The lore for millennia was that Yahweh is uncreated, and Sophia is uncreated and one with him. When the word Demiurge was invented it meant "public servant" and was the job title of a city works manager ("demos" is people, not half). The first time Demiurge is used in a spiritual context, it refers to Yahweh and not to his creation, Heb. 11:10. Therefore every attempt to move Yahweh to a subsidiary role and name it after Yah Sabaoth is a distortion of the original lore, and we know when and how these came about: it was intended to separate Yahweh from Jesus instead of the keep them in unity. Don't be fooled!

Yaldabaoth.. how yahweh looks like a serpent with a lion's head. Who got this information.. was it mystics who were tripping out and seeing what's going on in the past?

The figure of Yaldabaoth, often described as a lion-headed serpent, comes from Gnosticism, a collection of religious ideas and systems that emerged in the first and second centuries AD.

Here's a breakdown of the key points:

The Gnostic View: Gnostics believed in a supreme, unknowable God, often referred to as the Monad or the True God. They saw the material world as flawed and evil, created not by this ultimate God, but by a lesser, arrogant being—the Demiurge.

Yaldabaoth as the Demiurge: Yaldabaoth is the most prominent name for this Demiurge. Gnostic texts, like the "Apocryphon of John," describe him as the first emanation from a divine figure called Sophia (Wisdom). In these accounts, Yaldabaoth rebels and creates the physical universe and humanity without the knowledge or approval of the true God. He is depicted as boastful, declaring "I am a jealous God and there is no other God beside me," a statement Gnostics saw as him mimicking or misunderstanding the true God.

The Symbolism: The lion's head symbolizes his power and bestial nature, while the serpent's body represents his material, earthly form and the deceptive, winding path he has taken.

Source of the Information: The descriptions of Yaldabaoth and other Gnostic concepts were not from drug-induced visions in the modern sense. They are found in ancient Gnostic texts discovered over the last century, most notably the Nag Hammadi library in Egypt in 1945. These texts, including gospels, apocalypses, and philosophical treatises, were written by Gnostic thinkers. Their beliefs were derived from a synthesis of Greek philosophy, Judaism, and early Christian ideas, all reinterpreted through a Gnostic lens. They believed they had a special, secret knowledge (gnosis) that allowed them to understand the true nature of reality and achieve salvation.

The idea that Yaldabaoth is Yahweh, the God of the Hebrew Bible, is a core Gnostic belief. They interpreted the Old Testament God as this malevolent or ignorant Demiurge, while the Christ figure of the New Testament was seen as a messenger from the true God, sent to provide the Gnosis needed to escape the material prison created by Yaldabaoth.

Well, it's probably from mystics who were meditating and could view the past of what went on. This picturing yahweh as a serpent with a lion's head, that seems like his early prototype creatures which would be like "chimeras". You see this in egypt too.

That's a very insightful connection to make, and it touches on some of the core ideas behind Gnosticism. The Gnostics' ideas about Yaldabaoth likely drew from various sources, including earlier mythologies, and the concept of "chimeras" is a great way to describe it.

Here's a deeper look at that idea:

Syncretism in Ancient Religion: Ancient religions were not isolated. They often borrowed, merged, and reinterpreted symbols and stories from other cultures. This process, known as syncretism, was common in the Hellenistic world where Gnosticism emerged. So, it's highly plausible that Gnostic thinkers incorporated imagery from sources like ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and even Persia into their own systems.

Egyptian and Mesopotamian Influence: You're right to point to Egypt. The ancient Egyptians, for example, had a rich pantheon of gods and demons with composite forms, often combining human, animal, and reptilian features. The lion and the serpent were particularly powerful symbols. For instance:

Serpopard: A mythical creature found in ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian art, depicted as a leopard or lioness with the neck of a serpent. This creature was sometimes seen as a symbol of chaos.

Sekhmet: A powerful Egyptian goddess with the head of a lioness, known for her fierce and destructive nature.

Apep (Apophis): The great serpent of chaos in Egyptian mythology, a mortal enemy of the sun god Ra.

The "Prototype" Idea: The Gnostic description of Yaldabaoth as a lion-headed serpent could be a deliberate use of these potent, ancient symbols. Rather than being a literal creature, it was a symbolic "prototype" to convey a specific theological point. The lion's head represented a kind of powerful, bestial rage or a false claim to authority (he is "king" of the material world), while the serpent's body could symbolize deception, earthly creation, and the material realm itself.

Gnosticism's Reversal of Symbols: Gnosticism often took symbols from mainstream Judaism and Christianity and flipped their meaning. For example, in Genesis, the serpent in the Garden of Eden is a deceiver who tempts Eve. In some Gnostic traditions, however, the serpent is a positive figure—a messenger from the true God, sent to encourage humanity to gain the "knowledge" (gnosis) that the ignorant Demiurge (Yahweh) wanted to withhold. This reversal is a key feature of Gnostic thought.

So, while the idea of mystics "seeing the past" is a mystical interpretation, the historical and academic view is that the Gnostics were drawing on a deep pool of existing mythological and philosophical ideas. They used these familiar symbols, like the lion-serpent chimera from Egypt and elsewhere, to craft a new and radical narrative that explained the problem of evil in the world and offered a path to a higher, spiritual truth.

well, these egyptian deieties, that were chimeras.. they'd have the head of a different animal. That's what's going on with yahweh as the demiurge. Him though, it's the aeon sophia who made him. You do have these odd hybrid creatures though, like the cherubim. Who's making those.. probably yahweh. They seem like early prototype creatures that he'd make, until he gets around to making humans that aren't this mix of different animal head. So, who made Ra, for example.. probably yahweh, not the aeon Sophia.

If you look into witchcraft, the Ars goetia, 72 demons you can summon up with sigils, they're chimeras like this, with different animal heads. It's like early prototypes yahweh was testing out creating. The dictionnaire infernale, has images of odd creatures and lots have different body parts. Even Baphomet has a goat's head and human body, so he's one of those. These seem to be early prototypes that yahweh was testing out creating till he toned it down and they'd have normal heads. The egyptian deiety characters, seem similar. It's odd how in witchcraft you also get similar hybrid creatures.

Seems like the aeon sophia only made yahweh and it's him who made all these other ones. Wasn't her who made them. Cause she got in trouble with her superiors and probably stopped, because there's no other reports of her making other creatures.

These mystics would describe what they'd see in their visions of the past and how things were created. Kind of fits in with other things going on, like Egypt and witchcraft creatures you could summon or that's just how they looked.

That's an interesting synthesis of ideas, connecting Gnostic cosmology, Egyptian mythology, and later Western occult traditions like the Ars Goetia. The common thread you're identifying is the presence of chimeric or hybrid creatures in different belief systems, and you're proposing a fascinating hypothesis that these are "prototypes" created by the Demiurge, or Yaldabaoth.

The Gnostic View of Creation In Gnostic thought, the creation story is very different from the biblical one.

Sophia's Role: The Aeon Sophia (Wisdom) is a divine being who, in her desire to understand the supreme, unmanifested God, emanated a being without a partner. This act of creation outside the divine structure was a mistake. This being was the Demiurge, whom Gnostics called Yaldabaoth.

The Demiurge's Creation: Yaldabaoth is described as ignorant and arrogant. He believes he is the only god and proceeds to create the material world and its inhabitants, including humans, in his own image—which Gnostics saw as a flawed and limited reflection. He also created his own Archons and rulers to govern this material world.

Within this framework, it would be Yaldabaoth, not Sophia, who created the diverse and often monstrous beings you describe. Sophia's role was limited to the initial, flawed emanation of Yaldabaoth himself. After her "mistake," she repents and is often depicted as helping to secretly imbue humanity with the divine spark of knowledge (gnosis) that the Demiurge had tried to suppress.

The Historical Connections While your hypothesis is a unique and creative one, it's important to look at how these different traditions historically relate to each other.

Ancient Egyptian Deities: The composite forms of Egyptian gods and goddesses were not seen as "prototypes" but as symbolic representations of their divine powers and characteristics. For example, Ra was the sun god, and his various forms represented the different aspects of his power throughout the day. The creation of these deities is not attributed to a Gnostic-like Demiurge but to their own specific creation myths, such as Atum creating himself and then the other gods.

Cherubim: In the Hebrew Bible, cherubim are divine beings, often depicted with multiple heads (lion, ox, eagle, human) in the vision of Ezekiel. They are not creations of a Demiurge but are celestial beings who serve and protect God's throne. Their hybrid nature symbolizes their vast power and supernatural qualities.

The Ars Goetia and Dictionnaire Infernal: These are texts from medieval and early modern European occultism, centuries after Gnosticism. The demons described, such as Baphomet and the 72 demons of the Ars Goetia, are derived from different traditions, including pre-Christian paganism, medieval folklore, and Christian demonology. They were not seen as Gnostic creations, but as supernatural entities that could be summoned or commanded. The chimeric forms are meant to be symbolic of their nature and power. For example, a demon with a goat's head might represent a connection to fertility or wilderness.

The connection you are making between these different sources is a fascinating one, but they belong to separate historical and theological contexts. The Gnostic texts describe Yaldabaoth as the sole creator of the material world, and any monstrous creations would be his, but this framework does not typically extend to Ra or the demons of the Goetia, which come from completely different belief systems. The recurring theme of chimeric creatures is likely a product of shared ancient symbolism across cultures, rather than a single unified "creation" event.

what did the aeon sophia look like

In Gnosticism, the Aeon Sophia is a divine, feminine figure, but she isn't typically described with a single, fixed physical appearance like a human or a specific animal hybrid. Instead, her "look" is more of a spiritual and symbolic one, and her descriptions focus on her essence and her role in the cosmos.

Here's how Gnostic texts and traditions describe her:

Luminous Essence: Sophia is an Aeon, a divine emanation from the ultimate, transcendent God (the Monad). The Aeons collectively form the Pleroma, or "fullness" of the divine realm. As such, Sophia is a being of light and spirit. She is described as being part of the "light-world," and her nature is luminous and pneumatic (spiritual).

Personified Wisdom: Her name, Sophia, is the Greek word for "wisdom." She personifies the concept of divine wisdom, and her story in Gnostic mythology is an allegorical tale about what happens when wisdom acts without her divine partner or the permission of the ultimate source.

The "Mother" Figure: Sophia is sometimes referred to as the "mother of all living" or the "mother of light." This doesn't mean she has a literal human form with children, but rather that she is the source of the divine "spark" or spirit that is trapped within humanity and the material world.

No Fixed Body: Unlike Yaldabaoth, who is a composite creature with a lion's head and a serpent's body, Sophia doesn't have a specific, physical form in Gnostic accounts. Her existence is on a higher, non-material plane. Any visual representation of her would be an artistic interpretation meant to convey her role as a feminine, divine figure.

In essence, while Yaldabaoth is a "chimera" of beastly forms, Sophia is the embodiment of a spiritual quality—divine wisdom. Her "look" is not a physical one, but a metaphorical one, representing the feminine aspect of divinity and the source of the divine light that Gnostics believed was within them.

yaldabaoth demiurge, the way they described how he looked.. lion's head, serpent's body. He didn't have hands to grab things?

According to ancient Gnostic texts, Yaldabaoth is primarily described as a composite creature, but the descriptions of his appearance focus on the lion's head and the serpent's body, not on whether he possesses hands. The symbolic nature of the descriptions means that his "body" is more of an idea than a literal physical form.

The Symbolic Appearance The Gnostic description of Yaldabaoth as a lion-headed serpent is symbolic, conveying his nature as the Demiurge.

Lion's Head: Represents his raw, beastly power and arrogance. He is a king, but a flawed and ignorant one, ruling over the material world he mistakenly believes is his alone. This symbolizes his false claim to be the supreme deity.

Serpent's Body: This is a complex symbol. It can represent the coiling nature of the material world or a deceptive path. It also evokes chaos and earthly knowledge. The serpent's form implies a lack of proper, divinely ordained structure.

In Gnostic cosmology, Yaldabaoth is not a physical being with human-like features. He is an Archon, a spiritual ruler of the lower, material realms. The Gnostic texts that describe his appearance, such as the Apocryphon of John, use this imagery to illustrate his nature and his flawed origin—he is an "abortion" or a mistaken creation of the Aeon Sophia. Because he is a spiritual entity and not a human-like creature, the question of whether he has hands to "grab things" is less relevant than the metaphorical meaning of his form. His actions, such as trapping divine sparks in human bodies, are described in a way that is more of a cosmic process than a physical one.