Samael Aun Weor (Hebrew: סמאל און ואור)(March 6, 1917 – December 24, 1977), born Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez, Colombian citizen and later Mexican, was an author, lecturer and founder of the 'Universal Christian Gnostic Movement' with his teaching of 'The Doctrine of Synthesis' of all religions in both their esoteric and exoteric aspects. It has been called neo-Gnostic by the historian of esotericism Arthur Verslius and called by the historian Jean-Francois Mayer "a science of consciousness or knowledge that may be attained through certain techniques." In his over sixty books and hundreds of held conferences, he describes a teaching called "Gnosis", the Greek word for "knowledge", from which is derived the name "Gnosticism", which is a term also used to designate various sects such as the Ophites which appeared at the beginning of the Christian Era who were considered heretics by the Catholic Church.

Victor Manuel Gómez Rodriguez was born in Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Republic of Colombia, son of Manuel Gómez Quijano and Francisca Rodríguez de Gómez. He was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church but later rejected the Church of Rome. His childhood and family life are not well known, except that he had a brother, and his father remarried after a divorce. He was sent to a Roman Catholic Jesuit school but soon quit disillusioned by religion; he was twelve years old at the time. Instead he invested most of his time in the study of metaphysical and esoteric treatises. Later in life, as writer, lecturer and Gnostic teacher, he would demonstrate a profound esoteric knowledge of both Eastern and Western classics.