Sidestep: The Cult of Io

At the centre of maori culture and religion were the gods; the Atua. In Māori belief the natural and supernatural worlds were one – there was no Māori word for religion. Life itself was both spiritual and real.

Accounts of creation usually began with Te Kore (chaos, or the void), then Te Pō (the night), and then Te Ao Mārama (the world of light). This proceeded over eons of time. A significant creation story concerns Rangi and Papa. Ranginui (sky father) and Papatūānuku (earth mother) were locked in an eternal embrace. In Māori tradition all living things were linked through whakapapa. Tāne, the god of the forest, shaped the first woman, Hineahuone, from soil and took her as his wife. They became the ancestors of human beings.

There has been debate about whether there was a supreme god in Māori tradition, centred around a god known as Io. Io has many names, including Io-matua-kore – Io the parentless one.

The fact that there was a higher and a lower form of knowledge, the Kauwaerunga (upper jaw) and Kauwaeraro (lower jaw), is also used as proof of Io as a supreme being. Only certain people had access to the Kauwaerunga while all knew of the Kauwaeraro. In the 20th century Io was an accepted part of Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāpuhi traditions.

The cult of Io, the Supreme Being of the Maori, was confined to the higher class of tohunga, or priestly adepts; those of lower orders were not allowed to acquire knowledge of its formulae or ritual. It is said that the practice of this cult and that of makutu, or black magic, by the same person was not permissible in some districts.

There was a secret cult among the highest of Maori priests that apparently knew the secrets of Io. Only after conversion to Christianity and seeing the many names for God in the Bible did some recite the names of Io. It seems like they read directly from the Bible because it is the same as Jehovah. Here are the names of Io.

Io. He is the core of all gods; none excel him.

Io-nui. He is greater than all other gods.

Io-roa. His life is everlasting; he knows not death.

Io-matua. He is the matua (parent) of the heavens and of their different realms, of the worlds, of clouds, of insects, of birds, of rats, of fish, of moons, of stars, of lightning, of winds, of waters, of trees, of all plant-life of land, sea, and streams, as also of all other things. There is no single thing that does not come under the control of Io-matua; he is the parent of all things—of man, and of the lesser gods under him; he is truly the parent of all.

Io-matua-te-kore (Io the Parentless). This name of his denotes that he has no parents, no mother, no elder or younger brothers, or sisters; he is nothing but himself.

Io-taketake. This name of his denotes the permanence of himself and all his acts, his thoughts, and his governments; all are enduring, all are firm, all are complete, all are immovable.

Io-te-pukenga. He is the source of all thought, reflection, memories, of all things planned by him to possess form, growth, life, thought, strength; there is nothing outside his jurisdiction; all things are his, and with him alone rests the matter of possession or non-possession.

Io-te-wananga. That is to say, he is assuredly the source of all knowledge, whether pertaining to life, or to death, or to evil, or to good, or to dissensions or lack of such, or to peace-making, or to failure to make peace; nought is there outside his influence.

Io-te-toi-o-nga-rangi (Io the Crown of the Heavens). This name shows that he is the god of the uppermost of all the heavens; there is no heaven beyond that one which is known as the Toi-o-nga-rangi. That is the first of the heavens, from which descent is made to the eleven heavens below the Toi-o-nga-rangi (or uppermost of the heavens).

Io-matanui (Large or Many-eyed Io). This name denotes that no place is hidden from his eyes and his thoughts, whether in the heavens or the various realms, the worlds, the waters, or the depths of the beds of the rivers, or the clouds; all things are gathered together in his eyes.

Io-matangaro (Hidden-faced Io, or Io of the Unseen Face). This name denotes that he is unseen by all things in the heavens, in the world, and various divisions of the heavens, or worlds. No matter what it be, he is not seen, but only when he intends to be seen can he be seen by any being. He is unseen by all beings of the heavens, of the divisions of the worlds, of the waters, of the clouds, of vegetation, insects, supernatural beings, the denizens of the heavens; only when he wills that they shall see him can they do so.

Io-mataaho. His appearance as he moves abroad is as that of radiant light only; he is not clearly seen by any being of the heavens, of the worlds, or divisions thereof.

Io-te-whiwhia. This name denotes that nothing can possess anything of its own volition; by his intention only can it possess aught, or not so possess, no matter who or what it be—persons or supernatural beings, or realm, or heavens, or divisions of such, or moons, or suns, or stars, or waters, or winds, or rains.

Io-urutapu. He is more tapu than all other gods, than all other things of the heavens, of the realms or divisions of space, of the sun, of the moon, of the stars, of the waters and depths