But if it is one out of the dregs of the purifying of the Light, is wont Melkhisedek the great Receiver of the Light to take her from the Rulers, or otherwise indeed if they are some out of the tears of their eyes, or out of the breath of their mouth, in one word, out of the souls of this kind; whenever the five Rulers, whenever they divide them, and make them into souls; or otherwise indeed an ancient soul it is, is wont the Ruler also, this who becometh among the heads of the Aeons, he is wont to mingle (knead, MS ) the cup of the forgetfulness of the seed of the wickedness, he is wont to knead it with each of the new souls in the [303 ] time (at) which he becometh in the Place of the head.
And is wont that cup of forgetfulness, it is wont to become counterfeit 170 spirit to that soul.
And it is wont to remain outside of the soul being for vesture unto her, being like to her in every kind, being for vesture sheath outside her.
And are wont the five great Rulers of (the) Destiny of the Aeons, and with the Ruler of the disk of the sun with the Ruler of the disk of the moon, they are wont to breathe in unto the midst of that soul, and cometh out of them (her, MS ) a portion out of my power, this which the last Helper cast in unto the Confusion.
And is wont the portion of that power, it is wont to remain within the soul, being dissolved, becoming upon its own authority in regard to the arrangement, in which they put it for to give sense [303 ] to the soul, that she should seek after the works of the Light of the Height at every time.
And is wont that power, it is wont to be like unto the kind of the soul in every feature, and being similar to her: she is not wont to be able to be outside of the soul, but she is wont to remain within her according as I ordered to her from at first, being about to cast her in unto the First precept, which I ordered to her for her to remain outside of the souls in regard to the arrangement of the First Mystery: wherefore all these words I shall say them unto you in the Distribution (of the Universe) concerning the power and also concerning the soul, in what types they are working them, or which Ruler indeed it is who worketh her, or what is each kind of the souls, so that I shall say them unto you in the Distribution of the Universe, how many there are working the soul.
And I shall say unto you the name of all those who work [304 ] the soul, and I shall say unto you the type (in) which they fashion the counterfeit spirit with the Fate, and I shall say unto you the name of the soul, which is not yet purified, and her name also whenever they should purify her, and she (should) become pure.
Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies.
The passage explicitly mentions 'the five great Rulers of (the) Destiny of the Aeons' and 'the Ruler of the disk of the sun with the Ruler of the disk of the moon.'
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The text describes the Rulers dividing souls and ordering powers for specific arrangements within the soul.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
A hierarchy of Rulers (five great Rulers, Melkhisedek, the Ruler of the sun/moon) governs the distribution and fate of souls.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
The soul is described as being outside of the souls and mixed with forgetfulness until purification occurs.