On Sincerus Renatus' Golden Dawn Blog, Frater Peregrin commented:Thank you once again for another very interesting essay. There were elements there new to me and it was very well put together. As you may know (being a member of a small Australian Order) I have no connection to the larger European or American Orders and have not read much about the 1999 Reformation. I am therefore intrigued that the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega has a Rosicrucian Outer Order. Am I correct in assuming this change was instituted to bring the whole Order more in line with some of the traditional European Orders that did not have an Hermetic Outer Order and Rosicrucian Inner Order? (an innovation of the GD and its immediate precursors). Obviously you are not in a position to reveal any secrets. But I am curious if at Neophyte in the ROAO one is (re)confirmed as a member of the Body of Christ, which many people see as a hallmark of the Rosicrucian mystical tradition. Please accept these questions in the spirit they are made - genuine curiosity. Thank you.
Care Frater Peregrin,
Thank you for your interest in the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega. You will recall that when the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded in 1888, the outer was Hermetic rather than Rosicrucian. It was the Second Order that was Rosicrucian, the R.R. et A.C. It was actually S.L. MacGregor Mathers himself who changed this in 1909 when he founded the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega. In the Alpha et Omega, the entire three order superstructure became Rosicrucian, including even the outer order, although all three additionally remain firmly rooted in the Hermetic tradition as well.
Therefore, when we reformed the Alpha et Omega in 1999, we decided to make this distinction even clearer, by adding the five petaled Rosicrucian rose to the banners of our outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. With this addition, we symbolically announced to the world that the rose of the spirit has blossomed upon the cross of the Golden Dawn!
The reasons for the Rosicrucian Reformation of 1999 were many. First of all, the Golden Dawn was never intended as any sort of orthodoxy, with its teachings set in stone once and for all for all time. On the contrary, it has always been an extremely dynamic and evolving system.
Moreover, the publication of Golden Dawn material by Crowley and Regardie caused some interesting developments but also posed some serious problems. On the one hand, we have all of the growth in the Golden Dawn community that we are witnessing today. This has carried with is some surprises, like certain Golden Dawn orders branching off in untraditional yet interesting Thelemic and New Age directions and introducing unconventional ideas like Astral Initiation.
Our order, on the other hand, has remained traditional and faithful to the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions. This also has meant, however, that we found ourselves in the odd situation of continuing to require people to swear oaths of secrecy about material that had meanwhile become readily available in any bookstore. Even the magical system of our Second Order, the R.R. et A.C., had been published and could be used by anyone. This made it extremely odd for us to expect Golden Dawn initiates to wait until they got into our Second Order, the R.R. et A.C., to practice magic that they were practicing already and could readily buy in any bookstore. Believe it or not, however, this remains the case with other Golden Dawn orders until today!
Those of you who understand how magical egregores function will grasp what a terrible situation all of this creates. For example, there are even Satanists using our sacred pentagram rituals and Qabalistic and Enochian hierarchies for God-only-knows-what! Just drop by YouTube and search for "Pentagram Ritual" and see what comes up on the first page to see what I mean. The problem is that all of the energy of these rituals, since they are using the Golden Dawn's magical hierarchies, become a part of the Golden Dawn egregore, including the extremely negative energy of the rituals being performed by the Satanists you find on YouTube and others like them.
We therefore decided that something needed to be done. Thanks to the publication of Golden Dawn material by Crowley and Regardie, it was impossible to put the Genie back in the bottle. So, to begin with, I took this development yet one step further nad published the Ritual Magic Manual, making the old R.R. et A.C. system of Sephirothic, Elemental, and Astorlogical available to everyone in a user friendly format. This was primarily to help the Golden Dawn comunity, because the Golden Dawn leaders I had experienced in America didn't have a clue how to work the system beyond the Opening by Watchtower.
I was appalled by this situation. In fact, after I became a 5=6, one well known Golden Dawn leader took us inside the Vault to show us "Vault Work." What this individual then did with us was in reality a New Age, "guided fantasy" that was controlled down to the tiniest detail - like you read in path working or channelled books. This - we were told - was "scrying."
I asked this same Golden Dawn leader questions about using Supreme Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram to invoke the walls of the Vault and about which hexagrams, etc. to use to invoke a single square of the Vault wall. These questions were met with uncomfortable silence and a quick change of subject. Today, I find it amusing when I hear American Golden Dawn leaders criticizing my Ritual Magic Manual. Before I published this book, most of them didn't really even understand the distinction between Golden Dawn skrying and New Age guided fantasy!
Prior to my publishing the Ritual Magic Manual, most American Golden Dawn leaders could not perform more than the most rudimentary aspects of the R.R. et A.C. magical system (the LBRP, LBRH, and the Opening by Watchtower). They had no idea how to perform Golden Dawn astrological magic nor did they even fully understand what its purpose really is, since this is not clearly spelled out by Regardie, who himself was not even a Major Adept.
Please don't just take my word for this. Rather, please ask the American Golden Dawn leaders - the ones that keep publishing negative reviews of the Ritual Magic Manual and attacking the Alpha et Omega on their websites, fora, and blogs a few questions about advanced magical techniques I didn't publish in the RMM. You will see for yourself how incomplete their training is, in reality. Ask them, for example, which color pentagrams and from which angles, etc., you should use to invoke sub-angles, or better yet, to invoke individual squares of the Watchtower Tablets. Ask them which God Forms to use. You will see how their magical training leaves off with what I published in the RMM.
Or better yet, ask them which pentagrams or hexagrams to use and which names to vibrate to invoke any random square or any of the walls of the Vault of the Adepts. You will see that they do not know. Golden Dawn leaders should know these things by heart! They are well known to any of Second Order Adept of the Alpha et Omega because I circulate flying rolls on these subjects to deepen that training to Adepts of the Alpha et Omega beyond what I published in the RMM.
In writing the RMM, I made the R.R. et A.C. magical system more readily available to more people than ever before. Much of this practical knowledge had been all but lost to modern Golden Dawn orders. In return for my service, the Ritual Magic Manual, the Alpha et Omega and myself have been criticized and attacked over and over by competing Golden Dawn orders.And this nonsense continues even until today. There is one Golden Dawn order, for example, that continues to falsely proclaim on their website, that the RMM contains "demonic invocation." I have repeatedly refuted these misrepresenations, even openly on their own forum. Nonetheless, they go on publishing these deliberate falsehoods, merely to try to scare people away from the manual and from our order.
Frater Dean Wilson on the
Mishan Ha Echad Blog wrote:
Peregrin at Magic of the Ordinary made a somewhat distressed post (and one that I and many others can empathise with) on the state of modern Golden Dawn groups, the constant flame and turf-wars, and what has ultimately turned into a "Battle of the Blogs" in recent months. Sufficed to say, it is my intent that Mishkan ha-Echad will never be party to this kind of behaviour, which does no one in the Golden Dawn community, nor the name and spirit of the system, any good.
The HOGD/AO applauds you, Frater Wilson, for supporting a clean-up of the defamation against Golden Dawn groups flooding the internet. Our order particularly condemns the use of anonymous websites and blogs to defame any Golden Dawn order or personally attack their leaders.
I understand that there are some people out there that feel very frustrated becuase of how the HOGD/AO has been constantly attacked and defamed for years now. I can understand how some of you may wish to lash out against our attackers. Putting yourselves at their level is not the answer, however. I urge you to support our order's peace initiatve by showing restraint instead.
Frater Peregrin, on the Magic of the Ordinary Blog wrote:Yes, it will great to end the ‘turf wars’ as you describe them. Being isolated in a small traditional Order in Perth, Australia, I have no background how they started. I do know they have cluttered up the Net and any searches on our tradition finds them fast. So, without taking any sides, I do like the idea of David Griffin’s that a first step should be to completely remove ALL flame, attacking, offensive posts/sites NO MATTER WHO put them up. Get rid of it ALL from ALL SIDES, so at least newcomers and seekers can see what our tradition is really about: love, service and light.
This invitation and sign of good faith not only fell on deaf ears, but several Golden Dawn orders have actually used it to declare open hunting season on our order. The Golden Dawn order that we requested a reciprocal act of good faith from responded by turning their Yahoo forum into a non-stop, personal attack machine on the HOGD/AO, its members, and on me.
Most people hove already seen through how the HOGD/AO has been regularly attacked and defamed for years on the websites, fora and anonymous blogs belonging to competing Goden Dawn orders. For the benefit of those who might still be confused about this, here is a quick summary. There are several Golden Dawn orders that compete with the HOGD/AO for new members. These competing orders are upset about the Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages and esoteric transmissions that we teach and transmit to our members in the HOGD/AO because all they have to offer students is the GD material that Regardie published.
So, to compensate for this deficiency, these orders try to scare people away from the Alpha et Ome with all sorts of personal attacks, by creating and spreading unfounded Nazi rumors, etc., and publishing all of this nonsense partially out in the open, and in tendem even with even nastier stuff on anonymous blogs, websites, etc.
These same groups continue to use smoke and mirrors to try to cover their tracks. They write blogs chock full of attacks on our order, for example, yet claim in the same blog that they are the ones being attacked! It's sad that this has become the best that some Golden Dawn orders have to offer.
A new round of such personal attacks broke loose last week on these competing Golden Dawn orders' fora and anon blogs, following our order's release on YouTube of a video documentary of the ritual and lectures at the 100th Anniversary of the Alpha et Omega in Paris from the Spring Equinox. Sadly, the competing Golden Dawn orders felt threatened by the success of our videos and launched an all out attack and defamation campaign. They even wheeled out again the same old tired and unfounded "Nazi" accusations they have been spreading for years, trying to scare people away from our order. This time, they even falsely claimed that the Rosicrucian Golden and Rosy Cross I wear in the videos is a "Nazi Iron Cross" and that our Hegemon is really a member of the "Ku Klux Klan," merely because his white cape has a hood!
These accusations, of course, have no basis at all in reality, but the competing Golden Dawn orders their fear-mongering tactics to scare new members away from us and to them anyway. I find all of this unnecessary because the HOGD/AO is not looking to "steal" their members anyway. With our YouTube videos, we were just trying share what our Order is doing. Our reward for sharing - pointless and petty attacks from other Golden Dawn orders.
All of this is particularly pointless because there is no reason for these orders to feel threatened to begin with. There is plenty of room for all of us in the Golden Dawn community. In fact, the Alpha et Omega is not even really competing with these Golden Dawn orders anyway, as we are far more selective than they are about who we let in and advance in Grade anyway. Our order is interested in quality rather than quantity of members. We are certainly not interested in the sort of mass membership these other Golden Dawn orders are pursuing. If we were, then why would we make it so difficult to get through our outer order, which is the most demanding of any Golden Dawn order that exists today?
In 1999, once my publication of the Ritual Magic Manual suddenly made the R.R. et A.C. magical system readily usable for Golden Dawn initiates and others everywhere, it became even more essential that the Alpha et Omega reform our magical system to protect our magical egregore. Thanks to the Ritual Magic Manual, Golden Dawn initiates everywhere suddenly became able to work the entire original astrological magic system of R.R. et A.C., despite the limitations of knowledge of of the leaders of their own orders this magical system. The problem was, however, that now even the Satanist crowd you find on YouTube when you search for "pentagram ritual" could use the entire system as well!
Therefore we set out to reform the order along traditional Hermetic and Rosicrucian lines. Thanks to the Ahathoor Grand Temple in of the Alpha et Omega in Paris, the A.O. possesses all the esoteric transmissions and more, that once had been used to create the original Golden Dawn system. We still, nonetheless, did not simply eliminate all published material or we would no longer really be a Golden Dawn order.
We therefore instead took a pragmatic approach, and moved everything published to our outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This transformed the Alpha et Omega into a magical order from the very beginning. Therefore, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega remains until today the only Golden Dawn order that will teach you how to practice magic from the very beginning.
This has not made us very popular among other Golden Dawn orders, as they make people wait for years to practice magic, only because all they really have of substance to offer their students is the published Regardie material. To compensate for this deficiency, these orders attack us on this point, and argue that this is dangerous because people are not ready for magic when they join the order. This is a just a silly argument though. What is so dangerous about giving people guidance and supervision to practice the magic they learned from the Regardie books and are already practicing anyway?
The real reason why these competing orders keep attacking us is their relative lack of substantial material to teach their students. Whereas the teachings of these attacking Golden Dawn orders begin and end with the published Regardie Golden Dawn material, the Alpha et Omega covers this material already at our beginners level in the HOGD. Where the other orders leave off, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega just gets started!
Once we had beefed up our outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, we next set out with the real challenge; to create a new, unpublished curriculum for our Second Order, the R.R. et A.C. To accomplish this we first asked "What are the traditional sources used by S.L. MacGregor Mathers and W.W. Wescott in creating the original Golden Dawn"?
We obviously wanted to follow the same lines of synthesis he used and to remain firmly within the Golden Dawn tradition. We therefore resisted the temptation to go off in a Thelemic or New Age direction like competing Golden Dawn orders had done.
It is clear that the Golden Dawn falls clearly within the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions instead, and that these traditions are the real fundament upon which the Golden Dawn rests. Everything else builds on this foundation. For example, Golden Dawn, Qabalistic and Enochian magic overlay the Hermetic foundation of astrological magic. Since the Qabalistic and Enochian hierarchies were profaned through publication, they are already being used by everyone for who knows what, including by the Satanist crowd. It was therefore clear that these should only be used in our outer order with the rest of the published material.
We, of course, kept astrological magic in the Second Order, but building further upon the published material. Moreover, to protect the egregore of the Second Order from all of the negative energy being generated by the misuse of the published Qablalistic and Enochian hierarchies for harmful and selfish purposes, we introduced unpublished early Egyptian, and Chaldaen magical hierarchies, unpublished sigils, etc into the Second Order.
We also introduced vast Tarot material from pre-Golden Dawn, Rosicrucian sources, as well as the rest of the magical system that only had begun to be introduced by S.L. MacGregor Mathers with the I-A-O formula. This is a whole branch of Rosicrucian magic in itself, of which the I-A-O formula is only the tip of the iceburg.
Finally, since earlier Rosicrucian orders before the Golden Dawn had all practiced alchemy, it was essential to include this as well. This presented a serious problem, however, as Rosicrucian alchemy is a veritable labyrinth for the uninitiated. Although we possessed a vast wealth of historical Rosicrucian alchemical documents, we were nonetheless lost in this labyrinth.
And lost we would also have remained, had our decision to include Rosicrucian alchemy in our Second Order not attracted the attention of the secret order of Contintental European Hermetic alchemists that Mathers called the "Secret Chiefs of the Third Order." We met with them in Paris in 2002, and at this historic meeting, they transmitted to us all of the initiation rituals and teachings that had originally been intended for S.L. MacGregor Mathers to complete the Third Order of the Golden Dawn.
Once we had the Third Order curriculum material at our disposal, we were finally able to understand the complete initiatic function of the Second Order. This permitted us to finish reforming the A.O.'s Second Order to truly prepare Adepts for advanced Third Order work, not even yet been available yet in the time of S.L. MacGregor Mathers.
These are just a few examples of what you will find today in the reformed curriculum of the R.R. et A.C., the Second Order of the A.O. And this is just the tip of the iceburg! Still, I have gone into greater detail here than ever before in public, in order to put false rumors to rest coming from competing orders that accusing us of no longer being "traditional" Golden Dawn.
These orders also accuse of having destroyed the veil between the First and Second Orders. I can understand that they see things this way, because there is no veil between "our" Outer Oder and "their" Second Order, since all they offer there anyway is well known, published material. Within the Alpha et Omega itselfwe have in reality, however, actually repaired the veil that separates the First and Second order, which had been rent asunder by Crowley and Regardie.
Moreover, their accusation that the A.O. is no longer "traditional" Golden Dawn, raises an important point that helps to further distinguish the Alpha et Omega from other Golden Dawn orders. The Alpha et Omega is the inheritor of a vast array of Hermetic and Rosicrucian spiritual lineages and esoteric transmissions that enable us to train our Adepts, far beyond that which is available in the material published by Aleister Crowley and Israel Regardie.
Since most competing Golden Dawn orders have only well-known, published material to offer their students, they are now attempting to impose some sort of "official canon" or "Golden Dawn Orthodoxy" that defines "traditional Golden Dawn" exclusively by the content of Golden Dawn historical documents and the Crowely and Regardie's GD publications. There are several major problems with this.
First of all, the Golden Dawn system as published by Regardie, remains a truncated system that leaves off at the relatively low, Adeptus Minor level. S.L. Magregor Mathers died before he could finish the curriculum for the rest of the Second Order or had received the Third Order material from the Secret Chiefs. The Alpha et Omega today, thanks to renewed intervention by the Secret Chiefs has finish the work of the Second Order begun by Mathers, healed the woulds inflicted by Crowely and Regardie, and today initiates and teaches in every grade of all Three Orders. I will write another blog at the future date on the true nature of the work of the three Magisteria of the Golden Dawn's Third Order. Let it suffice to say for now that the Grades of the Third Order are certainly not reserved merely for disincarnated "Astral Masters."
A second problem arises because certain Golden Dawn orders consider the Golden Dawn as an isolated phenomenon, as though the Golden Dawn had just fallen out of the sky. This myopic and limited vision of the Golden Dawn fails to consider the specific place of the Golden Dawn as a late flowering of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions, and misguidedly attempts to eliminate the Continental Rosicrucian Roots roots of the Golden Dawn altogether.
In truth, the Hermetic and Rosicrucian spiritual lineages and esoteric transmissions are of great spiritual value, and go far beyond published Golden Dawn material. The Golden Dawn orders attempting to narrowly define the "Golden Dawn tradition" as a completely separate from the Hermetic and Roicrusian traditions, do so merely out of a sense of inadequacy. They are afraid because it is impossible for them to compete with the Alpha et Omega in this arena.
Unlike other Golden Dawn orders, the Alpha et Omega is a manifestation not only of the Golden Dawn, but of the sum total of the accumulated wisdom of the entire history of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions. And so in 1999, Anno Reformation Fraternitatis, the Alpha et Omega, founded by S.L. MacGregor Mathers in 1809, added the five petaled rose to our banners, proudly proclaiming to the entire world that we are not just another Golden Dawn order, but that we are a truly Hermetic and Rosicrucian order as well.
And now, ten long years later, we have revealed our Banners and East and the West to the world! This is also why in the videos we recently published on YouTube, I wear the Golden and Rosy Cross of the 18th Century Rosicrucians, which was the forefather and model upon which the Rose+Cross lamen of the R.R. et A.C. was based on to begin with.
And with this revelation in our videos in celebration to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, we proudly proclaim to the entire world:
"Behold, brothers and sisters, for upon the cross of the elements of the Golden Dawn, the rose of the Spirit has blossomed and bloomed!"
It is a shame that - in response to our sharing - that our order has in return received such petty personal attacks. It is a pity that people even on a spiritual path so easily see an enemy in their neighbor rather than a brother. It is a unnecessary for people to feel threatened and attack what they do not understand. They could instead question it and try to expand their consciousness. After all, the Golden Dawn exists today because some asked “Why?” and then proceeded to discover the answers.
Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum, Yeheshua
G.H. Frater Lux Ex Septentrionis
Imperator Ordinis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega
"Ex Deo Nascimur.
In Yeheshua Morimur.
Per Sanctum Spiritum Reviviscimus"
Dear David,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for this post. You have indeed cleared up a few strands of interest and gone into more detail concerning your Order than before. There is much in this post for those with ears to hear.
I must admit to some laziness here in letting yourself and Fr S.R. reply to my questions rather than searching for answers on the websites. Thank you. It is very intriguing to me that the Rosicrucian influence was explicitly stated by the changes of Mr Mathers in 1909. Our Order is commissioned from an Order than traces lineage back to a couple of Temples chartered by Mathers in 1902 (I am not claiming this as fact, only what I have been taught). It seems our mother Order followed the traditional pattern and was independent of the 1909 changes of Mr Mathers.
I would like to respond to a few of the interesting ideas here.
With respect I have a different take on the egregore issue. While acknowledging many GD and RR et AC practices and symbols are debased by Satanists, Pagans and others I do not feel it hinders our egregore. This is for two reasons.
Firstly, in my 25 years of bouncing around the traps I have not come across a single Pagan, Satanist etc using the GD material with the correct inner keys. This is because they have not received the material from a teacher able to pass them on, both on the outer and more importantly on the inner levels. They are therefore merely rehearsing the outer rubrics of the practices and drawing on their own astral sources of inspiration and power or inner sources unconnected with the currents of the GD / RR et AC and often at odds with them.
Secondly, the boundaries of the egregore of authentically connected Orders are kept inviolate by secret symbols, deities, signs and words known only to them. This is how our Order has always functioned while still utilising some of the GD material, some of which has been incompletely published.
Magic. I am genuinely surprised at your description of the parlous state of the Golden Dawn community in America prior to your publication of your manual. I am not accepting it on face value but see no reason for you to lie. All the processes and practices, like Astrological magic, invocation of the blessings of the individual squares of Tablet or Vault Wall, you describe are standard RR et AC fare. All the RR et AC initiates I have ever met are adept in these practices and know them by heart, so much so they become fused with our consciousness. They are the foundations upon which the Adept grade magic works.
I simply cannot see how the situation you describe could have come about. Regardie and other public sources are very incomplete, but if one is intelligent and carefully analyses and then over years practices even these published sources, transformation occurs. The student will then, if they have the correct motivation, find inner and outer sources of wisdom coming their way. It does take time though, and perhaps the Adepti you speak of were impatient?
In fact, as you have read, I criticised your RMM because I felt it did not go far enough into the inner workings and elaborated the formulae into many pages when an intelligent Adept should learn the formulae and reproduce the particular forms themselves.
Your Order’s decision to start the practice of magic in the Outer Order is interesting. As you know one of the traditional functions of the Outer Order was to prepare and balance the initiate before the practice of magic and thereby avoid the dangers of disruption, personality imbalance etc. These are very evident in the magical, Thelemic and pagan communities. You write: “What is so dangerous about giving people guidance and supervision to practice the magic they learned from the Regardie books and are already practicing anyway?” Nothing, if they are already practicing the magic, in fact they NEED guidance in that case. However, for example, in our Order all outer members are strongly discouraged from the practice of magic and are not actually accepted into the Order unless they are clear that it is not a magical Order. So we try to work the traditional approach in modern times with some success though with few initiates as most do want the magic ASAP Can I be so bold as to enquire how, in general terms, your Order avoids the dangers outlined above while exposing outer members to magic? Thank you.
Peace Initiative. I do hope your proposal to have multilateral removal of offending GD material is taken up. If people are concerned are about the genuine nature of this, they only have to look at the fact that you have not asked me to remove any of my criticisms of the RMM or your approach to advertising your Order. This I believe is because you see these as genuine, personal concerns not blanket attacks.
Thank you very much for sharing some of the expansions and directions of your Order. As anyone holding an Order will know, this is not an easy thing to talk about publically. Again I am intrigued with your comments on the full series of formulae of the Gods and the Powers which was expressed as the IAO. I have no idea if we are talking about the same material but I am aware of our Order teachings labelled ‘traditional’ – meaning from the English mother Order – on the same themes. It was always assumed these were from the Mathers’ RR et AC. Curious :) Thanks again.
Peregrin wrote:
ReplyDelete> Once more I publicly back your call to have a multilateral removal of all abusive and offending GD sites, blogs and posts. This will be a good start. I have not heard much about this suggestion on the blogs but do not participate in the various forums where i imagine it is being discussed. I do hope people are taking it seriously. I am sick of having to give the caveat “don’t look on the internet” when trying to describe our tradition to people
I am sorry to say that this proposal has so far simply been ignored by the other orders involved in this. Instead, our unilateral cessation of posts critical of other Golden Dawn leaders on the HOGD/AO forum was merely taken as an opportunity for open season on the members of HOGD/AO. Vast amounts personal and ad hominem attacks on the members of HOGD/AO have actually greatly intensified on certain fora since our peace initiative last Equinox.
There is a positive side to all of this, however. Despite the rhetoric of certain individuals, it is rapidly becoming readily apparent who precisely remains invested in using personal attack and defamation of Golden Dawn orders as a marketing tool. I do not believe that rank and file members of these orders will tolerate this sort of behavior from their leaders forever.
There are more and more people in the Golden Dawn community who are observing what is happening and are demanding that the personal attacks and defamation end on all sides. If the leaders of Golden Dawn orders will not put an end to this, it is only a question of time before their members themselves will, even if this means voting with their feet.
At the end of the day, a Golden Dawn order is not about the personal interests of any one individual who happens to be entrenched leadership of any particular order, but rather about the spiritual aspirations of its members.
The Alpha et Omega made a powerful statement in this regard by passing the leadership of our order to G.H. Frater Lux Aurora (Jean-Pascal Ruggiu) as of the Equinox. This presents an opportunity to prevent personal grudges from interfering with the development of better relationships between orders.
Our offer to remove materials deemed offensive by other orders on a mutual basis with other orders remains on the table. Unfortunately, it appears that so far only the Alpha et Omega understands the importance of such a clean-up and has shown any willingness to put the interests of the entire Golden Dawn tradition ahead of its own marketing efforts.
I still remain hopeful, however. As time passes, pressure will grow more and more on those remaining invested in using personal attack and defamation as marketing tools to end these blind practices that are harming the reputation of any one person or order, but of the entire Golden Dawn tradition.
Peregrin wrote:
>? I think the most important point you raise is the recent trend for GD blogs that claim to be impartial observers. When read it is obvious to anyone with half brain that the aim of the blog is really an underhanded attack on one or another Order. It is very sad and I hope these things disappear very soon.
Let's hope people do see through this very nasty stuff. The recent attacks on HOGD/AO members on the fora of competing orders have quickly been repeated on the anonymous defamation blogs with far more virulent falsehoods attached. I have been trying to reason with the anon bloggers, even those who think they are helping our order with what they are doing. I want them to understand that they are not helping anyone with defamation. If they really want to help, then they should do so by zipping their lips.
There is a lot that the legitimate blogging community can do about this problem as well. We just added links to half a dozen or so blogs from our blog and labeled them "Honest and Influential Golden Dawn Blogs." The rest of the Golden Dawn community could do the same. Another thing we can do is to refuse to allow comments posted to our blogs by the defamation trolls. We might not be able to completely eliminate the use of anonymous defamation blogs by certain orders, but we can at least expose their game on our own blogs and isolate them in the Blogosphere.
> If people are concerned are about the genuine nature of this, they only have to look at the fact that you have not asked me to remove any of my criticisms of the RMM or your approach to advertising your Order. This I believe is because you see these as genuine, personal concerns not blanket attacks.
Of course I did not object. Genuine criticism and debate are what the Blogosphere is all about. In fact, your criticism was influential in our order reorienting its marketing strategy to its present direction.
Some orders are presently still trying to use the Blogosphere as an extension of their marketing department though. I believe that they are in for a rude awakening. Many companies and corporations have tried this already and it has blown up badly in their faces.
Golden Dawn orders have been using their Yahoo fora for years as marketing tools, including to try to undermine the credibility of other groups using defamation as a tactic. We have also seen anonymous websites advertised on Usenet also used like this.
This has just recently arrived also on the Blogosphere. The Blogosphere is different though.
I believe we are entering into a new phase wherein many new Golden Dawn temples will spontaneously appear around the world. With diversity comes philosophical differences - and discussion of these differences can be a very good thing. The internet offers an amazing opportunity for this. But there is no need for petty personal attacks.
Likewise, I believe we will see a vast proliferation of new and truly independent Golden Dawn blogs. This alone will isolate the anonymous defamation blogs. Moreover, orders that try to bring a scorched earth marketing strategy into the Blogosphere will eventually be punished by the anarchistic nature of the Blogosphere itself. Here, the little guy has much voice as the greatest corporation. That is why the HOGD/AO has set out instead on a new course of radical transparency.
The HOGD last Equinox set out on a new course of trying to bring an end to defamation in the Golden Dawn community. We are still on that course despite the non-stop attacks on our order continuing on certain fora and related anonymous websites and blogs.
Why should not the merits of the philosophies of the various temples and orders stand on their own merits instead. Do they really need to be propped up with a lot of nastiness?
The HOGD/AO is committed to this course and we are staying the course despite taking heavy fire from those who would continue to fan the flames and preserve old conflicts and destructive tendencies.
Perhaps I am naive, but I am convinced that, the longer HOGD/AO holds this course, the worse the people who want to keep the defamation fires burning are going to look despite their rhetoric. They will eventually look so bad that they will finally stop. It is already becoming rather obvious who is most invested in continuing with the old status quo of endless flame wars.
Fraternally,
David Griffin
Care Frater Peregrin,
ReplyDeleteYou wrote: "Your Order’s decision to start the practice of magic in the Outer Order is interesting. As you know one of the traditional functions of the Outer Order was to prepare and balance the initiate before the practice of magic and thereby avoid the dangers of disruption, personality imbalance etc. These are very evident in the magical, Thelemic and pagan communities. You write: “What is so dangerous about giving people guidance and supervision to practice the magic they learned from the Regardie books and are already practicing anyway?” Nothing, if they are already practicing the magic, in fact they NEED guidance in that case. However, for example, in our Order all outer members are strongly discouraged from the practice of magic and are not actually accepted into the Order unless they are clear that it is not a magical Order. So we try to work the traditional approach in modern times with some success though with few initiates as most do want the magic ASAP Can I be so bold as to enquire how, in general terms, your Order avoids the dangers outlined above while exposing outer members to magic? Thank you."
Thank you for your question. I will be happy to answer it to the limits of my ability. At least this reflects my understanding from my experience both before and after the reformation of 1999, when this change of curriculum was first made.
I can however understand your concerns, i.e. of overburdening the psyche and aura of the initiate. I had these too in the beginning.
It is interesting that you compare with Thelemites. I suppose you allude to initiates of the O.T.O. Although I have full respect of the O.T.O. and most Thelemites as seekers of the mysteries, and how much I hate to compare different sister traditions (knowing that we all share our passion for the search of the greater Light and Truth), I cannot refrain to use this exemple to show what our reformation in reality is all about.
Yes it's true that Thelemites, amongst other post modern initiates and occult students, pursue the practice of Magic. The big difference between these practitioners and their organization (i.e. the O.T.O. in this instance) is that it's not an instructing school of magic. Initiates in this organization follows their own path as regards how to implement the array of different magical techniques which are available to all (i.e. through Regardie's and Crowley's books). This has the potential to create a real mess, as you say, both spiritually and mentally, not being directed by structure in one's work.
Contrary to this, the initiates of the Ros. Cruc. Order of the A.O. follows a very rigid regimen of gradual magical workings as relation to the standard and correspondences as set forth by the Golden Dawn, i.e. following the path and ascension of the Tree of Life.
So a Practicus of our Order, as an example, invokes all forces relating to Water and the Sephirah Hod - nothing else or less. In my own personal experience and that of my students, I know the difference. The Outer Order process is now greatly enhanced, but at the same time "weeds out" the unprepared. Yes, the initiatic process is much more testing and tries the candidate to a greater extent, but that is for the good in my opinion.
Some leave because they cannot handle the forces, i.e. out of spiritual immaturity. Others leave because of the time consuming required work and study, i.e. out of laziness. The rest are much more tempered and prepared for the Greater Initiation of the Adeptus Minor.
Considering the advanced workings of the reformed R.R. et A.C. this preparation is both required and needed. So the reformed curriculum is certainly not for anyone interested in the G.D. It requires perseverance, courage, determination, maturity, seriousity and sincerity. Following the required work, it is extremely difficult to advance just by chance or outer appearance, and intellectual capacity alone.
I wouldn't say that it is more dangerous to be an initiate today. But it is definitely more difficult, and stressful. The initiate is protected by the egregore and current of the Temple and Order. He or she is under strict supervision of his tutor or mentor, which is a must with this kind of advanced curriculum. Any signs of unwanted effects are easily spotted; the initiatic process is either adjusted, checked, suspended or discontinued. My experience is that the initiate him- or herself intuitively or by necessity knows when the obstacle is to great, be it the sheer workload or spiritual unpreparedness.
Knowing that the initiatic process of the Golden Dawn in itself is quite intense, if your are dedicated to the path, it is even more so and greatly enhanced now after 1999. The archetypal synchronistic events are even more emphasized. Each initiation (or advancement) is a species of a deliberate crisis for the initiate; it may bring forth spiritual development or regression. Even more so now. But as I said, the mere structure of the work, together with close turorship and the protective egregore, makes this a great opportunity for the sincere student.
May I also direct you to an old discussion I had with someone else regarding the same discussion which develops this even further:
http://gyllenegryningen.blogspot.com/2008/07/lineage-and-initiation.html
Even if it was a little bit heated I believe it makes our position quite clear in contrast with the critique, which is understandable as is yours.
Fraternally and sincerely,
S.R.
Mr. Griffin,
ReplyDeleteThank you for offering up your sincere and honest wishes for peace in the online GD world. I have blogged about it here in case you'd like to read it: http://goldendawnmember.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
Fr. AENE
Care Frater AENE (my dear brother of the Golden Dawn),
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, you have just taken a major, important step and also made an essential contribution to the cause of Golden Dawn harmony. I salute you for taking this step.
You see, here in the Blogosphere there is no difference between you or I. What difference does it make to which Golden Dawn order you belong or do I? For that matter, what difference does it make what Golden Dawn Grade you hold or do I?
Here in the Blogosphere you and I are equals. We each have an equal voice. Indeed, this is the beauty and power of the Blogosphere - that a even a Neophyte from a small, independent temple in Denver or Chicago has the same voice as a Magus from one of the largest Golden Dawn orders in the world!
The Blogosphere is not a platform for Golden Dawn marketing or for anonymous defamation of other orders. These are misuses of the wonderful opportunity that the Blogosphere presents to us that, in fact, endanger this incredible potential.
The Blogosphere is a place where we in the Golden Dawn community can all gather together and discuss things that lay close to our hearts. Here there are no orders. Here there are no temples. Here there are no grades. Here we are all Brothers and Sisters of the Golden Dawn and we all have an equally important voice.
Numerous of our Golden Dawn brothers and sisters from a variety of temples and orders are already speaking out against the misuse of the Blogosphere by anonymous trolls to attack and defame other orders. Well, there is a simple solution to this problem, and you, my dear Brother AENE are already a part of this solution.
What we need is an Army of Brothers and Sisters of the Golden Dawn, from all of the temples and all of the orders, each with his or her own blog. You each have the same right to be heard here as do I or any other Golden Dawn leader.
The Golden Dawn is not about the egos or economic interests of its leaders. It is about the spiritual development of its members.
And in my opinion, many of the problems facing the Golden Dawn community are the direct result of rank and file Golden Dawn initiates not having enough of a voice in what is happening in our community.
How many of you are fed up with all of the constant bickering?
How many of you are fed up with the constant demonization of other Golden Dawn orders or their leaders?
How many of you are fed up with the anonymous trolls spreading defamation that harms not only this order or that temple, but the reputation of the entire Golden Dawn.
Well, I say, Brothers and Sisters of the Golden Dawn, the time has come to make your voices heard. Far too long have only the voices of Golden Dawn leaders been heard. Far too long have a small minority of anonymous trolls had a disproportionate influence in the affairs of the Golden Dawn community, simply because that silent majority of Golden Dawn Brothers and Sisters have not yet found their voice.
I, urge you, Brothers and Sisters of the Golden Dawn of all temples and all orders, to look with favor and curiosity here at the blog Frater AENE - because here one of our silent majority of our Golden Dawn Brothers and Sisters at last has found his voice!
There is no need for us to shout at one another. I have no doubt that there are many among us who have grown weary of all the shouting. Let us instead speak softly with one another. For a multitude even of whispers is more powerful that the loudest shout!
I urge you therefore, Brothers and Sisters of the Golden Dawn, each one of you, to pick up your pen and find your rightful voice. I urge you to begin blogging with all the rest of us. There is much we can learn from one another. There is much we can share with one another.
In fact, if enough of us become active in this dialogue, we will not have to shout down the trolls who would reek havoc on the entire Golden Dawn tradition with their lies and defamation!
Instead, let us speak softly with one another ...
... And the anonymous trolls?
Let us together softly whisper them down!
Fraternally and sincerely, your brother in the light of a rising new Dawn,
Lux ex Septentrionis,
David Griffin
PS - Brother, I have just added your blog to the growing roll of honest Golden Dawn bloggers on the HOGD/AO blog. I sincerely hope that this list will grow and grow. If there is anyone I have overlooked, please let me know!