I
was just looking at this, my Abraxas Page -- which, incidentally, I have
just thought I should link to the currently underproduced CHASING THE
STAG Page -- and decided to add something. These paragraphs being
that "something". I have alot of research, interesting facts, dry
data. But I should write first about what Abraxas is to me.
Abraxas is... everything I seek. The object of my questing, perhaps,
but more the peak and summit of my questing path. Abraxas is the
fire that never quite catches within me, a flame I seek to feed and fan
until I am ablaze with mySelf. Abraxas is the banner under which
I will rally under cold grey skies, and thus avoid the creeping death that
seems to have afflicted most the world -- a death that sets in so slowly
that the masses of people don't even notice, and the walking corpses greet
each other as they mow their lawns and drive to work, hardly noticing as
their last chances at the return of life fade and shrink in the distances.
Last chances that are comprised of the essence of great Abraxas.
If you have heard the whisper of Abraxas' flame and felt the rush of Abraxas'
ocean, you likely know what I speak of.
Some will shake their heads and mutter -- "He worships some false god,
not the God of the Bible!" And others, "He is another pathetic
spiritualist, pursuing some fantasy, some dream of gods and heavens, placing
faith above reason..." And yet it is not so. Abraxas is
not a god, and yet Abraxas is the only god. Abraxas is not a spirit,
but if ever there was Spirit, Abraxas was its entirety, and Abraxas is
the spirit that makes up all that we know, even that which we call "matter"
and "energy" -- all that we know is only variations on the Spirit that
is Abraxas.
Abraxas is not the God of the Judeo-Christian Bible. And yet, if
that God ever did exist, Abraxas is Him. Abraxas is also Satan.
Ask the Gnostics. Abraxas is release from the timid and binding laws
of man, and yet Abraxas is the wisdom and cunning that binds itself to
those laws with cords of paper. Abraxas is the extremity of all human
existance -- the black hatred and the blood-red love, the admired violence
and the terrible peace, the desolation and the joy of ages. And yet
Abraxas is the balance of all extremity, the middle of all breadths, the
greatest of compromises within all conflicts. Abraxas is the paradox
that lies between, the simultaneous attainment of irreconcilable opposites
without compromising the integrity of either element. Have you had
the epiphany? Do you know the feel of this Paradox? If so,
you know well of what I write.
Abraxas is the above and the below, the within and the without. Abraxas
is the hope and the despair, the joy and the misery. Abraxas is why
I am a omnipotent god walking the earth unique among all, and why I am
one weak and fragile organism amid a throng of billions of others like
me.
.
The name Abraxas, coined by Basilides, the Egyptian Gnostic,
is a word symbol consisting of seven letters which
signify the seven creative powers or planetary angels
recognized by the ancients. Sampson Arnold Mackey
advances the theory that the name is compounded
from two ancient words, Abir, which means
a bull, and Axis, which means the pole. To substantiate
his belief, he brings forward the fact that a motion
of the earth, commonly called the alternation of
the poles, resulted in the vernal equinox taking place
at one time in Taurus, the Celestial Bull, over the North
Pole. The four white horses drawing the chariot of Abraxas symbolize the
four ethers by means of which the solar
power, Abraxas, is circulated through all parts
of the universe. The seven-lettered name of Abraxas is symbolically
significant of his seven-rayed power.
That the modern world has any knowledge whatever
of ancient Gnostic symbolism is largely due to the cupidity of those
individuals who set themselves the task
of destroying every intelligible record of Gnostic
philosophy; for, wishing to keep rather than destroy articles of
commercial value, the fanatics preserved
gems upon which Gnostic symbols were
engraved. The image at the top of the page is the enlargement and amplification
of a Gnostic jewel, the original
stone being only a trifle over an inch in height. Rings and
other articles of jewelry set with Gnostic gems were undoubtedly used by
members of the cult as means of identification.
As the order was a secret society,
the designs were small and inconspicuous.
Medieval demonologists often mention a demon called Abraxas. They represent
him as a fat-bellied character
with the head of a king, a dragon's tail, and serpents instead of legs.
He carries a whip in his hand.
On amulets or that era, he is often featured with the head of a
cock instead of that of a king.
The inclusion of Abraxas in the hierarchy
of evildoers seems to be rather arbitrary, as it has been
impossible to attribute any specific evil deeds or malevolent influences
to this demon. His comdemnation
appears to be a purely dogmatic matter on the part of the medieval
church.
Abraxas was but a name, invented by the Gnostics to express the unspeakable name of the Supreme Being and to symbolize its solar power. It is said to be compounded from two ancient worlds: 'abir' meaning 'bull,' and 'axis' meaning 'pole.' This etymology refers to the motion of the earth commonly called the alteration of the poles. It resulted at one time in the vernal equinox taking place in the constellation of Taurus, the Celestial Bull.
Another
representation shows four white horses drawing the chariot of Abraxas.
These stand for the four ethers
by means of which the solar power is circulated in the universe.
The seven letters of his name signify
the seven creative powers, or the seven planetary angels,
recognized by the ancients. In numerology, the value of the letters in
Abraxas adds up to three hundred
and sixty-five, the number of days and powers of the year, and the
three hundred and sixty-five spirits
occupying the heavens. The name Abraxas seems also to
have been the origin of the word 'abracadabra,' a magic spell said to be
of very great
power.
From
Tertullian: Appendix
"Afterwards broke out the heretic Basilides. He affirms that there is a
supreme Deity, by name Abraxas,
by whom was created Mind, which in Greek he calls Nous;
that thence sprang the Word; that of Him issued Providence, Virtue, and
Wisdom; that out of these subsequently were made Principalities, powers,
and Angels; that there ensued
infinite issues and processions of angels; that by these angels
365 heavens were formed, and the world, in honour of Abraxas, whose
name, if computed, has in itself this
number. Now, among the last of the angels, those
who made this world, he places the God of the Jews latest, that is, the
God of the Law and of the Prophets,
whom he denies to be a God, but affirms to be an
angel. To him, he says, was allotted the seed of Abraham, and accordingly
he it was who transferred the
sons of Israel from the land of Egypt into the land of Canaan;
affirming him to be turbulent above the other angels, and accordingly
given to the frequent arousing of seditions
and wars, yes, and the shedding of human
blood. Christ, moreover, he affirms to have been sent, not by this
maker of the world, but by the
above-named Abraxas; and to have come in a phantasm,
and been destitute of the substance of flesh: that it was not He who
suffered among the Jews, but that Simon
was crucified in His stead: whence, again,
there must be no believing in him who was crucified, lest one confess to
having believed in Simon. Martyrdoms,
he says, are not to be endured. The resurrection
of the flesh he strenuously impugns, affirming that salvation has not
been promised to bodies."
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