Yaldaboath Saklas Samael

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Original post: Sub Rosa

This gloomy ruler has three names: The first name is Yaldabaoth (child of the void). The second is Saklas (the fool). The third is Samael (god of the blind).

He is wicked because of the Mindlessness that is in him. For he said, 'I am God, and there is no other God besides me,' since he did not know from where his own strength had come.

(The Secret Book of John, from Marvin Meyer's The Secret Teachings Of Jesus: Four Gnostic Gospels, p.65, pub. A.D. 1986)



BIRTH OF THE DEMIURGE

At the beginning of time, Sophia (the world soul) broke away from Christ (the world spirit) and gave birth to Yaldabaoth, the arrogant creator-god of the Old Testament.

The exact process by which this cosmic fiasco occurred was the subject of much debate among the gnostics; in perhaps the oldest version of the story, Sophia's desire somehow veiled infinity, casting the shadow of matter from which Yaldabaoth emerged like a reflection or parody of the true, hidden god.

A veil exists between the World Above and the realms that are below; and Shadow came into being beneath the veil; and that Shadow became Matter; and that Shadow was projected apart. And what she [Sophia] had created became a product in the Matter, like an aborted fetus.

And it assumed a plastic form molded out of shadow, and became an arrogant beast resembling a lion. It was androgynous... because it was from Matter that it derived.

Erupting from the nothingness of the void into material existence, Yaldabaoth proclaimed himself god; Sophia acted quickly to punish this cosmic usurper, blinding and banishing him in one fell swoop.

Opening his eyes he saw a vast quantity of Matter without limit; and he became arrogant, saying, "It is I who am God, and there is none other apart from me!"

When he said this, he sinned against the Entirety. And a voice came forth from above the realm of absolute power saying, "You are mistaken, Samael."

And he said, "If any other thing exists before me, let it become visible to me!" And immediately Sophia stretched forth her finger and introduced Light into Matter; and she pursued it down to the region of Chaos. And she returned up to her light; once again Darkness returned to Matter."

THE DEMIURGE AND DISORDER

The birth of the the Demiurge can be taken as a metaphor for the emergence of entropy. According to the second law of thermodynamics, the overall disorder of any given system will always increase over time as the system seeks equilibrium - thus, meat rots, rocks roll downhill and machines wear out.

When the Big Bang introduced space, time and matter into existence, our infant universe - which was, at least for moment, a trillion times smaller and denser than the head of a pin - was also quite orderly. Nothing to do and nowhere to go - nothing existed but photons, or light particles.

This primitive state of order was only temporary, however; almost instantly, the universe exploded outwards, spawning billions and billions of suns, solar systems and even entire galaxies as it expanded and cooled.

Even as it inflated wildly, our universe had already begun dying, sliding towards inevitable (and unglamorous) heat death. One day, billions of years from now, there will be nowhere left to go, no more energy left to use up and nothing left to grow or create. The universe will stop spreading outwards, the stars will burn out, and life will quietly and gently extinguish itself.

The idea that our universe is nothing more than a giant spring winding down introduces a paradox. Why do we see evidence of increased order and increased complexity all around us, if the creation we know is ultimately based on the degradation of energy? Whence cathedrals, computers, the evolution of life itself?

The answer is that ecosystems, civilizations and even living beings are all examples of dissipative systems - complex networks of interlocking processes which take far more energy to build and maintain than they generate. These small pockets of order are anomalies, tiny islands of negentropy in a vast ocean of chaos; the more complex a given phenomenon, the more energy it must "eat" in order to maintain its identity and so, the more disorder it creates in the long run.

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Original post: Amhas

You said that Samael means "god of the blind". I may be thinking of someone else, but I think it means "Poison of God". Again, I may be wrong. Nitpicky me...

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Original post: [Gnostic]a+

[QUOTE=Amhas]You said that Samael means "god of the blind". I may be thinking of someone else, but I think it means "Poison of God". Again, I may be wrong. Nitpicky me...[/QUOTE]
well, part of what sub rosa posted has excerpts from the gnostic text " the hypostasis of the archons " ... in this scripture, it says this about samael...

" you are mistaken,samael' - which is, 'god of the blind.' "

from james m robinsons translation of the nag hammadi library texts.

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Original post: [Gnostic]a+

whether that part " which is, god of the blind " is something james m robinson put in there, or was originally in the scripture, i do not know.

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Original post: Sub Rosa

Samael is one of the Angels, who is responsible for dispensing with the Wrath of God.

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Original post: DocHolliday

Translating Sammael as "God of the blind" is a total distortion of the Hebrew language. IIRC, "poison of God" is accurate, but I can double check if anyone needs me to.

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Original post: Shepard of Arcadia

I was always had heard, that Samael meant blind god as well, you learn something new everyday:)

Entropy is also seen as an example of the Demiurge's and creations flawed nature.

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Original post: Jenfucius

[QUOTE=DocHolliday]Translating Sammael as "God of the blind" is a total distortion of the Hebrew language. IIRC, "poison of God" is accurate, but I can double check if anyone needs me to.[/QUOTE]
Yes please double check for us. It does make a difference I would think.

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Original post: Sub Rosa

poison of god is accurate enough

samael is the one who pours the vial of poison woe thru the apocalypse

the poison is also blindness, in a sense

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Original post: [Gnostic]a+

well, james robinsons translations of the nag hammadi texts have been recommended by pmcv before. and in his translation it says " which means blind god " . maybe the historic/traditional use of the word samael differs some how with the traditional gnostics.

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Original post: DocHolliday

Can someone get me the Hebrew spelling of "Sammael?"

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Original post: pmcv

Good conversation

Hey Doc, let me jump in on this one. You ask...

Can someone get me the Hebrew spelling of "Sammael?"

There is an etymological problem with this term. Well, not a problem so much as some confusion. The texts we are drawing from here are, as you know, in Coptic. Many of them are from Greek originals, and the semitic terms are generally from Irano/Persian and Aramaic rather than Hebrew.

As far as I know, the name "Samael" enters Jewish texts quite late. But we should not assume that the Gnostic term "Samael" is directly etymologically equated with these sources (Which are also not mostly in Hebrew).

I don't have a Hebrew font (and wouldn't know how to make it work on the forum anyway) so let me try to give you the probable roots. Since you are Jewish forgive me that I spell it out in more detail for the many other readers here who may be new to the subject.

When we transliterate the Hebrew into another language, the "poison" and "blind" that you all are talking about as root words can come out the same (Poison; samekh mem-sophith.... which would be the noun and be a bit odd I guess. vs Blind; samekh mem aleph... which is the adj. in this case). Obviously there are a number of words that, when written in another language, could come out being "Samael". (And let me point out also that when Hokhmah is in these texts it comes out "Echemoth", so we are talking about pretty extensive changes to write the word in the Coptic)

In any event, the Gnostic texts themselves make very clear that it is the their intent to use the term to refer to a "Blind God". In Layton's translation of Hypostasis of the Archons it has the descriptive "God of the Blind", but the previous passage makes clear that it is the God that is meant to be blind (probably translation confusion which is common in these texts). In the Origin of the world it simply says "Blind God".

I think we should be careful then before we try to make this Gnostic "Samael" fit the Amoraic period mishna readings, or later Hebrew readings. The similarity of the transliteration may be coincidence. There is no reading in Gnostic texts that say "Poisonous God" or "poison of God" that I can think of right now, and there is no reason to assume an intent that is different than the one given in the texts themselves.

PMCV

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Original post: pmcv

BTW, I wanted to add a couple of words that are also used in some sources to describe the Demiurge besides the ones that Sub Rosa has posted for us. We also see Esaldaios, and one of the usages of the term Abraxas (to tie that in to the other conversation here on that subject).

And, in spite of the hype by so many modern sources concerning the negative view of the Demiurge in Gnostic sources, he is not actually always portrayed in such a bad light.

Also, where Meyer states (I assume Sub Rosa meant Meyer said this part, though the reference was placed in the middle... it am a little unsure which part was meant to be referenced) ..

"The exact process by which this cosmic fiasco occurred was the subject of much debate among the gnostics"

I have to disagree with him. On the contrary, some Gnostic texts make clear that they are aware of different ways of describing this, and seem to have no problem with this as long as the essential elements are there. I don't believe there is "much debate among the Gnostics" on this subject... simply different manners of talking about it in different instances.

PMCV