College of Thelema: Thelemic Education

Metzareph

I got this question form an Aiwass Study Group friend, and I believe Jim or other members here are more qualified than me to answer this question or to expand on the subject, so please give me a hand...

Hello Juan,

(snip) One thing that has come to mind is the concept of I.A.O. It had been a while since I'd researched this, and then in the past 24 hours, several (non-)coincidences brought the subject back into my immediate sphere -- including, interestingly, just turning on TV to hear at this very moment Wayne Dyer talking about death and rebirth on a program about the Tao Te Ching, and how change (transformation) is important on the road toward achieving balance and connection with Source. Hmmm, was the taoist Lao-tzu, in the 6th-century BC, an alchemist, a Kabbalist, a practitioner of magick?...Perhaps all of these...the connection to "one" without the titles (!)

Obviously I.A.O. can be described in various ways - including with detailed and elaborate conceptualizations involving esoteric/occult/mystical correspondences. How to distill this and apply it on a practical, mundane level in one's journey of achieving balance?

All the best in Love and Light,

C.

Thanks!

Juan

Jim Eshelman

Golly, I'm not sure how to answer that in a general way. It depends on the person, the stage of development, the framework, etc.

IAO is primarily a formula of Tiphereth. Not sure if that generalization helps. And it changes meaning and inference according to stage of the work and context.

Could the question be narrowed? Is there a more specific question here?

If seems the question is, "IAO keeps popping into my awareness, so what should I do with it?" In that case, I might suggest starting with the chapter on the subject in Magick in Theory & Practice.

Rey De Lupos

93!

"Obviously I.A.O. can be described in various ways - including with detailed and elaborate conceptualizations involving esoteric/occult/mystical correspondences. How to distill this and apply it on a practical, mundane level in one's journey of achieving balance? "

This is definitely a multifaceted subject depending on who you are asking and where their experience lay with this three letter formulae.

I would like to offer the following as a generalization that can add to your student's understanding of the basics of IAO:

IAO

The name IAO was considered by the Gnostics to be the Supreme Name of God. Its letters further allude to Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury in Alchemy.

The individual letters Iota, Alpha, and Omega represent the Essence, the Beginning, and the End, respectively. Thus, IAO is the equivalent of the Hebrew phrase, *le-Olahm, Amen *in the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. It is also a Divine Name of the sphere of Tiphareth, corresponding to the heart.

Some qabalistic scholars say that IAO is the Greek version of the Trigrammaton or (more often) the Tetragrammaton. (IHVH)

"The spheres are the seats of the Archons, especially of the "Seven" that is, of the planetary gods borrowed from the Babylonian pantheon. It is significant that these are now often called by Old Testament names for God (Iao, Sabaoth, Adonai, elohim, el shaddai), ..." -Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion

I A O is iota, alpha and omega 10 plus 1 plus 800 or 811

IAO is the Serpent faced archon [Agathodaimon]

"All this brings us to (Jacques) Matter's theory (based on a statement of Origen's), that Iao, Adonai, Sabaoth signified the genii of the Moon, the Sun, and the Planets - ..." *-- C.W. King, The Gnostics and Their Remains
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which Is, and Was, and Is to come: the Omnipotent." For in this we see shadowed forth the same great truth; that God is all in all - the Casue and the Effect - the beginning, or Impulse, or Generative Power: and the Ending, or result, ... * --Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma

Metzareph

thanks guys! this is very helpful.

I invited my friend to the forum so she may join the discussion. I think she wanted to go beyond the formula tho. Sort of being in meditation on the death and rebirth cycle and making it part of the everyday life.

There is some kind of meditation in Buddhism where you have the realization that everything in the world is loss. The realization that life is sorrow and pain and that the only way to be "reborn" is to awake spiritually. The realization that we all have to die to the everyday world to be reborn to the spirit.
Some other people in the forum can articulate this better than me, I suppose, since English is not my first language.

I've been reading "How to practice" from the Dalai Lama and he has one exercise that puts people in a sort of meditation/training for when they have to face death. He describes all the "stages" of disincarnation and preparing you for the journey.

Just my 2¢

Jim Eshelman

@Metzareph said

"I invited my friend to the forum so she may join the discussion. I think she wanted to go beyond the formula tho. Sort of being in meditation on the death and rebirth cycle and making it part of the everyday life."

Cool. We'll keep an eye out for her.

I should add that the death and rebirth cycle is only an interpretation of IAO under the Dying God (Osiris) formula, not under that of Horus. Therefore, it may not be the formula she's looking for. If the real issue is wanting to dig into death, that might be the place to start instead. (Just thinking out loud.)

zeph

@Metzareph said

"There is some kind of meditation in Buddhism where you have the realization that everything in the world is loss. The realization that life is sorrow and pain and that the only way to be "reborn" is to awake spiritually. The realization that we all have to die to the everyday world to be reborn to the spirit."

"I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy."

"This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all."

"Obey my prophet! follow out the ordeals of my knowledge! seek me only! Then the joys of my love will redeem ye from all pain. This is so: I swear it by the vault of my body; by my sacred heart and tongue; by all I can give, by all I desire of ye all."

"This shall regenerate the world, the little world my sister, my heart & my tongue, unto whom I send this kiss. Also, o scribe and prophet, though thou be of the princes, it shall not assuage thee nor absolve thee. But ecstasy be thine and joy of earth: ever To me! To me!"

"I give unimaginable joys on earth: certainty, not faith, while in life, upon death; peace unutterable, rest, ecstasy; nor do I demand aught in sacrifice."

"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains."

"Hear me, ye people of sighing!
The sorrows of pain and regret
Are left to the dead and the dying,
The folks that not know me as yet."

"Is a God to live in a dog? No! but the highest are of us. They shall rejoice, our chosen: who sorroweth is not of us."

There is a veil: that veil is black. It is the veil of the modest woman; it is the veil of sorrow, & the pall of death: this is none of me. Tear down that lying spectre of the centuries: veil not your vices in virtuous words: these vices are my service; ye do well, & I will reward you here and hereafter."

"Fear not, o prophet, when these words are said, thou shalt not be sorry. Thou art emphatically my chosen; and blessed are the eyes that thou shalt look upon with gladness. But I will hide thee in a mask of sorrow: they that see thee shall fear thou art fallen: but I lift thee up."

Strive ever to more! and if thou art truly mine -- and doubt it not, an if thou art ever joyous! -- death is the crown of all."

DavidH

@Jim Eshelman said

"
I should add that the death and rebirth cycle is only an interpretation of IAO under the Dying God (Osiris) formula, not under that of Horus. "

Jim, what is the interpretation of IAO under Horus? I thought it was always the death and rebirth cycle.

The practical way I look at IAO in everyday life is that most always (maybe always), one must go through a very dark, (seemingly)non-productive phase, and a dark night ("death") before they explode into the next level of whatever the subject is (relationship, a skill, learning, etc.). So basically they get to a certain level, DIE and then are reborn at a higher level. I like to use martial arts analogies since I studied for over a decade. In our art, a person usually studied years and got better and better, then they got to a point where they would stagnate and actually go downward. They would mess up everything they tried, even the most basic things they did for years. They would get depressed and some would even leave. But always, if they stayed, they would get through the dark night and all of a sudden triple thier ability and go to a much higher level in a SUDDEN rebirth as opposed to the normal progressive ability improvement that happened during the years.

Jim Eshelman

@DavidH said

"Jim, what is the interpretation of IAO under Horus? I thought it was always the death and rebirth cycle."

No. Not at all. - And, if it were, that would be more the I.N.R.I. formula than IAO itself (and even I.N.R.I. has a wholly different look in the New Aeon).

Here's the gist: Rather than death-and-rebirth (the idea that the Sun dies daily or annually and is born again, and that human life mirrors this), the key in the New Aeon is the eternally borning child. Each passage is (I'm making this part up on the spot) like another ring of muscle contraction in the birthing process. The whole range of experience moving through life, existence, multiple incarnations, whatever is a continuous act of birth.

In Magick in Theory & Practice, the IAO chapter, be sure to read the footnotes - that's where AC put the kernels of ideas about the formla in the Aeon of Horus. (The text itself primarily discusses the Old Aeon formula.)

DavidH

@Jim Eshelman said

"Each passage is (I'm making this part up on the spot) like another ring of muscle contraction in the birthing process. The whole range of experience moving through life, existence, multiple incarnations, whatever is a continuous act of birth."

Great example!

@Jim Eshelman said

"In Magick in Theory & Practice, the IAO chapter, be sure to read the footnotes - that's where AC put the kernels of ideas about the formla in the Aeon of Horus. (The text itself primarily discusses the Old Aeon formula.)"

Ah, I just finished reading this a few days ago which is what confused me; guess I missed the footnotes.

Do you find however that most transitions into a higher state/level usually have a "dark night" aspect just before?

Jim Eshelman

@DavidH said

"Do you find however that most transitions into a higher state/level usually have a "dark night" aspect just before?"

Most arrivals are preceded by a departure, if that's what you mean.

Metzareph

He he he he...

Are you trying to tell me something?

@zeph said

"
"I am above you and in you. My ecstasy is in yours. My joy is to see your joy."