I - Letter I. - The ninth letter in the English, the tenth in the Hebrew alphabet. As a numeral it signifies in both languages one, and also ten in the Hebrew (see J), in which it corresponds to the Divine name Jah, the male side, or aspect, of the hermaphrodite being, or the male-female Adam, of which hovah Jah-hovah) is the female aspect. It is symbolized by a hand with bent fore-finger, to show its phallic signification.

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Burham-i-Kati. A Hermetic Eastern work.

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Ab-i-hayat (Pers.). Water of immortality. Supposed to give eternal youth and sempiternal life to him who drinks of it.

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I.H.S. This triad of initials stands for the in hoc signo of the alleged vision of Constantine, of which, save Eusebius, its author, no one ever knew. I.H.S. is interpreted Jesus Hominum Salvator, and In hoc signo. It is, however, well known that the Greek IHS was one of the most ancient names of Bacchus. As Jesus was never identical with Jehovah, but with his own "Father" (as all of us are), and had come rather to destroy the worship of Jehovah than to enforce it, as the Rosicrucians well maintained, the scheme of Eusebius is very transparent. In hoc signo Victor ens, or the Labarum T (the tau and the resh) is a very old signum, placed on the foreheads of those who were just initiated. Kenealy translates it as meaning "he who is initiated into the Naronic Secret, or the 600, shall be Victor" but it is simply "through this sign hast thou conquered"; i.e., through the light of Initiation - Lux. (See "Neophyte and "Naros".)

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I-am, I-am-I I-am-I denotes self-consciousness in which the essential consciousness is reflected in a transmitting vehicle or soul. I-am denotes simple unadulterate being, and is used as a name for the cosmic self.

Thus the I-am-I is a lower manifestation of the I-am, which is abstract and incomprehensible to ordinary human mentality. Philosophically, I-am-I is a temporary production of Purusha working in and through the prakritis, or of the image-making power inherent in human consciousness called ahankara (the "I-creating" faculty); so that when evolution has been completed, the I-am-I or self-consciousness will have risen through its various higher forms to become at least for a manvantara the cosmic self.

The consciousness expressed into the phrase I-am is also, when compared with the cosmic self, the limited and therefore imperfect demiurgic state, the Demiurge being the production of that cosmic self. Hence, not only the I-am-I, but likewise the I-am, are withdrawn and become latent during pralaya in paramatman or the inexpressible divine.

See also EGO; SELF

(See also: I-am, I-am-I, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I Ching (Chinese) Also Yi King. The Book of Changes; also Holy Book of Mutations, these mutations being the manifestations of tao.

The text of the original treatise is from a system of eight trigrams and 64 hexagrams, composed of whole and broken lines, thus: (illust) which, by altering the positions of the whole and broken lines form the changes in the diagrams. This has been assigned by scholars to Fu-Hsi (30th century BC). The first extant commentary on it is assigned to Ching Wen, founder of the Chou dynasty in 1122 BC, and his son.

There have been many explanations offered regarding this work, called by many the Qabbalah of China: some see in it only a system of divination, a lunar calendar, phallic worship, or again the vocabulary of a tribe whose very existence had to be postulated for this purpose. Both Taoists and Confucianists regard the I Ching as the holiest of books; Confucius declared that he would like to give another 50 years of his life to its study, while the only Chinese commentator who is said to have understood it was Chu Hsi (1130-1200).

In the Hi-ts'ze (or so-called Appendices to the work) the universe is described as a living organism called T'ai-ch'i (the supreme being, or most ultimate). The processes of birth and rebirth, or the production of life, are due to the manifestations of tao by means of the yang and yin.

"To Yang belong the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9; to Yin belong the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. There are then five celestial and five terrestrial numbers; these rows of five operate upon each other, and each number has one with which it corresponds. The sum of the celestial numbers is twenty-five. It is in accordance with these factors that the processes of the Universe are effected, and the kwei and the shen do their work" (Hi-ts'ze).

Speaking of the I Ching, Blavatsky says:

"the Stanzas given in our text . . . represent precisely the same idea. The old archaic map of Cosmogony is full of lines in the Confucian style, of concentric circles and dots. Yet all these represent the most abstract and philosophical conceptions of the Cosmogony of our Universe" (SD 1:441).

(See also: I Ching, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I H S Well-known Christian monogram, taken as being the initials of Iesus Hominum Salvator (Jesus Savior of Men); and the first three letters of the Greek Iesous ((Greek char), Jesus). It is also a monogram representative of Dionysos used in the Mysteries. As a Latin abbreviation, having mystic significance, it means acrostically, In hoc signo victor eris (in this sign thou shalt be victorious).

See also JESUS

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I. N. R. I. Four letters found at the head of pictures of Jesus on the cross, and generally interpreted as the initials of Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews) but according to others representing a Rosicrucian motto: Ingne natura renovatur integra (by fire, nature is renewed entire).

(See also: I, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I't (Sanskrit) In the Puranas, a king (SD 2:406)

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Personality In distinguishing between individuality and personality, individuality is the simple fact of essential self-consciousness, the recognition that "I am I"; whereas personality is saying that "I am Mr. Smith." In other words, individuality is the recognition of oneself as a distinct non-partite egoity, and personality is the identifying of oneself with a particular aggregate of qualities, the latter serving as vehicle for the individuality.

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I Am That I Am 'ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh (Hebrew) A title given by Jehovah to himself, a variation of I-am-I, indicating that Jehovah, whatever he may claim to be, is merely one of the gods of the manifested world, a Demiourgos, and not the Supreme.

See also AHIYE

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Cimmerians In Greek mythology a people who dwelt in a land of mist and darkness, variously placed, as by Homer in the extremest west on the ocean; in historical times, a people in the Palus Maeotis, who were driven away by the Scythians. The Cimmerians were contrasted with the Hyperboreans, who inhabited a land of perpetual sunshine.

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Ch'i. See KHI

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I Ching

(Yi King or The Book of Changes) Traditional Chinese divination method that involves tossing three identical coins or objects six times and using the patterns they form to receive answers to personal questions from the I Ching or Book of Changes.

(See also: I Ching, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

I Ching

(Yi King or The Book of Changes) Traditional Chinese divination method that involves tossing three identical coins or objects six times and using the patterns they form to receive answers to personal questions from the I Ching or Book of Changes.

(See also: I Ching, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Baha'i

A way of life originating in Persia during the 19th century, stressing radical monotheism, prophets, and scriptures

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I Am

1.    The sacred connection to the human species of the God that dwells within.

2.    Affirmation to invoke Divine Consciousness and realize multi-dimensional Self

(See also: I Am, Body Mind and Soul)

I Ching

"Book of Change", Chinese oracle and philosophical text based on a deep understanding of yin and yang; consisting of 64 hexagrams, symbolizing archetypal energies or situations. Collected by the Duke of Chou, c-1500; principal commentary by Confucius

(See also: I Ching, Body Mind and Soul)

I-am-ness Ahankara, self-hood, egoship; an evolution of consciousness centered in manas, by which manas becomes the field for the play of self-consciousness. Also, the illusion of separate selfhood.

(See also: I-am-ness, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)