free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com Abrasax 13 demon of burning cities and castles He has three heads, one of a cat, one of a man, and one of a snake Sources: France, On Life and Letters, 220; Rudwin, Devil in Legend and Literature, 28, 86 Abracadabra Variations: Abrakadabra, Abrasadabra The word abracadabra was first recorded by the Roman physician Quintus Serenus Sammonicus in the second century A.D in a Latin medical poem Prior to this there is no written evidence that the word ever before existed It is likely that it was a misinterpretation of some other word or phrase, and there are several likely candidates Abracadabra is tied to demonology with the hypothesis that its origins lie in Hebrew There the words ha-brachah (“the blessing”) and and dabra (“pestilence”) when used together may be a form of delimitative magic preformed when curing an illness that caused blindness believed to be sent by the female demon SHABRIRI This Cabbalistic cure calls for her name to be written in an inverted cone A second possible origin of the word that also has medical roots comes from the ancient Chaldean phrase abbada ke dabra, which means “perish like the word.” Again, the phrase would be written in an inverted cone and chanted as an incantation to cure an illness Not connected to any medical practice, abracadabra may have been a misinterpretation of the Aramaic phrase avra kehdabra, which means “I will create as I speak,” a reference to how God created the universe It may also have been a simple mistranslation of the Hebrew phrase avar k’davar, which loosely translates as “it will be according to what is spoken.” It is hard not to notice that abracadabra is similar to the Hebrew words ab (“father”), ben (“son”), and RUACH hacadosch (“holy spirit”) A final suggestion as to where the word may have come from lies with a Gnostic sect from Alexandria known as the Basilidians There the demon ABRASAX was the name of their supreme deity As an ancient medical word, abracadabra is a powerful invocation with mystical powers To use it, when a person was sick they would wear an amulet around their neck that was made up of a piece of parchment inscribed with a triangular formula derived from the word It was believed that when it was written out this way that it acted like a funnel and drove the sickness out of the body ABRACADABRA ABRACADABR ABRACADAB ABRACADA ABRACAD ABRACA ABRAC ABRA ABR AB A Sources: Belanger, Dictionary of Demons, 15; Cavendish, Man, Myth and Magic, 16; Collin de Plancy, Dictionary of Witchcraft, 13; Houghton, Word Histories and Mysteries, 1; Prioreschi, Plinio Roman Medicine, 508– Abracax Variations: ABRASAX, Abraxas It is likely that Abracax was originally a Basilidean god that was later demonized He appears in Greek magical papyri and in Gnostic texts, such as the Gospel of the Egyptian The name Abracax has been found engraved on stones that were worn as magical amulets or charms and depict him as a short man with snakes for feet After his demonization, he was associated with the dual nature of SATAN and the word ABRACADABRA Sources: Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 5; Cirlot, Dictionary of Symbols, 2; Collin de Plancy, Dictionary of Witchcraft, 13–4; Dunglison, Medical Lexicon, 21; Hyatt, Book of Demons, 72 Abrasax Variations: Abracad, Abraxas, the Lord of the 365 Virtues, the Supreme Being Abrasax (“Supreme Being”) was the title for the god worshipped by the second-century Gnostic Basilides of Alexandria It is possible that he was a deity borrowed from Persian mythology where he had numerous descriptions such as looking like a cloud of light, a human torso with the head of a rooster and snakes for legs; a hydralike creature, a king with clawed dragonlike feet; a man with the crowned head of a king and snakes for feet; a man with the head of a lion and scorpions for feet; a white and red horse; and a wyvern with the head of a rooster, a protruding belly, and a knotted tail Very often he is also depicted using a shield and a chariot whip As a demon he commands three hundred sixty-five different heavens and is the lord of three hundred sixty-five different virtues, one for each day of the year He is the symbol of virtue, his holy number is three hundred sixty-five, and his holy symbol is that of the sun Abrasax was then known for his bad temper and struggles with his duality; however, in mod-