I set out earlier today to make an ad-banner for Jeremy’s book, but somehow it got out of hand and took on this whole other life of it’s own (sorry JP!). And I have to say, I’m really pleased with it.

I think I’m actually going to put together a whole series of these images, featuring a blend of gnostic/occult imagery with modern content and aesthetics. The use of the devilish manta ray shapes for archons goes back to an encounter Rev Max told me about a while back, where he said he was tripping in the desert and witnessed what he thought was an archon, this huge shadowy manta ray type entity. The bombs come from Jeremy’s book. The inspiration numerologically comes from this passage in the gnostic Apocryphon of John:

“Now the archon who is weak has three names. The first name is Yaltabaoth, the second is Saklas, and the third is Samael. And he is impious in his arrogance which is in him. For he said, ‘I am God and there is no other God beside me,’ for he is ignorant of his strength, the place from which he had come.

“And the archons created seven powers for themselves, and the powers created for themselves six angels for each one until they became 365 angels. And these are the bodies belonging with the names: the first is Athoth, a he has a sheep’s face; the second is Eloaiou, he has a donkey’s face; the third is Astaphaios, he has a hyena’s face; the fourth is Yao, he has a serpent’s face with seven heads; the fifth is Sabaoth, he has a dragon’s face; the sixth is Adonin, he had a monkey’s face; the seventh is Sabbede, he has a shining fire-face. This is the sevenness of the week.

The three mantas are Yaltabaoth, Saklas and Samael, and the seven bombs are the seven powers which emanated from them. This and other related images will be available on t-shirts and other junk once I have a chance to really do up a nice coherent CafePress shop for all of them. I’ll post about that when it happens.