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====== Gnosis ======

**Gnosis**, Greek for knowledge, is a term that refers to spiritual experiences, theophany, hierophany, and their interpretations when used in a theological context.

===== Gnosis in Polytheist Discourse =====
Many modern polytheists prefer to label their gnosis using more specific language. **UPG**, Unverified Personal Gnosis, is gnosis that belongs to a single individual. **SPG**, Shared Personal Gnosis, is gnosis that is shared between several practitioners, usually stemming from sharing their UPG in a group setting and finding that others have had similar experiences. **VPG**, Verified Personal Gnosis, is gnosis that is shared with ancestral practitioners, usually after a modern individual finds primary sources that agree with their own personal experiences.

There is recent debate on the usefulness of UPG and SPG as frameworks, and some polytheists have proposed that this creates a false dichotomy between historical [[reconstructionism|reconstruction]] and contemporary, lived experience.[(//Why Not Both? Bridging Reconstructionism and Gnosis//, https://seohelrune.com/2023/01/10/why-not-both-bridging-reconstructionism-and-gnosis/)] Around 2020 and earlier, the term "doxa" was proposed to replace the term UPG based on the idea that UPG was not only a misnomer, but without real meaning or use:[(//Doxa, or what people really mean when they say "UPG"//, https://www.reddit.com/r/polytheism/comments/hdgrbq/doxa_or_what_people_really_mean_when_they_say_upg/)]

> Doxa is not quite the same thing as UPG, or unverified personal gnosis. UPG is, I find, an oxymoronic and therefore inappropriate term, because its use of gnosis implies that the personal experience is established, external truth. Indeed, something which is “unverified” and “personal” cannot be considered true gnosis within the context of episteme. In order to be considered as such, it must be exoteric, not esoteric. The term “UPG” tries to convey personal experience and internal understanding in the sense that doxa does, but leaves much to be desired.

'Doxa' is not without its issues either, though, as it has been rightly pointed out to be comparable to hearsay in non-theological contexts.[(//Doxa, Episteme, and Gnosis Revisited//, https://mapandterritory.org/doxa-episteme-and-gnosis-revisited-12708ea34541)] The phrase "personal experience" is favored by some instead.
=====Community Gnosis=====

While our community does not place special emphasis on categorizing types of religious knowledge and experience, there is a distinction made between **historically attested gnosis**, that which we believe the ancestors to have known, and **modern gnosis**, that which we are learning in the context of contemporary revival and reconnection. We are interested in reifying historically attested [[ancestors|ancestral]] [[Indigenous]] knowledge and gnosis, while at the same time honoring and adapting the gnosis of modern practitioners. For example, it is widely accepted that [[Xochipilli]] is a [[Teteo|Teotl]] of [[queerness|queer sexuality]], even though this association has its origins in material no older than the 1980s.

All articles about the [[Gods]] on Amoxtli will have sections listing significant or useful modern community gnosis if it exists.

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{{tag>meta modern_polytheism theology}}