Gnostic Vowel-Chant

[Guest guest]

James Bean

 

 

Greetings to All:

 

Below are two selections from the Gospel of the Egyptians, an

ancient Sethian Gnostic text, one of the 50 books found near the

village of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt.

 

Both of these selections contain Gnostic prayers, including

examples of vowel-chant. India has the aaaaauuuuuummmmm (OM) chant,

the Sufi Orders practice the HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (HU chant), and

apparently the Gnostics used random combinations of vowels

sometimes. At other times the vowels spell out sacred names, like:

iiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaooooooo (IAO).

 

I've tried this type of vowel-chant myself and it really works!

Just chant any random combination of vowels: " a, " " e, " " i, " " o, "

or " u " --

eeeeeeeeeeeooooooooouuuuuuuuaaaaaaaoooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuu

! It's extremely relaxing, and it can indeed put one in a greater

harmony with the Music of the Spheres. In fact, this kind of chant,

to some extent like the AUM and the HU, even mimics the eternal

Sound, the Saunt-e Sarmad, the Harmony of All Harmonies, or, as it

says here in the Gospel of the Egyptians: " he whose name is in an

invisible symbol. A hidden, invisible mystery came forth... " All

names of God I believe are symbolic of the true Name of God which is

beyond all human speech; it is the Song of the Creator that echoes

throughout the multiverse, all the universes and planes of creation,

the Voice of God, if we did but know it.

 

Peace,

 

James

 

 

PRAYERS FROM THE GOSPEL OF THE EGYPTIANS: The Holy Book of the Great

Invisible Spirit.

 

 

 

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The third ogdoad-power, the Son of the silent silence, and the crown

of the silent silence, and the glory of the Father, and the virtue of

the Mother, he brings forth from the bosom the seven powers of the

great light of the seven voices. And the word is their completion.

 

These are the three powers, the three ogdoads that the Father,

through his providence, brought forth from his bosom. He brought them

forth at that place.

 

Domedon Doxomedon came forth, the aeon of the aeons, and the throne

which is in him, and the powers which surround him, the glories and

the incorruptions. The Father of the great light who came forth from

the silence, he is the great Doxomedon-aeon, in which the thrice-

male child rests. And the throne of his glory was established in it,

this one on which his unrevealable name is inscribed, on the tablet

[...] one is the word, the Father of the light of everything, he who

came forth from the silence, while he rests in the silence, he whose

name is in an invisible symbol. A hidden, invisible mystery came

forth:

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE oooooooooooooooooooooo

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (the 7 vowels, 22 times each).

 

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IE ieus EO ou EO Oua! Really, truly, O Yesseus Mazareus Yessedekeus,

O living water, O child of the child, O glorious name! Really truly,

aiOn o On (or: O existing aeon), iiii EEEE eeee oooo uuuu OOOO aaaa

{a}. Really, truly, Ei aaaa OOOO, O existing one who sees the aeons!

Really, truly, aee EEE iiii uuuuuu OOOOOOOO, who is eternally

eternal! Really, truly, iEa aiO, in the heart, who exists, u aei eis

aei, ei o ei, ei os ei (or: (Son) forever, You are what you are, You

are who you are)!

This great name of yours is upon me, O self-begotten Perfect one, who

is not outside me. I see you, O you who are visible to everyone. For

who will be able to comprehend you in another tongue? Now that I have

known you, I have mixed myself with the immutable. I have armed

myself with an armor of light; I have become light! For the Mother

was at that place because of the splendid beauty of grace. Therefore,

I have stretched out my hands while they were folded. I was shaped in

the circle of the riches of the light which is in my bosom, which

gives shape to the many begotten ones in the light into which no

complaint reaches. I shall declare your glory truly, for I have

comprehended you, sou iEs ide aeiO aeie ois, O aeon, aeon, O God of

silence! I honor you completely. You are my place of rest, O Son Es

Es o e, the formless one who exists in the formless ones, who exists

raising up the man in whom you will purify me into your life,

according to your imperishable name. Therefore, the incense of life

is in me. I mixed it with water after the model of all archons, in

order that I may live with you in the peace of the saints, you who

exist really truly forever.

 

This is the book which the great Seth wrote, and placed in high

mountains on which the sun has not risen, nor is it possible (that it

should do so). And since the days of the prophets and the apostles

and the preachers, the name has not at all risen upon their hearts,

nor is it possible (that it should do so). And their ear has not

heard it.

The great Seth wrote this book with letters in one hundred and thirty

years. He placed it in the mountain that is called 'Charaxio,' in

order that, at the end of the times and the eras, by the will of the

divine Autogenes and the whole pleroma, through the gift of the

untraceable, unthinkable, fatherly love, it may come forth and reveal

this incorruptible, holy race of the great savior, and those who

dwell with them in love, and the great, invisible, eternal Spirit,

and his only-begotten Son, and the eternal light, and his great,

incorruptible consort, and the incorruptible Sophia, and the

Barbelon, and the whole pleroma in eternity. Amen.

 

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The Gospel of <the> Egyptians. The God-written, holy, secret book.

Grace, understanding, perception, (and) prudence (be) with him who

has written it - Eugnostos the beloved, in the Spirit - in the flesh,

my name is Gongessos - and my fellow lights in incorruptibility.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, Ichthus. God-written (is) the holy

book of the great, invisible Spirit. Amen.

The Holy Book of the Great

Invisible Spirit.

Amen.

____________________

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Selection made from James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library,

revised edition. HarperCollins, San Francisco, 1990.

 

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