Adam Ha-Rishon: The first human being, which is both male and female, and represents the archetype of humanity, which is actualized in the human life-wave.
Adam Kadmon: The primordial human being, which is both male and female, and represents the divine potential of the human archetype.
Adept: A term for an experienced spiritual practitioner who has accomplished a certain degree of self-realization. In Sophian Gnosticism, an adept who takes up the role of a teacher and guide is called an elder.
Affirmation: The practice of positive thoughts and suggestions, which activate the manifesting power of a deeper part of our being.
Archons: “Rulers,” indicating spiritual or cosmic forces bound to the demiurgos (cosmic ignorance).
Ascension: A term for the realization of higher states of consciousness; also a term for the journey of the soul through inner and more subtle dimensions, the fruition of which is called the supernal abode, or world of supernal light.
Avatar: From Hindu traditions, meaning an incarnation of divine being.
Baptism: A rite of spiritual purification or initiation; also the transformation of consciousness brought about by an influx of spiritual energy.
Bride: A title of St. Mary Magdalene; also referring to Christ the Sophia; also used to indicate the divine kingdom.
Bridegroom: A title of Yeshua Messiah; also referring to Christ the Logos.
Buddhas: Enlightened beings.
Cathar: A Christian Gnostic tradition that thrived until its persecution and destruction by the Roman Church in the thirteenth century. Their stronghold was in Southern France where St. Mary Magdalene is said to have lived during the end of her life.
Demiurgos: “False god” or “false creator,” indicating the principle of cosmic ignorance.
Elder: A Gnostic adept who takes up the role of a spiritual teacher and guide in the Sophian tradition.
First circle: A term for the circle of disciples gathered around Yeshua and Mary.
Gnosis: A term for secret knowledge; knowledge acquired through direct spiritual or mystical experience; may also indicate a degree of self-realization or enlightenment. (See “True Gnosis.”)
Gospel: Literally “God speak,” and in Gnosticism represents an enlightenment teaching, whether oral or written.
Initiation: A shared spiritual experience facilitated by an adept or master; the beginning of a new cycle in the self-realization process; a transmission of helpful spiritual energy; a spiritual or mystical experience that causes a change in consciousness.
Kabbalah: An ancient Jewish mystical and magical tradition which was integrated into Gnostic Christianity; a Jewish mystical tradition of which Gnostic Christians view Yeshua as a Great Master.
Liberation: Freedom from the necessity for physical incarnation.
Light-continuum: The essence of creation or reality; the world of supernal light; a common definition of the divine name Yahweh among Sophians; the continuum of divine being-consciousness-force.
Light-presence: The Christos or Living Yeshua; the presence of Christ or the soul of light in a person.
Lineage: A succession of adepts and masters that forms a living wisdom tradition.
Light-transmission: The central initiation in Gnostic Christianity; the transmission of the living presence and power of the Christos; an initiation of pure grace; the transmission of enlightenment.
Magic: A wonder-working art; a science and art of bringing about a change in the flow of external events by a shift in one’s own consciousness; also called divine theurgy.
Magician: A wonder-worker; an initiate who knows and practices magic. (See “Magic.”)
Melchizedek: A term used in Sophian tradition to indicate the bornless or enlightened nature or the truth of supernal or Messianic consciousness.
Melchizedek Transmission: The inmost secret level of the light-transmission in Sophian Gnosticism; a body of secret teachings and initiations in Gnostic Christianity; the experience of the bornless or enlightened nature, or the experience of supernal or Messianic consciousness; a metamind state.
Merkavah: The ancient tradition of Jewish mysticism from which the Kabbalah emerged; the “throne-chariot of God”; a process of passing through higher and prophetic states of consciousness.
Metatron: The angelic form of Adam Kadmon and Adam Ha-Rishon; the highest archangel in the Kabbalah; the angel into which Enoch was translated according to Jewish legend; the archangel of the supernal abode; the archangel of Messianic consciousness.
Mystic: A person who seeks the presence of God or enlightenment within him or herself; a person who travels the mystical path or practices mystical tradition; a term commonly applied to Gnostic initiates; a person who seeks enlightenment or conscious unification with divine being.
Mysticism: Any path that teaches a person to look inwardly for truth and light; any tradition that teaches God or enlightenment is to be realized in oneself; the self-realization process.
Nag Hammadi: The place in Egypt where ancient Gnostic texts were discovered by an Arab peasant in 1945, hence the Nag Hammadi library.
Nefesh: A Hebrew term for the vital soul or earthly soul; the personality and life-display.
Neshamah: A Hebrew term for the soul of light; supernal or heavenly soul; the divine or enlightened nature.
Order of St. Michael: A secret society said to hold mysteries of the Holy Grail and vowed to guard the Lineage of the Royal-Blood. (See “St. Michael.”)
Ordo Sanctus Gnosis: A name by which the Sophian tradition of Gnosticism has been known which literally means “Order of Sacred Knowledge.” Ironically, it is composed of Latin and Greek, indicating that the Sophian tradition transcends any name or form it might assume.
Padmasambhava: Literally “lotus born”; the name of the Buddhist master who brought Buddhism to Tibet and who is often called the Tantric Buddha or Second Buddha because he was the principle founder of Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism. Sophians view Yeshua in much the same way as this Great Master.
Pharisees: Religious authorities in the time of Yeshua, many of whom were his opponents and a few of whom were secret disciples; the religious authority from which Rabbinical Judaism arose and which had a strong influence in the development of Judaic Kabbalah.
Resurrection: The development of consciousness beyond the body or the development of a continuity of awareness throughout all states of consciousness; the generation of a body of light; the enlightenment experience in Gnostic Christianity; a grade of supernal or Messianic consciousness; a secret Gnostic initiation.
Rosicrucian or Rosicrucianism: Originally, this was a term for a current of mystical and Gnostic Christianity that emerged in the seventeenth century, of which it has been said that Sophian Gnosticism is an expression; also originally a term for Christian Kabbalah. This is the context in which it is used among Sophians.
Ruach Ha-Messiah: The Spirit of the Anointed; the Christ Spirit; the union of the spirit of initiation and spirit of prophecy; the spirit of enlightenment.
Ruach Ha-Elijah: The spirit of the prophets; the experience of prophetic consciousness; associated with the archangel Sandalphon.
Ruach Ha-Enoch: The spirit of the initiates; the experience of initiation; associated with the archangel Metatron.
Sandalphon: The archangel associated with the Holy Shekinah, prayer and prophecy.
Shekinah: Feminine presence of God; the divine presence and power of God; a term for God the Mother and the Bride in Sophian tradition.
Sophian Gospel: The oral tradition of Sophian Gnosticism.
St. Michael: The child of Yeshua and Mary, first heir in the Lineage of the Royal Blood; symbolic of any disciple receiving the light-transmission in full.
Tau: This is the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet, parallel to the Greek letter Omega, used in Sophian Gnosticism to designate a realized individual or master of the tradition; the meaning of tau may vary in some Gnostic traditions, including the meaning of a “bishop,” and may represent the Greek letter Tau in these traditions.
Theism: Spiritual teachings and practices based on the belief in a supreme being, or God.
Terma: A hidden wisdom treasury or teachings and practices in the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. Such a wisdom treasury may be found in the material dimension or inner dimensions.
Terton: An adept or master who finds or discovers a terma and teaches it to others.
Transfiguration: A secret Gnostic initiation that imparts the light-transmission; a specific stage in the self-realization process.
True Gnosis: a term for enlightenment and liberation or self-realization; supernal or Messianic consciousness.
Vajrayana Buddhism: Literally, “thunderbolt” or “diamond knowledge”; Secret or Tantric Buddhism, often called “Tibetan” Buddhism, though it is not exclusive to Tibet.
Valentinian Gnosticism: An ancient form of Christian Gnosticism very close to Sophian Gnosticism, which ran parallel to the early development of the orthodox church. Several sacred texts of the Valentinian School are included in Sophian teachings.
Yeshe Tsogyal: Consort of Padmasambhava and a Great Master in her own right. St. Mary Magdalene is viewed in much the same way among Sophians.