The Acts of Simon Magus, also called Simon the Sorcerer, Father of Heresy and Simony

The Acts of Simon Magus
in the First (and Fourth) Century A.D.!
A Work in Progress by
Glen Cram

Readings

Click the links below for your sneak peek of The Acts of Simon Magus. After the reading, send your thoughts to simonmagus@cramberry.com, and the Magus may just let you in on more exclusive excerpts from his personal writings as they are revealed.
 

Tomb Invader Young Samaritan Simon arrives in Alexandria as a penniless student of the Mystical Arts and, with his dead brother Luni, takes shelter in an Aigyptian tomb. Read on	The Whore of Tyre In his capacity as Great Power Of God, Simon has agreed to pimp the spirit of Helen of Troy to the lecherous Faustos Trichenes. He heads to Tyre to locate an accomplice in the charade, and finds a Goddess. Read on	Water Of Life Simon gets wet when he confronts a rival cult, and meets an old friend in odd circumstances. Read on	Return to Ephesus Returning to the mortal world after 400 years in the Other Place, Simon meets his Goddess again in an unusual place. Read on
Return To Ephesus I tried to revisit the Shrine of Artemis, but the doors were barred, and already the great columns had suffered the depredations of the local masons and graffittists. I wandered into town and came across a temple of Iesous. It was rather plain on the outside, but the exterior was done over in splendid mosiacs, depicting scenes from the standard texts regarding his life and times. Over the altar at the back was a large three-paneled mosiac piece. The central panel depicted a crucifixion, presumably of Ieshu, though to one who had been there to see it, its veracity left much to be desired. Though the expression on the face of the Asian Greek who had posed for his posthumous portrait had certainly been accurately rendered: a strange impassivity masking agony unimaginable. I had to smile at the right-hand panel: Ieshu triumphant on a rocky ridge, lost-and-found lamb on his shoulder. And on the left... It was She! On the wall of the temple my Goddess sat smiling down on the babe in her arms. I looked around; no one was looking. "My Lady!" I whispered. The mosaic face seemed to smile wider. "Hello, Simon," I heard. "Thou’st lived long." "How did you get here? I thought they had destroyed you. Your shrine..." She laughed. "Destroyed me? How could they do that? They need me. It took them long enough to know it, but they know it now. Father. Son. And Mother. Just as we wrote it. Well, not exactly the same. It's him"--indicating the infant at her breast--"that goes to Hell and back to save them all. Look at him. A beautiful boy, but he can be terribly rude to his dear mother. It's him..." She pointed up at a stern old man, who glared at me disapprovingly from the apex. "...that gets all the glory." Ialdabaoth. So he had won. But his opponents were not out yet. For Ra's rays streamed forth from Zeus's white hair and whiskers, and Jupiter and Marduk and all the others who played this part before, and whom he had finally cast from their thrones, had sought refuge in his new Image. Did he know they were there? Probably not. "And the dirt-divine link, that's supposed to be him." She indicated a white dove overhead, wings widespread, from whom an alien Light streamed down to bathe Mother and Child in celestial luminescence. It was that damned Spirit that had given me such grief back at Sam City. I hissed at him, and he clicked his little beak back. "Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord!" he cooed fiercely. I looked around for something to throw at him, but he melted back into the picture and became again but a decorative array of multi-tinted tesserae. "Withal," She went on, "he doesn't come down to men much any more. After all, why does one become an Anointed nowadays? By a sudden descent of himself at the moment of immersion? No, it's either by Imperial edict or, by the same edict, within a week of birthing." "You're not serious," I said. This was good news. "Canst believe it? No, the people here don't have any experience with him. They believe because their father believed, like always. For them it's not a great Knowledge that takes them outside themselves, it's just... just life. Like breathing and eating and working and dying. Something you do. No one's going to throw them to the beasts for it, so why do they need him? And as they grow and face the same travails as everyone since the first of days, who are they going to petition when they need a favour? Not him, that's for sure. It's me, their sainted Mother, chaste and pure--the one they can't imagine doing anything they wouldn't let their own sister do--that they call on in their hour of need." "So what do they call you when they call?" "Don't laugh. The Virgin." "I'm not laughing. It suits you." "Dostn't think? I'm not the Hunter, or the Whore, or the great Queen Bee any more. Only their mother." "Is there a chance," I ventured, "of getting a boon that doesn't go through one of those two?" "I've been known to accomplish some fair Manifestations on my own. What’st thou need?" I explained about the books, and she told me where to find them. I thanked her, and wished her luck in her new Aspect...