What is Abraxas?

What is Abraxas?

Abraxas: An entity who has various roles in Gnostic and magical systems. Th e letters of the word Abraxas in Greek *gematria, in which each letter of the Greek alphabet is given a unique value, add up to 365, which in the Basilidean system described by *Irenaeus represents the 365 *emanations from the supreme being. Abraxas appears frequently on engraved magical *gems, usually depicted with a rooster head. The name might have originated from Hebrew Arba (“four,” referring to the *tetragrammaton, the divine name) Sabaoth, “lord of hosts.” Abraxas is also a deity in C. G. *Jung’s *Seven Sermons to the Dead. (Smith A.P. - A Dictionary of Gnosticism)

Etymology

J. B. Passerius derives it from abh, "father", bara, "to create", and a- negative—"the uncreated Father".

Wendelin discovers a compound of the initial letters, amounting to 365 in numerical value, of four Hebrew and three Greek words, all written with Greek characters: ab, ben, rouach, hakadōs; sōtēria apo xylou ("Father, Son, Spirit, holy; salvation from the cross").

According to a note of Isaac de Beausobre's, Jean Hardouin accepted the first three of these, taking the four others for the initials of the Greek anthrōpoussōzōn hagiōi xylōi, "saving mankind by the holy cross".

Basilides

One of Basilides’ Demiurge created an ethereal world; in other words, a higher sphere. The second created the lower, material world—the cosmos. These worlds, which include 365 spheres were called by Basilides Abraxas. They were full of contradictions: evil and virtue, truth and falsehood, the sacred and the vile, pain and joy, birth and death—all intertwine inextricably in an amazing way. This is Abraxas—our world, and therefore it is so frightening in its inconceivability.

Irenæus remarks of the Basilidans, that "they use images, incantations, and all other things pertaining unto Magic." Further on (xxiii.) he adds their custom of giving names to their images of pretended angels. 

In the system described by Irenaeus, "the Unbegotten Father" is the progenitor of Nous, and from Nous Logos, from Logos Phronesis, from Phronesis Sophia and Dynamis, from Sophia and Dynamis principalities, powers, and angels, the last of whom create "the first heaven". They in turn originate a second series, who create a second heaven. The process continues in like manner until 365 heavens are in existence, the angels of the last or visible heaven being the authors of our world.[2] "The ruler" [principem, i.e., probably ton archonta] of the 365 heavens "is Abraxas, and for this reason he contains within himself 365 numbers".

Lastly, Epiphanius, after stating that Basilides had taught that the Supreme Being--out of whom proceeded Mind, Intelligence, Providence, Strength, and Wisdom--was named Abraxas, proceeds to describe in what manner the idea was embodied by the heresiarch: "Having taken their vain speculations, he and his followers have converted them into a peculiar and definite form, as a foundation for their own erroneous idolatrous and fictitious doctrines." Further on he adds: "With respect to their 'Kavlacav,' what person with any understanding would not laugh at their converting a Hebrew word into a bodily shape in order to represent their idol; at their personified Principalities; in a word, at their fondness for images; whilst through these fancies they sow error in the minds of the ignorant for the furtherance of their disgraceful and lying trade?" Then proceeding, it would appear, to the analysis of the figure itself, he exclaims: "It is a Spirit of deceit, which, like the playing upon a pipe, leads the ignorant into many sins against the Truth. Yea, even his legs are an imitation of the Serpent through whom the Evil One spake and deceived Eve. For after the pattern of that figure hath the flute been invented for the deceiving of mankind. Observe the figure that the player makes in blowing his flute. Both he not bend himself up and down to the right and to the left, like unto it (the serpent)? These forms hath the Devil used to support his blasphemy against heavenly things, to destroy with destruction things upon earth, to encompass the whole world, taking captive right and left all such as lend an ear to his seductions."

Nag Hammadi library

And the Father nodded approval; the whole pleroma of the lights was well pleased. The

<ministers> came forth: the first one, the great Gamaliel (of) the first great light Harmozel, and the great Gabriel (of) the second great light Oroiael, and the great Samlo of the great light Davithe, and the great Abrasax of the great light Eleleth. And the consorts of these came forth by the will of the good pleasure of the Father: the Memory of the great one, the first, Gamaliel; the Love of the great one, the second, Gabriel; the Peace of the third one, the great Samblo; the eternal Life of the great one, the fourth, Abrasax. Thus were the five ogdoads completed, a total of forty, as an uninterpretable power.

and the receivers of the great race, the incorruptible, mighty men <of> the great Seth, the ministers of the four lights, the great Gamaliel, the great Gabriel, the great Samblo, and the great Abrasax, and they who preside over the sun, its rising,

Abrasax and Sablo and Gamaliel will descend and bring those men out of the fire and the wrath, and take them above the aeons and the rulers of the powers, and take them away [...] of life [...] and take them away [...] aeons [...] dwelling place of the great [...] there, with the holy angels and the aeons. The men will be like those angels, for they are not strangers to them. But they work in the imperishable seed.

In the *Revelation of Adam, one of three *angels, along with *Sablo and *Gamaliel, who will descend and rescue people from fi re and wrath, probably from *Sodom and Gomorrah. (Smith A.P. - A Dictionary of Gnosticism)

With the availability of primary sources, such as those in the Nag Hammadi library, the identity of Abrasax remains unclear. The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, for instance, refers to Abrasax as an Aeon dwelling with Sophia and other Aeons of the Pleroma in the light of the luminary Eleleth. In several texts, the luminary Eleleth is the last of the luminaries (Spiritual Lights) that come forward, and it is the Aeon Sophia, associated with Eleleth, who encounters darkness and becomes involved in the chain of events that leads to the Demiurge's rule of this world, and the salvage effort that ensues. As such, the role of Aeons of Eleleth, including Abraxas, Sophia, and others, pertains to this outer border of the Pleroma that encounters the ignorance of the world of Lack and interacts to rectify the error of ignorance in the world of materiality.

Abraxas? Is this Yaldaboath?
Yes and they are all the same demiurge. Representing the ego.

Gems

They’re mandalas that function as a kind of armillary sphere. A model of the universe
So of course they’re malleable. They can represent both the fatalism of the kosmos, but also the nest in which the egg of gnosis grows and finally cracks open.

Gematria

So these are models that mean specific things. ABRASAX is a code for “365” meaning the cycle of the year and the inescapability of time. So that’s bad.
But hey, if you befriend / cajole / blackmail the concept of time, you can liberate yourself. Not be defined or imprisoned by time. So that’s good.
Gnosticism frequently presents a reality: “the system sucks.”
Then it presents an alternative: “if it’s a system, it can be hacked.”
So it’s both the fatalism of the universe and our opportunity to break free of that cycle.
It’s not about repainting the walls of the prison.
We’re not in the paint business.
We’re in the dynamite business.

Abraxas is the archetype that splits unity into duality, the first emanation. The literal Y from masc/fem, light/dark. 'Is Abra_A_ threshold' is a statement, not a question. Look at "is". I is the straight line like a spur from the void. 0 and i form Q. O and Y form OF with two parallel paths. V and A show direction, up or down. W/M are obviously double V/A. T is the crossroad and K is the split of decision.

0 to 1 to Y to X to W to 3 then V. Instead of 3 to V, if they mirror to E they produce 5. The 5 create the " which symbolize a fully generative fractal. Single letters such as s are only given withered fractals as '. People who don't pay attention to what they do use that fractal as their trash bin. This is the reasoning behind the quadrinary algorithm YHUh.

There are letters that show transition, translation, transversity: S/Z, N,X. O is a basin. U is a cup to be filled; if it overflows, it spills into the void. Society currently appears to be trying to create a black hole. Now, look up THE OF AND TO A IN AS I.

Pneuma is paired with Abraxas—Magic. Abraxas is referenced in many places in the Nag Hammadi texts, particularly in the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit. The letters in Abraxas refer to the 7 classical planets, the days of the week, the Pleroma plus the 6 primary Aeons (7). When decoded using numerology the letters in Greek add up to 365—to represent the 365 powers of the heavens and the number of days in a year. It’s likely that Abraxas is also the ruler of time—something that is both made by man and yet eternal and universal. Carl Jung referred to Abraxas as “the God who is difficult to know” and “the unlikely, likely one, who is powerful in the realm of unreality”. If Pneuma takes the form of our inner spirit, then Abraxas represents an invisible, external power—magical, transformative, unknowable, and yet supremely powerful and influential. Pneuma represents the incredible and knowable power within us, that brings revelation. Abraxas represents the incredible, unknowable powers outside of us that brings with it surprising and unexpected things—it keeps us on our toes.