Reviews of The Divine Spark Within
The Divine Spark Within is an absolute masterpiece and is simply a fabulous piece of work… Thank you for your book - it’s brave, it’s smart, it’s deep, and it is really compelling!”
Francis Rico. author, A Shamans Guide to Deep Beauty
Dan does an incredible job from a historical, mythological, theological, and mystical standpoint. The work even provides spiritual exercises that tap directly into the Hermetic and Gnostic ethos. The Divine Spark Within is a book I’m so happy manifested in these end times. The universe did something right.
Miguel Conner, author, Voices of Gnosticism, and Aeon Bytes Podcast host.
I love this book!!!
Shanna Vavra, Co-host of Sense of Soul Podcast
I am a devout follower of Gnosticism and aside from the Nag Hammadi texts, this book is a must have and a must read. The Divine Spark Within is unlike anything out there today on Gnostic thought and Sophianic spirituality. It is a game changer and I cannot recommend it enough. If you only own one contemporary book on Gnosticism and the Sophia traditions and teachings, this is most definitely the one.
Amazon reader review
An Overview of the Book
This is a guidebook that can be used as a valuable resource over time as humanity moves towards radically new possibilities of human potential and social organization.
The feedback I have received so far suggests that this book is highly readable, with a flow that carries the reader through the material in a caring and responsible way.
The framework of the book is like a spiral that circles around the broad themes of the Gnostic Christ, the Creation Story of Sophia, and the inner Divine Spark. The chapters gradually come to focus on where we, the human species, lie within this creation drama. It points to a direction for our future evolution and offers valuable guidance for navigating through these current "transitional" times.
The Creation Story of Sophia is an advanced cosmology of origins that took shape in the first few centuries CE and which, I argue, likely sprung from a unique Revelation of Wisdom associated with a figure known as Jesus Christ. This profound story is presented loosely in the form of a "Mystery Play" which takes the reader through the various stages of this story in a creative fashion, with many quotes taken directly from Gnostic and Kabbalist texts. This Story has been so persecuted, buried, and forgotten by the dominant Christian church seated in Rome that it is barely recognized even to this day. The rendering of this dramatic and highly unique creation tale, as presented in the book, is one of the most accessible and substantiated versions available.
I use the term "Deep Christ" to describe this 1st century sage who appears to have made an impact far beyond how he is portrayed in the New Testament. Specific features of this esoteric Jesus are presented methodically using quotes from the Gnostic texts. This picture of Christ is so different that he is almost unrecognizable, though these textual sources were written in a similar timeframe as many of the sections of the New Testament were written in the first few centuries CE.
This Deep Christ and his cosmic feminine counterpart known as Sophia were part of a complex plan to seed this quadrant of the universe with "bodily dwellings" for higher dimensional beings of Light to inhabit. How this plan went awry and what has occurred in their effort to get it back on track constitutes a primary teaching of the Deep Christ.
The Divine Spark Within is the central theme that points to where we lie in this complex and profound cosmic drama. It is a metaphor for our creative process, but also, according to the ancient texts, it points to something within us whose potential is vast and largely untapped.
The book culminates in a final chapter called the Bridal Chamber. This material offers a means of inviting into ourselves new possibilities for spiritual transformation. Bringing our own inner spark into a kind of sympathetic vibrational resonance with the emanations from the "Ineffable" source is key to this process.
Some of the more unsettling "excavations"
By tracking the clues of how this Christ shows up in the Gnostic texts, it is difficult to ignore how Jesus has an uncanny resemblance to a 1st century Middle Eastern sage known as Simon Magus, whose personhood has been heavily demonized and destroyed by the history as written by the Christian victors. Pulling this man's legacy out from behind this two millenia old smear campaign offers fresh insights into mystery teachings associated with the Deep Christ.
The "problem of the archons" is addressed in the book in a way that can allow for a real conversation about this most difficult subject without getting lost in the "conspiracy theory" rabbit hole. As the ancient Gnostic Creation Story shows, it is impossible to talk about Sophia without grappling with the archons.
A sophisticated archonic control system, spoken of by Christ, is both ancient and contemporary and is likely still quite active in our civilization to this day. The Deep Christ and Sophia are involved in the process of human liberation from this largely invisible matrix of exploitation, according to a number of cross-references in the ancient Gnostic and proto-Gnostic texts.
The St. Thomas Cross may be a map of the Sophianic cosmology as presented by Christ which points directly to the ultimate mystery; the activation of our Divine Spark Within.
The material found within the Gnostic system is not a Christian heresy but rather may be close to the more original mystery teachings of Christ.
Images on some early French gothic cathedrals include cryptic references to the Creation Story of Sophia. Evidence suggests that the Knights Templars may have recovered a copy of the Gnostic text, Pistis Sophia, and brought it to France where it inspired these Sophianic images.
A unique and fairly consistent storyline of the crucifixion, as described in a number of early Gnostic and Christian texts, is much different from the one described in the four Gospels and may shed light on the mysteries of the Deep Christ.
This book can only be an introduction to a number of theories about Christ and his mystery teachings. Far more research and excavation is required for these theories to be fully considered. This book, however, is not a fleeting flash in the pan of feel-good early Christian intrigue. Rather, for decades into the future, this book will likely provide unique points of reference for recovering a lost Wisdom Revelation from the deep teachings of Christ. Ultimately, as each person might explore or discover in their own way, this points to a most valuable treasure buried deep within us.