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LIFE "Samael Aun Weor" was born Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez in Bogotá, Colombia. His childhood and family life are not well known, except that he had a brother, and his father remarried after a divorce. In his autobiographical work ''The Three Mountains'', Samael recounts the ways in which he had already assimilated into his understanding a vast amount of esoteric and occult knowledge before reaching adulthood. He states that because he was born with an awakened consciousness, he recapitulated his practise of meditation and was analyzing previous incarnations before mastering how to walk (Weor 2003). At the age of seventeen, he was asked to lecture at the local Theosophical Chapter , and a year later was admitted into the occult society Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua (F.R.A.). While a student in the F.R.A., Samael methodically studied the entire Rosicrucian library, expanding his intellectual culture and seeking out the secret path of true religion. It was here that Samael was allegedly secretly taught the "Great Arcanum," or White Sexual Magic, the profoundly veiled sexual key which, according the occult sciences, underpins all of the world's great religions (Weor 2003). A period of historical obscurity ensues between the mid-1930s and 1950. Admittedly recapitulating some of the bygone events of his former incarnations, he became a spiritual vagabond of sorts, travelling with neither home nor income. While exploring the regions of Central And South America , he encountered a secluded tribe of indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada Of Santa Marta (Northern Colombia). Invited to live with them, he recruits a vast wisdom of ancient indigenous medical practices which would later form the foundation of his medical treatise, ''Occult Medicine & Practical Magic'' (Weor 2004a). It was also during these years that he claimed to have had his first experience of the Illuminating Void where he first met his "Inner Being", or Atman whose name is "Aun Weor". In ''The Revolution of Beelzebub'' (1950), Samael Aun Weor announced himself the White Rider of the New Testament's Book of Revelation, whose name is the "Word of God." He explained "Aun Weor" in the following way: "''The name of my Real Being is hidden within the name "Word of God" because the Bible is highly symbolic. God is represented with the monosyllable "Aun" or "Aum." Word or Verb is within "Weor," which is pronounced Veor, so the W is the V sound. This W together with the remaining three letters (e-r-o) of Verb and Word form "Weor." Thus, we have the name Aun Weor (Aum Weor, Aum Word, God Word) hidden within the phrase "Word of God (Weor 2001b)."''" Although he was briefly married once before, in the late 1940s he met " Litelantes " (born Arnolda Garro Mora), who, during their thirty five years of marriage together, became his esoteric collaborator and mother to four children. Samael began teaching by 1948, and in 1950, now going by the name Aun Weor, he managed to publish "The Perfect Matrimony of Kinder" (or ''The Door to Enter into Initiation'') with the aid of a few close disciples. The book, later entitled '' The Perfect Matrimony ,'' unveiled the secret of sexuality as the cornerstone of the world's great religions. Speaking in such a frank manner about sex was met with disdain upon the majority of the public at the time. Seen as immoral and pornographic, Aun Weor often found himself fleeing angry mobs wishing to silence him by whatever means necessary. He was incarcerated numerous times, at least once for "healing the sick without permission." While in jail, however, he continued to write books. Aun Weor and his small but growing number of disciples also build the Sumum Supremum Sanctuarium , an "underground temple" in the Sierra Nevada mountains. By the mid-1950s, Aun Weor had become Samael Aun Weor, stating by choosing the " Straight Path " he (Aun Weor) had begun to incarnate his particular Glorian or Logos ( Samael ). Later, in ''The Aquarian Message'', he stated "''the Maitreya Buddha Samael is the Kalki Avatar of the New Age.''" The Kalkian Avatar and Maitreya Buddha , he claimed, are the same "White Rider" of the book of Revelation (Weor 2004b). "The term MAITREYA, is individual and collective. From the individual point of view, it represents a Master called Maitreya, but from the collective point of view, we must understand by Buddha Maitreya, in the most complete sense of the word, any Initiate who has got the Christification." Samael has historically been synonymous with a demonic connotation, such as "blind God." Samael did state that in previous incarnations he was a "fallen Bodhisattva " or a fallen Angel , who has since repented. Furthermore, he claimed to be the superior teacher prophesied by Rudolf Steiner and H. P. Blavatsky . Before 1960, he had published twenty more books with topics ranging from Endocrinology and Criminology to Kundalini Yoga . Gnostic centers in Mexico , Panama , El Salvador , and Costa Rica were also established, and the Gnostic Association For Anthropological, Cultural, And Scientific Studies (AGEAC) was founded. A "triangle" relationship formed between the World Gnostic Movement founded by Samael Aun Weor, the South American Liberation Action (AGLA) headed by Francisco Propato in Argentina , and the Sivananda Aryabarta Ashram directed by Swami Sivananda in India (Weor 2004b). Nevertheless, the development of the Gnostic Movement was not without dramatic setbacks. At the time of the publishing of the revised edition of The Perfect Matrimony (1961), the movement had fallen apart. He wrote that "those who did not leave the Gnostic Movement can be counted on the fingers of one hand" (Weor 2001a). However by the time of his death, Samael Aun Weor had completely re-established the broad international reaches the movement previously held. Into the 1960s, he continued to write many books on esoteric topics, such as Hermetic Astrology , ''Flying Saucers'', the Kabbalah , etc. However, he also wrote sociopolitical works such as Platform of POSCLA (Latin-American Christian Socialist Party), which attacks Marxism-Leninism and any other aspect of " Materialistic Atheism ." In what was to be the last decade of his life, he penned works such as ''Parsifal Unveiled'', which details the esoteric symbolism of the Wagner opera, and ''Gnostic Anthropology'' in which he heavily criticizes the theories of Darwin , Haeckel , "and their henchmen." The books ''The Great Rebellion'', ''Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology'', and ''The Revolution of the Dialectic'' provide a ground work for the vast knowledge of esoteric psychology found rooted in every religion. He never actually received any income from his books, and at the 1976 "Gnostic Congress" Samael Aun Weor publicly renounced all his Copyrights in an effort to help the books he wrote become more widely available (copyright was later given to Litelantes to prevent poor translation). During this time he was preparing the highest vehicle of his doctrine, " The Pistis Sophia Unveiled ," in which he meditated, verse by verse, upon the extremely esoteric Gnostic text The Pistis Sophia . By August 1977 he had developed Stomach Cancer , but he continued to inspire not only his students but the general public with remarkably uncanny oration, giving radio and television interviews throughout tours of Mexico. Eventually he was forced to stop due to the debilitating stomach pain he encountered, and his condition steadily worsened until his death on December 24, 1977. He was survived by his wife and children. THE GNOSTIC MOVEMENT See Also: The Gnostic Movement A number of schisms in Samael Aun Weor's movement ensued shortly after his death. Although he explicitly stated (Weor 1956) that no instructors should call themselves a Master, some of Samael Aun Weor's more "advanced" or "mistaken" students (depending upon the viewpoint) proclaimed themselves as such and fought over patriarchal duties. Certain students were more successful at gaining a following than others, and currently there are a number of different lineages of "Masters" that have schools in various parts of the world. AGEAC rejects all these self-proclaimed Masters, nevertheless it split into two organizations with the same name, one operating in Central and South America , while the other centered in Spain . DOCTRINE OF SYNTHESIS See Also: Gnostic Doctrine (Samael Aun Weor) Samael Aun Weor’s teachings have been called The Doctrine of Synthesis by his students because he provided a clear and precise doctrine which fuses an extensive variety of subjects that study the human condition. In terms of religion it encompasses a breadth and depth of knowledge of traditions that is unparalleled, the result of which is not simply a hodgepodgee of contradictory ideas but a specific and clear message that Samael Aun Weor holds all religions contain in their essence. Religions themselves are viewed as idiosyncratic expressions of immutable and eternal values. Religions are said to be born and die within time, yet the values themselves always remain. When a religious form has already begun to degenerate and die, then a new messenger appears and delivers a doctrine appropriate for that culture. Different cultures require different doctrines for their development and this results in the vast differences in religious doctrine, yet if one comprehends the core values all religions naturally support each other. He states many times that schools, religions, sects, ideas, theories, and any doctrine can become cages of the mind which impede the reception of truth, yet he also delivered a massive doctrine and states that every religion and sect is necessary, that “all religions are pearls strung on the golden thread of divinity.” A possible resolution is found when one understands that just as a cage can protect one who is bewildered by the unknown, it at the same time it can become an obstacle for the acquisition of truth. Ultimately the teachings call for the student to acquire one’s own gnosis, or self-knowledge, and that the teachings themselves are only a method to do so. CRITICISMS Critics do not consider Samael Aun Weor to be especially "gnostic" as compared to traditional Western Gnosticism , noting that the vast majority of his works have very little to do with historical Gnostic sects. This is unfortunately a result of the long-unavailable state of his 650-page book The Pistis Sophia Unveiled , a detailed and complex revelation of one of the most important Gnostic scriptures. It is now available in English from Thelema Press (ISBN 0-9745916-8-8). Additionally, his students state that what is understood as "traditional Gnosticism" is an outcome of not knowing what Gnosticism actually is, since the surviving written texts are encoded for initiates to an oral tradition. Unfortunately, the theology of Samael Aun Weor has never been systematized, making it difficult for scholars to study and compare to more conventional theological works. SEE ALSO
Some modern cult watch groups have label his group(s) as a cult (in the modern sense of the word). EXTERNAL LINKS
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