Samael Aun Weor

Samael Aun Weor (Hebrew: סמאל און ואור; March 6, 1917 – December 24, 1977), born Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez, was a Colombian-Mexican teacher and author of over sixty books of esoteric spirituality. He formed a new religious movement under the banner of "Universal Gnosticism", or simply gnosis, and taught the practical and esoteric principles purported to "awaken consciousnes" and fundamentally change the practitioner's psychological condition. Many of these teachings are directly sourced, often without attributions, from other esotericists (in particular Gurdjieff, but also a number of others).

He first made a name in the Gnosticism of his native country of Colombia, before moving to Mexico in 1956, where his movement gained increased popularity, and his works became popular among practitioners of occultism and Western esotericism, and were translated into other languages. His doctrine is studied widely to this day.

In 1948, Gómez referred to himself as the name of his being, Aun Weor, which means "the verb or messenger of God." In 1954, after undergoing a ceremony he described as the birth of "Inner Christ," he adopted the name of Samael Aun Weor, which he used until his death in 1977. Samael Aun Weor referred to his teachings as "The Doctrine of Synthesis", claiming to express the existence of the "perennial philosophy, with its highest teleological function apparently being the accomplishment of "Christification" and "Final Liberation".