After Zoraster, declaring all the gods as Devis (Devils), And Ahura Mazda as the supreme being of light, wisdom and goodness, it is no suprise with the platonic ideals that gnosticism came into being to explain the reality that people lived in.

Before Zorasterianism there was Zurvanism where Anu the Ancient Sumerian sky god, was depicted in Babylonian times with an image of a ring as a shoulder piece. Every bit of it looked like Maha Kalachakra, tibetan being of Time. Chronos, and eventually Saturn, all taking on this evil epithet. Where Enlil the son of Anu, the Sumerian Sky God, usurps Gods functions all the way through into Canaan where he is known as their chief god El. He was always cool with his kids killing themselves, and that of his great grand Uncle Enki and mother Earth progeny. There is a ceremony where Enlil’s priests would sacrifice a Bull as Anu to make a drum for the temple to give Anu’s authority to Enlil.

Enki helps creates Mankind by Naamah is mother, and great grand daughter Inti(rib). Then Enlil wants to destroy mankind, and Enki tells Atarhasis/uptnishtim/noah to build a boat and deal with a flood. ACtual instructions to build a large grass coracle.

Enlil is not good to mankind. Yet in Zurvanism it makes out that Enki is the evil one, late babylon and Enlil claims Marduk is his Son, where originally Marduk is Enki’s son. Nothing like religious propaganda, by one who destroys, and encourages chaos, death and misery and over time makes Enki and his progeny devils. The Iggigi the the last generatioins of Annukai of Sumer. 6-9th generation younger gods, wanted mankind for slaves or help. Not too unlike the stories of the Book of Enoch where the lowest 2 heavens of angels rebelled and become fallen., Fallen where, earth. Heavens and hells meet here on the earth plane at the same similar time for cosmology. Even Lot accepted two strangers as Angels that his neighbors of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to defile. So they um yah, got incarnated. My conjecture, from historical and literary sources of that time.

Enlil really bad, but claims all the goodness in the OT and attempts to identify with the Ahura Mazda of Zoroastrianism. Gnostics see through this blatant propaganda. And they create a cosmology that makes sense to them. Zoroastrianism perennial good god above the so called creator gods of the cultures, but at the same time having the Amesha Spenta being the good gods that create creation, as opposed to the 7 evil powers under Aingru Mainu/Ahriman/who takes on the name of Satan, (a minor angel in the OT). Shaitan cognate with Egyptian god of fate Sais. I am not worried about linguistic differences from the many languages. Things were very syncretic at the time 800 bce – 300 ad. So you have the Elohim of Genesis 1.

The issue of the Archons. All the beings in charge of the heavens and earthly functions, from creation from evil god first 2 levels of heaven again, and patterned off of the iggigi of Sumer who in this go round not rebels but naiscent blind to the supreme god by being under the creator god, that is the evil one.

One of the Gnostic sects the last Archon sacrifices itself to open the way for the light of human beings spark or the supreme god to make it back to source, while Ialdabaoth (The evil creator god ) is bound in the bottom of hell. Still evil abounds in this world.

What makes all this interesting to me is that in the Nag Hammadi, the Archons are not 360 zonie of the heavens, but the heralds of the Ages of the Good God, such as Moses, Elijah, Jesus, influencing reality to bring everything back to sources.

The use of the greek word archon as an elected leader, being used for both evil and good entities in the management of reality. Esoterically how do you sort out these 2 distinctly opposing views of gnostic sects. There many gnostic sects. The Nag Hammadi seems to be different from that of Seth and Valentian Gnosticism.

Time isn’t evil. It simply is. Gods however extend themselves through time. If they are evil, then their influence through time is. Gods that use evil to destroy cycles of life to replace it with their own agendas, use people to create lies, by their propganda, by coming to conclusions that aren’t true, by the prevarication and manipulation of truth so people come up with the lies for them. Evil chess game if you asked me. IMHO.

Franz Bardon’s magic uses 360 degrees of Zonei of beings for his hermetic practices. Oddly enough it lines up with some of the gnostic views of 365 archons. Hermetic magic doesn’t have a problem with controling and manipulating demons. How do you all reconcile this?