The Gnostic Faustus

by Fradon, Ramona

• ISBN13: 9781594772047
• ISBN10: 1594772045
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-11-12
• Publisher: Inner Traditions

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Ramona Fradon has been investigating the Faust legend since 1978 in order to decipher the mysteries of its spiritual framework. She has also practiced astrology and energy healing and studied shamanism and hypnotherapy. She is a visual artist with ex-tensive illustration credits in the comics industry. She was the artist for Aquaman, Metamorpho, and the comic strip Brenda Starr. In 2006, she was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame. She lives in upstate New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Setting the Stage	p. 1
Here Beginneth Doctor Faustus: His Vita & Historia	p. 39
Introduction to the Faust Book	p. 42
Of His Parentage and Youth	p. 45
How Doctor Faustus Did Achieve and Acquire Sorcery	p. 51
Here Followeth the Disputatio Held By Faustus and the Spirit	p. 64
Introduction to Chapters 4-7	p. 71
The Second Disputatio with the Spirit	p. 74
Doctor Faustus's Third Colloquium with the Spirit, Which Was Called Mephistopheles-Concerning Also the Pact Which These Two Made	p. 79
Doctor Faustus's Instrumentum, or Devilish and Godless Writ Obligatio	p. 85
Concerning the Service That Mephistopheles Used Toward Faustus	p. 90
Introduction to Chapters 8-11	p. 95
Concerning Doctor Faustus's Intended Marriage	p. 97
Doctor Faustus's Quaestio of His Spirit Mephistopheles	p. 109
A Disputatio Concerning the Prior State of the Banished Angels	p. 116
A Disputatio Concerning Hell; How It Was Created and Fashioned; Concerning Also the Torments in Hell	p. 119
Doctor Faustus His Historia: Here Followeth the Second Part, Adventures & Sundry Questions	p. 131
His Almanacs and Horoscopes	p. 134
A Disputatio or Inquiry Concerning the Art of Astronomia, or Astrologia	p. 138
A Disputatio and False Answer Which the Spirit Gave to Doctor Faustus	p. 141
How Doctor Faustus Traveled Down to Hell	p. 148
How Doctor Faustus Journeyed Up to the Stars	p. 167
Now I Will Tell You What I Did See	p. 175
Doctor Faustus's Third Journey	p. 184
Concerning the Stars	p. 195
A Question on This Topic	p. 200
The Second Question	p. 204
The Third Question	p. 207
Here Followeth the Third Part: Doctor Faustus, His Adventures, the Things He Performed and Worked with His Nigromantia at the Courts of Great Potentates	p. 209
A History of the Emperor Charles V and Doctor Faustus	p. 212
Concerning the Antlers of a Hart	p. 217
Concerning Three Lords Who Were Rapidly Transported to a Royal Wedding in Munich	p. 221
Concerning an Adventure with a Jew	p. 229
An Adventure at the Court of Count Anhalt	p. 236
The Manner in Which Doctor Faustus as Bacchus Kept Shrovetide	p. 244
Concerning Helen Charmed Out of Greece	p. 250
Concerning a Gesticulation Involving Four Wheels	p. 259
Concerning Four Sorcerers Who Cut Off One Another's Heads and Put Them On Again, Wherein Doctor Faustus, Attending Their Performance, Doth Play the Major Role	p. 267
Concerning an Old Man Who Would Have Converted Doctor Faustus from His Godless Life	p. 273
Pact	p. 285
Doctor Faustus: His Last Tricks and What He Did in the Final Years of His Contract	p. 289
How Doctor Faustus Brought About the Marriage of Two Lovers	p. 292
Concerning Divers Flora in Doctor Faustus's Garden on Christmas Day	p. 298
Concerning an Army Raised Against Lord Hardeck	p. 301
Concerning the Beautiful Helen from Greece, How She Lived for a Time with Doctor Faustus	p. 309
Concerning One Whose Wife Married While He Was Captive in Egypt and How Doctor Faustus Informed and Aided Him	p. 315
Concerning the Testament: What Doctor Faustus Bequeathed to His Servant Christof Wagner	p. 321
The Discourse Which Doctor Faustus Held with His Son Concerning His Last Will and Testament	p. 324
What Doctor Faustus Did in the Final Month of His Pact	p. 327
Doctor Faustus: His Lamentation, That He Must Die at a Young and Lusty Age	p. 329
Doctor Faustus Lamenteth Yet Further	p. 331
Doctor Faustus: His Hideous End and Spectaculum	p. 332
Notes	p. 338
Bibliography	p. 355
Index	p. 361
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