From the book
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
R. Swinburne Clymer · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordGnosis is spiritual knowledge or understanding.
- In Ancient Mystic Oriental MasonryThe Foundation discussion identifies Gnostic communities as transmitters of a wisdom later preserved in orders.
- In this editionThe source's parenthetical “the soul” at Gnosis belongs to its own explanation.
- A place to readF.76: … “Mysticism before stated, the Occult doctrines of the Gnostics were heirlooms and sacred traditions from a” …
Meaning
Gnosis is spiritual knowledge or understanding. Clymer uses the word both as a proposed meaning of G and within a genealogy of religious teaching.
Use in the book
The Foundation discussion identifies Gnostic communities as transmitters of a wisdom later preserved in orders. Section 180 makes Gnosis the true significance of the emblem G. The original note on alchemy also invokes a Gnostic initiate and the Christ dwelling within the heart.
Places to read
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 76… “Mysticism before stated, the Occult doctrines of the Gnostics were heirlooms and sacred traditions from a very distant past, and when the early Christian era dawned, the human race had long” …
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 146… “the link between the Knights Templars and the Gnostic teachings (the Masonic " G " does not and never did, stand for Geometry, but for "Gnosis," the soul) it is well” …
- Foundations of Mystic Masonry · Block 151“185. " Later on, the Son of God was born into the world. He was brought up in the Alexandrian school. Filled with a spirit altogether Divine, endowed with the most” …
- Original Notes · 1907 pp. 86–87… “I have been taught (this writer is a Gnostic Initiate) that Akasa is the Hindu Veil for Mercury. I think of Prana and Akasa — Sol and Luna — Sat and” …
In this edition
The source's parenthetical “the soul” at Gnosis belongs to its own explanation. The lexicon uses knowledge as the explanatory meaning without silently rewriting that parenthesis.
Reading the argument
Shared vocabulary does not make the groups or doctrines uniform. The entry distinguishes the general idea of spiritual knowledge from the author's further assertions about particular communities and continuous institutional descent.
Gnosis
“Gnosis” — 2 occurrences in 2 text blocks: F.76, 146.
Gnostic
“Gnostic” — 10 occurrences in 9 text blocks: M.64, 72; F.75, 85, 87, 110, 144, 146; N.86.
Gnostics
“Gnostics” — 6 occurrences in 6 text blocks: I.21; F.75–76, 87, 94, 130.
Gnostic teachings
“Gnostic teachings” — 2 occurrences in 2 text blocks: F.146; N.86.