The Gnostic Faustus: The Secret Teachings Behind the Classic Text - Softcover

"Fradon's comparative study of the hidden origins of the 'original' Faust tale not only illuminates the gnostic, hermetic, and alchemical substrata that have been hinted at by previous scholars but also breaks new ground in pointing out uncanny tantric resonances in what superficially appears as a lurid sixteenth-century German chapbook."--Michael Moynihan, author of Lords of Chaos and The Secret King

" The Gnostic Faustus is one of those books in which every other paragraph is so illuminating that you want to jot down notes so as to not forget anything. Fradon's style is mature and she frames these gems of insight in a way that everyone can understand."--Jeff Arrow, Parallel Perspectives, Jan 2008

"The imagery contained in the Faust legend is thoroughly explored, and some aspects are brought forward which have not, to my knowledge, been discussed in works available to a general readership. And that is the best thing about this book. While a basic background is necessary, the reader need not be a specialist in medieval literature to be able to make
sense of it."--Michael Gleason, Witchgrove.com, Dec 2007

"The historical and literary information in the Introduction is key. . . . Familiarity with the book can improve one's magic because it includes basic esoteric concepts and their application."--Michelle Mueller, Facing North, Feb 2008

The Faust legend seen as a transmission of core Gnostic teachings disguised as a morality tale

· Shows the 16th-century Faust text to be a coded, composite Gnostic creation myth

· Identifies the many Hermetic, alchemical, and Tantric symbols found in Faust that signify worship of the divine feminine through sacramental sexual practices

· Reveals a mystical process of spiritual salvation, as distilled from esoteric traditions

In The Gnostic Faustus, Ramona Fradon shows the legend of Doctor Faustus to be a composite Gnostic creation myth that reveals the process of spiritual salvation. Nearly every element of the original 16th-century text is a metaphor containing profound spiritual messages based on passages of Coptic and Syrian Gnostic manuscripts, including the Pistis Sophia and The Hymn of the Pearl. Fradon identifies many Hermetic, alchemical, and Tantric symbols in the Faust Book that accompany the story of Sophia, the goddess of wisdom, whose troubled journey to salvation is a model for human spiritual development. Extensive line-by-line text comparisons with these Gnostic manuscripts show that Faustus’s corruption by the Devil and his despair parallel Sophia’s transgression and fall, and that his tragic death is a simple reversal of her joyful rebirth, so written in order to make an otherwise heretical story palatable to Church authorities at that time.

Fradon demonstrates that the Faust legend is a vehicle for transmitting antiquity’s secret wisdom. It provides an account of spiritual initiation whose goal is ecstatic revelation and union with the divine. The elements of alchemy, sacramental sex, and worship of the divine feminine that are encoded in the Faust Book reveal the same hidden goddess-worshipping tradition whose practices are hinted at by the writings of Renaissance magi such as Cornelius Agrippa and Giordano Bruno.