The archons as described in the text are androgynous, with animal faces. They are a crude, lusty lot, and when they try to rape spiritual Eve, she, like Daphne in Greek mythology, turns into a tree, so they defile the shadow she leaves behind, apparently physical Eve (89, 17–31).5 Through it all, the female spiritual presence (pneumatik)—who recalls Epinoia, Insight or Reflection, in the Secret Book of John—remains the active force working with the beleaguered humans in paradise as the Mother of the living, spiritual Eve, and even through the serpent as instructor.
