How Do You Process Information as a Golden Dawn Magician?

by Guest Blogger

Frater Reflect (H.T.U.U)

Cameron Holden Gaster

Qabalah derives from the word Qebel which means "to receive". There is good reason for this. The best technology in the past for organising and storing certain information was the organic human biocomputer. Does this sound strange? It shouldn't. There were no pcs, laptops, tablets, or even word processors. Using Magic, the Alchemist could nonetheless use the Tree of Life symbol system to program and file information in the mind of the alchemist.

The use of talismans have more applications then people oftern realize. Think of a talisman as a disk of containing software. Once you download the information it can be readily accessed whenever needed. All you need is a password.

When I was in confinement in prison, which was a small closet sized room with one other person and you never are able to leave for months,  I had a roommate who kept pacing back and forth in the cell.

I thought he was rapping because he was waving his hands around as though he was rehearsing music. I was surprised by his answer when I asked him what he was doing. He told me he was going over books. 

"Books?" I asked. 

"Yes. I've memorized eight whole books," he replied.

I obviously didn't believe him at first. But after spending three months in the cell listening to him recite every single word of certain books from start to finish, I was astonished. Some of these books I was even familiar with. This impressed me deeply, because at the time I was studying ways to store information in my mind, since the Golden Dawn requires so much memorisation of material. After all, once an alchemist has studied aspects of nature, they still needs to organize and store this information.

The Qabalistic Tree of Life provides an excellent symbol system for this purpose, not completely unlike a computer desktop.

Let's take, for example. a Mercury talisman.

To begin with, Mercury corresponds to the Sephirah of Hod on the tree. Hod and Mercury represent splendor, aspects of the intellect state,  and other associations. To Hod and Mercury are attributed certain names of power, expressions of writing, language, communication, science, magic, alchemy, etc. I can therefore file any given experience or knowledge of these subjects in to the filing folder of Hod, just like a folder on a computer desktop.

So as not to need to have these associations run through your mind all day, you can store it in a talisman, as you would a DVD or backup disk on a computer. In this way, certain key words can be awakened and reawakened in the mind of the Magician.

Thus Golden Dawn Magicians use the 10 folders of the Qabalistic Tree of Life as a filing system for information and for life experience.

There're many ways to apply this technology once we understand how it has been used it in the past.

For example, how about a certain fragrance a loved one regularly wore. What does that scent later awaken in you when you come across it radomly waling in public. Does it not conjure up memories or feelings associated with that loved one, that you mentally attached to that smell? 

For example, my grandmother loved cardinals (bright red birds). Since she passed away, my Mom and I have attached happy memories of my Grandmother to the symbol of a cardinal. So every time my Mother or I see a cardinal, even if only in a picture, we automatically reflect on Grandma.

This process can be extremely useful. Understanding how to attach thoughts to tools therefore makes "programming" your "bio computer" simple.

The true lab of the alchemist exists on many levels; the chemicals in your body, to accessing and taking conscious control of the subconscious system that controls your body, etc. The spiritual technology of the Golden Dawn can help you harness the power of this ancient filing system of associations built up for Centuries around the Qabalistic Tree of Life.

As a modern individual, I can hear you object: "But we have books, internet, etc. Why do I need to approach my owna minds though it were a computer?" 

Why? 

Because this process itself is an alchemical process that changes and evolves you in our quest to become "more than human."