Norea is the daughter Adam and Eve, also by way of the lesser Aeon Sophia who assumed the primal material of Eve and mating with Adam.
Overview[]
Norea is the fourth child born to Adam and Eve and is the younger sister of Seth. In reality, Norea is the child of Sophia, the lesser Aeon of Wisdom and Knowledge, making her one of the most important humans on Earth, as she has a connection with one of the most pivotal principles of the world and creation itself.
She was said to have married her older brother Seth and later consorted with Noah himself. She aided in the construction of Noah's Ark but destroyed it at first due to her rage with the Almighty's choice of not saving those who were not touched by the dark hands of the Nephilim or the Watchers.
Appearance[]
Norea was said to be the most beautiful daughter of Adam, having hair akin to that of shimmering diamond and royal purple eyes not normally found in regular mortals. The angel Eleleth stated that her material flesh captures the beauty of an Emanation and the first human woman, which in her case are her "mothers" Sophia and Eve. Some even likened her to a goddess taken human form because of her beauty.
History[]
Genesis[]
Norea was the child of Adam and Sophia, an Aeon of Wisdom who fell from grace due to tampering with the workings of the Pleroma by creating Yaldabaoth. Sophia made her way towards Adam after she visited Eve and took her form by using her blood and tears, only to see Naamah fleeing from the cave of where he slept, sensing the impending plagues of mankind from their unwilling union. Seeing the destruction Naamah's children would bring upon the world from her union with Adam, she also opted to mate with Adam to bring forth a child that may push back against the Nashiym. Spending three days and nights with him, teaching both him and herself. In the end, Sophia was pregnant with Adam's child as well. The union between emanation and flesh, particularly wisdom overshadowing despair through hope, would also result in the reconciliation between Adam and Eve which led to the birth of Seth and Sophia giving birth to Norea soon after.
Great Flood[]
As the child of an Aeon and a man, Norea was immortal and would wander the Earth for thousands of years. Moreover, as she was created to repel the plagues that would torment mankind, she was a bane to the Nashiym who were the spawn of Naamah, bringing forth spiritual calamities and leading mankind astray only to be vanquished by Norea herself with her "fire". Norea was also believed to be the mother of Deucalion through Prometheus and warned her son of the impending deluge that would be unleashed by Zeus in response to the growing destruction wrought by the War of Beasts.
Having survived the first flood, she would only be met with another several thousand years later when the Watchers began to descend from the heavens to have their way with human females. Norea was the one to realize that Naamah was behind this catastrophe in seducing the Watchers while her daughters would make the human women desirable for them, playing through their minds and will. Norea, with vivid memories of the first flood and its destruction, sought to find alternative means but the evil and chaos that spread was far too extensive to find less destructive solutions.
In the end, the world began to fall into ruin, death, and darkness as a result of the Nephilim ravaging through the Earth with their power and the Watchers teaching mankind forbidden knowledge. Norea would attempt to rally those who would not fall under the sway of the Watchers as well as those that made strongholds that repelled the Nephilim. At one point she found favor with the Witch of Izalith and her coven to help keep back the Nephilim and the monstrosities they created. She was also brought forth by one of the despotic rulers of the world who attempted to rape her but was saved by an angel named Eleleth who revealed her true origins.
Noah would inform Norea of the coming great flood that would envelop the entire world and destroy all evil. God ordered him the commission of a grand ark that would be their salvation. She argued with Noah over the salvation of the people that were untainted by the touch of the Watchers or the Nephilim but Noah was resolute in his word as it came from God and so there was no other choice. When she saw Noah having the people who were saved from the ravages of the Nephilim building the ark, Norea once again confronted Noah on why he would let the very people build the object of his salvation but prevent them boarding said salvation and in a fit of rage she blows upon a portion of the ark and sets it ablaze. This came at a price as she was stripped of her immortality for defying the word of God, and passed out from the experience. Norea was saved by the fallen Watcher Sathariel, taking her under his care until she recovered. She did, however, still retain her pyrokinetic abilities.
Final Days[]
During the final days of the Flood, Norea would also find favor with the newly formed Dark Angels, keeping back the "children of Cain" who attempted to board the ark and kill Noah's family. Several of them climbed the ark with Norea also discovering that they were inhabited by the Nashiym. She killed them using her flames, destroying the body and the spirit of the Nashiym. At the time, Matariel sent forth a downpour of heavy rain that would help keep Norea's flames from consuming the ark as she fought against the Nashiym. After surviving the Flood, Norea lived out the rest of her now mortal life during the Post-Flood Age.
Myths and Legends[]
Norea is a deity in Gnostic cosmology. She is sometimes characterized as the syzygy of Adam and Eve, or wife of Noah, and daughter of Adam and Eve. Norea is perceived in Gnostic thought as Sophia after her misfortune.
Original Quote[]
For a long time, Norea was known for the summary of a book called Noria in the Panarion (Against Heresies) from Epiphanes of Salamis (ch. 26.1.3-9). According to him, the Borborites identified Norea with Pyrrha, the wife of Deucalion (a Greek character similar to Noah), because nura means "fire" in Syriac. She burned Noah's Ark three times, then revealed how to recover sparks stolen through sexual emissions. Elsewhere, Epiphanius says that the Setians regard Oraia (see below) as Seth's wife.
Texts in Nag Hammadi[]
More information has become available since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library in 1945. In Hypostasis of the Archons, Norea is the daughter of Eve and the younger sister of Seth; both members of the pure race. The Archons then decide to destroy him with a Flood, but their leader, the evil Demiurge, tells Noah to build an ark, which Norea tries to board. Noah stops her and then she bursts out and sets her on fire. The Archons try to rape her, but she asks God for help. The angel Eleleth appears and scares the Archons before revealing her origins; she is a daughter of God.
Another Nag Hammadi text, Norea's Thought (or Norea's Ode) is a first-person account of Norea's cry to God. The text On the Origin of the World directs the reader to consult the Account of Horaia and the First Book of Horaia, one of which may be the same Thought of Norea mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis.