After this I left that domain behind me and ascended to the first sphere, shining brightly, forty nine times more brightly than I shone in the firmament. When I approached the gate of the first sphere, all its gates were shaken and opened all at once. I entered the dwellings of the sphere and all the rulers and everything there fell into agitation. This quotation from the Pistis Sophia refers to the solar field, calling this field ‘the first sphere’. It is the field of the solar system of which the earth is a part. To ascend to this field, the radiance of the third light vesture must have become forty-nine times more powerful - and that is possible. The natural, the weak and insignificant, become strong and majestic because a gnostic power that surpasses all control and scientific comprehension vibrates and radiates throughout the entire universe - a gnostic power through which every child of God can take leave of all that comprises earthly understanding and domination, if only we are able to unite with it. - J. van Rijckenborgh, The Gnostic Mysteries of the Pistis Sophia