Philip thinks in correspondences and images … and he doesn’t explain the correspondence. The Gospel of Philip sayings are short poetic statements—mappings of movement at different densities, levels, scales. Read them with a slow attention that lets a correspondence open to you. Think of them as desert lightning. Wait for it.
With that said, I’ll let Philip speak for himself.
The Veil
Truth did not come into the world naked, but veiled with images and archetypes [typos]; otherwise it cannot be received; there is a rebirth through the image of rebirth. One must truly be reborn from this image; this is resurrection. In passing through the image, the bridegroom is led into the truth which is the renewal of all things in their integrity [apocatastasis]. This is appropriate for those who not only know the names of Father, Son, and Spirit, but have integrated them in themselves. Those who have not integrated these names within themselves will have their names taken away. The name of Christian is welcomed with anointing, in the fullness and energy of the cross, which the apostles call the union of opposites; then one is not just Christian, one is the Christ.
Gospel of Philip, saying 67, Leloup
Inseparable
Light and darkness, life and death, right and left, are brothers and sisters. They are inseparable. This is why goodness is not always good, violence not always violent, life not always enlivening, death not always deadly … All that is composite will decompose and return to its Origin; but those who are awake to the Reality without beginning or end know the uncreated, the eternal.
Gospel of Philip, saying 10, Leloup
Winter
Those who sow in winter reap in summer; winter is this world, summer is the world of Openness. Let us sow in the world, so as to harvest in summer. To pray is not to prevent winter, but to allow summer. Winter is not a time of harvest, but of labor. Gospel of Philip, saying 7, Leloup
The Gathering
There are animals that obey people: the calf, the donkey, and those of this sort. There are others who do not obey, and live apart in the wilderness. People work with tame animals to plow their fields, and thus are able to feed themselves and the animals, whether tame or wild.
So it is with realized Human Beings, who work with energies that obey them. They prepare all things to come into being. Thus everything awakens, and is redeemed: good and evil, right and left. The Breath leads all things to their repose, it aligns the energies: the obedient, the wild, and the solitary ones. It gathers them together, so that they are no longer dispersed.
Gospel of Philip, saying 40, Leloup
Summer
What is harvested in the world is composed of four elements: water, earth, wind, and light. What God harvests is also composed of four elements: faith [pistis], hope [elpis], love [agape], and contemplation [gnosis]. Our earth is faith, for she gives us roots. Water is our hope, for it slakes our thirst. Wind [pneuma] is the love [agapē] through which we grow; and light is the contemplation [gnosis] through which we ripen.
Gospel of Philip, saying 115, Leloup
Indivisible
Yeshua took everyone by surprise, for he did not reveal himself as he truly was, but only according to the capacities of those who were able to perceive him. Though everyone was susceptible to mortality, nevertheless he revealed himself to all. To the great ones he revealed himself as great; to the little ones he became small. To angels he revealed himself as angel, to humanity as a man.
Gospel of Philip, Analogue 14, W Bauman
The Chamber
The bridal chamber is not for animals, nor for slaves, nor for the impure; it is for beings who are free, simple, and silent. Gospel of Philip, saying 73, Leloup
Quotations from the Gospel of Philip from Jean-Yves LeLoup, Gospel of Philip, (Inner Traditions: 2004)
Quotations from the Gospel of Philip are from Lynn C Bauman, Ward J Bauman, Cynthia Bourgeault, The Luminous Gospels (Praxis 2008)
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