JOHN LAMB LASH
Comparative Mythologist.
John Lamb Lash
Comparative mythologist, author and teacher John Lash is one of the foremost exponents of the power of myth to direct and shape an individual's life, as well as history itself. Described as the true successor of Joseph Campbell, John is a teacher of world mythology, Gnosticism, the pre-Christian Mysteries, along with many of his other expert talents. He has traveled widely and lived in Japan, the UK, Greece, Norway, France, Spain and Belgium.
His unpublished and in-progress works include original studies of alchemy, the Dendera Zodiac, eonic cycles in the World Ages ("parallel history"), psychonautics and entheogenic shamanism for the future. He is the leading exponent of the new discipline of metacritique (radical analysis of belief systems).
In 1981, John founded the Institute for Creative Mythology in Santa Fe, New Mexico. ICM offered an open forum to explore universal "directive"—psychologically active—myths and their expressions in culture and daily living. At ICM John gave lectures and interactive seminars on a broad range of subjects, including Gnosticism, the erotic psychology of the Troubadours, Mesoamerican calendars, and Goddess rites of participation in the seasonal cycles of nature. Over several years, he developed a long course in alchemy that resulted in an extensive syllabus and study guide entitled "The Great Work: Alchemy and PsychoEcology."
For over 35 years, John Lash has specialized in studies of sidereal mythology—myths found in all cultures around the world relating to the patterns in the skies. He has a unique technique of observation, combined with an original method of reading those patterns and relating them to the way we live and view the world. He is recognized as a leading scholar on ancient astronomy, the Zodiac, and precession of the equinoxes (World Ages).
John Lash is also co-founder and principal author of metahistory.org, sponsored by the Marion Institute.
The purpose of this site is to challenge unexamined beliefs and foster a future myth centered on Gaia, the living planet.
John's published books:
The Seeker's Handbook: The Complete Guide to Spiritual Pathfinding (Crown, 1991)
Twins and the Double (Thames & Hudson, 1993)
The Hero - Manhood and Power (Thames & Hudson, 1995)
Quest for the Zodiac (Starhenge Books, 1999)
Forthcoming: Not in His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology, and the Future of Belief (Chelsea Green Publishing)
John Lamb Lash (born 1945) is an American author and scholar (comparative mythologist).
He is author of a number of books including The Seeker's Handbook: The Complete Guide to Spiritual Pathfinding (Crown, 1991), Twins and the Double (Thames & Hudson, 1993), The Hero - Manhood and Power (Thames & Hudson, 1995), Quest for the Zodiac (Starhenge Books, 1999) and Not in His Image (Chelsea Green Publishing Company , 2006)[1][2] . His work has focuses on Gnosticism and the myth of Sophia.
'PROBABLY THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOK OF OUR TIME.'
Not in His Image was published in November 2006 by Chelsea Green, a publisher dedicated to the practice and politics of sustainability. Some of you may know of Chelsea Green through their books on solar heating, earth and straw bale houses, organic gardening, and other topics relating to ecology and alternative living, going back over more than 20 years. With John Lash’s book, CGS is challenging the ideology and beliefs that threaten survival on this precious planet and presenting John’s careful recovery and restoration of the Gnostic myth of the earth goddess, Sophia, who we today call Gaia.
This series of ten talks, which ran from February through June 2007, were interviews with my collaborator and longtime friend, John Lash, about his book.
- Joanna Harcourt-Smith
New Book Explores Christianity’s BloodyPast
Basing much of Not in His Image on the Nag Hammadi and other Gnostic writings, John Lamb Lash explains how a little-known messianic sect propelled itself into a dominant world power, systematically wiping out the great Gnostic spiritual teachers, the Druid priests, and the shamanistic healers of Europe and North Africa. They burned libraries and destroyed temples in an attempt to silence the ancient truth-tellers and keep their own secrets. But as Lash reveals, when the truth is the planet Earth it cannot be hidden or destroyed.
Not in His Image delves deeply into the shadows of ancient Gnostic writings to reconstruct the story early Christians tried to scrub from the pages of history, exploring the richness of the ancient European Pagan spirituality—the Pagan Mysteries, the Great Goddess, Gnosis, the myths of Sophia and Gaia—and chronicles the annihilation of this Pagan European culture at the hands of Christianity.
Long before the birth of Christianity, monotheism was an anomaly; Europe and the Near East flourished under the divine guidance of Sophia, the ancient goddess of wisdom. The Earth was the embodiment of Sophia and thus sacred to the people who sought fulfillment in her presence. This ancient philosophy was threatening to the emerging salvation-based creed of Christianity that was based on patriarchal dominion over the Earth and lauded personal suffering as a path to the afterlife. As Derrick Jensen points out in the foreword, in Lash’s hands Jesus Christ emerges as the agent provocateur of the ruling classes.
John Lamb Lash is the foremost exponent of the practice of mythology, a true heir to Joseph Campbell. He is a co-founder and principal author of the Marion Institute’s website www.metahistory.org, an inquiry about the contemporary meaning of humanity’s myths and beliefs. He has written a number of books, including The Seeker’s Handbook, Twins and the Double, The Hero—Manhood and Power, and Quest for the Zodiac. The author lives in Europe.
Derrick Jensen is the author of A Language Older Than Words,Walking on Water, and The Culture of Make Believe.
1/10/11 John Lash: Nag Hammadi, Sophia Myth, Archons, Sumerian & Annunaki
Dis-Info - Grok Talk
10/01/11 John Lash: Sophia/Gaia & Her Memory, Right Action, Eco-Sorcery
- Time Monk Radio.
Not in His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology, and the Future of Belief by John Lamb Lash
Not Merely A Book, But A Tragic Truth Rarely Spoken Of
Basing much of Not in His Image on the Nag Hammadi and other Gnostic writings, John Lamb Lash explains how a little-known messianic sect propelled itself into a dominant world power, systematically wiping out the great Gnostic spiritual teachers, the Druid priests, and the shamanistic healers of Europe and North Africa. They burned libraries and destroyed temples in an attempt to silence the ancient truth-tellers and keep their own secrets. But as Lash reveals, when the truth is the planet Earth it cannot be hidden or destroyed. Not in His Image delves deeply into the shadows of ancient Gnostic writings to reconstruct the story early Christians tried to scrub from the pages of history, exploring the richness of the ancient European Pagan spirituality--the Pagan Mysteries, the Great Goddess, Gnosis, the myths of Sophia and Gaia--and chronicles the annihilation of this Pagan European culture at the hands of
Christianity. Long before the birth of Christianity, monotheism was an anomaly; Europe and the Near East flourished under the divine guidance of Sophia, the ancient goddess of wisdom.
The Earth was the embodiment of Sophia and thus sacred to the people who sought fulfillment in her presence. This ancient philosophy was threatening to the emerging salvation-based creed of Christianity that was based on patriarchal dominion over the Earth and lauded personal suffering as a path to the afterlife. As Derrick Jensen points out in the foreword, in Lashs hands Jesus Christ emerges as the agent provocateur of the ruling classes.
GnosticVision, Sacred
Ecology, and the Future of Belief by John Lamb Lash
'Not in his Image': (A book that can change your life if you let it)
This is not just a "Gnostic Book" but what remains is the synthesis for understanding WHY these teachings were overtly and covertly destroyed of course the answer would be 'Control and Manipulation' but it go's much deeper then that read this Treasure trove of a deeply misunderstood mythos of the True Mystic practices and teachings of the ancients and you will see why.....
this is not just a book per se - but a new way of looking at the planet in which we live/share by this, i mean the nature of our true existence what the organic natural order was clearly meant to be.
The death of the first true Mystic, Shaman, Druid, whatever is the falsity of what we have become today a phony version of the earlier truer purer, version of the real human we have deteriorated from this because of the sequestered archive of Gnosis that would greatly benefit the whole world. it is a very tragic story but it is in knowing the reality of this story and the true purposes behind it, that can get us out of the fictitious play we are all suffering right now, in a digitized, cybernetic playground of misguided euphoria.
The first chapter of the book says it all, but that is far too much to go into for a review, the latter of the book may be a little hard to digest due to it's "Out There" views by the shamans, (Telestei)who make very intriguing/important claims about the outer reaches of space i.e. [it's entities] highly engrossing but it must be looked at with an open mind if this case is true and i believe it is, then it means nothing about Alien=intrusion/subjugation phenomena is new at all, and many we believe to be benevolent may in fact be quite the opposite deceptive with sinister motives intended for the human species to milk our minds into believing
they are our 'salvation/space brothers) when they are in truth jealous of us, and always have been just as our ancestors have said/warned.
Many may say the book is a little too Ethnocentric, so what if it is? because one get's the message does not make one a "Nature Freak" to the contrary what is truly "freakish" is the Un-Reality of an Alien power structure Geomantically thrust upon it's inhabitants in an un-earthly manner, not allowing a harmonious/glorious way of living with the earth as we were intended ah, but that's another story.
We have been so misguided/controlled/ and lied to for so long it is no wonder we find ourselves in the chaotic times we are in now, and unfortunately will continue to be in if we cannot break free from the clutches of barbarous ideology, greed, sadism, hive mindedness, (group think) mass ignorance, etc.. Religion is the greatest cancer on man-kinds soul, not to mention the whole earth and if it is not to be eradicated it must be unlearn(d)to the point of it becoming irrelevant/inapplicable/Hindrance to our future potentiality of(for)genius and
growth towards a truly Utopian society where in by, we work together as a human collective not 'Divided' into small or large groups with an old-school religious cave-man mentality demanding our "others" to be as we are merely because they do not adhere to the "male alien god" hierarchical male-centric structure which so blatantly dominants the minds of millions of people the world over.
Indeed this is a terrible cancer and we need massive surgery the question is, is it too late? who knows, what is known is that time will ultimately tell but i digress to hold by breath. Something else that this author has touched upon is the Gnostic's knowledge of the origin and the meaning/function of the Archons = Aliens, Reptilians, Inner Dimensional(s)which can be described as a sort of..
"Freak Occurrence" shaping long ago in the heavens i.e. outer space, and this correlates with the Goddess mythos (the great spirit creator of the earth) "Sophia" i would like to note this is all very poetical and do not subscribe to all this information wither it be true or false point is, it sure as heck makes one think differently about what they (we) have been brought up to believe. this book also gives a shattering blow to the "big three" and that mysterious
"Special Guy" that has been argued about, will continue to argue about ad Infinity- this ties into what lash dubs the "Victim-Perpetrator-Bond" after reading most of this book i came to my conclusion that all of us are 'that special guy'(the divine victim) i.e. (our true human nature) we just do not realize it and have not come to our own "Natural Mystic Resurrection" .. yet.
One does not have to die to attain a perfect state of bliss or feel entitled to a 'gift' for earthly purity to some bizarre god-man, but can find the bliss in the here and now nothing is unique about this idea at all, it as been said for thousands of years.
In the words of the Hopi "we are the ones we have been waiting for" it is US who must grow up spiritually, humanely, with the sanity/wisdom that will guide us- nobody is going to come in and do it for us, if their is a second coming it will be a second coming of this understanding in the human psyche, to finally be enlightened to our true nature and purpose along side the great spirit itself (goddess, god, love, call-it-what-you-will)
It is good to see the author is putting the missing pieces together that most scholars "Experts" either reject or simply do not have the intellectual capacity rather (academic snobbery) to put forth real concrete/ancient her- story to the foreground. So, in summery an A+ for this alone, sadly many do not get into the meat of this misunderstood primordial story because it needs to be fully understood to as many people (students/Truth seekers/Freethinkers) as possible.
their are few paradigm shifting books in this age, and this is one of them. Buy it and you will see why.
SOPHIAS CORRECTION
John Lamb Lash
RED ICE RADIO 7/21/2011
Judaism is a revealed religion that forbids any addition to or modification of the initial revelation given directly by God to certain chosen emissaries such as Moses and Solomon. The Torah cannot be altered or amended, but certain Jewish mystics believed that they could read the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet like a secret code and thus access further revelations from the Deity. The esoteric knowledge they developed was preserved in a complex system called the Cabala. (Modern version of the Cabalistic Tree of Life. From Kabbalah by Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi, Thames & Hudson, 1992)
Cabala Literally, “tradition, legacy.”
Also spelled Kabbalah and Qabala.
A vast and obscure system of mystical teachings consisting of a model of creation (the “Tree of Life”) and a complex language of symbols intended for developing access to God or the supreme Godhead, called Ain Soph Aur, “Supreme and Single Golden Wisdom Light.
”
The origins of the Cabala are as obscure as some of its teachings. Its current form was defined by Moses de Leon in the 13th century, but it certainly derives from a long hidden tradition among the ancient Hebrews. Study of the Cabala and arduous exertion in the practices it involves are said to lead to a direct, ever-new and ever-changing revelation of God. In this sense, Cabala is a heretic system opposed to the fundamentalist belief that God was contacted at certain times in the past by certain chosen emissaries, such as Moses, to whom was given a primordial revelation of truth that cannot be changed or improved.
Christos From the Greek verb khriein, "to anoint." Literally, "the anointed." Direct equivalent to the Hebrew messiah, a title used for the anointed kings in ancient Jewish religion, and retained in specific reference to the Messiah, the awaited savior, the spiritual hero and judge.
When shortened to Christ, this is certainly the most problematic and misleading term in world religion. Discerning the Gnostic Christos from the Christian Christ is one of the essential tasks we face in recovering the true message of Pagan Mysteries.
The identification of Jesus (human) as "the Christ" (superhuman, divine, "Only-Begotten Son of God) was made by Saint Paul around 75 CE, but the divinity of Jesus Christ was not established as a doctrinal matter until the Nicean Council of 325 CE. At that event, the Emperor Constantine forced the vote so that he could meld his political power with the mystique of a fast-growing new religion, later to be known Christianity. Belief in the divinity of Jesus may be an inspiring and comforting thing to many people, but to the faux-convert Constantine it was savvy political move, a way to underwrite Roman law by divine authority. The Roman Catholic alliance of fascism with salvationist in the Divine Redeemer was to exercise a death-grip on the world for many centuries, and still does, although that grip is failing.
Before Constantine, certain Emperoros had declared themselves divine. They were viewed as arrogant fools by the general public, and rejected as charlatans by Gnostics and others among the Pagan intelligentsia. The claim to divinity of the emperors (the assumption of "divine afflatus," as it was called) was an attempt by the decadent tryants of the failing empire to steal the prestige associated with the telestai, the initiates in the Mysteries; and, to a certain extent, to imitate Alexander the Great, who was the first to attempt this ploy. Constantine was extremely clever in seeing that he could not declare himself divine, but then he didn't have to, because there was a better option: instead of declaring himself a god, he aligned himself with the Christos, the god-man.
The decline of the Mystery Schools after the Augustan Era [29 BCE - 14 CE] was in part due to a massive popular demand for a kind of personal salvation that the Mysteries (being a transpersonal path) did not offer. This demand, in turn, was part of a general movement that arose at the turn of the Age, from Aries to Pisces, around 150 BCE. The Greek astronomer is credited with discovering precession around that time, but in fact, he only disclosed publicly what had been known to initiates for centuries. This disclosure had catastrophic results, because it produced in the masses a false sense of empowerment. The conviction that everyone had a personal fate that could be changed at will was a popular assumption of the time, due to a widespread misunderstanding of the meaning of precession (change in the stars: change of fate). The massive demand for a change of personal fate led to a "New Age" movement, baptism cults, a rage for conversion. The Mysteries were unable to respond to the rampant narcissism of the moment...
One huge factor in this upsurge of narcissism (self-concern) was the emergence in the collective unconscious of a numinous figure or role model for humanity. Eventually, the image of the god-man Jesus Christ was formulated to meet this need, but it did not really satisfy it. It is an inauthentic solution to the human need for a generic sense of humanity, a species identity. Nevertheless, the solution persisted, and, having become ingrown to human dignity, now presents an enormous obstacle to defining and realizing our generic sense of humanity.
In strict usage, the Gnostic Christos ought not to be equated with the Pauline Christ, the Incarnation, or the Joannine Christ, the Word Made Flesh.
The confusion of the Gnostic Aeon Christos with the Christ of doctrinal Christianity is one of the greatest obstacles to a clear understanding of Gnostic cosmology and psycho-mythology.
The Aeon Christos who figures in the Gaia Mythos is not the same as Christ in Pauline-Joannine theology. It is completely wrong to attribute the qualities and powers of "Jesus the Christ" to that Aeon, that Pleromic entity. It is also incorrect to suppose that the true and original teachings of Christianity were Gnostic, and were transmitted by initiates who knew the true identity of the Aeon Christos, but then these teachings came to be twisted and muddled by lesser minds who siezed upon the illuminist message for personal and political gain. The doctrines concerning Christ, as constrasted to the illuminist message about Christos, were perverse from the outset. Christian doctrines of salvation and divine intervention cannot be salvaged by the argument that they contain the germ of true illuminist teachings. Not should they be, in my opinion.
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