The four letter tetragrammaton (Greek, 'four letters') is the true name of the God of the Hebrew scriptures. Its pronunciation is considered to have great power, and is never spoken aloud, save for once a year, in the inner sanctuary of the Temple during the rites of Yom Kippur. In written scripture, it is given the vowel markings and pronuciation of the word Adonai, lord, leading to the common Christian mispronunciation of the name as Jehovah. In Judaism, the tetragrammaton is commonly referred to as "HaShem," The Name.

The tetragrammaton is central to the doctrines of both the Jewish and Esoteric Kabbalistic traditions, where it is equivalent to the four worlds of creation, the four elements, the four archangels, and the four cardinal directions. Christian kabbalists added the letter "Shin", rendering "YHShH," or Yeheshua, Jesus, as proof of the divine origin of Christ.

The four weapons of Ritual magick symbolize the essence of the letters of the tetragrammaton; these also form the basis for the four suits in a deck of Tarot cards.

Decorated tetragrammaton

Alternate Spellings: Jehovah, IHVH

Related Resources:

• Hermetic Tradition
  Named after Hermes Trismigestus (Hermes the three times great), the Greek moniker of the Egyptian God Tehuti (Thoth), alleged author of hundreds of mystical tractates, the Hermetic tradition is an eclectic spiritual tradition that encompasses elements from from many religions.
• Esoteric Kabbalah
  The Western, or Esoteric Kabbalah was created and utilized by Western magicians and Hermetic students for hundreds of years, and is a spiritual tradition in its own right.
• Gnostic scriptures, Texts
  The Gnostics were early Pagans and Christians with a very unique theology. Gnostic texts were found to be so threatening that many were destroyed or hidden, only to be rediscovered two thousand years later. Gnostic scriptures and source materials including the a gospel attributed to Mary Magdalen, and Gnostic exegesis of Canonical texts.