That paper describes Abraxas as the ultimate, invisible God
that unites all opposites into one being, as well as the Lord of frogs and
amphibians (puts a whole new spin on consorts and BSlick, not even to mention
Jake’s consort kingdom, huh?). I also think the most obvious analog for Aeons
are actually the Aspects themselves–it’s important that the world of the
Pleroma is also the world of Ideas, and that Yaldabaoth is a “blind”
god because it cannot perceive the Ideas that created it.
The Ideas angle also
links into the Ur-Self stuff you talked about with Davepeta. I think Hussie
covered that pretty thoroughly, because the Ur-Self is just another branch of a
topic Hussie already covers from Act 1: Platonic Realism, and the expression of
the pure realm of Ideas in the world of Material reality. My next two videos
are covering the links between Gnosticism and Greek theory of Platonic Realism,
but in the meantime Tex Talks’ alchemy stuff breaks the latter down v well.
Oh, also notable is
that Yaldabaoth is described as having created “seven heavens” in the
sky–lending additional weights to the Seven Gates leading to Skaia, as the
characters must Ascend the gates much as humans must Ascend to the Heavens to
reach Pleroma 😉 And you are indeed correct that Skaia is the metaphysical
manifestation of Pleroma–hence why it acts as the Sessions’ Sun. It also gives
off Light, but Skaia’s Light is more focused on Ideas.
At last I finally have a chance to post your very helpful
correction! Sorry it took so dang long! XD
Yeah, I was totally wrong on Abraxas when I said he was Sophia’s
counterpart Aeon. I think I must have decided that because 1) it seems weird to
me that we wouldn’t know the name of that Aeon, but mythological systems are
weird and arbitrary like that I guess 2) I misread one of my sources, which referred
to Abraxas as “in Pleroma with Sophia,” which is still technically true, but as
it turns out, true in a more general way. I’ve corrected the original post. Won’t stop
old reblogs of it from going out, but ah, that’s the nature of the tumblr beast.
I’ll have to look into Jung’s take, but I’m intrigued. I
think Abraxas predates Jung, existing in earlier Gnostic systems (but not all
of them) and I think he does start as a separate god originally. But I LOVE
that he’s associated with amphibians! That’s fantastic. That really ties him closely
into the system of Sburb, even more than I originally thought, and suggests
that Hope is somehow tied to the unlimited creative potential of Skaia.
Also, I was looking into Abraxas, and as far as I can tell
he seems to have been a Hellenistic-Roman god of curses and power, of a type
that was pretty common in that period of history—gods whose long, bizarre names
were written on papyri and stones to summon the god’s magic power, frequently
as a curse to bring down your enemies. Variations on Abraxas’s name were
common, and in fact (I made sure I double-checked this this time, ha!) this
does appear to be where we get the word ABRACADABRA, from tablets and similar
riffing on ABRAXAS. Or Abraxas is a riff on ABRACADABRA and similar bizarre
power-god names. Which is fascinating in its own right, but on top of that, it
occurred to me…
Writing ABRAXAS like this might look something like:
And oh my god Jake is closely associated with Abraxas as his
denizen and Roxy even wonders on that page if he was writing ABRACADABRA and this just ties
Jake and the mysteries of the Hope aspect even more closely into Gnosticism,
and fuck, Homestuck really is the gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it? Fucking
love it.
You’re right, Homestuck has always engaged pretty closely
with the platonic/archetypal nature of its entities, all the way from Act 1
onward! Thanks for pointing that out. It’s interesting to see how it becomes
more explicit (and more focused on characters) later on, but it’s so satisfying
to notice how the seeds were already there. I like the Platonist Forms connection
lots of folks have made; I’ll admit Platonism isn’t my area of expertise,
though. I tend to approach this much more from a Lit Crit/ Structuralist theory
of ideas. But it kind of comes to the same result, doesn’t it? Structuralist concepts
and Platonism get along pretty well, the only difference is that one’s encoded in
language and one in the universe. Given that Homestuck’s a linguistic-narrative
structure that represents a cosmic structure, it’s a pretty fantastic marriage!
Seven Gates / Seven Heavens is another SWEET CATCH, thanks! Sevens
are a pretty classic magical number, but they don’t appear super often
Homestuck outside the acts and the gates, do they? Curious. Very curious.
Another echo of Narrative as Cosmos, Story as Gnosticism? From what I gather
the archetypal power of sevens historically comes from the seven visible
heavenly bodies, (the sun and moon plus the five visible planets), and that’s
probably pretty closely tied to the Gnostic idea of Seven Heavens. Which all
ties in very nicely with the planetary and cosmic structure of Sburb. Excellent
stuff.
Thanks so much for writing in! I always look forward to
hearing your ideas. 😀
I can’t believe I missed this until just now when I needed to dig up your post on the Gnostic stuff and LE as Yaldabaoth, but all of this is great and i need to save it now, thanks
Jade’s parental unit, as the Pattern Breaking parental unit, has a much larger variety of strange, off putting interests. Dad has FANCIFUL HARLEQUINS, Mom has EXSQUISITE WIZARDS, and Bro has RADICAL PUPPETS. Grandpa has not one, but FOUR such interests, of the same descriptive two word format. They’re all just as dumb though. One reason among several for this was to create an element of uncertainty over what kind of item Jade would prototype with . And by uncertainty, I mean misdirection, which is what I always mean by uncertainty.
Notice the colors of the lights in each room. Orange, pink, and cyan, corresponding with Dirk, Roxy, and Jane. The items have a loose correlation with the other three guardians too. Knights in that Dirk is a skilled swordsman. Roxy’s land is full of pyramids, Jane was grandpa’s long estranged blue lady. You see how the gears are always turning. Not only does everything mean something. It turns out everything means EVERYTHING. Now you know.
Andrew Hussie, Homestuck Book 3 Commentary
My pal @icel just sort of handed me the commentary for book 3, which is rad cause it turns out to confirm I’ve been right in arguing that Grandpa’s home decor reflects the Alphas for months. (Obviously doesn’t prove anything else linked there, though I stand by all of it. Just saying.)
I don’t normally argue based on Word of God cause I don’t like speculating pointlessly on Hussie as a person but hey! This is part of a product made for fans, and also it takes a lot of the legwork out of me getting to say I’m right, so like fuck it 😉
The funny thing is you’re completely right to ping me for this but not because of Jake just because I am extremely into summon spirits and elementals of all kinds
the dulcet tones of jakes fast-beating gay preteen little heart discovering bi feelings for his best friend for the first time is definitely going to be the song that lulls me to sleep tonight
jake english is such a fascinating character. he’s a shrinking coward who refuses to deal with any level of confrontation, even if that level of confrontation is as little as a disagreement or “I’m not comfortable right now” because he’s terrified of upsetting people. but he also has a deeply selfish side of him, which is part and parcel with being a coward. jake “doesn’t want to upset anybody,” but it’s only partially out of concern for their feelings. part of it is because he doesn’t want to have to deal with it. he doesn’t want to own up to his own flaws. he doesn’t want to have to admit to wrongdoing or cowardice.
jake doesn’t know how to reconcile his selfishness – which isn’t exactly the core of his character, but it’s a factor – with his desire to help people, his desire to be liked and have friends. he doesn’t know how to get what he wants and also not upset people, so he takes the path of less resistance in quiet hopes that he’ll get what he wants anyway. he hopes jane quietly lets her crush on him drop, because he doesn’t want to be with her. he hopes roxy has let her feelings for him (which he also knows about) go, because he’s scared of how they complicate things between them. he hopes accepting dirk’s advances will lead to a relationship that’s best for both of them without much work on his part.
selfishness has a lot of forms. not every kind of selfishness is outright manipulation and abusiveness, but plenty of people are selfish in some way. they prioritize themselves over others, or refuse to listen to truths that might inconvenience them, like jane. they expect their assistance and advice to be honored and repaid and to earn them easy respect and validation, or aggressively do things their friends have asked them to quit, like roxy. they think their opinions and outlooks are the most reliable and they shouldn’t have to explain themselves to other people, like dirk.
they refuse to own up to their mistakes or to say the things they really want because they don’t want to be a disappointment. or they quietly hope things will work out despite them never saying their feelings, expecting everyone else to just put what they want aside and let his own dreams take the lead. like jake english.
I love the alphas BECAUSE they’re such flawed, confusing, frustrating, selfish people. all of them. even jake. even jake’s tricksterdom bow-to-everyone instinct is a form of selfishness, because it’s about making people happy for his own convenience. it’s about making people like him, not about really giving them what they want. jake wants to be loved in a selfish way. and that’s great. that’s part of why he’s so fascinating.
Flying through Storytelling 