ABSTRACT
In the corpus of Gnostic literature that forms the Nag Hammadi Library the only text that deals exclusively with the journey of the soul is, as its name suggests, The Exegesis on the Soul. Its teachings are couched in heavy sexual imagery—particularly sexual promiscuity—and in keeping with this theme, Scopello notes in her introduction to the text that the three key moments of the soul's life are: its original virginity, followed by its prostitution on Earth, and finally, its redemption and return to the Pleroma. The text states that while the soul, which it designates as female, was alone with the Father, she was a virgin and androgynous in form. In other words, as long as the purity of the primal syzygy was intact, the soul remained whole and in the Pleroma. The virgin becomes a whore, before returning to her former purity in the Pleroma.
