12/9/2020 The Gnostics and Their Remains: Description of the Plates: Plate C

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The Gnostics and Their Remains, by Charles William King, [1887], at sacred-
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Plate C

PLATE C.
1. Terminal figure, perhaps allusive by its form to Justinus' Æon,
"The Cross." The interminable legend surrounding it yields no
intelligible words, but the title below the Herme, ΝΙΧΑΡΟΠΛΗC
occurs also on a talisman in the French Cabinet. The reverse gives
the Seven Vowels (or "Voices") that shroud the Ineffable Name,
which has never been uttered aloud since the day of the destruction
of the Temple, but is communicated only in half-whispers to every
Rabbi upon his ordination. It is a remarkable fact that a Talmudist,
who remembered the Second Temple, observes that this Holy Name
was "warbled rather than pronounced" in the course of the service;
hence we may suspect the possibility of imitating its sound by the
permutation of vowels that form so important an element in the
construction of our talismans.

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12/9/2020 The Gnostics and Their Remains: Description of the Plates: Plate C

2. Father Nile, reclining and holding forth a cornucopia, emblematic

of amity. * As the "number of his Greek name," 365, is equivalent to
that of Abraxas, it is probable that, according to Kabbalistic rules, he
here represents that god. This explanation is supported by the type of
the reverse, Horus, seated on the lotus, addressed by the Greek
transliteration of the Hebrew Ablanathanalba, "Thou art our Father!"

3. Horus seated in the baris, or sacred boat; the prow and poop
whereof terminate in the hawk's head of Phre, and the ox-head of
Apis. He is here addressed by the Ineffable Name.

4. The same deity, addressed as before by the salutation

Ablanathanalba, followed by an unintelligible word. The unskilful
gem-engraver, unable to form curves in the lettering, has given to his
B the form of K, and increased the difficulty of deciphering this
legend.

5. The same, but now seated upon the scarabæ, type of the Creator,
p. 437

enclosed within the coiled serpent, emblem of Eternity. With these

purely Pharaonic sigils the reverse combines the name of the Jewish
angel Michael, and the Seven Vowels of the Ineffable Name; thus
presenting an instructive example of that reconciliation of,
apparently, the most antagonistic creeds which is the very foundation
of Gnosticism.

Footnotes
436:* The type also of an Alexandrian coin of Hadrian.

Next: Plate D. Sigils of the Cnuphis Serpent

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