Golden Dawn Blog by Frater Yechidah

A variety of popular books, and the advent of the internet, have created and perpetuated a number of errors in the Elemental Implements, which are being unwittingly copied and promulgated by a new generation of occult students. Firstly, Robert Wang's The Secret Temple gave the wrong Divine Names for the Elemental Implements, adopting the Sephirothic names instead of the Elemental ones (that we see in the Supreme Ritual of the Pentagram). His errors were duplicated and popularised by Donald Michael Kraig's Modern Magick . Wang and Kraig give the following: Fire Wand: YHVH Tzabaoth Water Cup: Elohim Tzabaoth Air Dagger: Shaddai El Chai Earth Pantacle: Adonai ha-Aretz The correct names are: Fire Wand: Elohim Water Cup: El Air Dagger: YHVH Earth Pantacle: Adonai Further, most depictions of the Earth Pantacle are missing a name: Aphar ( עפר ). This is another name for earth, often translated as "dry earth" or "dust". It goes ...

Many people wonder why the various names used in the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram were chosen over other alternatives, particularly when it comes to a name like AGLA, a notariqon of Atah Gibor leh-Olam Adonai ("Thou art mighty forever, O Lord."), which appears to have largely been selected because it has four letters. It is not difficult to understand the idea that since there are four directions, and thus there must be four names, that this motif would be continued in the formation of the names themselves. It is, after all, a continuation of the mystery of YHVH, the first name employed. But there is another reason that these must be four-letter names. If we look at the Hebrew names for the four directions, we have the following: Mazrach (מזרח) for East, Darom (דרום) for South, Ma'arav (מערב) for West, and Tzaphon (צפון) for North. The astute student will immediately notice that these are all four-letter names. Thus the most resonant names for the four...

One of the most pivotal principles of Golden Dawn magic is the practice of invoking the highest divine name one knows before anything else. This is frequently reinforced throughout the Order material. For example, from Mathers' Geomancy lecture: "Do remember that in one of the Ritual obligations, the aspirant swears that in all his magical workings he will always invoke the highest divine names that he knows. Thus he will always be working under the aegis of the divine." What is referred to here is the Netzach part of the Obligation in the 5=6: "I furthermore solemnly pledge myself never to work at any important symbol without first invocating the highest Divine Names connected therewith." That this principle is actually sworn to as part of an oath might tell the student just how serious it really is. Regardie also highlighted this principle frequently: "You are committed by the very nature of this system to invoke the highest divine Names you know when wo...