TETRAGRAMMATON

One of the earliest inscriptions of the Tetragrammaton dates back to 840 BC on the Mesha Stele. It was used by the Israelites to name their god, "Yahweh." Furthermore, two pieces of pottery bearing the words "Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah" were also found in Kuntillet Ajrud. Similarly, in the 7th century BC, two silver amulets were found in Ketef Hinnom. Later, in the 6th century BC, some walls in Khirbet Beit Lei bore inscriptions bearing the Tetragrammaton. Furthermore, in the 3rd century BC, the word "YHWH" appears on a stone on Mount Gerizim.

There are about five fragments of the Jewish Bible dating back several centuries BC, in which the Tetragrammaton appears . However, they are translated with some variations. One of them is manuscript 4Q120 and Papyrus Fuad 266, which were written in the first century BC.

During the Jewish Christian era, the Tetragrammaton appeared to represent their God. Later, in Luther's Bible, the term "Herr" was used to symbolize "YHWH." Later, the Catholic Church translated all texts that included the Tetragrammaton. Thus, it was replaced by the word "Yahweh." Generally speaking, the Tetragrammaton ("YHWH") was used from its beginnings to represent wisdom and light. It represents the God of the Jews, Hebrews, and Christians. However, for esotericists, it symbolizes a protective amulet, completely distancing itself from its historical meaning .

What do the symbols that appear in the tetragrammaton mean?

The Tetragrammaton is a compendium of the main symbols of Judaism and Christianity, spanning the ancient world, the classical age, and the Middle Ages. It synthesizes the pagan underpinnings of the West, esotericism, alchemy, magic and occultism, Christian mysticism, Jewish Kabbalah, and Latin American spirituality. At MeriTomasa, I offer various Tetragrammaton models that you can purchase online, all of which share a design faithful to the original.

In short, it's a protective talisman that summons a vast array of symbols in a tiny space. In that sense, it's a tiny microcosm in itself, encapsulating in its smallness the immensity of the sacred and the universal.

The symbols it contains can be grouped into three main sections: 1. the circle and the pentagram; 2. the texts and numbers; and 3. the other symbols.

1- The tetragrammaton is formed by a circle containing a pentagram: God and man. Furthermore, the pentagram represents the five elements that form the Earth and, at the same time, the planets that govern the heavens.

• Circle : The five points of the tetragrammaton form a circle, also known as the "circle of protection." The circle represents divinity, and its interior is always a sacred space. Within the circle, the top point of the pentagram, which represents the spirit, shelters and controls the four earthly elements (water, fire, earth, and air).
• Pentagram : The pentagram represents balance when it's arranged with its top point upwards, and imbalance when it's represented with its top point downwards. It's simple: the pentagram draws a person (head, arms, legs): if it's feet on the ground, it's a balanced person, sometimes an angel, and that's why the tegragrammaton is always presented this way. If it were presented with its feet up, head down, it would mean the opposite: the goat, the devil, and chaos.
• Furthermore, the five points of the pentagram are attributed to the four elements (water, fire, earth, and air), governed by the fifth element: spirit , which occupies the top point. From top to bottom, clockwise:
• The spirit symbolizes the divine and governs the four elements.
• Water symbolizes emotions and intuition.
• Fire symbolizes courage and daring.
• The earth symbolizes resistance and stability.
• Air represents intelligence and the arts.
• At the same time, along the pentagram we find the symbols of several planets, which in turn are the gods of Greek and Roman mythology :
• At the top of the pentagram, representing the spirit, is the sign of Jupiter , which looks like a 4 but is actually the symbol ♃ . He is the father of the Olympian gods, son of Saturn, whom he overthrew, and king of the sky and the firmament. His attribute is lightning, and he is the guardian of the law, defender of truth, and protector of justice. The Greeks called him Zeus. For all these reasons, he occupies the upper part of the star, where the spirit resides for the Hebrews and Christians, thus unifying the Abrahamic religions with Greek and Roman mythologies.
• In the arms of the pentagram, we find Mars twice: on the right arm is the classical symbol (like the sign of man ♂ ), and on the left arm is the same symbol inverted. Mars is the god of war and represents strength of will and triumph. The Greeks called him Ares. The relationship with the planet is easy: Mars is red when viewed from Earth, and hence its association with blood and war.
• Finally, at the foot of the pentagram is the sign of Saturn , which looks like an h but is ♄ . On the left foot the same sign appears inverted, as in the case of Mars. Saturn symbolizes magic and the material and is represented as an old man with a white beard and a sickle in his hand, symbolizing time and antiquity that begins and ends everything. The Greeks called him Uranus. Saturn (the sky) married Rhea (the earth) and had as children the gods of Olympus, among them Jupiter, who overthrew him and took in his place the dominion of gods and men.
• In addition, there are Venus and Mercury , united at the vertex between the two legs of the pentagram, and therefore in the sex of the person they symbolize. Mercury's symbol is ☿ , which appears above. Venus is the goddess of love and femininity and her symbol is ♀ , which appears inverted to join that of Mercury. Together they represent the union of the masculine and the feminine and therefore the whole of humanity. Hence, their intertwined symbols are located in the sex of the pentagram.
• The sun and the moon complete the stars. Both stars have been venerated by pagan cultures since the beginning of time. The sun represents masculinity and the masculine power of creation, the yin, the vital energy of nature that makes the earth flourish. It is the conscious and rational power. Its symbol is ☉ and it is located above the right breast of the pentagram. Above the left breast, in the heart of the pentagram, appears the moon, whose symbol is ☽ . The moon represents femininity and its creative power. It is the queen of heaven but also Mother Earth. It is the yang. It represents fertility, but it is also spirituality and intuition. The sun represents day and the moon represents night. Together, on either side of the tetragrammaton, they bring the strength and magic of ancient cultures.

2- The tetragrammaton also contains numbers and texts in Greek and Hebrew

Arranged along the circle, we find the word TETRA GRAM MA TON , which in Greek means "the four letters." These are the four Hebrew letters יהוה‎, which can be translated as Yahweh and are the sacred name of God that believers are forbidden to pronounce, out of respect but above all to avoid blasphemy, as man is not worthy even to mention the name of Yahweh. I explain this in detail in my other post : What is the tetragrammaton?

Beneath the Te we find 1 and 2. They signify the unity of diversity and its creative power. 1 is the masculine divinity (the cross). 2 is the feminine divinity (the word).

Under the TRA we find 1 2 3. They mean the trinity: God, Son and Holy Spirit, or Father, Mother and Son.

On the arms of the star we find four words in Hebrew:

• יהוה ‎ are the tetragrammaton, "the four letters", which are the name of God . The four letters are יהוה‎ --yod (י), he (ה), waw (ו) and he (ה‏): Hebrew is read from right to left--, and they can be translated into the Latin alphabet with the letters YHVH: in classical Hebrew the vowels are not written, and hence instead of writing "Yahveh", they write "YHVH". This is how it appears in the Torah, the Jewish Bible, which Christians call the Pentateuch since it makes up the first 5 books of the Christian Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). Out of respect for God, the ancient Jews were forbidden to pronounce his name, so instead of pronouncing the tetragrammaton they used other formulas such as "Adonai" (Lord), "Elohim" (God) and "HaShem" (The Name) or "Shem Hameforash" (The Special Name).
• Above the heart of the star appear אָדָם , which is the name of Adam . He symbolizes man and by extension all of humanity. The three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) consider him the father of humanity, whom God created from the dust, in his image and likeness, to rule the Earth. Adam felt alone even among so many animals of creation. And God said: "It is not good for man to be alone, I will make him a helper like him," and created Eve, the first woman, from a rib taken from Adam, so that they could live together in the earthly paradise, the Garden of Eden, with the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, fill the Earth and rule it.
• We also find כתר, which means Keter , ("Crown" in Hebrew). It is the first sephira (the first sphere) of the Tree of Life of the Jewish Kabbalah. Keter represents the essence itself, timeless and free. It is the genesis of all things. It is the superior light and generator of all the movement of creation. The Will. It can be considered as the zero moment, creation in potential, but not expanded. It could be compared to the Big Bang. In Hinduism, it is understood as the absolute Brahman, the vital principle of all forms of energy and life.
• Finally, we find the letters in " Resh-Tav-Pe ," to the right of Mercury's caduceus, which translate as "Patar" and mean the verb , the word of God. In fact, Patar and Keter also refer to the four occult sciences: Kabbalah, Magic, Alchemy, and Medicine.

3- Finally, the tetragrammaton is an authentic compendium of the symbols of the main Abrahamic religions, of the classical Greek and Roman world, and of its pagan substratum.

In its tiny proportions, the Tetragrammaton contains a large number of symbols from Judaism, Christianity, the Greek and Roman worlds, and the pagan substratum. We can find:

• Holy Grail : Beneath the letters "TRA" appears a cup, symbolizing the Holy Grail: the cup used by Christ at the Last Supper. After his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ gives it to Joseph with the order to take it to Britain, where a dynasty of guardians guards it for centuries. It becomes one of the protagonists of the Arthurian cycle, which combines Celtic and Christian traditions.
• The Scepter or Staff of the Patriarchs : Above "GRAM" appears the staff of the patriarchs, the rod of Moses that guides the people of Israel toward the Promised Land. It represents the command and guidance that helps the shepherd guide his sheep to keep the flock united and to stay on course in life.
• The Flaming Sword represents fire with its wavy blade. It appears in the Bible when Yahweh expels Adam and Eve from Eden and closes its doors with a flaming sword, or sword of fire, and guardian cherubs to prevent the return of the first man and woman to paradise. It is a symbol frequently found in the major arcana of the Tarot, such as the cards of Justice or The Magician, representative of alchemy and closely related to Freemasonry.
• The Seal of Solomon , bearing the letters "TON," was given by Yahweh to King Solomon to give him the power to rule over demons, genies, and spirits, and also the power to speak to animals. King Solomon, son of King David, is famous for being a wise and just king, and therefore his seal is an amulet or talisman to which magical or esoteric powers are attributed, such as wisdom, balance, good governance, and justice.
• The Seal of Solomon is bordered by the symbol of the Ouroboros : a self-devouring serpent or dragon, forming a circle with its body that has no beginning or end. It symbolizes eternal return.
• Alpha and Omega , the letters that begin and end the Greek alphabet, capitalize and terminate the vertical line of the pentagram. Together, they symbolize Yahweh, since God is the beginning and the end, and before him there was nothing and after him there will be nothing: "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last" (Revelation 21:6).
• Regarding Alpha, the Eye of Horus or Udjat is a symbol in Egyptian mythology meaning "all-seeing": the eyes of divinity. Horus, son of Osiris, murdered by his brother Set, confronts his uncle to avenge his father's death. During the fight, he loses his left eye, but Thoth, god of wisdom, gathers the six pieces of that eye and returns it to Horus, who regains his sight and, in turn, gives it to his father Osiris so he can be resurrected.
• Between Alpha and Omega, we find the Caduceus of Mercury : a winged staff around which two serpents coil. According to Greek mythology, the caduceus was given by Apollo to Hermes as a peace offering. One day, Mercury found two serpents fighting on Mount Cithaeron and tried to separate them with his staff, but they entwined themselves around the staff, standing face to face without harming each other. Hence the caduceus's power to lull and awaken mortals, attract the souls of the deceased, or guide them to the abode of the dead or the underworld. According to legend, the caduceus also held back the winds and dispelled clouds, turned everything it touched into gold, and transformed darkness into light. It is once again a symbol of alchemy and magic, like so many others in the Tetragrammaton.

* Information from books and the internet.*