Golden Dawn Blog by Frater Yechidah

"With each of the schisms and quarrels which have occurred from time to time, various official documents have been lost, or, what is simply criminal, deliberately destroyed. Unvelievable though it may sound, the attitude seems to have been, 'If I can't make use of these papers. then nobody shall. Into the fire they go.' When one of the Chiefs of a North county Temple died many years ago, it is alleged that his widow promptly seized all his Order manuscripts and, so we are told, destroyed them. Very much the same sort of thing has occurred in other of the Temples. This lamentable behaviour has been confined to no particular group. Where there have been students of the Order this insane attitude has always manifested itself. There is, so I am told, an individual in charge of one of the Temples whose understanding of certain magical matters is not too profound. Rather than acknowledge this, which would have been forced upon him were documents on these subjects distributed...

The Dadouchos (Greek for "Torch-bearer") is the Consecrator of the Temple, its members, and its candidates. He is represented by the god-form Thaum-Esh-Neith (Neith), and his station is in the South of the Temple, symbolising Heat and Dryness, which is the Place of the Guardian of the Lake of Fire and the Burning Bush. He is charged with the task of preparing the Lamps and Fires of the Temple for the Opening, and to watch over the Censer and the Incense for the duration of the ceremony. He wears a black collar with a lamen depicting a white Fylfot Cross on a black background, and carries the Censer of Incense. He bears a special relationship with the Stolistes in the Temple. The feminine form of Dadouchos is Dadouche , but Dadouchos is often used in practice for both sexes.

Issue 8 of Hermetic Virtues has recently been released, containing the following excellent articles: + The Rosicrucian Impulse: Magic, Mysticism and Ritual by Chic Cicero + The Tower, another new Tarot trump by Harry Wendrich + Abramelin and the Golden Dawn by Nick Farrell + Magical Maturity by Dean F. Wilson + Ain Soph and the Golden Dawn by Harry Wendrich + Review of a Previously Unpublished Alchemical Manuscript by Samuel Scarborough + The Alchemical Room by Tommy Westlund + A Solo Equinox Ritual by Samuel Scarborough To obtain a copy, click here . To read my article on Magical Maturity, check here .

The Phylax (Greek for "Guard" or "Sentinel") is the Watcher Without, the guardian of the temple. He is represented by the god-form Anoup emp Emenet (Anubis of the West) and is the counterpart of the Keryx, the Watcher Within. His station is without the Portal of the Hall, and it is his duty to keep out intruders, which is represented by the Sword he carries. He is also charged with preparing the candidate, and wears a black collar with a lamen depicting a white eye on a black background, indicative of the ever watchful gaze of Anubis of the West. The feminine form of Phylax is Phylakissa , but Phylax is often used in practice for both sexes.

There are numerous Offices to be held in Golden Dawn rituals, particularly in the early grades, where, for example, 11 people must hold Office for a Neophyte ceremony (the 7 floor officers and the 4 dais officers [technically the Hierophant has a place on the dais and floor]). This number becomes less as each grade passes by, with only a handful of Adepts dealing with the higher grade initiations. Below are listed the "floor officers" (i.e. those who actively partake in the initiations) that most will be familiar with, along with a short description of their overall roll. Chief Officers Hierophant - Initiating priest Hiereus - Sacrificial priest Hegemon - Spiritual guide Lesser Officers inside the Temple Keryx - Herald and Watcher Within Stolistes - Preparer and purifier Dadouchos - Torch-bearer and consecrator Lesser Officers outside the Temple Phylax - Sentinel and Watcher Without

"For, if one may speak of the Order as having a specific purpose, then that sublime motive is to bring each man to the perfection is his own Kether , to the glory of his own higher Genius, to the splendour of the Golden Dawn arising within the heart of his soul. And its technique is always encompassed through the uplifting of the heart and mind by a therugic invocation to Isis-Urania, the symbolic personification of the Sephiroth of the Supernal Light." - The Three Chiefs , by Frater A.M.A.G. (Israel Regardie)

Gnosticism has become increasingly popular over recent years, with the publication of the Nag Hammadi library, the even more recent Gospel of Judas, the blockbuster Matrix films, and, of course, the infamous Da Vinci Code book and film, not to mention countless others that slip under the radar of all but those who have “eyes to see”. However, all this popularity has led to a very skewed understanding of what Gnosticism is all about – some people think it was invented by Aleister Crowley, that it was all about Jesus' relationship with Mary Magdalene, or that it was a single obscure heretical group that didn't last very long. The Gnostics , by Andrew Phillip Smith, is an accessible book that dispels these erroneous views with a thorough introduction to the history, tradition, scriptures, and influence of Gnosticism in all its facets. The book, numbering just under 250 pages, is broad in scope, dealing with nearly all of the Gnostic groups of note from its inception two millenia a...

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...

"As the Oracle therefore saith: God is never so turned away from man, and never so much sendeth him new paths, as when he maketh ascent to divine speculations or works in a confused or disordered manners, and as it adds, with unhallowed lips, or unwashed feet. For of those who are thus negligent, the process is imperfect, the impulses are vain, and the paths are dark." - The Chaldean Oracles , translated by W.W. Westcott

When did magicians become such cynics?