CosmosYaldabaoth
Yaldabaoth
Also called: Saklas · Samael · Demiurge
The name of a creator god in 2nd- and 3rd-century Gnostic texts.In this narrative he is the blind god who made the material world, the architect of the prison that traps humanity.
Established facts
Yaldabaoth is the name of a god appearing in 2nd- and 3rd-century Gnostic texts.He appears in the Nag Hammadi texts "The Secret Book of John" and "On the Origin of the World," among others.One theory holds the name comes from the Hebrew "yalda bahut" (child of chaos).In Gnostic myth, he is depicted as a god with a lion's face.Yaldabaoth is the child Sophia (Wisdom) bore alone, and he appears as the creator, the Demiurge, who made the material world.He mistakes himself for the one true god and goes on to create six more gods.
Saturn broadcasts, the moon amplifies, and after death a white light sends you back.
In this narrativeThe blind god who made matter
In this narrative, Yaldabaoth is the god who made the material world1.He is the child that the goddess of wisdom, Sophia, bore alone1.Once born, he has the face of a lion1.He mistakes himself for the one above whom no one exists1.So he declares himself the one true god1.In Gnostic myth, this mistake is the beginning of the entire material world1.
In this narrativeFathering seven gods
Yaldabaoth creates six more gods beneath himself1.This group of seven together forms the Hebdomad1.Each god governs one heaven1.The seven gods generally correspond to the sun, the moon, and the five visible planets1.Yaldabaoth himself sits in Saturn's seat1.So in this picture, Saturn is the heaven Yaldabaoth rules1.
In this narrativeThe gatekeeper of the prison
In this narrative, Yaldabaoth is the god who built the prison1.The archons are the gatekeepers who guard that prison2.They make people forget their own divine origin2.So the soul is caught in a repeating cycle of birth and death2.One branch even holds that the "being of light" met after death is itself this gatekeeper's final trap2.Rejecting that light and returning to the source is presented as the way out2.
In this narrativeA path this site does not follow
One source discussing Yaldabaoth equates him with the god of the Old Testament1.A jealous, wrathful god who claims to be the one true god1.This reading casts an entire religion's scripture and god as a lesser creator.This site does not carry that specific claim forward.Here, we only note that such a reading exists within the source material.
Connected concepts
- Archons and the Demiurge →The six gods Yaldabaoth creates, plus himself, add up to the seven that make the archon host.
- Hebdomad →The name for the seven gods with Yaldabaoth at their head is the Hebdomad.
- Saturn →One line, that Yaldabaoth's seat is Saturn, turns a mythical god into a planet.
- Gnosis →The way out of the prison Yaldabaoth built is gnosis, meaning knowledge.
- Soul Trap →The claim that even the light met after death is a trap continues into the soul-trap story.