Before reading The Gnostic Faustus by Ramona Fradon my knowledge of Doctor Faustus was sketchy at best--and primarily based on the opera by Gounod. I was vaguely aware of the connections between European alchemy & the basic Faustian storyline, but I was not at all aware of any Hindu/kundalini connections--or Gnostic correspondences with Faust/Faustus material. In addition to this, I was not a little perturbed at the subtitle of this book: The Secret Teachings, etc. My god, I've gotten tired of the "Secret Teaching" "Forbidden Knowledge" or esoteric "Codes" description of "New Age" material. In fact, Parallel Perspectives' new editorial policy is to discontinue reviewing material classified under the specific New Age/Astrology genre. In addition to these reservations, with the growing public interest in Gnostics, there is a tendency to try to lump all kinds of divergent information & material under the general heading of Gnosticism. However, the alleged "Gnostic Connection" in Ramona Fradon's work tantalized me--and the cover jacket lists the book with the Gnosticism/Philosophy tag, so I had an excuse to override what boils down to my own editorial policy.

I'm glad I did.

Ramona Fradon has the knowledge & the writing talent to describe & clarify some of the more esoteric dogmas & beliefs associated with Gnosticism. This is no slight skill considering the many convoluted philosophical twists & turns associated with the highly eclectic range of Gnostic beliefs. And, even though the author occasionally refers to astrology & draws inferences from the typically "New Age" arena, her overall style is so intelligent as to make these references at least palatable to a recovering New Age curmudgeon such as myself. In fact, it is a tribute to Ramona Fradon that her book is so engaging as to overcome ALL my admitted metaphysical prejudices.

FAUSTUS is one of those books in which every other paragraph is so illuminating that you want to jot down notes so as to not forget anything. Fradon's style is mature & she frames these gems of insight in a way that everyone can understand.

I would like to make a few observations regarding just the Introductory Chapter: Setting the Stage.

On page 9 Ramona Fradon does wonderfully "set the stage" with a clear exposition of the role of Sophia ("Wisdom") in the Gnostic scheme of things.

"...the story of the...goddess Sophia--how she violated the laws of... the thirteen highest regions or aeons of the Light world where ideal forms or stages of awareness...dwell in timeless perfection. Sophia longed to know the unknowable Father directly, to gaze upon his Light...she pursued the Light of a jealous aeon into the darkness beyond...There she was hounded and pursued by the forces of darkness until Jesus found her in the chaos, lamenting her wrongdoing and crying to the Light of Lights to save her."

Eventually Sophia finds salvation and she in turn becomes a Redeemer.

There are definite parallels between Sophia's mythology with the earlier legends of Isis, Horus, Osiris & Set(h). We won't go into those aspects that we (Gnostic Pagans & our other associate readers of Parallel Perspectives) are already familiar. The new ground Fradon breaks in The Gnostic Faustus is to convincingly show connections between the Sophia story with central ideas also found in Faustus, Early Gnosticism, Hermetic & alchemical symbols, and Hindu spirituality.

"...the story of Sophia's enlightenment takes place in the context of...human spiritual initiation...There are also suggestions of Yantric diagrams (linear geometric figures designed to focus consciousness on the inner planes), parodies of sacred sexual acts...and other features peculiar to the transforming spiritual practice of Vajrayama Tantra, the yoga of sex." [Pgs. 16-17]

This information segues into some rather intimate (and very interesting) specifics of Tantric practice.

Ramona Fradon also includes further pertinent information regarding Goddess Worship, alchemy, and Kundalini Yoga.

On pages 26-27 the author states:

"The blending of these systems occurred in the early Christian centuries in and around Alexandria, Egypt, where many religions and cultic practices converged to create new forms of worship. Gnostic "serpent worshippers" or tantrists mingled with Jewish mystics, Egyptian alchemists, magicians, Hermetics, and devotees of Isis, the... goddess of the Moon (& Magic -ed). The Gnostics identified Isis with their Sophia, whose sojourn in matter as a "whore," and her subsequent enlightenment, resonated with the sacred sexual rituals of Isian priestesses in which participants were transformed into androgynous gods. Sophia's all-encompassing being--associated with alchemical prima material, the source of all physical forms--further identified her with the fertile moon mother, Isis."

We are in obvious agreement with Fardon's equation uniting Isis and Sophia. However, many "modern Gnostics" (and the validity of that designation is open to debate) and even "non-Gnostic" academic researchers adamantly negate this formulation. Some people define Sophia as being a principle rather than a goddess or other personality type entity. Gnostic Pagans can counter, well then, Sophia equates with Maat, Goddess of Cosmic Law & Order who many researches claim is similarly more a cosmic principle than a goddess.

And so on, and so forth...

In the pursuit of Gnosis all roads invariably lead back to John the Baptist, and almost all to Simon Magus. Fradon too acknowledges this:

"Simon's reputation as a sex magician survived the concealing of such practices when the worship of the goddess went underground...references to Simon...and...his female companion, Helen...As a reformed prostitute she was a wisdom figure in the manner of Isis or Sophia...it is assumed that she and Simon performed the goddess's sacraments together, perhaps as priest and priestess...Simon was a disciple of John the Baptist...leading...to speculate that the Baptist was also a follower of the goddess..."[Page 28]

On the following page, Ramona Fradan draws some interesting parallels relating to The Feminine in western occult imagery(and by inference the Shekinah role in Kabbalah):

"...images of Salome...carrying John's decapitated head on a platter are found in churches located in areas of southern France where the Templars were quartered. There are often statues of the Black Madonna in those or churches dedicated to Mary Magdalene, which cover ancient Isis shrines."

To formulate from a Gnostic Pagan perspective:

Sophia = Isis = Mary, Mother of God = Black Madonna = Mary M.

You can go further:

Black = The Primordial Mound (Pyramid) of Egypt/Earth = Isis = Vulva/Yoni

= Shakti = Anima Mundi/The World Soul

= The Virgin Mary = Mary Magdalene

= The Holy Grail

= Sophia

I would like to conclude this short review with a quote Ramona Fradon herself quotes from The Thunder: Perfect Mind, one of two Nag Hammadi documents that relate to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and/or Mary Magdalene.

This passage could also be understood as a fragment from The Testament of Isis:

I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin...(13:17)
I am shame and boldness...
I am the one who is disgraced and the great one...(14:27)
I am the mother and the daughter...
I am the barren one and many are her sons.
I am the bride and the bridegroom and it is my husband who begot me.
I am the mother of my father and the sister of my husband...
I am the name of the sound, and the sound of the name. (20:31)

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I am sure other readers will discover for themselves the amazing inner resonance I found in The Gnostic Faustus text.

To Ramona Fradon I say, Bravo!