Those practising contemplative gnosis and studying the sethian texts
Symbols
LightWombMirrorThe aeonsVirgin
Mythology Summary
Barbelo is the first emanation of the Monad in the Sethian gnostic system, named in the Apocryphon of John (Nag Hammadi II,1 and parallels) as the Forethought of the Invisible Virginal Spirit: she is 'mother-father', the first aeon, who asks for and receives foreknowledge, and from her comes the Autogenes ('self-begotten') Christ. The Trimorphic Protennoia (Nag Hammadi XIII,1) speaks in her voice as the threefold first thought of the Pleroma, and the Gospel of Judas and Zostrianos invoke the 'aeon of Barbelo' as the highest realm. She is the divine feminine of the gnostic systems and the mother of the heavenly Christ, not a figure of cult.
Modern Practice
Contemplative rather than cultic: the texts give no temple and no offering, and modern Sethian and esoteric-Christian groups meditate on the Pleroma's emanations. The practice is study and gnosis - recognising the forethought that precedes the making of the world.