With the recent resurgence of interest in mysticism, gnostic thought is again being examined as a unique and important strand in the tapestry of mystical tradition. Usually applied to a wide assortment of sects in the first few centuries A.D., Gnosticism promised salvation through occult knowledge its practicioners claimed was revealed to them alone. With origins in Jewish mysticism, Hellenistic mystery cults, Zoroastrianism, and Babylonian and Egyptian mythologies, some early Christian ideas were rapidly integrated into Gnostic theology. Gnosticism rapidly became a rival to the Church of Rome which formulated much of its early doctrine as a reaction to the movement. Suppressed over the centuries by the Roman Catholic Church, this alternative Christian doctrine has for too long been relegated to the heretical sidelines of orthodox history. This book surveys Gnosticism through two millennia and across the face of Europe, examining its influence through the ages. Quashed to the point of extinction after the early centuries, it surfaced again in France in the 12th and 13th centuries under the banner of Catharism, a heresy so appalling that the church instituted the Inquisition to exterminate it. Yet, gnosticism remains a persistent part of human thought, as this book proves by pointing out its influence on such diverse and fascinating figures as Pico Della Mirandola, William Blake, and John Lennon.