by Golden Dawn Imperator
David Griffin
"Thanks to John Miller and Imperator Griffin for this post. It raises a couple of questions which have been on my mind as well.
I am in some ways like Mr. Miller: I have read a good deal of material over the years but only in the last few months have I been practicing ritual magic daily and in earnest, including the two rituals Imperator Griffin mentions. Over the last four or five months, I have been reading this blog, perusing the website as a whole, and in some cases downloading some of the material in the library section and reading it, because I also hope at some point also to apply for initiation into the HOGD/Alpha et Omega. But one thing I have not been clear on after reading through the website is: does the actual training only go on at a temple or is it just the initiation which must go on there? Since I live five hours away from the closest temple and have a family, I don't think I could train at that distance. This blog and other material I have read have convinced me that actual, physical initiation is essential; so that is not in question for me. But is the training only at the physical location? I noticed that some things are given on-line, but I can't tell if the entire training can go on on-line or not. - Dr. Jeeves
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega is dedicated to making Magicians, no matter where in the world they live. We offer exclusively traditional Golden Dawn initiation inside of physical, fully licensed and chartered Golden Dawn temples, so this does mean that Alpha Omega members will one day need to travel to one of our temples for initiation.
With the exception of physical initiation, everything else can be successfully completed at a distance. We encourage those who can afford to do so, to take their initiations as soon as they complete the requirements for each grade, but not everyone has the financial resources to do this easily. We therefore also permit aspiring Magicians to complete several of our curriculum sections at a time, so that they may take several initiations in one trip to one of our temples.
The Alpha Omega is committed to provide quality training for Magicians at a distance. To that end, we opened our Members' website in 1999, where you find our entire curriculum, on line examinations, tutorials fora, on-line classroom, etc.
In our continuing quest for excellence, we are once again in the process of a major restructuring. Right now, for example, I am working on our on-line class schedule for AO members for the coming year. We have some interesting new course offerings coming up, including a lecture on Critical Thinking for Magicians.
Most importantly, we are completely revamping our curriculum with the assistance of a University professor who has been developing courses for universities for 20 years. This is important, since the Golden Dawn material is daunting and most students need a step-by-step coursework to successfully navigate and master the material. As a part of this process, we are significantly changing our teaching methods to more closely resemble those of modern, on-line universities.
Dr. Jeeves continues:
A rudimentary question from a new practitioner: once I began doing the Middle Pillar Ritual, I noticed that my body began to -- quite naturally -- make rhythmic motions while doing it; perhaps a little like "dancing in place". At first I was surprised, since I was concentrating on the ritual itself and I did not expect any spontaneous movement of my body. But I have also not resisted it, since it seemed to flow quite naturally from the ritual. Your comment that the MPR "begins to charge your energetic body" has led me to think that my experiences of this are not so odd as I at first thought. While I understand the energetic and physical bodies are not identical, it still makes sense to me that the energetic charge might appear as rhythmic movement in the physical body... Am I understanding that correctly?" - Dr. Jeeves
What you are describing closely resembles what in the Tantric tradition are called "Krias." In Tantra, these spontaneous movements are frequently accompanied by small eruptions of energy along the spine. Since "Kundalini" in Tantra, "Chi" in Taoism, and "LVX" in Western Magick are merely different cultural and symbolical concepts to describe the same physical/spiritual energy, it is not at all surprising to hear about what you are experiencing while performing the Rite of the Middle Pillar.
One of the greatest challenges, the Alpha Omega faces in making Magicians at a distance is teaching aspiring Magicians how to initiate the flow of LVX energy in their bodies. Unless a Magician learns to awaken, strengthen, and direct this flow of energy, one remains only at the level of playing at Magick. You can go through all of the motions with great precision, yet they will remain empty forms and devoid of any real Magical power, unless the LVX energy is activated and flowing according to will inside of the physical body of the Magician.
I am including a link below to where you can find our more about our training program. Please feel free to post any additional questions that you may have here!
Sincerely,
David Griffin
Imperator, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Chief Adept, Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega
(EU OHIM reg 000063925)
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®
Making Magicians - Since 1888
Click HERE to explore our Outer Order, undergraduate level Magical training program.
Thanks so much for this helpful post. I had been wondering if I would ever be able to get AO training and now that seems possible. Especially for those of us who wish we had an AO temple close at hand, it is good to know that we can be connected in other ways and gain the training we seek.
ReplyDeleteYou also raise other issues that I had wondered about and that now I think I begin to understand. For one, I have performed ritual magic on and off for some years, but was never able to sustain it in the past. One of the differences this time is the spontaneous body experiences I described. Whereas I always felt some emotional uplift from the rituals in the past, it still seemed like an “energy charge” was missing when I compared my experiences to the descriptions I read from other practitioners. As you put it, “You can go through all of the motions with great precision, yet they will remain empty forms and devoid of any real Magical power”. This time I have those body experiences accompanying the rituals, especially the MPR, and that difference has made the entire experience of doing the rituals different – among other things leaving me feeling more empowered as a whole person and also seeming to draw me back to the rituals daily in a way I never experienced before. It seems like the charge I thought was missing in finally there. I can’t imagine not doing the rituals daily at this point. I am guessing that this is the consequence of the experience of LVX energy.
I see why you say this is one of the “greatest challenges” in working from a distance. Experiences of this kind are better talked through with experienced practitioners, because they are difficult to describe. Since I don’t know any other practitioners of magick at this point, I might have just kept wondering about it, had I not been able to ask on this blog and trust you would know what I meant. Thanks again.
I've noticed that, as I have been doing the MPR, I have more and more tended to vibrate the names each at a somewhat different pitch. The reason is that I experience the place on my body resonate more or less depending on the pitch I use and so I tend instinctively to adjust the pitch for the most resonance. Is that just my idiosyncrasy or does that make some sense given the ritual...?
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