Iau

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The commonest name used among cats to speak of the feline version of the One. She is also commonly referred to as "Iau Hauhai'h" or "Iau Hau'hai"1: the epithet translates from Ailurin as "the perceiver", "the One who sees", with a punning reference to the feline game of hauissh.

Iau's perception by cats as feminine is probably no surprise in a culture with such a matriarchal slant. As is normal for any non-otiose Creator, the oldest stories about Her tell how Iau created the basic "ground of being" of the physical worlds, and then called into being the feline versions of the Powers That Be to assist Her. These were Her daughters Aaurh (usually called "the Mighty", the feline version of the One's Champion or Michael Power: Hrau'f (called "the Tamer", the feline Athena or Wise Power: and Sa'rráhh, the ambivalent feline version of the Lone Power. Iau's last-born or -created demiurge was her only son and future mate, Urrau, called the "Lightning-Clawed", for whom there is no close correspondent in modern human religious cosmology or cosmogony.

Like most other divinities, Iau is known by a great number of names and epithets, and moves through feline experience wearing various personations and divine avatars expressive of Her powers and concerns. She is known as the Queen (both in a sense of Her status as ruler of the universe, and as a female cat), the Creatress and Dam, the Fire at the Heart, the Kindler of Stars, and by many, many other names. But possibly the most frequently used of these names is Rhoua, an epithet describing Iau in Her aspect as beginner and ender of physical life.

Rhoua'i'th in Ailurin is "Rhoua's Eye," the Sun: and the name for the feline recension of the Book of Night with Moon -- for cats, not a book, but a "whispered" body of knowledge communicated to them by Hrau'f -- is The Gaze of Rhoua's Eye. The reference in the title, however, is thought to be, not to the Sun, but to Rhoua's "other Eye", the invisible and unavoidable regard of Godhead. This invisible Eye sees all of existence, whether physical or nonphysical, and all time, past, present, and future...and it does this even while closed: for closed it will remain until the universe's end, when mere worn-out physicality will be abolished in the light of its opening. Iau is therefore often referred to as "winking Rhoua" -- the suggestion being that the aeons-long wink is not just a manifestation of the divine mercy, but also an in-joke: obscure to humans, but evidently not to cats. (TBONWM, OHMWS/TVTQ)


See also: Belief systems, comparative; Cosmology and cosmogony, feline; Immanence, multiple.

1The grammatical difference indicates a slight difference in meaning between the two forms -- the second one suggesting that the user is actually "in congruence" with the Queen while speaking. This form is fairly unusual.