The Locked-up Guardian

 

Stuck@62

䷽

A Sentinel (Crab)

Without Keys that were taken away

Behind Locked Door and Gate

the Guard Stands, keeping watch,

"All Along the Watchtower"

careful and alert to the possibility of danger.

Beefeater —Yeoman Warder — 

of Her — στέφανος crowned — Majesty’s Royal Palace

and Fortress the Tower of —Lugdunum — London

Truly, is it worth having one's guard up?

And what treasure or secret is actually hidden in the Tower?

Besides the obvious gems and crown

And some gnostic or mystic frivolities?

Abraxas, borrowed from Late Latin Abrasax, itself from Ancient Greek ἀβραξάς (abraxás) or ἀβρασάξ (abrasáx), possibly from the numerical value of the Greek letters, which is 365. A proper noun, Abrasax

(historical) is a theonym of unclear signification, commonly invoked as a magic word on amulets, talismans, and papyri in the Mediterranean basin from the 2nd century B.C.E. until the 13th century, and viewed in γνωστικισμός • (gnostikismós) Gnosticism as one of the ἄρχων Archons (árkhōn, noun use of the present participle of ἄρχω árkhō, “to rule”) who follows Σαβαώθ (Sabaṓth, from Biblical Hebrew צבאות‎ tsabāʾōθ, plural of צבא‎ tsābāʾ) when he leaves the ranks of Δημιουργός (Dēmiourgós, “public worker” “one who works for the people; a skilled workman, a handicraftsman”) the Demiurge — a  prideful, inferior being, usually jealous or outright malevolent, that creates the material world and is frequently identified with the creator God of the Hebrew Bible — to become an Aeon αἰών (aiṓn, “age, eternity”). alongside Sophia σοφία (sophía, “wisdom”).

Abraxas or Abrasax (Gnostic, from the Greek Αβραξας) from The Theosophical Glossary: “Mystical term used by the Gnostics to indicate the supreme entity of our cosmic hierarchy or its manifestation in the human being which they called the Christōs Χρῑστός (Khrīstós), a proper noun use of χρῑστός (khrīstós, “the anointed one”), a calque of Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ‎ (māšīaḥ, “anointed”) and Aramaic ܡܫܺܝܚܳܐ‎ (m'šīḥāʾ). Abraxas has the value of 365, based on numerical equivalents of the Greek alphabet. Because 365 represents the cycle of one revolution of our planet around the sun, they held that in Abraxas were mystically contained the full number of families of entities composing a hierarchy. These entities received from their supreme illuminator, Abraxas, the streams of life and inspiration governing their existence. Thus in a sense, Abraxas is the cosmic Oversoul, the creative or Third λόγος • (lógos), ब्रह्मन् • (bráhman) Brahma. The Basilidean Gnostics [Cf. Βασιλείδης] taught that from this supreme God was created νοῦς (noûs) or νόος (nóos, “mind”). Abraxas also was identified with tאֲדֹנָי‎ (ādônay, “My Lord”), Hōrus, from Ancient Greek Ὧρος (Hôros), from Egyptian ḥr., and the Hindu प्रजापति (prajā́pati, “lord of creation”). Gnostic amulets known as Abraxas gems depicted the god as a πᾶνθεός pantheos (all-god)

• with the head of a cock, herald of the sun, representing foresight and vigilance;
• a human body clothed in armour, suggestive of guardian power;
• legs in the form of sacred asps.
• In his right hand is a scourge, emblem of authority;
• on his left arm, a shield — αἰγῐ́ς • (aigís) f (genitive αἰγῐ́δος) the aegis, a shield of Zeus or cloak of Athena— emblazoned with a word of power.

This πᾶνθεός pantheos is invariably inscribed with his proper name IAO* and his epithets Abraxas and Sabaoth and often accompanied with invocations such as "semes eilam", the eternal sun (Gnostics and Their Remains 246), which Blavatsky equates with "the central spiritual sun” of the Qabbalists (SD 2:214). Though written in Greek characters, the words ΣΕΜΕΣ ΕΙΛΑΜ ΑΒΡΑΣΑΞ are probably Semitic in origin: ‎ שמש‎ shemésh, “sun”; עוֹלָם‎ ʿōlām, عَالَم‎ ʿālam, the universe, world, secret, occult, hid, eternity, world; Abrasax Abraxas. Hence in combination, the phrase may be rendered “the eternal sun Abraxas.”

“Remember, beloved devotee, the double tail of the serpent that forms the legs of the solar rooster of Abraxas. The entire process of the Great Work consists of releasing oneself from the enchanted rings of the tempting serpent…”

— Samael Aun Weor, The Aquarian Message

* IAO-I.A.Ω. Ἰαω from Aramaic יהו‎ (“YHW”), related to Biblical Hebrew יהוה‎ (YHWH).

In written use by Hellenistic Jews in the Septuagint before the Christian era, when it became standard to substitute Κύριος (Kúrios, “Lord”). It is unclear whether the Greek term initially represented Iaō or Iahō; the former persisted among Jews and Christians into late antiquity. In the 4th century CE Jerome, who translated the Latin Vulgate Bible from Hebrew and Greek, mentions both Iaoh and Iaho or Jaho, the latter matching the transliteration of Aramaic-Hebrew יהו‎. The contracted form Ἰά (Iá) mirrors Hebrew יָהּ‎ (yāh) and Classical Syriac ܝܰܗ‎/ܝܲܗ‎ (yah). Ἰαω • (Iaō, Κοινή-Koine) יהוה‎ Yahweh; the Tetragrammaton יהוה‎ YHWH or Dionysus, based on a conflation between the epithet Sabaoth and the Phrygian god of wine Sabazios.

IAO (IAΩ) is a Greek pronunciation of יהוה‎ YHWH. However, IAO is also a permutation of AIO (AIΩ) in which case it symbolizes the lowest (A), the middle (I) and the highest (Ω) of heavens and is a shortening of the Seven Sacred Vowels (of the Greek alphabet). The even shorter AΩ carries a similar symbolism. However, AIO can also symbolize creation "to the image" of the Creator: written down AIΩ is first A, on top I, and on top of that Ω. 'A' is the legs, 'I' is the torso and 'Ω' is the head. AIO – and by extension, the Seven Sacred Vowels or Heavens – is to IAO what אָדָם קַדְמוֹן, ʾāḏām qaḏmōn, "Primordial Man" Adam Kadmon is to יהוה‎ YHWH. The Greek verb αιω means "to breathe", or "to perceive".

In the tradition, יהו Yod-He-Vau is often intoned as the vowel sounds IAO, and in the ‎Sefer Yetzirah (סֵפֶר יְצִירָה‎ Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā, Book of Formation, or Book of Creation) there is a prayer-ceremony “sealing the six directions” with permutations of יהו Yod-He-Vav; when this prayer-ceremony is done in the tradition, permutations of the vowel sounds IAO are intoned, and it proves to be a fruitful meditation upon השם (Ha-Shem) The Name.

The Great Name of Yahweh itself, when fully intoned in the tradition, is also all vowel sounds, something like IAOUA, the first “a” short the last “a” long.

There is, in fact, something of the play of Light Transmission in the Risen Christ within the “mystic word” IAO when the intonement is joined to the radiant holy breath and the Spiritual Sun within and behind the heart.

Within this mystic word, there is also something of an open secret concerning the experience of the inmost gradation of Light Transmission between a צַדִּיק‎ (tsadík, “righteous person”) or ἀπόστολος (apóstolos, “one sent forth, apostle”) and their companion.

The סֵפֶר יְצִירָה‎ Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā, Book of Formation, or Book of Creation,  is an invocation used for the generation and extension of the Holy Light; hence, a prayer-ceremony of Light Transmission.

According to masters of the tradition, יהו Y-H-V, or IAO, is a “Secret Name” corresponding with the first utterance of  אֱלֹהִים‎/אֱלוֹהִים‎ (ʾélôhím, “god(s), heavenly power”) in creation, Ehi Or, “Let there be light.” This Holy Light of the first day is said to be “stored up for the righteous” (צַדִּיקִים‎, tzaddikim), and is said to be the Holy Light of the Messiah, primordial and supernal light.