Golden Dawn Blog by Frater Yechidah

For many, making magical tools is a significant challenge, and for some it is even an obstacle. After all, not everyone has woodworking or metalworking skills, so the Elemental Implements can seem quite daunting. Something that I found interesting when going through Ritual G was the wording for creating each of the implements. There is a subtle distinction between making/forming  two of them (the Wand and the Pentacle) and adapting the remaining two from existing objects (the Dagger and the Cup). For the Fire Wand, we are told that it is "convenient to make the wand of wood," though cane (or bamboo) with an existing hollow and notches presents an easy alternative. Yet either method requires some amount of assembly. For the Air Dagger, we are told that "any convenient dagger, or knife, or sword may be adapted for this purpose; the shorter the better." For the Water Cup, we are told that "any convenient clear glass cup may be adapted..." ...

The Four Implements (the Wand, Cup, Dagger, and Pentacle) are perhaps the most iconic and memorable set of tools in the Golden Dawn tradition, relating to the four elements, the Tetragrammaton, and the four suits of the Tarot. Due to their elemental nature, some groups have incorporated their use into the Outer Order, tasking initiates to make and consecrate each particular tool in the grade related to that particular element. On the surface this might seem like a good way to better imbue the tool with the associated element, but the big problem with this, aside from Inner Order teaching not belonging in the Outer Order, is that these four implements are not to be separated (as would be the case if divided by the four Elemental Grades). Ritual G tells us that these implements "have a certain bond and sympathy between them," elaborating as follows: "So that even if one only is to be used, the others should also be present. Even as each of the four Elemental T...

The Hiereus (Greek for "Priest") is the sacrificial priest, the Guardian of the Sacred Mysteries, and the Master of Darkness; he is also called Fortitude by "the Unhappy", and is represented by the god-form Hoor (Horus). His station is on the Throne of the West, symbolic of the increase of Darkness and the decrease of Light. His duties are to guard the Gateway of the West, which is the Place of the Guardian against the Multitudes (Qlippoth) that sleep through the Light and awaken in the Twilight, and also to watch over the reception of the Candidate and the lesser officers in the doing of their work. He wears a black mantle/tabard, symbolising the Darkness that was upon the Face of the Waters, with a white cross on the left breast; and a red collar with a lamen depicting a white Triangle on a black background. He carries the Sword of Judgement, and the Banner of the West, otherwise known as the Banner of the Evening Twilight. The feminine form of Hiereus is Hierei...

One of my personal magical "pet peeves" is the reversal of the old G.'.D.'. attributions of Air to the Dagger (cutting through the illusions of the mind, etc.) and Fire to the Wand (indicative of the fiery Will, etc.) to Fire for the Dagger and Air for the Wand. This latter approach has been taken up by many Wiccan groups and has been the cause of quite some muddying of attributions, and a lot of confusion therefrom. In a discussion on this topic a while back, Morgan Drake Eckstein mentioned that Francis King and Stephen Skinner, in their Techniques of High Magic , proposed the notion that the traditional attributions, as per Regardie and other earlier sources, were "blinds", and that they should be reversed. He gave the following quote from Skinner's Complete Magician's Tables : "The only notable exception to Golden Dawn practice is the reversal of the ascription of two magical weapons back to the traditional grimoire ascription of the Sword t...