ABRAXAS

ABRAXAS

“"The Basilidian sect of Gnostics, of the second century, claimed Abraxas as their supreme god, and said that Jesus Christ was only a phantom sent to earth by him. They believed that his name contained great mysteries, as it was composed of the seven Greek letters which form the number 365, which is also the number of days in a year. Abraxas, they though, had under his command 365 gods, to whom they attributed 365 virtues, one for each day. The older Mythologists placed him among the number of Egyptian gods, and demonologists have described him as a demon, with the head of a king and with serpents forming his feet. He is represented on ancient amulets, with a whip in his hand. Many stones and gems cut in various symbolic forms such as the head of a foul, were worn by the Basilidians as amulets.”

Lewis Spence, An Encyclopedia Of the Occult

“In describing Abraxas, C. W. King says: "Bellermann considers the composite image, inscribed with the actual name Abraxas, to be a Gnostic Pantheos, representing the Supreme Being, with the Five Emanations marked out by appropriate symbols. From the human body, the usual form assigned to the Deity, spring the two supporters, Nous and Logos, expressed in the serpents, symbols of the inner senses, and the quickening understanding; on which account the Greeks had made the serpent the attribute of Pallas. His head--that of a cock--represents Phronesis, that bird being the emblem of foresight and of vigilance. His two arms hold the symbols of Sophia and Dynamis: the shield of Wisdom and the whip of Power."

Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings Of All Things

I've been wanting to draw Abraxas for a while now and I finally found the push in the weirdest of places.

Recently my partner and I got a car. This is a big deal for us because a bike has been my sole means of transport since 2001. I mean we've rented cars and I've had to drive art transport for work but now I'm commuting every day. This means I'm stuck in Philly traffic every day and I notice weird things that were invisible to me before. For instance, almost every day I've seen shipping containers pulled by trucks with a weird sticker. It was the logo for Bureau Veritas, a shipping inspection company based in France. This isn't really important. What is important is that everyday, when I saw these stickers, they reminded me of the small gemstones I've seen in museums bearing the image of Abraxas. I couldn't get away from it so I decided to finally sit down and draw him!

The Bureau Veritas logo and an "Abraxas stone"

"A vast number of engraved stones are in existence, to which the name "Abrasax-stones" has long been given. One particularly fine example was included as part of the Thetford treasure from fourth century Norfolk, England. The subjects are mythological, and chiefly grotesque, with various inscriptions, in which ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ often occurs, alone or with other words. Sometimes the whole space is taken up with the inscription. In certain obscure magical writings of Egyptian origin ἀβραξάς or ἀβρασάξ is found associated with other names which frequently accompany it on gems; it is also found on the Greek metal tesseræ among other mystic words. The meaning of the legends is seldom intelligible: but some of the gems are amulets; and the same may be the case with nearly all."

I also just love the absurdity of the image. A muscled human torso brandishing a whip, topped with a rooster head and held up by two massive serpents instead of legs! What's not to love?!

To double back to last week's collaboration with Imi, there's also some amazing versions of Abraxas done by really talented artists. Two of my favorites are Liv Rainey-Smith's print and the Pushead cover for Integrity's album Humanity Is the Devil (which I listened to on repeat while working on this piece, specifically the song Abraxas Annihilation).

That's my long winded story about drawing Abraxas! The next two weeks will be the last two weeks of new monsters for a bit but they'll all be gods! And there's some truly weird ones coming your way!