Question about the thoth's LWB

EnglishRose

I bought the large Thoth deck a few weeks ago but never really looked at the LWB until a couple of days ago. One thing that i have a question about is the invocation at the back of it.

" Take the cards in your left hand. In the right hand hold the wand over them, and say: I invoke thee, I A O, that thou wilt sent H R U, the great Angel that is set over the operations of this Secret Wisdom, to lay his hand invisibly upon these consecrated cards of art, that thereby we may obtain true knowledge of hidden things, to the glory of thine ineffable Name. Amen."

Can anybody tell me what I A O and H R U mean or stand for? Also has anyone found that saying the invocation makes a difference to their readings? Any opinions would be most appreciated.
Sophie

Ross G Caldwell

EnglishRose said:
I bought the large Thoth deck a few weeks ago but never really looked at the LWB until a couple of days ago. One thing that i have a question about is the invocation at the back of it.

" Take the cards in your left hand. In the right hand hold the wand over them, and say: I invoke thee, I A O, that thou wilt sent H R U, the great Angel that is set over the operations of this Secret Wisdom, to lay his hand invisibly upon these consecrated cards of art, that thereby we may obtain true knowledge of hidden things, to the glory of thine ineffable Name. Amen."

Can anybody tell me what I A O and H R U mean or stand for? Also has anyone found that saying the invocation makes a difference to their readings? Any opinions would be most appreciated.
Sophie

The invocation comes from the Order of the Golden Dawn, and was that used in their instructions for reading the cards. It was first published by Crowley in the Equinox around 1910, but I believe it was written in the Golden Dawn "Book T" around 1890.

"I A O" is an ancient Greek rendering of the Jewish name of God, YHWH, which was especially used by the Gnostics in the first few centuries after Christ. For the Golden Dawn, following from the Gnostics and 18th and 19th century esoteric orders, IAO was a secret name for God.

"H R U" is the Egyptian god Heru, Hor or Horus.

IAO can be pronounced "EE-YA-Ohhh" (lengthing the vowels in a "vibratory" fashion) or "Yah-Oh" or "Yah-Woh", which is probably how the name originally sounded.

HRU was probably pronounced by the Golden Dawn as "Hey-Ru" or just "Heh-Ru". That's how I say it anyway.

Ross

EnglishRose

Ross G Caldwell said:
The invocation comes from the Order of the Golden Dawn, and was that used in their instructions for reading the cards. It was first published by Crowley in the Equinox around 1910, but I believe it was written in the Golden Dawn "Book T" around 1890.

"I A O" is an ancient Greek rendering of the Jewish name of God, YHWH, which was especially used by the Gnostics in the first few centuries after Christ. For the Golden Dawn, following from the Gnostics and 18th and 19th century esoteric orders, IAO was a secret name for God.

"H R U" is the Egyptian god Heru, Hor or Horus.

IAO can be pronounced "EE-YA-Ohhh" (lengthing the vowels in a "vibratory" fashion) or "Yah-Oh" or "Yah-Woh", which is probably how the name originally sounded.

HRU was probably pronounced by the Golden Dawn as "Hey-Ru" or just "Heh-Ru". That's how I say it anyway.

Ross

Hi Ross and thank you for replying, you have totally cleared it up for me. I didn't realise the invocation came from the Order of the Golden Dawn, it's very interesting. Also thank you for the pronunciations of the words, if you had not told me i wouldn't have a clue how to say them.
Sophie xx