THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

that IH-OH, being read reversely, makes the word HO-HI.[135]
But in Hebrew, _ho_ is the masculine pronoun, equivalent to the English
_he_; and _hi_ is the feminine pronoun, equivalent to _she_; and
therefore
the word HO-HI, literally translated, is equivalent to the English
compound HE-SHE; that is to say, the Ineffable Name of God in Hebrew,
being read cabalistically, includes within itself the male and female
principle, the generative and prolific energy of creation; and here we
have, again, the widely-spread symbolism of the phallus and the cteis,
the
lingam and the yoni, or their equivalent, the point within a circle,
and
another pregnant proof of the connection between Freemasonry and the
ancient Mysteries.
And here, perhaps, we may begin to find some meaning for the hitherto
incomprehensible passage in Genesis (i. 27): "So God created man _in
his
own image; in the image of God_ created he him; _male and female_
created
he them." They could not have been "in the image" of IHOH, if they had
not
been "male and female."
The Cabalists have exhausted their ingenuity and imagination in
speculations on this sacred name, and some of their fancies are really
sufficiently interesting to repay an investigation. Sufficient,
however,
has been here said to account for the important position that it
occupies
in the masonic system, and to enable us to appreciate the symbols by
which
it has been represented.
The great reverence, or indeed the superstitious veneration,
entertained
by the ancients for the name of the Supreme Being, led them to express
it
rather in symbols or hieroglyphics than in any word at length.
We know, for instance, from the recent researches of the
archaeologists,
that in all the documents of the ancient Egyptians, written in the
demotic
or common character of the country, the names of the gods were
invariably
denoted by symbols; and I have already alluded to the different modes
by
which the Jews expressed the tetragrammaton. A similar practice
prevailed
among the other nations of antiquity. Freemasonry has adopted the same
expedient, and the Grand Architect of the Universe, whom it is the
usage,
even in ordinary writing, to designate by the initials G.A.O.T.U., is
accordingly presented to us in a variety of symbols, three of which
particularly require attention. These are the letter _G_, the