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The Gnostic Faustus
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.
• 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.
- GenresOccult
370 pages, Paperback
First published November 12, 2007
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About the author
Ramona Fradon
114 books8 followersAmerican comics artist known for her work illustrating Aquaman and Brenda Starr, and co-creating the superhero Metamorpho. Her career began in 1950.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 22, 2019
Not what I expected. Taking the story of Faust and making it an allegory of alchemical/tantric transformation....interesting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2025
I'm giving up at 17%. I was so excited by the title and the premise, but actually reading it....
She references so many things the original author of the Faust Book just wouldn't have known about - namely, tantra, not to speak of ancient texts that were long buried and only uncovered in the last 200 years.
More frustrating is that she lays out the Faust Book text in parallel with excerpts from multiple other texts, as though we should see immediate similarities between them. However, maybe 1 out of every 20 parallel extracts bear any likeness. I don't know where she saw links or how the editors / publishers saw them.
I have read all the texts she draws upon. I have read quite a lot about all the subjects she references. I am very open to the thesis of this book. Unfortunately, it doesn't achieve its goal. It started to feel like I was reading random lines thrown together without reason - so I put it in the charity bag.
Maybe someone else will get something out of it. Sadly, it's just not for me.
She references so many things the original author of the Faust Book just wouldn't have known about - namely, tantra, not to speak of ancient texts that were long buried and only uncovered in the last 200 years.
More frustrating is that she lays out the Faust Book text in parallel with excerpts from multiple other texts, as though we should see immediate similarities between them. However, maybe 1 out of every 20 parallel extracts bear any likeness. I don't know where she saw links or how the editors / publishers saw them.
I have read all the texts she draws upon. I have read quite a lot about all the subjects she references. I am very open to the thesis of this book. Unfortunately, it doesn't achieve its goal. It started to feel like I was reading random lines thrown together without reason - so I put it in the charity bag.
Maybe someone else will get something out of it. Sadly, it's just not for me.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews