Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Blog

A Busy Golden Dawn News Week

2012-01-27T21:24:00.000-08:00

by David Griffin

We are coming up on an important anniversary in the Golden Dawn community. On February 4, it will have been one year that the Inner Order Adepts of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn published an announcement expelling Robert Zink from his own order.

If you accept to Bob's version of the story (a la Louis XIV: "la France- c'est moi") the EOGD Adepti didn't have the right to expel Bob due to a putative trademark licence (he apparently never really received though!). If you accept the Adepts' version of the story, they eventually got fed up and decided to just change their name from EOGD to be done with Bob's shady business reputation. Judging from the below Better Business Bureau report, this was likely a wise move on their part.

In any case, nearly one year ago today, we welcomed the Order of the Golden Dawn, Colegium Spiritu Sancti to the ranks of our diverse Golden Dawn community. The Adepts of the OGD/CSS appear to be doing very well for themselves, once unfettered from the dead albatross once hindering their Order.

In any case, the OGD/CSS is marking their one year anniversary untethered from Frater Bob with a beautifully crafted new website, which you can view here.

The initiates of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the Adepts and Magisters of the Second and Third orders of the Alpha Omega salute the coming of age of the Adepts in the OGD/CSS, and look forward to breaking bread with you at the upcoming International Conclave of Golden Dawn Adepti near Las Vegas, beginning on March 9.

Readers who missed the earlier announcement can read about the International Golden Dawn Conclave here.

In ther breaking news in our community (also related to the fall of Adept Zink), you may recall that for over a decade, Frater Bob's flagship website was located at www.Golden-Dawn.org.

I am pleased to announce that as of this post, Golden-Dawn.Org is now under new management.

The Fratres et Sorores of the HOGD and the AO promise to make Golden-Dawn.Org a shining beacon of light, promoting fraternal harmony in the entire Golden Dawn community.

Be sure to drop by Golden-Dawn.Org and have a look at the many changes recently implemented already.

RITUAL MURDER? The Golden Dawn DEFAMED!

2012-01-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

by David Griffin

What the heck does ritual murder have to do with the Golden Dawn?

What is this? - yet another chapter in the decades old Golden Dawn Internet Feud?

I wish it only were!

Here in the English speaking world, these are reasonable enough questions. But not so in Italy, where the reputation of the Golden Dawn tradition is already in the toilet in the public mind, due to a successful and still ongoing defamation campaign being waged against the entire Golden Dawn tradition.

The principal agent of this defamation is a tabloid journalist named Gabriella Carlizzi:

Gabriella Carlizzi

Carlizzi has floated an undending series of allegations so defamatory that, in the popular mind in Italy, the Golden Dawn has come to be associated not only with ritual murder, bet even with the murders of Jack the Ripper and the "Monster of Florence." Another primary actor in this drama is attorney, Paolo Francescetti, who many regard as an "expert" on the subject of ritual murder.

Paolo Francescetti

The common thread in rumors and allegations surrounding human sacrifice and ritual murder in the mind of masses in Italy, is an alleged esoteric order Carlizzi calls the "Rosa Rossa." Below are just a small sampling, taken from here and here of the some of the shockingly defamatory writings of Gabriella Carlizzi:

The "Rosa Rossa" and its infiltration in certain sects, each is used unawares for the purpose of international crime, absolute power, and mind control ...

This esoteric Order [the "Rosa Rossa"] will be further defined as the most cruel, with their secret rituals all bent on human sacrifice ...

And who, according to Carlizzi, is the architecht of this madness? Carlizzi writes:

The founder and leader of this Order was Arthur Edward Waite, Magician, Mason and esotericist of our times, who lived until 1942.

A.E. Waite

That's right. You read correctly. Arthur Edward Waite!
And the mysterious "Rosa Rossa" order of cannabalistic rites of human sacrifice is allegedly none other than Waite's "Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, Independent and Rectified Rite."
Of all the cast of characters of the original Golden Dawn that Carlizzi could have chosen as the arch-villian in her myth, she chose Waite! Aleister Crowley, perhaps I could better understand. After all, Crowley did call himself "The Great Beast." But Waite?
I wonder if Carlizzi realizes just how ridiculous she sounds in the ears of anyone who knows anything factual at all about the Golden Dawn. You can accuse Waite of many things, not the least of which is writing rituals so long and verbose that they are bound to put even the Energizer Bunny to sleep, but Waite - a ritual murderer? That has got to be one of the most preposterous things that I have ever read.
Carlizzi continues:

Is there really the Order of the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, Independent and Rectified Rite?

Yes, there is this Order and assumed since its origin, characteristics, and that can not actually be considered as an emanation of other esoteric Masonic Orders, although it seemed to derive from the wider of magic of the Golden Dawn, blending in with the Rosicrucians in order to divert attenttion, but from what?

... no one imagined that in that the tendency to mysticism and esoteric Christianity would have comprised the "justification" of "human sacrifice" in the name of a higher reason ...

... of bloody rituals, sacrifices, including the removal of real human body parts fron the victims, and fetishes, which became the Host during a similar celebration of the Eucharistic celebration of the Catholic religion.

At this point, gentle reader, you are probably saying, "well, who except Nick Farrell (Golden Dawn leader living in Rome) cares at all about what the public in Italy thinks about the Golden Dawn? Well, perhaps the following declaration from Carlizzi may enlighten you to how dangerous to the entire Golden Dawn tradition this nonsense really is. Carlizzi continues:

Where is the world headquarters of the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, Independent and Rectified Rite, and how is it difused in the world?
The headquarters for reasons related to the birth of the founder of the esoteric school, Waite, lies precisely in the United States, with twenty-one temples, and its first branch in London, with eleven temples throughout England.
Then comes France, with five temples, of which the most active is in Perpignan. There are four temples in Italy, three temples in Germany, two temples in Brazil, and two temples in Egypt.

That's right, this yellow journalist claims that there are 21 Golden Dawn temples in the USA that are not only using the boring rituals written by Waite, but are practicing human sacrifice and cannabalistic Eucharists as well!
But wait, there's more.
If this sort of tabloid journalism (that puts even the Golden Dawn's own Nick Farrell's yellow journalistic talents to shame) were not enough, Italian attorney, Paolo Francescetti, seems to be part of this defamation campaign against the Golden Dawn in Italy as well. Admittedly, Francescetti is more cautious in approach than is Carlizzi (perhaps because, as an attorney, Francescetti is likely more aware of the severity of libel laws in the USA and the potential legal consequences of statements like those routinely made by Carlizzi.
Nonetheless, Francescetti repeatedly conflates the "Rosa Rossa," Calrizzi's mythical order of cannibals practicing human sacrifice, with the Golden Dawn. For example, Francescetti here writes:

London: the birthplace of the Golden Dawn. The "Rosa Rossa" is in fact also founded in 1887 by William Wynn Westcott (who was a member of the Rosicrucian Society in England), Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers and William Robert Woodman.

Francescetti continues:

In summary, then, the crimes of the Monster of Florence and those of Jack the Ripper murders were ritual that served to sanctify the areas of London and Florence, while the clamor of newspapers and TV, was used to amplify the effects of this ritual, the propagation of esoteric effects even on citizens.

The crimes of the Monster of Florence, together with those of Jack the Ripper, are the ones that have attracted public attention in this century. They have many similarities, and in fact they are both crimes committed by members of the Order of the "Rosa Rossa." The first who discovered the similarities and formulated a hypothesis in this sense (that is, identifying the Golden Dawn and the "Rosa Rossa" as a link between the two events) was Joseph Cosco who wrote the article on his blog: The Monster of Florence Jack the Ripper, disturbing similarities.

For many years, I have been warning the Golden Dawn community that we could not afford the inter order bickering of the Golden Dawn flame war on the internet. One important reason for this, was I feared that something just like this might happen.
And let us not be lulled into a false sense of security in the mistaken belief that such terrible defamation will remain confined to the Italian speaking world. There are plenty of monotheistic zealots and conspiracy kooks in the USA as well.
The time has come, therefore, for all of us in the entire Golden Dawn community to put our differences behind us once and for all, and to lock arms in solidarity as a united community defending the reputation of our beloved Golden Dawn tradition.

David Griffin

Imperator, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Chief Adept, Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis

Archon Basileus, Rosicrucian Order of AO

2012!!! International Golden Dawn - R.R. et A.C. Conclave of Rosicrucian Adepti

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

near Las Vegas, Nevada

2012

Golden Dawn - R.R. et A.C.

International Conclave of the Adepti

hosted by the

Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega

at the newly built

Isis-Diana Temple

and Retreat Center

Isis- Diana's Sacred Temple Owls
"Dusty and Dawn"

Qualified R.R. et A.C. Adepts from all Golden Dawn Temples and Orders (and selected Rosicrucian and Magical orders) are invited to gather with Second Order Adepts from the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega for an intensive week of initiation, advancement, and training in the advanced Second Order magical systems and techniques recently transmitted by the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order of the Golden Dawn.

NOTE: This advanced, traditional Golden Dawn magical training picks up where the published Adeptus Minor material leaves off! R.R. et A.C. Adepts should never again be limited to traditional Second Order teachings that dead-end at the Adeptus Minor level published by Regardie.

R.R. et A.C.

International Rosicrucian Conclave

2012: March 9-16

(Adept Level only)

Additionally, as a gesture of fraternal good will, all outer order initiates of all Golden Dawn temples and orders everywhere are invited to attend the A.O.'s open celebration of the Vernal Equinox at Isis-Diana temple on Sunday, March 18, 2012.

Golden Dawn

Open Equinox Celebration

2012: Sunday, March 18

(Initiates of ALL Golden Dawn Temples and Orders)

NOTE: Even if you are not yet a Golden Dawn initatiate, you can still come. We will initiate new Golden Dawn members in the Neophyte grade as part of the Open Equinox Celebration. You will need to join the Golden Dawn first, however.

HERE is where you can apply to join the Golden Dawn.

With these small gestures, the A.O. hopes to promote good will and fraternal harmony in the entire Golden Dawn community, and to contribute substantially to upgrading the level of training of Rosicrucian Adepts everywhere.

Don't miss this historical Golden Dawn event!

"In 2012, come celebrate the shift to a new age of sharing, peace and harmony in

Golden Dawn history..."

Your Hosts,

David and Leslie Griffin

PS: In reply to this announcement about the 2012 Golden Dawn Conclave, one Golden Dawn blog published a photo of an enormous Asian mass marriage ritual. As a result, Isis-Diana temple has been asked by one Golden Dawn couple if we could not incorporate a marriage ritual for them into the upcoming Equinox festivities. As it turns out, my wife Leslie and I are Pagan clergy and I am also a Gnostic bishop. We are both therefore fully empowered to perform legal marriages at Isis-Diana. So the answer is YES, we would be honored to marry you! Here is a photo of a recent wedding Leslie and I performed for some Pagan friends of ours from Italy:

A Las Vegas Wedding, Isis-Diana Style!

Last Word to Morgan on Flamewar

2011-12-29T16:24:00.000-08:00

Is Morgan Serious About Improving Communication in the GD Community?

2011-12-29T10:54:00.000-08:00

In the comments section of Morgan Drake Eckstein's article to which my last post replied, Morgan recently published the following sniping comment from Nick Farrell. It is noteworthy that, despite Morgan's call for more direct communications in the Golden Dawn community, he has subsequently failed to publish my direct rebuttal to Farrell's comment on the same venue.

This seriously calls into question the credibility and sincerity of Morgan's call for direct, fraternal communication in the Golden Dawn community. Granted, it has only one day since I attempted to post a rebuttal, but it so far appears that my praise for Morgan may have been a bit premature.

PLEASE NOTE: Publishing propaganda style "talking points" from Golden Dawn camp, while denying direct rebuttal from the other on the same venue, has been a major factor undermining legitimate debate and sincere fraternal dialogue in the Golden Dawn community for nearly two decades now.

Contrary to recent allegations made by Morgan, this is not pretending to be some sort of Internet Police. This is just being fed up with nearly two decades of "talking point" internet soap box sniping undermining legitimate discussion and fraternal harmony in the Golden Dawn community.

Below follow both the comment from Farrell Morgan published and my missing rebuttal:

"I dont think there is an abyss of thought within the European Golden Dawn and the rest of the world. I assume you mean Griffins lot?? If you said that there was a growing gulf between Griffin's order and he rest of the universe I would agree, but centering it on the EU is a bit unfair."

Here is my rebuttal:

Care Frater Nick,

Have you still not grown tired repeating the silly talking points over and over like a broken record like your worn out meme of "Griffin vs. the rest of the universe"?
Has the time not long passed for such cheap rhetorical tactics better suited to the world of propaganda and merely derail real fraternal discourse and scholarly debate?

I for one certainly have better things to do than to go on refuting talking points you and Pat spout over and over "ad nauseum" for yet another decade!
The reality, whether we like it or not, is that traditionalist Golden Dawn orders like the HOGD/AO and the August Order of the Mystic Rose (just to mention two visible examples) will likely never agree on everything with reconstructionist Golden Dawn orders like your MOAA and Pat Zaewlski's OGD.
This, however, is no justification to continue the sort internet sniping contained in your above comment and that has plagued our commmunity for nearly two decades now.

I invite you to abandon merely repeating propaganda "talking points" over and to instead engage in sincere fraternal dialogue and debate instead.
The Golden Dawn community has suffered more than enough already due to cheap rhetorical tactics like these.

Let us instead agree to disagree like grown men about the many things that we actually do disagree about, yet nonetheless show the world the Golden Dawn community has outgrown the silliness that has plagued our community for nearly two decades now.

Enough is enough already.

Fraternally,
David Griffin

An Open Letter to Morgan Drake Eckstein

2011-12-28T15:17:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of days, Morgan Drake Eckstein has written a couple of thoughtful articles about the present state of the Golden Dawn community, with one drawing parallels with the broader Pagan community and even with the American political scene. You can find this article here. There are several things in these articles, however, that Morgan appears to have misunderstood, or perhaps is pretending not to understand. In the following open letter, I address these issues:

Care Frater Morgan,

Congratulations on a humorous and insightful article, which I by and large enjoyed. You have eloquently delineated several of the challenges presently facing our common Golden Dawn community. For example, you wrote:

"What one does not need to imagine is the lack of communication between the two schools."

I think you have hit an essential nail on the head here. I applaud you for encouraging greater direct, fraternal communication between traditionalist and reconstructionist Golden Dawn orders. Certainly the Fratres et Sorores in the HOGD/AO are open to this. Everyone from the Golden Dawn community is welcome to post on the HOGD/AO Yahoo forum for example, here.

Sadly, most of the leaders of the Golden Dawn reconstructionist camp, on the other hand, stubbornly refuse any direct, fraternal dialogue. Despite the HOGD/AO trying to promote harmony in the GD community for years, they refuse any and all direct, fraternal dialogue. On the one hand, they refuse to post on our forum. On the other hand, they also refuse to allow anyone from our order to post any reply directly on their forum either. It is this intransigent stubbornness from the reconstructionist camp that unnecessarily perpetuates tension in our Golden Dawn community, with the respective camps reduced to talking past one another from their respective soapboxes across the internet.

Next you wrote:

The primary issue is whether or not to accept the existence of an European Third Order---acceptance of such implies that you are willing to follow their public Head and spokesperson, are willing to increase your level of secrecy to the point where all published material are no longer considered valid (including the Mathers material) and all the rituals and lessons have been rewritten to re-install absolute secrecy, and are willing to be expelled if one of your fellow lodge members breaks their secrecy oath. Acceptance also implies that all modern developments of the Golden Dawn system (aka any that developed after the Cipher Manuscript) will someday be abandoned.

Here I can not at all agree with you. No one has ever said that all modern developments need to be abandoned. No one has said that anyone needs to follow anyone else either. Have you really so completely misunderstood, or are you simply making this up and falsely attributing it to Golden Dawn traditionalists?

In reality, the HOGD/AO has said over and over for years that there is plenty of room for diversity in the Golden Dawn community. This is what makes the GD community grow and thrive.

Diversity is a good thing. Our order, at least, is willing to live and let live. It is the GD reconstructionist camp that constantly has been attacking the traditionalist Golden Dawn orders, and certainly not the other way around. we at the HOGD/AO fully embrace diversity in the Golden Dawn community, even if we do not always agree with you and others on everything.

Again, I find your honesty and insight demonstrated about direct communication in our community to be highly commendable. Sadly, however, it appears that you are not always willing to fully embody such a lofty and admirable level of integrity, as in when you wrote today:

"As far as I have been able to determine from the outcries of the internet police is that if someone does not agree absolutely with your opinion, your lesson plan, your Grade system, and your version of Golden Dawn history, then it is flame war."

Aw come on, Morgan. Please quit pretending to be stupid as it is obvious that you are not. You know full well the difference between flame war and honest, fraternal discussion and debate. You also know full well that the HOGD/AO encourages and fosters fraternal discussion and debate, and does not pretend to be any sort of internet police.

It is also true, however, that after nearly two decades of recurrent and repeated attacks on our order not only on the internet but even in court as well, that I personally have precious little tolerance left for such destructive behavior in our community.

"So what is flame war?", you ask. Do I really need to spell it out to you even yet once again? Well, OK, let's give you the benefit of every doubt.

Fraternal discussion becomes flame war, in my opinion, when fraternal discussion is hijacked by cheap rhetorical tactics. These include but are not limited to the use of "talking points", repeated over and over, propaganda style. You can tell that a discussion has degenerated into flame war, when the person you are engaging ignores every counter argument, and merely repeats their talking points over and over. Do you really need concrete examples of this? OK, go over to Pat Zalewksi's Yahoo forum and search for the search terms "secret chiefs," "SC," "third order," or "Desmond Bourke."

What do you find with such a simple search? - Hundreds upon hundreds of attack posts repeating the same "talking points" over and over like a broken record. Our order's leaders and members have wasted literally thousands of hours rebutting the "talking points" that have been written over and over on these subjects on that forum, propaganda style for well over a decade.

And guess what?

Every single rebuttal, every single refutation, has simply been ignored.

And guess what else?

The same talking points have simply been repeated over and over, propaganda style for over a decade.

Enough is enough already.

Sincerely,
David Griffin

Will This Never End?

2011-12-21T11:46:00.000-08:00

Today Pat Zalewksi wrote:

"With a Secret Chief you have a belief structure and no need to learn; in some cases you even have lineage, which means you also do not have to learn and just get a piece of paper handed to you. I can think of a couple of Orders that did this plus a variant of no lineage, but a lot of SC's and no need to go beyond the published papers. Without a SC you have to learn and produce, because it is not a belief based system and it is processed based."

Today Tony DeLuce wrote:

"It typically takes the exceptionally focused and hardworking Initiate 10+ years to make it to Major Adept and when they arrive they get to perform practices with Magic Squares or begin Herb Alchemy? – both of which in my opinion have nothing to do with the Work of this Grade and could have been taken up as practices pretty much off the street."

In light of thorough, scholarly refutation of similar nonsense published over and over already by GH Frater Sincerus Renatus and me (most recently here and here) what Zalewksi and DeLuce are really up to is already so transparent that it no longer qualifies as fraternal discourse.

Let it suffice to say that, for sloppy reconstructionists in our community, the Golden Dawn Internet Feud is clearly still alive and well!

The continuing attacks on traditional Golden Dawn orders by GD reconstructionists like Zalewksi and De Luce, do raise one question though ...

Don't these guys have anything better to do than endlessly rakeing shit?

The Golden Dawn Secret Chiefs Debate

2011-12-14T21:17:00.000-08:00

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic polarization of the various Temples and Orders of the Golden Dawn community into two entrenched camps. The basic fundamental approach to the Golden Dawn of each of these camps is so vastly different that they appear to agree on precious little.

On the one hand, there are "traditionalist" Golden Dawn orders like the August Order of the Mystic Rose and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which operates under the authority of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, and others like them. Traditionalist Golden Dawn orders understand the Golden Dawn as but one late manifestation of preceding, Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions that continue to live until today, and hold that the Golden Dawn can only be properly understood from the greater perspective of these deeper esoteric traditions from which the Golden Dawn originally arose and continues to derive its teachings and its authority, even until today.

Traditionalist Golden Dawn orders hold fast to traditional Hermetic and Rosicrucian values and practices, which include the fundamental importance of things like initiatic secrecy and traditional initiation inside of real Golden Dawn temples, instead of New Age, astral initiation, etc.

Firmly entrenched in the other camp, are "Recontrructionist" Golden Dawn orders like Pat Zalewksi's "Order of the Golden Dawn" and Nick Farrell's "Magical Order of Aurora Aureae." These orders teach that the Golden Dawn has been a fraud from the beginning, founded using documents faked by liers, S.L. MacGregor Mathers and W. Wynn Wescott, who founded the Golden Dawn. G.D. Reconstructionist orders such as these teach as a fundamental tenet that the Golden Dawn is a dead tradition, which died when the Whare Ra temple closed its doors, and that the Golden Dawn today needs to be "reconstructed" according the the personal, ideosyncratic visions of leaders like Nick Farrell and Pat Zalewksi.

Because "Reconstructionist" Golden Dawn orders hold the fundamental belief that the Golden Dawn is a dead tradition, to be reconstructed as anyone sees fit, they feel completely comfortable with throwing out traditional elements of the Golden Dawn, like oaths of secrecy, the sanctity of oath bound material, and even traditional Golden Dawn initiation. Pat Zalewksi and Nick Farrell each have abandoned secrecy, publishing previously secret Golden Dawn material, for example. They rationalize this by considering this as mere "historical" material deriving from an essentially dead tradition.

Since the fundamental approaches to the Golden Dawn are so vastly different between the traditionalist and the reconstructionist camps in the Golden Dawn community are so diametrically opposed, it should surprise no one that there is unending philosophical disagreement between these two camps.

Clearly, the only way that there can ever be peace and harmony in the Golden Dawn community, is if the Traditionalist and Reconstructionist camps can simply agree to disagree, and allow room in the diversity of our common Golden Dawn community even for such fundamental differences.

Unfortunately, however, Golden Dawn reconstructionists appear completely unwilling to leave traditionalist Golden Dawn orders in peace. On the contrary, they attack them repeatedly, which is why Pagan author, Frater Barrabbbas, and others have characterized them as "agressive" reconstructionists. As one example, Nick Farrell, for instance, recently published the rituals of the Alpha et Omega and attacked the notion of the Secret Chiefs in an article that he wrote for an on-line journal.

Few subjects are as contentious between Golden Dawn traditionalists and Golden Dawn reconstructionists as the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn's Third Order, from whom S.L. MacGregor Mathers claimed he received the material for the Golden Dawn's Rosicrucian Second Order, the R.R. et A.C.

Golden Dawn reconstructionists, like Pat Zalewski's and Nick Farrell, claim that Mathers lied, that his Secret Chiefs are nothing more than figments of Mathers' imagination. Obviously, Zalewski and Farrell can in no way be considered to be in any way objective in this matter. How could they be, since the very existance of the Secret Chiefs negates their most fundamental theory, namely that the Golden Dawn is a dead order whose material is to be dissected as objects of historical curiosity.

To make matters worse, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega, a traditionalist Golden Dawn order asserts to have not only reestablished contact with Mather's Secret Chiefs, but has even received more Second Order material from them. Evidence for this can be viewed online here and here and here. As additional evidence, the order has also offered to share these advanced Second Order Golden Dawn teachings with qualified Adepts from all across the Golden Dawn community, and has already begun to do so!

All of the above explains why Pat Zalewksi's has published a new series of posts in recent weeks attacking Traditionalist Golden Dawn orders and the Secret Chiefs yet once again. It is noteworthy that Zalewksi really raises no new arguments and most of what he says has been refuted over and over across the Internet, for example by GH Frater Sincerus Renatus on the Gyllene Gryningen blog of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn® in Europe. These articles cah be viewed here, here, and here, nor am I the only one who has needed to defend our order against such nonsense either. They have also been refuted on numerous articles on the Golden Dawn blog, for example here.

Sadly, repeated, thorough, and consistent refutation never seems to stem the tide of disinformation from aggressive Reconstructionists. Let us therefore, yet once again, refute Mr. Zalewski’s latest arguments point by point.

Pat Zalewski

Zalewksi begins:

"Why then would the S[ecret] C[hief]’s make their presence known to the public by “adepts or disciples” of their own teachings? I’d like to know that as well, especially when the SC’s came out of the closet some months ago, went public on a certain GD blog, heralded by the writer of said blog and on an audio interview. It appears that silence is not their concern. All we got from them was wishy-washy bullshit, as one would expect.

What I am getting at is the SC’s producing papers for temples they support, not necessarily for publication.

One of the things you must expect if you follow the SC dialogue is what comes out it. I have noticed that in some temples that claim this very little is produced to back it up in the way documentation for said temples."

How has Mr. Zalewski has come to this conclusion? Has he been present in any of the Temples of the Rosicrucian Order of the Alpha et Omega? Of course not. Or has he been privy to any of the secret documents of our Temples? No. In other words, he Zalewksi is merely pulling this out of his ... In reality, despite is pretentions, Mr. Zalewski is in no way qualified to judge anything at all relating to any higher and secret teachings of the Second and Third Orders of the A.O.

Moreover, even though what the Secret Chiefs actually are teaching, remains "oath-bound material," it does not mean that it does not exist, merely because Pat Zalewksi is not personally privy to it. It is his own fault that he has no respect for oaths, unlike Adepts from other Golden Dawn orders that we have already shared some of the advanced Second Order material with.

Mr. Zalewski then continues:

"For example take the GD tarot. What papers have the SC written for this?

What papers have the SC given about Enochiania?

What papers have the SC given in Enochian Chess?

What papers have SC given for god forms?

What papers have The SC given for rituals?

What papers have the SC given about non material alchemy?

What papers have the SC done on the Convoluted Froces?"

Here we come to the crux of the matter. Pat Zalewksi sees the Golden Dawn as little more than a series of papers. In Pat Zalewksi's personal, reconstructioist vision of the Golden Dawn, he considers spiritual development to be basically an intellectual exercise. Mr. Zalewski’s vision of the Golden Dawn, is that of intellectual understanding - and to manufacture even more convoluted teachings.

Traditionalist Golden Dawn orders, under the guidance of the Secret Chiefs, on the other hand, understand that the entire purpose of the Golden Dawn is:

"...to become more than human"

I will have more to say about this central point later. First, however, to add to the above I have to say something regarding Zalewksi's laundry list of “G.D. teachings”. Without going into details regarding the particulars of the teachings that have been transmitted by the Secret Chiefs and and about to be transmitted in the near future, I must ask: Why should the Third Order have to adapt itself to Mr. Zalewski’s personal vision or standards of the Golden Dawn? Who, after all, does Pat Zalewski think he is?

Clearly, Zalewksi's entire line of argument is absurd. The Third Order obviously has no need to conform to Zalewksi's personal, idiosyncratic view of the Golden Dawn. Zalewksi is welcome to take his own order in any direction he likes. This adds to the overall richness and diversity of the Golden Dawn tradition. Where problems arise is when reconstructionists like Zalewksi refuse to show the same tolerance and respect for diversity by incessantly attacking traditionalist Golden Dawn orders and fundamental cornerstones of the Golden Dawn tradition like the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order.

Zalewski continues:

"These are all legitimate questions and should be asked. These are some of the weak spots in the original GD papers that should be filled in. Now I have done my bit in this area and claim no SC guidance and I challenge the SC’s in said temples to do better than what I did in the published area, as a mere plodder."

To be honest, with a few early exceptions, most of what has been published by Mr. Zalewski, in my opinion, has not been particularly impressive, especially not in his later works. This is strange, especially considering Zalewksi's claims to have been initiated, however irregularly, as an Adeptus Exemptus (7=4).

Some of his early writings on Golden Dawn Ritual are quite interesting, at least in parts. But there are also so many errors, and Mr. Zalewksi has been repeatedly caught misattributing his own inventions and constructions to others, like S.L. MacGregors or a "Whare Ra oral tradition."

Zalewksi continues:

"If you are a member of a temple that claims Secret Chiefs then you should have access to material that that goes way beyond what I have published, and if you don’t, then there is a problem with the SC or your chiefs."

Contrary to Pat Zalewski's misrepresentations, the teachings coming from the Third Order into the Second Order of the Alpha et Omega really do go beyond anything that Mr. Zalewski has ever published. Unlike Mr. Zalewksi's convoluted teachings, however, the teachings of the Secret Chiefs derive from actual esoteric transmissions and focus on the spiritual development of the Adept rather than on convoluted intellectual analysis.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa

Sadly, oaths prevent me from going into much more specific detail. One example that has already been made public as evidence of the factual existance of the higher Second Order teachings and practices, regards the Kameoth or Magical Squares of the Seven Planets, which clearly interconnects in a direct way. I previously wrote:

"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 published by Agrippa.

For example…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. …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."

This is but one example of the quality level of the newly received Second Order teachings from the Secret Chiefs. This is clearly not mere "wishy-washy bullshit" that Pat Zaewlski tries to assert as a mere "Golden Dawn flame war" tactic. Zalewksi's comment about "wishy-washy bullshit," itself amounts to little more than a desperate and deceitful attempt to divert attention from the actual, substantial corpus of new teachings and techniques for spiritual development that have recently become available to Adepts from across the entire spectrum of the Golden Dawn community!

Zalekwsi's strategy all along has been to ignore all actually presented evidence, repeating over and over that there is "no proof" as though he were a parrot, while secretely trying to provoke traditionalists to release even more information. Another example of actually presented evidence is the recent analysis by Third Order emmisary, Frater Lux E Tenebris, which sheds major new light on the Adeptus Grades of the Second Order. Let me quote some pertinent parts concerning the true nature of the Adeptus Minor (5°=6°), Major (6°=5°) and Exemptus (7°=4°) Grades and the corresponding initiation rituals:

"The three Adept rituals of the R.R. et A.C. are but one valid albeit late manifestation of earlier Rosicrucian rites that contain the knowledge of death, the knowledge of the universe beyond, and of rebirth and regeneration. These rites, which TOGETHER contain the requisite knowledge to become a TRUE Adept, are in reality but three degrees in one. […]

Inside of the human being who undergoes these initiations and performs these techniques, changes that occur are not merely mental, but also energetic, biological, and cellular. […]

If the mysteries of death are those of the Adeptus Minor, who sacrifices him or her-self scientifically, in order to transform into a different substance (as can be observed in any cabinet of chemistry or physics laboratory where matter is studied), then in the grade of Adeptus Major (6=5), consciousness is gained in the LITERAL sense. […]

During the 6=5 initiation of an Adeptus Major, a special magical technique is employed, which LITERALLY detaches the soul of the candidate, separating it from the physical body, so that the Adept may have the literal experience of what actually happens when you die. […]

In the tomb, in which the Major Adept is enclosed, there is all of his/her consciousness, and in the “world beyond the tomb,” the consciousness of the Adept encounters the consciousness of Nature, once the consciousness of the Adept has been detached from its physical vehicle by 6=5 rites of Magic.

Once the Adept’s consciousness has been magically detached from his or her physical body, he or she then confronts what the Adept knew or thought to be – with what is in reality, and thus can make a complete correction in the eyes of God. It is in the 6=5 grade of Adeptus Major, therefore, that contact can truly be stabilized with one’s higher Self, Divine essence, or “Angel” (and not in the 5=6, as has been popularly misunderstood for over a century). […]

Far removed from all metaphor and mysticism, the LITERAL bath of the Adept in the Upper Astral realm, where resides that which does not live on Earth, reawakens the powers slumbering within the Adept. Thus, it is upon entering the 7=4 that the keys are bestowed of how to use these awakened powers for the common good, as well as to lead the Order. This is why the power to reconstitute the Order, if necessary, has at all times in history resided with Exempt Adepts, together with the Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages of our Order, as is also the case with the Golden Dawn.

Magical and alchemical techniques are given in this grade that carry the Adept to triumph in his or her Opus Magnum (Great Work). Far from all metaphor and mysticism, these techniques are physical, observable, and have nothing to do with mysticism, obfuscation, or the sort of smoky theological arguments about these grades that have appeared in books and on the Internet of late. […]

In this state, the Adept comes to understand the language of Nature, even to perceive and to comprehend the Universal movements of the Spheres. The Adept understands even life and death, living on the extreme peak of both. The Soul of the Adept is quiet and balanced – and nothing can shake this Soul – becoming what Agrippa called a Static Soul – a Soul tranquil, equilibrated, and no longer fluctuating.

Thus we witness the miracle of the trinity of grades of the true Rosicrucian Adept, the nature and purpose of which is totally different than what people had come to think and write of them today. Although to the outside, these initiations appear to be three grades, they are in reality but one deeply profound initiatic process, which fully develops the Soul of the Adept."

This is clearly not mere "wishy washy bullshit" as Pat Zalewksi's flame war would like you to believe. Frater Barrabbas Tiresius, a well respected Alexandrian Wiccan High-Priest has observed all of this from the perspective of the pagan and non-Golden Dawn perspective. He recently wrote about the above on his blog, Talking About Ritual Magick:

Frater Barrabas
Alexandrian Wiccan Elder and Pagan Author

"I have been carefully studying a recent transmission from the spokesperson for the secret chiefs of the HOGD faction of the Golden Dawn, translated and edited by David Griffin for the benefit of everyone. This transmission is entitled “Traditional Initiatic Meaning of the Three Grades of the R.R. et A.C.,” and was written by Lux Et Tenebris. […] What was being transmitted was truly remarkable, and it was obviously far beyond anything else that I have read on the same subject. […]

Most of the Golden Dawn organizations seem quite unable to write about anything substantive when it comes to the degrees beyond Adeptus Minor. I would suppose that it might have something to do with the fact that the Golden Dawn material which is in the public domain only goes that far, and the various degrees and lore beyond that point have been, at least up until to now, merely suppositional. Some might say that the higher degrees of the second order (5th, 6th and 7th) are too secret and mysterious to talk about, or that those who could talk about them are oath bound and constrained to be silent. Of course, that hasn’t stopped some in the Golden Dawn community from writing and talking about nearly everything in a public forum, so I suspect that it mostly has to do with the fact that the higher degrees are essentially undiscovered country for most GD organizations.

Yet in this specially transmitted document are the definitions of the initiatic degrees of the vaunted second order of the Ruby Rose and Golden Cross, written by someone who is the gate-keeper for the third order. You should expect that such a revelation would be quite remarkable if it were indeed a communication from the secret chiefs. Such a communique would have to walk a very fine line between being revelatory, and revealing confidential and oath bound information. I have carefully read over this transmission and I have found it to be profoundly revealing and truly amazing. […]

I have shared this transmitted document with my peers, and they all agree that it is remarkable and quite amazing. I have seen nothing like it in the various Golden Dawn material that I have in my possession or have ever read about. It is deep, profound, and also, quite insightful. I found myself saying, “Of course, it was all so obvious!” at various points while I was reading it. If anything could convince me that the various claims made by David Griffin of being in contact with secret chiefs were true, this brief transmission should prove it beyond dispute."

Such is the material, which Pat Zalewksi, using feigned objectivity, would unreflectingly dismiss as "wishy-washy bullshit."

Zalewski continues:

"There is a lot of bullshit floating about re astral contacts who produce nothing. The chances are you’ll be told that the SC don’t do this type of advice. Well isn’t that convenient!"

Here again, Zalewski shows no understanding of the value of, nor respect for, oath bound material. Instead, in typical flame war style, me merely dismisses out of hand all actually presented evidence.

Zalewski continues:

"Now you can stick your head in the sand and ignore what I have said here or ask the hard questions. Mathers never finished the 5=6 degree and SC’s and today we hear that the SC’s come in and try and give advice for the 3rd order when they have not finished delivering the full 5=6? If the SC’s have not delivered the full sub grades of the 5=6 then we have to argue what good are they. It is most likely that someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes if they have not – and go figure who."

Here Zalewksi is just pretending there is no evidence, yet once again. Zalewksi continues:

"The SC’s are like santa clause in a impoverished area. Lots of best wishes and no presents."

This last statement removes any and all doubt that what Zalewksi is really up to here is merely engaging yet once again in cheap, "flame war" propaganda. This sort of nonsense has gone on far too long in the Golden Dawn community, and it creates the false impression that the Golden Dawn is nothing but a bunch of groups that are at one another's throats all the time.

Enough is enough already.

Furthermore, Zalekwsi's reference to “Santa Claus” of course tries to instil the idea of Traditionalists as myself adhering to a belief system instead of science. Peregrin Wildoak has lately suggested something similar on his blog, comparing Traditionalist Golden Dawn with a confessional faith. Nothing can be further from the truth.

The Secret Chiefs are sharing their wisdom right now in our modern age. It is shared to the Second Order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega – and as I just said, the Alpha et Omega in turn is sharing this material with worthy Adepts of any other Golden Dawn Order. This is a FACT, not a fantasy or a dogmatically held belief.

Unlike Pat Zalewski, there are many brother and sister Adepts in Golden Dawn orders across the Golden Dawn community who respect the sanctity of oath-bound material and who deserve to have access to traditional Hermetic and Rosicrucian teachings beyond the Adeptus Minor material published by Israel Regardie.

As I previously wrote on this blog, and Pat Zalewksi is well aware:

"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) Adeptus 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.

Zalewksi then concludes:

"So what does this third order teach that is so astounding? The answer is Alchemy. So you can skip the GD and do alchemy under the new fabricated rules. If you are already an alchemist and work the mineral world, then you can skip the order and do your own thing, so even the SC and 3rd Order can be bypassed."

Has this flame war nonsense not gone on far too long already?

Clearly, alchemy is indeed an essential aspect of both the Hermetic and the Rosicrucian traditions. Furthermore, the higher and secret initiatic transmissions regarding the Royal Art of Alchemy definitely do offer a most excellent opportunity for spiritual development.

But for Pat Zalewksi to so arrogantly belittle the entire Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions in this manner, merely betrays his faulty understanding about the true Hermetic or Rosicrucian traditions, and anything beyond his intellectual and convoluted reconstructionist approach to the Golden Dawn.

At the end of the day, this approach to the Golden Dawn, espoused over and over by Golden Dawn reconstructionists, like Pat Zalewski and Nick Farrtell, can be nicely summed up in Zalewksi's own words, quoted directly from above:

"you can skip the order and do your own thing."

The choice has never been clearer. You can either:

"Do it yourself" with Pat Zalewksi

or you can choose instead the

Traditional, Rosicrucian, and Hermetic Golden Dawn!

The Matrix and the Golden Dawn

2011-11-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

by David Griffin

My entire adult life, I have been haunted by one, solitary, unshakable idea. In fact, this single notion has entirely shaped a spiritual quest that would take me not only to the far corners of the Earth - but lead me on the greatest occult adventure I ever could have imagined, namely that:

"Reality is not what it seems."

I grew up in the 60's - And in the 70's transmuted the 60's Mantra, "Challenge Authority," into my personal prime directive: "Challenge Reality." In fact, this was to later become the fundamental leitmotif of my entire spiritual quest.

Thus my magical career began with a quest to prove that the walls of reality are not at all as solid as they seem. My magic wand, to this end, I consecrated having climbed to the apex, on top of the the Great Pyramid of Egypt. To follow up, I invoked all of the angels of the decans and the quinants at the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan.

I spent thousands of dollars constructing my magical implements and even many thousands more chasing the predictible path of total solar eclipses around the world - celebrating one ritual more incredible than the other under the light of precious minutes of solar totality.

To celebrate the first Uranus-Neptune conjunction in history that mankind was conscious of (February 2, 1993) I managed to spend the entire night alone inside the King's chamber of the Cheops pyramid in Egypt. Although it cost a fortune to bribe the guards, to me it was worth every penny to prove to myself that I could do even this, as reality is not at all what it seems!

The other notion that shaped my spiritual path like no other has been a persistent belief that there is life inside the Sun. As a kid, I was practically weaned on Star Trek, and yet, while everyone else was asking "is there life on other planets," I have always been utterly convinced that there is life inside the Stars.

All of this, of course, eventually led me to the Golden Dawn, and later to a deeper, more occulted, inner school of the Hermetic tradition, where I found notions like the Inner Planes and the Solar Body - that made final sense of the labours of Hercules I had completed along my spiritual quest.

I guess therefore, it should come as a surprise to no one that when "The Matrix" first came out in 1999, the year I wrote the Ritual Magic Manual, and the year of the Reformation of the Alpha et Omega, it quickly became one of my all time favorite films.

I am therefore extremely pleased to read a most wonderful article here, written by my talented disciple, GH Frater Sincerus Renatus, about The Matrix and the Golden Dawn. To what Frater S.R. has already said so eloquently, I have but one thing to add:

To all my readers, and to all members of the Golden Dawn everywhere, I invite you to remember:

"There is no spoon!"

Llewellyn Worldwide Publishing, Witch Wars and the Golden Dawn

2011-10-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

Donald Michael Kraig recently wrote on the Llewellyn Publishing blog:

"I currently know of two Golden Dawn-like groups where the leaders were members of another group, became initiated into the 5=6 degree, almost immediately quit or were kicked out of the group, and then started their own versions of the Golden Dawn! One actually tried more than once before coming up with a scheme to call his group the Golden Dawn even though his new rituals actually reverse Golden Dawn concepts. (Why call it the “Golden Dawn” if you don’t want to follow the teachings of that group?) The other frequently declares that he is trying to structure peace between Golden Dawn groups while he regularly leads the battles by writing attacks on other groups and individuals."

The above is vintage Golden Dawn Flame War verbiage...

... With Donald Michael Kraig hiding behind a mask of feigned objectivity - and not revealing which Golden Dawn order he belongs to while misusing his author's ethos and the Llewellyn blog as a "bully" pulpit.

Particularly noteworthy is how Kraig mischaracterizes legitimate, scholarly debate in the Golden Dawn community as "attacks," while he himself attacks half of the Golden Dawn community in the very same paragraph.

This is the sort of bullying, duplicitous misrepresentation that typifies Witch War as well as the decades old, Golden Dawn internet flame war, which sadly - judging from the above rant - appears to be alive and well today on the Llewellyn Worldwide blog - with Don Kraig acting as "de facto" spokesperson of a Golden Dawn order that has been kindling flames in our Golden Dawn community for nearly two decades now.

Enough is enough already.

I would remind Mr. Kraig that the Honorable Jeffrey S. White, United States District Judge, already warned his Golden Dawn order in the court's order dated October 24, 2008 that:

"The Court fully expects [the other party*] will not engage in back door violations of paragraph 4 of the Settlement Agreement, and it will not tolerate any such violations." [This paragraph of the Settlement Agreement viewable here details the non-disparagement clause binding both parties.]

*Case 3:05-cv-00432, "The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Inc. v, Griffin," in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

The Exquisite Corpse Golden Dawn

2011-10-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

by David Griffin

Pat Zalewski, much like Nick Farrell, has written that following the closure of the Whare RA temple in 1978, what remains today of the original Golden Dawn is but an exquisite corpse. To this, Pat Zalewksi today added:

"In general terms, most of us think that Westcott and Mathers lied their heads off to create a blind of secret chiefs and non existent mysterious temples, and Mathers says as much. All I know for sure is the ciphers work, and that's enough, regardless of where they came from or who delivered them. It's still good to have the early GD history out in the open though, and the deceptions revealed."

When Pat Zalewksi writes "most of us" above, he certainly does not speak for anyone from any of the traditionalist Golden Dawn orders, like the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega or the August Order of the Mystic Rose. It is only since the A.O. announced a decade ago (in 2002) that we had reestablished contact with the original Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn's Third Order, that G.D. reconstructionists Zalewksi and Farrell began defaming Golden Dawn founders S.L. MacGregor Mathers and W. Wynn Wescott and dismissing the historical evidence without justification for the physical existence of the Golden Dawn's Third Order in Continental Europe as both Wescott and Mathers repeatedly claimed.

To any truly objective observer, there are as many logical fallacies in Zalewski's and Farrell's aggressive G.D. reconstructionist position, as there are holes in Swiss cheese. Above, for example, Zalewksi says that even though the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order are a mere fairy tale, that even though Mathers and Wescott are cheats and liars, and that even though the Golden Dawn was a fraud from the beginning, the rituals and the magical system of the Golden Dawn nonetheless still work.

Grasping for straws, this swiss cheese argument was the best Pat Zalewksi and Nick Farrell could find to justify The Exquisite Corpse Golden Dawn, which they dissect and reconstruct into a headless Golden Dawn zombie, like a hybrid of Frankenstein and the Night of the Living Dead.

What Zalewski does not explain is why the rituals and magical system of the Golden Dawn actually do work so well, if the founders were liars and frauds and the Secret Chiefs but fairy tales. If Mathers was a madman like Farrell claims, then how did Mathers and Wescott come up with something so radically different than anything the world had ever seen before? Read Eliphas Levi and you see clearly what 19th Century occultism actually looked like. Obviously, either Mathers and Wescott were the greatest magical geniuses of our time, or alternatively they must have had outside help.

Ellic Howe does not even attempt explain this. Zalewksi does not explain this at all. Nor does Farrell.

To get an objective, outside opinion from someone with no vested interest in the Golden Dawn, this morning I phoned a respected Elder of a major Pagan tradition, who requested to remain anonymous, yet she said:

"The overwhelming historical evidence speaks against these guys. The Golden Dawn is a watershed between the occultism of the 19th and 20th Centuries, something radically different than anything that had ever been seen before. If Mathers was a loon, then where did the genius of the Golden Dawn come from? The only other alternative are the Secret Chiefs, which Zalewksi and Farrell already dismiss as a fairy tail.

Why then are Farrell and Zalewski posing as Elders of the Golden Dawn tradition, when in the same breath they attack the Golden Dawn as a fraud? From where I sit as an outside observer this is the height of hypocrisy.

Farrell and Zalewski look like a snake oil salesmen defaming the most monumental and revolutionary occult achievement in our times, merely to elevate themselves.

I, for one, would not buy a used car from someone like who claims that, while the car itself is o.k., the manufacturer is a fraud and its CEO a rip-off artist!"

Nick Farrell's Latest Attack on S.L. MacGregor Mathers & the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn

2011-10-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

by David Griffin

Is the Golden Dawn a Living Tradition or a Headless Cadaver?

Golden Dawn reconstructionist Nick Farrell argues the Golden Dawn died when Whare Ra temple closed its doors in 1978. Farrell further argues the Golden Dawn was from the outset a fraud perpetrated by Golden Dawn founders, W. Wynn Wescott and S.L. MacGregor Mathers.

Golden Dawn Reconstructionist: Nick Farrell

In a bizarre twist, Mr. Farrell fully depends on these arguments to justify his reconstructionist approach upon which he has built a Golden Dawn order according to his personal fancy. Unlike successful Neo-Pagan reconstructionists, sloppy G.D. reconstructionists like Mr. Farrell view the Golden Dawn as a juicy cadaver, from which they happily saw off the bits they like, discard the rest of the rotting carcass, and use the pieces they like to reconstruct a modern, distorted version of the Golden Dawn, much like Dr. Frankenstein did when he likewise created his monster out of bits and pieces of cadavers.

For years, I have been a primary advocate of diversity in our Golden Dawn community. I fully support the existence of a diverse plethora of Golden Dawn orders. Mr. Farrell's reconstructionist vision of the Golden Dawn, much like Pat Zalewlski's New Age alchemy, clearly adds to the overall diversity of our Golden Dawn community. I nonetheless also defend the right of traditionalist Golden Dawn orders, like the August Order of the Mystic Rose and the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, likewise to exist unmolested, so that individuals continue to have somewhere they can receive classical, traditional Golden Dawn initiation and training.

One thing I do object to, however, is how certain sloppy Golden Dawn reconstructionists, unlike their excellent Neo-Pagan reconstructionist contemporaries, abandon academic rigor and protocol trying to rewrite history by attacking even the most fundamental aspects of the traditional Golden Dawn.

I was not surprised at all when Nick Farrell recently published yet another article, entitled Secret Chiefs and the Golden Dawn, attacking Golden Dawn founder, S.L. MacGregor Mathers as well as the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn's Third Order. In this latest attack article, Farrell, who has previously argued that Mathers was nutty as a loon, now argues that the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order were but figments of Mathers imagination (rather than real people like Mathers specifically claimed on numerous occasions).

I will not go into a detailed refutation of Mr. Farrell's arguments, as that has already been done in a fine manner by G.H. Frater Sincerus Renatus, Imperator of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn® and of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® in Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, in a new blog you can read here.

It is significant to note that Mr. Farrell's latest article appears in an on-line journal whose stated purpose is to raise money for a legal fund that finances litigation that unsuccessfully attempted to destroy our order. Thus, Farrell's article may be seen as just another machination in the decade old, Golden Dawn conflict, which covertly continues to be waged against our order, despite our long and incessant efforts to promote peace and harmony in the Golden Dawn community. (Note that, despite ongoing misrepresentation around the internet, our order remains the sole and exclusive owner of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn® trademark in the UK as well as in the entire European Community - EU trademark registration 000063925).

Mr. Farrell's recent, senseless profanation through publication of the Mathers recension of the initiatioin rituals of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega is, of course, also best understood in the same light, as Farrell mistakenly believed these the secret rituals were still in use today in traditionalist Golden Dawn orders like the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega and the August Order of the Mystic Rose. He failed to realize that we revised the rituals in anticipation of precisely such an attack on traditionalist Golden Dawn orders.

GH Frater: Sincerus Renatus

Here are a few excerpts from Sincerus Renatus' refutation of Mr. Farrell's latest attack article:

"Mr. Farrell accuses Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers of using lies and deception in trying to uphold the idea of a physical and incarnated Secret Chiefs while at the same time resorting to channeled sources"

"Yet Farrell presents absolutely no sources or references to corroborate his story, in a manner that I have seen with other journalists posing as historians. Thus we must conclude that they are based upon Mr. Farrell’s own fabrications and fantasies, or embellishings, rather than anything solid and historically proven, other than whatever he may have read into Ellic Howe’s The Magicians of the Golden Dawn."

"I won’t go into any greater details regarding Mr. Farrell’s personal opinions on this matter of Secret Chiefs in the flesh or the “mental condition” of MacGregor Mathers, other than making the readers aware that he himself has an interest in refuting physical Secret Chiefs to be anything but a myth and MacGregor Mathers to be a loony. He uses his usual talking points to further his own post-modern reconstruction of a Golden Dawn Order. Mr. Farrell clearly isn’t dealing with this subject from the perspective of a dispassionate and objective historical researcher, but obviously has his own agenda in furthering his opinionated and highly biased position, as any journalist would with an historical revisionist agenda. But I must react when he claims any historical veracity to his speculations."

One can perhaps understand attacks on S.L. MacGregor Mathers and other Golden Dawn founders coming from someone like Ellic Howe, a dubious "historian" with a clear agenda to destroy the Golden Dawn. What is bizarre, however, is to hear the same arguments being parroted by Nick Farrell, who purports to lead a Golden Dawn order he has reconstructed. Why on Earth would anyone in their right mind want to lead an order, or even initiate or teach others a spiritual tradition they believe a fraud founded by liars and forgers?

Pagan Elder: Frater Barrabbas

I am certainly not the only one who has noted this inconsistency in the reconstruction efforts of Nick Farrell. For example, respected Pagan Elder and magickal author, Frater Barrabbas Tireseus, recently wrote here on his Talking About Ritual Magic blog:

"What we have here is an never ending argument between traditionalists and reconstructionists in the Golden Dawn... Reconstructionism, as I defined it in my previous article, builds a modern tradition using properly vetted historical information. The basic premise is to build an antique system as if it had survived into the modern times... In order to give life to a reconstructed tradition, you must believe in it as a thing unto itself, thus generating a kind of egregore...

if reconstructionists don’t believe in the tradition that they have built, then it is still a dead tradition consisting of various assembled parts (with some missing), like some half finished Frankenstein monster laying on the operating table.

A reconstructionist never says that his or her tradition is fake, but that it exists in a kind of metaphysical sense, “as if” it had never disappeared.

Nick’s role of nay-sayer and myth-busting iconoclast doesn’t help his cause of reconstructing a Golden Dawn tradition, since in order to give life to a reconstruction, one must emphatically believe in it... I have a problem with someone who is the supposed head of his order and who claims that the tradition he represents is fake and based on lies and deceit...

According to what Nick has declared in his recent blog, and what other leaders and members of the other reconstructionist factions have said, it would appear that what they are offering to the occult community is a sad testimonial to the Golden Dawn tradition - a headless corpse being passed off as a living thing... Curiously enough, a reconstructionist must also fashion a “head” for his or her tradition...

I think that we can easily see that choosing a living tradition over one that is a headless corpse is a wise decision."

The Alchemy and the Golden Dawn Debate (featuring Frater Lux E Tenebris, representing the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order of the Golden Dawn)

2011-09-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

by David Griffin

Alchemy and Golden Dawn Ritual

Pat Zalewksi's New Age alchemy book (Alchemy and Golden Dawn Ritual), based already in the opening chapters on material channeled from an alleged disincarnate entity called "Guru Das," has both sparked lively debate and drawn derision from numerous practicing alchemists. For example, Pat Zalewski's former friend in New Zealand, "Rubaphilos Salfluere" recently wrote on the HOGD/AO Yahoo Forum.

Rubaphilos Salfleure
"Thanks for the welcome. I have an extensive interest and experience in alchemy, and its expression in the GD system (having been a long time and keen student of the GD system), so I would be more than happy to answer questions on the subject, if any are forthcoming.

I know quite well about Pat Zalewksi's 's so-called alchemy. I met his wife at an alchemical seminar in the late 80's, and eventually became good friends with her and Pat. I visited them at their (then) home in Wellington a number of times, to discuss the GD and alchemy, and his (then) new books. So we talked a lot about alchemy and we discussed his plans for this alchemy book of his at length. And you are right, it is merely an exercise in hooking together correspondences between some alchemical ideas and concepts inside the GD system. The most superficial and highly inaccurate way of trying to decode alchemical literature. Pat Zalewksi knows next to nothing about actual alchemy. And I know for a fact that he has no understanding of the advanced lab tradition (the process of confecting the Philosopher's Stone), as his wife and he only discussed and worked on Plants, and had no access (back then, at least) with anyone involved in the advanced work.

But, anyway, once you realise that he only publishes for the money (as he once said to me), and doesn't really care about the content of the books, then you stop taking anything he says, seriously. And on that basis I don't think there is any value in talking about the guy."

To which I responded:

I also am a practitioner of Hermetic alchemy, and an initiate of the Internal Alchemy of the Third Order of the Golden Dawn.

This is something very different, however, than what Pat Zalewski is trying to promote as so-called, "Spiritual Alchemy," which is not alchemy at all, but merely an intellectual game searching for analogies to string together from Golden Dawn Ritual and classical alchemical texts and images. Pat's calling these intellectual gyrations "Spiritual Alchemy" in his new book, Alchemy and the Golden Dawn, will merely confuse people and lead them astray from discovering the true spiritual beauty and potential of alchemy.

In reality, the rites, knowledge lectures and even the magical system of the Golden Dawn do indeed contain analogies for the advanced processes of Hermetic Internal alchemy in the Golden Dawn's Third Order. This is something very different though than Pat Zalkewski's intellectual games.

For example, Pat says absolutely nothing about the actual alchemical practices and techniques encoded in the rituals. He merely paints a bizarre tapestry of barely related symbols. For example, he ties together New Age ideas allegedly channeled from "Guru Das," then links them to a couple of features of Golden Dawn ritual, as though the two were somehow related.

In the process, Pat uses a huge amount of smoke and mirrors, deliberately making himself difficult to understand, as though being as abstruse as possible might fool people into thinking he actually knows something about alchemy. In reality, Pat seems only to know Jungian psychological theory derived from alchemy, as well as channeled material from New Age gurus, judging from the actual sources Pat quotes in the book.

I do not get the impression that your approach to alchemy, however, is merely an intellectual and speculative one like Pat. Thus I suspect you and I might be able to have a meaningful dialogue to shed new light on the true nature of alchemy for the Golden Dawn community. I must state from the outset, however, that I am somewhat impeded in what I may discuss openly, as I am an INITIATE of Hermetic Internal alchemy. As such, I take the sanctity of oath bound material very seriously.

I was initiated as an 8=3 of the Alpha et Omega over a decade ago. At that time, I was initiated into the beginning phases of Hermetic Internal alchemy as well.

I am an apprentice of a Hermetic Master Alchemist, Frater Lux E Tenebris. As you are likely aware, the relationship between Master Alchemist and Disciple is not to be underestimated. This relationship has at all times through history been the crux of traditional alchemical training. This is something that seems no longer to be understood in the alchemical community, however. Nonetheless, the Master-Apprentice relationship is the single most important factor in traditional Hermetic alchemy. Thus, should you pose questions I am not best qualified to answer, I will pass them onto my superiors in the Golden Dawn's Third Order, to provide you with a more proper response.

Alchemy teaches that Spirit and Flesh - Energy and Matter - are actually two sides of one and the same coin. It is life affirming - and seeks to uncover and use the secrets of nature for the spiritualization of matter.

Hermetic Internal Alchemy teaches that material life on planets is just a caterpillar stage to life as pure energy - inside the Sun and stars - at the fast vibrating end of the universe at the speed of light ...

And the Opus Magnum - the true goal of human life on earth is Energetic Evolution: To cultivate of a Solar Body of Light through physical transmutation - thus avoiding incarnating over and over in material bodies subject to death. In other words, to become Consciously Immortal!

The Secret of transmutation of all metals into gold lies inside each and every one of us - for the "Prima Materia" (First Matter) of Internal Alchemy is the living matter of our physical bodies. The "Opus Magnum" (Great Work) of Hermetic Internal Alchemy is the transmutation of Lead - the matter of your physical body - into Gold - pure Solar Energy, Divine consciousness, and immortality.

This Internal (PHYSICAL) Transmutation is fueled by the internal fires of your body - among which LOVE and SEXUALITY are primary motors for spiritual and energetic evolution.

Hermetic Internal alchemy is "internal" in the sense that we use an inner laboratory, an internal athanor, and an internal fire - all inside of the human body in a PHYSICAL sense, rather than merely psychological or intellectual, as in what has today misleadingly and confusingly come to be known as so-called, "spiritual" alchemy. We practice the art of PHYSICAL transmutation instead of mere speculative, intellectual gyrations based on New Age channelling.

Rubaphilos replied:

Regarding your statement that: "Hermetic Internal Alchemy is a completely different alchemical way to both of these. It is a classic lab tradition, but using the physical body as athanor, prima materia, fire, everything ... but in a physical sense," I would be curious to know if you have any quotes from classic alchemical literature to support that idea. (I am always interested in classic references to the internal work).

Rather than give a less than perfect answer myself, I instead phoned the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn, requesting a proper reply. I received via email the below response from Frater Lux E Tenebris, who wrote:

Lux E Tenebris

"Each true Alchemist indicates these things in every genuine alchemical work. Read for example the works of Fulcanelli and Canseliet his pupil. These are modern references to this Art of Alchemy.

Alchemy as a function of its first law states that Unity is All including the Unity of matter. Thus when the mystery is discussed it is discussed on many levels: The physical plane, the subtle plane, the mental plane, and the strictly divine.

You have to remember that energy is always ONE in various shades of it and therefore has no meaning to speak of physical energy and physical references. When it comes to these things you just have to speak of a unique energy and the indications are everywhere and in every tract, as the philosophers say time and again: "We do not contradict each other , but rather say the same thing in different symbols."

In any case, for the edification of the readers of your forum, I will indicate the first paragraphs of the The New Chemical Light where scholars of good faith can find what has been requested.

But then again, this is just one of hundreds of such tracts. But do I really need to give you a bibliography of hundreds of books that deal with alchemy ...

Practically every one covers this same topic, at least for those with eyes to see!

Below are some very clear directions written by a true alchemist of the past centuries. But then again, who poses such a question to begin with, however, merely demonstrates their lack of initiation in The Royal Art, and thus an inability to see what is right before their eyes, as, for example, in Sendivogius, "The New Chemical Light."

- Lux E Tenebris

Rubaphilos responded:

"I am very familiar with Sendivogious' New Chemical Light (since it is standard reading for any lab alchemist). I'm not quite sure, though, how his text shows proof of an internal alchemy tradition. Historically it is well known that Sendivogious was a lab alchemist (after the tradition of the likes of Albertus and Dubuis, for example), that he had a laboratory and performed many experiments there, and that he performed transmutations with a Philosophic Stone in front of reliable witnesses. So I'm not quite sure what I am supposed to be seeing in the quoted passages, outside of his obvious references to esoteric chemistry.

I think I would have to twist the facts a good deal in order to even begin to believe Sendivogious was expounding the secrets (even in allegorical form) of some system of alchemy that required an alchemist to work some physical process on himself.

Seeing no point in further pestering the Third Order, merely to reply to someone wanting to debate the meaning of classical alchemical texts like a Lutheran pastor and a Catholic priest debating theology, I instead merely replied myself:

Care Rubaphilos, You overlook that Sendivogious even mentions sperm directly, albeit the English translator chose the word "seed" instead, which illustrates yet one more problem facing those who choose to stumble around in the alchemical labyrinth without the torch of initiation by a Master to guide them.

You apparently remain blinded by an entrenched belief that alchemy in the INTERNAL laboratory (inside the physical body) and alchemy in the EXTERNAL laboratory (in the external world) are SEPARATE disciplines.

Have you never learned the most fundamental and basic law of alchemy, the "Unitary Theorem," namely that:

"All is ONE!"

Have you never yet felt the sacred flow of the Divine forces of nature INSIDE of you while in your EXTERNAL laboratory observing a distillation, a crystillisation, or perhaps a combustion?

Have you never experienced INSIDE of you an almost religious exaltation while observing EXTERNAL matter transmuting beneath your hands?

If not, then what you are practicing still remains mere chemistry and not yet alchemy.

A true alchemist is one who has learned and EXPERIENCED DIRECTLY that there is NO DIFFERENCE between INTERNAL and EXTERNAL operations...

The UNITY of all things is the most basic principle of true alchemy. Energy and matter are ONE.

Have you not yet understood that, because matter is ONE; the Vital Principal, the Vitale Energy is present in whatever manifestation of matter, and thus the Great Work can depart from whatever Prima Materia, whether outside or inside of you?

Anyone who has not yet directly experienced the SIMULTANEOUS INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL TRANSMUTATION of matter is still but playing at alchemy - and has not yet become a true Philosopher of the Art.

And whether alchemist or magician ...

The path to the summit remains the same.

In the Second Order of the Golden Dawn, for example, we teach EXTERNAL MAGIC using cups, wands, daggers, and pentacles made of dead wood and steel in the outer world.

But if one is to become a true Adept, one must first learn to use magical transmutations in the external world to produce inner transmutation in the INTERNAL world of the magician as well.

Otherwise one remains an Adept in but name only.

And moreover ...

Beyond the Abyss at the Third Order level ...

There comes a time when every magician and every alchemist alike must once and for all put away DEPENDENCE on all of the EXTERNAL props that we needed in our magical or alchemical infancy - and realize that we no longer need such training wheels any longer.

The true MAGISTER is no longer dependent on anything at all in the EXTERNAL world.

But instead - through the exclusive INTERNAL manipulation of INTERNAL forces and INNER processes, the true MAGISTER transforms and transmutes even in the EXTERNAL world, without reliance on any EXTERNAL props, implements, or laboratories whatsoever.

But then again, I am likely wasting my breath trying to explain these things to someone who believes that the only true alchemy is but mere chemistry in a laboratory.

For it is written that:

"Neither torches nor glasses...

Can help those who do not want to see!"

BOOK REVIEW: Pat Zalewski's "Alchemy and Golden Dawn Ritual"

2011-09-21T22:35:00.000-07:00

by David Griffin

Pat Zalewski's recent publication of a new book entitled "Alchemy and Golden Dawn Ritual" has sparked a lively debate on the internet regarding the true nature of Hermetic alchemy and its relationship to the Golden Dawn.

In this new book, Pat Zalewksi sets forth that there are two kinds of alchemy, practical alchemy in the laboratory as opposed to what Mr. Zalewski calls "spiritual alchemy." Zalewski argues that so-called "Practical Alchemy" historically preceded what he calls "Spiritual Alchemy". In making these odd distinctions, Pat Zalewksi proves beyond the shadow of any doubt that he is most certainly not an initiate of either Hermetic or Rosicrucian alchemy, since the first law of alchemy that even any Neophyte among true alchemical initiates understands, is the "Unitary Theory," namely:

"All is ONE."

One ramification of this law is that there is only one alchemy in the same manner that there is only one energy. Anyone who sets forth that there are two separate kinds of alchemy, clearly has not understood even alchemy's most basic and fundamental law.

But what is this strange "Spiritual Alchemy" that Pat Zalewski has newly invented for the Golden Dawn? Zalewksi writes on page 25 that: "The spiritual side of alchemy departs somewhat from Carl Jung's psychological approach to alchemy."

But wait ...

There is more!

Since Pat Zalewksi is clearly an academic reconstructionist in regard to not only to the Golden Dawn but also in regard to Hermetic alchemy, one would expect that Zalewksi would at least rely heavily on the texts and images of classical alchemy in piecing together his Frankenstein's monster.

Pat Zalewski and his "Spiritual Alchemy" Creation

Instead, however, Zalewksi not only conflates alchemy with Jungian psychology as espoused by, for example, Fabricus and von Franz, but he continues to mix even this up hopelessly with New Age material channeled by Kevin Ryerson from a New Age entity called "Guru Das."

Mr. Zalewksi then goes on to attempt to illuminate Golden Dawn ritual with this freshly cooked "Spiritual Alchemy," which in reality is nothing more than Pop Psychology blended with New Age channelled nonsense....

And all of this certainly has nothing at all to do with either the Hermetic or Rosicrucian initiatic alchemical traditions, nor even with the Golden Dawn.

Pat Zalewski's New Age, Channelled Alchemical Master

Guru Das

Traditional Golden Dawn orders have no need of New Age, channeled alchemy gurus. The ancient Hermetic and Rosicrucian alchemical, initiatic traditions are complete in and of themselves.

SECRET CHIEFS: Communiqué On Spagery, Archemy, and Alchemy

2011-09-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

by Frater Lux E Tenebris

Representative of the

Third Order of the Golden Dawn
(Translated and Introduced by David Griffin)

An Alchemist, Or Just a Puffer?

Translator's Introduction
by David Griffin

Over the centuries, there have been many would be alchemists who have wasted their entire lives and fortunes in the misguided attempt to manufacture gold using alchemical transmutation. Initiates of Hermetic alchemy, known as Philosophers of the Art, have consistently mocked these individuals, calling them "Puffers" as a derisive reference to the manner that they puffed with bellows at the fires in their laboratories, having completely misunderstood the subtle allegories contained in Hermetic alchemical texts and images.

For alchemical initiates in modern times, the term "Puffer" has come to take on a wider meaning, due to new, more modern misunderstandings of the symbolism of the texts and images in the literature of Hermetic alchemy. Noteworthy as modern schools of Puffery are the modern schools of so-called "Spiritual" alchemy. This certainly does not include the "spiritual alchemy of Jacob Boehme" which is something else entirely. From the traditional point of view of the initiatic tradition of Hermetic alchemy, modern schools of Puffery include the psychological misinterpretation of alchemy of Carl Gustav Jung, the speculative, purely intellectual interpretation of Pat Zalewski, and even the meditative approach of Adam MacClean, who nonetheless remains a fine encyclopedist of alchemical texts and images.

In recent weeks, there has been an enlightening discussion delineating divergent modern approaches to alchemy in the Yahoo forum of our order. During this discussion, a "laboratory alchemist" has appeared who argues that true alchemy and the original alchemical texts and images refer exclusively to laboratory experiments. From an initiatic point of view,his modern Puffer has fallen into the same trap as the Puffers of old, namely a literalistic interpretation of the symbols and allegories of the texts and images of Hermetic alchemy. This approach to alchemy is the modern equivalent of the "gold cookers" of the 18th Century that the Philosophers so derided. In modern times, such individuals, however only see two possibilieies, their own literalistic misinterpretation of alchemy, or the equally misguided intellectual interpretations of the other schools of Puffery outlined above.

The initiatic tradition of Hermetic alchemy is something completely different, whose higher practices remain even today the most carefully guarded secrets of the Western Esoteric Tradition. In order to better illustrate the difference between true Hermetic Alchemy and the modern schools of Puffery, I have just finished translating the following monograph written by GH Frater Lux E Tenebris, representative of the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order of the Golden Dawn.

On Spagery, Archemy, and Alchemy
by Frater Lux E Tenebris

All the authors who have written works on the history of chemistry have stated, "Our chemistry derives, by direct lineage, from the old alchemy". Thus, the origin of one merges with the history of the other. For this reason, actual science would be indebted, in the positive factors on which it is based, to the patient labor of the ancient alchemists.

This hypothesis, which should be granted but a relative and conventional value, is currently accepted as a demonstrated truth - Thus consequently the science of alchemy, stripped of its own principles, loses all the functions that justify its existence, which to justify its very reason for being. Considered in this manner, from afar and through the mists of legend and the centuries, alchemy no longer appears except in a vague, nebulous form - without consistency.

Fulcanelli, the great alchemist, in his wonderful book "The Dwellings of the Philosophers" writes in this regard:

"But when proof would be necessary, when facts prove indispensable, we content ourselves rather to apply Hermetic principles. The School does not discuss, but rather cuts off. Nonetheless, we declare, in our turn, our aims to demonstrate that these scientists, in good faith, have but embraced and spread a hypothesis. They have erred due to ignorance and lack of profound study. In fact, they have understood only partially the books they have studied, and thus have confused appearance for reality."

At this point we declare clearly, because many educated and sincere people seem to remain unaware of this fact, that the true ancestor of our modern chemistry is but ancient spagery, and not the Hermetic science of alchemy itself. Indeed, between spagery and alchemy there lies a deep and profound abyss, as will be made clear in this brief monograph.

Still according to Fulcanelli, in the Middle Ages and probably in Greek antiquity, if we go back to the works of Zosimus and Ostantes, there existed two degrees, two levels of research in chemical science: the spagyric and the alchemical.

These two branches of a common esoteric art, Fulcanelli tells us, were widespread in the working class through practice in the laboratories. Metallurgists, goldsmiths, painters, potters, glass makers, dyers, enamel-bulls, distillers, potters, etc.., in the same way as pharmacists, needed to be provided with sufficient spagyric knowledge, which they then completed with the exercise of their profession.

Archemists instead formed a special category among the old chemists, a narrower and more obscure category: whose intended purpose had certain similarities with that of the alchemists, but the materials and the means which they disposed to reach this purpose were exclusively chemical materials and means.

Transmuting metals into one another, producing gold and silver starting from crude mineral or metallic salt compounds: forcing gold content departing from silver and silver content departing from tin, to become effective and removable. These were the things that Archemy proposed. Ultimately, assures Fulcanelli, these were, in truth, Spagerists perched in the mineral kingdom that voluntarily left aside the quintessence from animal and plant alkaloids.

They cultivated their knowledge in small numbers and privately, according to the rather disdainful words used by the true alchemists to indicate these occasional practitioners, unworthy of being called of Philosophers of the Art. Despite their faults, or rather precisely because of their faults, Fulcanelli says that it is exactly these who procured first Spagery, and then modern chemistry with all of its attendent facts, methods, operations, etc.

These are real founders of a science is wonderful and perfect, these men tormented by the desire to seek and to learn everything, these endowed this science of correct observations, of precise reactions, of skillful manipulation and laboriously acquired skill.

Alchemy, however, we repeat, has nothing to do with these successive acquisitions. Only the Hermetic writings, misunderstood by profane investigators, were the indirect cause of discoveries that their authors had never expected.

In this manner, Blaise de Vigenere obtained benzoic acid, by sublimating benzoin. Brandt was able to extract phosphorus while searching for the alkahest in urine. Basil Valentine, the prestigious Adept did not look with disdain at all spagyric experiments, set in order the whole series of salts of antimony and realized red gold colloid. Raymond Lull prepared acetone and Cassius purple gold. Glauber obtained sodium sulfate and Van Helmont recognized the existence of gas.

But, with the exception of Llull and Basil Valentine, Fulcanelli declares that all these researchers are wrong to classify among alchemists, as they were merely Archemists, or Spagyric sages. This is why a famous adept, author of a classic (Cosmopolitan) said quite correctly:

"If Hermes, the Father of the Philosophers, were to rise again today along with the subtle Geber and profound Raymond Llull, they would not be considered Philosophers the "vulgar chemists" or our day chemical from our vulgar (an epithet used by the author for the Archemists and Spagyrists who are not true alchemists (also called true Adepts - from Adeptus = that which is acquired). The "vulgar chemists" would not even consider these great Philosophers as among their disciples, merely because they do not know how to run all those distillations, circulations, calcinations, and all those countless other operations that our vulgar chemists have invented, merely because they have misunderstood the writings of those great allegorical philosophers!"

The books, with their confused text, enriched in cabalistic expressions, are the efficient and genuine cause of the gross contempt which we have reported. Despite the warnings and the solemn reproaches of the authors - disciples or researching students of the golden truth, insist on reading into these texts, meanings from modern, every day speech. They do not understand that these texts have been reserved from the beginning for initiates, and it is essential to possess the secret, initiatic key to unlock their true meaning.

The first work that needs to be done is precisely to discover this key.

Of course, these old treatises do contain, if not all of alchemy, at least its philosophy, its principles, and the art of applying them in accordance with the laws of nature. We must not ever forget, however, that alchemy is an Esoteric Science. Consequently, a living intelligence, an excellent memory, and even work and attention aided by a strong will are not enough to hope to become a gifted in this Art.

Nicolas Grosparmy writes:

"All those are dead wrong who believe that we wrote our books just for them, instead, we have written them to throw off anyone who does not belong to our tradition."

Another alchemist, more charitably, warns the reader with these words:

"Every prudent man should, first of all, learn the Science, and should proceed only if he succeeds to learn the operative principles and methods. Otherwise it is better not even to begin, so do not to insanely waste his time and riches ... Now, I beg those who read this book, to have faith in my words. I repeat once again that you will never learn this sublime science merely with the help of books. This can only be learned through divine revelation. It is for this reason, in fact, that it is called the Divine Art. It can also be learned with the assistance of a good and faithful Master; and since there are few whom God has bestowed with this grace, fewer still those who so teach. "

And finally, we can not overlook the poignant words of one author of the eighteenth century that explain in another way the difficulty of solving this enigma or finding the secret key:

"Here is the first and real reason why nature has hidden this open and royal palace from many Philosophers, even those equipped with highly acute intelligence. The cause is that, already since their youth, they have strayed from the simple way of nature through logical and metaphysical conclusions. Thus, deceived by the illusions contained in the best books, they imagine and swear that this is the deepest and most difficult to learn of any metaphysical Art, although ingenuous Nature advances by straight steps, simple in this path like in all of her others."

These are the opinions of Philosophers themselves about their works. We should not be surprised, therefore, that many scholars have misled themselves about this science, of which they were unable to assimilate even the most basic notions. We want to encourage Neophytes in the Ars Magna, Alchemy, to meditate on this truth proclaimed by imitation:

"These can listen to the sound of their words, but this does not indicate their meaning. In them there is only the letter, but it is up to the Lord to discover their meaning. They propose the mysteries, but it is up to Him to explain them. They show the way that should be followed, but it is He who gives strength to advance."

Here we must specify precisely that when we speak of God or He in Hermetic Science, we mean our Solar self, or particle of infinite being.

And this is the great obstacle against which our chemists have collided.

Fulcanelli affirms that if our scientists had understood the language of the ancient alchemists, they would have known the laws of Hermetic practice and the Philosopher's Stone, and a long time ago would have ceased to be regarded as a chimera.

We have said that to meet a Master of the alchemical Art, good and sincere, would constitute the equivalent of a divine gift. The Master are still here, but it is difficult to find him, and even if you find him unwilling to speak, you must be skillful to rob him of that which you wish to know.

SILENCE BROKEN: Secret Chiefs Communiqué Reveals True Nature of R.R. et A.C. Grades!

2011-09-01T01:30:00.000-07:00

Readers will recall how last month the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega revealed that the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn's Third Order have finally released the rest of the Second Order curriculum beyond that given to S. L. MacGregor Mathers for the (5=6) Adeptus Minor grade. I knew that this announcement would provoke another chorus of "no proof" from Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists and revisionists. This put the Alpha Omega in somewhat of a conundrum. In providing enough evidence to convince objective and reasonable individuals, not only does the A.O. face the problem of the sanctity of oath bound material, but also that every time we release even a crumb of information about the traditional, Rosicrucian G.D. curriculum, Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists quickly assemble an inaccurate, zombie-like copy of it.

For example, following the Alpha Omega's announcement in 2002 that we had reestablished contact with the Golden Dawn's Third Order and that the Secret Chiefs had transmitted to us the grade rituals and complete curriculum for the highest grades of the order (8=3, 9=2, and 10=1), Neo-G.D. reconstructionists harped for years that there was "no proof" of any of this.

Among the evidence the A.O. therefore actually did provide, we revealed the importance and prominence of Hermetic Internal Alchemy in the Golden Dawn's Third Order. We also revealed how Third Order alchemical processes, in symbolical and analogical ways, permeate the entire Golden Dawn grade rituals, knowledge lectures, and even the R.R. et A.C. magical system. We further revealed that the Third Order possesses the clear explanation of all of the advanced alchemical processes encoded in every aspect of the Golden Dawn.

From these few crumbs of information, Pat Zalewksi quickly threw together a few basic alchemical notions to reconstruct an inaccurate, zombie-like copy of the above. Of course, Mr. Zalewksi has no real knowledge of of the underlying Third Order, Hermetic Internal Alchemical processes that are actually encoded in the alchemical symbols that permeate the Golden Dawn and the R.R. et A.C. But with his new book, "Alchemy and Golden Dawn Grades," Zalewksi gives these symbols a completely fabricated meaning, referring them to simple and well known phases and processes of basic alchemy. In doing so, Mr. Zalewski is counting on general public ignorance regarding the true nature and function of Hermetic alchemy, together with the enigmatic nature of alchemical symbolism, in order to pass off his inaccurate, zombie-like copy as the real deal.

Nonetheless, despite the confusion that this creates for the public and for Golden Dawn initiates regarding the true meaning of the alchemical symbolism and allegory in Golden Dawn rituals, etc., Pat Zalewksi's personal interpretation of "Alchemy and Golden Dawn Rituals" indeed has virtue, in that it adds something new to the overall lore and diversity of the aggregate Golden Dawn tradition.

This does serve to illustrate yet once again, however, just how careful the Alpha Omega has to be about what we reveal to the public. This is why, when the A.O. last month announced that the Secret Chiefs have transmitted the Adeptus Major (6=5) and Adeptus Exemptus (7=4) curriculum to our order, I deliberately chose an example from the advanced teachings that would, on the one hand, serve as proof enough for reasonable individuals, yet would not give Golden Dawn pirates any new material with which to knock off fanciful and inaccurate copies.

Since a host of books had already recently appeared about magic squares, drawing attention to this aspect of the advanced R.R. et A.C. magical curriculum carried almost no risk of with it of further piracy. Nonetheless, Agrippa's magic squares provided a great example, since they show how the 6=5 and 7=4 grades further develop material contained in the 5=6. In this case, the advanced Rosicrucian grades teach Adepts how to unlock and use the original magical system of the magic squares that was actually used by Agrippa and Trithemius. These squares were only included in encrypted form in the 5=6 grade.

Nonetheless, quite predictably, barely a month had passed before Nick Farrell yesterday published an article claiming that both the Secret Chiefs and I are barking up the wrong tree about not only Agrippa's magical squares, but even about the entire meaning and purpose of the Golden Dawn's Second Order grade initiations.

And since the evidence we had presented used Agrippa's Saturn square as an example, Farrell went after this with all of the subtlety of a pro wrestler. Instead of proving his point, however, what Mr. Farrell actually accomplished was to provide us with an opportunity to clarify the fundamental difference between the Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionist approach to the R.R. et A.C., and the approach used by the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order, as traditional guardians of the pre-Golden Dawn Rosicrucian mysteries.

In regard to Agrippa's Saturn square, Mr. Farrell in his article published a version of the square embellished with some interesting, yet extraneous Golden Dawn symbolism. This intellectual approach does indeed have value, as is also the case with Mr. Zalekwsi's work above, in that it adds something new to the aggregate lore of the Golden Dawn. What Mr. Farrell's approach does not accomplish, however, is to tell us anything about the original magical system practiced Agrippa and Trithemius. The Secret Chiefs, on the other hand, have now made the entire original magical system used by Agrippa and Trithemius available to Adepts from across the entire Golden Dawn community!

It is noteworthy that this is not merely some reconstructed copy or personal interpretation of some aspect or other of the Golden Dawn. Herein lies the crux of the matter - and most clearly illustrates the two divergent approaches. And this is but one small piece of an entire corpus of traditional Rosicrucian magical systems that the Third Order has just made available for the first time in history.

Yet even this Nick Farrell dismisses out of hand, claiming that all magical systems belong only in the 5=6, Adeptus Minor, grade. According to Farrell, the Adeptus Major (6=5) grade is only "about the surrender of the personality completely to archive the will of the One Thing." And the Adeptus Exemptus (7=4) grade, according to Farrell, is "even more mystical. Instead of working magic, 7=4 [is] the magic, or at least working to become it."

Farrell continues:

"Both these grades depend on the knowledge of the 5=6, but they are not looking for more information. Instead they are looking to apply information gained effectively. So an order teaching new information at the 6=5 and 7=4 grades is barking up the wrong tree. Any new information automatically categorises itself at the 5=6. If it is a system, new or not, it is by its very nature 5=6."

Finally, Pat Zalewski this week wrote on his Yahoo forum:

"Now I am not the sort that meets a secret chief who farts once and the rarefied air produces the explanations. If the secret chief farts three times I presume it will be a positively orgasmic experience. Now the intellect tells us that if the secret chiefs gives us documents in another language then Huston we have a problem. The Secret Chiefs have given you guys hard data and ignored the self knowledge."

As I mentioned in my previous article, what certain people in the Golden Dawn community still do not yet properly consider, is that they are silently being observed. All this time, although they have remained silent until now, the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order have nonetheless been observing the various goings on in the Golden Dawn community.

In light of recent events in this community, the Secret Chiefs have today, for the first time in history, decided to issue a public statement, emailed to me yesterday by their spokesperson, Frater Lux E Tenebris:

The Traditional Initiatic Meaning of the Three Grades of the R.R. et A.C.

(5=6, 6=5, 7=4)

by Frater Lux E Tenebris

I have been asked by the Magi of the august Order to which it is my great honor to belong, to write about the traditional meaning and true initiatic function of the three degrees of the Second Order of the Golden Dawn (R.R. et A.C.).

The three Adept grades incorporated in the Rosicrucain Tradition are actually re-elaborations of extremely ancient mysteries that have always accompanied humankind since the beginning of its appearance on this earth.

Human beings are born and live with the passing of their lives and the approach of death ever present before our eyes. The birth, life, death and resurrection of the plant world did not escape the careful eye of the ancients. They wondered why it is that what happened in the plant world did not also happen in the world of animals and human beings. The ancients observed that, from the seed of grain was grain reborn, as were human beings from human seed, even if diverse.

In this perfecting the knowledge of nature, the ancients noticed also that the Sun was likewise born, died and was reborn - as was the moon, and as the heavens presented the stars and the planets. In fact, everything in life spoke of this cycle of birth, death and resurrection. It did not take long for the ancients to realize that every law they observed was the same for every thing that could ever be discovered or comprehended.

The Universe is order from chaos and therefore is subject to precise laws that are inviolable and eternal. The universe has two properties: eternity and infinity. The Universe is infinite, as it contains everything that exists. The Universe is eternal, as visible material expression of Beingness.

The Universe, within itself, is mutable and cyclical. The elements contained within the Universe therefore transform into infinite gradations of matter and energy, and this movement, evolution or devolution leads to the creation of Time.

Humankind is a creation of the Universe - and human beings within themselves contain all three of the preceding kingdoms; mineral, vegetable, and animal. Moreover, in human beings Soul, Mind, and Consciousness manifest, being that which makes us human.

As human beings, we notice that our bodies are born, live, and die. By analogical observation, which is the cornerstone upon which all of Magic rests, we discover that our bodies are subject to the same laws like all other things. By noting how the Sun returns, the Moon returns, the seasons return, and plants are reborn - we discover how we are subject to the same fate: Birth-Life-Death-Rebirth.

The point of this is that, as the ancients said, there are only two possibilities for a human being; to be reborn as human or to be reborn as a Soul. With the term Soul, I intend to describe the subtle and invisible complex within human beings, and not just one part of it, which for the purposes of this discussion would be useless.

In Egypt the dead were embalmed and then awakened or caused to be reborn, with particular and energetic practices which coagulated the subtle remains of the deceased, in such a manner that his consciousness could rest upon it and thus live a sort of life beyond the grave.

And the Limbo, the Elysian fields, or Underworld, the Duat, etc. - This inner dimension of man is known by many names - but in any case it means always the one and the same thing.

The initiatic schools, have therefore long understood that the only key, be it to understand nature and therefore the entire universe, or be it to transform a human being, is precisely the perennial law of analogy.

Departing from here, we can observe an entire proliferation of rites and practices analogous to the cycles of time of the earth, the sun, the moon, or stars. This is to ensure that humankind enters into the great cosmic harmony that turns eternally, and thus evolves according a universal law, namely: In the universe things transform from for worse to better as well as from better to worse. In modern times, this is known as the Law of Thermodynamics. For our purposes, however, it is enough to know that this is Eternal Universal Law.

Mystery Schools and initiatic rites can not escape this general universal rule, and thus we find them again and again all across the world, coupled with the eternal laws of the birth of life, of death and of rebirth. Here in the West, we can observe this also in Christianity, the dominant religion of the day, but each initiatic order also has its own corpus of special initiatic doctrines and practices, which cause their disciples to advance along these lines. To this, there are no exceptions.

Thus we arrive at the Second Order of the Golden Dawn, the R.R. et A.C., which as already stated for the other orders, can not escape this rule as an expression of the eternal laws governing everything. In fact, upon initiation in the Neophyte grade of the Outer Order of the Golden Dawn, a new life begins for the candidate.

This entire new life unfolds for the initiate in the grades leading up to Philosophus. Next, the candidate encounters the mysteries of the Divine for the first time in the Portal of the Vault of the Adepts. This transitional grade essential for the incubation of the new Soul in preparation for the second initiatic ordeal - Death following the birth that constituted the first such ordeal as a Neophyte.

In the Adeptus Minor (5=6) ritual, in documents and practices furnished to me not by the R.R. et A.C., but rather by the R+C Order from which the R.R. et A.C. arises, the following is said, which is precise and incontrovertible:

"The Mystery School into which you have been initiated is not a school of mysticism, but rather a school of active Magic. In this order we study the Principles of Sacred Science from a scientific point of view, instead of from the mystical or emotional point of view of religions.

In this Mystery School which transmits the teachings of ancient Mystery Schools of Sumeria, Chaldea, Assyria and Egypt, you will find neither superstition nor obscurantism. We will reveal to you the true inner structure of human beings and their true relationship with the Universe: For this reason, disciple, be ready to follow the course in every phase and fear not the death you shall face..."

This is the grade corresponding to the Adeptus Minor (5=6) of the R.R. et A.C. in the Order, which shall remain unnamed, yet is the foundation and root of all Rosicrucian mysteries ever transmitted in the West

Next, in the ritual which is the source of the 6=5 in the R.R. et A.C., it is written:

"I have died - and now I voyage in unknown realms with my boat (an image of the Subtle Body). Although dead, I am and live in this endless sea, joyous in the knowledge that the body is not everything!

Now I know! Now I can meet my brothers and sisters and receive from them the power of contact with the things above and the things below ..."

For now I shall not dwell upon explaining these words, but shall return to them, once we have first examined the following from the ritual which was the source document for the Adeptus Exemptus (7=4) of the R.R. et A.C.:

"I know you Death - And yet I live! I am dead and I have been reborn. I have conquered death - and I rise like the sun on the horizon. My journey in the world beyond the tomb is accomplished - and now I return with the earth in blossom."

In this journey we may observe and note precisely what happens throughout the universe - and thus also the human beings on their journey towards regeneration.

In these three grades transmitted to the R.R. et A.C. by the mysterious Order from which the Rosicrucian impulse first arose, it is explained in the instructions to the Adept that this is not a path of mysticism and certainly not a path for many - that when we speak of death, you truly die - and that when we speak of journeying beyond the tomb - you truly travel - and when we speak of rebirth - you are truly reborn and not merely symbolically or metaphorically.

Inside of the human being who undergoes these initiations and performs these techniques, changes that occur are not merely mental, but also energetic, biological, and cellular.

Using techniques of Superior Magic of the Adeptus Major (6=5) grade, it becomes possible to have the same experiences as when you die, as all attest who have gone this way before. Once you are "dead" you find yourself in a place that is neither heaven nor earth. In this place, called "beyond the tomb," "dubat," etc., for the first time, you encounter your own complexes of the mind and of the Soul. No longer trapped in the physical body of the Adept, these now take on tangible, visible appearance. It is these which torture or delight the Soul.

If the mysteries of death are those of the Adeptus Minor, who sacrifices him or her-self scientifically, in order to transform into a different substance (as can be observed in any cabinet of chemistry or physics laboratory where matter is studied), then in the grade of Adeptus Major (6=5), consciousness is gained in the LITERAL sense."

The Major Adept encounters these Spirits, Angels, or Demons, meets these energies, gains consciousness of them, gets to know them there, and returns from "beyond the tomb" changed forever, as True Magic and its functions are revealed in subtle detail.

During the 6=5 initiation of an Adeptus Major, a special magical technique is employed, which LITERALLY detaches the soul of the candidate, separating it from the physical body, so that the Adept may have the literal experience of what actually happens when you die.

I understand there have been, and still remain, leaders of orders who have never had contact with the true R+C source. Based merely on their fantasy of the function of these rites, these individuals would nonetheless like to convince you that these sacred rituals and techniques are merely symbolical or mystical. I swear to you, however, that this is not so.

The three Adept rituals of the R.R. et A.C. are but one valid albeit late manifestation of earlier Rosicrucian rites that contain the knowledge of death, the knowledge of the universe beyond, and of rebirth and regeneration. These rites, which TOGETHER contain the requisite knowledge to become a TRUE Adept, are in reality but three degrees in one.

There have been orders that have already deviated these rites and there are others too today who would lead you even further astray. Some today write even that there is no magic beyond the Adeptus Minor (5=6) grade, and that the Major initiation of Rosicrucian Adepts, the Adeptus Major (6=5) is but a mystical appendage of the 5=6 - that there is no place in the 6=5 for advanced Rosicrucian magic, and that the 7=4 is but yet more mysticism.

Our august Order breaks its silence therefore today, so that the original essence of these essential Rosicrucian rites might not be lost merely to a thirst for innovation, led by a chorus of experts who, perhaps even meaning well, would nonetheless otherwise lead you astray.

In the tomb, in which the Major Adept is enclosed, there is all of his/her consciousness, and in the "world beyond the tomb," the consciousness of the Adept encounters the consciousness of Nature, once the consciousness of the Adept has been detached from its physical vehicle by 6=5 rites of Magic.

Once the Adept's consciousness has been magically detached from his or her physical body, he or she then confronts what the Adept knew or thought to be - with what is in reality, and thus can make a complete correction in the eyes of God. It is in the 6=5 grade of Adeptus Major, therefore, that contact can truly be stabilized with one's higher Self, Divine essence, or "Angel" (and not in the 5=6, as has been popularly misunderstood for over a century). It through the the contact that comes from the sojourn in the Underworld in the 6=5 grade, that, in addition to one's earthly guides, one who knows death gains also the guidance from one's Divine source.

The Major Adept knows death, yet the victory is not yet fully won. As the Hermetic adage states, "you must not only separate the volatile from the fixed. It must not only ascend to heaven, but it must also descend to Earth again empowered with the knowledge of superior and inferior things. Then the volatile must once again be reunited with the fixed. Only then will the Earth be reborn and regenerated, and the physical and magical powers of the Adept blossom like the flowers in Spring.

Far removed from all metaphor and mysticism, the LITERAL bath of the Adept in the Upper Astral realm, where resides that which does not live on Earth, reawakens the powers slumbering within the Adept. Thus, it is upon entering the 7=4 that the keys are bestowed of how to use these awakened powers for the common good, as well as to lead the Order. This is why the power to reconstitute the Order, if necessary, has at all times in history resided with Exempt Adepts, together with the Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages of our Order, as is also the case with the Golden Dawn.

Magical and alchemical techniques are given in this grade that carry the Adept to triumph in his or her Opus Magnum (Great Work). Far from all metaphor and mysticism, these techniques are physical, observable, and have nothing to do with mysticism, obfuscation, or the sort of smoky theological arguments about these grades that have appeared in books and on the Internet of late.

The rest, or everything else that occurs later, can not be comprehended by those who have not yet reached such an advanced state of spiritual development, since the manner in which the human machine functions - and the Soul that inhabits it - are so different to that which we are accustomed to think and see, that it would appear to be but a fairy tale.

In this state, the Adept comes to understand the language of Nature, even to perceive and to comprehend the Universal movements of the Spheres. The Adept understands even life and death, living on the extreme peak of both. The Soul of the Adept is quiet and balanced - and nothing can shake this Soul - becoming what Agrippa called a Static Soul - a Soul tranquil, equilibrated, and no longer fluctuating.

Thus we witness the miracle of the trinity of grades of the true Rosicrucian Adept, the nature and purpose of which is totally different than what people had come to think and write of them today. Although to the outside, these initiations appear to be three grades, they are in reality but one deeply profound initiatic process, which fully develops the Soul of the Adept.

The Magi of the Order from which the Rosicrucian tradition first arose, including the R.R. et A.C., asked me to write this article, so that all may better understand the R.R. et A.C. and benefit from the true Rosicrucian manner in which the Second Order of the Golden Dawn has been intended all along.

Trusting fully in my disciple, Frater Lux ex Septentrionis, I accept that today, there is a need for diversity in the Golden Dawn orders. Nonetheless, there is a limit to what can or should be changed, and certain essential things should be touched at all.

If the original R+C tradition is not to be lost completely in America and the English speaking world, it is even more important that at least some Golden Dawn orders remain not only faithful to the original Rosicrucian tradition, as does the Alpha et Omega - but faithful even to the dark and hidden roots from which the R+C rose first grew, and continues to nourish itself even until today.

Thus, in this strange, modern world of the Internet in which we live today - where one writer claims that "the higher R.R. et A.C. grades not magical, but rather mystical in nature" and another writes that "tradition must be sacrificed to intellect in order to achieve Gnosis..."

I am reminded of the words of Jesus the Christ who, according to the Johannite tradition, is reputed to have said:

"They are like the blind leading the blind!"

On the Pagan Mysteries of Hecate Triformis: An Important Clarification

2011-08-31T22:26:00.000-07:00

Upon careful reflection, recalling nearly two decades of being defamed on the Net by anonymous trolls, prudence dictates I make a few essential points of clarification following my recent post about Hecate, before the trolls get the chance to misrepresent things yet once again.

These days a simple Google search on Hecate will turns up some pretty spectacular things. It seems Hecate has been defamed on the Net even more than I have!

Judging from a plethroa of websites, Hecate seems to have been turned almost into a modern, female version of the Devil. In fact, it seems to have become quite fashionable to associate Hecate with just about any sort of evil imaginable. There are websites that associate Hecate with just about everything from Satan, to Lucifer, to Cain and even the Necromacon. Not to mention that many in the Neo-Pagan movement associate Hecate with the eldest of the triad, Mother, Maiden, Crone.

Despite the celebrity of so much infamy, the truth is that the Mysteries of Hecate today remain quite occulted, having been hidden away for many years. Of all the things you today find written on the Net and in books about Hecate, no one really knows the traditional Hecatian mysteries or even understands much at all about what they really even are.

A simple look on YouTube and will find Rites of Hecate celebrated on the FULL Moon ...

When Hecate is in truth the Goddess of the DARK Moon!

Whereas Diana is traditionally the Goddess of the Full Moon, Hecate is traditionally associated with the New or Dark Moon.

And Hecate Triformis has always been a triune Goddess, Lady of the Celestial, Terrestrial, AND Infernal realms.

And as Diana managed to survive the Christian times in her guise as the Virgin Mary, so Hecate also infiltrated Chirstianity in the cult of the Black Madonna. And like the Dianic tradition, the Hecatian tradition protected by the "del Bosco Sacro" clan is a tradition descending from Pagan nobility.

While the Dianic mysteries present The Great Rite as a marvelous spiritual path for married or committed couples, Hecate's mysteries of The Great Rite may be even better suited for certain individuals of alternative sexual preferences or presently not in relationship.

I am pleased to announce that, thanks to the generosity of Diana and Dianus del Bosco Sacro, that my wife Aegeria and I have become fully empowered to teach together both the Mysteries of Diana as well as Hecate in America, including both Full Moon and New Moon mysteries of The Great Rite - all under the guarantee, seal, sponsorship, and protection of our Italian Pagan family, del Bosco Sacro del Lago di Nemi (The Sacred Forest of the Lake of Nemi).

But if you are looking for black magic, Satanists, Luciferians, human sacrifice, or merely eating babies, then perhaps you should rather look somewhere else, as this is not what the true mysteries of Hecate are really all about - despite what you might have read on the Dark Side of the Net.

Lupercus del Bosco Sacro

Guardiano dei Misteri del Bosco Sacro

Difensore della Corona Sacerdotale

Bellyaching Scholars and Overworked Translators

2011-08-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

Morgan Drake Eckstein just wrote on the Gleamings from the Golden Dawn blog:

"Is Diversity Possible?"

"Can you have diversity when there is absolute secrecy, strict adherence to tradition, distain for scholarship and creativity, and a single person becomes the gatekeeper and sole voice of multiple esoteric mysteries and sects?"

What an oddly framed question, Morgan. Let me answer you best with an analogy.

In the Star Trek universe, is there still diversity in the United Federation of Planets even though there is but one Federation? Did the Vulcans lose the diversity of their culture? Did the Andorians or the Tellurians suddenly find themselves dominated by Earth, even though Federation headquarters was here?

Of course not? Each race preserved their culture although they were united by a common commitment to the Prime Directive and each enjoyed the full benefits of the Federation.

Sure, Kirk commanded he flagship of the Federation for a while, but even his days were numbered as a space cowboy. Everyone knows that Kirk eventually was forced by circumstances to take a desk job, and that Picard eventually took over the Captain's chair of the Enterprise.

I understand your apprehension though. I felt the same apprehension when I first made contact with the Third Order. I felt kind of like a Chihuahua in the presence of a German shepherd. Sure it is well behaved, but it is so bloody big after all! (We saw the same thing at the end of Season 5 of Star Trek Enterprise, by the way, with the Xenophobes on Earth who opposed and attempted to undermine the creation of the Federation.

Regarding your "sole gatekeeper" concern, you and others in the Golden Dawn community are simply going to put old personal antipathies aside and adjust to the new reality. The only way to get around me being sole gatekeeper is for Golden Dawn reconstructionist scholars to quit complaining and learn the eight languages like I did so that they can make themselves even more useful to the esoteric community. I am in serious need of assistance from other scholars to help translate the mountains of classified esoteric transmissions I am currently buried under.

Regarding my being a bridge from the old world to the new for MULTIPLE traditions, this is only going to get worse. Just yesterday, it was revealed on the Golden Dawn/Alpha Omega Yahoo forum:

As you know, the del Bosco Sacro family tradition is a Dianic Italian Pagan tradition that managed to survive the Inquisition.

The Hecatian tradition was not so lucky, however.

Here is the really juicy news:

When the Hecatian clans were wiped out by the Inquisition, THE HECATIAN MYSTERIES WERE NOT DESTROYED, but were faithfully preserved by other Pagan families - including del Bosco Sacro.

Lady Diana [del Bosco Sacro] came to America only to bring the Dianic mysteries of love - and still will personally complete only this mission.

Believe it or not, something actually very good came out of all of the internet attacks on the del Bosco Sacro tradition coming from Raven Grimassi's students last Winter though.

When the chaos first came out on the internet, Dianus immediately recognized that many Americans are not ready for the Dianic sacerdotal mysteries, but are far better suited for the Hecatian warrior mysteries instead.

So ....

.... as a result of the internet attacks on our family last Winter, LADY DIANA UNEXPECTEDLY AUTHORIZED THE RELEASE OF THE HECATIAN MYSTERIES to the Pagan community in America as well!

This is another reason I have been so darned busy lately. In addition to making a living, helping with The Great Rite, leading the Alpha Omega, and overseeing the integration of the 6=5 and 7=4 material that the Secret Chiefs recently transmitted, I now am up to my ears in the translation into English of the Hecatian mysteries as well!

Hecate Chiaramonti

And all of this is only going to get worse. The Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn's Third Order, for example, are bugging the bejesus out of me already to finish translating of the 6=5 and 7=4 materials so we can move on to other ancient Hermetic/Rosicrucian traditions besides the Golden Dawn they are want to release in the USA as well.

So much for my alleged "disdain for scholarship." Wake up, brother! Sure, I do despise shoddy scholarship (like sloppy reconsturctionists twisting definitions of such essential traditional concepts as initiation). On the other hand, the truth is that I am in need of some serious help from faithful Golden Dawn Scholar/Adepts to get some of this mountain of translation work off my desk.

The time has come for reconstructionist Golden Dawn scholars to quit bellyaching and trying to one up me - and instead help me instead get these translations implemented - so that even more interesting things can finally be released as well.

David Griffin

The State of the Golden Dawn

2011-08-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

by David Griffin
Archon Basileus - Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega
International Imperator - Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Readers of the Golden Dawn blog will recall how the esoteric community was recently stunned by the unexpected announcement that the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order have finally decided to transmit the rest of the Golden Dawn's Second Order curriculum beyond the published (5=6) Adeptus Minor material given to S.L. MacGregor Mathers in 1891. This is huge news for the Golden Dawn community and could potentially usher in an unparalleled epoch of fraternity and prosperity. Sadly, it could also mean a resurgence of the terrible flame war that ravaged the entire Golden Dawn tradition for nearly a decade.

Readers versed in contemporary Golden Dawn history will recall when, in 2002, the physical (not channeled) Secret Chiefs of the Third Order made their presence known for the first time in 111 years - when they transmitted to the Alpha et Omega - the entire initiation rituals and curriculum and that had been planned for the Golden Dawn's Third Order since its inception. The Secret Chiefs had hoped that this transmission would revitalize the Golden Dawn, bringing advanced Adepts together at the table of brotherhood on an equal basis from the entire Golden Dawn community.

They were to be badly disappointed. It seemed that, even in over a Century, the Golden Dawn still had not matured enough for Adepts to finally put the interests of the Golden Dawn tradition ahead of petty personal and egoic interests. Upon the announcement by the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega of this historical transmission, our order was brutally attacked from all sides.

Without even bothering to ask what our intentions truly were, our order and its leaders were systematically defamed with falsehoods and misrepresentations on a vast array of Yahoo fora, websites, and blogs belonging to leaders of various Golden Dawn orders. We were even sued in United States Federal court, in an attempt to deprive us of our right to use the name of our outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, in the USA.

This senseless and unnecessary conflict caused irreparable damage to the reputation of the entire Golden Dawn tradition. Even worse, the Third Order witnessed this shameful spectacle and wanted to write off - once and for all - the Golden Dawn as simply a failed initiative. For a full ensuing decade, they refused to transmit the rest of the Second Order curriculum that Mathers never recieved - for the 6=5 and 7=4 grades of Adeptus Major and Adeptus Exemptus.

Today, our Golden Dawn community stands at a crossroads, as the Golden Dawn's full Second Order curriculum, including for the 6=5 and 7=4 grades has finally been released by the Third Order. But are we as a community finally ready to share these advanced Golden Dawn teachings responsibly at the table of fraternity as equals? Or is the Golden Dawn community still too immature - blinded by individual interests - to put our differences behind us once and for all?

In recent months, the Star Trek mythos has figured prominently on this blog. I grew up with this mythos and firmly believe that it can today show us as a community the best way forward. The United Federation of Planets provides an excellent role model for what the Golden Dawn community could today become, with each of our temples and orders sharing equally the benefits of the higher Golden Dawn practices, united by a common resolve to uphold the Prime Directive, yet each temple and order maintaining its complete independence and autonomy.

As a first step in this laudable direction, immediately upon transmission, the Alpha et Omega offered to share the advanced (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus teachings with interested and qualified Adepts from across the entire spectrum of the Golden Dawn community, regardless of what Golden Dawn temple or order. There have been numerous responses already, and we have already begun this process of sharing.

But will the Golden Dawn community ever be ready to transcend factionalism and competition in favor of fraternity and spiritual development?

Sadly, the first month that has passed since our announcement on July 18 seems to indicate that the Golden Dawn community might never be mature enough. The same sort of accusations and deliberate misrepresentations about the Alpha Omega and our leaders that typified the decade old Golden Dawn flame war, are being published once again by leaders of various Golden Dawn orders.

Over the last week, there have been numerous attempts to attack the Alpha Omega even on our own forum and blog. We have, of course, used our moderator discretion to prevent these misguided "flame war" attacks from appearing at least on our own forum and blog. Consequently, as was the case during the terrible flame war that nearly destroyed the Golden Dawn, the Alpha Omega is once again being accused of "censorship" by various Golden Dawn leaders.

A leader of one Golden Dawn order, for example, this week wrote:

"...a response I posed to this blog early Tuesday morning was conveniently never published."

In another rhetorical tactic reminiscent of the decade long flame war, leaders of certain Golden Dawn orders are once again also accusing our order of being the aggressors in the same breath that they are attacking the Alpha Omega. For example:

"I am posting this here since obviously complimenting and showing interest in American Occult currents meets with censorship on some groups these days, if it is not in line with certain groups' "marketing" and "attack plans".

Admittedly, moderation does remain a problem with communication in the Golden Dawn community. For example, on one Yahoo group operated by a Golden Dawn leader, dozens of new "flame war" attacks on our order and its leaders have been published over the last month. This same Yahoo group does not allow anyone at all from the Alpha Omega to post there. Not even renowned bloggers GH Frater Sincerus Renatus or H Frater AIT are allowed to post, and many hundreds of posts defaming our order and its leaders remain archived there from the decade long flame war.

One additional characteristic of the Golden Dawn flame war were countless misrepresentations about the Alpha et Omega published over and over, propaganda style, across various venues on the internet. Sadly, even this nonsense has now begun again!

For example, the leader of yet another Golden Dawn order wrote this week:

"The fact there is a belief that lineage can be passed by signing pieces of paper is indicative of a lack of magical knowledge and a desire to make one's product more superior to others."

Paper lineage?

This GH Frater is not stupid, even though he is here pretending to be. Having managed to create a Golden Dawn order according to his personal vision, he knows full well that the Alpha et Omega has previously refuted this same misrepresentation over and over, ad nauseum.

We have repeatedly clarified that the true lineage of the Golden Dawn is spiritual in nature - like Dharma transmission in Zen Buddhism in the East, containing not merely traditional Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineage in the formal sense, but containing specific sets of spiritual exercises designed to produce specific spiritual breakthroughs and realizations. The advanced spiritual practices the A.O. just received for the (6-5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grades of the Golden Dawn's Second Order are perfect examples of what the spiritual lineages of the Golden Dawn really are.

As proof of the existence and authenticity of these advanced Golden Dawn lineages with their attendant spiritual practices, our order has already begun to share them with interested and qualified Adepts from the entire spectrum of the Golden Dawn community. Sure you have to fulfill all of the traditional Golden Dawn requirements, including a binding secrecy committment (as has always been the case throughout history), but concrete proof of these advanced lineages is now available to the entire Golden Dawn community.

We have even published one small example of the spiritual practices and content of these advanced Golden Dawn lineages, when we revealed for the first time anywhere that the magical squares published by Agrippa and included in the Golden Dawn's (5=6) Adeptus Minor grade curriculum are not the real magical squares, but are only encrypted versions!

We likewise revealed for the first time that the so-called "planetary seals" published by Agrippa and included in the Golden Dawn's Adeptus Minor grade are, in reality, but encryption keys to unencrypt the "sealed" squares to unleash the true magick and full power of the system. This Golden Dawn spiritual lineage once possessed by both Trithemius and Agrippa contains Theurgical spiritual exercises that produce profound spiritual awakening, ultimately culminating in union with the Divine at the center of the square.

This advanced system of magical Theurgy is but one crown jewel in the advanced the R.R. et A.C. magical lineages, and it has has prior to last month never before been known or practiced by any Golden Dawn Adept in history. This magnifiscent system of theurgy, properly understood as a three dimensional cube, unlocks untold numbers of parallel dimensions on the inner planes, each with its own R.R. et A.C. magical system. John Dee's system of Enochian magic and the entire reality of of the Enochian universe, represents but only one single square of this vast three dimensional cube. The Golden Dawn's advanced R.R. et A.C. lineages contain numerous such magical systems and universes.

So why are all of these leaders of various Golden Dawn orders so nervous - that they are suddenly attempting to rekindle the extinguished Golden Dawn flame war? Yet another Golden Dawn leader answered this question clearly this week when he wrote:

"Recently there has been a trend to try and convince people within the GD that its roots are superior to the GD, and those roots were and are the 3rd Order. It does not take an Einstein to work out where this is heading - an instant ready-made 3rd Order.

The GD is a stand alone Order (First and Second), and that is why it was developed from numerous other groups. Mathers never got a chance to finish it, and it is up to us to finish the job. Now how you develop it is up to you guys, but it needs doing. In my group I have already made inroads into that direction, and I hope others will follow. Now I am not telling what to do or how to do it, but if the GD is to develop further, it must develop, and not stay at ThAM as far as written material goes.

All I know is how hard I have worked over the years in doing this, while working with a great bunch of people who want to think beyond 1900. This forum, and others, are another manifestation of that trend of thinking as well. Everyone contributes in their own way.

My take on this is simple. A Second Order should manifest a superior breakdown of the First, and the Third should help break down the Second in a form of reductionism. Each should interlock with the one before it, and the final teachings should be in a form of reductionism. This, however, is just my view."

The above post makes readily apparent the real reason why suddenly all of these leaders of Golden Dawn orders are attacking the AO again, after years of relative harmony in our Golden Dawn community. They are terrified of the physical existence of the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order - and that it somehow negates their own personal vision of the Golden Dawn. They are even more terrified that the advanced Second Order spiritual lineages that the Third Order just handed the AO, may somehow negate their own curriculum that they are developing for their Golden Dawn order for some time.

Nothing could be further than the truth. As I have been saying all along, there is room for great diversity in our Golden Dawn community. There is plenty of room for both the advanced R.R. et A.C. lineages presently being transmitted by the Alpha Omega as well for whatever new Second and Third Orders leaders of Golden Dawn orders want to develop for their students.

In fact, this was stated so well this week by the Alpha Omega's H Frater AIT on his Heaven's Within Earth blog, that I am republishing AIT's entire article here:

H Frater AIT

Innovation and the Golden Dawn

Ave,

I've been reading with interest the Golden Dawn forum of GH Fra Zalewski (don't know his motto, and Google isn't giving up the goods.) If one can stomach all the bickering and bullshit, there are some thought-provoking things going on in the community.

It seems that groups who don't have Third Order contacts are developing their own material...not even necessarily basing their material on older papers, but applying their own understanding of Magic and Alchemy to the structure and culture of the Order to create new methods and vehicles.

This is awesome. Variety=Growth, man.

There have been only two ways to move the GD toward completeness, and one is to have contacts with the Third Order, which is, I understand, a group of Adepts who've kept the fire of the Hermetic tradition lit in a continuous link since back in ye olden days. This is the best if you can get it; there are some things in Alchemy you just are not going to learn if you don't have an Alchemical master to instruct you. This isn't an elitist thing, it's just the truth. Not because many of the secrets cannot be communicated through written material, but because there are fundamental components that have been held close that aren't necessarily encoded in the Emblems or even the written works. Things that have only been communicated mouth-to-ear. There are some things that require a particular kind of initiation to understand. We aren't the only ones for whom this is true; the Tibetan, Indian, and Chinese masters all understand this. "Transmission" refers to more than simply paper, it refers to an actual Transmission.

This doesn't mean you can't get a solid Alchemical practice going without this. What is out there now will get you there, if you do the Work. Do enough of the Work, and you can get what you need to complete the Great Work through invocation and communication with entities like Tzadqiel, who teaches the Royal Art. There are a number of different alchemies, and any number of different valid practices, some of which are completely public. There are simple alchemical methods that are public understanding that will get the job done if worked at diligently over one's lifetime. They may not be the best methods available, but they'll get you there. You don't need an engineering degree from MIT to be an engineer...

A physical analogy would be the martial arts; you can learn to defend yourself without having all the hidden bunkai your Art has to offer. You won't have Mastery of that particular Art, though, the Keys to that particular tradition. You'll be strong, and you'll get the job done...but. You won't have gnosis of that Art's tradition, and that is something worth having, in my opinion.

The other method for moving the Golden Dawn forward is to go ahead and add to the Tradition with understanding gained from years of practice. Application of understanding to the culture of the tradition to develop it further. If you don't have contact with the Third Order, you must do this if you're to be part of a living tradition; you have no real choice. Either sit around and re-hash old shit or innovate. I'm pleased to see both of these options being exercised by my Fraters and Sorors of the Golden Dawn.

This Order is living and breathing.

It is growing.

In my own Order, GH Fra LES has received transmission of new occult systems and the keys to traditional Hermetic Internal Alchemy...this is awesome. Some of this stuff is mind-blowing, and incredibly rich. Powerful in application, from what I understand. We have a fully developed Second Order, with un-profaned content that has great potential to enrich the practices of the Magicians who work it. Awesome.

In other Orders, reading this forum, we find that the Order heads are working to complete their Second Orders and to develop content for a Third. No one is sitting still. No one is saying that what's in the old books is all there is, that what's in the original Order's papers is the only knowledge of worth for the Golden Dawn. Even though I believe the transmissions our Order has received would enrich them further, I'm glad to see these other branches of the Golden Dawn growing the tradition in their own way regardless of whether they take David's offer to learn the new transmissions from our Third.

The tradition is being filled with innovation and new understanding right now, and this makes me ecstatic. We've lasted longer with our bickering and bullshit then any other modern Western occult movement. Not the largest of the lot, but there's quality in there. Good times.

AIT

The Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega, and our outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, long ago fully embraced diversity in our Golden Dawn community as a great thing. We are not only willing to live and let live. In fact, we have already begun sharing the advanced R.R. et A.C lineages with Adepts from other Golden Dawn temples and orders.

The Alpha Omega remains willing to take fraternity even further with the Golden Dawn community - using Star Trek's United Federation of Planets as a role model. After all, does a United Federation of Initiatic Orders not have a very nice ring to it?

So, what is it that we as a community want ...

Just another decade of self-destructive flame war ...

Or a Golden Dawn Renaissance, setting a shining example for the rest of the esoteric community!

Neo-Pagan & Neo-Golden Dawn Reconstructionists

2011-08-15T22:21:00.000-07:00

Raymond Buckland, Seax Wicca
Neo-Pagan Reconstructionist

In recent months, we have here on the Golden Dawn blog been discussing how the anthropological concepts of traditionalism, reconstructionism, and revisionism (routinely used to analyze spiritual traditions) can help to better understand divergent philosophical approaches prevalent in the Golden Dawn community. I remain convinced that a great deal of differences between us can easily be overcome by understanding and better defining how vastly different our philosophical approaches really are.

Isaac Bonewits
Neo-Druid Reconstructionist

There still remain important roadblocks to the harmony we can yet achieve through better understanding of our fundamental philosophical differences. One impediment is the mistaken belief that the reconstructionist approach is somehow inferior to traditionalism or revisionism and that the term "reconstructionist" is meant as an insult when used to differentiate philosophical approaches to the Golden Dawn.

Those who are unfamiliar with what these terms actually mean, will find them explained very well in two excellent articles by Neo-Pagan magician and author, Frater Barrabbas here and here.

Frater Barrabbas
Neo-Pagan Revisionist

This week, Pat Zalewski published a humorous poem on his Yahoo group that underscores the tensions created in our Golden Dawn community by a misunderstanding of these anthropological concepts, that in reality are extremely useful:

Pat Zalewski

Neo-Golden Dawn Reconstructionist

"Now grab a partner and go to the left, the Reconstructionalists are the best,

Take your partner to the right, and the traditionalists will die of fright,

call a chief to tell you what and you'll put everything in the pot,

Now hold the phone while I change the step, the chiefe brings it on inept,

now I claim this golden prize and it lasts as long as butterflies,

Now I don't care as colour is best just as long as I not like the rest

I'll take my partners in my hands and lead them to the promised land

where my truth doest prevail even though it is beyond the pale,

I circle now to meet in the middle but I fear I am taking a piddle

I hope by now I have got it right, I have to change it again before the night.

Pat"

In truth, there is nothing at all inferior in spiritual reconstructionism to traditionalism or revisionism. The Neo-Pagan community, for example, has been greatly enriched by the hard work of excellent academic reconstructionists. One shining contemporary example is Tony Mierzwicki, whose academic rigor and integrity has been nothing less than impeccable with his reconstruction of the Greek Paganism of Alexandria. Isaac Bonewits of the Neo-Druids and Raymond Buckland, creator of Seax Wicca, are additional examples of fine reconstructionists. The Celtic, Nordic, and Roman Pagan traditions are other examples of successfully reconstructed and fully revived spiritual traditions.

Tony Mierszwicki, Greek Alexandrian
Neo-Pagan Reconstructionist

There are, however, several important hallmarks necessary for successful reconstruction of a spiritual tradition. Successful reconstruction requires, for example, extreme reverence towards the sources and the source materials of the spiritual tradition, meticulous academic rigor, and a strict adherence to traditional meanings of key concepts within the source tradition. Each of these are key arenas where Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists still have a lot to learn from their more successful counterparts in the Neo-Pagan community.

For example, this week Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionist, Tony De Luce, founder of the "Rosicrucian Order of the Golden Dawn," wrote on Pat Zalewski's forum:

"Ave Pat,

A “reconstructionist” sounds a great deal more like someone that would place Hexagram rituals in the First Order and position a European Alchemical Order as the "authentic" 'Third Order' of the Golden Dawn claiming they are the same group that revealed themselves to Mathers :-) . That would fit my understanding of "reconstruction" whereas most of the Golden Dawn community is working from a much more Traditional perspective understanding the importance of symbol placed in its proper place and the function of the Outer Order as preparation for the Inner Order. Developing the teachings beyond ThAM within the constructs of the Golden Dawn and R.R. et A.C. is not “reconstructing” it is “expanding” :-)

-Tony DeLuce"

In the above citation, Mr. DeLuce attempts to redefine the well established anthropological concepts of traditionalism and reconstructionism. This is not untypical of less than meticulous Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists, who have not infrequently concocted new and fanciful definitions for fundamental aspects of the Golden Dawn tradition.

We have, for example, elsewhere witnessed Mr. DeLuce erroneously claim that Golden Dawn lineage traditionally passes from Chief Adept to Chief Adept, although there is no evidence to support this anywhere in the source material. According to the actual data, the original Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages of the Golden Dawn, as well as of its later offshoots, have always been vested in the (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grade, and never in any purely ceremonial office, such as Hierophant or Chief Adept.

By contrast, successful academic reconstructionists in the Neo-Pagan community, without fail have strictly adhered to traditional meanings of key concepts within the source traditions. Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists, on the other hand, have carelessly redefined even the traditional concept of Hermetic and Rosicrucian spiritual lineage - for example, in order to claim a non-existent "Initiatory Lineage through Israel Regardie." In reality, such a notion is completely foreign to all Golden Dawn source material and Israel Regadie even wrote here that he had no lineage whatsoever to transmit.

Nick Farrell
Neo-Golden Dawn Reconstructionist

Unlike their meticulous Neo-Pagan counterparts, uncautious Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists have - time after time - abandoned all semblance of academic rigor, redefining one traditional Golden Dawn concept after the other, frequently according to mere personal interest or whim. We even witnessed, for example, haphazard Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists redefine even such key source Golden Dawn concepts as initiation itself.

One Neo-Golden Dawn order, for example, today actually touts "traditional Astral Initiation" on its website, which has, of course, no basis in the source tradition whatsoever and is nowhere to be found in any available Golden Dawn source material. Another Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionist has deceptively packaged even so-called "self-initiation" using New Age guided fantasy, as though it were a traditional Golden Dawn practice.

It is an unwavering faith in the source traditions they are resurrecting that has crowned Neo-Pagan reconstructionists with success in bringing an entire host of once extinct Pagan traditions back to life. Among leaders of Neo-Golden Dawn orders, however, a host of Golden Dawn reconstructionists foolishly continue to claim that the source Golden Dawn tradition has been flawed and based on lies and deception from its inception.

Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists claim, for example, that Golden Dawn founder W. Wynn Wescott, forged correspondence with the Continental Rosicrucians authorizing the establishment of the Golden Dawn - and that G.D. founding father, S.L. MacGregor Mathers, lied when he claimed that the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order were real people from a continental Rosicrucian, magical, and alchemical order that he met with in Paris in 1891.

As a striking example of these sort of self-defeating Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructiionist arguments, only this week Pat Zalewski wrote:

"I think we have pretty much exhausted this Secret Chief nonsense and its changing goal posts(from angels to humans) and especially their inability to produce anything significant from the astral realms. Threads like this are important from time to time to warn newbee's into the GD what path not to travel and what we think of that, especially if they have not had contact with people outside of their own orders."

Successful Neo-Pagan reconstructionists like Raymond Buckland, Isaac Bonewits, and Tony Mierzwicki, have proven over and over how successful reconstruction of a spiritual tradition requires a fundamental faith in the source tradition.

By contrast, Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists like Nick Farrell, Pat Zalewski, and Tony DeLuce all believe that the Golden Dawn is rooted in but lies and deceit. They each, moreover, deny the physical reality of the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order as the source of the Golden Dawn as was specifically and unequivocally claimed by the Golden Dawn's founding fathers.

It has been proven over and over again that successful reconstuction of a spiritual tradition requires not only academic rigor and a deepest respect for the source material. There inevitably also comes a time where perpetual tinkering with the source material is no longer enough.

If a spiritual system is to be successfully revived, the reconstruction must eventually also be brought to life. This requires a leap of faith and a fundamental belief in the value and the validity of the source tradition. Nordic Neo-Pagans, like their Celtic, Greek, and Roman Neo-Pagan counterparts, firmly believe in the validity and value of the Pagan system that has been successfully reconstructed and brought back to life.

Unlike their successful Neo-Pagan counterparts, the Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists fail in their reconstruction attempt because they lack the requisite faith in the source tradition to bring it fully back to life.

Lacking the requisite faith in the Golden Dawn source tradition to fully enliven thier reconstructions, Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists end up instead perpetually tinkering with the source material of what for them forever remains a dead - or at best, an UNDEAD - Golden Dawn tradition.

This fundamental lack of faith in the Golden Dawn is not at all the case with traditionalist Golden Dawn orders, such as the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega and the August Order of the Mystic Rose. Whereas Neo-Golden Dawn reconstructionists like Nick Farrell, Tony Deluce, and Pat Zalewksi, each write that the Golden Dawn died when the Whare Ra temple in New Zealand closed its doors, traditionalist orders see the Golden Dawn as a living tradition that never died. Even when there was no visible outer order activity, the Third Order continued in its work without interruption.

Unlilke most Neo-Golden Dawn orders, the Inner Orders traditionalist Golden Dawn orders do not end with the material published by Crowley and Regardie. These orders even today continue to receive additional teaching materials from Third Order archives that complete and augment the information Crowely and Regardie published, as with the unencrypted version of the Golden Dawn's magical squares and the secret instructions about how these squares are to actually be used.

Entire additional magical systems and alchemical materials from Third Order archives continue to be newly integrated into the Inner Orders of traditionalist Golden Dawn orders even today, where the (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grades are magical and alchemical in nature - and contain entire unpublished magical systems.

In order to promote greater fraternity and harmony in the Golden Dawn community, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega has offered to share these advanced initiatic transmissions and magical practices with qualified Adepts from any Golden Dawn temple or order from the entire spectrum of the Golden Dawn community.

The Golden Dawn Debates: Donald Michael Kraig vs. David Griffin - On The Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn

2011-08-07T23:06:00.000-07:00

Donald Michael Kraig recently wrote:

"Recently there have been a spate of attacks on Regardie’s book as being incomplete or not “the real stuff” leading to new books and claims by individuals to have received new information from the Secret Chiefs...

In my opinion, these claims and counterclaims all miss the point. Real magick is not about some new secret ritual, an alternate correspondence on the Tree of Life or a variation on a well-known ritual that changes a word or two. Real magick is about what you do with what you have. And with Regardie’s book, you have a lifetime of training and learning and practice...

I’ve known some people who have tried to figure out the Golden Dawn and its techniques and given up in disgust, saying it was too complicated (complex, yes, but once you understand the complexities it’s not complicated at all). Alternatively I’ve known people who say that it’s too simple, but who have never ventured into the third or fourth volumes. I’ve also known people who have literally reversed important aspects of the rituals, knew they were doing this, but claimed they were doing Golden Dawn work. And, as mentioned above, others claim what’s there isn’t enough and are “receiving” new, more advanced information. I imagine some of these people will attack me for what I’ve posted here, and that’s okay."

(For the benefit of the uninformed reader, Donald Michael Kraig is well known in the Golden Dawn community as an initiate of a Regardie-based Golden Dawn order founded in Georgia by an OTO member/Lewellyn author in the early 1980's. Kraig's Golden Dawn statements frequently so closely resemble the positions of this order that Kraig often appears its de facto spokesperson.)

Care Frater Don,

Who is it exactly that has been "attacking" Israel Regardie's book? Is it, in your opinion, not possible for our two orders to disagree on fundamental philosophical points about the Golden Dawn, without the need to resort to calling philosophical disagreements "attacks"?

Personally, I fully embrace diversity in our Golden Dawn community and view both philosophical disagreement and scholarly debate as not only positive but as actually helping the Golden Dawn tradition to continue to grow and evolve. As brothers from different Golden Dawn orders, can we not agree to disagree without feeling attacked or wagging fingers at one another making wild accusations?

Has the time not come to leave behind old wounds for the good of the Golden Dawn community? - instead of merely not mentioning names while continuing to make sniping remarks?

Moving on to more important matters, I fully agree with you that Israel Regardie's Golden Dawn compendium is one of the most important books ever published. (I personally believe, however, that the Golden Dawn would have been better off today, had Regardie not broken his vows by publishing this material though).

You are correct that Regardie's Golden Dawn compendium contains so much magical material that normal people will never be able to fully master it. The book itself is certainly not incomplete. It accurately reflects the Golden Dawn as it was developed in 1888.

The fact, however, nonetheless remains that the Golden Dawn as it was then developed remained a truncated and incomplete system. The Golden Dawn was never intended to end at the relatively low, (5=6) Adeptus Minor level. The grade system is based on that of the Gold and Rosy Cross Order of 1777 Germany. You are well aware that the grades of the Second Order (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus were never fully developed by S.L. MacGregor Mathers. Whether you agree with this or not, the reason for this is that Mathers was cut off from his source - as the Secret Chiefs were not at all pleased with what he had done with the 5=6 material.

The net result of this is that there are a great many Golden Dawn Adepts today who were initiated into Adeptus Minor (5=6) long ago. Many of these are the best and the brightest among us in the Golden Dawn community. These Adepts have mastered the published Regardie material (that ends at this minor grade) long ago.

Some of these Adepts have even been initiated into Adeptus Major (6=5). But what did they find there? In most Golden Dawn orders, they either nothing at all - or merely something that their local leaders concocted themselves.

Should these Adepts - the best and the brightest among us - really remain forever stifled in their initiatic progress at Adeptus Minor?

I do not think so - and neither do the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega. This is why they have finally released the material for Adeptus Major and Adeptus Exemptus that they had originally intended to release through Mathers until he botched the Adeptus Minor.

These materials complete the magical developments that begin with 5=6. I have given one example already of how this is the case in my previous blog, regarding the magical squares deriving from Agrippa and how they are still cyphered as included in the (5=6) Adeptus Minor material of the Golden Dawn. The entire original system is now fully revealed in the (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grades of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega.

As I mentioned earlier, I believe diversity is a very good thing in the Golden Dawn community. If someone is looking for the personal ideas of Pat Zalewski, his order provides a valuable contribution to our community. If someone is looking for a personality cult centered around Israel Regardie, they can also find that in our Golden Dawn community too. The great news, however, is that if Adepts are looking for traditional Golden Dawn training that completes what they started learning in the (5=6) Adeptus Minor grade, the Alpha Omega is now making this material available to our Golden Dawn community for the first time in history as well.

I must admit that I am a bit surprised at how much venom has been aroused by this joyous new, however. Judging from all of the buzz on the internet, especially on certain Yahoo fora, one would think that the old Golden Dawn flame war had reared its ugly head again.

Rest assured that the A.O. is not trying to lord anything over anyone. We are actually performing a valuable service to the entire Golden Dawn community by making this advanced material available to all of the brightest and best among us - assuming that they can fulfill the same traditional requirements that have been in place since 1888 - and are willing once and for all to keep vows of initiatic secrecy inviolate.

One thing that has surprised me in this entire discussion has been that so many Golden Dawn leaders have come out saying that they do not believe that MacGregor Mathers really met in person with the Secret Chiefs in Paris in 1891 as Mathers himself plainly stated. These individuals are in for a big surprise in years to come, since the advanced teachings are very real and will ultimately be verified by Adepts from a cross section of the entire Golden Dawn community.

Meanwhile, the even the radical reconstructionist Golden Dawn faction is already finding it more and more difficult, in light of serious new academic research, to dismiss Mathers own statements regarding his physical meeting with the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order in Paris in 1891. The cynics and the sceptics in the Golden Dawn community apparently have not read the latest academic research on the subject. I quote from page 159, "William Blake e William Butler Yeats, by Arianna Antonielli (2009: BILIOTECA DI STUDI DI FILOLOGIA MODERNA - Library of Studies in Modern Philology, Florence University Press, p. 159):

"Nel 1891, Mathers viene chiamato a Parigi da un emissario dei misteriosi Capi Segreti del terzo ordine, a lui noto soltanto come Frater Lux E Tenebris. Guardiano delle tradizioni misteriche dei Sumeri, dei Caldei e degli Egiziani, Frater Lux E Tenebris deposita nelle mani di Mathers le chiavi per accedere a quella sapienza antica e segreta. Una volta a Londra, Mathers ha tutto ciò di cui necessita per fondare, nel 1892, l’Ordine Interno o Secondo della Golden Dawn: una società prettamente rosacruciana chiamata infatti ‘RR+AC’, Roseae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis."

English translation:

"In 1891, Mathers was called to Paris by a mysterious emissary of the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order, known to him only as Frater Lux E Tenebris. Guardian of the mystery traditions of the Sumerians, the Babylonians and Egyptians, Frater Lux E Tenebris deposited in Mathers' hands the keys to access this ancient and secret wisdom. Once in London, Mathers has everything he needs to found in 1892, the Inner or Second Order of the Golden Dawn a purely Rosicrucian society called the 'RR + AC ', Roseae Rubeae et Aureae Cross. "

Note that the above cited quote recently appeared not on a publisher's publicity blog, but rather in a highly respected academic journal.

Indeed, it is these self same Sumerian, Babylonian, and Egyptian initiatic mysteries that are now being further transmitted in (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grades of the Inner Order the Alpha et Omega.

The Secret Chiefs Debate: Traditionalist vs. Reconstructionist Golden Dawn

2011-07-29T22:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

- 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!

2011-07-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

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

Demeter & Persephone, Hades & Dionysos: Pagan Survival & the Hermetic Tradition, Part 2

2011-07-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

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

Persephone & Hades

To gain a better grasp of initiation in the ancient world, we shall avail ourselves of certain of the myths recounted to initiates that survived up until our days. The first archaeological evidence is dated to the VIII century BC, whereas the destruction of the sanctuary in Eleusis by the hands of the Goths can be dated back to the end of the IV century AC (Note the Eleusinian mysteries had already been banned a few years earlier by emperor Theodosius). The Eleusinian mysteries were dedicated to the two goddesses, Demeter and Persephone.

The root of the name “Demeter” is best rendered as “Mother Barley”, which significantly links her to the cycle of aspics and of nature. The etymology of Persephone, on the other hand, is related to fero and foneuo, or to ferbo and foneuo, the former meaning “she who brings destruction”, the latter “she who nourishes everything and kills everything”. Demeter, known as Ceres in Latin, was not only the goddess of harvest and of the renewal of nature, as it is generally believed. The priests of Ceres in Rome were the edili, that is the constructors, who also administrated the law. Calvus says: “Demeter assigned to us the sacred laws, joined the bodies of lovers at night, the Great Rite, and founded the great cities”.

The myth of Persephone and Zeus describes how she was kidnapped by Hades, who took her to the underworld on his winged chariot, while she was picking daffodils (or poppies) in a field, where, in some versions, she lost a sandal. Not seeing her daughter return, Demeter began to search for her in despair. Helios (or Hecates or Eubuleus) warns her of the kidnapping. Thus she wanders the earth with a torch, searching for her lost daughter.

Disguised as an elderly woman and wearing a veil, Demeter reaches Eleusis, in the kingdom of king Celeus, where she becomes the wet-nurse of Demophon, the king’s son. Jambel, one of the servants, soothes her melancholy with obscene jokes and humorous wit (according to other versions the person making her laugh is paunchy Baubo and her husband, Dysalules. Baubo even shows her Iacchus, her baby son poking out his head from between her thighs as though born in that instant).

The queen offers her wine, but Demeter refuses and instead prepares a water, flour and barley bran beverage instead, the kikeon, which was later used by initiates of her Mysteries. Demeter is discovered while purifying Demophon with fire, to render him immortal, and thus reveals herself, imposing the construction of a temple in her honour.

Imprisoned in her sorrow, Demeter stops the earth from bearing fruit, until Hermes, sent by Zeus, convinces Hades to set Persephone free to return to her mother. But Ascalaphus, gardener of the underworld, convinces Persephone to eat seven pomegranate grains, so that the girl will have to come back to Hades during winter months.

According to other versions it is Triptolemus, the “triple warrior” brother of Eubuleus (both sons of Dysaules and Baubo), who brings Persephone back to earth. This, it is said, is the reason why Demeter establishes the Mysteries and reveals to men how to grow grains.

Triptolemus, in the underworld, is identified as Dionysus and there is talk of a subterranean wedding between Dionysus and Persephone, the Great Rite, and the sacred child Brimus, born from this union, is also identified with Dionysus. It is also said, in a fragment by Heraclitus:

“In actuality, Dionysus and Hades are the same god.”

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

2011-07-07T07:20:00.000-07:00

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”.

Pagan Survival and the Hermetic Tradition

2011-07-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

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

Part A. Introduction (by David Griffin)

It is my pleasure to introduce an article offering a revolutionary perspective, written by Arch Priest Dianus del Bosco Sacro, current Grand Conservator of the Pagan Faith and Tradition of the Sacred Forest of Nemi (Del Bosco Sacro di Nemi), on the subject of Pagan survival from antiquity in Italy.

Dianus’ lengthy article will be presented here on the Golden Dawn blog as a series of shorter pieces, in part detailing how noble Hermetic alchemists from the Partenopean initiatic center secretly preserved essential elements of ancient Roman Paganism from destruction by the Inquisition during the dark age of Christianity. During the course of the exposition, we shall witness how Western spiritual sexuality comprises an omnipresent Ariadne’s thread demonstrating Pagan continuity from the most ancient times until today.

Throughout history, we encounter the same, sublime sexual mysteries over and over, albeit clothed in ever changing symbols: from the mysteries of Dionysos, Diana, and Janus - to the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii, which had such a profound impact on Gerald Gardner immediately prior to his formulation of Wicca – from the rich symbolism of Hermetic alchemy known as the “language of the birds” - to the hitherto unrecognized symbolism masking the same sexual mysteries in Charles Godfrey Leland’s “Aradia, the Gospel of the Witches.”

Dionysos and Arianne

According to the lore of the “Del Bosco Sacro” Pagan tradition of the Sacred Forest of Nemi, Western spiritual sexuality first arose with the ancient shamanic religion of the Great Mother Goddess in Continental Europe. Whereas the primordial sexual mysteries would be preserved as The Great Rite along Matriarchal lines in Europe, they also spread to Sumeria, Babylon, and Egypt, where over time they became the Royal Art of Alchemy.

Following the conquest of Egypt by Rome, the sexual mysteries of alchemy were carried back to Rome by Priests of Isis. Arriving in Naples, Cuma, and Pompeii along the Partenopean coast, this masculine Priesthood encountered the great Pagan Matriarchs. These Patriarchal, alchemical and Matriarchal, shamanic lineages quickly discovered their sexual mysteries to be so similar, that they could only have arisen from a common source.

Thus began the intimate collaboration of the Hermetic alchemists and the Pagan Matriarchs that would secretly endure so many Centuries - even until today. Thus it came to pass that, when persecuted by the Catholic Church and faced with extinction, the ancient Pagan Matriarchs found sanctuary, protection, and survival in the Parthenopean initiatic center of Hermetic alchemy.

It is in this spirit that the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega and our outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as inheritors of so many Hermetic and Rosicrucian magical and alchemical lineages, is pleased today to continue to offer protection to the Pagan tradition of the Sacred Forest of Nemi.

I dedicate this translation to Lady Diana of the Sacred Forest of Nemi, 38th Arch Priestess Del Bosco Sacro, and Lady of the Game of Benevento.

Lady Diana del Bosco Sacro

As Imperator of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, I pledge my sword to the protection of Lady Diana, as have all Imperators before me of the Parthenopean Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions.

Let all who would harm the Mysteries fear the sword of +AmoR+.

Sub Umbra Tuarum Alarum,
David Griffin
Imperator Ordinis and Chief Adept
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®