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Jehovah, yehowah

Jehovah, yehowah: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Jehovah, yehowah

Jehovah yehowah (Hebrew) In the Bible, the god of the Hebrews; a modern mispronunciation of the Hebrew alphabetic characters, resulting from the combining by the Jews themselves of the Hebrew consonants of this word (YHVH) with the vowels of the word Adonai (my lords) because the Jews, while always writing or copying the alphabetic characters of the name correctly in their manuscripts, when reading it never pronounced the word YHVH, but read "Adonai" in its stead -- writing the Massoretic points of Adonai to vocalize YHVH to produce Yahovah.

Consequently when the Bible came to be studied by those unfamiliar with the real pronunciation of YHVH, it was read in various ways, commonly as Jehovah. It is now held by some scholars that YHVH should be pronounced yahweh or yave. It is also given as Yihweh (he will be, or it will be) (SD 2:129). However, Josephus, a priest who undoubtedly knew the correct pronunciation, wrote that it would be highly unlawful for him to divulge it as the Jews regarded it as too holy to pronounce aloud.

Blavatsky writes that the rendering Ja-ho-vah is "a perversion of the Holy Name": that the majority of the Jews themselves were ignorant of the true pronunciation.

"Alone, out of all their nation the high priests had it in their possession, and respectively passed it to their successors," before their death.

"Once a year only, on the day of atonement, the high priest was allowed to pronounce it in a whisper" (IU 2:398-9).

The Hebrews were not the only ones who knew of and revered a divinity whose name when written was conveyed by vowels mainly, as for instance the Gnostic Iao, Ieuo, or Iaou. All these ancient peoples by these vowel-words desired to express the fluid life-giving energy of the globe, of the moon, and of the planetary source -- in this case, Saturn.

The early Christian Fathers connected the moon and its functions with Jehovah -- as the proximate but not causal "giver of life and death." Moreover "With the Israelites, the chief function of Jehovah was child-giving, and the esotericism of the Bible, interpreted Kabalistically, shows undeniably the Holy of Holies in the temple to be only the symbol of the womb. . . . This idea must certainly have been borrowed by the Jews from the Egyptians and Indians . . ." (SD 1:264). Jehovah is likewise identified with the serpent or dragon that tempted Eve, the dragon often standing for the primordial principle.

In the Qabbalah, Jehovah is regarded as hermaphrodite and connected with the female Sephirah Binah. The Qabbalists show the word to be "composed of the two-fold name of the first androgyne -- Adam and Eve, Jod (or Yodh), Vau and He-Va -- the female serpent as a symbol of Divine Intelligence proceeding from the One-Generative or Creative Spirit" (IU 2:398).

From the standpoint of the Jews, Jehovah was their patron deity, the regent of the planet Saturn.

See also TETRAGRAMMATON

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Jehovah, yehowah: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Jehovah, yehowah

Blavatsky writes that the rendering Ja-ho-vah is "a perversion of the Holy Name": that the majority of the Jews themselves were ignorant of the true pronunciation.

"Alone, out of all their nation the high priests had it in their possession, and respectively passed it to their successors," before their death.

"Once a year only, on the day of atonement, the high priest was allowed to pronounce it in a whisper" (IU 2:398-9).

From the standpoint of the Jews, Jehovah was their patron deity, the regent of the planet Saturn.

See also TETRAGRAMMATON

For articles related to Jehovah, yehowah , see: Jehovah, yehowah , Occultism, Occultism Dictionary, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul.

Definition of Jehovah, yehowah is extracted from the home page of The Theosophical Society, International Headquarters, Pasadena, California. A Society founded in 1875 in an effort to promote the expressed awareness of the Oneness of Life.

"The Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary is presented to the public as a work in progress. The manuscript, produced originally in the 1930s and '40s, is currently being revised and expanded by the Editorial Committee. Theosophical University Press is presenting this working version online because, even in its present unfinished form, we feel that the contents will be of value to students of theosophical literature, particularly of the works of H. P. Blavatsky. "

Please visit http://www.theosociety.org for more information.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BCW - H. P. Blavatsky: Collected Writings, BG - Bhagavad-Gita, BP - Bhagavata Purana, cf - confer, ChU - Chandogya Upanishad , Dial, Dialogues - The Dialogues of G. de Purucker, ed. A. L. Conger, Echoes - Echoes from the Orient, by William Q. Judge (comp. Dara Eklund), Jehovah, yehowah , ET - The Esoteric Tradition, by G. de Purucker, FSO - Fountain-Source of Occultism, by G. de Purucker, Fund - Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy, by G. de Purucker, IU - Isis Unveiled, by H. P. Blavatsky, MB - Mahabharata , MIE - Man in Evolution, by G. de Purucker, Jehovah, yehowah , ML - The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, ed. A. Trevor Barker, OG - Occult Glossary, by G. de Purucker, Rev - Revelations, RV - Rig Veda , SD - The Secret Doctrine, by H. P. Blavatsky, SOPh - Studies in Occult Philosophy, by G. de Purucker, TBL - Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge (Secret Doctrine Commentary), by H. P. Blavatsky, TG - Theosophical Glossary, by H. P. Blavatsky, Jehovah, yehowah , Theos - The Theosophist (magazine), VP - Vishnu Purana , VS - The Voice of the Silence, by H. P. Blavatsky, WG - Working Glossary, by William Q. Judge, ZA - Zend-Avesta