Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung evinced a special interest in Gnosticism from at latest 1912, when he wrote enthusiastically about the topic in a letter to his mentor
Sigmund Freud. After what he called his own 'encounter with the unconscious,' Jung sought for external evidence of this kind of experience. He found such evidence in Gnosticism and also in
alchemy, which he saw as a continuation of Gnostic thought, and of which more source material was available. In his study of the Gnostics, Jung made extensive use of the work of
G. R. S. Mead (see above). Jung visited Mead in London to thank him for the
Pistis Sophia, the two corresponded, and Mead visited Jung in Zürich. Jung saw the Gnostics not as
syncretic schools of mixed theological doctrines, but as genuine visionaries, and saw their imagery not as myths but as records of inner experience. He wrote that "The explanation of Gnostic ideas 'in terms of themselves,' i.e., in terms of their historical foundations, is futile, for in that way they are reduced only to their less developed forestages but not understood in their actual significance." Instead, he worked to understand and explain Gnosticism from a psychological standpoint. While providing something of an ancient mirror of his work, Jung saw "his psychology not as a contemporary
version of Gnosticism, but as a contemporary
counterpart to it." Jung reported a series of experiences in the winter of 1916-17 that inspired him to write
Septem Sermones ad Mortuos (Latin: Seven Sermons to the Dead).
The Jung Codex Through the efforts of
Gilles Quispel, the
Jung Codex was the first codex brought to light from the Nag Hammadi Library. It was purchased by the
Jung Institute and ceremonially presented to Jung in 1953 because of his great interest in the ancient Gnostics. The first publication of translations of
Nag Hammadi texts occurred in 1955 with T
he Jung Codex by
Henri-Charles Puech,
Gilles Quispel, and Willem Cornelis Van Unnik.
Gnostic Church of France split, reintegration, and continuation Jean Bricaud had been involved with the Eliate Church of Carmel of
Eugène Vintras, the remnants of
Fabré-Palaprat's Église Johannite des Chrétiens Primitifs (Johannite Church of Primitive Christians), and the
Martinist Order before being consecrated a bishop of the
Église Gnostique in 1901. In 1907 Bricaud established a church body that combined all of these, becoming patriarch under the name Tau Jean II. The impetus for this was to use the
Western Rite. Briefly called the
Église Catholique Gnostique (Gnostic Catholic Church), it was renamed the
Église Gnostique Universelle (Universal Gnostic Church, EGU) in 1908. The close ties between the church and Martinism were formalized in 1911. Bricaud received consecration in the
Villate line of
apostolic succession in 1919. The original church body founded by Doinel continued under the name
Église Gnostique de France (Gnostic Church of France) until it was disbanded in favor of the EGU in 1926. The EGU continued until 1960 when it was disbanded by
Robert Amberlain (Tau Jean III) in favor of the
Église Gnostique Apostolique that he had founded in 1958. It is active in France (including
Martinique),
Ivory Coast, and the
Midwestern United States.
Modern sex magic associated with Gnosticism The association of the term
gnostic with
sexual magic is a modern phenomenon, emerging primarily in the context of 19th- and 20th-century esoteric revival movements. As religious studies scholar
Hugh Urban observes, "despite the very common use of sexual symbolism throughout Gnostic texts, there is little evidence (apart from the accusations of the early church) that the Gnostics engaged in any actual performance of sexual rituals, and certainly not anything resembling modern sexual magic." Modern sexual magic as a practice is largely traced to
Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875), an American occultist who synthesized
Spiritualism,
mesmerism, and erotic mysticism into a system of ritual sex magic that emphasized love, will, and transcendence. The connection to Gnosticism came later, primarily through the
Gnostic Church of France (
Église Gnostique de France), which was deeply embedded in the esoteric networks of late 19th-century France. These networks also produced or influenced other occult organizations, including
Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), the most prominent sexual magic order of the 20th century.
Theodor Reuss, the founder of O.T.O., envisioned it as an umbrella organization for esoteric and initiatory societies, with sexual magic at its core. After encountering leaders of the Gnostic Church of France at a Masonic and Spiritualist conference in 1908, Reuss founded
Die Gnostische Katholische Kirche (the
Gnostic Catholic Church) as an ecclesiastical body under the auspices of O.T.O. Reuss would later dedicate O.T.O. to the dissemination of
Aleister Crowley's philosophy of
Thelema, making Crowley its most prominent figurehead. For this purpose, Crowley composed the
Ecclesiæ Gnosticæ Catholicæ Canon Missæ—commonly known as the
Gnostic Mass—which became the central public ritual of
Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (EGC), the liturgical wing of O.T.O. Although Crowley borrowed terminology and symbolic structure from Gnostic and Christian liturgy, the ritual is fundamentally Thelemic in theology and intent, emphasizing the union of opposites, the sanctity of the body, and the realization of the divine self.
The Gnostic Society The
Gnostic Society was founded for the study of Gnosticism in 1928 and incorporated in 1939 by Theosophists
James Morgan Pryse and his brother John Pryse in Los Angeles. Since 1963 it has been under the direction of
Stephan Hoeller and operates in association with the
Ecclesia Gnostica. Initially begun as an archive for a
usenet newsgroup in 1993, the Gnosis Archive became the first web site to offer historic and source materials on Gnosticism. ==Mid-20th century==