 Beginning in certain Gnostic texts with the hermaphroditic aeon Barbelo, the first emanated being, various interactions with the Monad occur which result in the emanation of successive pairs of aeons, often in male–female pairings called "syzygies".The numbers of these pairings varied from text to text, though some identify their number as being thirty.The aeons as a totality constitute the "pleroma", the "region of light".