The Secret Chiefs Debate: Traditionalist vs. Reconstructionist Golden Dawn

by David Griffin

Over the past week, the Golden Dawn has been rocked again and again by a series of aftershocks in the aftermath of a spiritual earthquake caused by recent revelation that the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn's Third Order are now finally transmitting the advanced Golden Dawn Inner Order (R.R. et A.C.) teachings to qualified Adepts from across the Golden Dawn community.

On the one hand, Adepts from across the spectrum of the entire community have been discretely seeking advanced R.R. et A.C. training. On the other hand, however, Golden Dawn buzz across the internet - from the Blogosphere to Yahoo groups - has reached decibels not seen in years.

To understand what all the fuss is all about, one must first consider how the Golden Dawn's Inner Order (R.R. et A.C.) came down to today's GD community only in incomplete form - as a truncated system of teachings ending with the beginners material published by Regardie and Crowley for Adeptus Minor (5=6) grade.

Secondly, today's Golden Dawn community has long been polarized into two distinct philosophical camps: Traditionalists vs. Reconstructionists. Among traditionalist Golden Dawn orders one finds, for example, the August Order of the Mystic Rose and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Alpha et Omega). Reconstructionist orders, on the other hand, include Pat Zalewksi's Order of the Golden Dawn and Nick Farell's Magical Order of Aurora Aurorae.

To the uninformed observer, all Golden Dawn orders may appear more or less the same. In reality, however, a vast chasm of fundamental philosophical differences separates Golden Dawn traditionalists from reconstructionists.

For example, Golden Dawn traditionalists view the Golden Dawn as a living organism that has never ceased to discretely function occulted in one permutation or another during its entire history. Reconstructionists Nick Farrell and Pat Zalewski each have written, on the other hand, that any possibly legitimate Golden Dawn lineage most certainly ended when Whare Ra closed its doors. Such reconstructionists view the Golden Dawn as essentially a dead tradition to be reconstructed and further developed through academic research and personal innovation.

Golden Dawn traditionalists see the Golden Dawn as but one outer manifestation of a much greater and older Hermetic and Rosicrucian tradition that has continued in its work uninterrupted for many Centuries.

Golden Dawn reconstructionists, on the contrary, argue that the Golden Dawn is an isolated phenomenon that has no real lineage nor connection to any preexisting Rosicrucian or Hermetic tradition or internal college.

Radical Golden Dawn reconstructionists, like Nick Farrell and Pat Zalewski, go so far as to argue that the entire Golden Dawn tradition is rooted in lies and deceit. According to radical reconstructionists, the traditional story of Golden Dawn origins is but a hoax perpetrated by Golden Dawn founders, Wescott, Woodman, and Mathers to give the Golden Dawn a faked Rosicrucian pedigree based on forged letters.

It is thus unsurprising that radical reconstructionists argue that the Golden Dawn's Inner Order, the R.R. et A.C, is equally rooted in lies and deceit. They argue that Golden Dawn founder, S.L. MacGregor Mathers lied even when he claimed to have physically met with Continental Hermetic and Rosicrucian Adepts in Paris in 1891, that Mathers referred to as the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order.

Radical reconstructionists claim that Mathers also lied regarding the source of the materials that he used to create the Golden Dawn's Inner Order, the R.R. et A.C., and on which he based the substantial Adeptus Minor (5=6) curriculum. Mathers claimed that this material came from the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order. Reconstructionists, Pat Zalewski and Nick Farrell, claim that this is pure deception and that the Golden Dawn is nothing more than the fruit of the personal research of Mathers, Woodman and Wescott.

Golden Dawn traditionalists argue that initiatic secrecy is important for many reasons, not the least of which is the sacredness with which initiates hold the blessings and fruits of initiation and training. This is the position that has at all times in history been held by all legitimate, traditional initiatic schools.

Golden Dawn reconstructionists, however, argue that secrecy has no real purpose and is only a tool of manipulation. Reconstructionsts Farrell and Zalewski have used this argument to justify the publication of secret initiatic materials. Many reconstructionists argue that all initiatic secrets ought to be revealed and some do their best to publish them with their own name attached to them first

Am I the only one who sees how self-serving and logically inconsistent the arguments presented above of the Golden Dawn reconstructionists really are?

What I can not understand is why on Earth anyone would want to initiate anyone into an esoteric system that they personally believe is rotten to the core, since it was founded as a hoax perpetuated on their students by liars?!?!?!?!

The only explanation that I can see for such a bizarre logical inconsistency is that such individuals must have a purely financial motivation. This at least would make some sort of sense. And indeed both Pat Zalewksi and Nick Farrell, for example, are making a lot of money off of the Golden Dawn - by selling books, tarot cards, expensive correspondence courses, etc. They therefore have a vested financial interest in teaching students an esoteric system that they themselves have argued is completely corrupt.

It is equally clear that the radical reconstructionist camp in the Golden Dawn community has a vested interest in the notion of the Golden Dawn being a forgery rather than an outer emanation of any physical Hermetic or Rosicrucian Internal College predating the Golden Dawn. Radical reconstructionists feel their entire house of cards threatened by the very existence of any Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn's Third Order.

It is therefore unsurprising that the recent announcement that the Third Order is releasing the original curriculum for the advanced Grades of the Golden Dawn's Inner Order has this past week led to a vast number of attacks on the very possibility of the existence of the Third Order on Golden Dawn fora controlled by the radical reconstructionists.

For example, Nick Farrell this week wrote:

"The real 8=3 (as opposed to the SM grade) which the third order belongs is beyond form and is on the other side of form. It is the place of Shekinah and other abstract concepts. Putting a committee of blokes in suits whose sole job is to pop up rarely and give chiefs of Orders an ego stroke would be a thoroughly useless and incorrect attribution (the concept is yesodic)."

I forgot to mention that certain Golden Dawn reconstructionists also argue that all Third Order grades are only for disincarnate entities. Let it suffice to say that this flies in the face of both the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions - as well as of concrete statements made by Golden Dawn founder, S.L. MacGregor Mathers. This sort of invention is a perfect example of how bad reconstructionism can end up creating bizarre fantasies that have nothing to do with legitimate initiatic tradition.

Tony DeLuce, leader of the Rosicrucian Order of the Golden Dawn wrote:

"Before Theosophy brought Eastern ideas to the West in the later part ofthe 19th century there wss very little of this sort of superstition found in the WMT. Of course everyone`s Guru in the East is an ascended Master and worshiped as God but in the West persons dedicated themselves to Christ. etc. and did not worship other human beings. There were of course Secet Societies of elect occultists etc. and much use of communication with Angelic and other hierarchies of being but nio need to get into contact with socalled Masters. Astral or otherwise. The "Third Order" of the GD is the Inspiration of our Tradition Itself and there is no need of a "middle man".

Mr. DeLuce here conflates the sort of Blavatskian "Astral Masters" taught by Felkin and Case with S.L. MacGregor Mathers' "Secret Chiefs of the Third Order," whom Mathers quite specifically claimed were physical representatives of a Continental European Hermetic and Rosicrucian internal college that he met in person in Paris in 1891.

Pat Zalewksi wrote:

"The yardstick to go by is what the so called secret chiefs give out to their disciples to teach, that's the yardstick to go by. Is what they give out worth it? If you think you are in touch with one then prove it - produce worthy material for the order that was beyond the capabilities of mathers. Just make sure it comes from this source and not a library."

"Frankly many of us are sick of this secret chief nonsense which is frankly a wank for some sort of astral legitimacy that cannot be checked in the physical world. You want to control a temple and promise the keys to the kingdom then channel a secret chief (or more than one). Or you can lower the bar and redefine the definition of a secret chief so that you can pick a patsy have his address. Its all crap and slight of hand. This is when the GD starts to become a belief system when the infallibility of the Secret Chiefs comes into play."

Pat Zalewski is dead wrong here. There is no channelling at all involved in this matter. The advanced Second Order curriculum is very real and stands on its own merits. Proof of this is available to any Adept willing to follow traditional rules and do the traditional work required for advanced initiation and training. 

This advanced Second Order material did not come channelled from any disincarnate entities. It came directly from Mathers' Hermetic and Rosicrucian Internal College that continues to physically exist in Continental Europe until today. And no - these advanced esoteric transmissions can not be found in any library. And yes - for any Adept who masters them it is obvious that they are the continuation of the Adeptus Minor material published by Regardie and Crowley.

I can clearly understand why certain Golden Dawn reconstructionists feel threatened by the emergence of the rest of the Golden Dawn's Second Order curriculum. They feel threatened by the existence of anything that they themselves can not find in libraries. The physical existence of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian Internal College from which the Golden Dawn originally emanated shakes to the core many of their cherished beliefs about the Golden Dawn and also poses an actual threat to the Golden Dawn profits in their bank accounts.

I can fully understand how the existence of the physical Third Order feels threatening to such reconstructionists. I likewise feel threatened as a Golden Dawn traditionalist every time the reconstructionists publish another document that I hold to be sacred to the Golden Dawn tradition. In fact, to Golden Dawn traditionalists like myself and other members of the Alpha Omega, if frequently feels like certain radical reconstructionists are attempting to kill the living Golden Dawn tradition,  so that they can recreate it in their own image.

In the wake of Nick Farrell's publishing the Mathers' recension of many Alpha et Omega rituals that had been in use in our order for many years, I attempted to express this feeling with humor. I ended up taking a lot of heat for this, coming from people claiming I was attacking Mr. Farrell and Mr. Zalewksi. 

Nonetheless, considering how radical reconstructionists keep insisting that the Golden Dawn is dead so that they can reconstruct it, I actually believe that the Borg from the Star Trek universe is a rather apt metaphor for what they are trying to do to our beloved Golden Dawn tradition!

Are they trying to kill and reconstruct
the Golden Dawn tradition?

SCANDAL: The Debate Surrounding Release of the Advanced Golden Dawn Curriculum by the Third Order

- David Griffin Answers Golden Dawn Critics -

 David Griffin
Imperator, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Archon Basileus, Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega

The buzz has been massive on the internet surrounding, my recent revelation that the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order have finally decided to transmit the rest of the Golden Dawn's traditional Second Order curriculum (6=5 and 7=4). I have been forced to rewrite this article, as more and more personalities from the Golden Dawn community have been weighing in on the subject.

Nick Farrell 

For example, Nick Farrell, leader of the Magical Order of Aurora Aureae, just wrote:

I don't doubt that Mathers thought that he was in contact with the third order. Certainly he was trying to contact something with the ring and disk. However, people always assume that he was talking to them about the Golden Dawn teachings and not some bizarre Jacobian plan to get Edinburgh back for the Stuarts. There is a lack of papers from Mathers from all his inner plane communications (after all he had years). One thing that came from Mathers when he was productive was the Z documents which I see as a brilliant connection between modern magic and masonic techniques. But because you have contact with secret chiefs in one phase of your life does not mean you have them later, or even that you keep the same ones. As I showed in Mathers' Last Word these were dropped in the AO during Mathers life time (perhaps picked up later after his death). If Mathers was talking to secret chiefs then they must have been ordering him to water down the GD instruction, and not pursue any 6=5 and 7=4 teachings and structure. They were also advising him to use postal initiation systems and the higher grades to make cash. More positively they could have equally been telling him to throw his weight behind public facing events like the Isis workings (again cash seems to be the motivating force).

The point about secret chiefs is that they require faith. Not in the secret chiefs, but in those who say they have contact with the secret chiefs. Contact with secret chiefs or inner plane contacts cannot be proven other than by the quality of teaching. If that teaching remains secret or placed in a grade that many would never obtain then it becomes less likely. When people claim they have such contacts, or a cosmic mediators, or what ever, then they are breaking the first rule of secret chiefs... you never say if you have that contact. So if they are breaking that rule, and seem to be using their Secret Chiefs contact as a sales gimmick to lure people to their group, you have to then evaluate what exactly is being taught here. If there is nothing new, then there nothing to see here and it is all just Zinkish con-trick. However if their public face demonstrates real wisdom, a desire to help one's fellow man, then they might be on to something. However I know of one chief of a small non-golden dawn order who tells his students that he is off to see his secret chiefs for special training and boards a plane to South America and goes on a two week drugs bender (apparently they are cheaper there). He does not tell his students about taking drugs, but one of his students said that his lectures are always so much better after he has been in touch with his secret chiefs energy.

Care Frater Nick,

You make some interesting points here, but your career as a tabloid journalist is getting in the way of your would-be career as a Golden Dawn historian yet once again. Much like the fatal flaw with your books, here again, you mix a tiny amount of historical fact with vast amounts of personal conjecture, and serve up your speculations as fake historical realities as thinly veiled attacks on the entire Golden Dawn tradition.

To begin with, there is no historical evidence at all to support your false statement that S.L. MacGregor Mathers was selling mail order grades. Secondly, you are seriously misrepresenting what Mathers himself said about his contacts with the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order. For example, in a paper written by Mathers for Theorici Adepti Minori, Mathers went into great detail about his contact with the Secret Chiefs. It is noteworthy that Mathers' own words bear no resemblance whatsoever to thr tabloid-like assertions you make about Mathers yet once again here.

So whose word should we take on the subject of Mathers contact with the Secret Chiefs?

That of Golden Dawn founder, S. L. MacGregor Mathers himself ...

Or that of Nick Farrell, a career tabloid journalist with an axe to grind against Mathers' Alpha et Omega as a competing order?

It is noteworthy, Frater Nick, that you present things as though Mathers' contacts with the Secret Chiefs were merely some sort of New Age channelling. Mathers himself, however, stated clearly that the Third Order were real, physical people with whom he met physically in Paris in 1891.

As much as I disagree with you about most things, Nick, you are correct about at least one important things. Mathers later work, in fact, did not show the same brilliance as it did immediately following his meeting with the Secret Chiefs in 1891 or when Mathers founded the R.R. et A.C. in 1892. You are also correct that Mathers was never was able to finish the 6=5 Adeptus Major curriculum nor the 7=4 Adeptus Exemptus curriculum, and that Mathers later work does not at all reflect his earlier magical genius.

This does not mean, however, as you erroneously conclude with disparaging intent in your book, that Mathers took the AO in a Masonic rather than in a magical direction.

What this actually does show, however, is important evidence supporting the existence of the Secret Chiefs and the Third Order as an actual, physical order.

In reality, the actual reason why Mathers' later work lacks its earlier brilliance - is simply that Mathers had meanwhile been cut off by the Third Order. There were several reasons for this. One reason I mentioned earlier for this was Crowley's having profaned the material that Mathers was given by the Third Order through publication. The most important reason, however, why Mathers was cut off by them, is that the Secret Chiefs were quite unhappy with what Mathers himself had done with the material they had given him for the Second Order.

I am quite surprised that neither you, Nick, nor hardly any of the other of the other contemporary Golden Dawn leaders have ever even noticed what a mess that Mathers made of the Second Order material! The greatest problem with the R.R. et A.C. is the hopeless jumble Mathers made of magical egregores, mixing Egyptian magick with Qabalistic magick, Enochian magick, etc.

This mess is the primary reason why the published R.R. et A.C. magical material works as badly as it does. How on Earth are you supposed to invoke Amoun using Jehova and Elohim? They were bitter enemies in ancient Egypt, for goodness sake!

This is certainly not the form in which Mathers was given the Second Order material. What Mathers was given by the Third Order for the R.R. et A.C. was a coherent system with internally consistent magical hierarchies. It was Mathers himself who made the mess out of this that has come down to us today.

So, as you see, Nick, I am myself not uncritical of Mathers either. However, I criticize Mathers where criticism is due, and not merely to make money by attacking the Alpha et Omega and the Golden Dawn community with tabloid-like books of little historical value.

Next, Morgan Drake Eckstein, of the Bast Temple of the Golden Dawn (BIORC) in Denver on the Gleamings From the Golden Dawn blog wrote:

Morgan Drake Eckstein

I will admit that I am a happy little cynic, with a touch of skepticism tossed in on the side. I realized this today (yet again) when I was reading someone's blog post about Mathers and his contact with the Third Order.

And I found myself talking back to the computer, saying "I don't believe that Mathers ever had contact with the Third Order."

Cue the boos. I know. It is not something that one should actually admit out loud.

Because of the secret nature of the system, this is one of those things that you tend to have to take on faith. Or not. This is assuming that you don't have access to the stuff that the ultra-secret-minded groups have access to.

Then again, you could have access to non-published stuff and still have this opinion. Nothing that I have been given access to indicates that Mathers or Westcott had access to anything beyond the stuff that could be found in any large research library of their day and age.

Of course, I know that I am not a properly trained scholar (whatever that is in this particular case), and not a properly-vetted Magus, and all that jazz. Therefore, my belief and opinion should be ignored.

Nevertheless, I wonder how many other people in the Golden Dawn tradition feel the same way as I do.

Part of the reason for kicking this skepticism around is that I feel that a large part of a current claim is being laid upon this fact (or myth if you are a skeptic like me). And I wonder how much this disbelief affects my feelings about the revolutionary claims being made currently.

This is one of those times, you can tell that I have spent too much time in management and freelance wirting. It is also one of those times, one can tell that I have dealt with more than my fair share of liars and frauds who just happened to head up their own occult groups, complete with false lineages.

For all I know, the current claims being made could be real. But honestly, I personally have been burned too many times to trust anyone's word that the reason for secrecy is not just for their own personal gain. Yes, it is a sad world that I live in.

Feel free to call me an idiot in the comment section. Everyone else is going to.

Care Frater Morgan,

I can not imagine who would be calling you an idiot for making these comments. That would certainly not be me. 

It is natural that you are skeptical about Mathers' contact with the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order. Unless the Third Order one day decides to release additional historical evidence for Mathers' contact with them, the only public evidence presently available is Mathers own word for this, together with the brilliance of the (5=6) Adeptus Minor level of the Second Order system of the Golden Dawn.

You are mistaken, however, in your implication that the validity of the esoteric transmissions contained in the Rosicrucian Order of AO's (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grades, stand or fall with Mathers' veracity or with historical proof of the existence of the Golden Dawn's Third Order. On the contrary, the teachings speak for themselves and stand on their own merits. As for proof, we are not limiting these teachings to Adepts of the AO, but are making them available to qualified candidates from the entire Golden Dawn community. Anyone who wants proof merely has to satisfy the same requirements that have been in place for Golden Dawn Adepts since the beginning.

I admit to being a bit concerned with the logical consequences for you as a Golden Dawn leader, however, of your stated belief that Mathers lied about his contact with the Third Order and that he made up the entire Golden Dawn Second Order system based merely on his own research. There are several important problems with this argument, especially coming from a leader of a Golden Dawn temple.

To begin with, if Golden Dawn founder, S.L. MacGregor Mathers is a lier as you stated above and the entire Golden Dawn tradition is based on the lie of the existence of the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order, then why on Earth would anyone who holds this belief want to initiate others into a such system? 

Why lead others in a system one personally believes to be rooted in deception at the core? 

Why teach others a system that one personally believes is so fatally flawed? 

Do you not see the logical inconsistency for any Golden Dawn leader in the philosophical position you are espousing?

Soror AID

Next, Soror A.I.D. from Pat Zalewski's Order of the Golden Dawn said:

Faith should not be part of Ritual Magic. If there is a secret third order they will have to find some way to let me know of their existence and the X is their contact before I could believe. And their existence needs to be accompanied with some demonstration of their knowledge level. Faith is what gets cults in trouble.

Care Soror AID,

You are missing the point here. This is not a question of faith. The real question here is, are you really satisfied with your development as a Golden Dawn initiate being cut off with the basic traditional teachings from the (5=6) Adeptus Minor level you can buy in any esoteric bookstore?

As for evidence, I recently gave one example on the Golden Dawn blog of how the Golden Dawn's magical systems for the (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grades in today's AO curriculum, augment and complete those of the Golden Dawn's (5=6) Adeptus Minor grade, by using the example of the magical squares of Agrippa included in the Golden Dawn's original (5=6) Adeptus Minor curriculum. Please allow me to refresh your memory. On the Golden Dawn blog, I recently wrote:

For example, until my publishing this article, no one in the entire esoteric community has known that the squares published by Agrippa and included in the Golden Dawn's (5=6) Adeptus Minor grade curriculum are not the real squares, but are only encrypted versions, and only the tip of the iceburg of a vast, incredible system of theurgy that unlocks untold numbers of parallel dimensions on the inner planes, ultimately culminating in union with the Divine at the center of the square, properly understood as a three dimensional cube.

Until this article, no one has understood either what the "planetary seals" published by Agrippa really are, when in fact, they are keys to "unseal" the "sealed" squares in order to reveal the true, unencrypted magic squares, and to unleash the true magick and full power of the system.

Once unlocked with the proper initiatic keys, these magical squares reveal to the advanced Adept the entire, secret magical hierarchy of entities of the Golden Dawn system of magical squares, that remain safely encrypted from those who would seek cheap notoriety by publishing the secret names and sigils of the true, servient spirits of Agrippa's squares.

Please note that the Golden Dawn's advanced Second Order teachings on the vast theurgical system occulted behind the encrypted version of the magic squares published by Agrippa and included in the published Golden Dawn material, is but one small example to show how the Golden Dawn (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus material completes the published Golden Dawn (5=6) Adeptus Minor material. There are many such ways that the higher grades complete the published material, although at this juncture I am only permitted to draw attention to this one example, since all of the advanced Second Order teachings beyond Adeptus Minor (5=6) remain unpublished and unprofaned, oath bound material.

Again, this is not a matter of faith. On the contrary, for Adepti Majori and Adepti Exempti of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, it is a question of personal knowledge and magical practice. Would you like proof? Such proof is completely open to you. All you have to do is fulfill the necessary prerequisites like everyone else and that have not changed since the beginning of the Golden Dawn. I will go deeper into this in my response to the other commenters below.

Peregrin Wildeoak's "Calvin" Avatar

Next, Frater Peregrin (who has presented himself on the internet as a Christian who is not really a Christian, a Pagan yet not a Pagan, and a Buddhist but not really a Buddhist either, and who comes from a Golden Dawn temple in Australia that is far too secret for Peregrin to name - but that had no problem with Peregrin publishing the secret Aura Papers of the Golden Dawn's Cromlech temple), wrote:

Great post, Morgan :) Thanks.

The most amusing thing about this whole issue is that some Orders insist on Mathers’ contact as fact for their own legitimacy - go figure that one!

Anyway, as I have said elsewhere, people arguing for anyone’s, Mathers or even current Imperators, contact with a secret third order is pointless. The paradigm is this:

1. The Third Order IS real but are really, really secret (they could be next door!)

2. People who have contact with the Third Order have proof of their existence, which is very nice for them, I am sure.

3. But they cannot share this proof with others - even if they wanted to, as the Secret Chiefs would be sore pissed and frown mightily in their direction.

4. So we regular unwashed folk must simply accept the existence of the Third Order based on the assertion, honesty(!) and integrity(!) of those claiming contact.

Such a paradigm is hardly conducive to fraternal and logical debate or discussion.

So, really there is NO point in discussing the Third Order in relation to Mathers or others in the same way we can discuss evidence for Mathers’ love of military uniforms and attitude to sex.

Of course, once upon a time the mythos of a Third Order, secret and powerful, was an inspiring presence and moved people towards greater transformation and magic. I doubt it does for many today as we have seen that it can also lead people to dysfunction and trolling round Europe looking for CRC’s tomb.

I would suggest those who claim to know Mathers was in contact with the Third Order (or their current leader is etc), simply stop talking about it. Unless they want to enter a rational and provable discourse by providing proof, there is no point.

‘Those who know, are silent’ seems a good motto here. Thanks :)

Care Frater Peregrin,

You are playing Calvin ball again. Do you think that merely restating this flawed and previously refuted argument over and over in a thousand different venues on the internet -  somehow makes it more valid? Or do you think it somehow gains propaganda value through mere repetition. In any case, the holes in this argument are gaping.

Calvin Ball

To begin with, both you and Morgan are erroneously implying that the claim of the Rosicrucian Order of A.O. regarding the traditional Golden Dawn's Second Order curriculum, somehow stands or falls with historical proof (or lack thereof) of Mathers' claims regarding contact with the Golden Dawn's Third Order as well as of its existence. You are mistaken. As I showed above, it certainly does not.

Next you are using your old "no proof" mantra yet again - in a transparent and ineffective attempt to undermine credibility - by yet again ignoring actual presented evidence - and instead falsely stating  over and over like a broken record that we are offering "no proof" to back up our claims regarding advanced esoteric teachings. Such cheap rhetorical tactics - while perfectly suited for Calvin ball - have no place in real, rational discourse. 

In reality, we have stated over and over for years that individuals willing to meet the traditional requirements by doing the work and maintaining initiatic secrecy, will have all of the proof that they want. 

Moreover, despite your deceptive yet transparent rhetorical tactics - the AO has over the years presented even to the public a great deal of initiatic evidence about what we teach - by making hitherto unknown information available even to the public (as above with the Agrippa squares, for example), as far as is possible in consideration of oath bound material, of course. 

You are also playing Calvin ball by misleadingly claiming that the limitations imposed by initiatic secrecy makes any fraternal discussion impossible. This has no basis in reality either.

I do have a question for you, however, Peregrin:

"What are you - a magician or a historian?"

Since obviously you are a Golden Dawn magician - your incessant application a historical yardstick - instead of a magical one - to essential matters concerning the Golden Dawn - is just more Calvin ball.

More Calvin Ball

The central point of Alpha et Omega claims regarding the Golden Dawn's Second Order  is, in reality, that AO magical teachings for the (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grades, unlock the secrets of the (5=6) Adeptus Minor magical systems and gives the advanced Adept access to the full power of the systems.

As evidence, I have already publicly provided one example - as was permitted to me by my teachers. I notice that you conveniently ignored this evidence (as usual), but instead are attempting to divert everything to a historical discussion instead of a magical one. In other words - more Calvin ball.

As further refutation of your mistaken and misleading "no proof" mantra regarding the existence of advanced R.R. et A.C. teachings beyond the published 5=6 material, let me quote again from my previous article:

"Let it be known that the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega does not want to dominate any other order. On the contrary, we want to see the entire Golden Dawn community continue to grow in the direction that was originally intended for the Golden Dawn by the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order. We therefore have no problem with sharing the teachings of the higher grades beyond (5=6) Adeptus Minor with Inner Order Adepts from Golden Dawn orders and temples other than the AO."

Finally, let us consider your erroneous assertion that:

"we regular unwashed folk must simply accept the existence of the Third Order based on the assertion, honesty(!) and integrity(!) of those claiming contact."

This argument makes no sense at all. Our order has stated clearly that we offer initiation and training in the Golden Dawn's (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adpetus Exemptus esoteric transmissions regardless of Golden Dawn temple or order affiliation. We are not restricting this material to AO Adepts only.

In other words, anyone who wants proof can have it. All one has to do is to fulfill the same requirements that have from the very beginning been required of all legitimate Golden Dawn Adepts. 

Simple, really.

If some people are too lazy to make the necessary effort - or do not have the integrity that has always been required of real Golden Dawn Adepts - it is certainly not the fault of the Alpha et Omega!

What is silly - is for such individuals to run around claiming that there is "no proof" that the traditional (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus initiatic transmissions exist - merely due to their own personal shortcomings.

Frater JC

Finally, Frater J.C., of the O.G.D./S.S. wrote:

Well said party has contact with the "third order," because it is something they invented in modern time. They'll state they founded it with one breath, and then in the next breath state that the third order just gave them some new teachings.

At least some from said group have the respectable approach of honesty and state very clearly that they while are researching such things as hermetic alchemy to add into their tradition, which I think is great, others will say they are learning the same things, in this context "secrets," from mysterious nobodies.

Care Frater JC,

Morgan stated his belief that Mathers just made up the entire (5=6) Adeptus Minor curriculum out of his own research. This reflects a bizarre belief (quite prevalent in our Golden Dawn community) that no higher Rosicrucian or Hermetic initiatic transmissions could possibly exist beyond that published by Crowley and Regardie. 

Do you not see how self-centered and preposterous this notion really is?

Well, if Mathers made it all up, then he must have been one heck of a magical genius.

Are you really now trying to imply that I personally - based exclusively on my own research - have invented the entire, traditional Golden Dawn curriculum for all of the grades above (5=6) Adeptus Minor published by Crowley and Regardie?!?!

Well, I certainly thank you for this huge complement - since in order to accomplish such an astounding feat - I would have to be the greatest magical genius of the new millennium.

I truly wish that I were such a genius, but sadly I am not. 

In reality, I am just another Golden Dawn Adept who happened to have the great fortune to have made amazing contacts in Continental Europe, and who has been so faithful and tenacious that my teachers finally agreed to release the (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus teachings, for the the good of our entire Golden Dawn community.

Again, complete and indisputable initiatic proof is available to any Golden Dawn initiate, no matter what temple or order you belong to. 

All you have to do is do the work and fulfill the same requirements that have been required of all Golden Dawn Adepts since the very beginning of the order!

<> <> <> <> <> <>

In most Golden Dawn orders today, you will today find little more than the well known (5=6) Adeptus Minor material that was published by Crowley and Regardie that is available for purchase in any bookstore and that you can find on line even for free.

This is not at all the case with the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega!

In 1999, the Alpha Omega moved all of the (5=6) Adeptus Minor material that had been profaned by publication to our Outer Order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. To replace this profaned material, the Third Order recently also released astounding Hermetic and Rosicrucian magical teachings that unlock the published material and unleash its power, together and other essential initiatic transmissions for all three grades of the R.R. et A.C.

In the Alpha et Omega, once you become an Adept of the R.R. et A.C., you are not going to be merely handed Israel Regardie's book like in most other Golden Dawn orders.

Already as a (5=6) Minor Adept, you will discover initiatic keys that unlock the published materials that other Golden Dawn orders only dream of, since most lack the initiatic keys to unlock the Golden Dawn's advanced magical systems. You will also find many other initiatic transmissions and traditional Golden Dawn magical and alchemical practices, available in no other Golden Dawn order.

Moreover, in the Alpha et Omega, you will not find a truncated and incomplete Golden Dawn system that ends with the (5=6) Adeptus Minor materials you have read a zillion times already. In the A.O., our traditional Golden Dawn teachings continue not only through the (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grades of the Second Order. We also offer complete initiation and training in all three grades of the Golden Dawn's Third Order as well.

The A.O. is not interested in trying to dominate any other Golden Dawn order. We therefore have decided to share the teachings of the higher grades beyond (5=6) Adeptus Minor with the best and the brightest Adepts from across the entire Golden Dawn community, regardless of what temple or order you belong to.

You do, however, still have to meet all of the traditional qualifications for initiation into the R.R. et A.C., that have been in place since the beginning of the Golden Dawn. This includes an understanding of the importance of initiatic secrecy as well as a willingness to conform with this traditional Golden Dawn rule.

Interested candidates are welcome to contact me directly using the "contact us" link on the Golden Dawn website.

UNVEILED: Secret Chiefs Transmit Original Inner Order Advanced Golden Dawn Teachings!

A Golden Dawn Temple

In recent years, our order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®, has grown into the largest and most successful Golden Dawn order in the world. This is primarily because, in 2002, our order reestablished contact with the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order.

In 1891, S.L. MacGregor Mathers had established contact with this same, hidden continental order of Hermetic and Rosicrucian Masters that he called the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order. At that time, the Secret Chiefs transmitted to Mathers the first installment of the curriculum for the Golden Dawn's forthcoming Second Order. Armed with this material, Mathers founded the RR et AC in 1892.

S.L. MacGregor Mathers
Golden Dawn and Alpha et Omega Founder

Sadly, before Mathers ever received from the Secret Chiefs the rest of the curriculum of Golden Dawn's magical system for the higher Inner Order grades of Adeptus Major (6=5) and Adeptus Exemptus (7=4), the Golden Dawn erupted in schism and Aleister Crowley treacherously published the beginner's magic of the (5=6) Adeptus Minor grade.

Aleister Crowley
Golden Dawn Traitor 

Due to the profanation through publication by Crowley of the beginner's level of the Golden Dawn magical system, the Secret Chiefs refused to transmit to Mathers the rest of the Second Order curriculum. This resulted in the Golden Dawn remaining an incomplete, truncated system for over a Century.

In 2002, as a sign of good faith, the Secret Chiefs transmitted to the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega the initiation rituals and basic curriculum, originally intended for the Third Order of the original Golden Dawn.

David Griffin
S.L. MacGregor Mathers' Successor as Archon Basileus
of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®

Today, in order to heal the wounds inflicted on the Golden Dawn tradition by profanation from Crowley and Regardie, the Secret Chiefs are finally transmitting the rest of the Inner Order magical curriculum, (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus, that Mathers was prevented from receiving due to the 1903 schism and to the profanation by Crowley.

As all of this remains oath bound material, there is very little that I may say in public about it. I have been authorized to say this much, however.

As proof of the advanced Second Order transmission, I offer one small example of how the Adeptus Major (6=5) and Adeptus Exemptus (7=4) material completes the (5=6) Adeptus Minor material profaned by Crowley and Regardie. Let us consider the Golden Dawn's use of the magical squares originally published by Cornelius Agrippa in Three Books on Occult Philosophy.

The Golden Dawn's (5=6) Adeptus Minor grade does not really add much of interest to the knowledge of the magick of magical squares beyond that published by Agrippa. The mere advanced (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grade curriculum, however, teaches how each Adept can construct their own magical squares, as well as the deeper secrets of the squares publlshed by Agrippa.

For example, until my publishing this article, no one in the entire esoteric community has known that the squares published by Agrippa and included in the Golden Dawn's (5=6) Adeptus Minor grade curriculum are not the real squares, but are only encrypted versions, and only the tip of the iceburg of a vast, incredible system of theurgy that unlocks untold numbers of parallel dimensions on the inner planes, ultimately culminating in union with the Divine at the center of the square, properly understood as a three dimensional cube.

Until this article, no one has understood either what the "planetary seals" published by Agrippa really are, when in fact, they are keys to "unseal" the "sealed" squares in order to reveal the true, unencrypted magic squares, and to unleash the true magick and full power of the system.

Once unlocked with the proper initiatic keys, these magical squares reveal to the advanced Adept the entire, secret magical hierarchy of entities of the Golden Dawn system of magical squares, that remain safely encrypted from those who would seek cheap notoriety by publishing the secret names and sigils of the true, servient spirits of Agrippa's squares.

Please note that the Golden Dawn's advanced Second Order teachings on the vast theurgical system occulted behind the encrypted version of the magic squares published by Agrippa and included in the published Golden Dawn material, is but one small example to show how the Golden Dawn (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus material completes the published Golden Dawn (5=6) Adeptus Minor material. There are many such ways that the higher grades complete the published material, although at this juncture I am only permitted to draw attention to this one example, since all of the advanced Second Order teachings beyond Adeptus Minor (5=6) remain unpublished and unprofaned, oath bound material.

Let it be known that the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega does not want to dominate any other order. On the contrary, we want to see the entire Golden Dawn community continue to grow in the direction that was originally intended for the Golden Dawn by the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order. We therefore have no problem with sharing the teachings of the higher grades beyond (5=6) Adeptus Minor with Inner Order Adepts from Golden Dawn orders and temples other than the AO.

Please understand, however, that we must be extremely careful about whom we share this unprofaned material with, as I am personally accountable to ensure that this material will not be profaned like the (5=6) Adeptus Minor material was by Crowley. To qualify, therefore, you must have not only been physically initiated as a (5=6) Adpetus Minor, but you must prove yourself trustworthy, be willing to swear to keep the advanced grade material secret, and you must actually keep your word as well.

Unfortunately, there are individuals in our Golden Dawn community who would stop at nothing in order to gain cheap notoriety. These individuals would publish anything they can get their hands on just for cheap fame. And by this, they prove that they are not true initiates, because initiatic secrecy has at all times been considered necessary not as a question of power, but rather as a question of sacredness. The Divine Science should never be profaned.

Sadly, Nick Farrell recently proved that the spirit of treachery of Aleister Crowley is alive and well, by senselessly profaning through publication the Mathers' sacred recension of the Alpha et Omega rituals, together with some hitherto minor, yet sacred nonetheless (5=6) Adeptus Minor A.O. documents. Like Crowley before him, Farrell has therefore proven himself untrustworthy with anything beyond well known and published material. Thus, by his own hand, Frater Farrell has forever blocked his initiatic progress at the (5=6) Adeptus Minor level of published, well known material.

Adepti of all temples and orders of the Golden Dawn community!

What is it that you are really interested in? 

Is cheap notoriety truly all you want? 

Or are you not more interested in spiritual development? 

Do you really want to remain spiritually stuck forever at the (5=6) Adeptus Minor level?

Or is your true heart's desire not rather to become "more than human" by practicing the complete Golden Dawn system of magick and theurgy?

The price of this higher knowledge is nobility of purpose, hard work, and to actually keep sacred the initiatic secrets of the Golden Dawn, as have all true and faithful Hermetic and Rosicrucian Adepts of all centuries have that have come before us.

Adepts from any Golden Dawn order or temple interested in advanced training in the Golden Dawn system magick and theurgy for the Grades beyond the well known, published material of the (5=6) Adeptus Minor grade are invited to contact me discreetly using the contact link at the Golden Dawn website here.

Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum,

GH Frater Lux ex Septentrionis, 8=3 (David Griffin)

Imperator Ordinis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Archon Basileus, Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega

Initiation in the Ancient World: Pagan Survival & the Hermetic Tradition, Part 1

by guest blogger

Dianus del Bosco Sacro

Grand Conservator of the Pagan Faith and Tradition

of the Sacred Forest of Nemi

Translated and Introduced by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

In the ancient world it was believed that the Isiac, luminous, sapiential and transforming appearance was potentially present in every woman, but it had to be awakened through initiation to the Mysteries. Furthermore, as we will see, initiation to the Mysteries put Neophytes in contact with the powers of fertility and regeneration by passing through death and the underworld.

Initiation to the Mysteries played a fundamental role in the existence of whoever approached it and the fact that, during all those centuries of initiations (from Eleusis, to the Mysteries of Dionysus to those of Isis, to the Mysteries of Cybele and Mithras), no one ever broke the oath of secrecy formulated during the act of acceptance of initiation testifies how sacred [initiation] was considered. (Translator’s note: Contrast this with today’s Golden Dawn community, where certain misguided Golden Dawn “leaders” instead rush to have their name to be the first one attached to any document still remaining secret and unprofaned).

Initiation in the Ancient World

Aristotle, Plato, Plutarch, Sophocles and Euripides, to cite the most well known, tell us that whoever received initiation was destined, after death, to a luminous fate, completely different from that of common mortals. Moreover, numerous testimonies of people initiated to the Mysteries report an “indescribable experience, miraculous in nature, which would transform in an irreversible way whoever took part in it”.