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Thanks for your replies, the person I was talking to believes the snake to be the true god also she equates the highest god with EL (it's a Sumerian god, right?).
I didn't know one could draw these parallels to other cultures like the Sumerans, I'm still very new to Gnosticism .
El is the God of humanity and the lord of the living in the Canaanite religion. In Gnosticism, correct me if I am wrong, El is the spiritual world God while Yahweh is the god of the physical world, right?
El didn't appear in Sumerian culture.
It sounds like she may be an Ophite. The Ophites were called such because they venerated the serpent from the Garden, comparing it to the saving serpent of the Israelites - the bronze serpent that Moses crucified, and thus to Jesus Christ. Ironically, we see this today within orthodox churched thanks to John 3:14 ("And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up"). Jesus even commands his disciples to be like serpents (Matthew 10:16: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.")
In regards to El, that may be a name she has given God, since the term is generically "God." You are correct that the name is also a god, but a creator god. However, because of the role El had, and his connection to the Hebrew El, I am more inclined to believe El is the (a?) name of the Craftsman. She may be contrasting El in the beginning of Genesis (a lofty, disassociated all-powerful god) with YHWH in Genesis 2 (a more personal, interactive god). I am not too sure.
As far as combining Satanism, as in the expression of LaVey, there is half-precedence. But not in the sense of how LaVey believed. The Church of Satan does not actually believe in a God, unless you get into theistic beliefs such as Temple of Set. But even then, the system is antithetical to Christianity. Not because of indulgences, but because of the rather hostile world view. A Gnostic, after Jesus Christ, would not seek vengeance or declare kindness "for those who deserve it."
The Carpocratians believed in indulgences of all sorts, supposedly. They would intentionally commit carnal acts. It seems that the idea was to fulfill these sorts of acts now, since if they did not, the soul may be inclined to return to the world. Clement said their meetings would become orgies.
The Borborites were also described as being sexually amoral. They would use semen and menstrual blood in their consumption of the Eucharist. Crowley would commit the same later in history. However, they are also said to have aborted children produced unwanted during their orgies and eat them.
While the Carpocratians could have existed as such, I think the Borborites were a gross overexaggeration by the recorders as we have them now. While humans and humanity can be quite dark at times, I do not think the Roman/Greek world would have really eaten abortions. But in the case of the Carpocratians, excessive hedonism could have applied. And this is where Satanism would find similarities.
The ideas of these would be from the Cainites, who essentially took the known mythology and history and inverted it. Cain was not a murderer, but a victim. As were the Sodomites and Korah. They detested the Craftsman so much, they felt that the opponents of the Craftsman must have been good.
The term "Gnostic Satanist" bothers me a little though, since Satan is still evil. It is only the Craftsman is considered to be Satan - the adversary. Specifically, the adversary to the true God. If she meant she combined the theology/philosophy of the two groups, it may be best for her to look up the Ophites and the Carpocratians.
I tried looking to see the concept of God in Thelema, but did not see El. So I can't exactly know what she is referring to. This may help a little bit though.
El is the God of humanity and the lord of the living in the Canaanite religion. In Gnosticism, correct me if I am wrong, El is the spiritual world God while Yahweh is the god of the physical world, right?
El didn't appear in Sumerian culture.
Thanks for your replies, the person I was talking to believes the snake to be the true god also she equates the highest god with EL (it's a Sumerian god, right?).
I didn't know one could draw these parallels to other cultures like the Sumerans, I'm still very new to Gnosticism .
That is interesting. But are they using "Gnostic" in the sense of early-Christian Gnosticism or Thelemic gnosticism?
They also don't believe that everyone has a soul, which I've heard that some early Gnostic groups believed.
Say what? :areyoucra
I've read that some early Gnostic groups didn't believe that everyone had a soul or a Divine Spark and so those people will remain trapped in matter. The Temple of the Black Light calls the soulless people "mudborn" and the ones with the Divine Spark "fireborn".
If I'm wrong, I apologize, but that's what I've read before.
I don't know if you are wrong. I've just never heard of that. People were classified as hylics if they were very materialistic but that did not mean they did not possess a soul. Just an underdeveloped one.