Golden Dawn Blog by Frater Yechidah

One of the important things to realise when making tools within the Golden Dawn tradition is that the material largely does not matter. Unlike some grimoiric traditions, the Golden Dawn generally does not see the magic as being inherent within the material itself, but rather within the symbolism employed upon it. An example of this can be found in the Theoricus Adeptus Minor paper on the Ring and Disc (see Sandra Tabatha Cicero's The Book of the Concourse of the Watchtowers , p. 258): "The Ring and the Disc may be made of any material - cardboard will do - not too light, or the elasticity of the thread may vitiate its action." It may come as a surprise to many people that cardboard was a particularly common material used by the original members. For example, W.B. Yeats made a lot of his talismans from cardboard, pasting coloured paper on to make the various polygrams, etc. Yeats' Tzadkiel Talisman Yeats' Rose Cross Lamen This is not ...

[Edit 2012: I should point out that further research, contemplation, and discussion has led me to believe my prior views on sashes held by officers was wrong. The documents themselves make it clear that they were worn by officers in the original ritual, and many of my other points can be easily argued against. I leave the post intact for the sake of the debate, but I recommend any group wishing to follow the traditional Golden Dawn system keep the sashes for officers.] In a recent discussion with Nick Farrell on his blog the topic of officers wearing grade sashes in ritual came up. Both he and I are of the opinion that these should not be worn when holding an office, for a number of reasons: They can be impractical. An officer has enough to wear with a robe, tabard/cloak, collar and lamen, and so forth. Adding a sash to the mix only makes things more cumbersome. The Initiate may be, for practical reasons, of a lower grade than the office requires. For example, there may not ...

In the Neophyte Ceremony of the Golden Dawn a total of seven floor officers are required (although one could do without the Sentinel, since he/she doesn't really do much), but as one progresses up the grades one or more of these officers are dropped, until Practicus and Philosophus, when only the three main officers (Hierophant, Hiereus, and Hegemon) are required. One of the reasons for this relates to the grade that can hold the office. For example, a Neophyte can only hold the office of Sentinel. So, in order to prevent Neophytes from seeing Zelator and above, the Sentinel role is dropped. Some people argue that this is not specifically stated, since the Sentinel traditionally sat outside and can continue to do so for the rest of the grades. However, aside from the possibility of them eavesdropping (the natural curiosities of humanity kick in when vague mumblings of barbaric names sound out from the room next door), this would not follow the subsequent system that is applied to t...