Abraxas, also known as Abrasax, is a Gnostic solar deity associated with Yahweh, Mithras and the Celtic Belenus, as well as Yeshu (Jesus). Amulets and seals bearing the figure of Abraxas were common in the second century, and were used as recently as the thirteenth century in the seals of the Knights Templar. By medieval times, Abraxas was relegated to the ranks of demons.

The image most associated with abraxas is that of a composite creature with the head of a rooster, the body of a man, and legs made of serpents or scorpions. He carries a whip and shield, called wisdom and power, respectively. Abraxas is occasionally depicted driving a chariot drawn by four horses, which representing the four elements.

The word Abraxas was first proposed by the Alexandrian Gnostic scholar Basilides, and is created using the first letters of the names of the seven visible planets. Gematrically, the letters in Abraxas add to 365, the number of days in a solar year, and the number of Aeons, or divine emanations, in Gnostic cosmology. Each of the seven letters represents one of the seven planetary powers.

Church father Tertullian, speaking of Basilides' description of Abraxas:

"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." (Source)

Now that was an interesting read.
I like the look of that God. I mean, his legs are a little strange, but the whip and shield equals much Win.

The Third Sermon, Seven Sermons to the Dead

The dead approached like mist out of the swamps and they shouted: "Speak to us further about the highest god!"

-- Abraxas is the god whom it is difficult to know. His power is the very greatest, because man does not perceive it at all. Man sees the summum bonum (supreme good) of the sun, and also the infinum malum (endless evil) of the devil, but Abraxas, he does not see, for he is undefinable life itself, which is the mother of good and evil alike.

Life appears smaller and weaker than the summum bonum (supreme good), wherefore it is hard to think that Abraxas should supersede in his power the sun, which is the radiant fountain of all life force.

Abraxas is the sun and also the eternally gaping abyss of emptiness, of the diminisher and dissembler, the devil.

The power of Abraxas is twofold. You cannot see it, because in your eyes the opposition of this power seems to cancel it out.

That which is spoken by God-the-Sun is life; That which is spoken by the Devil is death. Abraxas, however, speaks the venerable and also accursed word, which is life and death at once.

Abraxas generates truth and falsehood, good and evil, light and darkness with the same word and in the same deed. Therefore, Abraxas is truly the terrible one.

He is magnificent even as the lion at the very moment when he strikes his prey down. His beauty is like the beauty of a spring morn.

Indeed, he is himself the greater Pan, and also the lesser. He is Priapos.

He is the monster of the underworld, the octopus with a thousand tentacles, he is the twistings of winged serpents and of madness.

He is the hermaphrodite of the lowest beginning.

He is the lord of toads and frogs, who live in the water and come out unto the land, and who sing together at high noon and at midnight.

He is fullness, uniting itself with emptiness.
He is the sacred wedding;
He is love and the murder of love;
He is the holy one and his betrayer.

He is the brightest light of the day and the deepest night of madness.
To see him means blindness;
To know him is sickness;
To worship him is death;
To fear him is wisdom;
Not to resist him means liberation.

God lives behind the sun; the devil lives behind the night. What god brings into birth from the light, that the devil pulls into the night. Abraxas, however, is the cosmos; its genesis and its dissolution. To every gift of God-the-Sun, the devil adds his curse.

All things which you beg from God-the-Sun, generate an act of the devil. All things which you accomplish through God-the-Sun add to the effective might of the devil.

Such is the terrible Abraxas.

He is the mightiest manifest being, and in him creation becomes frightened of itself.
He is the revealed protest of creation against the Pleroma and its nothingness.
He is the terror of the son, which he feels against his mother.
He is the love of the mother for her son.
He is the delight of earth and the cruelty of heaven.
Man becomes paralyzed before his face.
Before him there exist neither question nor answer.
He is the life of creation.
He is the activity of differentiation.
He is the love of man.
He is the speech of man.
He is both the radiance and dark shadow of man.
He is deceitful reality.

--Here the dead howled and raved greatly, for they were still incomplete ones.

http://www.holysmoke.org/sdhok/sermon3.htm


The Thunder, Perfect Mind

I was sent forth from the power,
and I have come to those who reflect upon me,
and I have been found among those who seek after me.
Look upon me, you who reflect upon me,
and you hearers, hear me.
You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.
And do not banish me from your sight.
And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.
Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard!
Do not be ignorant of me.

For I am the first and the last.
I am the honored one and the scorned one.
I am the whore and the holy one.
I am the wife and the virgin.

For I am knowledge and ignorance.
I am shame and boldness.
I am shameless; I am ashamed.
I am strength and I am fear.
I am war and peace.
Give heed to me.
I am the one who is disgraced and the great one.

I am the one whom they call Life,
and you have called Death.
I am the one whom they call Law,
and you have called Lawlessness.
I am the one whom you have pursued,
and I am the one whom you have seized.
I am the one whom you have scattered,
and you have gathered me together.
I am the one before whom you have been ashamed,
and you have been shameless to me.
I am she who does not keep festival,
and I am she whose festivals are many.
I, I am godless,
and I am the one whose God is great.

For many are the pleasant forms which exist in numerous sins,
and incontinencies,
and disgraceful passions,
and fleeting pleasures,
which men embrace until they become sober
and go up to their resting place.
And they will find me there,
and they will live,
and they will not die again.

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/thunder.html

I saw that at the link in my previous post. Thanks for sharing here.

It's interesting also, relative to magics and such related to this particular god, that the incantation Abracadabra was associated with Abraxas.


(Excerpt) Abracadabra: This symbolic word first occurs in a medical treatise in verse by Samonicus, who flourished in the reign of the Emperor Septimus Severus. Godfrey Higgins says it is from Abra or Abar "God", in Celtic, and cad "holy"; it was used as a charm, and engraved on Kameas as an amulet. [W.W.W.]

Godfrey Higgins was nearly right, as the word "Abracadabra" is a later corruption of the sacred Gnostic term "Abrasax", the latter itself being a still earlier corruption of a sacred and ancient Coptic or Egyptian word: a magic formula which meant in its symbolism "Hurt me not", and addressed the deity in its hieroglyphics as "Father". It was generally attached to an amulet or charm and worn as a Tat (q.v.), on the breast under the garments." (continues at link)



Abracadabra - Etymology
Theories about the source of the word are:


A possible source is Aramaic: אברא כדברא avra kehdabra which means "I will create as I speak".


Abracadabra - Abraxas
It has also been claimed that the word comes from Abraxas, a Gnostic word for God (the source of 365 emanations, apparently the Greek letters for Abraxas add up to 365 when deciphered according to numerological methods). It has also been claimed to come from Abracalan (or Aracalan), said to have been both a Syrian god and a Jewish magical symbol.

Abraxas was the offspring of the Demiurgos who heard the voice of the Holy Mother and responded to her. In return Abraxas was taken up to a special position where he guides souls through the aeons to the Pleroma. Since Abraxas could be redeemed, so can the Demiurgos if he will just listen to the voice of his Holy Mother.

Peace,

RadicalGnostic

A possible source is Aramaic: אברא כדברא avra kehdabra which means "I will create as I speak".

bingo.

I like the notion of a holy female. Being wise in all things Gnostic, I was wondering if you would share a bit more on that particular aspect of the practice/faith, RN!? I'll bring you cookies from the dark side!

I understand there are many differing views in Gnostic thought, it was and should be encouraged, but that sounds more like Sabaoth you are referring to, from the text 'The Hypostasis of the Archons'...

"Now when his(Yaldabaoth) offspring Sabaoth saw the force of that angel, he repented and condemned his father and his mother, matter. He loathed her, but he sang songs of praise up to Sophia and her daughter Zoe. And Sophia and Zoe caught him up and gave him charge of the seventh heaven, below the veil between above and below. And he is called 'God of the forces, Sabaoth', since he is up above the forces of chaos, for Sophia established him."

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html

...combined with the paragraph in the text 'The Apocalypse of Adam' that mentions Abraxas...

"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."

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/adam.html

Also I am curious what you believe Abraxas needed to be redeemed from?

Iao Sabaoth is Greek, derived from the Hebrew "YHVH Tzaviot," usually translated "Lord of Hosts," a name of God in the Old Testament. In modern biblical translations, it is often rendered as "Commander of armies."

The name Iao Sabaoth is also applied together or seperately as Gnostic archons; the Gnostic Iao is associated with both Abraxas and the seven headed dragon; he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of Lies." (Continues at link)


Sabaoth Gallery

There are a number of versions of Abraxas... or you could say that Abraxas symbolizes a number of different concepts. To some Abraxas is the name given to the Supreme God, to others Abraxas is the Demiurge or an Archon... or even a demon. All are valid making Abraxas at times a very complicated subject with all the "associated" concepts related to all the different versions of Abraxas. Versions will come from the symbolism found on the Abraxas amulets/gems, from texts, from heresiologists and modern sources.

From what I can tell a dual nature or a certain concept of duality associated with Abraxas is the common denominator found in most versions of Abraxas.

It is often said that Abraxas is the Supreme God, both good and evil, God and the Devil as one, symbolizing duality... both heads and tails of a coin... or even the dual nature of the Satan/Lucifer concept. In the OT YHWH is said to be the beginning and the end, good and evil an hence Abraxas could be another name for YHWH... unless you see YHWH as a composite God, a storm/war god given the attributes of higher a God through the ages, then things get complicated again lol.

Personally I dont see a God that encompasses both good and evil as a Supreme God, to me a Supreme God would transcend good and evil. Abraxas has always best represented 'Harsh Reality' to me... "Not to resist him means liberation".