Note 255 — Chapter VIII · POST-CHRISTIAN GNOSTICS: THE OPHITES

Origen, cont. Cels. Bk VI. c. 31. If ♄ corresponds to Michael and also to Jaldabaoth, ♃ ought to do the like to Suriel and Iao, ♂ to Sabaoth (which would be appropriate enough) and to Raphael, the sun to Adonai and Gabriel, and so on. No system of correspondences, however, can be devised that does not break down on scrutiny. Sammael, which is here Michael’s other name, is used in the Ascensio Isaiae (see Charles, Ascension of Isaiah, p. 6) as a name of Satan. But it may well be that good and bad spirits occupying corresponding places in the universe were sometimes called by the same names. So one of the documents of the Pistis Sophia speaks of an angel cryptically named Zarazaz “who is called by the demons after a strong demon of their own place, Maskelli”: Pistis Sophia, p. 370, Copt.