A
Aeon · ◇ Light

Authades

The Self-Willed · Αὐθάδης

majorattestedGnosticism

In the Gnostic scripture Pistis Sophia, Authades the Self-Willed is the proud ruler of the Twelfth Aeon: a power of the ordered creation who turned his light downward to his own dominion instead of offering it back toward the realm above. Coveting Sophia, he shapes a counterfeit light to lure her out of the Thirteenth Aeon, and looses his lion-faced power to devour her radiance as she falls.

Light95
Wisdom82
Grace61
Influence79
✦Signature powerEmanationBeing itself flows outward from their will.
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Its universe

The mythic order Authades belongs to, who comes before and after in the story of this world.

Voices & connections

Figures bound to Authades, family and rivals within the myth, and the thinkers and writers who shaped how we know them.

Sophiaenemy ofJesus of Nazarethenemy of

Relics & objects

Sacred and cursed things that belong to the world of Authades.

The Divine SparkSacred

Read the story

Illustrated chapters where Authades appears. Start reading in a click.

Illustrated storyThe Last Star of the PleromaAn illustrated mythology faithful to the Gnostic scripture Pistis Sophia. Episode I: Sophia, dwelling at the edge of the Thirteenth Aeon, is lured by a counterfeit radiance sent deliberately by Authades the Self-Willed, and falls out of her realm into Chaos. Episode II: from her own fallen light the blind god Yaldabaoth is born, and he and his Archons strip away her radiance and imprison her in the lowest darkness, until from the depth of her loss she lifts thirteen cries toward the Light she cannot see. Episode III: the Ineffable Light answers, and the Savior descends through all the heavens, breaks the power of Authades, treads down the Archons, reclaims her stolen light thread by thread, and raises her toward the realm above; and the same way is left open to every soul that still carries a spark.Begin reading →