**STARLING STUDIO**

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Gem-Gnosis-Gem

Chapter 3: Ballad of the Chrome Nun

Nobody needs to baptize me
any time I laugh I got religion
Cross my forehead, cross my knees
I'll take any good sign, I'm a clay pidgin.

"Ballad of the Chrome Nun"...Grace Slick


Abraxas? Abrasax? An esoteric word found only in obscure books? An idea lost in the mists of time and then appearing in the midst of modern life to a person with no knowledge of it's past? Just something to put in a ring to be worn as ornament?
What could it really mean? Something frivolous ? Something known only to the craftsman who made it? When a person spends the time and effort to find and carve and polish a beautiful Gem that will last for a very long time, he knows that there is nothing frivolous about the need to communicate the deep archetypal symbols of his time.
But the head of a Rooster? Snakes for legs? A warrior's shield and weapon?

In the times this and other engraved images were made the object was to impart large and meaningful concepts in concise and readily understandable forms.
Of course a lot of these were to show an allegiance to a particular family, king or conqueror. But many were made to impart mythical, religious and philosophical concepts that could only be understood by unique individuals and groups; those initiated into secret societies or esoteric schools of thought. Some were used to identify members to each other in the face of official condemnation and persecution such as the symbol of the fish early Christians used to locate meeting places and show themselves to each other during the Roman oppression.

One such group was theGnostics (400 B.C. to 250 A.D.), who incorporated the prevalent philosophies(Hellenistic Greek, Judeo/Christian) of the day as well as aspects of earlier, more esoteric and lost symbolisms into their approach to communicating with God and the greater world .
The Gnostics were probably the first semi-religious group to form and coalesce after Alexander the Great conquered the "known world". The result of Alexander's conquest was not the obliteration of disparate cultures and religions and the imposition of Greek ideology, but had the effect of bringing those very cultures into the sphere of greek life and thought and became the basis for post Alexandrian Greece. Perhaps that was Alexander's true greatness.

One of the main ideas of the Gnostics was the belief that each individual could communicate with God and the greater world in a personal way through rituals using the symbols of the "collective unconscious" as well as various esthetic practices such as fasting, celibacy, ecstasy, prayer and in some cases sexual magick.

They also used the artistic, creative practice of engraving symbols in gems for use in solidifying these concepts into tangible forms that had talismanic uses.
One of these symbols was Abraxas. Abraxas was not a god in the pagan sense of the word, nor did it represent a demiurge (force of nature i.e. gravity) but seemed to show some aspects of basic philosophical concepts such as strength, wisdom etc. The head was of a rooster which stood for vigilance and the legs were snakes which was a symbol of a close connection to the Earth.

In those days different materials were thought to have
different properties that interacted with people such as the ability to prevent disease or attract lovers. Rock and gem materials particularly were thought to possess strong permanent qualities.
Because of the adamant nature of rocks, many of these gems have come down to us thru the ages. Sometimes as the only things left from a culture whose written words were lost along with the perishable materials they used to record them.

For most of my life I have been in possession of one of these stones.
Abraxas carved in Bloodstone (a dark green Jasper with red spots) approximately 1 in. x 3/4 in.



I have been the steward of this particular original Gnostic carving for over 40 years. It was left to me by my father after he passed away in 1965 when I was 17. In some subtle and sublime way it is what led me to gemcutting and my lifelong natural interest in Gnostic philosophy, almost as if I was to pursue and fulfill a destiny for this stone and my life that was somehow preordained by the artist/magician who made this amulet 2000 years ago.
My father was a collector of antiques and antiquities and of all the things in his collection this stone was his prize possession and the only thing he personally identified with and wore (as a ring).
As a child I was fascinated by this gem and had no idea of what it was or where it came from. When it was given to me the only thing I or anybody else (except my father) knew about it was that it was the symbol of something called Abraxas.
Almost like a lost prince in a fantasy Grail story, given a mystery quest by the Fisher King, I somehow sensed then that my destiny and the destiny of this stone were inexorably wrapped together.
Since then I have worn, carried and protected this stone (and, I feel at times, it has protected me) and in 40 years it has never left my side.

Friday, October 21, 2005


STARLING IN FLASHBACK CITY.......2005