SYMBOLICAL SYNONYMS OF SOLOMON'S SEAL: IAO

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IAO, the three-lettered Greek name of the Qabbalistic Deity, remains one among many symbolic synonyms of Solomon's Seal, because the letters of the acronym, which stands for the occult trinity of Isis, Aphophis, Osiris, must be interpreted, in Kabbalistic fashion, not only verbally but also symbolically as ideas emblematized, so to speak, such that, as the following quotes by noteworthy Qabalists and Freemasons inform us, the 'I' symbolizes the male principle, or phallus, whereas the 'O' represents the female principle, or yoni (i.e., vagina)--just as, in the Seal of Solomon, the downward pointing triangle, the so called "water triangle", represents the female principle, whereas the upward pointing fire triangle represents the male principle. Here following are various quotes which clearly point to the similitude in meaning between IAO and Solomon's Seal, both numerologically, as the number of the Sun, 666, as well as conceptually, as representing what is arguably the definitive dogma of occult dualism; namely, the belief that both good and evil are part and parcel of the god-head, as icongraphically portrayed, for example, in Kabbalist and Judaic-Masonic myticism as the hexagram or the dot-in-the-circle.

In the dot-in-the-circle ideograph, the 'O' in IAO is the circle, the 'I' in IAO is the dot, and the 'A' might be construed as the dot it the retina of the All-seeing Eye that's produced by the union of the two. That said, the quotes that follow make much of this clear and are included without further comment:

I,A,O, the three-lettered Greek name of Deity, 632-1, Morals and Dogma, Albert Pike

"IAO (iota, alpha, omega) was the Greek form of the Tetragrammaton, IHVH (Yod-He-Vau-He, or Jehova, the 'Bringer of light'), the Hebrew divine name for God. Although a reference to Jahova (or Yahweh), IAO was also widely associated with both Hermes and Bacchus (Iacchus), especially in ancient magical texts and amulets. (Thelemepedia the Encyclopedia of Thelema & Magick IOA.mht)

"IAO is the formula of magick....'I' represents the monad or the phallus. Its actions do not produce change within but only 'out of itself.' 'O' represents the yoni or the female, which changes through addition, subtraction or multiplication. It represents matter that is capable of taking on form. The union of the 'I' and the 'O' would create the triad, or the world formed by the two creative principles of of matter. 'A' would then represent the conjunction between these two principles." (Thelemepedia the Encyclopedia of Thelema & Magick IOA.mht)

"...the principal and most characteristic formula for Osiris, of the Redemption of Mankind. 'I' is Isis, Nature, ruined by 'A', Apophis the Destroyer, and restored to life by the Redeemer Osiris." (Magick, Aleister Crowley, 1997, chap. 5)

"In the heart of the Master, the pelican is attributed to the formula IAO: I A O : all that liveth is blood of the Heart of the Master; all stars are at Feast on that Pasture, abiding in Light." (www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Pelican)

"This name I.A.O. is qabalistically identical with that of THE BEAST and with his number 666, so that he who invokes the former also invokes the latter." (Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice, Chapter I http://www.sacred-text/oto/aba/chap1.htm)

"Siva is the Babylonian Bel, identical with the Sun-god I A O, and as represented by Lithoi or Pillars." (A New Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, page 405, A.E. Waite)

"...I.A.O. as a magick formula it should be remarked is that it is essencially the formula of Yoga or meditation; in fact, of elementary mysticism in all its branches." (http://www.sacred-texts/oto/aba/chap5.htm)

" The letter 'I', or rather the erect - upstanding pillar- creative, denoting the wisdom and strength that stands alone and is self-existing. The letter 'A', is a pyramid or mountain of strength. The 'O' is the serpent with its tail in its mouth", i.e., "the Alpha and Omega." (Clymer, "The Mysteries of Osiris or Ancient Egptian Initiation", p. 137)

IAO is a Notariqon of the Qabbalistic God Name of Tiphareth, the Sun, and it is the Gnosteic Tetragrammaton. (as noted in Aleister Crowley's LIBER XXV, THE STAR RUBY, with notes by David Cherubim)

"....we must hope for the Osiris section to-morrow or next day. Birth, death, resurection! IAO!" (Black magician and Freemason Aleister Crowley, as quoted in secondary source, Thomas Friend's Fallen Angel page 240)

"It just strikes me--it may be this Isis-Apophis-Osiris IAO formula that I have preached so often." (Freemason black witch Aleister Crowley, as quoted by Friend, page 240, "Fallen Angel: The Untold Story of Led Zepplin and Jimmy Page".)

"Now shalt thou adore me who am the Eye and the Tooth, the Goat of the Spirit, the Lord of Creation. I am the eye in the Triangle, the Silver Star that ye adore" (Aleister Crowley, Freemason and black witch, from Liber A'ash, quoted by secondary source, "Fallen Angel: The Untold Story of Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin Based On the Stairway to Heaven Album")

"This formula is the principal characteristic of Osiris, of the Redemption of Mankind. 'I' is Isis, Nature, ruined by 'A', Apophis the Destroyer, and restored to life by the Re- deemer Osiris." (Freemason and black witch Kabbalist, Aleister Crowley, the self-professed "666-Beast" & father of modern Satanism, as quoted in CHAPTER V The Formula of I.A.O. Aba Liber.)

[Above, downloaded from the Scarlet Woman OTO website in TX, Houston, the graphic above shows the layout of the worship area; note the IAO signification to the right.]

"A, the heart of IAO, dwelleth in ecstasy in the secret place of the thunders. Between Asar and Asi he abideth in joy." (Kenneth Grant, The Nightside of Eden, pp. 155-156)

"The letter 'A' in the formula IAO is identical with Apophis and is the field of operation in which the magical energies of the I and O (the phallus and the kteis) polarise and perform their creative function." (Kenneth Grant, The Nightside of Eden, page 161)

"Had is the heart Girt with the Serpent (Set) that pulses with the ophidian vibrations swirling in the Cup of Babalon." (Kenneth Grant, The Nightside of Eden, page 200)

In the glossary of Kenneth Grant's "Cults of the Shadow", we read: Iao (Gn.): "The Gnostic designation of Supreme Deity. Also a magical formula wherein the phallus (I) and the kteis (O) unite under the form of the Fire Snake (A), Aphophis, the Ophidian vibration which, if undirected or misdirected, is a destroying demon, but which, if controlled and exalted, is man's means of release from the thraldom of individual consciousness." (Kenneth Grant, Cults of the Shadow, page 117)

"This was the formula IAO. I (Isis) which represents the body which has to undergo death (the 'A' or Apophis stage), before it can achieve the 'eternal' state of O (Osiris), the mummy stage.

The deitites Isis, Osiris, Horus, relate to two different dimensions and care must be taken to keep symbolism of the planes distinct. Isis, being matter or nature, represents Time; Osiris, the mummy, represents Eternity (i.e., Timelessness). But Isis (as Nuit) also represents Space, and Osiris (as mummy) represents Duration. It is the identity of space-time, or its realization, that generates the consciousness that illumines the 'universe', and shows it to be phenoumenal--a mere appearance of the consciousness--because then there is no subject in relation to which any object can exist. This mystical interpretation is analogous to that of Cha'an Buddhism wherein mountains and streams are first seen as objective facts; then not seen at all, then seen again as mountains and streams; not as such in themselves, but as appearances in consciousness. In the blank interim an initiation has occured, analogous to that which occurs in the Apophis state of the Egyptian formula of IAO. It is this void, or blankness, that must be illuminated before the New Isis, the Daughter, the newly created and ever virgin vision of non-objectivity may be apprehended. This is that into which the formula of Set-Horus ultimately resolves itself." (Kenneth Grant, Cults of the Shadow, pages 159-160)

"There is quite different formula in which I is the Father, O is the mother, A the child -- and yet another, in which I.A.O. are all fathers of different kinds balanced by H. H. H., 3 Mothers, to complete the Universe. In a third, the true formula of the Beast 666, I and O are the opposites which form the field for the operation of A. But this is a higher matter unsuited for this elementary handbook." (Aleister Crowley, Magick In Theory and Practice, page 28)

"There is an etymological identity between Tetragrammaton and I A O..." (Aleister Crowley, Magick In Theory and Practice, page 30)

"In Isis Unveiled (II, 298) we are told that the name Iao neither originated with, nor was it the sole property of the Jews, but was a mystery-name from the beginning. Furst says that in an old religion of the Chaldeans, whose remains are to be found among the Neo-Platonists, the highest Dinvity....representing the Spiritual Light-Principle . . . was called Iao. The Phoenicians had a Supreme God whose name also was trilateral and secret, and he was Iao." Iao And Jehovah, Cross And Circle, by Katharine Hillard, page 491, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1564596540

"The seven voweled name of AEHIOYΩ also appears in Greek and Coptic magical papyri in conjunction with the oft-invoked Jewish god, IAO or IEOU. This derived from the Greek attempt to write what they called the tetragrammaton, or four-lettered name used by the Jews for their supreme deity, IHVH or Yahweh, wrongly rendered in Elizebethan English as 'Jehovah'. Due to the fact that it was compiled entirely of mystic vowels, the name IAΩ lent itself to symbolic analysis. The letter iota, being the middle of the seven vowels, could be seen as representing the Sun or God of Light, while the last two letters, alpha and Omega, signified the beginning and end." (Barry Kieren, The Greek Qabbalah, page 48, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1999)

"Jews even adopted the Pagan Mysteries. In Babylon they practised the Mysteries of Tammuz, the Babylonian Osiris-Dionysus. In the Old Testament, the Prophet Ezekial describes Jewish women ritually mourning the death of Tammuz at the north gate of the Jerusalem Temple itself. According to St. Jerome, there was a shaded grove sacred to Adonis, the Syrian Osiris-Dionysus, in Bethlehem.... In Asia Minor Jews equated their god Jehovah with Sabazius, the Phrygian Osiris-Dionysus. We are even told that Jews were expelled from Rome in 139 BCE for trying to introduce the Mysteries of Sabazius into the city. The god of he Jews became known as 'Iao,' which is an ancient Mystery name of Dionysus. A coin has been found at an archaelogical site less than 40 miles from Jerusalem that depicts Jehovah as the founder of the Mysteries of Eleusis. Indeed, it is a shocking fact that many ancient authors, including Plutarch, Diodorus, Cornelius Labo, Johannes Lydus, and Tacitus, repeatedly identify the god of the Jews with Dionysus." (Freke, The Jesus Mysteries, page 178-179)

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Perhaps coincidentally, DARPA used the IAO acronym as the name of the proposed Information Awareness Office. In Judeo-Freemasonry, the meaning of the acronym is synonymous with the meaning of the image of the All-Seeing Eye, both of which appear in the DARPA logo, both of which are known in Judeo-Freemasonry to identify G.A.O.T.U. (i.e., the Grand Architect of Freemasonry, or what the Kabbalists call the ALGABIL, the Master Builder), and both of which are therefore considered to be symbolical synonyms of the Seal of Solomon, i.e. the hexagram, which is the national talisman of the state of Israel, or the "the Jewish nation", to which Templar Freemasons take an oath of fealty. As quotes above testify, several sources claim that IAO was known as the "god of the Jews." Of course, this could all be an eery coincidence. According to James Bamford, author of The Shadow Factory, on page 103, , the logo was designed by Admiral John Poindexter, of Iran-Contra fame, in 2002: "...oblivious to the Orwellian nature of his new organization, Poindexter personally designed an official seal for the Information Awareness Office with a pyramid topped by a piercing disembodied all-seeing eye."

Arguably, as David Bay of Cutting Edge Ministry astutely observed, the IAO logo, if examined closely, also includes a veiled Ouroboros. If so, then the Information Awareness Office logo contained not only two but three symbolical synonyms of the Seal of Solomon: 1) Ayin; 2) the Oroboros; and 3) IAO -- all of which signify the god of The Builders. The Crowleyian identification of the I, A, and O of IAO as Isis, Apophis, Osiris, means the same thing as the hexagram does to occultists: "The [hexagram] with or without the circle, is strictly the sign of Trimmurti, the Three in One, typifying the creative, preservative and destructive natures of Deity", i.e., the united shields of Vishnu and Shiva. [Cathy Burns, Masonic and Occult Symbols Illustrated, page 40.)

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