WAT008 – The Watchers Sin – Putting on the Garments of Skin

As we’ve been discussing thus far in my blog review of The Watchers: The Lost Secrets of Ascension, Resurrection and Perfection, the Watchers were a mysterious group of angelic or spiritual beings referred to only briefly in the accepted biblical cannon. While the remnants of the story of the watchers are still found in Genesis chapter 6, most of the story of the watchers appears in so called “extra-biblical” sources (that is, writings outside of the accepted cannon). In particular, a sect of Christianity known as “the Gnostics” (who were contemporary to the FIRST early Christians by the way) recorded in their books a very detailed account of the sins of the Watchers.

The Gnostics believed that prior to the flood, a group of beings known as the Watchers made an agreement to come down from the heavenly or spiritual realms into the mortal realm (or down to earth) and, among other things, engage in acts of sexual immorality with human women. This, according to many, is referred to in Genesis chapter six by the phrase “the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful”. The term “sons of god” is a frequent designation for angels. Anyway, these “fallen” Watchers or “fallen angels” also are said to have taught men secrets of alchemy, astrology, mathematics, architecture, making of weapons of war, the use of make-up to make a woman more beautiful, and many other “secrets”.

For the longest time I’ve struggled with the whole question of whether a “spiritual being” can have sexual relations with a “human being” and produce offspring. Logic dictated to me that just as a human can’t breed with a horse, so also spiritual beings can’t breed with human beings. HOWEVER, a recently discovered new idea from this book has changed ALL of that for me.

I discussed last post how the author may have changed my understanding of a key verse in the creation story where God is said to have made Adam and Eve “garments of skin”. The author pointed out good reasons to suggest that prior to this, Adam was a being of light himself and that the “garment of skin” that was made for him was literally his physical body. As such, Adam is a spiritual being simply wearing an outer physical skin. Suddenly the logic problem I’ve been wrestling with has a solution. If Adam and Eve are actually light beings just like the watchers then we are not different species. All that is different between us and them is that the watchers do not have “garments of skin” like us. So then, what if the watchers were able to put on their own “garments of skin” in order to interact with us physically? Suddenly it would make sense how a spiritual being can have sexual relations with a human being because both are actually spiritual beings merely wearing an outer “skin” for the purpose of having a physical experience.

The author also pointed to an interesting verse regarding the watchers in the book of Jude which reads in English:

⁶ And the angels who did not keep their own position but deserted their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day.

Jude 1:6, NRSVUE

The phrase “their proper dwelling” is translated from the Greek word “Oiketerion” and means, according to Strong’s and other sources “the body as a dwelling place for the spirit”. In other words, our spiritual light-being is housed inside of a body. In this context then, Jude 6 is essentially saying that some angels left a body of some kind that contained their spirit and came down here. What I would suggest is that when they did that, they chose to put on a new ‘skin’ or body for their spirit and thus became like men.

The word Oiketerion is used only one other place in the New Testaments and interestingly enough, it refers to clothing. Here is the verse:

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven

1 Corinthians 5:2

Again, this suggests to me that our spirit being is “clothed” in some other sort of body in “heaven” than it is here. So again, those who’s spirit was clothed in some form of body in heaven left heaven and gave up ‘their proper dwelling” or the body that they have there to come down here and take up a new clothing (human skin).

I also want to point out the second part of Jude 1:6 from above, specifically the part that says “he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day”. To the Gnostics, heaven is a place of light. Earth (or the material plane) is a place of darkness. Thus, when the angels gave up their place in heaven they became chained here in the darkness of earth. In that understanding, this earth (or physical reality) IS “the place of darkness”. In fact, to the Gnostic, physical reality is hell as we are separated from God here.

In addition, all this helps explain more fully what the punishment given to the watchers was for this sin. According to gnostic writings like the Book of Enoch, the fallen watchers were chastised by God for coming down and having physical interactions with mankind and were said to have been trapped or chained up in some way awaiting a future day of judgement to come. Is it possible therefore that when one puts on “garments of skin” that we become trapped here in this physical realm? If so then this fits nicely with the eastern philosophical idea that this entire place (physical reality) is essentially a trap or illusion from which we try to escape by becoming “enlightened” so we can return to our natural home in the spiritual realm.

That topic also is worthy of extra examination. Quite literally the word “enlightened” means to make one “shine” or become “light”. In other words, it is inherently understood that to become enlightened we are seeking to become LIGHT again (or become a light-being again). So then, it seems eastern and western thought can be harmonized if one believes the following:

• We are all spiritual or beings of light
• We have become trapped in a physical reality by putting on a garment of skin
• When in this physical “garment of skin” we are separated from God and unable to return back to our full spiritual light body
• This garment of skin is a trap that keeps us from ascending or becoming “enlightened” or a light-being once again

For the Gnostic, enlightenment involves first becoming knowledgeable about your true nature and how you got trapped here in the first place. The Gnostics believed that the creator of this physical reality (who is NOT the supreme, one true god by the way, but rather a lesser division of the one true God), trapped spiritual or light-beings by putting them within “garments of skin”. Since then we have been trapped by the illusion of our own skin, believing we are truly physical rather than spiritual beings. For the Buddhist, this physical reality is called Maya, or the grand illusion. We believe this place is real therefore we become attached to this place. Ascension, or enlightenment, only occurs when one learns that this is just an illusion and learns to be free from all attachment (i.e. stops desiring illusionary things that aren’t even real and which keep us trapped here).