Golden Dawn Blog by Frater Yechidah

"Wearing red socks or shoes helps remind us to ground our bodies. Because red is a grounding color, seeing red on your feet throughout the day will serve as a reminder to bring your attention back to the physical body. This is especially helpful if you tend to ignore your lower extremities. By consciously focusing on the color red at your feet you will be energetically distributing your energies downwards, anchoring your energies to the earth, thus creating a better balance within yourself. Isn't it interesting that the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz story was wearing ruby red slippers? She got grounded when a house fell upon her while she was flying through the air. It was also the magical tapping of the red slippers together that brought Dorothy back home to Kansas." The above passage, from About.com is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly it highlights the link with the energies of the earth, which is a focus of the Outer Order, being centred in...

Sincerus Renatus made a comment on an earlier post here that the Portal grade correlated with Yesod, as opposed to my previous assertion of Adeptus Minor to this Sephirah. This opened the door for Adeptus Minor to go to Tiphareth, as per its traditional grade structure. However, this got me thinking about the Three Degrees in the Golden Dawn system, and how they each relate to a single Sephirah on the Tree of Life, and, indeed, a number of other elements of the Golden Dawn system. The First Degree is the entire Outer Order, from Neophyte to Philosophus. It is attributed to Malkuth. The Second Degree is Portal, and is attributed to Yesod. The Third Degree is Adeptus Minor (including all its sub-grades), and is attributed to Tiphareth - although all the Inner Order would also qualify for this Degree (albeit the original Order didn't really go above Adeptus Minor, barring temple grades). These also correlate with the three principle Officers in the Outer Halls: the Hierophant, Hegem...

"Magic is the art of transformation, of altering consciousness and experiencing the life changes that result. It is a science of empowerment, of using word, image, and gesture to reach into the darkness and set free the imprisoned faculties of the soul." - Lyam Thomas Christopher, Kabbalah, Magic, & the Great Work of Self-transformation

I will be exploring certain small elements of the Enochian system within the context of the Golden Dawn in this collection of posts (updated sporadically, and on whim), particularly since the Golden Dawn version of Enochian is criticised so much by many modern magicians, particularly the "Dee purist" camp. So, I'm hoping to elucidate exactly why some of those "mistakes" (i.e. changes) have been made, and just how they fit into the Golden Dawn system as a whole. First there are the Elemental Kings , as the Golden Dawn called them, or the Solar Kings as we in the O.'.S.'.D.'.L.'. called them (to avoid confusion with the Great or Supreme Elemental Kings , which continuously occurred, as well as to more oviously point out their solar nature). The name of the Elemental/Solar King is obtained from a central "whorl" of each Tablet, reading clockwise, as follows: As you can see, this encompasses eight squares. Thus, for the Air/ORO Tablet, we...

As part of my work for my old Order, the O.'.S.'.D.'.L.'., I wrote material for the initiation ceremonies, including that of Acolyte I (the last grade I attained there), which is roughly equivalent of Adeptus Minor in the G.'.D.'. (albeit without a Portal grade, which changes things quite a bit). Anyhow, the following is a passage from this Acolyte I ceremony, drawn from the Gospel of Mary Magdalene , a very interesting Gnostic text. The focus of this point of the ceremony was for the initiate, as a Gnostic, to break free from the influence of the Archons, here seen as "7 Powers of Wrath", one per old planet (as well as being lord of a certain binding force, such as darkness, ignorance, and desire). Each Archon in turn challenges the initiate, blocking his or her way to accessing the relevant planetary energies, and the initiate receives their challenge and conquers them, showing the conquering of the planetary influences within the initiate themselv...

As a student of both Gnosticism and Qabalah, I began to find many similarities between the two, and wondered just how deep the parallels went. Indeed, it made me question if the Qabalah was influenced by Gnosticism, which even the Qabalistic scholar Gershom Scholem wondered in his many excellent books on the subject. It seems likely that this is so, at least in the Lurianic school of Qabalah, but for now I will content myself with merely pointing out the parallels and letting my readers come to their own conclusions. God is conceived of as beyond the Three Negative Veils of Existence, ( Limitless Light , Limitless , and Nothing ), as the Unmanifest, in the Qabalah. Likewise it was common Gnostic principle (as well as being a general approach in mysticism as a whole [see the Cloud of Unknowing , for example ]) to define God in negative terminology. While the above is true, God was also seen as part and parcel of the entire manifest universe, while also being beyond the Three Negative Ve...

"The Zohar is one of the primary sources of Qabalistic material we have, and also the largest, spanning a number of volumes in its various translations. Its teachings penetrate the very fabric of Qabalah, both Jewish and Hermetic, even when not overtly referenced. However, it is also one of the most difficult texts to read and interpret, and thus an introductory book is often needed. A Guide to the Zohar by Arthur Green qualifies as one of the best books to fill this need." To read the rest of this review, click below: "A Guide To The Zohar" Book Review

It has become increasingly more popular over the last decade or so to bash the Golden Dawn, its members, and its teachings, with Dee purists, Thelemites, grimoire buffs, and the historical and magickal "elite" all joining in to take a stab. In fact, it has become so popular that some people feel they must jump on the band wagon (without understanding any of the genuine criticisms of the Golden Dawn) or be considered magickally deficient, or a slave to the dogma and "propaganda" (one person I discussed this recently with considered published Golden Dawn rituals and papers to be propaganda) of this esoteric organisation. Firstly we have the Dee purists. Now, I have studied the original Enochian material, and have utilised much of it in my previous Order, but I think there are pros as well as cons to the Golden Dawn approach. Fair enough that many people will want to use solely the original material. After all, several things have been altered or omitted, such as the d...

A common question in the occult community is: what is the purpose of the Golden Dawn? Anthony Fleming, in his Introduction to the Golden Dawn American Source Book defined this purpose as: "Stated somewhat simplistically, the purpose of the Golden Dawn was to provide to specially selected candidates a sytem of occult training which would enable them to acquire magical powers and eventually lead to their spiritual illumination." The ultimate aim of the Golden Dawn system is two-fold and in two steps or stages: Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel (or the Higher Self [though I technically believe the two to be different]), and, ultimately (with the previous step being the preliminary stages) Union with the Divine (although that is a more abstract philosophical pursuit, and doesn't really come into play until Adept level). However, there are smaller, more achievable aims throughout the system. For example, one aim of the Outer Order is to give the studen...

Unfortunately I don't have any poems relating to Gimel to share here, but I do have this quick sketch from my journal late at night a week or so ago. Apologies for the quality, as it's a camera phone (however, I always try to minimise image file sizes here to avoid excessive loading times). This image gives a visual form of some of the mysteries of Gimel explored in my previous post . Thoughts and comments welcome.

Gimel (pronounced Gee-mel or Gim-el ) is the third letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It, therefore, has the gematria value of 3. Its Hebrew spelling is Gimel Mem Lamed , which, in turn, has a gematria value of 73 (Gimel=3, Mem=40, Lamed=30). The fully spelled word means "Camel", and is sometimes transliterated as Gamel . The letter is drawn by starting at the left-hand side of the uppermost line and extending straight across and down on the right in one movement. The floor is then drawn from right to left. It's important to make sure that the back of the letter has a "tail", to distinguish it from Mem. Gimel is seen as a charitable, indeed, a righteous , man in the Talmud, chasing after a poor man to give him charity (Daleth, the next letter, is related to Daluth , meaning poverity). The root of Gimel is gamal , meaning "to give", and thus Gimel gives to Daleth from the House of God (Beth), which is filled with the wealth of God's Divine Breath (Alep...

One of the "conundrums" I've run into over the past few years in the Qabalah is the confusion over the Three Veils of Negative Existence ( Ain = Nothing; Ain Soph = Limitless; Ain Soph Aur = Limitless Light) and which one, Ain or Ain Soph Aur , is "closest" to Kether (as in, bordering it). To illustrate my point, here's the formation given by most Hermetic Qabalists: The above makes "logical" sense (in as much as these abstract, negative concepts can make logical sense), in that the Ain , the Nothing, which is the most abstract and theologically furthest from creation, is furthest from Kether, the first expression of positive existence (albeit a highly abstract formation in its own right). The Ain Soph Aur , the Limitless Light, is then closest to Kether, the source of the Light that "feeds" and emanates the Sephiroth. Kether is sometimes paired with the passage "Let there be Light" from Genesis, which also suggests that th...

"When we learn to look upon the world from a Cosmic point of view, when we realize that each of our incarnations is only one tiny link in the eternal chain or one class in the school of life, we will understand that we are all brothers and sisters, even the greatest criminal. He is only younger than we, and has not yet gone through as many classes. Some day we will all reach the same goal, and our daily lives are made up of nothing but lessons, and our happiness depends on the value and proportion we ourselves put on everything which happens to us. The knowledge of the whole Universe is hidden in our own being, so let us begin to uncover it and bring it out, with true love and fraternity for our fellow-travellers on the same road." - V.H. Soror Nunc et Semper [Lilli Geise] (via Darcy Kuntz)

One of the most important actions we can take on this path is to give back to our spiritual community, to not merely take from the teachings and traditions given to us, but to give forth those teachings (within the confines of any taken oaths, of course) along with our own insights and any knowledge we might have garnered via our personal practice and study. This act of giving to the greater fraternity of all is vital to preserve the material we have been honoured with, but also to cleanse ourselves of selfishness, of the "hoarding" mentality (the dragon and his gold, where the dragon is the many-headed one of the Qlippoth, and the gold is the spiritual teachings, now held at ransom by lower forces), and to allow ourselves to become vessels of the Light, a living embodiment of the Logos and Sophia, and a Beacon of Beauty (Tiphareth) for all other Neophytes straying now in Darkness. In this sense we become like a Sephirah, receiving from the Sephiroth above us and giving to th...

Continuing the Yesod theme of recent posts (see here and here ), I'd like to explore a less well-understood aspect of the grade structure of the Golden Dawn and its attribution to the Tree of Life; and, for those already familiar with this, I hope to add another aspect for consideration: the Tzaddiqim (righteous). The beginning or casual student will no doubt be aware that the grades of the Golden Dawn are attributed to the Sephiroth (barring the probationary grades of Neophyte [0=0] and Portal, which can be seen as an outer court to Malkuth and Tiphareth respectively [it's interesting to note that these are the two Sephiroth with probationary grades before them, hinting once more at their union]). Thus we have Zelator [1=10] attributed to Malkuth, Theoricus [2=9] attributed to Yesod, Practicus [3=8] attributed to Hod, Philosophus [4=7] attributed to Netzach, and Adeptus Minor [5=6] attributed to Tiphareth (the grades above this are not relevant to this post). This is the p...

This is a common question I see on forums and receive in emails, PMs, IM, and so forth, and thus I believe it deserves a blog post. What are the best recommend books for a beginner to ceremonial magick, and the Golden Dawn system in particular? I've listed some of my recommendations below, in the various categories of interest: Golden Dawn & Ceremonial Magick The Tree of Life by Israel Regardie Regardie's "magnum opus", this book gives an excellent introduction to ceremonial magick, if you can get over his difficult style of writing (he writes longer paragraphs than I do!). As ever, I recommend the Cicero edition for expanded material, images, and notes. The Middle Pillar by Israel Regardie An excellent introduction to some of the basic rituals a magician, especially within the Golden Dawn tradition, should know, along with an exploration of the links between magick and psychology. Get the Cicero edition for expanded material and notes. The Essential Golden Da...

"The Kabbalist exults in the notion that God creates the world through some supernal and mysterious manifestation of language. This may take the form of permutation of letters, in the tradition of the Sefer Yetsirah , the uttering of mysterious divine names, or some other aspect of verbal self-revelation. A key symbol for the emergence of the sefirot is the movement within God from thought ( Hokhmah and Binah ) to voice ( Tif'eret ) to speech ( Malkhut ). This is to say that Creation is a form of divine self-articulation." - Arthur Green, A Guide to the Zohar

There is a common battle in esoteric circles between the scholarly student and those who believe such scholarship should be dispensed with. For example, in some discussions I have had, I brought to light the very real fact that Hermeticism, as we know it (and I distinguish between it and Hermetism , which results in ire from those unwilling to make the distinction), stems from post-Christian times. All the evidence we have, including the Corpus Hermeticum , the primary source of Hermetic thought and teaching, points to this. Indeed, there may have been an older tradition, but that is speculation. What irritates me, however, is when people seem to think that just because we engage in a spiritual art, we can dispense with scholarship and historical fact, and, indeed, rewrite or reinterpret history to suit our speculation. Indeed, the frequency with which mankind seems to think that "older" equals better, particularly rampant in the occult world, is something that needs addressi...

Here is another interesting Qabalistic passage relating to the imbalance of Severity ( Din = Judgement) and Mercy ( Chesed = Love). I believe many in positions of power, particularly within the Golden Dawn community, would be wise to meditate on this: "Here we have one of the most important moral lessons of Kabbalah: judgment untempered by love brings about evil; power obsessed with itself turns demonic." - Arthur Green, A Guide to the Zohar

For the first part of my LRP analysis, see here . Next we have the four four-letter names of God, used in the four quarters to charge the pentagrams. Firstly, this is an obvious reference to the four directions, the four winds, the four elements, and the four ancient figurative pillars of the world/universe (and their counterparts within the aura of the magician). It also hints at the four-fold nature of Malkuth, and thus represents the physical world. It has been pointed out before in many articles on this ritual that the Lesser Pentagram utilised in the traditional LRP is designed to invoke energy into or banish energy from the the four sub-quarters of Malkuth (represented by the four colours of this Sephirah: citrine = air, olive = water, russet = fire, black = earth), and thus the four four-letter names of God affirm this role. However, it also hints at stability, since the geometic figure of four is the square, the most solid of them all. This solidity and stability is thus a...

After my previous post on sexual symbolism on the Tree of Life I came to a new realisation about Yesod, a new insight, and a new title. The title is: The Secret of Fire And why is it the Secret of Fire? Firstly because it is the lower counterpart of Chokmah, as stated in my previous post; it is the "physical" reflection of the latent male sexuality of Chokmah, which is represented by Fire (and the Yod of the Tetragrammaton, which is sperm-shaped). Secondly because it is linked with the Root Chakra and the force of Kundalini, which is both sexual and fiery in nature. It is the coiled serpent ready to spring, the hidden (thereby secret) fiery nature of the watery lunar sphere. Thirdly, and this is where the realisation sprung from, because the Hebrew spelling of Yesod is YSVD, and the Hebrew word for "secret" is Sod (SVD). Thus, Yesod is Y-SVD, the Secret of Yod , the Secret of Fire .

Often times new students to the Qabalah are surprised when they find that sexual symbolism plays a key role in describing the various processes of emanation, etc. For example, Chokmah (the Supernal Father), as the second Sephirah, has a geometrical symbol of a line (made of two points), which can represent the phallus, or, since the line has no defineable end ("how long is a line?"), it can represent the rushing forth of force indicative of the sperm. Binah (the Supernal Mother), as the third Sephirah, has a geometrical symbol of a triangle (made of three points), which contains the force of the line in form, and represents the womb or vagina of the woman (particularly when the point of the triangle is pointing down). While some people may find this symbolism uncomfortable, it is intrinsic to a proper understanding of the Qabalah, and thus the student should not shy away from it. The above diagram explores one more aspect of the sexual symbolism on the Tree of Life, exploring...

Peregrin at Magic of the Ordinary has been publishing some excellent Golden Dawn material lately, much of which has not been published before. Since some of you may not have seen his blog (shame on you! Go correct this error before lunch!), I've taken the liberty of linking to some of his recent Golden Dawn posts: Aura Paper XXIII Aura Paper VII - Life, Death, & Disease History of the RR et AC by Felkin Flying Roll X with Commentary Notes on an Unpublished Pentagram Diagram

The LRP (Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram), in both its invoking and banishing forms, is the primary ritual employed by Golden Dawn magicians and comprised almost the entirety of traditional Outer Order magic (the rest being left for Portal and Inner Order). It was given to the newly initiated Neophyte 120 years ago, and is probably the most commonly used ritual in the magical community today, utilised by thousands inside and outside the Golden Dawn sphere. But what exactly does it do ? "It invokes or banishes," is the simple and limited answer, but this only explores one aspect of the ritual; and even if we were to merely explore this, what does it invoke or banish, and how? First, let us look at the pentagram itself, the signet-star of the ritual. It is a star of five points ( penta = five), which is most often depicted as referring to the four elements (Earth, Air, Water, Fire) and the quintessence, the fifth "element" of Spirit. Spirit is dominant when the pentag...

I was asked in early April 2007 to explain Verse 32 of the Book of Beth, and the following is my answer to that person. First I will give the verse in question: 32. You shall plant new seeds, for the Sower is the Reaper, and those who plant well supplant the Throne of Saturn. Commentary The student must plant new seeds so he can grow a new Tree of Life, his own personal Tree, which starts as a small sapling in Malkuth and rises to a majestic tree in Kether and beyond (where the seeds of the "primordial" Tree reside). The sower of the seeds reaps the benefits of them, for this is an internal tree, and as it grows, so too does the student in question. Indeed, because the student becomes the "Reaper", they become Death, and the figure of Death is derived from Saturn, who is Time; and Time is, by its nature, Death. Since the student becomes Death (via the growth of the Tree of Life, for Life implies Death), they supplant Saturn, who was Death, thereby taking h...

"The decline in popularity of the lodge system in the last century has impacted heavily upon the magickal community. With the publication of many once secret Order documents most students don't feel the need to partake in the lodge system at all; after all, why travel to a temple when you can do the work in your own living-room? However, this attitude leaves much to be desired, and clearly shows the lack of understanding of why the lodge system existed in the first place. But what are modern students who are not already a member of a surviving lodge to do? That's where Inside A Magical Lodge by John Michael Greer comes in." To read the rest of this review, click below: "Inside A Magical Lodge" Book Review

I haven't written a poem on the letter Beth, as I have with Aleph, but there is this following work which was written around a year or so ago (yes, nearly everything I have done was done a year ago). A smattering of Qabalistic knowledge will be required to understand the document, but even if you don't have such, meditation on the imagery, etc. contained within may help with the gathering of such knowledge. The Book of Beth Feedback, comments, and insights into certain passages are most welcome.

Beth (pronounced Bayt or Bet ) is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It, therefore, has the gematria value of 2. Its Hebrew spelling is Beth Yod Ta v, which, in turn, has a gematria value of 412 (Beth=2, Yod=10, Tav=400). The fully spelled word means "House", and is sometimes transliterated as Bayith . The letter is drawn by starting at the top left, drawing the roof, which extends down into the right-hand "wall". Then the floor is drawn by starting at the left, making sure a little "ledge" extends out further on the right (so it is not confused with Kaph, etc.). The first letter in the Torah is Beth, forming Bereshith : "In The Beginning". There are many commentaries for why a Beth begins this seminal Qabalistic text and not an Aleph. One explanation states that Aleph was not used because it begins the word Arar , meaning "curse", while Beth begins Berakah , meaning "blessing". Another has all the letters line up befo...

Here's an interesting passage I found that echoes certain passages and teachings in the Golden Dawn Neophyte ceremony. Perhaps the founders were aware of this and adopted it into their work: "Without Severity or Judgement the World would have excessive evil, and without Mercy existence would be unbearably rigorous." - the Talmud

I don't have the time. I'm not in the mood. I'll do it later. These are but a few of the more obvious excuses that we come up with for not doing things, particularly our magical work (though it applies to all areas of our lives). When we embark on our spiritual quest, or attempt to advance to the next level, our ego panics; how is it going to retain its seat of power if you engage contact with the Higher Self or attempt progress that will diminish selfishness and a limited mindset? So it fights you. And it has to fight, because this could be a life or death matter for it, or, more likely, the toppling of a false king from his throne. The Tower of Babel and the Kings of Edom. Excuses are one of the ego's greatest tricks. They can be very insidious and convincing, and as you adapt to combat them, so too does the ego adapt its repertoire of excuses so that they become more complex and subtle. Suddenly you think that you're the one who originated with the thought...