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Meet The Co-Hosts: Snow

(Re-)introducing myself as part of the Around Grandfather Fire team! Meet The Co-Hosts: Snow

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ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ -- ABRASAX From a Hermetic Viewpoint.

To the Gnostics, Abrasax is the great archon who created the whole world. There is quite a bit of nuance considering how Basilides Gnosticism views this deity. Nuance that I am not qualified to go over at the moment. Carl Jung refers to Abrasax as a truly terrible entity that encompasses all evil and all good, in his Red Book. I've seen negative reactions from people on Discord to this entity, but also some positive reactions.

But to the Hermeticist…who and what is this weird rooster head, snake-legged deity that is found all throughout the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM)? Let’s find out? 

In the Discourse of the Ogdoad and Ennead (D89) we are given strings of vowels and nomina Barbara for the Hermetic student, namely Tat as he is being taught by Hermes. To Christian H. Bull in his The Tradition of Hermes Trismégistōs, the string of Greek vowels and nomina Barbara/voces magicae is the totality of the Kosmos. Tat asks to receive the imprint of fullness by ways of hymns of praise to God. Bull seems to agree with Alberto Camplani that the “imprint of Fullness (Pleorma)” is coded within these string of vowels and voces magicae. 

From personal experiences — I have to agree with this, but I had to fuck around and find out for myself as I read this book many months ago when vowels and voces magicae were not big in my praxis. Anyways, here is the full hymn: 

Great! So how does this tie into ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ and what is this names value to a Hermeticist? For starters — This name, has a numerical value of 365, according to isopsephy. 365, as the majority of you know, is the totality of days our Earth revolves around the Sun. In PGM VIII. 1-63, specifically in lines 45-50… we see a love spell invoking Hermes to which we are given the name of ABRASAX equaling 365 explicitly, and quite possibly a voces magicae for Hermes.

The Sun's importance in Hermeticism is ever-present. Most explicit in my opinion is SH 2a from M. David Litwa’s Hermetica II:

Also important to note: Thoth. Many believe Thoth is just the god of the Moon, yet Thoth has a Solar form: the Baboon. Baboons and their screeches are believed to be connected to the language of the gods. This is confirmed in the Demotic Book of Thoth. Where a scribe of Thoth’s Scribal College: The House of Life [𓉑], says this about the great teacher, Thoth: "The signs revealed their form. He called to them and they answered to him. He knew the form of speech of the baboons and the ibises." Thoth is also believed to be the creator of not just words and language but also vowels (Philebus 18b-c). For clarity's sake, Thoth is an extremely important figure in Hermeticism. Our teachings are based upon a syncretic god: Hermes & Thoth — Hermēs Trismégistōs. 

More evidence for the importance of ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ is found in PGM XIII.1-343 — the famed Heptagram Rite, which we can perform more clearly and neatly here. This is a ritual that invokes Aiōn. Aiōn is believed to be the power of the Unknowable, Ineffable Godhead in Corpus Hermeticum XI. In lines 80-89 of PGM XIII, we are given voces magicae to Aiōn in 7 different languages as seen below.

Birdglyphic: ΑΡΑΙ Hieroglyphic: ΛΑΙΛΑΜ Hebraic: ΑΝΟΧ ΒΙΑΘΙΑΡΒΑΘ ΒΕΡΒΙΡ ΕΧΙΛΑΤΟΥΡ ΒΟΥΦΡΟΥΜΤΡΟΜ Egyptian: ΑΛΔΑΒΑΕΙΜ Finally, in Baboonic: ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ 

(The voces magicae for Aiōn is continued in 'Falconic' and lastly hieratic languages). Thus, we can see a clear link to baboons and Thoth, the name Abrasax to the baboons, and their "language." We see a connection between Aiōn and Abrasax, and we also saw above in PGM VIII that it could also be used as a voces magicae to Hermes!

But let’s look at the imagery as well. A rooster head with snake legs. The legs, to me, are Chthonic of course, and curl up to shape an Ω, the seventh sphere, Saturn. The connection to Omega is something Christian H. Bill points out. The rooster is also a Solar animal. So to me, we have a beautiful image representing the totality of All Things from the Sun whose an image of Truth, directly subordinate to the One Primal Deity (SH 2a), down to the Du’at/Underworld. Both Hermes and Thoth are connected to the Underworld as well as the Sun. Hermes' planet, Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. Hermes is also famously known as a psychopomp, a traveler and mediator between Hades and Mount Olympus, Death and Life. Thoth, with His solar connections stated above, is also a key member of the Ancient Egyptian Underworld. In the Ani Papyrus, we see Thoth as the recorder/scribe that lists every heart that is weighed up against the Divine Feather of Truth -- Ma'at.

Thus what we have here, from a Hermetic standpoint, is that Abrasax is not a malevolent archon or a demon as denoted by the early Catholic Church, but rather a beautiful deity that is worthy of reverence whose name equals our revolution around the Sun, the Image of God. Abrasax — a name that is connected to both Hermes and Thoth, for reasons stated above. A name that also has a connection to Aiōn, an extremely important power/god in Corpus Hermeticum XI.

That is my interpretation, from a Hermetic standpoint. There are many interpretations of this elusive yet captivating deity. Abrasax can be a voces magicae for Hermes, or for Aiōn, it can be what I said, or you can take the Gnostic approach, or Jung, or Catholic approach to Abrasax. Regardless of what you do with the information, I shall continue to raise my voice in jubilation and cry out:

ΧΑΙΡΕ ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ ! 

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The Arbatel of the Ancients: Renaissance Magic as a Modern Mystic

In omnibus consule Dominum, et nihil cogites, dicas, facias, quod tibi Deus non consuluerit. In all things consult the Lord, and don’t think, speak, or do anything without God’s counsel. (Peterson, 2009, pp.3) This post, and the musings surrounding it have their precedents in a few works of mine that more curious readers may benefit from perusing. Namely: Hermetic Heathenry: Part I –…

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Human beings exist for the sake of one another: so, either teach them or endure them. Οἱ ἄνθρωποι γεγόνασιν ἀλλήλων ἕνεκεν: ἢ δίδασκε οὖν ἢ φέρε. --Marcus Aurelius, Meditations VIII.59

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Love Like the Deepest Oceans and Widest Skies

Freundschaft und Ehe. — Der beste Freund wird wahrscheinlich die beste Gattin bekommen, weil die gute Ehe auf dem Talent zur Freundschaft beruht. Friendship and Marriage. — The best friend will probably get the best wife, because a good marriage is based on talent for friendship. (Nietzsche, 1909. VII.378) Humans are messy and emotions are complicated. This has been a fact bandied back and…

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Around Grandfather Fire Ep. 126: Skin-Deep: An Interview with Morpheus Ravenna

Episode 126: Skin-Deep: An Interview with Morpheus Ravenna is up and available on all good podcast platforms now!

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Relief of Osiris, green-skinned

Tomb of Nefertari (QV66), Valley of the Queens, West Thebes.

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Industrial Paganism

Pretending to guide me, you led me astrayAnd I don’t want to fall into your kind of waysI will never sway (Front 242, 1993) A question that has been gnawing at my mind for some time now, in fact since I first read S. Alexander Reed’s Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music: “There seems to be something in the philosophy of industrial music that is, or could be, applicable to Paganism.…

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The Alternative, The Other, and The Underground

Alternative religions exist, by definition, in relation to a given norm. New religious movements are peripheral to, adjacent to, or underneath, a religious status quo. These things exist, and are defined, by contrast. Whether Heathenry, Kemeticism, Hellenism, Wicca, Thelema, Druidry, or any number of other such religions, systems, traditions, or paths that are often placed under the umbrellas of…

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Personal Enneads and Triads

Love this post on how our relationships with the divine grow, evolve, shift, and develop over time. I have said it before but a god of anything becomes a god of everything to a devotee. The more we look, the more we are also introduced to the gods around them, or that god in different forms, or some combination of both. Personal Enneads and Triads

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Bandcamp Friday

No pressure any which way, but if anyone’d seen my stuff and been wondering, it is Bandcamp Friday https://thecyberforestbleeps.bandcamp.com/

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Detail of the Amduat papyrus of Tadimut. I think this does a good job of showing the bivalent nature of snakes in Egyptian mythology; there is everything from the ureai that guard the oars of the sky and the eye of Horus to a huge Apophis slashed up with knives.

Where: Egyptian Museum Cairo

When: Third Intermediate Period, 21st Dynasty

[An Egyptian papyrus. Right to left, top, the solar barque, with a large eye of Horus; below, an upside down falcon head above a snake, a crocodile, and another eye of Horus. Next, two large ureai, one above the other, each with an eye of Horus, a nefer-hieroglyph, and a nub-hieroglyph. A large waving blue serpent cut by six red knives. Two ureai guarding two oars above another snake, besides various symbols.]

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AGF 125 - Do Ghosts Experience Cringe?: An Interview With Mortellus

AGF 125 – Do Ghosts Experience Cringe?: An Interview With Mortellus

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Around Grandfather Fire ep. 127: Interview with Sif!

Saturday 6th April at 3pm EST/8pm GMT, @sarenth, Cabra, Emily Streakingfate, and I will be interviewing Sif on Around Grandfather Fire episode 127! We'll discuss her new book, Heathenry, Valkyries and more! https://patreon.com/aroundgrandfatherfire/ if you want to join live

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Through the Shadows and Towards the Light

“[…]Non in alto latet spiritus nec utique ferro eruendus est; non sunt uulnere penitus inpresso scrutanda praecordia: in proximo mors est. Non certum ad hos ictus destinaui locum: quacumque uis peruium est. Ipsum illud quod uocatur mori, quo anima discedit a corpore, breuius est quam ut sentiri tanta uelocitas possit: siue fauces nodus elisit, siue spiramentum aqua praeclusit, siue in caput…

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I am in tears, while carrying you to your last resting place as much as I rejoiced when bringing you home in my own hands fifteen years ago

Now, Patrice, you will no longer give me a thousand kisses, nor will you be able to lie affectionately round my neck. 

You were a good dog, and in sorrow I have placed you in a marble tomb, and I have united you forever to myself when I die. 

You readily matched a human with your clever ways; alas, what a pet we have lost! 

You, sweet Patrice, were in the habit of joining us at table and fawningly asking for food in our lap, 

You were accustomed to lick with your greedy tongue the cup which my hands often held for you 

And often welcomed your tired master with wagging tail

Ancient Roman epitaph for a dog, found in Salerno.  (CIL X 659)

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Finding Questions and Crafting Queries

[…] We ought to go to [the diviners] without either desire or aversion, just as the wayfarer asks the man who meets him which of two roads leads to his destination, without any desire to have the right-hand road lead there any more than the left-hand road; for he does not care to travel one particular road of the two, but merely the one that leads to his destination. So also we ought to go to God…