Yaldabaoth creates the Earth

Filed Under Frauds of the Gods | May 11, 1999

Cast down from the worlds of light, Yaldabaoth carved a new home for himself out of theÂ darkness:

“When the Ruler saw his greatness, he saw only himself; he did not see another one except water and darkness. Then he thought that he alone existed. His thought was made complete by means of the word, and it appeared as a spirit moving to and fro over the waters.

And when that spirit appeared, the ruler separated the watery substance to one region, and the dry substance to another region. And from the one matter he created a dwelling place for himself. He called it “Heaven.” From the other matter the ruler created a footstool. He called it ‘earth.’” [1]

The Demiurge bumbled blindly along, unaware that Sophia was secretly forming the Earth through him:

“The Ruler supposed that he made these things of himself, but he made them after [Sophia] projected them. He made Heaven without knowing Heaven… he brought earth to light without understanding earth. In every case he was ignorant of the ideas of the things he made, as well as of the Mother; and he thought he was entirely alone.” [2]

FOOTNOTES

1. On the Origin of the World, from Willis Barnstone’s The Other Bible, p.64, pub. 1984

2. St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies: The Valentinian System Of Ptolemaeus, Barnstone, Ibid., p.61