Gnostic Influence on Music
Musician Tori Amos's book Piece by Piece, written with journalist Ann Powers, devoted two chapters to exploring the Gnostic belief that Mary Magdalene wrote the canonical Gospel of John. Amos's book emphasizes how all the experiences and influences of her life so far have contributed to her musical compositions. A hallmark of her music is haunting and beautiful lyrics that mix elements of the personal with religion and mythical archetypes, including the sacred feminine. In a series of conversations with Powers detailed in the book, Amos ruminated on the challenges of reconciling the sexual and the sacred in women's lives and also discussed the roots of femininity and creativity. She revealed the inspirations for some of her songs. As she prepared for her ninth album, The Beekeeper, Amos noted that she began to research the roots of early Christianity and read The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels as well as the translated Gnostic Gospels themselves from the Nag Hammadi library. Amos's research into the life of Mary Magdalene and Gnostic beliefs influenced The Beekeeper. She sounds a call to get ready for an allegorical “coming storm” in that album.
For the lips of a strange woman drop as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedgeds word. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. — Proverbs 5:3–6
Bill Nelson, from Yorkshire, England, is not only a guitarist but also a songwriter and painter who has found the Gnostic world fecund ground for inspiration. Nelson has been pursuing Gnostic interests for over twenty years. His album Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights features Gnostic elements and titles that suggest Gnostic influences. In the album's dedication, he wrote that he offered the creation to his fellow initiates as testament to “the gnosis and a confirmation of the world within.”
David Bowie, in his music, song lyrics, and stage personas, expresses an esoteric fragmentation of the world through his art. Some of his song lyrics sound an appeal for a salvation from the evil world while others explore dichotomies, polarities, and alienation (Gnostic ideas). Bowie entertains as much through his various “emanations” on stage as through his Herculean endeavors to reinvent and express himself through his music.
The title of “Spirits in a Material World” clearly reflects an ages-old Gnostic concept. The song by the pop rock group The Police was a hit in the 1980s.
