Barbelo
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.
Barbelo is a mythic aeon of the Sethian pleroma (Apocryphon of John, Trimorphic Protennoia, Gospel of Judas), not a goddess with a cult, temple or ancient worship; the Apocryphon itself calls her mother-father and, at points, the Holy Spirit, while equating her with Binah, with a Wiccan goddess or with a generalised 'divine feminine' is a modern reading the texts do not make. The planetary (Moon/Mercury), zodiacal (Pisces/Virgo), tarot, Monday and the ostara sabbat are modern Western overlays, no offering tradition exists, and her own account is the emanation myth, which stays primary.
Correspondences
- Planetary Correspondence
- Moon
Offerings
- Offerings
- None, traditionally
Sacred timing
- Sacred Timing
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- ForethoughtProtennoiaThe First AeonMother-Father
- Gender Expression
- Androgynous transcendent
- Titles
- The First AeonThe Forethought of the Invisible SpiritThe Virginal SpiritMother-FatherThe Womb of the Pleroma
- Symbols
- LightWombMirrorThe aeonsVirgin
Practice
- Invocation Approach
- ToneContemplative not culticAddressBarbeloForethoughtMother-FatherRelationshipThe first thought that turns toward the sourceWarningA mythic aeon not a goddess with a cultResonanceThose practising contemplative gnosis and studying the sethian texts
- 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.
Nature and meaning
- Domain
- The first aeonForethoughtThe pleromaMotherhoodAndrogynyEmanationThe divine image
- 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.
- Related Deities
- SophiaJesus ChristMary Magdalene
Details
- Correspondences
- ColorsWhiteGoldVioletScentsRoseFrankincenseMetalsSilverGoldAnimalsDoveEagle
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