Master Magicians and Golden Dawn Apprentices (Reply to Nick Farrell)

by Alpha Omega Imperator

David Griffin

Frater Nick Farrel recently wrote an article entitled "Apprenticed to Magic". You can read it here.

Nick Farrell

I am frankly surprised how much there is to agree with in this article.

Yes, we DO need to “put our foot down” and teach the right way to do things as I have written over and over, for example here.

Yes, there ARE crazy kids jumping into the deep end of the pool with the grown-ups, as I have written about previously here.

Nick’s experience suggests that “money will have to change hands.” The Alpha Omega agrees completely and looks forward to one less person attacking the A.O. for accepting dues.

Yes, there ARE too many “Orders” just doing the Regardie book. I have documented this for decades, for example here.

Yes, the competition between orders has repeatedly gone too far. I have written about this extensively, for example here.

Nick Farrell writes:

"I used to think that the relaxing of systems at the end of the 20th century and the access to more information thanks to the Internet was a good thing. I liked the ideas of the autocratic orders which were the bane of my existence had faded.  Now I am not so certain."

Nick Farrell has been involved in the Golden Dawn a long time and his experiences reflects a common theme. It’s wonderful reading about his evolution as a teacher of the occult because it is one that I have been spared. The Golden Dawn System of Magic was designed to avoid many of the problems Nick has encountered.

Nick writes: 

"There once was a time that you would be taught by one person who would show you their magical system, which was often worked out over years by experience."

Frater Farrell need not convince me of the importance of the Master-Apprentice relationship in the Golden Dawn. My own Appenticeship to Hermetic Master Alchemist, Frater Lux E Tenebris, has been worth its weight in gold - And in more than one sense!

The Master-Apprentice relationship lies at the very heart not only of the Golden Dawn, but of the entire Hermetic and Rosicruican traditions. It has always been this way. It is this way today. And it will always remain this way as well.
This is why, in the Alpha Omega, the magical development of each new student is taken on by an A.O. Adept from the outset. As one advances in the A.O., this Master-Apprentice relationship takes on more and more importance.

It is for this reason, due to the need for direct coaching, that the A.O. created our 1,000 Points of Light initiative. This is why the Alpha Omega presently provides Ritual Magic coaching to Self-Iniaties and Solitaries in 8 languages in the form of Webinars, Workshops, one-on-one Skype sessions, and ongoing Ritual Magic dojos.

Nick Farrell feels compelled to “go back to the old ways” after his vast experience working with initiates. Fortunately, the AO doesn’t have to “go back to the old ways” because we never left. In fact, they aren’t the “old ways” at the AO, they’re the “Only Ways.”

I am pleased to witness how Isis, at long last, is gathering together the divided pieces of Osiris, as Adepts from across the entire Golden Dawn community begin to stand together - not under the banners of the A.O. - but as a community sharing a common spiritual philosophy - united by our mutual obligation to properly train the Adepts of the future.

The need for enough Golden Dawn Adepts to properly train Apprentices is great - greater than even the Alpha Omega alone can bear.

Only as a community of Adepts drawn together by the strength of our common Rosicrucian bonds can the Golden Dawn claim its rightful place in the 21st Century.

Stand with us.

Alpha Omega

We make Magicians