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Where these ideas came from is uncertain. Originally the Mysteries had no dogma, it being part of the initiatory process to interpret the rites, along with your personal experiences in them, as freely as possible. Thus like modern Freemasonry (itself a relic of Orphism), the Dionysian Mysteries probably contained many inclinations and schools of thought (G.R.S Mead writes of other obscure sects, two of which he calls the Thiasi and the Orgeones, which emerged amongst the Dionysians). Most Dionysian initiates interpreted their mythos in a very traditional way, following an ancient worldview inherited from the Bronze Age. According to this view Primal Nature was 'chaotic', paradoxical and mysterious, out of which arose a coherent world that was largely a conceptual creation - though not necessarily ours (of course this is a modern interpretation, but for us their theology can best be understood in this way). The key point being that for them there was one Cosmos, rather than the "Heaven & Earth" duality of the Orphics, and it was a pantheistic one. Thus their basic ideas were the same as the Orphics, but there was no denigration of, and separation from, the material world and the body. Their esoteric tasks involved working with this ineffable spiritual reality behind the everyday world - the source of life - as magicians and healers, rather than transcendence, in the mystical sense.
The Orphic 'heresy' seems to have arisen from this in a number of stages. Firstly, from what Joseph Campbell called the Great Reversal, a psychological shift occurring in the late Bronze Age, a period of catastrophe, war and famine (associated in the Aegean with the collapse of Minoan Civilisation, and subsequent mutual destruction of Troy and Mycenae, between 1400 and 1150 BC. See the article 'Enclosure and Catastrophe' for a likely cause of these events). After two centuries of such suffering earthly existence was seen no longer seen as such a positive place and a tradition of lament arose. For many this would be a sobering experience- finding later expression in Greek Tragedy - but did not cut them off from life. For others however the world became very dark and a negative tradition of transcendence emerged. The embodied world became something apart from our original existence, rather than a partial manifestation of it. Many myths thus became inward looking, unworldly and mystical rather than connected to a positive, productive reality. Fortunately this trend did not gain much ground in the Aegean, though certain mystical sects did begin to emerge there (particularly, it appears, amongst fallen aristocracies, who lost most in this period).
The Orient however was initially far more effected by the Great Reversal and here various influential schools of Mysticism gradually emerged. The Ancient Greeks wrote of several travelling mystics from India (as far as we can tell these were mostly Jains, with possibly some 'proto-Buddhist' Nastika, and perhaps a few ascetic Shivaics) who allegedly made Greek converts. Oriental material was probably also received 'second hand' via eclectic sources in Asia Minor. A mystical melting pot probably developed at this stage. Oriental concepts in some of the developing Greek mystical sects confirm this.
The Orphic school represents the influence of such Greek Mysticism on the Dionysian Mysteries. It probably emerged within the seed bed of the rational and moralistic cult of Dionysos Athenaios which greatly influenced Orphics. An ethico-metaphysical doctrine of Orphism gradually evolved, and eventually separated from the 'lower' Dionysian Mysteries, becoming the centre of Greek Mysticism. Orphics considering themselves higher initiates of Dionysos (and Apollo).
The
first Orphic was traditionally Orpheus (hence their name), the poet-enchanter
son of Oeagrus, a King of Thrace. Orpheus appears to be an initiatory name
taken from a heroic hunter in Thracian myth (considered a form of Dionysos).
Though it is not known if the historical figure really existed or was just
a myth of origin. Orpheus is mentioned in some older Dionysian texts and
does not seem to have been exclusively Orphic. But later these fabled personas
would become merged in Orphic mythology. The poems and writings attributed
to Orpheus (though having more than one author according to experts) became
the sacred texts of Orphism. It is curious that the founder of a mystical
movement would come from the most primitively pagan of all places in the
Aegean, perhaps a case of extremes mutating to their opposites? (another
theory points to the fact that the Thracians practice a form of Northern
Shamanism, with its very ascetic initiation procedures, perhaps sowing
the seeds for later Orphism.) Orpheus, whether real or mythic, was said
to have been the founder of the alphabet, greatest poet - musician - artist,
and father of all the Mysteries, in general combining features of Hermes
and Dionysos. Later he was said to be the son (and high priest) of Apollo.
Less ostentatiously, he was the revealer of the 'truths' of the Mysteries,
which he recorded on tablets of stone at Mount Haimos. Thus Orpheus fixed
what before was free.
Early Orphism tended to have few physical schools (perhaps only one) and to be represented by individual travelling initiators, Orpheotelestai, with no fixed ties to any place or community. They rejected animal sacrifices and were vegetarian, shunning any contact with flesh or blood. To 'lower people' they acted as healers, but tended to be aloof from them. Later Orphic religious communities began to emerge, with their ranks of Musaei, or teaching initiates. It's Mysteries were not overtly different from the orthodox Dionysian Mysteries. It retained it's method of initiation and tradition of orgiasm, but their practical purpose became one of transcendence, as in Buddhist Tantra.
In the once secret Orphic version of the Dionysian Myth, mankind was seen as arising from the charred fragments of the Titans (a title of the Minoan Kings, linked to the old gods) who were struck down by the patriarchal Zeus for their rebellion, in particular their murderous dismemberment and cannibalization of his son (or aspect) Dionysos Zagreus. These fragments contained both Titanic (material and bestial) and Dionysian (spiritual and ensouled) essence. The Titans thus replaced the Maenads as the slayers of Dionysos (though they would be preserved as the ultimate killers of Orpheus). Thus ambiguous female 'forces of nature' were replaced by 'evil', masculine powers.
The Orphic mission was to free the constantly reincarnating soul from the 'wheel of rebirth', and use the teachings of Orpheus to separate the Dionysian spirit from gross matter reuniting the fragments of Dionysos in a heavenly paradise. Their motto being Soma Sema, "the body, a tomb".
Both Minoan and Thracian traditions lurked behind this mythos, as well as Oriental concepts. It would appear that whoever wrote it blamed the Bronze Age chaos on Thracian and Minoan a rulers (the incarnations of their gods, the Titans) and their 'degenerate' Pagan practises. But as only the aristocracy and the conformist classes of the time fully accepted the identity of the their rulers and the gods, this would identify the 'heresy' as a predominantly upper class one within Dionysianism, rather than a grass roots one. Though it shows an ethical rebelliousness which previously did not exist in the aristocracy.
The specific Orphic Myth however was that of Orpheus and Eurydice. Here Orpheus's bride, following a fatal dalliance with a thinly disguised Lord of the Animals, descends into the underworld. Orpheus (as the hunter son of Apollo and Urania) follows in an attempt to rescue her. He escapes himself but does not succeed in his quest. Afterwards he becomes an ascetic rejecting all women and is finally torn apart by the Maenads. This is obviously a reworking of a pagan fertility myth, but Orphics interpreted the underworld as the material one and the world above it as heaven. Some have seen references to an, at best, homoerotic or, at worst, a puritanical misogynistic aspect of Orphism in this myth.
The
Orphics also developed a complex cosmology. Recorded in their Orphic Theogony
and Argonautics. Here the cosmos was originally non material void. A divine
power, the eggborn Eros (identified with Dionysos Phanes, God of Light),
a golden winged hermaphrodite with four heads (Human, Bull, Serpent and
Ram), emerged spontaneously from the void and began to create our universe
via an act of will and imagination. At some stage, after various dualistic
and triadic generations involved in this creation, an imbalance occurred
from which emerged Strife. Following which the cosmos became imperfect
and our everyday world emerged from it. Many later details were added involving
complex hierarchies and aspects similar to those found in the Qabbalah
(See Mead's Orphism for details). Though ultimately Dionysos Phanes united
everything as one within his being. Much of this complexity today seem
excessive and unnecessary, and was probably a ploy for creating an elite
class of theological experts within Orphism.
A significant change occurs to the Orphic Mysteries in the early 6th Century. Here the ruler of Athens, Hipparchos, commissions a committee to collate and redact all the works of Orpheus, creating an official canon. The task is taken so seriously that when one member's contribution displeases Hipparchos he has him permanently banished from Athens. From then on Orphism is not only standardized but politically correct, and patronized by the Athenian establishment.
The Orphic works of this period reveal that it had developed a strong philosophical base and collected the most advanced scientific belief of the time. Apollo is emphasized more than in orthodox Dionysianism of the period, and there is talk of an orderly cosmos and scientifically discoverable 'Laws of Nature'. Their astronomy is the most advanced of its period, describing a spherical, spinning earth within a heliocentric solar system, with records going back to 1000BC. However they were not merely narrow scientific materialists and sought to combine science with art and the spiritual. Thus their texts were written in a literary style and the Law of Nature was described as the manifestation of Eros, the power of creation, attraction and harmony. They also matched their astronomical skills with a great knowledge of astrology. Zodiacal Astrology in the form we know it today is largely an Orphic invention. Stars were, for them, spiritual essences entering the world, each star being a ray of Dionysos Phanes, the Being of Light, and the ultimate source and destiny of a reincarnating soul.
This classic, or Orphean, Orphism was soon modified by the reforms of Pythagoras in the late 6th cent. Pythagoras, an Orphic initiate, turned his Orphism into a form of Logical Mysticism, involving the Mysteries of the Lyre of Orpheus. Here the Orphic theories of Cosmic Law, Harmony and Sympathy were given centre stage and greatly developed. The Apollonian side of Orphism gained the ascendant and Dionysos begins to mutate into a very different form. This movement also saw a moderation in ecstatic techniques and a rise in discipline and ascetic practices. Pythagoreanism proper remained a fringe sect of Orphism, and was later suppressed, but it would greatly influence the movement as a whole and the traditional Orpheans would soon become the 'ancients' of the tradition.
Judging from the life of Empedocles, an Orphic Philosopher of this period, they may also have held concepts similar to that of the Tantric Bodhisattva (conscious incarnation of the illuminated). Empedocles declared himself to have passed through successive incarnations, from fish to man, and to now be a living god. He taught a rationalised form of Orphism involving cyclic time. To prove his immortality he throw himself into Mount Etna, alas never to be seen again.
The
final stage of Orphism was the Platonic. While Plato wasn't an Orphic or
Pythagorean, he certainly admired them and developed many of their ideas
(he was also influenced via Socrates, by the older Minoan mysteries of
Diotima). In the 4th cent BC an elite school of Orphics adopted
Platonic ideals and practised both moderate hedonic techniques and severe
ascetic ones. These would become the 'Establishment' of late Orphism.
By this time Dionysianism and Orphism in their most extreme Forms were diametrically opposed. The former being earthily spiritual, passionate and libertarian, the latter, unworldly mystical, logical and paternally authoritarian. But then Orphism was also intelligent, ethical and progressive, where as more ancient forms of Dionysianism were instinctive, amoral and sometimes regressive. Fortunately exchanges between the two, rooted in the same soil, would continue and the more open schools in both camps would exchange some of their more positive attributes. In particular what little is known about the metaphysics of the late Dionysian cult appears to have owed much to Orphism, but without adopting its negative mysticism. Records of this phase, dating from about the 2nd Cent BC, reveal an eclectic cult of universalist inclinations (traditionally Dionysians, unlike Orphics, had been very regional and local culture orientated). In particular two Dionysoi were portrayed, an old and a young, often in the same scene, one of whom was identified with a Hellenized Sabazius.
Towards the end of the Millennium the Mystery cults became the sport of the aristocracy and many Thiasoi became corrupt. The Dionysian Mysteries in particular may have lost much of its plebeian membership following the crushing of the Sparticans. Even the purist schools of Orphism were said to have gone into decline.
This was one of the factors that led to the rise of the modern Judeo-Christian current, and the other purist religions of this period, as people reacted against 'degenerate' paganism, particular as found within the Roman Empire. Many of these trends took an earlier Orphism as their model.
Orphism would be the last of the 'Pagan' Mysteries to survive in the West (until the late 5th cent AD, at least), along with Mithracism, Iseanism, Serapeanism and other mystery cults. In an age of hypocrisy and "holiness" Classical Dionysianism would gradually die out (in all but the most remote locations), or be driven underground, along with other earthier Paganism.
The last historical evidence of the cult of Dionysos dates to the early 5th Cent AD (in the writings of Nonnos). However adaptive Dionysian schools appear to have survived for a little longer within the Orphean wing of Orphism. Thus making Orphism an unwitting vessel of Dionysian survival. This can be seen in the preservation of allegedly Orphic texts which sound strangely 'primitive' and quite non-Orphic. Dionysians could pay lip service to Orphic ideas, alien to their inclinations, in order to survive as part of an organised network, just as later Pagans would do the same in more liberal Christian Churches (from the Celtic to the Latin American).
It also appears that more conservative, elitist schools of Dionysianism may have combined in a similar way with the military caste cults associated with Mithracism (the in some ways similar cults of Dionysos and Mithras having developed points of contact for a long time).
By the end of the 5th century Orphism itself would be dead, but not before giving birth to various offspring. One of these was Christianity, which contains hundreds Orphic and Dionysian archetypes. Most obviously the divine son of a Jovian sky god, named Iesus (a local rendition of Iasios, a Dionysos name often given to initiates), born in a 'grotto' among animals. Who preaches a new form of Orphic ethics, often using viticultural metaphors, prophesises, 'raises the dead' and heals the sick (all Orphic/Dionysian traits), works with fishermen (Orpheus was a Hunter/Fisher) and plagiarises the well known Dionysos magick of turning water into wine, during a sacred marriage rite. Before finally being 'hung on a tree', slaughtered as sacrificial scapegoat, and resurrected. All followed by apocalyptic warnings of divine wrath for his murder, reminiscent of Zeus' anger against the Titans!
Unfortunately it appears that this mythos contained no traces of the original Dionysos cult beyond its imagery (if anything it was its negation), being a grafting of a pacifistic, Orphic hybrid onto Nazareanism and radical Judaism, by Paul of Tarsus, as the 'Pauline Mystery Cult', later referred to as Christianity. Though it is unknown how much of the Dionysian thematic came from this mutated Orphism and how much had previously seeped into Judaism, thus facilitating the hybridisation. Saul's local idiosyncratic brand of Orphism was even more puritanical than the Platonic school, and had an almost pathological disdain for pleasure, and sex in particular. It was the absolute antithesis of Dionysianism. Its political purpose was anti-Nazarean, to neutralize the aggressive revolutionary movement within Judaism, and unite the Jewish faith with the Roman Mystery tradition. This latter aim seems to have been particularly successful given the overlap between early Pauline Christianity and some schools of Late Orphism (see below). At one period the Roman Emperor built a private temple to the 'god-men', Orpheus, Jesus, Abraham and the Pythagorean Sorcerer Apollonius of Tyana! Though in general Emperors had their own preferred cults (such as the African faith of Severus or Caligula's Serapeanism) and Paul's Crypto-Orphism was treated as another dangerous rival, no different to the subversive Nazareans amongst the more radical Jews.
However Christianity did provide the ground for a more interesting offspring of Orphism in Gnosticism. While nominally Christian (and so surviving even today) Gnosticism appears to have essentially been a close reworking of Orphism. Intermediate sects are found in Asia Minor that combine Orphic and Christian imagery, notably a Pagan seal of Orpheos Bakkikos, the crucified fisherman, dating to around 300AD.
First emerging in Egypt and Asia Minor, the last bastions of the Orphic movement, around the 2nd cent AD - though not flowering until about two centuries later - Gnosticism was comprised of many sects. Most reflected the different factions that had existed within Orphism (including the Crypto-Dionysians), while others were influenced more by the ultra ascetic Manichaeans and Mandeans.
Overlapping with
Orphism for a period, Gnosticism seems to have appealed to Orphics disaffected
from the Orphic Movement as it existed at that time. Just as Orphism emerged
from the Dionysian Mysteries, so would Gnosticism emerge from the Orphic
Mysteries. Gnosticism and Xtian Orphism seem to have differed in the former's
emphasis of Judaic symbolism, distrust of excessive rationalism and hostility
to the established order (Pagan and Christian).
The term Gnosis reflected the belief that their doctrines were divinely inspired, a psychic illumination, from Sophia, available to anyone without priestly intermediators. In Orphism all teachings were once said to be received from Dionysos Phanes by higher initiates in trance, while the Dionysian Mysteries extended this ecstatic knowledge to anyone capable of achieving Dionysiac ecstasy. In later Orphism an elite class of Priests would 'teach' the Mysteries to initiates. Gnosticism was in this sense a return to Dionysian practises. The Christian element seems to be nominal, with Christ for them being not a physical man but a divine being in disguise, or at least a mortal prophet 'possessed' by a divine being. The divine being appears to be basically the Orphic Dionysos. Their morality was predominantly classical Orphic and sometimes Dionysian, rather than Pauline (although occasionally it was Manichean, which was probably worse), and their readings of Judeo-Christian scriptures were essentially pagan interpretations, relying on an interplay of Judaic and Hellenic mythology.
The world was said to be ruled by Archons (like Titan, once a title of pagan rulers), evil beings (the precursors of Christian 'Demons') serving the tyrannical creator god 'The Demiurge' (often called Sabaoth and identified with Jehovah). The current rulers of the world were their disciples. Archon names seem to be mostly derived from modified Pagan gods and Judaic deity-names, such as Sakla (the Egyptian Seker, God of the Dead), Jave (Jove of Rome), Ptah (directly from the Egyptian), Seraph (Alexandrian Serapis plus Hebrew Seraphim), Iao (Hebrew Yah) and Ialdabaoth (Hebrew?), their ranks and attributes differed between sects. The name of Sabaoth himself was an inspired choice. Not only referring to Jehovah Tzabaoth (the Lawgiving, God of Armies, Kabbalistically associated with Netzach or Nature), but also to Sabazios, who in his original pre-Dionysian form was a somewhat nasty archetype, demanding cannibalistic human sacrifice, and in some aspects introducing pathological elements into the Dionysian cult. As Dionysus Sabazius, the Hellenized Sabazios was also a title of the Orphic Dionysos, who in the late Orphic period may have been identified with the negative aspects of Orphism by Gnostics. Thus Sabaoth was both the mutated Dionysos and an anti-Dionysiac Ruler of the World. A synthesis of everything opposed to the Dionysiac.
Gnostic theology varied greatly but a basic core of belief (held by the majority) is identifiable. They claimed that within the world was a divine power called Zoé, which was the positive power of life which rebels against the Archons. Human souls were fragments of this power, that partly shattered as it entered the material world, while their bodies were formed by Archons. The Gnostic's task was to reunite the fragments and transcend to the spiritual world.
Zoé was a term used by some Ancient Greeks to describe Dionysos. Clearly Zoé is the Orphic Dionysos. But in Gnostic myth the archetype is feminine, like the Jewish Shekinah, Zoé is a Goddess archetype. While the Sabaoth and the Archons, who also have Dionysian features, are mostly male patriarchs. This reversal may be due to the degeneration of the Dionysos archetype under corrupt rulers and their cults, such as that of the later Sabazios, Mithras and Serapis (a Dionysiac combination of Osiris and the Apis Bull, whose devotees included the corrupt Ptolemys and the 'mad' emperor Caligula, though the latter was actually quite popular with the common people, see Dionysos and politics). It could also have been influenced by gender politics (Gnostics being in many ways early feminists), or just be their way distinguishing themselves from their Orphic predecessors. But significantly all their archetypes, including Sabaoth and Zoé, like Dionysos, also had androgynous forms. In one case the androgynous Valentinian godform Achamoth was sometimes represented as a predominantly male Zoé, making the archetype identical with an Orphic Dionysos Arsenothelys.
However as Post-Orphics their most important divine archetype was not of this world, it was the spiritual principle of wisdom, Sophia. Sophia was the source of their ecstatic Gnosis, and the mother of Sabaoth and the Archons, her abortive, unbalanced offspring. She has many similarities with the illuminating Dionysos Phanes of the Orphics, and Zoé was her earthly manifestation, sometimes called the lower (or 'moving' - living?) Sophia, or by the more ascetic Gnostics, 'Holy Spirit'.
In addition to Sophia (sometimes above her, sometimes below, sometimes both, depending on the Gnostic sect) was often a hierarchy of deities, the Aeons. A scheme that preserved an Orphic-Kabbalistic metaphysical complexity.
Above all of these however was mysterious, paradoxical being called the 'Source of the Entirety' (of whom Sophia was the Organized Thought, Logos or Shakti) or the Anthropos (intriguingly translated as Humanity or Man). In one myth Sophia chastises Sabaoth when he boastfully calls himself the ''One and Only God", saying he is merely a creation, or offspring, of the Anthropos, as was she herself. Like the Orphics the Gnostics believed that the highest divinity was to be found within Man, a 'spark' within each individual emanating from a 'divine fire' or 'eternal light' (Phanes (Eros) was the Orphic 'great light' of whom the earthly Dionysos and Mankind was a manifestation).
Beyond these fundamental ideas were a wide range of basic interpretations, additional beliefs and mythologies. These ranged from at one extreme ultra puritanical Manichean influenced
Sects (for whom Zoé was the spiritual life on Earth), to the other of hippie-like, Thomasite Gnostics (who had formed a syncretic theology following contact with Mahayana Buddhism), with a wide spectrum between. The constant exchanges of ideas between these different groups and their taste for creative mythology led to a dynamic movement of a myriad sects that were impossible to tie to a single belief system. Even the basic model given above was only a majority position, examples could be found that defied it. Gnosticism was a genuinely anarchic spirituality.
One strange example of this is the Sethian - Cainite dispute. Although most Gnostics held all of humanity to be divine, one School, The Sethians, believed that only those 'descended from Seth' were divine, the race of Cain and Abel were demonic, being the 'offspring of Sabaoth'. Though most also thought that nearly all the Cainites (and Abelians) had perished in the Flood, leaving only a handful, if any, left around to cause trouble. Holding a contrary view were the Cainites. These Gnostics believed that the first murderer Cain was by this act the first rebel, and so the son of the true divine being and from whom they alone were descended! Despite these incompatible views both sects seemed to have lived along side each other fairly happily as far we know.
In this sense the Gnostics were even more heterogeneous than the Dionysians. Of course one area in which they were very different was in the Gnostics inheritance of the anti-sensual and ascetic mysticism of the later Orphics. However like the Orphics they also played host to traces of Dionysianism, which provided exceptions to this rule (the influence of others, such as Tantric Buddhists, also greatly moderated the ascetic trend in some sects). While perhaps no pure Dionysian sect survived amongst the Gnostics, generations of mysticism worked against this, some Gnostic sects could be loosely called Dionysiac. These sects did not believe the natural world was to be shunned, as the mainstream did, and that the Archons performed some role in the world for the Anthropos. Zoé was the Dionysian life-force. Transcendence was still adhered to, though not as a rejection of the world, as an evolutionary process (in which the Archons played an important role) within a positive context of reincarnation.
The Archontics,
for instance, retained a belief in a powerful evil ruler in the World,
Satan, but distinguished it from the Archons (as forces of nature) who
were considered sometimes hostile but ultimately angelic. They could be
used as ladders for those ascending to 'higher things' (perhaps in a similar
way that Tantrics used Vajrapani and the 'wrathful gods'). Another cult,
the Ophites, took a different view, affirming Jehovah Sabaoth and
the Archons evil, but revering a male 'Zoé' as the ''Serpent of
Eden'', the true spiritual force of nature and rebellion. Both these cults
had rival 'disciplined' and 'sensualist' transcendental schools, the later
of which sound very like mildly Orphean Dionysians (particularly the Ophites,
considering that Dionysos often took the form of a serpent and had his
own 'Edenic' myth). The evil force for these Gnostics was not of the natural
world but primarily of the man-made or human one (though the distinction
was not precisely defined in this period, or at least not defined in the
same way). Similar Gnostics, such as the Egyptian Stratiotics, who
share traits with both Archontics and Ophites, allegedly specialized in
a form of ritual Orgiasm, said to combine both Eastern Tantric and Dionysian
magico-sexual arts. This occurred at the Agape, or Love-Feast, a drinking
party, decadent banquet and passionate sex orgy. A belief in deliberate
taboo breaking was also ascribed to sects like this.
Some of these Dionysiacs thought the condition of World irreversible and retained a detached attitude to life, for example, the Stratiotics, enthusiastic seekers of transcendence, revered sex for pleasure while condemning childbirth. Others though, while aiming to achieve a totally spiritual transcendence for themselves, in addition also engaged in a more immediate project of radical socio-political change. This tended to be restricted to alternative communities and assisting the dispossessed, but later sects influenced by these ideas would become far more revolutionary in their application, wanting to overthrow the existing order and create the New Jerusalem on Earth.
The psychologist Jung (a great champion of what he called the "Dionysian Self") based many of his ideas on a sect of Ophites called Naasenes, from Naas (Nous, Spirit-Mind; Naos, Temple) the Serpent, who they identified with Sophia-Zoé. In his more 'mystical' lectures he claimed that what these Gnostics called spiritual transcendence was not what we, influenced by Christianity, believe it to have been. He claims they used mystical language to hide ancient traditions about transforming the world and the individual by contacting a deeper reality that both underlay and incorporated the ordinary world and self. In other words they were still Dionysians. Jung conceptualized this belief system for the modern world by dressing his Neo-Dionysianism in the clothes of his version of Freudian Analysis (a movement itself strongly influenced by that other great Neo-Dionysian, Nietzsche). Jung thought reality was deeper and more complex than science would admit. All things were interconnected, he claimed, and a strange force of Synchronicity often surfaced behind events. He also developed an interest in what would become Parapsychology. But his primary interest was the relation between the conscious mind and the underlying unconscious, which he thought had both personal and collective levels. Within this collective level dwelt the dynamic archetypes that were behind all myth. These were communicative images within the common psyche of humanity, representing various aspects of it and the universal relations it experiences. At times Jung seemed to imply that the complete outer world and the complete inner world were in fact different sides of one Cosmos. Many of these ideas are highly controversial but Jung remains a fascinating figure.
Jung explained the Anthropos as both Adamas, Primal Man and our 'Higher (Individuated) Self', its feminine aspect was Sophia. The Aeons and Archons were Archetypes. Beneath this was Man (Ego), and beneath this the Serpent. Naas represented the instinctual side of Man, it was the voice of Nature (speaking through the Edenic tree) and a Spiritual Being that contained everything (including contradictions).In short it was the Unconscious. At an even deeper level was the Lapis, or Prima Materia and finally, the Rotunda, Chaos. Ultimately however Anthropos and the Rotunda where intimately connected. This hierarchical system was inherited directly from the Gnostics and while his interpretation is highly speculative (others have been put forward and Jung is not always consistent) it demonstrates the possible connections between the Psyche and Gnostic myth. At various levels of this hierarchy archetypal Quaternaries existed from which Jung developed his fourfold psychic model. It is controversial as to how much of this material is Jungian and how much is Gnostic. At the lowest level these were Fire, Air, Water and Earth, above this, and below the Serpent, were the four Edenic Rivers, source of all life, Pison, Tigris, Gihon, and Euphrates. Beneath Man were the "Lower Race", Lower Moses, Lower Jethro, Negative Miriam and the Ethiopian Woman. Unfortunately it seems Jung was not very 'politically correct' in his choice of images (or perhaps the Gnostics were to blame), though of course he did not see these as 'negative' archetypes as most Gnostics would have. These twelve were equivalent to, or agencies of, the Archons, who were identified with the Zodiac by later Gnostics. Above Man where the "Kingless Race" (evolved to the level of self governance), the Higher Moses, Higher Jethro, Positive Miriam and Wise Zipporah. These were agents of the Aeons.
Jung may have been wrong about the Naasenes, little evidence exists
that the Gnostics retained original Dionysian beliefs. However one Gnostic
school certainly seems to have.
While Classical Gnosticism was nominally Christian, it overlapped on
its fringes with what is sometimes described as Pagan Gnosticism. The most
well known example of this has been labelled Hermeticism, due to the tendency
of its writers to assume the name Hermes Trismegistus. This was a form
of Gnosticism, stripped of its Christian veneer and openly Pagan. Like
the Ophites, Hermeticists had a positive attitude towards the world, but
sought to ultimately transcend physicality. Their temperament was philosophical
and Orphean. A distinguishing feature of their mythos was an emphasis on
the individual rather than society. This may be due to the upper class
nature of the school. They were however radical in their ideas in comparison
to the late Orphism and can be seen as a alternative offshoot developing
alongside Classical Gnosticism. Swapping Orpheus for Hermes. It appears
to have done so much earlier though, long before the emergence of Christianity,
hence its devout Paganism perhaps. Also the Christian mythos, with its
emphasis on the New Jerusalem, was a social mythos and was not attractive
to all Gnostics. However later in their history they would ultimately survive
by employing a Gnostic Christian front and thus becoming another esoteric
Christian fringe group (in fact ironically they would become the most adept
at Christian camouflage, perhaps due to their connection with a subculture
of pagan aristocracy, surviving all the anti-Gnostic 'witchhunts' which
destroyed other sects).
However this literary Hermeticism seems to be a late form, and just as the Orpheans had sheltered Crypto-Dionysians, so did the Hermetic Tradition it seems. Some early forms of 'Hermeticism' were distinctly Dionysiac. Unfortunately only fragments of their writing remains. This earlier tradition gave rise to the current of Alchemy and Theurgic Magick within Hermeticism. While often portrayed as Orphic, and using Orphean imagery, Alchemy contains some very Dionysian themes if examined closely. It is basically a method of transformation rather than transcendence and can be read on many levels (Spiritual, Social, Psychological, Sexual or Physical), though its original form operates in a strictly pantheistic non-mystical framework. Allegedly preserving the sexual magick and 'yoga' of the period. Predictably Jung latched on to this and found it matched his Dionysian theories even better than his Gnostic material.
Gnosticism (in all its forms) would become a very influential movement having strong influences on other Religions. Most notably in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Esoteric Judaism, particularly that of the Essenes, was to become greatly influenced by Gnosticism. This became manifest as the Kabbalah, which was basically Jewish Gnosticism. Predictably a Dionysiac trend also emerged here in the form of Ecstatic Kabbalah.
Later a similar influence would be seen in Islam. The Sufi's were informed by a very Dionysiac Gnostic tradition. In fact some translators see in the name Sufi, the Gnostic Sophia. But for Europeans the most important influence of Gnosticism was on Christianity. Heretical Christianity such as the 'Mystical Anarchism' of the 13th Cent Brethren of the Free Spirit and the 15th Cent Bohemian Adamites, was heavily influenced by Gnosticism. As were, to a lesser degree, the more orthodox Coptic Monastics (preservers of many Gnostic texts) and Catholic Charismatics (who preserved Dionysiac ecstatic practises). Many later Christian sects would be inspired by these various Post-Gnostic streams.
One
important phenomena in the transmission of Gnosticism was the Celtic Christian
Church (c 200 - 664 CE). This Church while officially under Rome was a
mostly indigenous development on the British Isles, with a history of independence
- and in Britain associations with the historical Arthurian period (which
it later exploited, culminating in the romantic Grail literature). It took
a mostly liberal (or pragmatic) stance and tolerated many popular pagan
beliefs and practises amongst its members (sometimes to the point of appearing
more like a Druidic College than a Church), often converting Celtic deities
into partly mythical Saints to incorporate their worshippers. Its most
important Saints being St Mary and St Martin, after whom many of it churches
were named (and often decorated with 'Green Man' and 'Sheela-Na-Gig' carvings).
St Mary was clearly originally a fertility goddess, while the latter Saint's
biography reveals his close similarities with the God of the Underworld.
The Celts of this period would have associated Dionysos with the Green
Man (who sometimes appears entangled in vines). It is known that Dionysos
was present in Roman Britain, but there is no
evidence of his survival after this (if he was known at all it would
have probably been as the minor
wine god Bacchus, who is linked to an English Tavern tradition of indeterminate
age). The story is slightly different on the Continent (a legacy of Crixus?).
Here a definate Dionysian tradition seems to have been at least partly
preserved. Pilgrims who had visited Santiago, the Iberian centre of the
Celtic Church, were renamed Jacques (or Jack) allegedly originally from
Iacchus, an iniatory name (interestingly the Green Man was later refered
to as Jack in the Green in medieval England). Slightly further north in
the region of southern France famed for its Black Madonnas, there can also
be found
"Mary of the Vines" statues, the symbolism of which is conspicously
Dionysian.
Over the course of its development it became a sanctuary (first in Britain and later in Ireland) for people (and beliefs) escaping Catholic anti heresy 'witch hunts' on the Continent. Its more radical members had also been behind various plebeian uprisings in Britain and the Continent in late Roman times (a tradition going back to the pagan Celt Crixus, the deputy of Sparticus) and so it was also to gain a reputation as a radical political sanctuary.
One set of imported ideas that had an enormous impact on its subsequent development was Gnosticism. Particularly the more positive Dionysiac forms, such as the Archontic mythos, which blended best with its Pagan heritage. In its late period the Church became an eclectic mix of Christian, Gnostic and Celtic Pagan ideas. It also became one of the most important repositories of Gnosticism, and Gnostic texts, in the West. At its height the Celtic Church extended throughout not only the British Isles but the Celtic fringes of France and Spain as well.
While officially suppressed (as a pantheistic heresy) during the Catholicization of Britain in 664 it would continue several centuries longer (perhaps, in one form or another, even up till the fall of the Stuart dynasty) as an underground tradition in the 'Celtic' Catholic Church (with alleged links with the early Knights Templars, naturally). Most significantly it would also have a lasting effect on radical Christianity in Britain, including its militant political tradition, manifest from the mysterious, 'Brotherhood' co-ordinating the Peasants Revolt, to the Ranters of the English Revolution, and beyond.
Christian Gnosticism would eventually be eradicated (as an open religion) by the Catholic Church, the last defiance being from the medieval Cathars. Though underground survivals remained, most controversially amongst the Knights Templar (predictably) whose alleged ''heathen idol" Baphomet has been decoded, by an Essene cryptographic technique, to mean Sophia! The Templars allegedly inherited this tradition from the Sufis, and late Assassins, but as has already been suggested they also had earlier links with more local forms.
KNIGHTS TEMPLAR MEDAL
Gnosticism later openly re-emerged with William Blake, who recombined
heretical British and Continental Christian traditions with Hermeticism
and Kabbalism, to recreate an anarchic Gnosticism that still has influences
today.
