Tetragrammaton Dictionary

Tetragrammaton. The four-lettered name of God, its Greek title: the four letters are in Hebrew  " yod, hé vau, hé " ,or in English capitals, IHVH.

The true ancient pronunciation is now unknown; the sincere Hebrew considered this name too sacred for speech, and in reading the sacred writings he substituted the title " Adonai ", meaning Lord. In the Kabbalah, I is associated with Chokmah, H with Binah, V with Tiphereth, and H final with Malkuth. Christians in general call IHVH Jehovah, and many modern Biblical scholars write it Yahveh. In the Secret Doctrine, the name Jehovah is assigned to Sephira Binah alone, but this attribution is not recognised by the Rosicrucian school of Kabbalists, nor by Mathers in his translation of Knorr Von Rbsenroth’s Kabbalah Denudata: certain Kabbalistic authorities have referred Binah alone to IHVH, but only in reference to the Jehovah of the exoteric Judaism. The IHVH of the Kabbalah has but a faint resemblance to the God of the Old Testament.

The Kabbalah of Knorr von Rosenroth is no authority to the Eastern Kabbalists; because it is well known that in writing his Kabbalah Denudata he followed the modern rather than the ancient (Chaldean) MSS.; and it is equally well known that those MSS. and writings of the Zohar that are classified as "ancient", mention, and some even use, the Hebrew vowel or Massoretic points. This alone would make these would-be Zoharic books spurious, as there are no direct traces of the Massorah scheme before the tenth century of our era, nor any remote trace of it before the seventh. (See " Tetraktys ".)

(See also: Tetragrammaton , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Tetragrammaton

(Greek) 4 letters, YHWH; Hebrew Name of God

(See also: Tetragrammaton , Body Mind and Soul)

Tetragrammaton [from Greek tetra four + gramma letter]

Used by Qabbalists to designate the four Hebrew characters  -- variously rendered in Roman letters YHVH, IHVH, JHVH, etc. -- forming the word Jehovah (Yehovah). Present-day scholars regard this rendition of the four letters as erroneous, and some suggest that the proper reading should be Yahveh or Yahweh -- depending on another manner of applying the vowel-points to the consonants. The Jews themselves, however, never pronounced the name when reading their sacred scriptures, but utter 'Adonai (the Lord) in its place. Nevertheless, the Qabbalists (more particularly medieval and modern authors) have attached special importance and significance to this four-lettered word, particularly to the Hebrew equivalent for Tetragrammaton, Shem-ham-Mephorash, sometimes called the mirific name.

The four letters themselves do not hold any especially occult significance, nor their sequence nor numerical value (10, 5, 6, 5, totaling 26), nor to which of the ten Sephiroth it is to be applied.

"The name [Jehovah] is a circumlocution, indeed, a too abundant figure of Jewish rhetoric, and has always been denounced by the Occultists. To the Jewish Kabalists, and even the Christian Alchemists and Rosicrucians, Jehovah was a convenient screen, unified by the folding of its many flaps, and adopted as a substitute: one name of an individual Sephiroth being as good as another name, for those who had the secret. The Tetragrammaton, the Ineffable, the sidereal 'Sum Total,' was invented for no other purpose than to mislead the profane and to symbolize life and generation. The real secret and unpronounceable name -- 'the word that is no word' -- has to be sought in the seven names of the first seven emanations, or the 'Sons of the Fire,' in the secret Scriptures of all the great nations, and even in the Zohar . . . This word, composed of seven letters in each tongue, is found embodied in the architectural remains of every grand building in the world . . ." (SD 1:438-9).

"Some students, in view of the sacredness of Tetraktis and the Tetragrammaton, mistake the mystic meaning of the Quaternary. The latter was with the ancients only a secondary 'perfection,' so to speak, because it related only to the manifested planes. Whereas it is the Triangle, the Greek delta, , which was the 'vehicle of the unknown Deity' " (SD 2:582).

Other forms of this same name were current among the nations surrounding the Jews, as among the Syrians, some sects of whom worshiped their Iao, sometimes spelled Iaho or Yaho. Iao was one of the most sacred divinities of the Phoenicians and was supposed to be the spiritual light understandable only by the highest human intellectual faculty, and this is the idea or spiritual light of the spiritual sun. The Gnostics likewise had a mystery-god of the same name, and with the same variations in spelling, and with the same significance that it had with the Phoenicians as representing the intellectual power or potency of the solar system.

(See also: Tetragrammaton , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Tetragrammaton: The Holy Ineffable Name of God, YHVH, Yahweh, Jehovah, etc.; the Name of Four Letters.

The four consonants of YHVH correspond to the four elements, the four worlds, the four suits of the tarot, ad infinitum.

Also See: YHVH, Yahweh, Jehovah

(See also: Tetragrammaton , Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

A Christian theological definition of Tetragrammaton according to CARM - The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry:

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Tetragrammaton (YHWH)

See also: Tetragrammaton , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

The ten Sepheroth

(emanations)

• Kether. Crown - Top of Head
• Hochma. . wisdom -Right Brain
• Binah. . Understanding - Left of Brain
• Hesed. . March - Right Arm
• Pechad. . Strength- Left Arm
• Tefereth. . Beauty-Heart
• Nezah. . Victory-Right of Pelvis
• Hod. . Glory-Left of Pelvis
• Yesod. . Foundation-Genitals
•  

The sephiroth form the central image of Kabbalistic meditation, the Sephirothic Tree of Life, which describes the path of descent from the divine to the material realm, and the path of ascent to the highest level of spirituality.

Each sephirath is a level of attainment in knowledge, corresponding to energy centers in the body, and is also divided into four interlocking sections or 'Worlds', which constitute the cosmos:

• emanation (Atziluth),
• creation (Briah),
• formation (Yetzirah), and
• action or making (Assiyah).

Through contemplation and meditation, similar to Eastern yogic disciplines, the Kabbalist ascends the tree of life.

The sephirot also comprise the sacred, unknowable, and unspeakable personal name of God: YHVH (Yahweh), the Tetragrammaton. So sacred is the Tetragrammaton that other names, such as Elohim and Jehovah, are substituted in its place in scripture.

A more systematic presentation of the basic doctrine is contained in Moses Cordovero's Pardes rimmonim (Garden of Pomegranates, 1548). Kabbalah was a major influence in the development of Hasidism and still has adherents among Hasidic Jews.

The Kabbalah, with its amulets, incantations, demonology, seals, and letter and number mysticism, had a profound influence on Western magical tradition. The Tetragrammaton especially was held in great awe for its power over all things in the universe, including demons.

(See also: The ten Sepheroth , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

A Christian theological definition of Jehovah according to CARM - The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry:

"

Jehovah

See also: Jehovah , Christianity, Body Mind and Soul

Tetrad [from Greek tetras four]

The number four; a collection of four. "The Tetrad is esteemed in the Kabala, as it was by Pythagoras, the most perfect, or rather sacred number, because it emanated from the one, the first manifested Unit, or rather the three in one" (SD 2:599).

In chemistry, an atom, radical, or element that has a combining power of four.

See also QUATERNARY; TETRAKTYS; TETRAGRAMMATON

(See also: Tetrad , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

YHVH.

See TETRAGRAMMATON

(See also: YHVH , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

666

Many have been the designators of this apocalyptic finger, from Nero to the Popes, to Mohammed, to Ronald Wilson Reagan. But only through careful numerological analysis can we be certain of its true meaning. In The Dimensions of Paradise, John Mitchell shows clearly how this "number of the beast" is actually the Gnostic designation for Jesus Christ and the Crucifiction foisted on the world by the corrupt Church. Christ as an historical figure instead of a spiritual force was repugnant to the Gnostics. Decadent Babylon and the New Jerusalem are one and the same City of God, symbolizing the death rattle for the perverted religion and the birth of a new understanding. In Revelation, 666 refers to the phrase kai ho arithmos Chi-Xi-Sigma and stands for Jesus Christ as the idol on the cross rather than the Gnostic idea of the new Christ spirit, "the son of man," present in all men (much like our own "New Aeon" feeling). The New Jerusalem numbers are 3168, 1080, 1224 and 1764, but especially 864 and 666 (all of these, by the way, reduce to 9). New Jerusalem itself is 961 (seven), as is "the number of the leaves of the Tree of Life which are for the healing of nations."

A similar attribution can be found in Kenneth Grant's work (Outside the Circles of Time). For him, as for the writer of Revelation, the number has special apocalyptic meanings: "The Christians misunderstood the Unspeakable Name (IHVH) and supposed that by causing a rift between the Old Ones and the life-wave on earth they could 'save' mankind, and incidentally [of course!] gain total mastery of the planet." In order to do this, they inserted the Hebrew letter Shin (Grant calls this the letter of "Spirit," others associate it with "fire") between IH and VH, the Sh of Spirit. Thus we derive the name Yeheshuah or Johoshuah (IHShVH), which in Latin we call Jesus. The Xtians proceeded from there to identify this mythological name with a real person who, as Gerald Massey demonstrated, could only have been -- in an historic sense -- Jesus ben Pandira, an Egyptian who lived a century earlier. This wizard's mother was named Mary Magdalene, and he was stoned to death for sorcery. But the letter Shin, Grant tells us, "represents the triple-tongued flame of the Great Old Ones, whose supreme concentration -- Choronzon -- exhibits the triple Firetongue in the number 333." The latter is "mirrored in the final Heh of Tetragrammaton, the daughter-letter, whose number becomes the trebled Hex and the Unholy Act of Earth's destruction, under the rule of the Son of Typhon who is Set/Satan and the Anti-Christ."

Thus, to this very day, the idol that the entire "Christian" world bows down to is not the Christos spirit at all, but the Anti-Christ. The washed faces, the white gloves, the alb and pale lilies of Sunday worship cannot dispel the blood of ages. Average Galileans are unable to display love of any kind for their fellow-man. Instead, they constantly evoke the images of sin, corruption, misery and damnation. All "holy books" contain contradictions, lies and false teachings, but the Xtian Bible is a monument of fabrications and contradictions, second only to the Koran.

(See also: 666 , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

The Hebrew word for Passover is Pesach, a combination of peh and sach . The two words mean, 'the mouth speaks'. Passover is all about communication.

It all started with that communication from God to Moses or Moshe about the redemption of the Hebrews from their slavery under the Pharoah. This Holy communication guided the oppressed to freedom. For this act of redemption the Jews are so reverential to Him that they never write the word 'God' in full. Instead, they write G-d, afraid that the paper on which it is written may get trampled upon, however inadvertently. For God's name, YaHWeH, or JeHoVaH they use the tetragrammaton, YHWH, or JHVH. With the vowels absent, they cannot and do not pronounce His name.

(See also: Passover , Indian Festivals, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Passover: The Jewish Passover Celebrates Freedom  

Ineffable Name With the Jews, applied to the word Jehovah; with the Qabbalists, associated with the Tetragrammaton (JHVH, YHVH, or IHVH). The Ineffable Name is the secret of secrets, IHVH (or Jehovah) being used as a screen.

The power of the Ineffable Name is the power or force of the natural harmony in nature, which the ancient Greek mystical philosophers called music or the cosmic harmony. The name used by the Western Qabbalists is not to be pronounced, rather than ineffable, for the " 'Ineffable Name' of the true Occultist, is no name at all, least of all is it that of Jehovah. The latter implies, even in its Kabbalistical, esoteric meaning, an androgynous nature, YHVH, or one of a male and female nature.

 It is simply Adam and Eve, or man and woman blended in one, and as now written and pronounced, is itself a substitute. But the Rabbins do not care to remember the Zoharic admission that YHVH means 'not as I Am written, Am I read" (Zohar, fol. III., 230a). One has to know how to divide the Tetragrammaton ad infinitum before one arrives at the sound of the truly unpronounceable name of the Jewish mystery-god" (TG 155-6).

(See also: Ineffable Name , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

IHVH. See TETRAGRAMMATON

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

AHIH (Hebrew) A Qabbalistic form of the tetragrammaton, representing the Macroprosopus, in contradistinction to IHVH (Jehovah), representing Microprosopus. It is connected exoterically with `eyeh (absolute Be-ness) and with "I am the I am." (BCW 8:142, 147)

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

Binah (Hebrew, Jewish). Understanding. The third of the 10 Sephiroth, the third of the Supernal Triad; a female potency, corresponding to the letter hé of the Tetragrammaton IHVH. Binah is called AIMA, the Supernal Mother, and "the great Sea".

(See also: Binah , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Jod-hevah, Jod-he-vau-he. See JEHOVAH; TETRAGRAMMATON

(See also: Jod-hevah, Jod-he-vau-he , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

THE EMPEROR AND THE STAR

These are Crowley's two greatest mysteries. We need to study them in tandem, because Crowley insists that the Emperor's proper letter is not Heh, but Tzaddi, so it must change places with The Star. Since these new attributions fly in the face of every tradition, let's try to guess why he does this.

By Crowley's reckoning, the star, Kokhav = 48 (a multiple of 12), the astrological number) or the "sphere of Venus". It represents Mercy (Gedulah or Chesed ). It also means, "strength" and "army". Forty eight divided by four is 14, the card of Temperance (or Alchemy), where we also have the angel pouring the waters. Qisar and Melech both translate as "Emperor". To continue with Crowley's reckoning, qisar would equal 371 ("Evil") and melech would equal 78 (that is, 15, or The Devil). However, if we use the ordinal value of the letters alone we get for Qisar and Melech, respectively, 60 and 33. Thirty Three is "sorrow, weeping" and a spring or fountain." Sixty is "watch-tower", excellence, sublimity, glory, pride, a Vision..." For kochav we get 28 or "Union, unity, power, and the mystic Netzach. . ." If we skip Aleph we get for Qisar and Melech, 60 and 30 ("Judah, Libra, Justice"). All of these seem appropriate enough for "The Emperor" but still do not explain why Crowley wants him to be the 17th card!

One reason that Crowley might have wanted to exchange The Emperor with Atu number 17 is so that (17 = 1 + 7 = 8) The Emperor (4) would serve as the higher exponent of Justice, which he had renamed "Adjustment" and already exchanged with Strength at 11. In his system, that places mundane authority (the Emperor) in the most subservient position and exalts Sirius (the Star) to the seat of greatest power at Atu 4. Meanwhile, Strength, now Atu 11, becomes the higher exponent of The Priestess (Atu 2), since 11 is the number of sorcery. This kind of highly rational manipulation of universal symbols is typical of Crowley's creative and very original approach to M/magic(k). The whole thing is extremely round-about and vexatious and looks like nothing so much as one of those infinitely-regressing whorls of cocaine-induced ratiocination, which were sometimes characteristic of Crowley. His paltry excuse that tzaddi is the letter that begins the word for Emperor "in many languages", is not meant to fool any serious student. It occurs only in Russian, Tsar, which is but a corruption of "Caesar."

Moreover, even if we assign the ordinal value to tzaddi (18), that translates as the notariqon of Yehi Aur ("Let there be light!"); Chai (the "living"); the antique serpent (Lucifer?); Hatred and "My Beloved". All of those seem strangely fitting for The Star, whereas "four" seems more natural to the Emperor if we think of him as the Tetragrammaton (IHVH). Apparently, that was precisely what AC wanted to avoid -- the ascription of IHVH to the Emperor. All the same, after all this numerology, we are no closer to the meaning of these cards. Indeed, we are farther at sea than ever!

(See also: THE EMPEROR AND THE STAR , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Square In theosophical literature, occasionally used to represent the quaternary, the four lower principles of nature or of man, the triangle standing for the upper triad, the three higher principles in the sevenfold classification. the Logos "is the apex of the Pythagorean triangle. When the triangle is complete it becomes the Tetraktis, or the Triangle in the Square, and is the dual symbol of the four-lettered Tetragrammaton in the manifested Kosmos, and of its radical triple RAY in the unmanifested, or its noumenon" (SD 2:24).

As to the cross inside of the square, "The philosophical cross, the two lines running in opposite directions, the horizontal and the perpendicular, the height and breadth, which the geometrizing Deity divides at the intersecting joint, and which forms the magical as well as the scientific quaternary, when it is inscribed within the perfect square, is the basis of the occultists. Within its mystical precinct lies the master-key which opens the door of every science, physical as well as spiritual. It symbolizes our human existence, for the circle of life circumscribes the four points of the cross, which represent in succession birth, life, death, and immortality. Everything in this world is a trinity completed by the quaternary." (IU 1:508). The squaring of the circle is a cosmogonic and mystical mystery indeed.

See also QUATERNARY

(See also: Square , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Yahweh.

See YAH; JEHOVAH; TETRAGRAMMATON

(See also: Yahweh , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Quaternary A group of four; the number four, fourfold. Many quaternary groupings may be made.

The septenate is divisible into three and four, usually as the higher triad and the lower quaternary; here the quaternary is terrestrial as opposed to celestial, mortal as opposed to immortal, material as opposed to spiritual. It is seen in the four lower human principles, the four lower cosmic elements, the fourfold shapes in physical bodies, etc. It is the square of the number 2; the first of the regular polyhedra is the tetrahedron or triangular pyramid, having four sides and four corners.

The septenate may otherwise be regarded as two triangles and a central point, as in Solomon's seal; and this gives two quaternaries, a higher and a lower, by adding the point to either of the triangles. These two quaternaries are also called the higher and lower -- or celestial and terrestrial -- tetraktys. The higher group is given in Platonism as: to agathon, nous, psyche, and hyle; and the lower group is the four cosmic elements of fire, earth, air, and water. The lower tetraktys is said to be the root of illusion or mahamaya, and this is what the Tetragrammaton, or four-lettered name, becomes in materialized Judaism.

Deity is spoken of as fourfold, the four-faced Brahma, the creative Logos which is a three-in-one with its emanated light as a fourth; or in another system, the ineffable, silence, father, and truth; or again in still another system the three flames and four wicks. Of the seven groups of angels or higher dhyani-chohans, the rupa-dhyanis form a quaternary; often in exoteric writings only four of seven are mentioned, the higher three being esoteric.

The two principal meanings of the quaternary are summed up in the tetraktys; it has four planes, and the fourth plane is in itself a four. The higher triad with the material world added as a pendant unit makes a quaternary; and this material world unfolded makes a new quaternary. There is a celestial or spiritual quaternary, just as there is a material and physical quaternary; and the element-principles of the universe may be so divided that an intermediate quaternary springs into view.

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