Some notes/speculations on YHV/IAO
According to Blavatsky:
Says Furst: "The very ancient name of God, Yaho, written in the Greek law, appears, apart from its derivation, to have been an old mystic name of the Supreme deity of the Shemites. Hence it was told to Moses when he was initiated at Hor-eb -- the cave -- under the direction of Jethro, the Kenite (or Cainite) priest of Midian. In an old religion of the Chaldeans, whose remains are to be found among the Neo- Platonists, the highest divinity, enthroned above the seven heavens, representing the Spiritual Light-Principle . . . . and also conceived of as Demiurgus,* was called Iao (YHV), who was, like the Hebrew Yaha, mysterious and unmentionable, and whose name was communicated to the Initiated. The Phoenicians had a Supreme God, whose name was
trilateral and secret, and he was Iao [YHV]." (Isis Unveiled, Vol.
II., p. 298.)
"In the Ophite gems of King ("Gnostics") we find the name of IAO
repeated, and often confounded with that of Jevo, while the latter
simply represents one of the genii antagonistic to Abraxas. But the name IAO neither originated with, nor was it the sole property of the Jews. Even if it had pleased Moses to bestow the name upon the tutelary "Spirit," the alleged protector and national deity of the "chosen people of Israel," there is yet no possible reason why other nationalities should receive Him as the Highest and One-living God. But we deny the assumption altogether. Besides, there is the fact that Jaho or Iao was a "Mystery name" from the beginning, for and JHVH and YH never came into use before King David. Anterior to his time, few or no proper names were compounded with Iah or Jah. It looks rather as though David, being a sojourner among the Tyrians and Philistines (2 Samuel), brought thence the name of Jehovah. He made Zadok high priest, from whom came the Zadokites or Sadducees. He lived and ruled first at Hebron , Habir-on or Kabeir-town, where the rites of the four (mystery-gods) were celebrated. Neither David nor Solomon recognized either Moses or the law of Moses. They aspired to build a temple to YHVH, like the structures erected by Hiram to Hercules and Venus, Adon and Astarte." (The secret Doctrine, Vol II, pg 541).
The use of the permutations of YHV to 'seal space' in the SY is reminiscent of the use of the name IAO in some Christian gnostic texts, for example:
"Thomas, Andrew, James and Simon the Canaanite were in the West, with their faces turned towards the East, but Philip and Bartholomew were in the South with their faces turned towards the North, but the other disciples and the women disciples stood behind Jesus . . . And Jesus cried out, turning towards the four corners of the world with his disciples. . . and said: Iao, Iao, Iao. . ."
[Carl Schmidt: 'Gnostic Writings' quoted in G.Scholem's 'Origins of the Kabbalah]
Within Greek gnosticism as synethism occurs with Jupiter as IAO-Pater, which is cognate with the Hebrew YHVAL (YHV + AL), an ancient name of Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence
charged by God to Grant Abraham's every wish.
"Why is Abraham blessed with all things? Because he has no daughter answered the first Rabbi. But he has a daughter said the second Rabbi, she is called Bakol (BKL = 'in all things'). Who is the daughter who is 'in all things'? His daughter is the Shekinah, Shekinah Bakol." [Sefer HaBahir]
Note BKL = 52 and YHVAL also = 52.
ABA VAMA (Father+Mother) also = 52 (and AIMA=52, too)
ALIHV, Elihu - the Fourth Counselor in Job, and the Wise Youth = 52
also the YVD HH VV HH, Tetragrammaton of Assiah = 52
BN [son] also = 52
All of this seems to point to something that Chaim Vital transcribed from the Ari'zl:
[Meditation and Kabbalah, by Aryeh Kaplan pg. 238]
"The Tetragrammaton adding up to 52 (Ben) then elevates the Feminine Waters through the Nefesh of the saint. This is associated with Malkhut-Kingship (the Female Partzuf)."
In the pagan gnosticism of hellenistic Egypt IAO was
associated with the divine Father/Mother/Son trinity Isis/Osiris and Horus (which we may find reflected in the kabbalistic attributions of the name YHV to Chokmah, Binah and Tipharet as Father/Mother and Son). Crowley made a syzygy between IAO and Father/Mother/Son, and also between IAO and the virgin/womb and holy spirit. In this respect we may reference the Greek (though probably of Egyptian origin) myth of Io.
Impreganted by Zeus (air god, air/spirit [ruach] attributed to
Aleph/Alpha) in the form of a bull (Aleph-ox, also latin and greek A
said to derive from the phoenician glyph for a bull). Hence IAO here equates to IO [virgin/womb ?]impregnated by A (air/spirit/breath in form of Bull). 'A' here as well as relating to the divine Father also references the divine Child Harpocrates (Horus the Child). Io escapes the wrath of Juno by escaping into Egypt in the form of a cow.
The ATU 'high priestess' / 'juno' appear to me to
incorporate elements of this myth, and also as Sophia, wisdom, ther higher Shekinah [ISIS as wisdom was of course identified with the TORAH in Rabinnical Judaism, and with the 'church' in Christianity, both of which have been offered as possible interpretations of the papess, priestess Atu].
It may be relavant to note that just as YHVH is said to represent
that which was, is and will be so we may interpret the name IAO.
IAO is the latin transliteration of the three Greek letters Iota,
symbolising the eternal present, Alpha, which represented the past creation of all things, and Omega, the end. ( according to Hypattius of Alexandria).
In the pre-massoretic period the letters Y, H and V though drawn
from the 'simple' letters, may themselves be considered double in
that they may represent vowels as well as consonants. Traditionally [in pythagorean theory] the vowels are considered to be connected to the soul, a tradition carried on within kabbalistic tradition that has passed over into popular numerology. The consonants relate to the physical and manifest. Yod, Hei and Vau therefore, as being both vowels and consonants, may be interpreted as representing the body and soul, spirit and matter, being bound together.
We may relate them to the concept of the septeniary, the
number seven as a sacred number. In this respect we view the number seven as the sum of three and four. Three (the triangle) represents the supernal spirit, four (the square) the manifest. This is related to three dimensional space in that four points are required to reference three dimensions [the tetrahedra, in which the fourth point lies outside of the plane, perhaps more accurately demonstrates the relationship between the number four, the solid and three dimensional space; however in two dimensional geometry the square is the symbol].
To demontrate the concept in a pictogram we may visualise the
triangle inside of the square. The supernal (the triangle) bound to
the manifest (the square).
YHV is related to the septeniary in that it adds to 21 (3x7). Twentry-one is a sixth level triangular number , ie;
1
2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21
Note the relationship between triangular and square numbers, ie, the triangular numbers 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, the sum of any two adjacent triangular numbers = the square of the higher; e.g 1+3=4 the square of the second triangular number, 3+6=9, the square of the third, 6+10=16, the square of the fourth etc]. The second number is said to make manifest the abstaction of the first, or if you prefer the second is the body or incarnation of the soul of the first - in this note that the word Galgal - wheel/circle - is connected with kabbalistic concepts of reincarnation.
[Note also the connection with the traditional middoth puzzle 1=2, 2=3, 3=4. Also the common didactic and rhetorical devise of using ascending numners in canaanite literature [re; several examples are in the bible], 1 and/or 2, 2 and/or 3, 3 and/or 4 etc. Any connection here with the english hermetic tarot attributions? At the least it shows the hermetic attributions are not neccesarily 'anachronistic'!?]
The sixth level we attribute to the hexagram. Write the numbers 1-6 in the wings of the hexagram and the numbers in opposing wings add up to 7 (1+6, 2+5 and 3+4) [like the dots on opposite sides of the dice]. These relate to the seven directions (above, below; east, west; south, north and centre). If we use two hexagrams numbered 1-6 and 5-10 and join them at wings 5 and 6 [so we have a figure with 10 wings numbered 1-10], note that the numbers in the upper hexagram total 21, YHV, the lower 45, ADM (re: and man [male and female] was made in the likeness of G-d? As Above, So Below?). 21 [yhv] + 45 [adm] = 66 [glgl - Galgal, the wheel of incarnation].
Astrologically we may note the attributions Yod=Virgo, Hei=Aries and Vau =Virgo. The distance between 0virgo and 0aries is 150 degrees, connect lines around around a circle every 150 degrees and you end up with a 12 pointed star. The distance between 0aries and 0taurus is 30 degrees. Connect a line between points round a circle every 30 degrees and you end up with a 12 sided figure. YHV therefore describes through these astrological attributions the geometric symbol of a 12 pointed star within a 12 sided figure. Twelve of course is 3x4, again the triangle and square, the spirit bound to matter. We may represent it as a triangle inside a square inside a pentagon (3+4+5=12).
[You may observe that such geometric projections could be carried on infinitely, the outer figure getting ever closer to the figure of a circle. The circle in this case would symbolise the set limit of infinity. This circle we may call Galgal (wheel), which is
also 'zero' (cipher or sefer).]
Also 150+30=180, the sum of the angles of a triangle; or, 150-30=120, the number of degrees of a trine aspect in astrology. Yod-Virgo is a mutable sign, Hei-Aries is a cardinal sign and Vau-Taurus is a fixed sign. We may describe four astrological trinities (mutable/cardinal/fixed) as follows:
In the Eastern Quarter - Pisces/Aries/Tuarus [I am, me, mine];
In the Northern Quarter - Gemini/Cancer/Leo [We are, we, ours];
In the Western Quarter - Virgo/Libra/Scorpio [You are, you, yours]:
In the Southern Quarter - Sagittarius/Capricorn/Aquarius [They are,
they, theirs].
The hermetic elemental attributions of the name YHVH also of course unpack into an astrological 12 pointed star.
In brief summary the name YHV [Iaho or IAO] may possibly be
interpreted on one level as being a code for the mystical signifance of the Septeniary or more generally of the tranformations of the three and the four as applying to the concept of the binding of body and soul, spirit and matter, abstract [triangular numbers] and manifest [square numbers].
Kwaw