I am a Christian Witch. I know what you are thinking. How can this be? Isn't
that a contradiction? For me, it is not. It is very clear and makes perfect sense.
First you need to understand that when I say that I am a Christian, I am not the kind of
Christian you have likely ever heard of. I follow the teachings of Gnostic Christianity. For those who
are unfamiliar, it is a more metaphysical form of Christianity - one that was branded heretical by the Roman church and all
but wiped out nearly two thousand years ago.
My bible is the Nag Hammadi library found in caves in Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945.
I also follow the teachings of the New Testament. As for the Old Testament - that stuffy tribute to the Jewish
warrior god Yahweh, I look on the texts with amusement.
In Gnosticism the god of the Old Testament is the Demiurge (which means half-maker). Gnosticism
teaches that the god of the Old Testament did indeed create the Earth and the bodies inhabited by man; however, it was not
for the benefit of man that He created them but for His own amusement. Man was created as His slaves to live their lives
at His beck and call. He made up rules and laws that are impossible for men to follow and then told man that if
he did not follow them man was destined for hell. He told man that He was the only god yet He acknowledges that there
are others when He says "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall
have no other gods before me." -- Exodus 20:2-3 If there are no other gods, then to whom was He referring?
The creation story of the Gnostics begins in the Pleroma (or Heaven). He That Has No Name,
The All That Is, The Unknowable God, created Aeons (or spirits) to reside in the Pleroma with "Him". One of these Aeons
was Sophia (also known as Wisdom). Sophia wanted to imitate the light of the Father but did not consult "Him" and so
emmanated from herself a being that was ugly and corrupt. She tried to hide it and cast it away from the Pleroma.
This being is the demiurge. He, not knowing His origin, thinks that He is the only god. He created angels
and beings, the earth and man. But man as He created him was a useless creature having no light. Sophia felt
sorry for Man and cast into him some of her Light and that is the soul. So now the soul is trapped in the body
but we have the promise from Jesus Christ that our souls are capable of leaving the body and returning to the Pleroma
to be reunited with the Father - The All That Is. If we do not discover the light in ourselves (the Kingdom
of God) while we are in this incarnation, we are destined to incarnate again into another human form. We continue
this cycle until we receive Gnosis -- knowledge of who we are and where we came from.
By now you are probably thinking that this sounds a lot like talk from the New Age people.
You are right.
If this form of Christianity intriques you and picques your interest, I would suggest that you
take some time and read some of the texts from the Nag Hammadi library. To access this library and the most comprehensive
Gnostic website there is, click on the link below.