Therefore we glorify thee Protennoia: ma mo o o o eia ei on ei!
https://www.mureka.ai/song-detail/LZcL4rrLyuBqCoM241HaWb?is_from_share=1
A close friend of mine, stated in a reading from the Spirit, that I needed to swear off ancient texts and instead to develop the capacity to envelop God within myself. I agree, yet by what means do modern mystics find the internal presence of God within us, without first finding the light to illuminate the path. Besides, I am addicted, its like searching for the finest seashell on the shore or the pearl of greatest value. I have been trying to lift my friend up in an ascent to the Pleroma.
“In ancient Gnostic cosmology, the Pleroma is the perfect, uncorrupted spiritual realm of light. It is the transcendent home of the true, unknowable God and various divine beings called aeons. It sharply contrasts with our flawed, material world, which is viewed as a mistake or a degraded byproduct of a lower entity (the Demiurge)“
So I am caught again within the mystery of ancient texts. And if the Neoplatonist philosopher, Iamblichus could levitate fifteen feet in the air while in meditation, maybe I can too.
So against the advice of my counselor, I read the “Trimorphic Protennoia.” It took less than 10 minutes because it consists of only a few pages. It is dense, imaginary, and weird as are most gnostic texts, but I have come to believe the high weirdness contained within the writing, is a veil, that hides the truth from the uninitiated.
So I should give you a summary of the text before we begin: The Trimorphic Protennoia ia a sacred Sethian Gnostic text discovered in the Nag Hammadi Library. Also known as the “Three Forms of First Thought,” it details the threefold cosmic descent of the divine female figure, Barbelo, to redeem and enlighten humanity through divine speech and sound.
Since the Holy Spirit has been leading me into the 3-6-9 triune aspect of God; the centrality of three in the text was intriguing to me. The text itself is interesting, speaking as it does about the Sons of Light, who are tasked with brining in the Kingdom of God on earth. So lets begin with the John D. Turner translation:
“I am Protennoia, the Thought that dwells in the Light. I am the movement that dwells in the All, she in whom the All takes its stand, the first-born among those who came to be, she who exists before the All. She (Protennoia) is called by three names, although she dwells alone, since she is perfect. I am invisible within the Thought of the Invisible One. I am revealed in the immeasurable, ineffable (things). I am incomprehensible, dwelling in the incomprehensible. I move in every creature…”
“I am the Invisible One within the All. It is I who counsel those who are hidden, since I know the All that exists in it. I am numberless beyond everyone. I am immeasurable, ineffable, yet whenever I wish, I shall reveal myself of my own accord. I am the head of the All. I exist before the All, and I am the All, since I exist in everyone.”
“I am a Voice speaking softly. I exist from the first. I dwell within the Silence that surrounds every one of them. And it is the hidden Voice that dwells within my, within the incomprehensible, immeasurable Thought, within the immeasurable Silence.”
“I am the one who gradually put forth the All by my Thought. It is I who am laden with the Voice. It is through me that Gnosis comes forth. I dwell in the ineffable and unknowable ones. I am perception and knowledge, uttering a Voice by means of thought. I am the real Voice. I cry out in everyone, and they recognize it (the voice), since a seed indwells them. I am the Thought of the Father, and through me proceeded the Voice, that is, the knowledge of the everlasting things. I exist as Thought for the All — being joined to the unknowable and incomprehensible Thought — I revealed myself — yes, I — among all those who recognize me. For it is I who am joined with everyone by virtue of the hidden Thought and an exalted <Voice>, even a Voice from the invisible Thought. And it is immeasurable, since it dwells in the Immeasurable One. It is a mystery; it is unrestrainable by the Incomprehensible One. It is invisible to all those who are visible in the All. It is a Light dwelling in Light.”
“Then the Son who is perfect in every respect — that is, the Word who originated through that Voice; who proceeded from the height; who has within him the Name; who is a Light — he revealed the everlasting things, and all the unknowns were known. And those things difficult to interpet and secret, he revealed. And as for those who dwell in Silence with the First Thought, he preached to them. And he revealed himself to those who dwell in darkness, and he showed himself to those who dwell in the abyss, and to those who dwell in the hidden treasuries, he told ineffable mysteries, and he taught unrepeatable doctrines to all those who became Sons of the Light.”
“Now the Voice that originated from my Thought exists as three permanences: the Father, the Mother, the Son. Existing perceptibly as Speech, it (Voice) has within it a Word endowed with every , and it has three masculinities, three powers, and three names. They exist in the manner of Three … — which are quadrangels — secretly within a silence of the Ineffable One.”
“It is we also who alone have separated from the visible world, since we are saved by the hidden wisdom, by means of the ineffable, immeasurable Voice. And he who is hidden within us pays the tributes of his fruit to the Water of Life.”
“It is he alone who came to be, that is, the Christ. And, as for me, I anointed him as the glory of the Invisible Spirit, with goodness. Now the Three, I established alone in eternal glory over the Aeons in the Living Water, that is, the glory that surrounds him who first came forth to the Light of those exalted Aeons, and it is in glorious Light that he firmly perseveres. And he stood in his own Light that surrounds him, that is, the Eye of the Light that gloriously shines on me. He perpetuated the Father of all Aeons, who am I, the Thought of the Father, Protennoia, that is, Barbelo, the perfect Glory, and the immeasurable Invisible One who is hidden. I am the Image of the Invisible Spirit, and it is through me that the All took shape, and (I am) the Mother (as well as) the Light which she appointed as Virgin, she who is called ‘Meirothea’, the incomprehensible Womb, the unrestrainable and immeasurable Voice.”
“Then the Perfect Son revealed himself to his Aeons, who originated through him, and he revealed them and glorified them, and gave them thrones, and stood in the glory with which he glorified himself. They blessed the Perfect Son, the Christ, the only-begotten God. And they gave glory, saying, “He is! He is! The Son of God! The Son of God! It is he who is! The Aeon of Aeons, beholding the Aeons which he begot. For thou hast begotten by thine own desire! Therefore we glorify thee: ma mo o o o eia ei on ei! The Aeon of Aeons! The Aeon which he gave!…”
“…Then there came forth a word from the great Light Eleleth, and said, “I am king! Who belongs to Chaos and who belongs to the underworld?” And at that instant, his Light appeared, radiant, endowed with the Epinoia. The Powers of the Powers did not entreat him, and likewise immediately there appeared the great Demon who rules over the lowest part of the underworld and Chaos. He has neither form nor perfection, but, on the contrary, possesses the form of the glory of those begotten in the darkness. Now he is called ‘Saklas’, that is, ‘Samael’, ‘Yaltabaoth’, he who had taken power; who had snatched it away from the innocent one (Sophia); who had earlier overpowered her who is the Light`s Epinoia who had descended, her from whom he had come forth from originally.”
(In Gnosticism—specifically in texts like the Apocryphon of John—Epinoia is personified as a divine, feminine entity. She represents “After-thought” or the creative imagination that originates from the divine realm (the Pleroma). She provides spiritual light, insight, and inner awakening to humanity.)
“…I am their Father, and I shall tell you a mystery, ineffable and indivulgeable by any mouth: Every bond I loosed from you, and the chains of the demons of the underworld I broke, these things which are bound on my members, restraining them. And the high walls of darkness I overthrew, and the secure gates of those pitiless ones I broke, and I smashed their bars. And the evil force, and the one who beats you, and the one who hinders you, and the tyrant, and the adversary, and the one who is King, and the present enemy, indeed all these I explained to those who are mine, who are the Sons of the Light, in order that they might nullify them all, and be saved from all those bonds, and enter into the place where they were at first.”
“I am the first one who descended on account of my portion which remains, that is, the Spirit that dwells in the soul, which originated from the Water of Life, and out of the immersion of the mysteries. And I spoke, I, together with the Archons and Authorities. For I had gone down below their language, and I spoke my mysteries to my own – a hidden mystery – and the bonds and eternal oblivion were nullified. And I bore fruit in them, that is, the Thought of the unchanging Aeon, and my house, and their Father. And I went down to those who were mine from the first, and I reached them and broke the first strands that enslaved them. Then everyone of those within me shone, and I prepared a pattern for those ineffable Lights that are within me. Amen”
“I am the Voice that appeared through my Thought, for I am ‘He who is syzygetic’ since I am called ‘the Thought of the Invisible One’. Since I am called ‘the unchanging Speech’, I am called ‘She who is syzygetic’.I am a single one, since I am undefiled. I am the Mother of the Voice, speaking in many ways, completing the All. It is in me that knowledge dwells, the knowledge of <things> everlasting. It is I who speak within every creature, and I was known by the All. It is I who lift up the Speech of the Voice to the ears of those who have known me, that is, the Sons of the Light. Now I have come the second time in the likeness of a female, and have spoken with them. And I shall tell them of the coming end of the Aeon and teach them of the beginning of the Aeon to come, the one without change, the one in which our appearance will be changed. We shall be purified within those Aeons from which I revealed myself in the Thought of the likeness of my masculinity. I settled among those who are worthy in the Thought of my changeless Aeon…”
“…So now, O sons of the Thought, listen to me, to the Speech of the Mother of your mercy, for you have become worthy of the mystery hidden from the Aeons, so that you might receive it. And the consummation of this particular Aeon and of the evil life has approached, and there dawns the beginning of the Aeon to come, which has no change forever.”
“I am androgynous. I am Mother (and) I am Father, since I copulate with myself. I copulated with myself and with those who love me, and it is through me alone that the All stands firm. I am the Womb that gives shape to the All by giving birth to the Light that shines in splendor. I am the Aeon to come. I am the fulfillment of the All, that is, Meirothea, the glory of the Mother. I cast voiced Speech into the ears of those who know me.”
“And I am inviting you into the exalted, perfect Light. Moreover, (as for) this (Light), when you enter it, you will be glorified by those who give glory, and those who enthrone will enthrone you. You will accept robes from those who give robes, and the baptizers will baptize you, and you will become gloriously glorious, the way you first were when you were <Light>.”
“And I hid myself in everyone and revealed myself within them, and every mind seeking me longed for me, for it is I who gave shape to the All when it had no form. And I transformed their forms into (other) forms, until the time when a form will be given to the All. It is through me that the Voice originated, and it is I who put the breath within my own. And I cast into them the eternally Holy Spirit, and I ascended and entered my Light. I went up upon my branch and sat there among the Sons of the holy Light. And I withdrew to their dwelling place which […] become glorious […]. Amen.”
“I am the Word who dwells in the ineffable Voice. I dwell in undefiled Light and a Thought revealed itself perceptibly through the great Speech of the Mother, although it is a male offspring that supports me as my foundation. And it (the Speech) exists from the beginning in the foundations of the All…”
“…The Third time I revealed myself to them in their tents as Word, and I revealed myself in the likeness of their shape. And I wore everyone’s garment, and I hid myself within them, and they did not know the one who empowers me. For I dwell within all the Sovereignties and Powers, and within the angels, and in every movement that exists in all matter. And I hid myself within them until I revealed myself to my brethren.”
“But there is a Light that dwells hidden in Silence, and it was first to come forth. Whereas she (the Mother) alone exists as Silence, I alone am the Word, ineffable, unpolluted, immeasurable, inconceivable. It (the Word) is a hidden Light, bearing a fruit of life, pouring forth a living water from the invisible, unpolluted, immeasurable spring, that is, the unreproducible Voice of the glory of the Mother, the glory of the offspring of God; a male virgin by virtue of a hidden Intellect, that is, the Silence hidden from the All, being unreproducible, an immeasurable Light, the source of the All, the root of the entire Aeon. It is the foundation that supports every movement of the Aeons that belong to the mighty glory. It is the foundation of every foundation. It is the breath of the powers. It is the eye of the three permanences, which exist as Voice by virtue of Thought. And it is a Word by virtue of Speech; it was sent to illumine those who dwell in the darkness.”
“…I am the Light that illumines the All. I am the Light that rejoices in my brethren, for I came down to the world of mortals on account of the Spirit that remains in that which descended (and) came forth from the innocent Sophia. I came, and I delivered […], and I went to …(5 lines missing) … which he had formerly, and I gave to him from the Water of Life, which strips him of the chaos that is in the uttermost darkness that exists inside the entire abyss, that is, the thought of the corporeal and the psychic. All these I put on. And I stripped him of it, and I put upon him a shining Light, that is, the knowledge of the Thought of the Fatherhood.”
“I hid myself within them all until I revealed myself among my members, which are mine, and I taught them about the ineffable ordinances, and (about) the brethren. But they are inexpressible to every Sovereignty and every ruling Power, except the Sons of the Light alone, that is, the ordinances of the Father. These are the glories that are higher than every glory, that is, the Five Seals, complete by virtue of Intellect. He who possesses the Five Seals of these particular names has stripped off <the> garments of ignorance and put on a shining Light. And nothing will appear to him that belongs to the Powers of the Archons. Within those of this sort, darkness will dissolve and ignorance will die. And the thought of the creature, which is scattered, will present a single appearance and dark Chaos will dissolve and … (6 lines fragmentary)… until I reveal myself to all my fellow brethren, and until I gather together all my fellow brethren within my eternal kingdom. And I proclaimed to them the ineffable Five Seals in order that I might abide in them and they also might abide in me….”
If you have come this far, you will want to know more about the Five Seals, so here is what AI has to say. There is also further information in the Apocryphon of John.
In Sethian Gnosticism, the “Five Seals” are a sacred initiatory rite designed to strip away the initiate’s material body and false cosmic constraints, allowing them to ascend to the divine realm. Found in Nag Hammadi texts like the Apocryphon of John and Trimorphic Protennoia, the practice consists of five stages:
- Investiture (Putting on Robes): Symbolically stripping away the dark, earthly body and donning a garment of light.
- Baptism in Living Water: Ritual immersions (sometimes five times) in living, flowing water to cleanse the spirit.
- Enthronement: Seating the initiate on a ritual seat to bestow spiritual authority and divine guardianship.
- Glorification: The chanting of sacred vowel sounds and hymns to bestow glory and divine names on the initiate.
- Rapture (Completion): The ecstatic, spiritual ascension of the initiate’s soul to the heavenly realm, uniting them directly with God.
Scholars debate whether the Five Seals represented an actual, physical set of sacramental rites (akin to an advanced baptism) or functioned as spiritual states of enlightenment and meditation. AI
In the Apocryphon of John, the Five Seals refer to a profound spiritual sacrament or initiatory rite. Bestowed by Pronoia (the divine Forethought) during a baptismal immersion in luminous living water, the seals grant the awakened soul ultimate protection against death, chaos, and the archons, securing their return to the divine Pleroma.
While the Apocryphon of John does not explicitly list the exact ritual steps, scholars link these seals to other Sethian Gnostic texts (like the Trimorphic Protennoia) and identify them as a five-stage sacramental process designed to transform the initiate:
- Investiture: The donning of spiritual, luminous garments of light to replace worldly garments.
- Baptist/Immersion: The washing away of material defilements and awakening the divine spark.
- Enthronement: Seating the initiate in a position of spiritual authority and divine status.
- Glorification: Chanting or reciting praises to the Father, honoring the awakened soul’s true origin.
- Rapture/Ascent: The final protection that allows the soul to safely ascend past the demonic archons of the material world. AI
At the conclusion of the text, Christ instructs John to keep these rites secret and hidden, emphasizing that knowing this “mystery of the immovable race” is the ultimate key to escaping Hades and tasting immortality.
This is a link to the full text: