Golden Dawn Blog by Frater Yechidah

"The central principle of all the Magic of power is that everything we formulate in the imagination, if we formulate it strongly enough, realises itself in the circumstances of life, acting either through our own souls, or through the spirits of nature." - W.B. Yeats

Another round-up of links to interesting pieces, old and new, that I recommend my readers check out. Jeremy Puma at Gnostica posted a very thought-provoking piece, entitled " The Politics Of Knowing: A Challenge To Gnostics ". Many of these thoughts can be carried over to non-Gnostics too, and are worthy of consideration when it comes to the formal involvement of occult orders in the political machine (a matter which I strongly object to, at least when it comes to the Golden Dawn). Morgan Drake Eckstein posted a short but interesting piece on his blog Gleamings from the Dawn entitled " Lineage: What we can be sure about it ". The main point of interest is the quoted text (in red) at the bottom of the post, which makes a very important point that must be considered in the lineage debate. The Galloway Chronicles posted an amusing video of probably the best part of Richard Dawkin's day, where he reads all the nutty emails he gets. If you haven't already, ch...

One of key factors to Adepthood, as far as I'm concerned, is the magical maturity that should be present, or, at least, a magical puberty that will culminate in magical maturity when the Lesser Adept progresses towards Greater Adept. The point of this is that the entry into Adeptus Minor does not, for one, automatically equate with the entry into Tiphareth, and certainly does not equate with communion with the Higher Self, which may not come until much of the work of that grade is complete. I expressed this point somewhat in a previous post , but I would like to comment more now on exactly how I view this magical maturity and the preceding stages of magical growth. Neophyte can be seen as the symbolic or magical birth of the initiate, from the darkness of the Womb of Matter into the Light of the Spiritual World. Even the thrice-bound cord around the candidate's waist can be seen as the symbolic umbilical cord, which is removed as the initiate enters the Light of Day, and is, as...

" This , I believe, explains why Rosicrucianism has continued to exert its grip on the Western mind. It is not because we are hopelessly gullible, or because we would like to believe in absurd fantasies. In a legend like that of Christian Rosenkreuz, we seem to catch a glimpse of what we ought to be, and what we could be . If we set about it with sufficient determination, the grip of 'the world' can be broken - or at least, weakened until it ceases to induce a constant feeling of alienation. We are a planet of a double star, torn between two powerful gravitational forces. We have to learn to move inward without losing control over the external world and, like Rimbaud, simply surrendering ourselves to an 'ordered derangement of the senses.'" - Colin Wilson, Introduction to Christopher McIntosh's The Rosicrucians

One of the common topics of debate that frequently pops up (even in my own post on the validity of self-initiation ) is the question of whether or not it is possible to self-initiate into Adeptus Minor. Of course, first we have to assume that it is possible to self-initiate into the Outer Order grades or the entire topic goes out the window. However, once we have assumed that the latter is possible, exactly how far does it go? The Ciceros comment in their Self-Initiation Into The Golden Dawn Tradition (the primary Golden Dawn text on self-initiation) that "although Israel Regardie suggested that the Outer Order ceremonies could be converted over into self-initiation rituals, he was convinced that to do so with the Adeptus Minor Ceremony was impossible. ... Initiation into the Second Order grades (starting with Adeptus Minor) still requires an authentic initiator and a physical Vault of the Adepti. However we agree with Regardie in his belief that continued and persistent repetiti...

A Conscious, Active Cause in all we see, And number proves the living unity. No bound hath He who doth the whole contain, But, all preceding, fills life's vast domain. Sole worthy worship, He, the only Lord, Doth His true doctrine to clean hearts accord. But since faith's work a single pontiff need, One law have we, and at one altar plead; Eternal God for aye their base upholds. Heaven and man's day alike His rule enfolds. In mercy rich, in retribution strong, His people's King He will upraise ere long. The tomb gives entrance to the promised land, Death only ends; life's vistas still expand. These doctrines sacred, pure and steadfast shine; And thus we close our number's scale divine. Good angels all things temper and assuage, While evil spirits burst with wrath and rage. God doth the lightning rule, the flame subdue. His word controls both Vesper and her dew. He makes the moon our watchman through the night, And by His sun renews the world in light. When dust ...

A week or two ago I was looking through the Ciceros's Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition when I noticed the Coptic and Hebrew spelling of the name THMÊ (A Coptic form of Greek Themis and Egyptian Ma'at) on page 22. The thing that I noticed is that, in the Hebrew, the spelling is ThMA, and there is another word of the same gematric value, but not only that - the same exact letters. This is AMTh, Emeth , which means Truth. THMÊ is the Coptic form of Ma'at, the Goddess of Truth.

The history of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn has been dealt with in a number of books, not least of all Ellic Howe’s Magicians of the Golden Dawn . However, as each new scholar approaches the subject or old scholars publish a new book more and more papers, photographs, documents, and letters are published. Revelations of the Golden Dawn , by R. A. Gilbert (a republication of The Golden Dawn Scrapbook ) is just one of these examples, giving a brief look at the history of the Order, replete with some interesting source material. The book itself is 200 pages, with seven chapters, an introduction, and a small index and bibliography. The history itself is not extensive, and only deals with some of the more pivotal moments, but Gilbert himself admits this, stating "it is not intended to be a documentary history of the Order … This book is intended simply to provide an overview of the Order, and to tell its story through the lives and actions (or inactions) of its membe...

I decided to "borrow" Psyche's idea at Plutonica.net in regard to her Saturday Signal, which is a weekly roundup of links to interesting occult material. I can't think of quite as clever a title, so "Weekly Roundup" will have to suffice. Peregrin at Magic of the Ordinary posted some excellent insights regarding potential risks in the Golden Dawn System (and magic in general), in his post "Nine Dangers of the Golden Dawn" . This includes ego inflation (understandably high on the list, and probably the most common danger), astral corruption, and incorrect magic, among others. I do not agree with all of Peregrin's points, or indeed that we should be quite as wary, but it's good to exercise caution and realise the very real risks that come with magic. Sincerus Renatus at Gyllene Gryningen posted a response to my Sex & The Golden Dawn post, entitled "The sexual teachings of the Alpha et Omega and its supposed relation to the Cromlec...

For the first two parts of my LRP analysis, see here and here . The closing lines of the LRP, before the final QC, have been the cause of much debate and are the only part of the ritual that seems to have changed in the hands of different magicians over the years. Thus, today there are multiple variations of these lines, from the original "Before me flames the pentagram and behind me shines the six-rayed star" to the Crowley version of "For about me flames the pentagram and in the column shines the six-rayed star", and some slight variations of the two. All of them are perfectly valid, and there are justifications, usually in the form of gematria, for them all. This post will explore some of the variations and the reasoning behind them. First there is the original format employed in both the GD and SM and printed in Regardie's The Golden Dawn : "Before me flames the pentagram, and behind me shines the six-rayed star". On the surface this does not make...

"I believe in the practice and philosophy of what we have agreed to call magic, in what I must call the evocation of spirits, though I do not know what they are, in the power of creating magical illusions, in the visions of truth in the depths of the mind when the eyes are closed; and I believe in three doctrines, which have, as I think, been handed down from early times, and been the foundations of nearly all magical practices. These doctrines are:- (1) That the borders of our mind are ever shifting, and that many minds can flow into one another, as it were, and create or reveal a single mind, a single energy. (2) That the borders of our memories are as shifting, and that our memories are a part of one great memory, the memory of Nature herself. (3) That this great mind and great memory can be evoked by symbols." - W.B. Yeats, Magic (1901)

Continuing the Yeats theme of the previous post , here's the passage I mentioned earlier about Yeats and his attitude towards sex: W.B. Yeats described the summer of 1897, when he was 32, as "the most miserable time of my life". He went on to say, "I was tortured by sexual desire and disappointed love... When desire became an unendurable torture, I would masturbate, and that, no matter how moderate I was, would make me ill." Now, admittedly he was taking hashish pills at the time, which may or may not have influenced his feelings of illness, but it seems hard to deny that his reaction to masturbation was extreme, although probably not uncommon for the Victorian era. I have to admit that, as a young Irish man myself, I find these kinds of accounts quite surprising, even to one already aware of the Victorian attitude towards sex. I wonder if Yeats' extreme view, and that of Moina described in a previous post, was shared by other Golden Dawn members of the tim...

I recall many times when scholars of Yeats or school and college teachers (including some of my own) have glossed over his occult involvement, sometimes stating that it was little more than a "phase" or some other irrelevant trifle that just happened in his life. I believe the following quote from the man himself should dispel this common (and highly irritating) notion: "If I had not made magic my constant study I could not have written a single word of my Blake book, nor would The Countess Kathleen ever have come to exist. The mystical life is the center of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write." - W.B. Yeats

Sex is a controversial subject no matter where it arises, but doubly so when it is relation to a secret society. It is well known, for example, that some of the higher grades of the OTO give teachings on sexual magic, but it is a cause of some debate about how sex is dealt with, if at all, in the Golden Dawn. There has been much misinformation and confusion, partly due, in my opinion, to one modern Golden Dawn order which has included Third Order grades and filled them with sex magic teachings. Some of the confusion may have arisen before this, however, from certain statements and actions taken by some Order members. But first, let us look at MacGregor and Moina Mathers, the two leading forces in the Order once Westcott had resigned. While they were married, they never consummated the marriage, and never engaged in sexual activity whatsoever (or, at least, so it is claimed). In 1895 Moina wrote to Annie Horniman about her views on sex, the sexual abstinence she and her husband undertoo...

You doubters of divinity - You see devils in the hearts of all God's people, Who must, by your great will, come out in straw With pitchforks ready To clash, steel on wood, against the sceptres of sure Science, Held aloft upon the horses of your reign. If only it were simple, Adam cast across the rift from Atoms, An uncrossable Abyss, A mental chasm where only malice lies. But where is subtlety in these uncertain times, Where we, in our doubt, assume we know it all? There is only red and blue and yellow, Stark around their corners Where no meld of hue is seen, Nor permitted, nor encouraged, As was once the case When the brilliant light of art Merged with the evanescence of the angels And the candescence of great culture Saw no contradiction between the art of science, And the science of art. There was none of this vile blindedness, Where the books of chemistry and physics Cannot rest upon the shelf amidst the classics, Those epitomes of literature And the episodes of Man. Our books ...

Check out this excellent electronic magazine, Hermetic Virtues , which you can download in PDF format. There are four issues a year, relating to the Equinoxes and Solstices, and they usually number between 60-80 pages, with contributions from the Ciceros, Nick Farrell, Donald Michael Kraig, Aaron Leitch, Pat Zalewski, and a number of other well-known esoteric authors, as well as many who are lesser-known, but whose work is of excellent calibre. While not specifically a Golden Dawn magazine, it does tend to focus on G.'.D.'. subjects, and has many G.'.D.'. authors, but there are often essays on other subjects of esoteric note. Each issue costs $6, or you can get a year's subscription for $20. All proceeds go to the HOGD legal fund. This is essential reading for any student interested in the Golden Dawn and the occult in general.

"The 5=6 ritual appeared. Mathers seems to have taken elements given by this mysterious adept from Liege and fused it with rituals from SRIA. At the same time there came the fantastic Z documents, which superimposed a magical technique over the outer order and gave a formula that turned a somewhat dry masonic ritual into something that could be used to charge a talisman or get a spirit to physical manifestation. There is also the fairly cryptic Man, Macrocosm paper which gives a fairly powerful introduction to the Sphere of Sensation. We also see Book T, which was an inspired description of the Tarot. But we cannot be sure how much of this material or genius belonged to Mathers, or how much was a cut and paste from Lux E Tenebris. Certainly the 5=6 is nothing like what Mathers had written before, or would write again. Mathers or Tenebris? Or again was someone else involved? We know that other adepts were also inspired at this time. Take for example the design of the Vault. Mathers...

Daleth (pronounced Dah-leth ) is the fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It, therefore, has the gematria value of 4. Its Hebrew spelling is Daleth Lamed Tav , which, in turn, has a gematria value of 434 (Daleth=4, Lamed=30, Tav=400). The fully spelled word means "Door". The letter is drawn by starting with the horizontal "roof", drawing from left to right, and then drawing the vertical line from top to bottom. It is important to ensure the horizontal line extends slightly further on the right, so as to distinguish it from the letter Resh. Just as Gimel is the charitable letter, Daleth is the poor letter which receives Gimel's charity. This aspect comes from the shape of the letter, which, because it is "bent over", resembles a beggar looking for charity. It is also because of the root word for this letter, which is dalah , to impoverish , which, in turn, gives rise to daluth , meaning poverty. Daleth is related to Chesed via the number four, and it...

Photo copyright by R.A. Gilbert Sincerus Renatus at his blog Gyllene Gryningen (which I believe is Swedish for Golden Dawn ) posted a very interesting defence of Mathers yesterday, including a response to one of my recent posts on the speculation that Mathers was behind the events leading to Westcott's resignation (see here ). He raises some important points, and, while I do not agree with them all, I believe it is important to share the link, since it is a topical debate. Below you can find my response to his findings: An Apology of Mathers by S.R. Firstly, there is the matter of Westcott denying being the author of the R.R. et A.C. material, but fervently defending his assertion that the origin of the Outer Order material is his, and that Mathers was little more than a paid scribe for those materials (all of which had their origins in the Cipher Manuscripts anyhow, which neither Westcott or Mathers wrote). These words from Westcott are so important that I feel the need to share ...

When we talk about "Enochian", we generally think one thing (the Watchtowers and Aethyrs), but there is actually a lot more to the original material than we might at first expect. This post is intended to highlight the three main sections of the material. The published G.'.D.'. Enochian papers (mainly via Regardie, although some new ones have surfaced since his time) primarily deal with the second section ("Enochian Proper"), for the most part, but it is good to recognise that other parts exist, especially since the first ("The Heptarchic System") has been recognised by modern G.'.D.'. and non-G.'.D.'. magicians, and many are beginning to explore its mysteries, especially with the release of Lon Milo Duquette's new book, Enochian Vision Magick . 1. The Heptarchic System From hept ("seven") and archy ("realms/kingdoms" - from archon : "ruler"), this is, as you can imagine, entirely devoted to the s...

Peregrin at Magic of the Ordinary has added a new resources page to his blog, replete with the Cromlech Temple aura papers I linked to before , along with a few new ones, and some more documents of interest. So, check it out, and don't forget to link to him and give appropriate credit for the sharing of these resources. G.'.D.'. Document Resource Page

"Each of the Golden Dawn women chose a motto to define her personal search for meaning and her link to the Divine. The motto became her magical name, because in naming herself after the image of a central principle, each woman strove to make herself over in that image. Yeats said, "There is some one myth for every man, which if we but knew it, would make us understand all that he did and thought." Through their mottos we an glimpse the inner myths through which these women gave life to their souls. As you read their stories and discover how their mottos weave through their decisions and actions, you might think about the magical motto you would choose for yourself to express your own inner myth. What is the central principle or image by and for which you would wish to live? Wisdom, Light, Peace, Joy, Justice, Bliss, Strength, Truth, Unity ... to quest, to love, to learn, to dare, to persevere. Is it symbolized by a Heart, Fire, Stars, a Sun, Divinity? All of these appear...

Some interesting quotes on why Westcott resigned all his positions within the Order: "It had somehow become known to the State officers that I was a prominent official of a society in which I had been foolishly posturing as one possessed of magical powers - and that if this became more public it would not do for a Coroner of the Crown to be made shame of in such a mad way." - W.W. Westcott "Or, as Aleister Crowley more picturesquely put it, the authorities 'intimated to Dr Westcott that he was paid to sit on corpses, not to raise them; and that he must choose between his Coronership and his Adeptship'. Westcott thought that someone was talking, although he had no idea 'who it is that persecutes me'." - R.A. Gilbert, Revelations of the Golden Dawn It seems to me, reading these accounts, and knowing how Mathers tried to oust Westcott with the revelations of the forgery of the Sprengel correspondence, and later paranoia about Westcott mobilising a riva...

One of the frequent questions I see from applicants or would-be applicants to Golden Dawn Orders is whether or not one can be Pagan and also be a member of the Order. Working within the G.'.D.'. system I find it hard to see why this is such a common question, as there seems to be a bit of a myth that G.'.D.'. material contradicts Pagan teachings or beliefs. However, in trying to put myself in other people's shoes in order to understand the question fully (and thereby hopefully provide a satisfactory answer), I decided to compile this post. The first thing that must be addressed is the very real presence of Christian symbolism within the Order. There are numerous references to Christ, sometimes in veiled format as Osiris, and the Adeptus Minor grade (and the entire Inner Order of the R.R. et A.C.) are overtly Christian in symbolism. This has been classified by many, including myself, as Rosicrucian and Gnostic, but even the casual observor of either tradition will be...

Many magicians nowadays practice Solar Adorations, such as Crowley's Liber Resh vel Helios or the Cicero G.'.D.'. variant of Kheperu Nu Ra (which I personally use). These correspond to the four pivotal points of the Sun's journey throughout the day: Sunrise, Noon, Sunset, and Midnight (effectively every 6 hours), and thus the ritual attunes us to the cycles of the Sun and its life-giving rays, as well as constantly reminding us of the spiritual throughout our day. But there is much more to this, and it can be found via correspondences, some of which I've come up with via meditations and ponderings. The gods are an obvious correlation and are taken from the Adorations themselves (in this case from the Cicero one, since I'm making correspondences within the Golden Dawn system itself). However, these four points of the day also relate to the four points of the year, for the Sun's journey is not merely a daily one, but a yearly one too. Sunrise is when the Sun...

An interesting aspect of Qabalistic understanding, one that is only found when the deeper Jewish roots of the Qabalah are explored, is the role of Yesod as the Covenant and the extension of this role to Tiphareth, the Covenant on a higher level. Let me explain. One of the names of Yesod in Jewish Qabalistic texts is berith , the Covenant, and this represents the circumcision of the foreskin, as per Jewish tradition. The reason for its association to Yesod is due to Yesod's relation, on the anthropomorphized Tree of Life, to the phallus (this became later the "reproductive organs" to include the feminine, but traditional [some might say more sexist] views would have seen man alone here, and woman was seen, in her entirety, in Malkuth, as depicted in this post ). There are frequent references in the Hebrew Bible, however, to a circumcision of the heart. For example, in Deuteronomy 30:6 (NRSV, my italics): "Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your he...

"Consider instead the following assessment: even as human progress is taking away the difficulties of staying alive, we are thereby gaining more freedom to pursue the even greater challenges of a different landscape in a different realm of our existence - one that has always been there. Our lives as animals are presenting fewer and fewer obstacles to overcome. A new kind of evolution is surfacing: the life of the individual stepping into the frontier of his own soul and exploring the confines of his interior psychological and spiritual vehicles." - Lyam Thomas Christopher, Kabbalah, Magic, & the Great Work of Self-transformation

In the second part of my LRP analysis I posted an image at the end of what I termed the "Breastplate of the LRP". It combines the four Divine Names into a small 4X4 Table, and, according to my meditations, relates to God as the Tetragrammaton (YHVH) ruling over the Twelve Tribes of Israel (the twelve remaining squares). At the time of sharing this image I had not yet figured out which Tribe would be assigned to which letter, but on a casual glance at the Tribes of Israel & the Zodiac Signs lecture given by Mathers for the Philosophus grade (later employed in Zelator in the Stella Matutina) I came to an interesting conclusion. This lecture gives a table of the 12 zodiac signs, the Twelve Tribes, 12 relevant angels, and the 12 permutations of YHVH. What I'm interested in here is the permutations, as they offer the key to assigning the Tribes to the Tablet given above. The astute reader may immediately notice something about the above table (barring the ...

"The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was well known for its Equinox Ceremony, and, indeed, for its lack of a Solstice equivalent, which has been a cause of query for many students, both inside and outside the Golden Dawn system. The Equinox & Solstice Ceremonies of the Golden Dawn , by Pat and Chris Zalewski, offers an intriguing title, which may beguile many readers, in light of the above facts." To read the rest of this review, click below: "The Equinox & Solstice Ceremonies of the Golden Dawn" Book Review