Malachi - Living Gnosis

About the Author

Malachi Eben Ha-Elijah is a modern mystic. His journey on the spiritual path began when he was a young boy, when he encountered a tau of the Sophian tradition of Gnostic Christianity, Tau Elijah ben Miriam. He received the oral tradition of Sophian Gnosticism from Tau Elijah, and has been a student and practitioner of Gnostic Christianity for over thirty-four years. In 1983 he founded Sophia Fellowship as an expression of the tradition, and has been teaching and initiating others into Christian Gnosticism, Rosicrucian philosophy, and the Holy Kabbalah since that time. He is an initiate of Ordo Sanctus Gnosis and holds the recognition of an elder and tau of the Sophian tradition.

Along with his studies in the Western Mystery tradition, Tau Malachi has studied extensively in several Eastern traditions, such as Vajrayana Buddhism and Vedanta, as well as studying and practicing a Middle Eastern tradition of Sufism. While Gnostic Christianity has always been his heart-path and spiritual home, Malachi speaks of himself as a traveler and explorer of the spirit and truth, and his journey has taken him to many sacred places and into diverse Wisdom traditions.

For many years Tau Malachi served as a hospice volunteer, a volunteer trainer, and for a period of time as a hospice chaplain. Although he worked with patients suffering from various forms of terminal illness, much of his work focused on individuals living with HIV and AIDS. Today he lives in the Sierra foothills, in Nevada City, California.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Living Gnosis: A Practical Guide to Gnostic Christianity 2005 by Tau Malachi.

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First e-book edition 2012

E-book ISBN: 9780738716312

Book design by Joanna Willis and Connie Hill

Cover design by Gavin Dayton Duffy

Cover painting Christ Healing the Blind, 17th C., Nicolas Poussin (15941665/French), Musee du Louvre, Paris 2004 by Peter Willi / Superstock

Editing by Valerie Valentine

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Contents

: Gnosis and Gnosticism

: Gnosis of the Living Yeshua

: The Enlightenment of the Messiah

: The Holy Bride and First Apostle

: The Sacred Dance

: The Holy One, God the Father, and God the Mother

: The Demiurgos and Evil

: The Apocalypse and Second Coming of Christ

: Essential Wisdom of the Torah

: Essential Wisdom of the Gospel

: The Path of Gnosis

: Spiritual Affirmation and Creative Visualization

: The Perfection of Success

Acknowledgments

As always I must give thanks to my beloved Teacher, Tau Elijah ben Miriam, and his circle of spiritual companions who taught and initiated me into the Sophian tradition of Gnostic Christianity. What flows out as discourses and books today is the expression of his blessing and teachings. He was, perhaps, the best friend Ill ever have and a great light in this worldhe is always in my heart.

I need to acknowledge and thank Penelope Amadali for her loving and faithful help in putting the manuscript of this book together, and all of my spiritual companions without whose love, encouragement, and support this project could not have been done. I am truly blessed to have such amazing spiritual friends and companions on the journey!

I also wish to thank Llewellyn Worldwide and all of the staff at Llewellyn who worked on this project. Llewellyn does a great service by giving voice to peoples of alternative spirituality and, without them, I do not know if this book would have been publishedthese delightful folks are quite something.

Books are truly a co-creation because they involve the effort and creativity of so many people, including the reader who brings the cycle of writing to its fruition. So to everyone involved, I give my thanks for participation in this adventure! You are deeply appreciated!

Introduction

Something akin to a Big Bang of spirituality and esoteric wisdom happened about two thousand years ago that would deeply influence peoples in the West. From it, Gnostic Christianity and the Kabbalah came into beingthe deeper mystical dimension of Christianity and Judaism, which are interwoven in Sophian Gnosticism. Today the Big Bang echoes as more and more people are discovering the beauty and power of both Gnosticism and the Kabbalah, and a Gnostic revival has begun in Europe and America. Essentially, after a long time of turning to the East for enlightenment teachings, people in the West are discovering the mystical roots of their own Western tradition and are realizing that there are living traditions of enlightenment in the West as effective and as rich as anything to be found in the East.

This book is an introduction and practical guide to a living tradition of Gnostic Christianity called Sophian Gnosticism. It tells the tale of how Gnosticism came into being and the nature of gnosis among Sophian Gnostics. In it, you will find basic Gnostic ideas and views, along with essential spiritual wisdom drawn from an oral tradition of Gnostic Christianity, and you will learn how to practically apply the wisdom of gnosis to your daily living. More than an introduction and practical guide, it is an invitation into the mystical and magical dimensions of Gnostic Christianity and to the experience of a Spirit-connection that includes greater prosperity, success, health, and happiness by way of Gnostic wisdom.

Though the intention of this book is an introduction for those new to Gnostic Christianity, and it provides a most basic level of Gnostic teachings and practices, what is given is the foundation of the Gnostic path used by novice and adept practitioners alike. Thus, while there is wisdom useful to beginners in this book, there is also wisdom for those more advanced in their spiritual path. Although it speaks specifically of Gnostic spiritual practice, one will find that the teachings and practices presented go beyond the label of Gnosticism, and that the book reflects practical wisdom useful to anyone in the spiritual quest, whether or not she or he is a Gnostic. Gnosticism is, in essence, a spiritual or mystical journey seeking self-realization, and the essential wisdom of Gnosticism directs us to look inwardly to experience a Spirit-connection. In this sense, there is something universal in Gnostic teachings, and the Gnostic transcends her or his own wisdom tradition. Truly, she or he is a mystic in an adventure of consciousness, seeking to activate and embody a higher consciousness and power by whatever name it might be called. It just so happens that, in Gnostic Christianity, this consciousness and power is called the light-presence or Christos, and it is spoken of in the language of Christian Mysticism or Gnosticism.