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Problems of Definition The Greek word gnôsis means ‘knowledge,’ and refers more specifically to a salvational knowledge of one's own Self and its divine origin. Emphasis on gnosis is found not only in the late antique currents and ideas that have become known as ‘gnosticism,’ but also in e.g. Clement of Alexandria and, notably, in → Hermetism/Hermeticism. Until recently, it was widely assumed that the ‘heretics’ attacked in the second and third centuries CE by orthodox Christian authors such as Justinus Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, Hippolytus of Rome, a…

The New Age Movement and Channeling Popular in the context of the New Age movement, the term ‘channeling’ refers to the conviction of contemporary psychic mediums that they are able, under certain circumstances, to act as a channel for receiving and transmitting information from sources other than their normal selves. In less technical terms, channeling means the reception and transmission of messages from invisible intelligent beings, often referred to as ‘entities.’1 The practice of channeling presupposes a worldview in which embodied existence on our planet is …