Artifacts

[Phoenix]

Someone offered me some time ago a triangle with the abrahadabra formula.
This triangle is some sort of "bell", any thought´s on it´s use?

I dont recognise the type of material wich it is made.
Has a representation of a queen, a king, and a jester...on the back of it
(alchemic simbols)

Any thoughts?

[Anibis]

Could you post an image of it (front and back)?
-Ibisis

[Phoenix]

Could you post an image of it (front and back)?
-Ibisis

Very well i will try, is a photograph ok?

[MythMath]

It's worth a thousand words...:p

[Phoenix]

Lady´s and Gentleman, here is the artifact i mentioned before, sorry for the delay...

Here is the description, a King, a queen and a jester in the front of it with a cross( more like a plus sign beneath it)
picture 1

Zip added

Here is the strange part...

I hope you are ready for this...


Normaly it woul apper in this manner

ABRACADABRA
ABRACADABR
ABRACADAB
ABRACADA
ABRACAD
ABRACA
ABRAC
ABRA
ABR
AB
A

But not in this case here you can see 1 thing:

A formula, yes my friends a formula, so you can mingle it with the ABRACADABRA itself.

Remenber the post where i mentioned the metric system?
well it similar to it in many was because it IS in fact a conposition of the word itself, some of you will love this formula

I will keep it conciled for now to prove my possetion of the artefact.

here is the only thing i could find on this matter...


ABRACADABRA ABRASAX



http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6772/1575/320/abraxas777.jpg (http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6772/1575/1600/abraxas777.jpg)NAME: Abrasax, more widely known as Abraxas, this however is due to early writers confusing the Latin Sigma & Xi in the name, also known as Abraxax and other permutations.

SYMBOLS & iMAGES: Chariot whip, Shield. The number 365 representing both the days of the year and emanations / virtues / gods for each day of the year, and a solar circle. Many different versions Abrasax can be found such as a man with the head of a lion and scorpions for feet, a human torso with the head of a rooster and serpents for legs, a cross between a two-legged dragon and serpent with the head of a cockerel, a short, pot bellied, long nosed demon wearing a crown, a great king with the feet of a dragon, a cloud of light, and a white red horse.

HOLY DAYS: Since when you add the numerical equivalents of the Greek letters of his name together you get 365, we have to assume that everyday was a holy day for this god.

SYNODEITIES: Yahweh, Y.V.H.V., Jehovah (Hebrew), Belenus (Celtic), Janus (Roman,)

DETAILS: Trying to figure out just who Abrasax was, at any given time in the past. is like looking at an unevenly cut diamond under a too bright light, though a kaleidoscope with a cracked smoked lens.

That is to say opinions vary!

Each individual who has written about him, be it Basilides, Homer, Simon Magnus, the unknown author of the Gnostic Revelations of Adam, or Carl Jung has their own take on Abrasax.

Basilides gives this name as a stand-in for the name of the Supreme Being, while Homer identifies him as one of the horses of the god Helios, meanwhile in another county we see him referred to in some Gnostic works as one of three "clouds of light from the Great Eternal Realms" who sometimes descend to take living mortals to those realms.

Of the few things that are agreed on by more than just one source, is the idea that Abrasax is a powerful being, who though the source of the 365 emanations / virtues / gods / heavens that make up the days of the year, and while the holds the symbols of virtue & power, he also has a dangerous temper.

Add to all this the Abraxas stones, undecipherable amulets found in museums the world over, (the different ones of which I personally suspect represent one of those 365 virtues/gods above,) and the contention that the word abracadabra comes from his name and I think you have evidence that whatever his origin was, at one time he was a prominent and powerful one.

Or was he?

If, as some writers say, Abrasax was the nexus point of opposites such as good / evil, light / darkness, lies / truthfulness, then might it be that what he was at the very, very beginning of his very checkered career was yet another version of the Trickster god, notorious boundary crosser and endless sewer of confusion, consternation, and wild stories?

It might explain a lot.

ABRACADABRA
The earliest historical mention of abracadabra appears in the writings of the 2nd Century Gnostic healer Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, who said it cured fevers and agues when inscribed properly on a piece of paper folded in the form of a cross and worn as an amulet.
The inscription should be triangular with each repetition of the word abridged by one letter per line, like this, but spaced to form an equilateral triangle:

ABRACADABRA
ABRACADABR
ABRACADAB
ABRACADA
ABRACAD
ABRACA
ABRAC
ABRA
ABR
AB
A
According to Gnostic lore, it is a formula equivalent to ABRAXAS.
S.A. Mackey, in an 1824 treatise on astrological symbolism, says that it means "The Bull, the only Bull", ab'r-achad-ab'ra. This is probably nothing more than speculation, though.
The word was probably of Greek origin and spelled abrasadabra, the Greek "s" being confused with the English "c". Since the Greek version of ABRAXAS is ABRASAX, this makes a little sense.

Please coment on the subject, and explain to me as if I had 5 years old, please.

I thank you in advance for your time.

PS: im sorry for misspelling

[m1thr0s]

This is a nice pendant...carefully constructed according to known gnostic criterion for the use of Abrahadabra as a Fever Reducing (and also general disease reducing) amulet or talisman. It can also work against "evil" in the same sort of way...by systematically reducing it to nothing.

I have no idea what the figures are intended to convey and the detail is difficult to make out from your zip file image. The Cross employed is hard to make out...it appears to have some sort of crest at the top (looks a little like a winged globe) and is set against something circular that may make it an artistic depiction of the Rose Cross...but again the detail is hard to make out.

The figures may be a way of emphasizing good fortune, another purported property of this magickal formula. They also have possible initiatory "grades" value and may also correspond to Emperor, Empress and Fool (or) Magus cards of the Tarot. 365 is the general number of Abrasax and emphasizes the amulet's "solar" attributions. It appears to be made of gold or brass, again emphasizing its "solar" qualities.

This would not appear to be the kind of amulet you would typically find in gift shops etc. It is possible that it was specifically designed as an initiatory artifact bestowed on someone attaining to some grade in one or another mystery schools. This is purely speculation of course but it was very carefully made...much moreso than would have any meaning to tourists or casual customers etc...

that's about all I can tell you from what I have to work with here.

m1thr0s

[MythMath]

I had forgotten about this thread...

I've been imagining making talismans lately...

I used to make jewelry-ish things nearly 20 years ago
that featured designs of mostly celtic knotwork motifs....
_______________________________________
__________________________________

Here's one to make a celt cry:

{please excuse the anglo spelling}

u s q u e b a u g h
u s q u e b a u g
u s q u e b a u
u s q u e b a
u s q u e b
u s q u e
u s q u
u s q
u s
u

[Ci Celli Ddu]

Wow, ESP! First thing I did on getting up was flick through one of my books, stop at the Abracadabra formula, and think: I must post this on AF :D

This formula, a word of power, was in common usage and used faithfully throughout Wales. A typical written spell of protection (for a building, its residents, its livestock etc against witchcraft, Satan etc) would use the names of the Holy Trinity and Christ as guarantors, and at the bottom was set the spell Abracadabra in a triangular form:

abracadabra
abracadabr
abracadab
abracada
abracad
abraca
abrac
abra
abr
ab
a

In Wales it was mainly used for protection against evil spirits, but if hung around the neck it was also used against illness. Another triangle, this time found in Cornwall, was set within a Star of David:

abracadabra
bracadabr
racadab
acada
cad
a

One of the (if not the) first instances we know of where the Abracadabra spell was used is around 200 AD by the Roman Quintus Serenus in a book of medicine, its purpose to protect a child from illness. This book became fashionable in the Renaissance:

Mortiferum magis est quod Graeci hemitritaeos
Vulgatur verbis; hoc nostra dicere lingua
Non potuere ulli, puto, nec voluere parentes.

Inscribes chartae quod dicitur abracadabra
Saepius et subter repetes, sed detraha summam
Et magis atque magis desint elementa figuris
Singula, quae semper rapies, et cetera figes
Donec in angustum redigatur littera conum:
His lino nexis collum redimire memento...
Leralisque abiget miranda potentia morbus,

A killer more often is the illness called in Greek Hemitritaeos.
None know its name in our language,
I believe, and these are not willing to name it.

Write on a piece of parchment the word called abracadabra
and repeat it a number of times moving downwards.
But take away single letters, more and more,
whilst writng the rest until you reach
one single letter only and the whole appearing in a triangular form
Tie the parchment with a linen thread around the neck
And a miraculous power will keep away illness

[m1thr0s]

Here's one to make a celt cry: lol...yeah, that's a tear-jerker alright...

they'd rather run flat out of gasoline I'm sure...

m1thr0s

[MythMath]

It's the water of life, afterall...

[m1thr0s]

now how the hell did this gravitate to wales?
I get really fuzzy when it comes to ancient history...
Is there some sort of gnostic contingency in wales?

note: we don't know that this word originates with the gnostics by the way...it's just the earliest known written record we have...and just a byline at that. The gnostics borrowed heavily from the hermetics, who were much more knowledgeable regarding medicine anyway...I strongly suspect this formula originates with the Hermetics...

but in any case...we don't really know its actual origins yet...if we ever will.

m1thr0s

[Ci Celli Ddu]

u s q u e b a u g h
u s q u e b a u g
u s q u e b a u
u s q u e b a
u s q u e b
u s q u e
u s q u
u s q
u s
u


My Scots grandfather died whilst working in a distillery. Seriously. He fell in a vat of whiskey and drowned. When asked if it was a quick death his colleagues said: "Not really. He got out five times to have a piss..."

[Ci Celli Ddu]

now how the hell did this gravitate to wales?
I get really fuzzy when it comes to ancient history...
Is there some sort of gnostic contingency in wales?

note: we don't know that this word originates with the gnostics by the way...it's just the earliest known written record we have...and just a byline at that. The gnostics borrowed heavily from the hermetics, who were much more knowledgeable regarding medicine anyway...I strongly suspect this formula originates with the Hermetics...

but in any case...we don't really know its actual origins yet...if we ever will.

m1thr0s

Just adding some local info is all.

[m1thr0s]

Just adding some local info is all.I know...I'm a little touchy on that subject. There's just no way in hell the gnostics could have originated this formula though...I've got about 1000 arguments against it...

But what about the Wales connection...that is baffling...

m1thr0s

[Ci Celli Ddu]

I know...I'm a little touchy on that subject. There's just no way in hell the gnostics could have originated this formula though...I've got about 1000 arguments against it...

But what about the Wales connection...that is baffling...

m1thr0s

Its just an example of how common its usage was throughout Europe, even in rural backwaters such as Wales or Cornwall. In these examples Im refering to post-renaissance Europe, not the ancient world

[m1thr0s]

oh yea...pardon me...we Americans sometimes forget Europe is like a great big neighborhood...

Actually...we Americans forget a lot of things...but that's another topic...

yeah...interesting that it would have spread so much. You kind of have to wonder what's all the fuss? from a bitty little byline passage in some obscure latin medical journal to global omnipresence...and why??? Nobody actually really knows...there seems to just be something about the word as well as that particular arrangement that just won't die. It's like a charisma factor or something...potent stuff.

As a symbologist...my theory is that it actually is and has always been a kind of archetype...people know what it is even when they don't... Certain symbols achieve this...like the pentagram for instance. but that one's easy to explain...but there's others as well...many recurrent symbolic themes just like the Tetractys for instance and others.

m1thr0s

[MythMath]

It's as if it was magic... :dull:

[Ci Celli Ddu]

As a symbologist...my theory is that it actually is and has always been a kind of archetype...people know what it is even when they don't... Certain symbols achieve this...like the pentagram for instance. but that one's easy to explain...but there's others as well...many recurrent symbolic themes just like the Tetractys for instance and others.

m1thr0s

You'd certainly have to go way way out of your way to find a place and a people who don't recognise the word. Like some lost Amazonian tribe for instance.

[m1thr0s]

You'd certainly have to go way way out of your way to find a place and a people who don't recognise the word. Like some lost Amazonian tribe for instance.exactly...remarkable staying power...defies all odds. Sure, it's a cool word and all but how many other cool words have come and gone and are just plain lost forever? gazillions or something? but not this word...this word is on a mission boy...it's a survivor for who-knows-why...

m1thr0s

[Ci Celli Ddu]

Another one, which uses a cryptic palindrom sentence in Latin, was used for simular purposes as Abracadabra, but also for calling on spirits. In English the sentence reads "The sower AREPO keeps the wheels with endeavour". The central word TENET ("he keeps") is doubtless the key word of power, and you can see that it forms a cross within the square:

SATOR
AREPO
TENET
OPERA
ROTAS

[m1thr0s]

oh cool...that one is supposed to be housed in the Key of Mars actually...
that's a 5 x 5 Grid...here's a shot of its numerical assignments: Key of Mars (http://www.hermeticfellowship.org/GDRef/Qamea5.html)

So it's potentially a serious ass-buster once you start flanking it with Pents and prettying it up with all kinds of spooky Martial stuff etc...You can also draw in Runes on that puppy to beef up its amplification either 24 or 25...some folks are sticklers for 24 but 25 has its uses...

I love that type of magick personally...talismatic stuff...

m1thr0s

[Ci Celli Ddu]

Cool link. The first one was discovered in the ruins of Pompeii. It can also be rearranged in a cross to become "Our Father" between Alpha and Omega:


APATERNOSTERO

[Phoenix]

hello my friends im back again

mith3s thanks for the info i needed it anda its not a pendent it´s actually some kind of bell.

i missed you all

[Kain]

Good to see you back Phoenix,

Kain

[Phoenix]

I am Curious on the structure of the words, On the basic level of any language we have the basic leters, that in a chain reaction can structure a text.
Those are A,E,I,O,U, we can with any recent text and decipher it just by the letter count, Wich is the most comun letter in each language... I believe in english its the letter E.
I So through this strain of thought i believe that the meaning of the words is actualy rithimichal, (remenber the weaving post?), the source its in the rithym.

Like tribal music that afects us wether we want or not.
But the meaning its encripted in something that i dont quite understand, its not the words but there is something...

http://ptrx.demiart.ru/tutorials/illuminati/illuminati.gif

Remenber the fabled "iluminaty" cipher?
I belive that the key is something more twisted than this, but there is some meaning on it, Why does the word abracadabra has so many A, where in ancient latin, the A was normaly associated with AE for the feminine declination of a word...
I hask for your thoughts on this.
Thank you my friends

[m1thr0s]

The predominance of A's...to many alchemist types at least...is an inescapable reminder of the principle of *alchemical air* which is actually more akin to aether than air per se...so like a spirit-air sort of fusion. Air is typically seen as an ascending element so it is almost comical that the historical remnant that we have on abracadabra would be the descending form...but no matter...this was a very specific application of the word and not the sum of all its latent qualities.

It is possible to view A as either masculine or feminine but it is most accurate of all to view it as a balanced both...feminine in its feminine applications...masculine in its masculine ones...but always a root letter value from which all other letter values derive.

Crowley, of course, is quick to observe that the number of A's (5) itself is vitally important and on this we agree. It's pentagrammal ramifications are reasonably obvious so that between the 5 and 6 letter divisions, the A's in this instance are representative of Microcosm (5=Earth=Yin), where the remaining letters combine to equal Macrocosm (6=Heaven=Yang). Now in truth, pents and hex's are not so tightly gender-specific but it is reasonable to reflect on these qualities and put them to some good use in general.

love your elemental cube...that's very cool...never saw that before...:D

m1thr0s

[Phoenix]

just to update, still no news on the origin of the artifact, but i am still here and looking

ps: thanks for the birthday e-mail... :P

[m1thr0s]

Hey Phoenix - glad to see you're still with us...

People come and go of course...it's the way of things. It's nice to see most of them returning occasionally though...

m1thr0s

[MythMath]

A little pentabra I made a while back:
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q48/MythMath/abrapent.jpg