The Demiurge looked at his surroundings, realized that he was alone, and declared 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.” ^[1]

NOTES

“One problem with Yahweh, as they used to say in the old Christian Gnostic texts, is that he forgot he was a metaphor. He thought he was a fact. And when he said, “I am God,” a voice was heard to say, “You are mistaken, Samael.” “Samael” means “blind god”: blind to the infinite Light of which he is a local historical manifestation. This is known as the blasphemy of Jehovah – that he thought he was God.” ^[2]

1. ”Hypostasis of the Archons.” The Other Bible. Ed. Willis Barnstone. Harper San Francisco, 1984. 79. [↩]
2. Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth. Anchor, 1988. 76. [↩]