IAO

(Revision as of 08:43, 30 Sep 2004)

IAO is considered to be both a gnostic godform and a magical formula.

IAO as a godform of gnosticism

...more to come...

IAO as a magical formula

The basic formula of IAO is one of life, death, and rebirth.

In Magick (1997, Ch. 5), Crowley states that IAO is

the principal and most characteristic formula of Osiris, of the Redemption of Mankind. "I" is Isis, Nature, ruined by "A", Apophis the Destroyer, and restored to life by the Redeemer Osiris.

He also refers to it as the formula of yoga, as illustrated by the initial pleasure of this practice, followed by the inevitable agony, and finally resulting in a new, superior state, perhaps similar to, yet fundamentally different from the initial state.

Crowley draws many parallels—namely the formula LVX, alchemy, Jesus Christ, and Prometheus.

Ceremonially, IAO can be illustrated by the act of “robing yourself as a king, then stripping and slaying yourself, and rising from that death to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel” (Crowley, 1997).

It is important to note that Crowley (1997) believed that the formula of IAO had been replaced by that of Horus, who gave us his two formulae, Thelema and Abrahadabra.

Transformation into VIAOV

Crowley, wanting to make IAO fit within the new Aeon, added the hebrew letter Vau to both ends, which he then called the “proper hieroglyph of the Ritual of Self-Initiation in this Aeon of Horus” (Crowley, 1997). The new word, VIAOV (also FIOAF), enumerates to 93, just as Thelema and Agape do. Of the person who travels through this new process, Crowley writes,

Thus, he is Man made God, exalted, eager; he has come consciously to his full stature, and so is ready to set out on his journey to redeem the world. But he may not appear in this true form; the Vision of Pan would drive men mad with fear. He must conceal Himself in his original guise.

He therefore becomes apparently the man that he was at the beginning; he lives the life of a man; indeed, he is wholly man. But his initiation has made him master of the Event by giving him the understanding that whatever happens to him is the execution of this true will.

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