mathematical points, and we have the simplest idea of extension--one dimension. The two points are the extremities or boundaries of a line.
Next, take three similar spheres and bring them into mutual contact. They can be placed in any direction the one to the other. Reduce them in thought to points, and we have three points not in a straight line, lying in a plane surface, or superficies of two dimensions. Then take four such spheres and bring them into mutual contact. Reduce them in their turn to points, and their positions require space of three dimensions. Finally, take five such spheres and try to imagine how they can be brought into mutual contact, that is to say, how each one can touch all the rest. This cannot be imagined in three dimensions, and requires the conception of another "dimension"--something to do with the content of the spheres--the idea of "through." This does not seem to be so much a "fourth dimension" as an involution of perception, retracing the path we have so far followed.
For instance, three-dimensional space is for normal sight bounded by surfaces; those who have inner vision ("four-dimensional" sight) say that the contents of an object--e.g., a watch--appear, in some incomprehensible way, spread out before them as on a surface. If this is so, then three-dimensional space, the fourth link in our chain, is the turning point, and hence consciousness turns itself inwards once more towards the point, which when reached will become the illimitable circumference, or pleroma of consciousness--the nirvanic "atom," so to say." (G.R.S. Mead, "Fragments of a Lost Faith")
This is how you use Mead's spheres to meditate into a state of Monadic Gnosis using the Sacred Tetrad....
First you become the center of the energy within the first sphere, the Word, the Monad. This means you are bonded with Jesus Wisdom, by knowing the secret saying of the living Jesus. The Monad, or Word, becomes the dyad, which means the coupling of the Monadic sphere of the Word, with that of Man. This duality represents the bonding in the Bridal Chamber. It also means just about every kind of duality possible also effects the universe and the Mind. Most of these dualities are explained as Autogenes, or Aeons. The Sethian Gnosis, lets Jesus take their place in contemplation.
The next addition making the dyad, the triad, is the addition of Life. This means Jesus, You as Man, and eternal Life are bonded. This means the same thing in the Tai Chi, model of the triad the San Ti. It means Man/Mind is the same as Heaven and Earth. The next addition to the triad is Truth. You, as the center of these types, are in command of them, as the fifth element, the Gnostic. The elements of the Sacred Tetrad are tools of the Mind, and are worn like a 'garment,' or veil. You have at this point become a network of five spheres to go out into the world and face your matters and issues.
So, from the Sacred Tetrad, an Ogdoad can be constructed. It should be understood that the same dualities like good and evil, male and female, etc. can create different uses for the Monadic set. One use should be like a compass, North, South, East and West, and you are the fifth element, in the center of the compass. This tetrad can also serve as a grid. Make it an Ogdoad and you have a finer grid, or better compass.
The following Ogdoad, as a tool is meant to repel the evil counterparts. It is the basis for adding other sets of personal skills, as you develop as a Gnostic. This puts the Gnostic as close to being the Word, as it is possible for one trapped in matter, to do.
The ideal Contemplative (Ogdoad) for Monadic Gnosis:
1. Word/Monad. This is the power of Jesus Wisdom, as you relate it to the events in your Life.
2. Man/Mind, This refers to Man as bonded with the Word. Man, in the form of being bonded with the Holy Spirit, through Gnosis, achieves the living resurrection.
2. Form. This includes the Soul, Body, Mind and Spirit, as your own self image. Includes the concepts of understanding, perception, conception, thought and memory
4. Grace/Ennoia. The Gnostic learns grace as a process of receiving (Ennoia) the Peace, and Love from the psychic energy of the Holy Spirit. This means the Wisdom gleaned from Monadic Gnosis and the secret sayings of the living Jesus in the Syzygy of the epistemological, and metaphysical. ("The Gospel of Thomas."), as the Word, and the Monadic contemplation as the underlying force.
5. Faith/Action. In the Gnostic view faith is proven from the demonstration of action, by actually using this Monadic set in the confrontation of problems in the real world.
6. Life. This refers to the power you have in Gnosis to bond with the Pleromic form, and avoid spiritual death. It also refers to being a Spiritual Being through Gnosis.
7. Truth/Church. Means being part of the Pleromic process bonded to the Mind of Jesus Wisdom or Word. Truth is designated as synonymous with Church, the living Kingdom.
8. Knowledge/Gnosis. Includes applying the concepts of Will, and Prudence. This is the gender unit of the set which means that it is from the standpoint of the set which the Gnostic himself controls. It is from the concept of gender that new things come into the world. It becomes the pivot point or control from which the Gnostic uses this Sacred Ogdoad.
The Gnostic learns to use the Ogdoad like the tetrad, sort of a compass for the self, and sort of a grid at looking at others. The technique of using Octagons or sets of Ba Gua, of the Tai Chi, is well known. The karate fighter uses punching, kicking, grabbing, throwing, joint locks, squeezing/chokes, groundwork, and counters as the eight major types of fighting techniques. The karate fighter becomes these things. ''The Gospel of Mary,'' names Seven Forms of Wrath. These can be used as weapons also, as all emotions can be used as weapons against you.
The Ogdoad above is just as applicable as a compass. If learned, you'll soon learn if it really can protect you from the evil forces that also flow from the Aeonic realm.
