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Ophites
A Gnostic sect which evolved during the second century AD. and existed for several centuries afterwards.
Such is contained in the ancient Science and Art of Sexual Alchemy, which was the great secret of the Egyptian Magicians, the Gnostics, the Ophites, the Initiates of Mithras, the Knights of the Temple, the Freemasons, ...
Gnostic teachers such as Basilides propagated the idea along with other groups such as the Carpocratians and Ophites, and it was popular among various Neoplatonists such as Alcinous, as well as taught by the archetypal magician, Simon Magus.
scholar of Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem, who made an extensive study of ancient gnostic texts, shows that the oldest and most accurate etymology for Samael is "the blind archon", and he is identical with the demonic demiurge of the Ophites, ...
Several sects branched off from the main stem of Gnosticism, such as the Valentinians, the Ophites (serpent worshipers), and the Adamites. After the third century their power waned, and the Gnostics practically vanished from the philosophic world.
The Ophites (serpent worshipers) revered the Edenic snake because it was the cause of individual existence.
 See also: Mystic, Spirit, Christ, World, Soul
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