IMPORTANT: Caution Concerning the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica!

Today I tripped across a horrifying piece of information which led me round and round, down the rabbit hole. The result was spiritually fortifying in the end but it had it's dicey moments. I was fairly shaken up.

I tripped across a reference to an "Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica" and my initial gut reaction was, "Yeah, ok. The EG. I know what that is." But I kept reading and the context seemed... off. Something was wrong. I did more poking around in curiosity. I am glad I did because I'd really hate to be suckerpunched with an accusation of Satanism in the future. 

No. The two organizations are NOT the same at all and I really want to give everyone a broad word of caution here. 

The Ecclesia Gnostica(www.gnosis.org) is a little more formal that I personally like. It feels a bit too close to ritualized religion for my taste because they used the form of the Catholic Church as a base guideline in things like prayers and whatnot(I don't see any need for it. I just belt out what I'm feeling and leave it at that. I'm a simple person I guess.) but they do have all the basics of gnosticism at their core. They are truly gnostic and espouse the notion of freedom in learning while keeping your sanity and your community safe from harm. They're really not too different than any gnostic community in the past.

The Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica on the other hand is downright Satanism. There is no wiggle room here, no chance for a misinterpretation or any confusion. They're Satanists and not to be confused with true gnosis. Satanism is gnosis run amock, like a newly reformed Liberal suddenly declaring that man should not wear clothes, joins a nudist colony, grows all his own food, and starts licking tree bark because his cult leader says that it's the way to God's Garden. That's about as simple a comparison as I can make. Satanists take the snake in the Garden metaphor and run absolutely crazy with it. Oh, and they love to do magic, invoking evil spirits like Set.

A man named Aleister Crowley built the EG Catholica and he pretty much took the Book of Revelation, made all the nastiest characters sound like saints and then tried to spoon-feed it to the masses. "Babylon" is a good thing, doncha know! 

Here's the creed. I marked the Satanic bits in red so you can see what I mean. Green means questionable. Italicized bits are my own comments.

I believe in one secret and ineffable LORD; and in one Star in the Company of Stars of whose fire we are created, and to which we shall return; and in one Father of Life, Mystery of Mystery, in His name CHAOS, the sole vicegerent of the Sun upon the Earth; and in one Air the nourisher of all that breathes.

And I believe in one Earth, the Mother of us all, and in one Womb wherein all men are begotten, and wherein they shall rest, Mystery of Mystery, in Her name BABALON.

And I believe in the Serpent and the Lion, Mystery of Mystery, in His name BAPHOMET.

And I believe in one Gnostic and Catholic Church of Light, Life, Love and Liberty, the Word of whose Law is THELEMA. (Made up name which refers to Thelemic mysticism and Satanic magic.)

And I believe in the communion of Saints. (Maybe not Satanic but some feel it's pretty close-- distinctly pagan if it comes right down to it-- asking dead people/spirits to do things for you, even if it is to pray for you. Why not just pray to him directly?)

And, forasmuch as meat and drink are transmuted in us daily into spiritual substance, I believe in the Miracle of the Mass. (Transubstantiation: magic and a form of idolatry.)

And I confess one Baptism of Wisdom whereby we accomplish the Miracle of Incarnation. (This one confuses me, quite honestly. You're baptized once and all of a sudden you have infinite wisdom? And the 'miracle of incarnation' refers to Jesus, not individual human beings.)

And I confess my life one, individual, and eternal that was, and is, and is to come.

AUMGN. AUMGN. AUMGN.

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Now let's see what the Ecclesia Gnostica has to say in their catechism: 

A Brief Credo

We acknowledge one great invisible God, the Unknown Father, the Aeon of Aeons, who brought forth with His providence: the Father, the Mother and the Son.

We acknowledge the Christos, the self-begotten Son, born from the virginal and ineffable Mother in the high Aeons: who in the Logos of God came down from above to annul the emptiness of this age and restore the fullness of the Aeon.

We acknowledge the Holy Spirit, our celestial Mother and consoler, who proceeded from Herself, a gift of Herself out of the silence of the unknown God.

We seek the gathering of the sparks of light from the sea of forgetfulness and we look to the glories of eternal life in the Fullness. Amen.

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Hopefully the contrast will be obvious to you. 

Gnostics don't worship any devil. The closest to 'hell' gnostics teach is that when you die you will be in a layer of spiritual existence farthest away from the good god(like layers in an onion) but it's not a place of torture and mayhem. It's simply a separation and longing for him more pronounced than what we feel in this material life.  There are layers between that furthest reach and his center; gnostic texts vary in ideas concerning this but the basic one states that depending on how close to him you are in life then that is how close you will be to him in death. But- and here's the cliffhanger- you get the chance to do it better in your next life. So you're not there forever.

Now a gnostic who has found gnosis and then turned their back on it well... there's a source of disagreement there if you're comparing opinions being stated from one codex to another in the Nag Hammadi scrolls.

I can tell you this much about ex-gnostics: they left a hell-on-earth when they died. Look at what harm Pope/Saint Augustine did. His confused gnostic-then-dogmatic/literalist rantings still confuse Catholics to this day. They can't decide whether to worship him or stick him with hot pokers and wish the man a very nice eternity in Judeo-Christian 'Hell.'  For such a smart man he really did a quirky 180.

I don't think Augustine should have been beatified but I also believe that the Catholics didn't have much of a choice because of the cohesiveness he promoted and in the end his turn-tail political stance was in the Catholic church's favor since he sufficiently recanted most of his gnostic learning-- publicly at least. Personally, I think the man created his own hell and had to live with it the rest of his mortal life. He was very conflicted and you can see it in all his writings. Hopefully he did better the next time around.

In any case, I just wanted to shout out a word of caution here to people concerning any hokey sounding gnosticism. Check the background of what and who you're reading about and then take it from there. People who claim they're gnostic could be blowing smoke up your arse and trying to get you involved in some really dangerous stuff. Research what you're being told and trust your heart. 

The Catholic church does teach what gnosticism is so their congregation can stay away from it and this is why as soon as a Catholic receives confirmation of your gnosis they immediately shut down the conversation. They don't want to be 'tainted.'  Pointing out that their clergy hasn't mentioned the gnostic sects which have been wiped out in the Pope's name or any of the other atrocities committed in Christ's name... eh. It all tends to fall on deaf ears. 

"That was the past. The Church apologized for it." Yeah. Keep telling yourself that. They colluded with the Nazis and have never apologized for that or for Langeudoc. Which is better- to be a Jew killer or to kill gnostics? Apparently they're both in the same league. We're not worth an apology. And to say it wont ever happen again is pure naivety.  It's still happening in China and Tibet with the Mandaeans! So yes, gnostics are still persecuted and killed for their beliefs.

I have a better time talking to atheists than Catholics. At least we can agree on how nuts literalism is.