Category: Biographies

(Gnostic) A very powerful Gnostic teacher who unfortunately fell into black magic.

“Simon Magus, the magician of New Testament fame, is often supposed to have been the founder of Gnosticism. If this be true, the sect was formed during the century after Christ and is probably the first of the many branches which have sprung from the main trunk of Christianity. Everything with which the enthusiasts of the early Christian Church might not agree they declared to be inspired by the Devil. That Simon Magus had mysterious and supernatural powers is conceded even by his enemies, but they maintained that these powers were lent to him by the infernal spirits and furies which they asserted were his ever present companions. Undoubtedly the most interesting legend concerning Simon is that which tells of his theosophic contests with the Apostle Peter while the two were promulgating their differing doctrines in Rome [See: The Acts of Peter and Paul].” – Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928)

“Evilness is so fine and delicate that even the Master H. P. Blavatsky firmly believed that Simon the Magician was a Master of the White Lodge. Master Huiracocha [Arnold Krumm-Heller] also believed that Simon the Magician was a great Gnostic Master, and he told us that everything that ‘Papus’ and other authors have taught in the past years about magic was taken from Simon the Magician. The only one who was not mistaken with respect to Simon the Magician was Dante Alighieri in his Divine Comedy. […] Simon the Magician profoundly knew about Sexual Alchemy and the Great Arcanum. However, he fell into black magic because he continued to look into the past and he did not want to accept Christ.” – Samael Aun Weor, Treatise of Sexual Alchemy

Saturninus or Satornilus (Greek: Σατόρνινος active 100–120 AD) was an early Syrian Gnostic Christian from the 1st century Simonian school. He is quoted in the works of Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and Hegesippus. The movement he established was called Saturnians.

(Gnostic) A Gnostic teacher and philosopher. From The Theosophical Glossary: “A celebrated Alexandrian Gnostic of about 120 AD, probably born in Syria, whose teachings included a system of emanations and hierarchies of powers; founder of the Basilidian Gnostics, declared an heretical sect. Basilides claimed to have derived his teachings from an original Gospel of Matthew and from Glaucus, a disciple of Peter.”

“The Patriarch Basilides belonged to the Gnostic church. He was the celebrated alchemist who left a seven page book of lead, which, according to Master Krumm- Heller, is preserved in the Kiercher Museum of the Vatican. This book cannot be understood by archaeologists because it is a book of occult science. Basilides was a disciple of Saint Matthias.” – Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony (1950)

“The School of Gnosticism was divided into two major parts, commonly called the Syrian Cult and the Alexandrian Cult. These schools agreed in essentials, but the latter division was more inclined to be pantheistic, while the former was dualistic. While the Syrian cult was largely Simonian, the Alexandrian School was the outgrowth of the philosophical deductions of a clever Egyptian Christian, Basilides by name, who claimed to have received his instructions from the Apostle Matthew. Like Simon Magus, he was an emanationist, with Neo-Platonic inclinations. In fact, the entire Gnostic Mystery is based upon the hypothesis of emanations as being the logical connection between the irreconcilable opposites Absolute Spirit and Absolute Substance, which the Gnostics believed to have been coexistent in Eternity.” – Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928)