The case of the devil The Hebrew Inscription on the left shoulder of Asmodeus as it appears on the cover of Gerard de Sède’s book "Signé Rose+Croix" (Signed: Rose+Cross)

This is an enlargement of the inscription on the cover of Gerard de Sede’s “Signé: Rose+Croix”, the last republication of “L’Or de Rennes”.

And what have all these different copies of the same work, appearing under different titles, in common? The cryptogram Sot-Pêcheur, in three slightly different presentations. It is clear that there had to be a reason why the title was changed with each re-edition, and why certain such details were revised.
It appears as if the inscription was over the right shoulder of Asmodeus, but this is because the photograph has been mirrored, for the “needs” of the cover: so on the original statue designed by Saunière it was really OVER THE LEFT SHOULDER, ON THE LEFT WING OF ASMODEUS.

Compare the Asmodeus on the left, as he appears on the cover, with the one on the right, as he appeared in the church before his deterioration.

On De Sede’s book, this Hebrew inscription seems to run from the left to the right. But let us not forget that if Hebrew letters appear so in a mirrored photograph, it is because they were originally (i.e. on the statue in Saunière’s church) written in the other direction, from right to left, as Hebrew goes...
Still, the statue has been subjected to certain acts of vandalism: its head has been torn off, his shoulders have been deteriorated, as well as a restoration which seems to have been voluntarily negligent when it came to restoring certain “details”. The end result is this:

The inscription seems to have been deteriorated on purpose…

Let us compare:

Reproduction (copyright Jean de Niort)

DALET      VAU         HÉ      YOD
or
DALET VAU TETH YOD

Transcriptions… and their interpretations

Here is the mistake in interpretation (or the misinformation technique employed by some). Here follows the interpretation as it appears in Part 4:

The Divine Tetragrammaton

HÉ           VAU          HÉ          YOD

YOD – HÉ – VAU – HÉ
YHWH
=
YAHWEH
YAHVÉ

Now, the correct transcription of the inscription is obviously deformed compared with the Divine Tetragrammaton, and therefore CANNOT be the Name of God. Because the small feature at the bottom on the left (which is none other than a small letter YOD which is naturally part of the letter HÉ), which should have been written IF the inscription was effectively the Name of God, has NEVER been written.

So that as they were originally (and have always been) written (most probably on the order of Saunière himself), the significance of these odd letters can ONLY be the following one:

DALET          VAU         HÉ         YOD

YOD – HÉ – VAU – DALET
YHWD
=
YÉOUD = YÉHUD = JUDE = JUDAS

Yes, sometimes the devil is in the detail.

Passing from an HÉ ה to a DALET ד would indeed come down to transforming the root YHWH into YHWD, and thus from YAHWEH [ Yaoué ] to YEHUD [ Yéoud ], changing the name of God into that of Judas!
But let’s not make any mistake. I don’t mean by this that Sauniere’s inscription was actually transformed by anybody so as to make Asmodeus appear as a traitor (Judas) rather than as a god!
For Asmodeus is not God, and has always been a demon. And by definition, a demon is a creature that HAS REBELLED against God and BETRAYED HIM.

On the contrary, I want you to understand that Sauniere DESIGNED his Judas inscription ON PURPOSE so that CONFUSION between a demon and God arises…

Finally, this inscription must be read in the two directions, with the following result:

Meaning of the Inscription Read in the Direction It Had Over the Left Shoulder of the original Asmodeus, designed by Saunière for his church
(i.e. the reversal of the cover photograph of De Sede’s book, “Signé Rose+Croix” – Signed: Rose+Cross –)

Jude, Judas ,Yehud     יהוד

Orthography and letters’ position :
י    ה    ו    ד

Vocal enumeration of the letters in their pronunciation order (which indicates only their order, and not their written position, because the first read letter is always the RIGHTMOST letter):

DALET VAU HÉ YOD
4 +  6 +  5 +  10 =  25

 

Direction of reading as it appears on the cover photograph of De Sede’s book (i.e. the reversal of the original inscription on the statue in the church)
(bed of the) sick [dvai] דוהי

Orthography and letters’ position:
ד   ו  ה  י

Vocal enumeration of the letters in their pronunciation order (which indicates only their order, and not their written position, because the first read letter is always the RIGHTMOST letter):

YOD HÉ VAU DALET
10 +  5 +  6 +  4 = 25

Other (minor) possibilities

These last possibilities imply that the HÉ ה in second position is regarded rather as a TETH ח, which is possible given the extreme deformation (undoubtedly desired) from which this character in the original inscription suffers.

See here:

The DALET ד in the last position remains just as it is in all cases.
י   ח   ו    ד
DALET VAU TETH YOD
4 + 6 + 9 + 10 = 29

ד    ו   ח   י
YOD TETH VAU DALET
10 + 9 + 6 +4 = 29

Oddly, this word seems to have the same meaning when it is read in either direction: “report” or “reports”.

Conclusion

If the interpretation of “report” remains a possibility, the interpretation of “Yehud” is incontestably the most likely, for it is highly meaningful from a theological point of view, and because it is the only explanation which brings a new light to the problem in each direction of reading the text.

To put it in a nutshell, the inscription on the original statue in Sauniere’s church, before its deterioration and its (intentionally) bad restoration reads:

From the right to the left, “JUDAS” (the normal direction of reading for Hebrew)
From the left to the right, “SICK” or “sickbed” (reversed direction)

Additional considerations

The “Asmodeus inscription” in its original state and direction of reading was the name of Judas.
It is of course much more meaningful to argue for a link between the devil and Judas, than between the devil and a sick man or a disease. These thoughts indeed reminded me of the passage of the Gospels, in which Jesus calls his twelve disciples to come to him at the time of the Last Supper, and says, speaking about Judas Iscariot, the man who will later deliver him to the authorities: “Among you, there is one who is a DEVIL.”

But why is the full meaning “Judas the sick”? Was Judas possessed by a demon?
Well, doesn’t the Gospel say, a little while after the above quotation, and again referring to Judas Iscariot: “And Satan entered in him…” ?

“So what?” some may say. Well, would I say, WHO originally designed this statue of Asmodeus with all of its details? SAUNIÈRE. Could it be that the famous priest of Rennes-le-Château considered himself as having BETRAYED GOD, exactly like Judas Iscariot had before him? Having preferred MONEY to God (remember the thirty coins earned by Judas in the Gospels in payment for his treason of Jesus), Saunière would of course hold from this situation his wealth, at least symbolically.

Isaac Ben Jacob

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