The Cold God pt. 2

The Fashioner of the Material World

In the beginning, the planets were without form and Heaven and Earth had not yet been cleaved apart.

It was the force we call gravity which pulled the dust together into the heavenly bodies; the condensation of a kind of vapor. First there formed clumps of molten fluid and these eventually froze over and turned to stone.

This is how the Earth was fashioned.

Let us return from this point to our prior subject: the demiurge.

The Gnostics imagined him as the intelligence who fashioned the material world and kept us trapped here. He who prevents us from ascending back to the heavenly realm from whence we came. He who made the planets and set them on their courses, trapping us in endless cycles of birth and death.

I think my point is fairly self-evident. These two are quite analogous. The force which holds us to the ground is a kind of reflection in matter of the same spiritual principle discerned by the old heretics. Perhaps this is why the metal of Saturn is lead, a fittingly heavy substance.

Gravity is even now, the obstacle between man and dominion over the stars. It is a theory of gravitation which dictates that there is a “cosmic speed limit,” which even light and the proud light-bearer must observe. Such is the will of the great archon.

I think the picture I’ve here painted reveals the ultimate neutrality of this being. Gravity is neither good nor evil. It is simply a feature of existence — often an inconvenient one, but not one we’d be better off without.

We may also associate gravity with hierarchy. In a hierarchy, those who are of “high status” impose their will on those who are “beneath” them. And of course, in any hierarchy, it is harder to move “up” than to move “down.”

Last time, I associated Yaldabaoth with the cold. This is fitting because coldness, like gravity, is contraction. Likewise, we imagine this tyrannical figure as “stony,” “hard-hearted,” and “cold-blooded.”

I also connected him with fear, austerity and obedience. I contrast him with Lucifer, the villain of the sister mythos who is canonically his opposite in almost every discernible way: fiery, hubristic, dissolute and rebellious.

This is, I believe, is my best idea: that fringy, free-spirited people are “like” Lucifer and practical, conservative people are “like” Yaldabaoth. That each of these is God to himself and Satan to the other. That who is really who varies, and there is no easy way to be certain all the time.

Despite this, as a rule, traditional religion prefers to err on the side of Saturn. I suspect neither of the two is really “right” more often, but in practice, it doesn’t matter. The tendency to conform with the collective and not rebel is favored by natural selection in the long run. It is that tendency which survives harsh winters, not the other one. Thus, Saturn does not need to be right more often. Time is on his side.

Traditional religion is therefore the literal apotheosis of “erring on the side of caution.” The problem is that safe, cautious errors are still errors. Yaldabaoth is not right all the time, and this is what causes decay.

In the end, every single thing about which the heretic was right and the tyrant was wrong comes back for a reckoning. That is why Lucifer is a vengeful character: he is a scapegoat with a point to prove.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

…For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.”

Lucifer has a history of being thwarted by gravity, which drowned his mighty children, the Nephilim and shattered the tower of Babel.

Today, his will to conquer the frontier of space is thwarted by the “laws” of physics. Even calling the speed of light a “cosmic speed limit” points to a symbolic connection between gravity and the law.

Now, the word “contract” has a double meaning and anyone who follows my work will know better than to take that for nothing. I speak of course of that given to Moses atop Mount Sinai: a contract.

A fitting name. It is for instance a “social contract” which binds society together.

As I’ve said already, the agents of the law tell law-breakers to “freeze.” When they catch a one, they trap him in a cube.

More fitting still however is that we should imagine the spirit of law as the creator of physical substance. Look now at that word. What does it say?

It is derived from the Latin “substo” meaning “stand under.” It contains the prefix “sub” which means “lower,” and the word “stance” which means “posture.”

Again we see the symbolism of descent. Bowing, kneeling and prostration are all acts of submission. “Submit” is derived from a Latin word meaning “put under.”

To submit is to put yourself under something or someone. How do you do that? By lowering your posture. By taking on a “submissive stance.” We may say then, that substance submits, just as the substance of your body submits to your will. Your body then has exactly the same relationship with everything else you let it submit to. A frightening thought, I think.

Contrast submission with being “puffed up” or raising your chin in defiance, both of which are ascendant and therefore Luciferic.

Submission makes many people today uncomfortable, but I do not use the word in a purely negative sense. The difference between the cells in you and the cells which cause disease is that your cells submit and sacrifice to a higher power; you.

Now you know why the Christian church is called “the Body of Christ.” And whence do cells in a body get their nourishment?

Verily, I say unto you: they eat of your flesh and drink of your blood.

I digress.

The similarities between Christ and Yaldabaoth end there. The latter is decidedly less forgiving.

There was once a manager who could not be told “no.” He simply did not know how to deal with that word. I think he earnestly believed, however unconsciously, that he was not supposed to hear it in his position.

Underneath the salesman’s smile and charisma, he was a very demanding man who happily took a chunk out of whoever let him.

He did have a good heart, I think. He was a nice man and a generous one, but his love for money was excessive. It went too unexamined, and it got away from him. I remember the way he said “money.” He savored the word as though he enjoyed the taste of it.

The problem such a man inevitably engenders is that whatever he is given power over will begin to age rapidly, and I mean that literally. When the Saturnine energy overpowers the youthful Luciferic energy, things get one-sided and decrepit very fast.

Do not say “yes” too often, lest Yaldabaoth’s expectations become increasingly irrational, outrageous and impossible to live up to. This particular man made absurd demands, and was not unable but unwilling to notice.

When people are overworked, they get anxious. They don’t sleep right. They get tired and bitter, sweep problems under the rug and ultimately, they start making mistakes. That is what aging is. It is the accumulation of copying errors in the genome, and that is why the tyrannical Titan is also the god of aging.

In closing, despite the name “Greater Malefic,” Saturn is no more negative than any other planet. Saturn is cycles, submission and sacrifice. These are the heart and soul of discipline: doing the same thing over and over, humbling oneself and giving something “up” (knowing what is up there will give back down).

It is only when we give Saturn too much power that the devouring of the youth becomes ever more perversely literal, and the tophets are dug. Only then that the system of 666 is established and the archons, laughing, drink the children like wine.

The church drove out our demons, but even with John’s warnings in hand, she fancied Saturn’s archons a mere legend, long since whispered of by dead heretics.

It’s like I said though: every true word from the mouth of a heretic comes back for its reckoning. Count on it.