Valentinus / Valentine's Day

VALENTINUS / VALENTINES DAY
Valentinus, c.100-160AD, achieved a high degree of prominence in the Christian community between 135 and 160 AD.
The Encyclopedia of Religion, Eliade, 1987, vol. ?, p. 571, GNOSTICISM | Valentinus:
P. 572:
http://www.esalenctr.org/display/es_ren05.cfm, Second Annual Esoteric Renaissance Conference: Hidden Intercourse: Eros and Sexuality in Western Esotericism: April 3 to 8, 2005, Conference Presentations:
April DeConick began the sessions with her talk "The Passion of the Psyche: Marriage and Gnostic Spirituality in Early Valentinian Traditions." Founded by Valentinus in the second century, the Valentinians were perhaps the most influential of the Gnostic Christian sects. They were a sacramental tradition that considered the performance of rituals not only a human act, but also an act through which the divine made itself present. More than ritual, sacramental celebrations were understood as mysteries. The most notorious Valentian ritual was known as the Bridal Chamber. In addition to the more familiar sacraments of baptism or Eucharist or anointing, the Bridal Chamber was the most irregular and tantalizing of sacraments in the Valentinian community. Because our sources are scarce and opinionated, it has been hard for scholars to reconstruct what this sacrament really was beyond saying that it had somehow to do with the union of male and female in some sort of ritualized intercourse. For centuries, scholars have read the Valentinian Gnostics as licentious libertines, on the one hand, and prudish celibates, on the other, but the Bridal Chamber mystery has rarely been approached within its context. DeConick argued that, nevertheless, careful scholarship can uncover a nuanced and coherent picture. DeConick believes that the sacrament of the Bridal Chamber (i.e., the Valentinian practice of ritual sexual union) only makes sense within the context of Valentinian anthropology and theories of salvation. The Valentinians believed that every human soul contained two seeds.
First, every soul has a hylic (material) seed, made from the same recalcitrant substance as the devil, that tends to draw our souls downward. Second, every human has within her, as her True Self, either a psychic (soul) seed or a pneumatic (spiritual) seed. The pneumatic seed is more perfect than the psychic seed. It is more subtle in nature and is found in prophets, righteous people, and genuine gnostics. Depending on which seed is dominant in an individual, that person can either be characterized as hylic, psychic, or pneumatic. The psychic and pneumatic seeds are the germs of the spirit that the Savior came to awaken and quicken to life. Those born of the psychic seed are less able to grasp the Christian mysteries than those born with the pneumatic seedthe psychics are the ordinary or exoteric Christians, the pneumatics however, being capable of greater insight, are esotericists. If our spiritual growth is determined by the kind of seeds out of which we are made, it becomes quite important to ask whether or not one can produce children of higher pedigree. How does one ensure that his or her child is a pneumatic? This is where the practice of the Bridal Chamber comes in. The Valentinians believed that intentional coupling and the exercise of the directed imagination during coitus allowed for the formation of a pneumatic embryo. During sexual union, the man was to set his attention wholly on the divine Sophia and the woman on the man, and by doing so the embryo would be imprinted with a pneumatic seed thus guaranteeing the new child's spiritual pedigree. This act of directed imagination during sex was the sacrament of the Bridal Chamber. For the Valentinians, only pneumatics can engage in this practice, which makes procreation an act of the will not of eros. Other Christians, the psychics, must instead practice continence, because their coupling is based on the movements of desire (eros) and threatens to populate the world with increasingly fallen souls.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism, Gnosticism, Moral and ritual practice: Irenaeus reports of the Valentinians, whom he characterizes as eventual inheritors of Simon, that they are lax in their dietary habits (eating food that has been 'offered to idols'), sexually promiscuous ('immoderately given over to the desires of the flesh') and guilty of taking wives under the pretence of living with them as adopted 'sisters'.
Valentines Day:
http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/valentine/?page=history (The History Channel), The History of Valentine's Day:
The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.
Regardless, I would assume that since the 2nd century Gnostic Valentinus was earlier than the other Valentines / Valentinuses, they took the name in support of him.
http://www.christianism.com/articles/13.html
'St. Valentine's Day February 14 The customs associated with this "Lover's Day" may have had more to do with the customs of the Roman festival of the Lupercalia [see 269] than with St. Valentine. The only Valentine or Valentinus of whom there is historical record was the founder
of one of the most prevalent Gnostic sects, the Valentinians. They were noted in particular for their belief in "free love" and liberal view of sexuality. Again, Jesus, not Funk & Wagnall, but Jesus made a new COMMANDMENT (John 13:34) for all to love one another without conditions (without marriage), even your enemy(s); therefore, free love.
The New Century Cyclopedia of Names, Barnhart, 1954, Vol. 3, p. 3456:
Of course, as we all know, Eros / Cupid (the pagan god of sexual love) seems to be a major icon for Valentines Day.
http://web.archive.org/web/20101227053800/http://goldenrule.name/Orgy_ValentinusValentinesDay.htm

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What were the beliefs of the Valentinian Gnostics regarding sexuality and procreation?

What was the 'Bridal Chamber' ritual in the Valentinian tradition?

VALENTINUS / VALENTINES DAY

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