"A lot of gnosticism, occultism, alchemy, rosacrusism, etc. are based, in part at least, on Kabbalah writings and symbolism." Yes, there are all kinds of connections in that pool of symbols and knowledge. I would like to point out, though, that Gnosticism, as such, in the forms that appear...

"However, the Gnostic idea of the Sophia is not all that different from the Judaic idea of the Shechina, is it not? Although there is no "fallen" aspect to HaShem and Shechina." Replying to the above...Yes, it seems that the Sophia is probably derived from the same myth/concept. ...

To all of you who replied so kindly, and with interest, on the above topic, my heartfelt thanks. This is my first time back in these discussions since Runes of the Earth was first published, but I first encountered the Covenant books when I was 12 years old, and it would not be an exaggeration to sa...

Some further comparisons invite attention... The first appearance of the Creator is in the form of a beggar, who also seems to be a kind of Jeremiah figure; a tattered old man, who bears a sign that cries "BEWARE". (The idea of the religious fanatic who is at once, more, and less, than the...

Using this myth of the Sophia as a backdrop certain questions arise. Is the Creator that Covenant encounters to represent the original Father that dwells in the pleroma, or is he, in fact a Demi-Urge, like Ialdabaoth? Or does he somehow straddle both characters? If he is, to any degree, a Demi-Urge ...

It is this being that creates not only the Earth, but all the adjacent spiritual dimensions that are below the pleroma. His creation is synonymous with his flaws. Thus, we have a world(s) that is riven with a bewildering array of powers and traps. In most of the versions of this legend, though the a...

Intentionally or not, there is a strong echo of Gnostic themes in the Chronicles, and this has only become more pronounced as the books draw to a close. Briefly, the Gnostic vision hinges on an entirely different concept of creation, and its flaws, than the standard Judaeo-Christian idea. Far from b...

Possible further parallels between Covenant's life (pre-summoning) and the legends of the Land... The legend of Diassomer Mininderain and her seduction by a-Jeroth; an infidelity somewhere in Covenant's past..? Pietten of Soaring Woodhelvin...an abusive childhood in Covenant's past..? The time of Be...

For me this process of speculation started when I first finished The Power That Preserves. What struck me, in the scene after the battle between Covenant and Foul, was how different Foul was, in what might be described as his "true" form, from all the other "Dark Lords" in epic f...

To Ananda, Yes, of course, I had thought the same thing; the focus of the original novel was on the events immediately preceding, and after Covenant's diagnosis. So it was natural that we wouldn't know anything else about Covenant. But, as a writer myself, (albeit an unpublished one), I have often g...

Recently, I decided to go back and read the Chronicles from L. F.'s Bane, to the most recent, Against All Thing's Ending...and was struck by a few things that will probably never be addressed; (given that we have only one book remaining until the end of the story...) Given the established fact that ...