Wednesday, May 15, 2024

The real inversion

 


The question of "inversion" is a fascinating one. Many ancient Gnostic scriptures keep the Biblical narrative, while inverting it. Modern NRMs do the same thing.

Thus, there is the "classic" Gnostic myth claiming that Yahweh in the garden of Eden is really the Devil, while the serpent is the true god. There is also "The Gospel of Judas", in which Cain, Esau and Judas are depicted as good, while Abel, Jacob and Peter are the bad guys! 

Examples of modern inversion abound. Often, these are attempts to recast Satan (Lucifer) as good. Another example is the name "Ashtar Command", supposedly an intergalactic fleet of benign space aliens, lead by a space bro somewhat unimaginatively referred to as Commander Ashtar. I think it´s obvious that Ashtar is really Ishtar, Astarte or perhaps Asera. In the Bible, of course, these are evil pagan goddesses. Another example could be the Egyptian spirit-entity Ambres, supposedly channelled by Swedish medium Sture Johansson. Could Ambres be a reference to Jambres, one of Pharao´s evil magicians confronted by Moses and Aaron? The Mormon prophet Joseph Smith was apparently fascinated by the figure of Baraqiel, the angel of astrology, but also one of the fallen angels in the "Book of Enoch"! 

What is the point of all this inversion? Perhaps it´s a kind of magical technique, a bit like inverting a crucifix, since transgressive acts are said to generate magic energies. They can certainly "declutch" an individual (or even drive him mad). But here is an interesting idea: what if the Bible itself is one gigantic inversion of previous pagan mythology?

In Sumerian mythology, there was a council of divine beings who descended to Earth and taught the humans civilization. In the Bible, these good culture-heroes have been inverted into fallen angels. Apparently, Ugaratic mythology features a tree of life guarded by weird-looking spirit-beings. When humans eat of the fruit, they see the gods! In the Bible, this is inverted to something negative...

Pondering.  

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