Golden Dawn Blog by Frater Yechidah

There are two ways people can get psychic abilities. They're born with them or they develop them. Some have natural psychic abilities and also develop them further, while others block out any inkling of a sixth sense that might hint that there is more to life than the physical. The problem for those with natural psychic abilities is that it can be extremely difficult to control them. They are not a skill that has been learned, but something that just is and just happens . Some, through their struggle, learn to control their abilities, while others find them slipping out of their hands at every grasp. Developed psychic abilities, on the other hand, usually bring a level of control, depending on how gradually they are developed, how much work the student is putting in, and what system they are using. In fact, it's less of an "ability" and more of a skill, a tool that can be taken up when needed and locked back in its box when not. This is important, because sometimes...

Sandra Tabatha Cicero has joined the Golden Dawn blogosphere, launching a blog for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (HOGD), which can be found here . Tabatha is one of the Chief Adepts of the HOGD and is also Supreme Magus of the Societas Rosicruciana in America. She has co-written and co-edited a number of books with her husband, Chic Cicero, and has written a number of excellent articles on the Golden Dawn and other topics of interest to Golden Dawn magicians. Check out her blog and welcome her to the blogosphere. She hasn't posted much yet, but there's a sample from her Westcott's Enochian Tablets article from Hermetic Virtues  and some thoughts on Osirification which provide some interesting reading.

In February of this year Nick Farrell, the head of the Magical Order of Aurora Aurea , released Mathers' Last Secret: The Rituals & Teachings of the Alpha et Omega . The book caused a stir among many people and groups. Some were pleased to see more unpublished documents shared with the wider public, while others saw it as a further profanation of the Golden Dawn system. It's technically the second book in a three part series, with the first originally intended to be published by Thoth Publications a few years ago. It's almost guaranteed that the other two books will cause further controversy within Golden Dawn circles, but they provide some valuable information about the Alpha et Omega, the order that Mathers established when the original GD split.

The air is everywhere, all around us. Yet it is only when we concentrate it within a vessel, within the lungs, that there is life. Therefore we must take that which is spread here and there, from all ends of the Universe, and channel it into a vehicle through which we might come alive and bring life to our magical goals. The enactment of Magic is the exhalation of the breath which leads to Form, but it must be preceded by an inhalation, which sculpts our aspirations in Yesod before they reach fruition in Malkuth. This is why Aleph, the breath, begins the Hebrew alphabet, and why Beth follows, for the birth of Gimel cannot occur if the divine breath is not channelled into the house. Only with the union of Force and Form can anything truly be achieved. This relates to Flying Roll No. V , because the Imagination is the Air, ever-present yet lacking in direction. The Will is necessary to guide it, to make the Jack of All Trades a Master.

Issue 16 of Hermetic Virtues has been released, containing the following excellent articles: + Westcott’s Enochian Tablets by Sandra Tabatha Cicero + The Hermit by Harry Wendrich + There is No Part of Me Which is Not of the Gods by Nick Farrell + Mathers’ Last Secret: A Review by Samuel Scarborough + The First Degree Tracing Board – A Comparative RitualDiscussion by Timothy Walley + Modern Magick: Twelve Lessons in the High Magickal Arts: A Review by Samuel Scarborough + Raising the Serpent in the Western Mystery Tradition Part III: The Great Work by Harry Wendrich +Revelation of the Holy Guardian Angel by Jayne Gibson To obtain a copy, click here .

Recently I was asked about the colours of Malkuth by a member of my Temple and it brought to mind the multiple arguments that are possible over the shades, tones, and vibrancy of the colours we use within the Golden Dawn system, and how often different Temples and magicians disagree, or, in some cases, contest each others' use of those colours in important pieces of ritual furnishings, such as the Vault of the Adepti. While the Vault itself requires a detailed study and is a Great Work unto its own, I will address how I view the colour schemes for something a little more basic, and that is the four-fold scheme for Malkuth. The four colours traditionally used for Malkuth in the Golden Dawn system are citrine, olive, russet, and black, representing the four-fold division of the Elements, the Four Worlds, and the other four-fold schemata that are intrinsic to the Qabalistic teachings. In many instances we encounter pictures of a disc, such as the Earth Pentacle, or the Seal of the ...

On this Day C, Corpus Christi , may we contemplate the Dark Night of Death that leads to the Day of Life. May we recognise that all strife we have passed through is the necessary pain of the symbolic death. May we renew our oaths and obligations, just as we are renewed through the spiritual rebirth. Post Centum Viginti Annos Patebo. Ex Deo Nascimur, In Yeheshuah Mormiur, Per Sanctum Spiritum Reviviscimus. "Buried with that Light in a mystical death, rising again in a mystical resurrection, cleansed and purified through him our Master, O Brother of the Cross of the Rose. Like him, O Adepts of all ages, have ye toiled. Like him have ye suffered tribulation. Poverty, torture and death have ye passed through; they have been but the purification of the gold. In the alembic of thine heart through the athanor of affliction, seek thou the true stone of the wise." - Adeptus Minor Ceremony

Aaron Leitch , author of Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires has just announced the soon to be released (and much anticipated) two volumes on the Enochian language, the first dealing with the history and the second being a very indepth and thorough lexicon. Details from his website are as follows: The Angelical Language Vol I : The History and Mythos of the Tongue of Angels Explores the reception of the language by Dee and Kelley, and the Biblical mythology behind the language as related to them by the Angels. This book begins with an exploration of the mystical traditions that influenced Dee's work (the 50 Gates of Binah, the legends of Enoch and the Book of Soyga), and continues with an in-depth study of the 49 Tables of Loagaeth (Speech From God), the 48 Angelical Keys (or Callings) and the unfolding saga surrounding them in Dee's journals. Special added features include an analysis of the English Poetry (translations) of the 48 Keys, instructions for the magicka...

Issue 12 of Hermetic Virtues has been released, containing the following excellent articles: + Hypatia of Alexandria by Lon Milo DuQuette + The Qualities that Make a Good Magician by Samuel Scarborough + Sacred Geometry: Magical Polygons and Polygrams, part 2 by Sandra Tabatha Cicero + The Tree of Life Projected in the Third Dimension by Andrew Catero and Darcy Kuntz + A Key to Magical Understanding by Anon + An Invocation of Netzach by Samuel Scarborough To obtain a copy, click here .

I have been asked many times about the use of the shewstone, particularly when it comes to Enochian, and I feel it necessary to describe the differences between skrying on the back of your eyelids ( au naturel , as it were) and employing a tool such as the shewstone. Personally I find I get more out of the former technique, as I am more experienced with it, but there is a problem in that it is very straining. It takes a lot out of the magician. The shewstone, however, acts as a kind of conduit. It alleviates some of the strain on the seer by employing a half-way house for the images, thoughts, and so forth to emerge. When it comes to Enochian the more conduits available the better, particularly when the shewstone is placed on top of the Sigillum Dei Aemeth. The Sigillum, when opened (the easiest way to do this is an invocation employing the names within it), provides a vortex which feeds into the shewstone, not only empowering it, but allowing a clearer and more accurate portrayal. One...