The concept of "Gnosis" is translated from Greek as the highest esoteric knowledge and pure wisdom. Philosophical schools within which there was a succession from Teacher to Disciple and direct transmission of Gnosis were called "Gnostic", and their philosophy was called "Gnosticism". It is interesting to note that until the end of the 4th century AD, before the Roman Catholic Church declared war on heresies, there was Christian Gnosticism, which was widespread throughout the Mediterranean coast.

The Gnostics considered man to be a threefold structure - body, soul and Spirit. The central idea of ​​​​Gnosticism was the romance of the Spirit and the Soul. Ancient myths based on this idea personified the Soul in the role of an abandoned and abandoned woman, seeking unity with her lover, with whom she was forced to part due to certain reasons.

One of the beautiful myths that tells of the Gnostic Marriage, when the Spirit took the Soul as a wife so that it, blossoming under His guidance, would bring good to man and the world, is the myth of Eros and Psyche.

The myth tells how Eros, which in Greek means "Love", falls in love with a beautiful girl named Psyche, which in Greek means "Soul". Subsequently, Eros and Psyche are separated, and Psyche herself is exiled by Aphrodite to the world of Hades - the world of the dead. After which Eros, tormented by the thirst for love, descends into the lower world and finds Psyche, rescuing her from hell. He asks Zeus to intercede for him, who ultimately blesses their union, and Psyche becomes an immortal Goddess.

In the Gnostic sense, this myth tells of the interrupted union of Spirit and Soul. Psyche, exiled to the world of the dead, represents the Soul, which was born in the world of Matter and was thus separated from its Divine lover - the Spirit. Having passed the trials in the world of the dead, having received and lived through the experience, Psyche is abducted by Eros/Spirit from hell. Thus, the Spirit abducts the Soul from the captivity of Matter and spiritualizes the Soul.

After the Spirit abducts the Soul from the hell of the Material world (the Gnostics personified the Material world with the world of the dead, with hell), the Soul becomes immortal, becoming a Goddess in an eternal Marital Union with her Divine Beloved - the human Spirit.

The myth says that the union of the Heavenly/Divine with the Earthly/Material through the unity of Spirit and Soul should occupy a central place in the life of every person. In alchemy, the union of Spirit and Soul was called the "Alchemical Wedding" or "Great Work", which was the True goal of any Alchemist.

Man is not only a physical body. His Immortal Spirit lives in Worlds that are inaccessible to perception from an earthly scale. Through a mature, developed spiritualized Soul, which is the source of his deep feelings and experiences, he is connected with His Spirit. The Slavs speak of such a person as a Magnanimous one, as opposed to a faint-hearted person whose sphere of interests does not extend beyond material concerns. Through an open and developed Soul, the Spirit of a person penetrates his life, gently and unobtrusively changing it in such a way that the person comes closer to his destiny.

Man is the embodiment of Earth and Heaven. But only by playing the Alchemical Wedding on the inner plane, opening his Soul to the Spirit, is man destined to become God.

That is why Hermes Trismegistus, the greatest philosopher of Antiquity, said: "The goal of Gnosis is to become God."