ABRACADABRA and THE ORIGIN OF MAGIC

[ARYSIO – 8 /12 /2001 – REVISED AND SLIGHTLY MODIFIED 13 /10 /2004]

 

Let us all congregate in order to meditate

The great glory of the Divine Vivifier,

That he may illume our understanding.

Rig Veda

Introduction

The strange word – ABRACADABRA – is perhaps one of the most intriguing magical formulas in use anywhere. Despite this fact, its meaning and origin are still hotly debated. Some affirm that the word’s origin is Persian, and that the formula was used in an amuletic connection, that is, for apotropaic purposes. Indeed, the word is often figured in philacteries, forming a triangle, thus:

A B R A C A D A B R A

A B R A C A D A B R

A B R A C A D A B

A B R A C A D A

A B R A C A D

A B R A C A

A B R A C

A B R A

A B R

A B

A

The use of the word ABRACADABRA in philacteries and amulets is first documented in the treatise Carmen de Morbis et Remediis (“Poem on Diseases and Remedies”) of Quintus Servius Sammonicus, in the second century AD. The Basilidian Gnostics also used this magic word as a talisman. Most authorities agree that the word is connected with the name of Abraxas (or Abrasax), the mysterious god of the Gnostics, shown in Fig.1 below.

Fig. 1 – The Abraxas Figure in Two Versions
(J. Rivière, Amulettes, Talismans, Pantacles, pg. 114; and E. A. Wallis Budge, Amulets and Superstitions, fig. 208)

Jean Marques-Rivière, in his masterful treatise on amulets, talismans and pantacles, affirms that the formula ABRACADABRA was used by the early Christians and Medieval Gnostics, who ignored its true meaning, nevertheless. He claims that the word derives from the Hebrew abreq-ad-hâbra (“send your lightning-bolts until death”). Of course, this is a stupid etym, as no one would dare defy God to send down his bolts.

The Theosophical Dictionary asserts, after Godfrey Higgins, that the word comes from abra (or abar), meaning “god” in Celtic, and cad (“holy”) in an unspecified tongue, perhaps Hebrew. Hence, the formula abracadabra would mean: “God, Holy God”. But this authoritative source adds that Higgins’ etym is “only nearly correct”, and that the formula really derives from the name of Abraxas of the Gnostics.

This, in turn, is itself derived from a Coptic or Egyptian holy word, a magic formula meaning “hurt me not”, which was written in hieroglyphs and addressed to the deity known as the Father”. Still according to this source, the word was used with the Tat amulet on the breast, under the clothes. As we see, this etym is just the opposite of the Hebrew one given above. And we note that it was used as philactery to avert, rather than to attract evil, a far more reasonable proposal.

 

The Connection With Abraxas

The above-mentioned dictionary also comments on the meaning of the word Abraxas or Abrasax, found on so many Gnostic cameos. It attributes its origin to Basilides himself, the Alexandrian Pythagorean of the second century AD, Basilides also utilized the Cabbala, and noted that in Greek values, the name Abraxas (or Abrasax) adds up to 365, the number of days in a year and, also, the total lifespan of Henoc. C. W. King, the author of The Gnostics, considers the word Abraxas to be the full name of God, corresponding to the Hebrew Shemhamphorash.

According to the Theosophical Dictionary, the word Abraxas combines the hidden names of Abhimanin and of Brahma. Abhimanin is a name of Agni as the eldest son of Brahma. His name means “proud”, “self-conceited” and, more literally, “thinking himself superior”. How they should combine to explain the etym of Abraxas is left to the reader.

Oliver, the great Masonic authority, relates the name of Abraxas to Abraham, an approach that W. W. Wescott, the author of the Dictionary’s article on Abraxas, finds unacceptable. The reason is that Abraxas (= 365) is a Solar god, whereas Abraham is (presumably) a Lunar character. The Dictionary further states that the word Ablanathanalba – a palindrome that can be read both ways, and which was, also, used in the same context as Abracadabra – means “you were a father to us”, according to C. W. King.

Of course, all these learned discussions display a lot of erudition but add no serious enlightening on the meaning or the origin of the formula ABRACADABRA. Mackay concludes, from the number 365 associated with Abraxas, that “the God symbolizes the year, or earth’s revolution around the Sun”. Other names also add up to 365, such as that of Henoc, already mentioned, as well as that of Mithras and that of Belenus, the Celtic Apollo. Both Apollo (Belenus) and Mithras are Solar gods, and the “year” in question apparently means an era, which the god Abraxas is heralding.

Indeed, Abraxas has the head of a cock, the well-known herald of dawn. More exactly, the cock is the Chanteclair of Celtic mythology, the herald of the dawn of the New Era. Such is also the meaning of the weathercock or vane that we observe on top of most Christian churches. The cock is phallic symbol, as its popular English name suggests. As the herald of dawn, the cock was also widely utilized in Medieval iconography by the Cathars and other Gnostics.

A further etym of ABRACADABRA is given by Shipley, in his Word Origins. Shipley claims that the word was coined by Medieval magicians from the name of Abraxas. He rejects the derivation from the Hebrew habracha dabar, meaning “bless this object”. Weekley, in his The Romance of Words supports the derivation from Abraxas given by Shipley. This view is presently accepted by most authorities on the matter. And, as we shall see, this belief is indeed supported by actual fact.

 

Abraxas and Abraham

It is easy to see that the name of Abraxas closely evokes that of Abraham and the Hebrews. Despite the rejection, by Wescott, of Oliver’s proposed connection between the names of Abraxas and Abraham, we will see further below that there is indeed a close connection between the two personages. The etymology of the name of Abraham – or Abram, the shorter formula – as “father of multitudes” is merely popular, and has been widely rejected by the experts.

The more accepted etymology of his name is “the father is exalted” or “the lofty Father”, which corresponds to that of Abhimanin (Agni), as well as that of Shiva as An, “the exalted (or lofty) one”. We will see, further below, that Abraham and Abhimanin are both esoterically connected with the conflagrations that periodically devastate the world: Abraham with that of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abhimanin with the one of the Hindu Paradise. Hence, we see that Oliver had indeed some reason in connecting the etymons of Abraham and Abraxas.

 

The Origin of the Mysterious Habiru

The origin of the Hebrews – or Habiru, as they were originally called – is as highly mysterious as the one of the magical formulas. The “Egypt” whence they are said to have come after crossing the “Red Sea” is purely legendary, and many authorities now agree that this “Red Sea” is actually the Erythrean or Rubrum Mare (meaning “red sea” in Greek and Latin) that is, the Indian Ocean.

Many interpret the name of the Habiru as related to the Hebrew avar (“to cross over”) and to the Sanskrit para, designating “the far bank” or “the overseas”; so that the Hebrews would be the oi perates, “those who crossed” (viz., the Ocean). More likely, the etymon is related to the Sanskrit ap-iru or “those who rove (iru) the waters (ap)”. The Sanskrit verb ir has acceptions such as “to go”, “move”, “rise”, “arise”, “originate”, “retire”, “flee”, “be cast out”, “wander”, “rove”.

The above etymologies probably mean that the Hebrews were expelled from their original abode by the Flood (“the rising waters”) and retired, becoming “rovers of the waters” (ap-iru), just like their other compatriots, the Sea-Peoples would do later.

Hindu etymologies being as complex as they are – for both Sanskrit and Dravida are polysemic languages – one should expect to have many alternative derivations, that all compound in order to tell the whole story or the whole myth, often contained in a single word such as Habiru (or Abhira, etc.).

Accordingly, we also have the following Sanskrit etymons: api-ruh = “to grow whole again”; abhi-raj = “shiny”; abhi-ru = “howlers”; abhra or abbhra = “water-bearers”; abhra = “errants”; abhira = “cowherds”; a name of a mixed caste; havir-u = “protected from the sacrificial pyre”; havir-uh = “consumed by the sacrificial pyre”, and so forth.

The etymon “water-bearers” (abbhra) is also extremely interesting, as it connects the Hebrews with Aquarius and with the Flood, which the Water-Boy (Ganymedes) allegedly poured forth over the world, drowning almost everybody. But in the present document we will mainly concentrate in the words Abhira (Sanskrit), Habiru (Hebrew) Avar (Greek) and Avaris (Egyptian) which refer to a people which, as we aim to show, was no other than the Hebrews themselves.

 

The Burnt Offering

Very likely, the name of the Hebrews – as well as those of their eponymous ancestors, Abraham and Heber – relates to the radix PR (or BR or VR) embodied in words such as ABRACADABRA and ABRAXAS. This radix basically relates to “fire”; “shine”; Brahma; Agni (Purohita); and Death (bhra), as we explain further below.

Hence, the Hebrews and Abraham would both be the a-bhrams, “the ones who did not die in the fire”, or “the ones who were not burnt down”, an etymon that means they were spared in the Primordial Conflagration of the Flood. This etymon contrasts with that of the Bhrams, who were, in contrast, charred in that global cataclysm.

These two races of ancestors are the Solars (or Brahmans) and the Lunars (or A-Brahmans). These two ancestors, the Hindus identify with the Barhishads and the Agnishvattas. These names mean, respectively, “those who sit over the sacred grass” and “those tasted by fire” or, what is the same, A-bhrams and Bhrams. Hindu legends tell how the first of these ancestors cared for the sacrificial fires and were spared, while the later neglected them, and were utterly burnt down.

The radix bhram, brajj, bhras, braj, signifies “fire”. Even more exactly, it implies an idea of “destruction by fire”. It also embodies an idea of “whirling fire” (bhrama), the root which formed the word pramantha, the name of the sacred Vedic fire-drill utilized for the lighting of sacrificial fires. The concept is always the same: that of the Universal Conflagration of the Flood. ^[1]

The word Habiru (or Hebrew) also relates to the Sanskrit Havir or Havis, derived from hava, “a burnt offering” and, also, the God of Fire (Agni). The Havir or Habiru are, hence, “those burnt at the Primordial Sacrifice”. Indeed, the Jews comprise the two tribes of Israel and Judah, one “unburnt” like the Barhishads and the other “burnt” like the Agnishvattas.

The ending in -u appended to the name of the Habiru can mean several different things. In Sanskrit, u is an interjection of compassion, or a name of Shiva, or of Brahma. Spelled uh it means “to hurt” or “kill”; u means “to protect”. In Dravida, u is “to devour”. Comparing this suffix with the ones given above, we get the etym abbhra-u, meaning “those who were devoured by the Flood”.

Likewise, we can interpret havir-u as meaning either “protected from the Primordial Sacrifice” or “devoured by the Primordial Conflagration” (= havir-uh). No matter what, whether protected or consumed in the Primordial Sacrifice, the name of the Hebrews clearly derives from India. The Sanskrit havir (“burnt sacrifice”) derived from the Dravida avir meaning “extinct”, related to avir (“cooked”); aviri (“steam-cooked”); avir (“burning desire”), etc.

The idea of a burnt offering links to the one of the Paschal Lamb (Hebrew: pesach) and of the sacrifice of Isaac. It also pervades Jewish religion and rituals, and is central to most of them. It also explains the Jewish obsession with Holocausts which, as we see, roots in the terrible events associated with the Primordial Diaspora from Paradise, after its fiery destruction and final flooding.

 

The Masonic Symbolism

ABRA (or ABRAC) is a term used by Free-Masons of the 28th degree of the Scottish rite, as well as by that of the Memphis rite. The word is said to mean “Immaculate King”. But the Free-Masons are very reticent on their symbolisms, and do not explain the real meaning of this mysterious king whose myth is never told the public.

Among the Basilidians, Abraxas was deemed to be the uppermost of the Seven Emanations of God, equipped with his 365 virtues. E. A. Wallis Budge, the learned Egyptologist, derives the name of Abraxas from the Hebrew Habberakah, literally meaning “the blessing”. But he adds that it seems, “far more likely, to be a garbled form of the name of some god, Egyptian or Indian”. We will see that his intuition is correct. In his opinion:

Abrasax represented the 365 Aeons or Emanations from the First Cause and, as a Pantheus, i.e., “All-God”, he appears on the amulets with the head of a cock (Phoebus) or of a lion (Ra or Mithras), the body of a man, and his two legs are serpents, which terminate in scorpions, types of the Agathodaimon.

In his right hand he grasps a club or a flail, and in his left is a round or oval shield. He is called by all names of the god of the Hebrew, namely, YAH, ADONAI, and SABAÔTH.

As can be seen in Fig. 1(b), Abraxas is sometimes surrounded by five or seven stars. This figure also shows the double-edged thunderbolt under Abraxas. The drawing is taken from a copper medal found in France, and dated at the Middle Ages. On its other side, the medal shows a triple goddess corresponding to Hecate Triformis or, according to some, the Hindu Goddess Bhavani.

 

The Connection With The Cabbala

E. Wallis Budge affirms that the formula ABRACADABRA is far older than Serenus Sammonicus, who probably copied the idea from an earlier source. According to him:

Many attempts have been made to find a meaning for the formula [ABRACADABRA], but the explanation put forward by Bischoff, in his Kabbalah (1903), is the most likely to be correct. He derives the formula from the Chaldee words… Abbâdâ-Kê-Dâbrâ, which seem to be addressed to the fever, and to mean something like “perish like the word”. This cryptic utterance becomes clear when we see the form in which the formula had to be written… in other words he dropped one letter of the formula each time he repeated it.

Fascinating though this explanation may appear to some, it seems to be specious and farfetched. What would a Chaldean formula be doing in conservative Egypt? Besides, “perish like the word” appears to be unlikely an explanation for a highly important formula which is often used otherwise, for entirely different purposes thant the one of curing fever.

What is more, the proposed etymology has a d instead of an r, which Budge explains through the Cabbala, asserting that “the letters are nine in number… and that both 9 and 3 had a mystic and magic significance”. With such loose criteria, we can obtain anything at all.

Budge’s explanation is really unconvincing and rather difficult to understand and, even more, to accept. All in all, it seems to me that both the etymon and the above justification should be rejected as specious, alongside the other alternatives given above. Magic numbers seldom explain anything for essentially all numbers up to 10 or 12 and even more are deemed to be holy.

 

The Unanimous Disagreement

As we see, the authorities unanimously disagree on the true meaning of the word ABRACADABRA. It is strange that, with so many clues, no one was really able to identify the god Abraxas or his true origin. But, before we proceed, let us comment briefly on another word frequently connected with ABRASAX and ABRACADABRA, to wit, ABLANATHANALBA. This is also sometimes written as ABLANATHA or ABLANATHAN, as shown in Fig. 2, an Egyptian amulet.

Fig. 2 – Anubis as ABLANATHAN
(E. W. Budge, Amulets, pg. 205)

L. W. King, who published the above Gnostic amulet, called their type by the name of “Abraxaster”, because of their connection with Abrasax and the Egyptian sects such as that of Basilides. In it we see jackal-heeded Anubis standing upon an open left hand, and holding the Scepter of Justice.

Behind him is written “ABLANATHAN”, and on his left side is the wrapped mummy of Maat, the goddess of Truth. She is standing upon the entrails of Isis. Behind her is written, in Greek, “the everlasting Sun”, or “the Sun of the World”.

The words recall the Gospel of John and its description of Christ as “the light of the world”. Christ was also often called “the Sun of Justice”, again corresponding to that strange phrase. Some translate ABLANATHANALBA as “Thou art our Father”. But Budge affirms that “this can hardly be a correct translation”.

Perhaps a valid interpretation can be obtained via the Sanskrit: ab-la-natha-nabha. Ab (or ap) means water and la is “to remove”, giving the verb aplu = “to make an ablution”, “to flood”. Natha mean “lord”, and nabha (“navel”, “center”) is a name of Shiva. If so, these expressions ABLA-NATHANALBA means “The Lord of the Flood is Shiva”.

Abraxas is often is sometimes confused with Harpocrates, the infant Horus, or even with Priapus, the phallic god. In Fig. 3, we have Harpocrates seated on the magic boat having an eagle’s and an ass’ head at the extremes.

These two correspond to Horus, the Falcon, and to Seth, his adversary, frequently figured by the ass. Upon their heads, shine their emblems, the Crescent Moon and the Pole Star. Harpocrates represents the Sun or, rather, the Solar races, while the two other animals represent the Lunar and the Polar races, typified by the emblems above their heads.

 

Abraxas and Abrakala

Another form of the word ABRAXAS is ABRAKALA. This was found in a philactery which quotes the verse from Num. 11:2, a mention to the fire of the Lord destroying the Hebrew people, and abating when the people prayed for Moses to stop it.

The passage concludes: “Then, they named the place Taberah (or Tab’rah)”, a word which is variously translated as “fire”, “burning”, “pasture”, “lightning”. In Deut. 9:22f, this place is connected with Kadesh-Barnea, the source of Doom, and the site of the memorable battle of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The word TAB’RA resembles DABRA, as the letters t and d are frequently interchanged. It can well be that the philactery is hinting at the true etym of the formula ABRAKALA or ABRACADABRA. Kala (“somber”) is a name of Shiva as the master of Time and of destruction. Hence, ABRAKALA means “destroy Death” or “Death-killer”. This etymon exactly corresponds to the name of Yamantaka (Shiva or Kala), as we discuss further below.

Abrakala can also be interpreted, in Sanskrit, as “Time (Kala) kills even Death itself (abhrah)”. Quite likely, there is a connection with the vajra or thunderbolt, the Celestial Fire of the Lord. It is perhaps more than a coincidence that Abraham too – whose name can be connected with ABRACADABRA, as we saw further above – was connected with the Celestial Fire that razed Sodom and Gomorrah, despite his intercession.

Indeed, these two associations suggest that the etymons of ABRACADABRA and ABRAXAS have to do with the radix BRAS denoting “to burn”. We already saw how the Occultists connect the name of Abraxas (or Abrasax) with those of Brahma and Abhimanin (or Agni), the god of fire.

The name of Brahma also relates to “fire”, being derived from the radix brih, incorporated in the name of Brihaspati, “the Lord of Prayer”. Brahma is the Spirit (or Logos), the equivalent of the Holy Ghost, another deity associated with the Celestial Fire. So is Brihaspati, the god of the funeral pyre whose smoke ascended to heaven, “re-linking” gods and humans after the Flood.

The name of Brahma (Brahman) is linked to the Latin flamen, as Prof. Georges Dumézil has demonstrated. The Sanskrit brih means not only “prayer” “oration”, but also “to plead” or “to grow great”. Brihaspati personifies religion (as the fear of God), as well as the sacrificing priest (purohita) and the Logos, the god of eloquence and well-intoned prayer.

Brihaspati is also connected with the Sanskrit word brihas or brihat denoting “lofty”, “supreme”, “superb”, the same etymon as that of abhimanin. In other words, Brahma, Abhimanin (Agni) and Brihaspati are all one and the same god. He is the Supreme One associated with the lofty funereal pyre of the Flood and Conflagration which destroyed the world and whose smoke “rose up to the skies”.

This is a standard expression used in India in connection with the destruction of Dhumâdi (“marked by smoke”) and, elsewhere, in connection with the smoke of Sodom and Gomorrah (in the Bible). It is also connected with the sacrifice of Utnapishtin, the Sumero-Babylonian “Noah”, done immediately after the Flood had ravaged the Earth.

By the way, the sacrifice of Noah after the Flood narrates the same myth, and also attracted the gods “like flies”, a fact which makes Noah the Purohita of the Jews. The gigantic funeral or sacrificial pyre is also that of Purusha, the Primordial Man. Purusha is an ancient god, who figures prominently in the Rig Veda. He represents the primeval mankind destroyed in the Primordial Conflagration, the one which destroyed Lemuria.

What we are hinting at is that all these legends of the Flood and Conflagration which destroyed the world in illo tempore derive from a single esoteric source which is commemorated by allegories such as those embodied in the names and myths of gods such as Brahma, Brihaspati, Agni, Abhimanin, Abraxas, etc.. Indeed, the name of Abraxas or, rather, Abrasax, evokes the idea of “blazing” or “brazier”.

 

Bhava, the Fearful Lord

We start the exegesis of the word ABRACADABRA and of the name of ABRAXAS by the name of Bhavani, because she is indisputably associated with Abraxas. As we saw above, Bhavani figures on the opposite side of a medallion of the god Abraxas. Bhavani is one form of Durga or Kali, one which is particular fearful. Her name derives from Bhava, a name of Shiva, Bhava is Sanskrit for “origin”, “birth”, “being”, and is related to bhu, meaning the same, as well as the earth.

Bhava is also a name of Agni and of or Rudra. The word also means “god”, and applies to Sharva (“death”), an attendant of Rudra. Bhavani is the same as Parvati, the wife of Shiva or, rather, his shakti (or female form). Indeed, Shiva and Bhavani are called Bhavau (“the two Bhavas”).

In her terrible aspect, Bhavani is Kali (or Durga), whose fearful face is identical with the usual representations of the Gorgon Medusa, of whom she is the archetype. Both goddesses have huge tusks, snake-hair, fearful faces and the evil eye that petrifies, and both expose their long tongues in the same enigmatic fashion. The Medusa was an Etruscan goddess, a fact that proves her connection with India, the home of this mysterious people. It is possibly from the same source that really derives the equally enigmatic name of Abraxas.

Bhava (“to become”) is euphemistically used as a synonym of “to die”. Bhava is sometimes corrupted to Bhalla (“auspicious”), designating Shiva (or Sharva) in his aspect of Bhadra (“auspicious”) and of regent of the Southern Quarter (as Yama). Bhalla designates a “bear” as well as the Sun (and Shiva himself) in connection with the Pole Star (Ursa Minor). The Bear (or monkey or, more exactly, the Satyr) is also an alias of the Pole Star.

Shiva is the God of Destruction, meaning Death and, more exactly Pralaya or Dissolution, in contrast to Vishnu, the Preserver and to Brahma, the Creator. Shiva often bears the Trident (Trishula), the Mace (Katvanga) and the Bow (Pinaka). The word shiva also means a “jackal”. Shiva is also a devil who inflicts disease (= shukra = “white” and kala = “black”, are names of diseases, as discussed below.).

As Kala (“black one”), Shiva is identified to Time, to Saturn, to Rudra, to poison, to a black monkey, a poisonous serpent, a scorpion (kalaka), the male form of Kali (Durga), etc.. Shiva has thousands (literally) of names and shapes, from the ugliest to the most beautiful and beneficial. In the female avatar (Kali, Bhavani, etc.), Shiva is also extremely popular and so, also, in his androgynous shape (as Ardhanarishvara = “the Lord who is half-male [and half-female]”).

Many experts have identified Shiva to the fearful lord Jahveh. Indeed, the name of Jah or Jahveh – whose etymology is actually unknown – both derive directly from that of Sha or Shava, aspects of Shiva which have attributes identical to those of Jahveh. Despite the difference in the way of spelling, the words sound essentially identically.

Shiva also corresponds to Yamantaka or Yamari, a name which means “defeater of death” in Sanskrit. According to tradition, Death (Yama) was overdoing his function in such a way that Shiva, the All-Creator, got angry and decided to put an end to this. For that purpose Shiva (or Kala, his dark aspect) assumed a shape even more frightening than the one of Death. He then descended to Hades, defeated its terrible lord and then came back triumphant from Death itself.

 

Bhava as the Archetype of Abraxas

As we argued above, in Bhava (or Shiva) we encounter all the aspects and attributes of Abraxas and of other savior gods who triumphed from Death, Jesus Christ included. Let us study these attributes with reference to Fig. 1 and 2. We will see that all of them can be accurately explained. The trident, the mace, or the vajra which we see associated with Abraxas correspond to Shiva’s trishula (trident), khatvanga (mace) and pinaka (bow).

The myth and the figure of a particular Hindu god are usually formed from the various etymons of the name of this god in Sanskrit and Dravida, the polysemic, holy languages of India. When these gods and goddesses are transplanted to other cultures this correlation becomes lost, and stop to make sense, as they formerly did.

Said otherwise, the fact that the attributes of a god such as Abraxas make no sense whatsoever in, say, Greco-Roman traditions but do so in the Indian languages functions as some sort of “fingerprint” that allows the identification of his true original nationality

Jackal-headed Anubis, the alias of Abraxas in Fig. 2, corresponds precisely to the Sanskrit word shiva, which means the same (“dog, jackal”) in that tongue. The reference to the “purity” or “whiteness” of Abrak or Abraxas corresponds to the etymons of the name of Shukra (Shiva).

The scorpion (or snake) feet of Abraxas derive from the etym of Kala or Kalaka. The connection with “fever” and “sickness”, likewise, results from the name of Shukra as the devil who inflicts white leprosy, a most feared form of the disease. The cock’s head of Abraxas is also capable of explanation. Its most prominent feature is the large eye and its connection with the evil eye.

Indeed, the cock typifies Hermes, in turn a form of Anubis worshipped in Rome and Greece. The cock is a Solar animal, sacred to Sun-Gods such as Apollo, Hermes, Osiris, etc.. His eyesight is apotropaic, and repels snakes and diseases. The emphasis on the eye refers to Shiva’s fearful Third Eye, which destroys the world in a conflagration.

The cock, here, is not really the chanteclair, but the peacock, called, like Shiva, by the name of Kalalantha (“blue-necked”). The peacock truly devours snakes, and is deemed a Solar bird (like Abraxas). Legend has it that peacocks have ugly feet, like Abraxas and other Solar deities. The “eyes” on peacock’s feathers are also used as an evil-averting amulet (like Abraxas). The peacock was the bird of Hera, the alias of Bhavani (or Parvati).

Above all, the peacock was – like the Sun and Solar gods or heroes such as Osiris, Anubis, Apollo, Hermes, Hercules, Herakles, etc. – indissolubly linked to death in its many aspects. So, indeed, was Shiva, the bhuta, the living dead, the brutal Destroyer.

The peacock is also connected to dusk or night, and his starred feathers to the night sky. The peacock is the mount of Skanda (Karttikeya) in his function as the revived Sun-God. The peacock here stands for the cock and the eagle as the king of birds. He is the guardian of house against snakes and scorpions, and other such vermin, a function he shares with Abraxas.

 

Shiva and Agni

Shiva is often identified with Agni, particularly in his function as the destroyer of the world. Indeed, Kala (Shiva) is specifically denominated Kalâgni (“black fire”). Moreover, Shiva inflames the world with his Third Eye, a feat highly reminiscent of the fierce single eye of Abrasax or Abraxas.

Indeed, the name of Abraxas evokes the radix bras of “fire”, “ember”, which appears in words such as “Brazil”, “Brahma”, etc. This radix bhra (or bhri) figures in the name of Abraxas, and in Abracadabra, as we shall see. It also partakes in the words “fire”, “burn”, and the Latin flamma, flammare (“to inflame”), etc. (cf. Grk. pyr-, L. purus, Skt. pu, etc..).

We already saw how Agni was called the Puro-agni or “Primordial Fire”, the one which burnt down the world of the ancestors (Lemuria), in primordial times. Agni is also the Purusha or Primordial Humanity, sacrificed then and there. As Abhimanin he is “the supreme (or lofty) one”, the same epithet applied to Shiva in Dravida, where he is called by the name of An (“Supreme One”).

The idea of “superb” or “arrogant” recalls the “pride” of Cain and of Lucifer, the Fallen Angel, as well as that of Phaëthon, his Greek alias. All these are allegories of the myth of the burning of Lanka, – the primordial Paradise on top the Mt. Meru – which was later thrown down and submerged underseas, as an archetype of Atlantis and Lemuria.

The idea of “Supreme One” is associated with that of the Pole Star, which holds the supreme positions in heaven, leading all other stars, the flock of heaven. And the Pole Star is the attribute, as we saw above, of the Polar Races associated with Seth, Cham, Cain, Tubal-Cain and other such fiery, arrogant peoples, the introducers of Fire to mankind.

They are the Fallen Angels, the Sons of God who, charmed by the fair Daughters of the Giants, brought down to earth the Celestial Fire, the benefits of Civilizations. As a punishment, their world was destroyed and they were expelled from Paradise, forever.

The radix puro- of Purohita (Agni) has forms such as puras and pra. It denotes not only “foremost” or “supreme”, but also “former”, “of old”, as in the Puranas, “the tales of olden times”. These old times were, of course, the ones of Paradise, and the legends tell of its fall and destruction. The written versions may be far later dated, as some experts will. But the oral traditions themselves, the folklore is far, far older, and date back to this time, when they actually originated.

Pra is already close enough to the radix bra of Abraxas, the two labials being often confused. The radix is further akin to brih and brahman denoting “to grow great” and, further, “to pray”, “to shine”, “to roar”, “to declaim”, etc.. The word Brahman was spelt Brachman in Greek, a form which passed into early English, before the Sanskrit spelling was recovered. This is even more reminiscent of the name of Abraxas, and suggests that the radix brak- corresponds to the Sanskrit brah-, which is not unrelated to the English “brag”.

 

The Primordial Holocaust

The above radices are also related to the Sanskrit bha, having the same etym as brih. Bha or Bhas further denotes “bright”, “shiny”, “fiery”, “eminent”, “manifest”, “the Sun”, “light”, etc.. The radix corresponds to the Greek phano, the Latin fari, the English “ban”, etc.. The Sanskrit s rather frequently changes into r, a attested in the Latin form fari, meaning the same. The radix also implies an idea of oblation on sacrifice (bhaj, etc..).

Agni is often called Bharata, and Bhas or Bhaskara. Bhahkara is a name of the Sun-God in India. These are also names of Shiva and of Saturn, the gods so often associated with the Primordial Castration (or Sacrifice) and with Paradise (or Island of the Blest). Not unlikely, Bhahkara converged to Bhakara and then to something like Abhakara or Abhakaras and, then to Abraxas.

In this etymological correlation we again find the usual attributes of Abraxas: a Solar deity connected with fire; with the phallus (the cock); having the mace (Shiva’s khatvanga); with serpentine feet (an attribute of the Nagas or Solar races, as well as with Saturn, the Serpent King), bearing the shield (an image of “hiding”, as in Hades or Latium), etc..

Bhaskara also denotes a hero or kshatriya (“warrior”), an attribute of armor-clad Abraxas. The evolution Bhaskara > Bhahkara > Abhakara > Abharaka > Abhraka > Abhrakas > Abhraxas > Abraxas is quite natural and cogent, and there can be no doubt of a fundamental identity both in the name and in the symbolism and function.

The “a” prefix in Sanskrit can also be the vocative, so that the word Abraxas can be interpreted as an invocation: “Oh! Sun-God!”. Alternatively, a denotes emphasis or implies diminution, so that the word Abhahkara can mean “little Sun God” (= Harpokrates), or “the very Sun-God”.

 

The Hand of God

The name of Bhaskara (or Bhahkara), the Sun as the “Giver of Light” (bhas-kara), has many interesting acceptions. Literally, kara means “hand” and, by extension, a handout or giving. It also means “creator”, “doer”, “maker”, “artificer”, an etym that evokes Brahma as the “all-creator”, as well as Prometheus, Lucifer (“bringer of light”), Pan and other such “fire-bringers”.

More than anything, this etym evokes Hephaistos and his Indian precursors such as Vishvakarman, as well as Phaëthon, whose fall inflamed the world. But the etym of “hand” – the same one as that of Pan (pani = “hand”) – is even more interesting. It alludes to the Kra (or Kara), the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian isles, the very site of primordial Lemuria, destroyed in the primeval cataclysm.

The Kra Peninsula is often imaged by a raised hand – that of Saturn or Bhaskara – holding a sickle, a sword, a flail, a mace, a scymitar, etc.., which its peculiar shape suggests. We have dealt with this topic in detail elsewhere, and will not return to it here. The raised hand of Kara and corresponding deities is also identified to Satanaxio, the mysterious island. The raised hand also evokes the one of Fig. 2, upon which the god Abraxas stands.

The Island of Satanaxio was near the site where the Hand of Satan emerged from the waters in order to grab the passing ships and wreck them. There can be no doubt that the raised left hand of Abraxas, the blazing god, corresponds to the same idea and to the identical gestures of gods such as Shiva with his mace (khatvanga), or Saturn (Bhaskara) with his sickle.

More exactly, the name Bhas or Bhakara designates the Fallen Sun, that of a previous era. The name is often applied to the Son of the Sun (Bhaskara-nandin) and there can be no doubt that Phaistos or Phaëthon, the Son of Helios, derives his name and his myth from that of Bhas (or, rather, Bhaskara, the “Son of the Sun”).

Bhaskara is, more usually, called Surya, as well as by names such as Divakara (“Creator of Daylight”), Vishvasvat (“shiny one”), Mihira (“irrigator of the earth”). Grahapati (“Lord of the Planets”), Marttanda (“the one who died”), etc..

The quaint myth of the Cosmogonic Hierogamy of Vishvasvat, the Sun, with Suryâ, the daughter of the Sun, and his subsequent fall and castration is one of the most profound and central of Hindu mythology. It tells of the Primordial Fall, the engendering of the Primordial Twins (the Ashvins), and of Creation in general. We have already analyzed this myth elsewhere, and beg to be excused of a repetition here.

 

The Etymologies of the Word Abracadabra

Now that we know the meaning of Abraxas to be Bhaskara, the exegesis of the word Abracadabra is relatively easy to perform. Da or da is “to grant”, “bestow”, “protect”, and bhras means “ruin”, “decay”, “evil”. Hence, Abracadabra also means something like: “Oh! Sun-God (Abraxas or Bhaskara), grant us protection (da) from evil (bhras)”.

Alternatively, the A- prefixed to Bhahkara may be the privative, so that the formula can be interpreted as “let not (a), Oh! Sun-God (Abraxas), harm (dabhra) to fall upon us” (this portion subtended). Interpreted either way: A-Bhakara-da-bhras or A-Bhakara-dabhra, the formula implores the protection of the Sun-God (Bhakara) against harm and evil of all kinds and, in particular, against fever, fires, drought (brajj, bhraj, etc..).

This last etym relates to the Bhrigus, the fiery demons who brought fire to mankind and who correspond to our devils. In this case we can interpret the etym of ABRACADABRA in Sanskrit as a further: “Oh! Sun-God, (Abraxas), destroy by burning (dah) the devils of fire (braj = Bhrigu)”. More simply stated, the formula then reads: “Sun, burn the devils!” or “Sun, protect us from evil!” (or fever, or fires, or drought, or harm, etc..).

Any way we interpret the formula in Sanskrit, the radix BR denoting “fire” appears twice; once in the name of the Sun-God, and the other on that of the fiery evils such as fever he is to avert. Hence, the symmetry of the formula ABRACADABRA implies the idea of “like cures like”, so that fire destroys (or prevents) fire; fever, fever; evil destroys evil, etc. Death alone can destroy death, as exemplified by the myth of Yamantaka, the defeater of Death. We comment on this myth further below.

 

The Lord of Death

As usual, Sanskrit etymons severally supplement each other. Accordingly, we have A-bhara-kada-bhras, meaning: “Oh! Savior (A-bhara), destroy (kada) our evil enemies (bhras)”. Several other etymons can be produced in Sanskrit, but the above should suffice to convince the reader that this sacred tongue is really the source of the word, and affords an inexhaustible supply of pertinent etymons.

We mentioned the myth of Yamantaka (or Yamari), “the defeater of Death”. Yamantaka is a central deity in Tantric Hinduism and Buddhism. In Tibetan Buddhism Yamantaka is a form assumed by Manjushri in order to conquer Yama (Death), whose excesses were depopulating the world. In Hinduism, this role is played by Shiva himself, their supreme god.

In this terrible form, Manjushri descended to Hades, defeated Yama and came out again, victorious. This is an allegory of the widespread myth of the Sun-God who died and rose again, victorious over death (Christ, Attis, Tammuz, Adonis, Arthur, Osiris, Dionysus, etc.).

Manjushri is also considered form of Buddha, one called Vajrabhairava (“the terrifier of the vajra (thunderbolt)”) in his Yamantaka avatar. Manjushri assumes many forms and has many names in the Far Orient, where his cult is widespread. As Vajrabhairava, he wields the vajra or khatvanga (a mace) with his raised arm, just as does Abraxas in Gnostic iconography.

In some of his images he has an eagle-like face, which evokes the cock-head of Abraxas. The raised hand is the well-known gesture “Fear Not” of Shiva (abhaya-mudra), when he sets out to destroy the world. This is a pregnant symbol that cannot be explained here, but which closely corresponds to the Nazi salute of World War II.

The shield of Abraxas appears as the begging-bowl in the Orient, the two objects being symbolical equivalents. In Hinduism, Vajrabhairava is often called Mahabhairava (“the great terrifier”), a particularly frightening form of Shiva.

Of course, all these gods are personifications of Atlantis or Lemuria, destroyed by the vajra. Even more exactly, the gods in question personify the volcano which set off the Flood. This universal cataclysm – triggered by a volcanic explosion of gigantic proportions – was, they believe, commanded by the god himself, the genius of the volcano. But the myth also embodies the hope (or certainty) of Atlantis’ revival at the end of times, in order to bring back and restore the Golden Age.

According to this line of thought, the word abracadabra can be interpreted as abhrah-kad-abhrah or “Death, killer of Death”. Again, this is precisely the etymon of Yamantaka or Yamari. Likewise, the name of Abraxas may be derived from abhrah-kad (or “Death-killer”), again the same etymon as the above one.

There can be no doubt that the Gnostic god and the Greek or Latin word abracadabra derives from the Hindu-Buddhic Yamantaka, the same as the Fallen Sun, Bhaskara, risen from among the dead. These terrifying forms of God were worshipped by the Gnostics of all times, including the Tantrikas of the Far Orient. Indeed, the word Gnostic (gnostikos = “one who knows the or Truth”), or, rather, the concept of Gnosis, derives from India.

The name of the Vedas means “Wisdom” or “Gnosis” and, in his images, Yamantaka usually embraces Mahavidya (“Great Wisdom”), his consort. Indeed, Hinduism centers on preternatural Wisdom, and so does Buddhism (Budh = “Wisdom”).

Mahavidya is the archetype of the Gnostic Sophia (or “Wisdom” = Gnosis). Mahavidya or Kali – who also called Vajravetali (“the diamond zombie”) – is as terrible as Shiva, her consort. She represents his feminine shakti (or “force”) and, as such, the destroyed Lemuria, whereas her male personifies the destroyed Atlantis.

 

The Etymons of Abrakala

We can now discuss the etymons of ABRAKALA, the alternate form of ABRACADABRA, mentioned above. We already saw how KALA is the name of Shiva as the somber Lord of Time, the archetype of Chronos (or Kronos), the god who brings on the end of all things.

All-destroying Time is synonymous with Death, as shown in Arcane no. 13 of the Tarot. Hence, the formula ABRAKALA derives from the Sanskrit abhrah-kala meaning “the Death of Death” or “the Destroyer of Death”, precisely the etym of Yamantaka or Yamari. In his somber aspect, Shiva is really identical with Yama as Death itself, or as the Lord of Death.

 

The Ultimate Derivation

Compelling though the Sanskrit etymologies may be, they are not the ultimate ones. Indeed, they are mere adaptations of the Dravidian archetypal forms. The myth of the Fallen Sun is originally Dravidian, and it is in these tongues that we must the true origin of the names. In Dravida, “death”, “ruin”, is said *arva, with extant forms such as aravu, ariv, ari-ava, etc..

This can easily evolve as *arva > *arba > *abra, since Dravidian v is nearly identical to b, and the change of avra to abra is likewise very probable. Another related base is para meaning “old”, “rotten”, “decayed” and, by extension, “dead” and “death”. Also, the diachronic evolution para > bara > bra is very well attested in passing from Dravida into other tongues.

This base is related to vara or bara meaning “drought”, “withering”, “shriveling”, usually due to the excessive heat of the Sun. This idea gives additional etymons such as “barrenness”, “death”, “fever”, “sickness”, “wasting sickness”, etc.. In Dravida, we also have kata (“to overcome”), and kat or kad-, meaning “to destroy”, “kill”, “bind (by spells)”, “bewitch”, “sacrifice”, “cut down”, “fell”.

Hence, in Dravida, Abra-kad-abra means “Death, killer of Death”, the very name of Yamantaka, the greatest of Tantric deities. This is also the Sanskrit etym of the variant form of the word Abracadabra, Abrakala, as well as of the name of Abraxas, as discussed above. It is not believable that such coincidences are random, and it is far more likely that they are the result of Hindu wordplays, so common in the Indian languages.

Before we end this essay, it is perhaps interesting to comment on a matter that, though sensitive, sheds a lot of light on the secret history of religions and of man himself. We started the present article by showing the Magic Triangle formed with the word ABRACADABRA in certain philacteries. The same sort of thing was also often done with the Tetragrammaton, another favorite of Occultists everywhere.

 

The Tetragrammaton

The Tetragrammaton is formed with the four Hebrew letters of the name of Jahveh, transliterated as Y H W H. The magic triangle is formed thus:

Y  H  W  H

Y  H  W

Y  W

Y

 

The connection of the above Magic Triangle with that of the ABRACADABRA given in the opening of the present essay is self-evident. And we already saw the connection with the Flood and the Eras (Yugas) of Mankind.

The triangle of the Tetragrammaton closely evokes the Hindu Eras (Yugas), which are also four, and reduce their durations according to it in the ratio of 4 : 3 : 2 : 1, totaling 12,000 years. But there are other connections with the eras. The above triangle also recalls the Pythagorean tetraktys, their most sacred emblem, so full of esoteric meaning:

●      ●      ●     ●

●    ●    ●

●   ●

●

 

According to the laws of the Cabbala, the yod (yod) or Y represents the male principle in the Tetragrammaton, whereas the he (he) or H represents the female one. The vau (vau) or w represents, always according to experts, the two principles combined. This type of symbolism is of Hindu origin, the yod corresponding to the linga (phallus) and the he to the yoni (vagina). The union of the two is the Cosmic Hierogamy, represented by the Shiva-linga (or Yoni-lingam) and the Yab-Yum.

We have, thus, the following sequence of eras starting from the base (or foundation). In the first era (krita-yuga) we had the Golden Age, the era when the Male Principle ruled alone (Y). In the second era (dvapara-yuga), the two principles (YH) were combined, and the Silver Age resulted.

The Principles, of course, are equivalent to the races (or castes) of Mankind, presently four: Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Sudras. These are, respectively, the Whites, Reds, Yellows and Blacks. The first are the Dravidas, the second the Aryo-Semites, the third the Orientals, and the fourth the Negroes.

When we entered the fifth age, the present one, we started the era ruled by Jesus Christ, the god of the present era. The name of Jesus is written Y H Sh W H (Joshua) in Hebrew, with the shin (shin ) or Sh at the center. Many occultists have noted that this is just a modification of the Tetragrammaton, and write the usual triangle thus:

 Y   H   Sh  W   H

Y  H  Sh  W

Y  H  Sh

Y  H

Y

 

This scheme corresponds to the Four Ages of Hesiod: Golden, Silver, Bronze, Iron, with that of the Heroes intercalated. A full discussion of this complex theme would lead us too far afield. But it is visible that the name of Jesus (Joshua) is a traditional one in Judaic Messianism, and is the result of a Cabalistic manipulation of the Tetragrammaton.

Another example of the above diagram is shown in Fig. 3 below, and is due to Jacob Bohème. The letters of YHWH and YHShWH are written in Hebrew, within the burning, inverted Sacred Heart of Christ. The symbolism of the Burning Heart derives directly from the Fiery Yoni of The Hindus, as well as from its dual, the Fiery Lingam.

Fig. 3- The Tetragrammaton as the Burning Heart of Christ
(M.L. von Franz, Alquimia, pag. 168)

The idea of the Tetragrammaton has many esoteric connections. One such, which we just saw, associates the Male Principle (yod) to the Female Principle (he), and derives from the linga and yoni of the Hindus. This symbolism is central to Hinduism, and the Shivalinga is as popular a religious symbol in India as is the crucifix in Christian countries.

Indeed, the two religious objects embody the same Occult symbolism of the eras of mankind. They also link with the pramantha, as we discussed further above. The central idea is the Cosmic hierogamy of Fire and Water, respectively associated with the male and the female.

This union takes place at the end of the eras, when the world is incended and flooded, in order to insure the purification and purging of the spent life forms, in preparation for the new era that is about to start.In the Hierogamy – represented, f. i., in the Babylonian festival of the akitu by the union of the King and the Slut – the Hero who is to found the Brave New World mates with the Nymph, and breeds the humanity which is to follow next.

This is a traditional motif that we discuss elsewhere, and which is absolutely universal both in time and space. It forms the eschatological substrate of the Mystery Religions of the ancient and the primitive worlds, as well as of Christianism, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc..

In this union, the female plucks off the phallus of the male, in the way queen bees are wont to do. This event is allegorized in a million ways in our myths and rituals, such as the ones mentioned above. Such is the case of the myth of Pan and the nymph Syrinx; of Tammuz and Ishtar, of Attis and Cybele; of Osiris and Isis; of Kronos and Rhea; of Ouranos and Gaea, etc., etc.. Usually, the event is disguised or slurred, but the meaning is just that.

These myths all derive from that of Sharanyu and Vishvasvat, respectively the Earth and the Sun or, rather, their personifications as patrons of the Solar and the Lunar races. This myth has many variants in Hindu mythology, some dating from the Rig Veda.

But all such Hierogamies really represent the destruction of Paradise, and the castration of its lofty mountain. The Cosmic Hierogamy is the equivalent of the Primordial Castration, another Hindu myth of universal diffusion.

The motif of the Primordial Castration is also embodied in the Tetragrammaton. Indeed, the Tetragrammaton is formed from the name of Eve (or Havah) by the addition of a iod (or Y), resulting in the name of YHWAH (or Jah or Jahveh). The name of Eve is, in the Hebrew original, H W H, being later adulterated to HAWWAH, in order to disguise its true meaning.

What this means is that the holy name of Jahveh or YHWH results from the union of that of HWH with the one of YAH, to yield YAHWH or YHWH (or Jahveh). In esoteric terms, this further means that Eve appropriated the name and the phallus (iod) of her male, becoming the Androgyne.

Shocking as this might seem to Western readers, such myths form the core of Hinduism, in the figures of Shiva and Parvati, the archetypes of Adam and Eve, and of Jahveh and his consort. Of course, the castration is merely the allegory of deeper events such as the catastrophic destruction of Paradise which we are discussing. And it really refers to the “self-castration” (collapsing) of the mountain by the volcanic catalcysm.

In other words, the Fall of Adam is an allegory of his castration by Eve, overtaken by a severe crisis of “penis envy”. The goddess who appropriates the phallus becomes the Virgin Mother of so many religions, breeding her offspring without the help of the male, in the manner of the queen bee.

Many ancient goddesses were identified with the queen bee, such being the case of Isis, of Deborah (“bee”), of Cybele, etc.. The Goddess is the Great Mother of the Gods and Men, breeding the new humanity parthenogenetically.

This motif is extremely ancient, and dates from Neolithic times. The fat Venus who triumphantly holds up the Horn-of-Plenty in the Magdalenian caves, or the one who does the same with the serpent in Crete and elsewhere derives from just this primordial theme.

And the strange association of Eve and the Serpent of Eden is a disguised allegory of the same tragic event. Such is also the idea behind the myth of Diana Multimammia of Ephesus and other such abundant Cow Mothers, full of teats and of mischief.

Syrinx stealing the “flute” of Pan in the Greek myth is, again, a variant of this universal myth. In the New World, the same idea is expressed by the similar myths concerning the Flute of Jurupari and the Beeswax Gourd of the Goddess, a central motif of the mythologies of the Brazilian Indians.

The very fatness of the Magdalenian Venus is an allegory of the abundance brought by the Horn-of-Plenty, which is characteristic of the Golden Age. Ultimately, the motif alludes to volcanoes such as the one which destroyed Paradise, as we discussed further above. As is well known, volcanoes do bring abundance, but at a high cost, as they are prone to explode at any time, without prior notice. An ancient Egyptian iconography depicts the Queen of Punt – the same as the Egyptian Paradise, except that real – as an enormously fat woman.

Again, this is an allusion to the abundance that characterizes Paradise and the region of Indonesia, whence came the Jews, expelled by the cataclysmic explosion of their volcano, in the Primordial Holocaust. The Golden Age is indissolubly connected with the Island of the Blest and with Kronos or Saturn, the Primordial Castrate.

This Paradise or Eden is no other than Lemurian Atlantis, the blessed place where the earth produced of its own accord three, and sometimes even four crops annually, as reported by Hesiod and others. But the price is the well-known one of selling one’s soul to the Devil, and of being liable to unhappiness and doom due to the periodic volcanic cataclysms.

The myth of the Golden Calf, relinquished and abhorred by the Jews after they exited their Paradise Destroyed (Sinai = “the decapitated mountain”, in Sanskrit) is, again, an allegory of these sobering events. The Golden Calf is the same as the Golden Lamb of other mythologies. He is the king of the Golden Realm, the same Kronos or Saturn, the horny king of the Golden Age.

Kronos (or Karana), the Primordial Creator, was often identified with the Bull or, more exactly, with the Golden Bull (or Male) of the Golden Age. Reluctantly, the Jews parted with their destroyed Paradise, as well as with their former god, who gave them abundance, but at the price of calamity and unhappiness.

Such is the meaning of the Golden Calf they formerly worshipped, and who some still insisted in worshipping in Sinai, during the Exodus. The Brazen Serpent of Sinai is likewise connected with these events, and represents the castrated phallus of their god, the very image of the Shivalinga.

 

1. An explanation is perhaps necessary here. The Universal Flood is usually understood to have consisted of a watery cataclysm, rather than a fiery one. But we have discovered that the Universal Flood – whose memory is recorded in the myths of essentially all peoples one earth and is hence hardly an idle invention of someone, as most geologists currently believe – was real in fact consisted in the catastrophic end of the Pleistocene Ice Age which took place some11,600 years ago.At that time, sea level rose by 130-150 meters, flooding out huge extensions of coastal lands, above all in the region of Indonesia (Sundaland) which we have identified with the actual site of Atlantis-Eden. This cataclysm was in fact global, just as the ancient myths affirm. What actually caused that great catastrophe is one of the greatest unsolved riddles of the geological and the climatological sciences, despite the enormous effort to clear away that mystery by scientists the world over.We have also been able to clarify the cause of this catastrophic event as well. As several ancient traditions often suggest – the ones of Plato in special – the Universal Flood was caused by a giant volcanism. Accepting that suggestion, we did a thorough study of the problem and discovered that such was in fact the case. A colossal explosion of the Krakatoa volcano – the very one of Paradise – not only destroyed the whole region but liberated so much soot and ashes that this release led to the end of the Ice Age. In time, this soot and tephra (ashes) ended up being deposited upon the continental glaciers that then covered the now temperate regions of the world down to about parallel 45º or so.This deposited soot resulted in a global albedo decrease and the increased melting of these continental glaciers. With this, sea level started rising globally due to this meltwater. The crustal stresses increased, as the continents became alleviated and the seafloors overloaded. This process led to further volcanisms and earthquakes which resulted in a positive feedback process which, once started, fed on itself in some sort of a chain reaction. The giant tsunamis thus engendered also floated and rafted the continental ice to the sea, speeding up the process. In time, the glaciers receded to the circumpolar region, and the Ice Age was over.This volcanic paroxysm of giant proportions and its incessant dispute with the waters then confined in the enormous continental and maritime glaciers was what the ancients described as the Cosmogonic Hierogamy, the “marriage of Fire and Water”. The ancients also allegorized the process by the metaphor of the fight of two dragons, one fiery and aerial, the other one watery and submarine, a motif one finds the world over in connection with the Flood. As this seminal discovery clearly shows, we have a whole lot to learn from the ancient myths provided we learn how to decode them in the correct way. ↑