Interviews Available for Download

I've been interviewed by Miguel Conner three times for his Coffee, Cigarettes & Gnosis show, now retitled Aeon Byte. (I preferred the CC&G name, Miguel!) These are available for download at just $1.99 each, and all the proceeds go to Miguel to be used for studio rental, equipment, etc. Miguel has had an incredible amount of good people on his show, and it keeps going on at http://thegodabovegod.com

Links for my interviews:-

The Gospel of Philip

The Lost Sayings of Jesus

Gnostic Writings on the Soul

Thunder Perfect Mind -- the Fragrance

This is a bit old, so many people might know about this advert, but I've only just come across it. The father-and-daughter team of Ridley and Jordan Scott directed an atmospheric advert to promote a perfume by Prada. As the Gospel of Truth says, "For it is not the ears that smell the fragrance, but (it is) the breath that has the sense of smell and attracts the fragrance to itself, and is submerged in the fragrance of the Father, so that he thus shelters it, and takes it to the place where it came from, from the first fragrance, which is grown cold. "


Anyway, this advert features extensive excerpts from Thunder Perfect Mind, backed by good jazz, while the camera follows Canadian model Daria Werbowy as she moodily travels around Berlin on foot, via the subway, by taxi, etc.

The Tomb Inscription of Flavia Sophe

Kurt Rudolph includes a Gnostic tomb inscription from third-century Rome in his Gnosis: The Nature & History of Gnosticism. Flavia Sophe (long E) is a female Gnostic. It's a beautiful poem, and one of the most personal pieces of Gnostic writing that we possess. I decided to rework Rudolph's translation in combination with the Ludemannn/Janssen translation included in Suppressed Prayers to produce something that has more poetry in it. Ludemann and Jansssen also include another inscription found alongside it in the Via Latina. Ludemann and Janssen believe the inscriptions to be second century, not third. There must be many more fascinating literal fragments like these two, but I don't know of any volume which collects them all.


You were filled with longing for the father’s light,
My sister, my spouse, my Sophe.
Now, anointed with holy immortal chrism in the baths of Christ,
Be quick to view the divine faces of the aeons,
The great angel of the great council, the true Son.
You made your way into the bridal chamber and made an undying ascent
Into the breast of the Father.

Mandaean Videos

There are several Mandaean-related videos on youtube -- just plug in "mandaeans" as the search term. The most impressive of these contains extended footage of a Mandaean baptism, something that only a few years ago would have been very difficult to see outside of a few academic institutions.



The next one is a BBC newsclip that highlights the current Mandaean crisis:-



This one contains some beautiful still photographs.

More Blogs

I can't do much better than to reproduce the Palm Tree Garden's Logosphere blogroll.

http://www.palmtreegarden.org/wadi/blogs.php

Aeon Byte

Alexandrian Gnostic Church Official Blog

Andrew Phillip Smith

Apostolic Johannite Church Official Blog

The Crowded Handbasket (Group Blog featuring a Gnostic)

Ecclesia Gnostica in Nova Albion

Eighth Sermon to the Dead

Emerald City Gnosis

Forbidden Gospels

Gnosis and Knowledge

Gnostic Friends Network

Gnostic Witch

Henosis Decanus

Holy Cross Gnosis Community

Homoplasmate (Archived)

In Puris Naturalibus

Inmost Light

inTerjeCted

Knowgnosis

Kushana's Bible Question Page

Light and Life

Living Apocrypha

Mishkan ha Echad

Noetic Apprehension

Obsidian Lightflame

Path of Gnosis

Pleromon (French Language)

Pneumatikon

Prayers and Reflections

Reflexion

Seeker of Sophia

Slumbering Gods

Spectrum of Light

Spiritually Engaged

Summer Harvest (Archived)

Feeds

I noticed that the blog feeds weren't working because of an incorrect URL in the settings, so I've fixed it and you should all be able to subscribe to the blog using your browser features. If not, the feed is at http://www.bardic-press.com/philip/atom.xml

Blogroll

My Blogger template doesn't feature a blogroll, so I'd just like to recommend a few Gnostic blogs. Perhaps I'll change the template at some point to have a proper blogroll.

http://www.palmtreegarden.org/blog/

This is the blog of the excellent Palm tree Garden site. Several people, some of whom are contributors to The Gnostic magazine, maintain this blog.

http://henosis-decanus.blogspot.com/

This is the blog of my friend and fellow Dubliner Dean Wilson. Dean also has a second blog centred on the occult, http://mishkan-ha-echad.blogspot.com/

http://splitthiswood.blogspot.com/

Is the blog of Br. Jay, who also contributed to the Palm Tree Garden blog.

The Gnostics: History * Tradition * Scriptures * Influence

My latest book The Gnostics: History * Tradition * Scriptures * Influence is now out in the UK. The official publication date seems to be August 15, but it has already been spotted in bookshops and is available through amazon.co.uk and other online sellers. Unfortunately, it won't be released until October 9 in the USA, and while the $/£/€ exchange rates encourage those of us on this side of the pond to purchase books from the USA (living in Ireland, it is often cheaper to order from the USA than from the UK) , they will discourage anyone who would want to buy a copy of The Gnostics from the USA, so most of you in the USA will just have to wait until October . I received some comp copies yesterday and the production values are certainly the highest of any of my books so far. I always feel that books are abandoned rather than finished, but I'm happier with the final form of The Gnostics than with any of my other books. That's not to say that I've been able to pluck up the courage to read it yet...

A Prophet Is Not Without Honour...

A short article about me appeared in the Penarth Times, the local newspaper of my hometown.

Exploring mystical teachings

2:30pm Tuesday 5th August 2008

By Elinor Cross »

A PENARTH author has written an introduction to Gnosticism – the teaching which is explored in epics such as the Matrix and The Da Vinci Code.

The idea of a divine soul trapped in a material world by a dark or evil God is the plotline for many blockbusters, but few understand the more complex theories of Gnosticism – though author Andrew Philip Smith believes many are interested in the subject.

He said: “There are Gnostic ideas in so many films and books at the moment.

"Some of them go off course and some of them touch on it, but it is a fascinating topic.”

Andrew, who grew up in Penarth and attended St Cyres, has already written four books on Gnosticism – this latest work is a 'beginner's guide'. He said: “It brought a lump to my throat when I went to Waterstones in Cardiff and saw my work for sale!”

Andrew has already started planning his next book – a study of the Mandeans, modern day Gnostics who trace themselves back to John the Baptist.

Andrew hopes to do a Da Vinci Code-type trail to try and trace their origins.

The Gnostics: History • Tradition • Scriptures • Influence, is published by Watkins and will be widely available from the beginning of September.

http://www.penarthtimes.co.uk/news/latestnews/3560135.Exploring_mystical_teachings/

Jorunn Jacobson Buckley

I've just finished Jorunn Jacobson buckley's The Mandeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People (OUP, 2002). It's not an introductory work, and the reader needs to know something of the basics of Mandaean history, myth and ritual, but it is a wonderful book. Detailed examinations of Mandaean ritual and texts alternate with warm accounts of Dr Buckley's experiences with Mandaean families and her own experience of Mandaean rituals. The overall tone of the book is very feminine and there is a depth of genuine religious feeling, even though Dr Buckley is neither a Mandaean nor, it seems, conventionally religious.

A text interview with Dr Buckley can be found here: http://www.albany.edu/~ha5945/proj2/ and a radio interview here: http://www.bowdoin.edu/podcasts/audio/bowdoinfacultyseries-jorran.buckley.mp3