I
The ninth letter in the alphabets of Western Europe, called by the Greeks Iota, after its Shemitic name. The Hebrew equivalent is, of the numerical value of 10, and signifies a hand. The oldest forms of the letter, as seen in the Phenician and Samaritan, have a rude resemblance to a hand with three fingers, [...]
I. A. A. T.
Reghellini (i, 29) says that the Rose Croix Freemasons of Germany and Italy always wear a ring of gold or silver, on which are engraved these letters, the initials of Ignis, Aer, Aqua, Terra, in allusion to the Egyptian mystical doctrine of the generation, destruction, and regeneration of all things by the four elements, lire, [...]
I AM THAT I AM
The name which the Great Architect directed Moses to use (Exodus iii, 14), that he might identify himself to the Israelites as the messenger sent to them by God. It is one of the modifications of the Tetragrammaton, and as such, in its Hebrew form eheyeh usher eheyeh, the e pronounced like a in fate, [...]
IATRIC FREEMASONRY
From the Greek word the art of medicine. Ragon, in his Orthodoxic Maçonnique (page 450), says that this system was instituted in the eighteenth century, and thats its adepts were occupied in the search for the universal medicine. It must therefore have been a Hermetic Rite. Ragon knew very little of it, and mentions only [...]
I-COLM-KILL
An island south of the Hebrides, once the seat of the Order of the Culdees, containing the ruins of the monastery of Saint Columba, founded 565 A.D. Tradition plants the foundation of the Rite of Heredom on this island.
ICONOCLASTS
From the Greek words eikon, meaning image, and klazo, I break. The name used to designate those in the Church, from the eighth century downward, who have been opposed to the use of sacred images, or, rather, to the paying of religious honor or reverence to such representations. Image worship prevailed extensively in the sixth [...]
ICONOLOGY
The science which teaches the doctrine of images and symbolic representations. It is a science collateral with Freemasonry, and is of great importance to the Masonic student, because it is engaged in the consideration of the meaning and history of the symbols which constitute so material a part of the Masonic system.
IDAHO
The Grand Lodge of Oregon granted a Dispensation to Idaho Lodge, No. 35, on July 7,1863, and on June 21,1864, a Charter was issued. At a Convention held in Idaho City on December 16, 1867, for the purpose of organizing a Grand Lodge, members of the four chartered Lodges in the State, namely, Idaho, No. [...]
IDIOT
Idiocy is one of the main disqualifications for initiation. This does not, however, include a mere dulness of intellect and indocility of apprehension. These amount only to stupidity, and “the judgment of the heavy or stupid man,” as Doctor Good has correctly remarked, “is often as sound in itself as that of the man of [...]
IDOLATRY
The worship paid to any created object. It was in some one of its forms the religion of the entire ancient world except the Jews. The forms of idolatry are generally reckoned as four in number. 1. Fetichism, the lowest form, consisting in the worship of animals, trees, rivers, mountains, and stones. 2. Sabianism or [...]
