Abraxas is a mystic word made up of Greek letters. The word was believed to have magical properties and was inscribed on ancient charms and amulets. Abraxas is symbolized on ancient talismans as the head of a cock on the body of a man with a whip in one hand and a shield in the other. The symbol is also engraved on gemstones called the Abrasax stones.

Its origin: An early Gnostic teacher from Alexandra in Egypt, gave the name Abraxas to god, or the Great Archon, the god of 365 spheres or heavens – for each day of the year. Sources cite the seven letters represent the seven classic planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn). The original letters of the word in Greek add up to the number 365.

The original letters of Abraxas are a Greek name, spelled ABΣPΞ that add up to 365:

A = 1, B = 2, Σ = 200, P = 100, Ξ = 60 = 365

He also stated that Abrasax may be the root of the word abracadabra. The word Abrasax, in his view, was a corruption of on an ancient Egyptian word – a magical incantation meaning hurt me not

Gnosticism is a religious teaching based on gnosis, meaning secret knowledge that is used to achieve salvation and a return to our true spiritual origins, away from the physical universe and its evil. While we continue to be churned through the cycles of rebirth here on Earth, perhaps the magic, mysticism or religion of old or new can guide us back to our true origins and pure form, back to Abraxas.

Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist and Modern Gnostic had written extensively on Abraxas. In his 1916 book called The Seven Sermons to the Dead, Jung called Abraxas a God higher than the Christian God and Devil that combines all opposites into one Being. He said that Abraxas was a polymorphous world spirit which permeates — or even encompass — the very fabric of existence: “[Abraxas] is… a thousand-armed ployp, coiled knot of winged serpents… the hermaphrodite of the earliest beginning… the lord of toads and frogs, which live in the water… abundance that seeketh union with emptiness.” (Carl Jung, quoted in The Gnostic Jung, Ed. Robert Segal, pp. 187-88, pub. 1992)

In studying the etymology of the word Ab-Rax-As, I have found that it means;

* Ab – is derived from the Aramic and Latin abba meaning – Father

* Rax or Rex- Latin for King or a male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom

* As – Used to refer to the function or character that someone or something has: “Jupiter rules as father of the heavens.”

The serpent symbology found on the talisman and gemstones of Abraxas actually represent the worm. In the ancient Jewish Gnostic Mysteries, the serpent (worm) was a symbol of Samael, the archangel of Mars and the master of the astral light.

In scriptural writings serpents are frequently used to represent currents or waves of force moving in space.

This is the modern Gnostic theology and science of Abraxas.

Abraxas who is the heavenly worm of Jupiter sent from the divine universe to give to mankind the psychic forces to the light of the soul through 365 spiritual sinews (under which vague term are included, as stated above, arteries, nerves, etc.), corresponding to the 365 negative laws, and representing the 365 days of the year. He is the master of all initiates, or sky-men.

Abraxas is the astral serpent on the tree who hands the illumination of both good and evil to Adam and Eve whose eyes are then opened. The very king worm who rules this world, that is both our creator and destroyer. The maker of good and evil rolled into one persona, that being the human population in which Abraxas rules over the world like the great Gnostic Basilides described; “the greatest God” (De vir. ill. 21), “the highest God” (Dial. adv. Lucif. 23), “the Almighty God” (Comm. in Amos iii. 9), and “the Lord the Creator” (Comm. in Nah. i. 11).

Abraxas is the Demiurge and Archon Magnus.\