Description
Book SynopsisExamining every surviving text written by heresiologists, accounts often ignored in favor of the famous Nag Hammadi Library, Tobias Churton reveals the most secret inner teaching passed down by initiated societies: the tradition of sexual gnosis--higher union with God through the sacrament of sex. Discovering actual sex practices hidden within the writings of the Church's authorities, he reconstructs the lost world of Gnostic spiritual-erotic experience as taught by initiated masters and mistresses and practiced by Christian couples seeking spiritual freedom from the world.
Churton explores the practices of the "first Gnostic," the historical Simon Magus, and explains the vital significance of "the seed" in Gnostic practice, showing it to be the sacramental substance par excellence. He illuminates the suppressed truth of why the name "Valentine" came to be associated with ennobling erotic love and reveals profound parallels between sexual gnosis and Tantra, suggesting that gnosis lies at the root of the tantric path.
Solving a millennia-old riddle regarding the identity and secret symbol of Sophia, the mysterious Gnostic "Aeon," Churton investigates Sophia's connections to Barbelo, also known as Pruneikos, the Wild Lady of Wisdom, and the central focus of the Barbelo Gnostics of the 2nd century, whose religious sex practices so shocked orthodox Christian contemporaries that they were condemned, their cults of spiritual gnosis and "redemption by sin" driven underground.
Churton exposes the mystery of Sophia in the philosophy of the medieval Troubadours and explores William Blake's inheritance of secret Renaissance sexual mysticism through the revolutionary English poet Andrew Marvell. Showing how Blake's sexual and spiritual revolution connects to modern sexual magic, Churton also examines the esoteric meaning of the free-love explosion of the 1960s, revealing how sex can be raised from the realm of guilt into the highest magical sacrament of spiritual transformation.
Trade Review“
Gnostic Mysteries of Sex takes us on a wild ride through the secret, enigmatic and heretical world of Gnostics, medieval troubadours, the visions of Blake, and the counterculture of the 1960s--all united in their quest for union with God. The reader should not be fooled by Tobias Churton’s inimitable style of writing, because beneath his humor and provocative statements, there’s a profound understanding of one the greatest mysteries of all time--the power of sexual gnosis.” * Henrik Bogdan, associate professor in religious studies, University of Gothenburg *
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In Gnostic Mysteries of Sex, Tobias Churton works to heal Western civilization’s deepest wound--the millennia-old divorce of sex and spirit. Revealed herein are the dangerous and radical sexual secrets that the Church could not eradicate, kept hidden by the occult underground through long centuries of persecution, torture, and crusade. And here is the radical message of the Gnostics, as shocking and critically important now as it was in the second century--that sex is the gateway of liberation, and the kingdom of heaven is within.” * Jason Louv, author of Generation Hex and coauthor of Thee Psychick Bible *
“Churton brings to this frank and deeply insightful study a surprisingly personal and moving narrative. The late scholar of Gnosticism Ioan Couliano once said the Gnostics were the champions of free thought--asserting a freedom to explore every logical possibility of their complex demiurgic estrangement from God and nature. It’s not so surprising then that sexual metaphysics and practices in all of their permutations were explored, along with the big questions they pose, and the gnosis they transmit. As Churton observes, ‘The new heaven and new earth result from an improvement of sensual enjoyment. There was, and is, need of it.’” * Stephen J. King (Shiva X°), Grand Master, Ordo Templi Orientis *
“Readable and hugely informative, Churton makes a solid case that explains the Christian teachings on sex as reactive to the non-canonical texts. As Churton writes, sex is the ‘essential battleground between heresy and orthodoxy.’ I suspect this may be a totally new branch of scholarship.” * Vanilla Beer, artist *
“An erudite view of a fascinating subject. Highly recommended.” * Donald Traxler, translator of the works of Maria de Naglowska *
"Churton (
The Mysteries of John the Baptist) takes readers on a historical tour of available writings on sexual gnosis. ...Churton's scholarship seems to be both deep and broad..." * Publishers Weekly, October 2015 *
“If you think the last word has long since been said on the subject of sex, then you need to read this book. The question of how to reconcile sex with spirituality has long preoccupied the religious culture of both East and West. Churton explores how the Gnostics had their own approach to this issue, an approach that he traces down the centuries through the Rosicrucians and the work of poets such as Andrew Marvell and William Blake. Their message, Churton shows, points the way to a glorious synthesis of the sexual and the spiritual.” * Christopher McIntosh, Ph.D., Honorary University Fellow and Western Esotericism lecturer at the Univ *
“One of the world’s greatest scholars of what Blake calls the ‘excluded’ tradition, Tobias Churton brings together a profound knowledge of Western esotericism with extensive new research to weave a rich and multifaceted tapestry detailing the long-hidden mysteries of sexual gnosis. Including in-depth analysis and detailed commentary on select sacred and heretical texts from Epiphanius, Hippolytus, Valentinus, Blake, Crowley, and more,
Gnostic Mysteries of Sex is an illuminating volume filled with passion, truth, fascinating detail, and dynamic historical perspectives.” * John Zorn, musician *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction The Gnostic Sex Book
Confessio Churtonatis
Part I
THE SEX GNOSTICS
ONE--The “Filthy Gnostickes”
Great Monsters of Heresy
Is an Erotic Christian Religion Really Possible?
The Essential Myth
Androgyny
TWO--Heresy Starts in Eden: The Accusers
The Heresiologists
Clement of Alexandria
Tertullian
Hippolytus
Epiphanius
THREE--How to Be a Superman: The First Gnostic Sex and Simon
Simon Says--According to Hippolytus
Epiphanius on Simon
FOUR--After Simon, the Deluge Cerdo
Saturnilus
FIVE--The Dirty People
Sethians, Seed-Gatherers, and Serpent-Worshippers
Hippolytus on the Naasseni
Kundalini Gnostics?
Epiphanius on Barbeliotes and Borborites
SIX--Tantra--Remarkable Parallels SEVEN--Be My Valentine EIGHT--A Question of Seed
Senseless and Crack-Brained
Tertullian on the Valentinians
Clement of Alexandria and Theodotus
A New Picture of Valentinian Sex
NINE--The Valentinian Marriage The Knowledge of the Heart
The Good Spermaritan
TEN--In Search of the Mystery of Prouneikos and Barbelo in Alexandria Philo of Alexandria (ca. 20 BCE-ca. 50 CE)
ELEVEN--The Lascivious One
The Wild One
Part II
GNOSTIC LOVE AND THE SPIRITUAL REVOLUTION
TWELVE--All You Need Is Sophia
Return to the Troubadours
THIRTEEN--The Golden Riddle
The Golden Ball
The Coy Mistress
The Spherical Art
The Conversion of the Jews
Heaven’s Gate
Thy Heaven Doors Are My Hell Gates
Bibliography
Index
