Golden Dawn Blog by Frater Yechidah

There are many misconceptions out there about what the Golden Dawn is. Instead of disputing or debunking them, let us look at what the Golden Dawn really is. These points are in no particular order, nor are they a complete representation, but they will hopefully shed more light on this more than a century old tradition. The Golden Dawn is a syncretic tradition that combines and unifies a multitude of magical systems employed in the Western Mystery Tradition, including, but not limited to: Qabalah, Astrology, Tarot, Hermeticism, Alchemy, Rosicrucianism, Enochian, Geomancy, and various other esoteric subjects. The Golden Dawn is a school that teaches a structured approach to magic, being primarily theoretical in the Outer Order (the Golden Dawn proper) and practical in the Inner Order (the RR et AC or Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis). Some have likened the requirements of Golden Dawn study to that of a college degree, with several grade exams and, in the Stella Matutina traditio...

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the "argument" that Hermeticism is the oldest thing in existence, stemming from Ancient Egypt (or possible Atlantis before it, as some argue). Now, while I appreciate that there was more than likely a system of philosophy and practice that was dedicated to Thoth (I'm not sure about the Greaco-Egyptian hybrid of Thoth-Hermes at this time, as this seems to me to stem from Greek Alexandria, and thus would not come into play in Ancient Egypt before Greece took control), I prefer to use the Academic distinction for this as Hermetism , because we're taking a big leap of faith in saying that one (Hermeticism) is the other (Hermetism). The fact of the matter is that we simply don't know if the Ancient Egyptian Thoth cult believed the things we accept as Hermeticism today, so we can say "I personally believe they did" but not "they did", as there's no textual evidence for it. Lack of evidence is not evide...

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...