A guide to the Pistis Sophia

14th of august: Last update of the Pistis Sophia text

Dear Pistis Sophia lovers,

Here I present a draft of “A guide to the Pistis Sophia” for anyone to look into, to download or to print out. This final version will be online for a limited time.

Inside the guide you find a glossary with most of the main characters of the Pistis Sophia explained. Further you find a chart with the realms and main characters. These are meant to guide you through the Pistis Sophia. Below the Glossary and the chart you will find the introduction that is also meant to be of guidance. In the glossary the “characters” are connected to each other in such a way that you can start reading anywhere and let the references guide you organically to through the essentials of the book. It is a created like this so that you may in your very own way connect the dots to bring the inner image of the divine within you to the surface.

• You can also download a pdf of the Glossary here: Pistis Sophia Glossary
• You can also download a pdf of the chart here: Pistis sophia Chart
• Download a pdf of the full text of the Pistis Sophia here: Pistis Sophia by GRS Mead

Enjoy! Feel free to comment!

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About this guide

This guide is intended for every gnostic explorer who wishes to dive into the original text of the Pistis Sophia. It is, in a sense, a travel guide consisting of three parts. The first part is a chart that functions like a blueprint of the realms found within the Pistis Sophia; the second part consists of a broad introduction that aims to provide a basis for understanding of the text, while the third part consists of a glossary containing the most relevant places and names. Together, they are meant to lead you through the Pistis Sophia like a map and compass towards an inward destination while you explore its deeper meaning, guided by the light of your own consciousness. 

It would be a delusion to try to build a life from the blueprint of a house; much less the house of God which we originally represent. This sacred building must first be erected out of the materials that are brought forth by the Holy Spirit, which she can only deliver to our inner “building site” once we learn to surrender everything that stands in the way of the “path of delivery”. At the moment of delivery, all the components of this invisible building of God will fall by themselves onto their designated places. 

This travel guide through the Pistis Sophia may be helpful both in allowing you to see your original divine nature, as well as the redundant components within yourself. These redundant components need to be moved out of the way, so that your true eternal soul can grow in strength and shine within you and from you as a guiding light for all seekers. 

Our path as the Sophia

We are all Sophia, both on a personal and on a collective level. As individuals, we are the captives of our self-created chaos that emanates from our ego, which the Pistis Sophia fittingly calls “emanations of the Self-Willed”.  This personal level of chaos also manifests on a collective level created by our disharmony which constantly emanates  from us. Our emanations of disharmony keep the collective chaos of this world alive until we stop feeding into it. By breaking free from our disharmony, which occurs when we are nourished by divine energies, the self-created emanations of our chaos break apart and dissolve.

It is through this new life that wells up from our deepest source, that we are able to help to change this world in a direct and real way. This is how Christ redeems the world through us. 

If the above resonates with you, then it is clear that you stand in front of an essential assignment. This assignment is to stop theorizing, intellectualizing, fantasizing or day-dreaming about the Path, and instead to turn it into a life-changing reality, here and now. 

Quid pro quo

Our Path consists of two main aspects. One is what we can do, while the other one is what we receive. What we can do is to leave what is stuck and redundant within us, so that we can receive what is open, radiant and new in place of the old that we have left behind. 

Therein lies our salvation, but also the crux of the problem. We are aware of our bad habits and our redundant parts already, and we know that we should surrender them. The only thing we do not know, is what we will receive in return for what we consider to be our “sacrifices”. Our ego always feels the need to barter, with the certainty of getting something tangible and of greater value in return. However, when it comes to the Path, what we receive in return is of a divine nature and therefore does not follow our causal and ego-born laws. What we receive is so incomprehensibly glorious and  great that our ego is unable to recognise it. That is why the Pistis Sophia so often says that she trusted in the Light, which means that we too need to cultivate a deep faith in God that will ultimately help us to surrender.

Getting real

We can only arrive at that inner under-standing and faith by making our path of life real by “getting real”; that is, by trying to be open and unbiased by leaving all of our previously held concepts and ideas behind. We can achieve this by taking pauses, during which we observe and re-evaluate all of our values to see whether they are true and real, or if they are based on hollow ideas. This manner of self-reflection allows us to embrace the change that makes us more real, and on that reality-basis we are met and led by the inner Light of the Divine.

Slowly, while we walk along on this path of getting more real, we become more humane, caring, honest, genuine and humble. We are, without even noticing it, shifting our focus from “putting our pretentious ego first” to “putting others first”; by doing so we put the Christ first, which changes us from being an ego-centric to Christ-centric being. 

This aforementioned Path consists of five very distinct universal phases or turning points that lead us from attachment to detachment, from captivity to liberation. 

The five-fold path in the Sophia

We have mentioned that there are five distinct turning points, shifts of consciousness or stages of initiation in the Pistis Sophia that correlate with the turning points that we can discover in ourselves when we earnestly follow the Path. These points can be found in the Pistis Sophia where Jesus (or the First Mystery) interacts directly with her. This occurs right after the 7th, 9th, 13th, 20th and 24th song. 

With regards to these five shifts of consciousness, it would be a delusion to believe that we can move from one phase to the other once we’ve left the former phase behind. These turning points are more akin to building blocks, which serve as the foundation for each succeeding step by incorporating those we have previously taken. This means that on the fifth step, all five steps have merged into one; one movement that unites all preceding steps into a single, fluid motion.

If we wish to recognise our personal Path within the Pistis Sophia, then it will be helpful to understand these five steps or turning points. 

They can be summed up as follows (with the corresponding songs in brackets):

1 – Insight / Awareness (1-6)

2 – Longing for salvation (7-8) 

3 – Surrender of the self (9-12)  

4 – Changing / New attitude to life (13-19)

5 – Awakening / Resurrection (20-24)

Our five-fold path

We find ourselves in a difficult situation when we cling to our self-created chaos with our whole being, as if it were the only truth. However, through painful experiences we may (1) come to the awareness that we keep on recycling the same chaos over and over again. This awareness is like a search light of the spirit in our consciousness, that seeks to awaken our heart from its slumber. On one hand, this stream of Light and its rectifying power make us aware of the endless cycles that we are caught in; on the other, they reveal to us the unchangeable source of inner freedom which surpasses all limits of our personal existence.

This “coming to awareness” is the first essential step on our Path and it is on this basis that we start to develop an insatiable hunger, or (2) longing for salvation for the eternal Light that does not originate from this world. This deep hunger or longing is the second universal step. In the words of the Pistis Sophia, it is our growing wish to be saved from the emanations of the Self-Willed that we have bound ourselves to. In this longing we surrender a small part of our earth-bound being already, which creates a crack through which the light can shine more powerfully into us. The more we witness this light, the more we wish to (3) surrender ourselves to it completely, only we are not yet able to fully rely on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit touching our soul. We are still, just like the Pistis Sophia, thrown back and forth by the emanations of our own will that the Pistis Sophia calls the “Self-Willed”. 

Our despair that leads to both insight and longing keeps on widening the crack more and more, which allows us to become more aware of our deplorable “state of being”. We begin to see through the stories and lies that we are telling ourselves and others, and become painfully aware of the fact that something within us is in need of a (4) drastic change. 

This deep awareness is the preparation for our fourth step, which is not only a knowledge that we need to change but truly making the change. The fourth step that consists of this change is then built on the foundations of the first three stages, which are: insight, longing and surrender of the self. The  fourth, the fundamental change, is really the turning point on the Path where what was seen and known before truly becomes real.

These fundamental changes can only be made by the light of our own wisdom (which arises from our soul-consciousness, our Sophia). By this Light we are enabled to see what we need to let be and what we need to do to in order to increase the strength of the Light within us. The more we embrace those changes, the more we synchronise our steps with the perfect laws of the Light. While we make the fundamental changes, these laws begin to manifest themselves more powerfully within us, giving us more freedom, peace, harmony and joy while we overcome our inner obstacles. 

This fourth step (which is described in songs 13-19) receives strong attention in the Pistis Sophia. In those chapters, the Sophia comes to the realisation that she is either pulled upward or downward depending on the power that she’s holding onto. 

The songs 9-12 relate to our development of a new life attitude based on the surrender of the soul to the spirit once the soul has become a solid foundation within us. Through this very different attitude to life, we stop looking back and instead begin to looking upward and forward, towards the open space of the Light. We begin to let go of the anchors that tether us to our past and fly on the seven winds of the Spirit, guided towards our complete liberation.

With each new level, our understanding of the former steps deepens. This means that with the fourth step we come to the insight that the grace of the Light can only be received when we are in a purified, empty state. The more we become familiar with this grace of the Light, the more we begin to hear and understand the seven voices of the Spirit. We begin to rely so strongly on them that they become the winds that steer the direction of our lives. It is on this wind of the Spirit that we can let go of the things that hinder us, while moving towards that which opens us more and more to the silence. In the emptiness of this silence, the eternal Light shines ever brighter, breaking through all our inner obstacles one by one.

Within the limitless space of silence, the foundation of our soul solidifies every time the Spirit touches it and fulfills it. In the power of the Spirit, we move from being driven by our passions to being driven by compassion, which brings a new direction to our lives. This direction is based on “serving” and “giving”. We find out that we can only be inhabitants of the “Kingdom of the Light” when we become empty. Only in perfect emptiness can we become the active channels through which the healing blessings of the sacred Light may pour into this world. This silencing occurs through a process.

While the Spirit sets our lives on a new track, the peace within our hearts spreads through us. This peace quietens and silences our astral body to the point of relative stillness. It is by existing in this stillness that we become increasingly aware of the eternal being that we once were, before we lost our way. The image of our eternal heritage was witnessed by John as the silence of Patmos in the Book of Revelation. It emerges first like a faint image that is projected into our, still not completely motionless, aura.  However, when we try to own it by holding onto it the way our ego tends to, we eventually learn to leave all ambitions, desires, expectations, hopes, wishes and other egoistic dispositions behind. Then, once we surrender our ambitions and desires, our aura arrives at a motionless state in which this subtle image arises, as if from the grave of our being. We then recognize the living Christ emerging within us as the original image of God that we always were, and we begin to rely on it as our new centre, our new axis and the new spine of our being.  

The more familiar we become with this emerging image, the more confidently we submit ourselves to the life-giving stream of the “Jordan of silence” that replenishes and transforms us. From its living waters a silent voice arises, a voice that we wish to follow. We see its limitless freedom shining in contrast with the dark grave of the Self. We taste the freedom that makes “stepping into the stream that emerges from the silence” a certainty. We resign our own stream, our own old serpent fire, more and more to this eternal stream of life. Our own old will therefore surrenders itself continuously to the Universal Divine Stream of the Spirit. By the means of this Stream, God’s Will is revealed to us; and by the grace of His Will, we free ourselves from the grip that the archons of the twelve æons have on us.

This renunciation of our own will to the divine Jordan of life turns our life into a living sacrifice. We are now fully aware of the illusionary state of our own will, so we start speaking; not with words but with our whole being, expressed through all our deeds: “Not my will but Thine”, “Not me, but the Living Christ that is within me”. 

During this surrender of our will we capitulate every particle of our being to the Light of Lights. Through this, each earth-bound atom of our being is being replaced  by a radiant, heavenly one. Thus, all elements that make up our whole being are replaced in the great process of transmutation. It is during that process that the heavy lead of our nature-born state is slowly but steadily transmuted into the gold of the Spirit. 

Now, the image that first emerged as a faint projection, has become a wonderous reality that radiates from our whole being. All former fears, including our deepest fear, the fear of death, are overcome while we begin to blossom in the bright and limitless field of eternal life. 

At the end of this fourth step, we entrust ourselves, completely and without any hesitation, to the radiant life-giving stream of the eternal Jordan through which we are (5) awakened.  

Through the river of Jordan streams the Holy Spirit, which is the ever-creating power of God. From now on, His living waters irrigate every aspect of our being by the way of Love (which is the Christ). Once we exist fully out of that love-stream, we are united and have become unable to see or feel any sense of separation. We are part of the Divine One-Life. When we live so fully out of this Divine Life, then every fibre of our being becomes steady and strong, ready and prepared to assist God’s creative work. We assist by taking every opportunity to humbly serve each soul we meet. 

This is the fifth transfigurating step on which we are fully met by the Mystery of the Light. In this Light, we die voluntarily to our old nature, in order to become resurrected and renewed in the eternal freedom of the Treasury, as it is called in the Pistis Sophia. We wear a new astral vesture that is woven from, according to the Pisitis Sophia, all of the contents of the first mystery. With this vesture, we walk in God’s Kingdom while we are on earth; and even though our work takes place on the physical plane, no matter how mundane it may seem, it serves the laws of heaven. 

We see God in everyone and everything, and work along with Him and His Laws for the sake of all his creations from without, while He is working from within. The goal is to lead every seeker towards and along the tracks of the five-fold path, so that the promise of His Kingdom here on earth would be fulfilled. 

While we have passed the fourth step, we become spirit-souls merged with the third aspect of the Logos, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has led us continuously deeper into the sanctuary of sanctuaries, until we have merged with it and became fully resurrected on the fifth step; in the second aspect of the Logos, the Love aspect of God, the Christ. 

Once this unification has taken place, then we can say that the Word, the Logos, has become Flesh!

The processes belonging to the sixth and seventh initiation that follow after the fifth, aren’t mentioned in the Pistis Sophia. The reason for this is that they take place in the dimensions of the First mystery that are  unavailable to our lower mind, our lower mental comprehension. Our higher mind, our higher comprehension doesn’t correspond to anything that belongs to this world; it only corresponds to what is out of the three spaces of the Ineffable, as shown on the chart. This means that from the fifth point onward we are entirely led by the Spirit into the higher emanations of God, while we move from eternity to eternity, in all eternity. 

To sum up these first five steps in other words: we need to go from  “understanding” to “wishing”, from “wishing” to “willing”, from ”willing” to “(un)doing” and from this “(und)doing” to “resurrection”.

Am I ready? 

When we talk about the Kingdom and the Spaces of the Ineffable, then we are talking about a dimension that is beyond our common mental comprehension. This can give us the feeling that we are not ready and that we will never comprehend that which seems to be out of our reach. We can ask ourselves then: “how do I get there?”,  “what is my path to take?”.

There is a very simple answer to these questions. Namely, no matter the step or stage we are on, we are always capable of surrender, giving space and making some form of amends. Surrender leads us on a pathway to the centre of our being, from which the entirety of the great work is revealed.

Therefore, regardless of how insignificant we think it may be, every little change we make is of the highest importance. Through our surrender of that which lies right in front of us, our path with all its mysteries gradually reveals itself while meandering towards the centre. 

There are no other valid revelations or initiations, other than the ones that are brought to us through our self-surrender. External revelations and initiations may show us a direction in which to go, but they aren’t anything other than sign posts that point at the inner work of surrender that lies ahead.

All revelations and initiations will come to anyone who aims to live in the crystal-clear halls of Truth. For this we only need to observe ourselves and to leave all causes of irritation, petty lies, angers, habits and frustrations behind us and learn to sincerely apologise for our wrongdoings whenever they have affected others. A sincere apology is also known as repentance (metanoia) and is the enemy of our Self-Willed (ego). The result of living in Truth in this way, is that the clarity of our mind increases together with an incomprehensibly deep peace arising from the core of our hearts, through which we fall silent before the throne of God. In other words, we need to become both loving and truthful, so that the Love and Truth of God can live within us.

Even when we are caught in the very common illusion that we aren’t ready or good enough for this path, or that we haven’t progressed far enough yet, it is a fact that no matter how minor the things that we manage to overcome, they all create more space within us. In this space, the Light of Lights will reveal each mystery that we are ready for. There is no external initiation that can bring that about, and it is only our own ego, our own Self-Willed, that can stand in our way. 

Therefore, a real fundamental change needs to arise from our desire to transform. When our wish is turned into action, then we sing the truest kind of metanoia (a song of repentance). This change of heart leads us from attachment to detachment, which is the only possible path to inner peace.

We need peace, because it is in it that we receive a deep, inner silence. We need inner silence, because silence is a space that grows within us, in which the Light of Lights illuminates our consciousness. And we need this Light, because it guides us through every step on our path, and allows us to view the world in a different light. 

Only through this change will we remember the Christ principle, which we have forgotten since we’ve drank from the cup of our own personal Self-Willed, the cup of bitter sorrow and forgetfulness. It is only after we have completely emptied this cup of our suffering, that we are able to turn our heart upwards to the Ineffable, who will instantaneously fill it and nourish it with the radiant and clear life-giving blood of the eternal Christ. We will then share this “blood” as a natural outpouring towards anyone that thirsts for this unspeakable, eternal truth.

Using the Glossary

The glossary refers to the terms found in the books of the Pistis Sophia and can be used in two ways. 

1. To find a term and related terms in order to gain a deeper comprehension while reading the Pistis Sophia. 

2. To use the glossary by itself by moving between the referrals to other terms in the glossary. When using it this way, you may start at any point of the glossary and see where it takes you. 

Both methods aim to bring us closer to the universal processes that lie within us and in the Pistis Sophia. 

To come to an even better understanding of the Pistis Sophia, it is advisible to use the chart next to the glossary. The chart creates a comprehensive overview of the cosmology found in the Pistis Sophia. It is, however, important to keep in mind that both the chart and the glossary introduce a multi-dimensional reality to our three-dimensional mental comprehension. It means that there is always a completely different dimension of reality hidden behind what is made visible.  

Sources for this guide 

The translation of the Pistis Sophia by G. R. S. Mead has been followed for the creation of the chart. The translation by C. Schmidt is wonderful, but is unfortunately above most people’s budget. Wherever the Pistis Sophia itself was unclear, the Books of Jeu, which have a very similar cosmology as the Pistis Sophia, were used as reference.

The Glossary is mainly built up through direct research and interpretation of the text of the Pistis Sophia, combined with historical research. 

The spiritual dynamics presented in the Pistis Sophia are of a timeless, universal nature that is just as alive today as it was roughly 2000 years ago. The cosmology is presented a language that is no longer used, which is why a “decoding” of the processes to a modern language has been attempted. 

The teachings of the Lectorium Rosicru-cianum have been most helpful for this “decoding”. These teachings reflect the same universal dynamics as the ones presented in the Pistis Sophia.  When these dynamics become an inner reality, they then proceed to turn into a spiritual Rosetta Stone that can decode any ancient universal symbolism to a more comprehensible teaching for modern times.

Other sources that were helpful, and that gave direction to this publication were the commentary on the Pistis Sophia by the Grandmaster of the Lectorium Rosicrucianum, Jan van Rijckenborgh. Furthermore, the deep and meaningful commentary and notes of H.P. Blavatsky on the Pistis Sophia were very helpful. Another useful source that definitely deserves praise is the insightful research and publication by Raul Branco. This can be found online.

Conclusion

It is through the previously mentioned, fundamental changes that you are awakened by the Holy Spirit. It is through those changes that the luminous stream of the Living Gnosis, the Living Christ, pours continuously into your heart. You are meant to be a grail-like receptacle for all of the all-harmonising, life-giving love, and to share its living essence with everyone and everything. 

Love is a stream that is never yours to keep. The indestructible power of its grace will only extend its blessings to you if you, yourself become the selfless giver of those blessings. In this way, you are received by the Light as one of its ambassadors that illuminates this world. 

Whether you, yourself have fully reached the shores of silence and peace, it does not matter. You are always given the grace to reach out, to help and to stretch yourself by the love of your heart in order to help others arrive at the shores of the Light. All the help you require is extended towards you to accomplish that. Help others, as you are also helped; and when you do, you shall be taken up in the great chain of Light in which you are meant to be an essential link. 

If we are aware enough of our responsibility to our given task in this world, then we know deep within our hearts that we either should go together as awakened brothers and sisters into the eternity of the Light, or that we don’t go at all. Let us therefore be the ambassadors of the Kingdom, until every last soul has found its way.  
Douwe Boschma,

April 2021

Do you wish to read more? Download the pdf