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Core Golden Dawn 2: Problems G.D. Magicians Solve & Questions We Ask

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by Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®

Imperator David Griffin

Lesson Two:

"As a Golden Dawn Magician, 
what kind of problems do you try to solve?

What kinds of questions do you ask?"

Hermetic Magick and Alchemy arose in ancient Egypt and come to you across Centuries - passed down for Millennia from Hermetic Master to Disciple in an unbroken chain of Adepts. 

The questions you ask as a Golden Dawn Magician are:

• 1) How can I become more than human?
• 2) What are the techniques or practices that can unchain my Divine Spark to fully emerge and manifest within me?
• 3) How should I live and work internally to reach this objective?

As a consequence of these questions, the problems you must resolve as a Golden Dawn Magician are posed by the practice of true and ancient techniques provided by traditional initiatic science.

The first problem involves the reliability of methods, which have been tested over generations of previous practitioners. For example, Kerstin Johnson from Stockholm, Sweden recently wrote: 

"Since working with Golden Dawn Magick, I've noticed a marked difference in my approach to common problems, increased patience, and a serious boost to my intuitive abilities."

A second problem as a Golden Dawn Magician you try to solve involves the ability to learn and practice ancient methods correctly rather than according to your own understanding, which can distort and negate their efficacy.

The third and most important problem you try to solve as a Golden Dawn Magician is how to develop your energetic body. To get the most out of Golden Dawn Magick, you must over time develop your energetic body, integrate it into daily life, and use it frequently, as you do your physical body. As you begin to feel the physically perceptible energy in your astral body grow and strengthen, you will ultimately gain physical confirmation you are on the right path in cultivating your energetic Soul.

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Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®

Making Magicians - Since 1888

Click HERE to explore our Outer Order, undergraduate level Magical training program.

Core Golden Dawn 1: "What is the Purpose of Golden Dawn Magick?"

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by Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®

Imperator David Griffin

Lesson One: 

"What is the main purpose or goal...
...of the Golden Dawn System of Magic?"

"What are G.D. Magicians trying to accomplish?"

The main purpose and objective of the Golden Dawn system of Magic is the emergence into full consciousness of the Divine Spark that lies within each of us, which is stifled by contemporary education and by life experience reliant exclusively on the senses. Magicians seek to complete their energetic evolution in their lifetime, described by the Golden Dawn as:

"To become more than human!"

In the beginning, much wisdom can be gained through critical thinking about Magick; posing good questions, reflecting upon them, and at length discovering answers for one's self. Ultimately, Magick is a journey of Self-discovery. although Magickal training provides the skills needed to unleash the dormant powers of the Soul.

I invite you to begin exploring Core Golden Dawn concepts with me by reflecting upon the following questions.

What does it really mean ...

"to be human?"

What does it truly mean ...

"to become more than human?"

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Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®

Making Magicians - Since 1888

Click HERE to explore our Outer Order, undergraduate level Magical training program.

Core Golden Dawn 7: How Our Word View is Influenced by the Golden Dawn System of Magick

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with Alpha Omega Imperator

David Griffin

Lesson Seven:

"How should the Golden Dawn System of Magic ...
... affect my view of the world?"

The Golden Dawn does not influence the world view of the aspirant, but rather gives the Magician an entirely new vision and understanding. This occurs through direct, personal experience and verification of the Inner, Spiritual Planes, and through contact with other non-corporeal forms of intelligence.

The existence of inner laws that are not at all unlike the laws of commonly known physics, lead to verify that material human life as we know it is but a profound illusion which is self-constructed by means of the five senses. Therefore the previous, limited view of the world, is transformed through enlarged vision, including all of the planes of creation, rather than merely the physical one - All of this with personal proof gained through direct experience obtained using the magical practices, etc.

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Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®

Making Magicians - Since 1888

Click HERE to explore our Outer Order, undergraduate level Magical training program.

Jorge Hevia III - G.H. Praemonstrator D.e.D.I. - In Memorium

Jorge Hevia Esq. III

(1955-2013)

 G.H. Praemonstrator D.e.D.I.

There are few Adepts who choose the magickal motto of one of their illustrious Golden Dawn predecessors. Our beloved Praemonstrator in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (AΩ) was so deeply inspired by the Irish Poet and Golden Dawn Adept, W.B. Yeats, that Jorge chose to revive Yeats' motto as his own. One of G.H. Frater D.e.D.I.'s happiest moments near the end of his life was participating in the 5=6 (Adeptus Minor) initiation of the Adpet destined to carry the torch of the Golden Dawn back to Ireland.

2012 International Conclave of R.R. et A.C. Adepti

G.H. Frater D.e.D.I. (Jorge Hevia) [left]

with the incomng Hierophant of the Dublin Temple [center]

and G.H. Imperator L.e.S (David Griffin) [right]

Although not a famous poet like his predecessor, G.H. Frater D.e.D.I. will nonetheless also go down in Golden Dawn history due to his tireless efforts to protect the Golden Dawn tradition. Despite defamation and propaganda spread on attack blogs, through his tireless efforts, Jorge protected the entire Golden Dawn community, single handedly preventing an international trademark monopoly by any one group or order.

G.H. Frater D.e.D.I. was a fine Adept who climbed the initiatic mountain to heights that few achieve. He was regularly initiated into the 7=4 Grade of Adeptus Exemptus in 2004.

Descending from Spanish nobility, Jorge Hevia was always the perfect gentleman, and an inspiration to all who knew him.

Jorge was fond of saying that as a healthy Cuban male, like his Father before him he loved his cigarettes as much as his Scotch. In the end, this tradition of bravado would lead to his death. Already at the 2012 International Conclave of Golden Dawn Adepti, D.e.D.I. did not appear to be well. In November, 2012, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer and given an estimated life span of 12 months. Even in his last weeks, Jorge fought to legally protect the order he loved, until his strength gave out and he could no longer continue.

Jorge struggled to protect the order even after his death. Fearing his passing would unleash a barrage of lawsuits seeking to bankrupt the order, Jorge forbid me to announce his passing until the order was prepared to defend itself legally without him.

Our beloved Praemonstrator passed into the invisible on December 10, 2012. Respecting his wishes, a private Requiem was held by his closest friends around the world on December 21, 2013. If esoteric traditions have have Guardian Angels, the 21st Century Golden Dawn's was Jorge Hevia. In the 21st Century, he continues to protect the order from the invisible.

2007 International Golden Dawn Conclave

G.H. Praemonstrator D.e.D.I. [left] and G.H. Imperator L.e.S. [right]

Jorge Hevia III Esq. and David Griffin

Help for Self-Initiates and Solitary Practitioners of Golden Dawn Magick

In the Alpha Omega, we are concerned about the need for face-to-face training and personal support in Ritual Magic. With our 1,000 Points of Light initiative, the A.O. inaugurated a host of new world-wide resources for Independent Practitioners and local groups of aspiring Magicians. These include:

Personal Temples: The Alpha Omega continues to encourage Self-Initiates and Solitary Practiioners to create Personal Altars and Temples. We continue to put them on the map for you here on the Golden Dawn blog, and to publish photos of independent Altars and Temples from around the world for you.

Self-Initiation: The A.O. continues to teach how the goal of Golden Dawn Initiation and Magic is to strengthen the energetic body and to awaken the Elemental, Planetary, Zodiacal, and Sephirothic Magical Forces in the "Sphere of Sensation" of aspiring Magicians. We continue to provide the techniques necessary to accomplish this on your own. 

Magical Tools: The A.O. continues to teach how traditional Golden Dawn Magical Tools are created by publishing photographs of tools of Golden Dawn Adepts, including never before seen photos of Israel Regardie's magical implements from the A.O.'s "Golden Dawn Museum." 

Ritual Magic 101 Coaching Webinars: The A.O. continues to bring solid Ritual Magic teaching and coaching to self-taught Magicians all around the world, in a continuing series of live streaming video and audio, international Webinars.

2012-2013 Golden Dawn World Tour: The Alpha Omega continues to make Ritual Magic instruction and coaching - as well as traditional Golden Dawn initiation - available in more and more countries across the globe.

Ritual Magic 101 Workshops: The Alpha Omega continues to bring magical coaching up close and personal in regular Ritual Magic 101 Workshops.

International Golden Dawn Festivals: The Alpha Omega led the way again in providing training in supplemental Magic newly released by the Secret Chiefs at the 2012 and 2013 International Golden Dawn festivals. These festivals were nonsectarian and open to members of any Golden Dawn order or temple. In this small manner, the AO continues to lead the way in transcending sectarian strife in the Golden Dawn community.

Of course, we continue to provide initiation and training for Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn initiates and members at our traditional Golden Dawn Temples. 2012 is also the 10th Anniversary of the Alpha Omega providing on-line Magic education for students at a distance in our multi-language members' websites as well.

We must face reality though. The A.O.'s beginners' level First Order, the H.O.G.D., is not only the world's most thorough school of Ritual Magic, but it is also the most demanding.

Before H.O.G.D. initiates may graduate and apply for admission to our Second Order, the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, they must first have completely mastered everything other G.D. orders offer their most advanced Adepts.

In the R.R. et A.C., our Adepts practice post-graduate level Magic revealed by the Secret Chiefs at the International Conclave of Golden Dawn Adepti last March. The Magic of the A.O.'s Third Order, our Ph.D. level curriculum, includes, for example, Alchemical Magic and Hermetic Internal Alchemy.

Alpha Omega ...
... the Oxford of Golden Dawn Magic.

We don't hand out grades ...
We make Magicians!

But how can the Alpha Omega meet the needs of aspiring Magicians who are not yet ready for such a serious magical commitment as the H.O.G.D. involves?

Alpha Omega's "1,000 Points of Light Initiative" is an innovative program, providing support and magical training for Independent Practitioners and groups around the world.

We began by encouraging you to create a personal temple, even if it is only an altar in the beginning. We next encouraged you to share photographs of your personal altars and temples, so you may further inspire one another. We then created a map of personal temples around the world, so that Independent Practitioners can see that they are not alone.

There are, however, several important needs remaining to be fulfilled:

What about coaching and support for Independent Practitioners?

To meet this need, the A.O. has been offering Ritual Magic coaching in Webinar format. Our pilot program offered free coaching sessions in 8 languages. The first session, in English, was on Saturday, Oct. 27 2012. With this, the AO brought a valuable new resource to the entire community and paved the way for teachers from other orders to follow our lead on their own venues.

It is wonderful to witness Magic teachers from around the world, even Donald Michael Kraig, jumping on Alpha Omega's Ritual Magick Webinar bandwagon over at Llewellyn. The need for more coaching options for Self-Initiates and Solitary Practitioners of Ritual Magick is great - greater than even the Alpha Omega can meet  on its own. It is wonderful to see other teachers pick up our slack and step up to the plate as well!

What about training and coaching in person?

When it comes to Ritual Magic, there are limitations about what can be effectively taught at a distance. This is why, unlike other Golden Dawn orders, H.O.G.D. members are required prior to graduation to complete all Golden Dawn initiations, physically present with a trained Hierophant in a fully chartered, traditional Golden Dawn temple.

This still does not address the need, however, for local support and in-person training for Independent Practitioners and local groups of aspiring magicians around the world. An interesting discussion arose about this recently on the H.O.G.D. Yahoo Forum, where I was asked what the minimum requirements are to create a Golden Dawn Sanctuary. As part of my answer, I offered to come and assist local groups develop into full fledged Golden Dawn Sanctuaries.

This led to one of our readers, "Hilda," asking me:

"Wow! Is that offer for anyone who gets a group started?"

This led to brainstorming in the A.O.'s College of the Adepti about how we can better meet the need for local support and in-person training - not only for people wanting to form a local Golden Dawn Sanctuary - but also for Independent Practitioners and other aspiring Magicians around the world, still working outside of a traditional Golden Dawn order.

This led to the Alpha Omega creating yet another innovative resource as part of our 1,000 Points of Light Initiative. I am proud today to make the following announcement as part of the Alpha Omega's ongoing commitment to make Magicians:

"I am willing to visit, provide coaching, support, and face to face training in local areas all around the world - and not just for local groups - but for Self-Initiates, Independent Practitioners, and other aspiring Magicians as well ...

I am in the fortunate position that my career leaves me free to dedicate myself full time to the Golden Dawn half a year. Plans for extensive travel to teach in coming months are being fine tuned now.

Having worked as an international tour director for three full decades, I am used to an intensive travel schedule - and my wife and fellow Adept, V.H. Soror D.I.A., also has wheels for feet - so she doesn't get upset about being on the road with me for months on end.

The A.O. is exploring ways to finance necessary travel expenses to provide badly needed local support, without putting undue burden on already overextended A.O. resources. I would gladly finance travel to provide local support myself, but contrary to rumor, I am not independently wealthy.

One good way to cover travel expenses involved in providing local support for aspiring Magicians - would be to give a public lecture on Friday night, followed by a training and coaching session on Saturday. Reasonable fees for these services ought to be able to offset costs. Any local assistance or organizational support to help defer costs would, of course, be much appreciated. 

"As a matter of fact, as long as I am there, I am even willing to provide Golden Dawn initiation to qualified aspirants ...

I remain utterly committed to the Alpha Omega's mission to make Magicians ...

So committed, in fact, I am willing to travel for months on end - from city to city - and country to country - to provide the support necessary to make Magicians.

What if I am a member of a different Order ...

... but would love to discover the unique differences of the A.O.?

Real Magic transcends sectarianism!

I remain open to visit, teach, and do magic with any existing working groups that want to feel for themselves if there is a difference between doing real Magic and acting like a Magician. I will, of course, keep your confidentiality.

In Magical practice, what you do is not nearly as vital as how it’s done. If people have participated in Ritual Magic or initiation in the past but never really felt a change, they will be in for a surprise – Magic Works! It is not just great costumes and funny words.

This is an opportunity to meet me and and to discover for yourself who I really am - beyond how I am portrayed by other Orders or their representatives.

In the Alpha Omega, we make Magicians who arrive at their own conclusions based on personal experience and evaluation of results.

Sincerely,

Alpha Omega Imperator - David Griffin

WHEN LIFE MIMICS ART: Sideshow Bob's Facebook Coup

It is no secret that Bob Zink has wanted to get rid of me for decades. I had heard the ugly rumors many times before - like allegations of Bob organizing Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn members to perform Goetic, black magical operations against me order-wide back in the 1990s.

Then there was the infamous "watermelon" ritual where, according to former EOGD members, they consecrated a watermelon like a voodoo doll, to affect me by sympathetic magick, then took turns stabbing it with a magick sword.

Another story involved the 1994 evening that Robert Zink and I dined together in Cris Monnastre's home. According to former EOGD members, Bob Zink called an emergency temple meeting later that night, telling everyone that:

"over dinner the evil David Griffin had worked black magic on poor Bob with his malefic Mars ring."

Sideshow Bob Zink

I indeed own a magick ring of pure gold for each planet (see the slide show below this post) and actually did wear my Mars ring that night. I never dreamed it would set off such paranoia in Bob though.

Then there was the former EOGD member who wrote to me earlier this year apologizing for having spied on me in the 1990s, allegedly also at Bob's behest.

Sideshow Bob's Facebook Revenge

Until last Fall, I had a thriving social network with 4,723 Facebook friends. Then suddenly - Poof! - my profile and my entire Facebook social network were gone! Facebook had permanently disabled my profile - and cut me off from my entire social network - without any warning or explanation whatsoever. I appealed the decision, but to no avail. It was not until this week that the mystery of what had actually happened to my Facebook profile was finally solved. I should have known from the beginning that the destruction of my social network on Facebook was no mere accident.

The Facebook mystery was finally solved this week, when a disgruntled EOGD member sent me numerous posts about my Facebook profile from the esotericgoldendawn private members' forum on Yahoo. Certain of these letters - reproduced below - reveal how my Facebook profile - and my social network of 4,723 friends - did not simply disappear, but were carefully and deliberately sabotaged by Bob Zink orchestrating a group of EOGD members and their friends to "block spam" me on Facebook.

Esotericgoldendawn Members Yahoo Forum
Subject: Special Attention to all Brethren of the Golden Dawn
September 25, 2009
Greetings in Light,
This is a public announcement to warn members of David Griffin; a self proclaimed leader of a pseudo-organization that is an off-shoot of the reconstructionist Golden Dawn of C... It is important to know that no Golden Organizations to include C..., Zalewski, and OSOGD recognize his fanatic authority.
This individual has cost our Order thousands of dollars in legal fees, threatened members of our order, and continues to prove himself to be a danagerous and unstable fanatic bent on owning the Golden Dawn tradition. As a magician he stands as an example of dark sorcery and evil magic.
That is why we encourage you to disassociat with him in all venues; especially this most recent attempt to friend Order Brethren to his Facebook account. This is a warning not to friend David Griffin and if you mistakely already have to de-friend and block him immediately.
Your Servant in Light
GH Frater PDR (Robert Zink)
770

Esotericgoldendawn Members Yahoo Forum
Subject: Magical links and David Griffin

September 25, 2009

Brethren,

One of the reasons we ask you to not friend David Griffin on facebook is that because he has been hostile to our Order and to myself and other, and because he has attacked our Order over and over again, and because he is bent on being the only Golden Dawn group and has cost C... and our Order thousands and thousands of dollars, and because neither our Order, nor  C.., nor Pat Zaleswki nor Tommy Westlund his first Chief in Sweeden, nor any other GD group reconize him as nothing more than a mischief makers in our GD community, 

YOU RUN A RISK of of allowing him to create a MAGICAL BOND with you and that bond certainly will not be helpful in your spritual or magcial development.

But wait, there is more to this saga, his connection to you as a friend on facebook creates a ray to our Order, this we cannot allow. It is important that you not accept the friend request from David Griffin and if you have, you need to cut it, for yourself, for your Order, for justice.

Your brother in the great work,

G.H. Frater P.D.R. (Robert Zink)

770

Esotericgoldendawn Members Yahoo Forum

Subject: David Griffin @ FB ~ how to use your privacy settings to block & other advice

September 25, 2009

Ave Sorors and Fraters;

Go to "settings", there you will find "privacy", scroll down, put his name in your BLOCK list, when you do so, a list of various David Griffin's comes up, he's the first one, you'll note his sash in his photo. Click ^him^, and he will be blocked.

Another suggestion, if you've friends who have befriended him, email them at FB and ask them to de-friend him and block him. If for any reason they won't, tell them you'll have to de-friend them as his energy won't be tolerated. Hope this helps,
R. 770

I won't waste time refuting Bob Zink's paranoid portrayal of the "evil David Griffin" in these letters. Bob was clearly demonizing me, in order to manipulate EOGD members and their friends to "block spam" me on Facebook - a dastardly, yet deadly effective way of getting someone's Facebook profile permanently disabled. Five days after this "block spam" attack, on October 1, 2009 - Poof! My entire Facebook social network - and all contact with many of my 4,723 friends - vanished forever. No explanation. No recourse. Just poof! - gone.

An Open Letter To My Lost Facebook Friends

My dear 4,723 former Facebook friends,

Thank you for your friendship, support, and encouragement over the years on Facebook. I really enjoyed my interaction with you and our substantial discussions about Hermetic Inner Alchemy and other aspects of the Golden Dawn. Thanks again for your many valuable contributions to these discussions.

I apologize for for losing contact with so many of you following the sudden and unexpected disappearance of my Facebook profile. When Facebook disabled my page without warning or explanation last October, I had no way to reach most of you even to tell you what had happened. In fact, it was a mystery to me as well - until now that is.
I never in a million years dreamed that my social network had secretly been sabotaged in one of Sideshow Bob's dastardly schemes!
As public figure, I guess I should expect certain losses like this, particularly with a competitor like Bob Zink around. Destroying my Facebook social network was the most successful plot Sideshow Bob has come up with yet.  In fact, I can  see him gleefully rubbing his hands and laughing maniacally while reading this.

Well, congratulations Bob! One of your hair-brained schemes finally worked. In fact, it worked so well that my 4,723 former friends from my Facebook social network you destroyed and I would like to send you this special "way to go, Bob!"

Sincerely,

David Griffin

The Astonishing Truth About Golden Dawn Lineage

Frater TDO, on Robert Zink's Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn forum recently wrote:

Ave, In my opinion, lineage means nothing, it it only a tool for certain orders to claim superiority over others...TDO

VH Soror FSO, also on Robert Zink's Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn forum recently wrote:

I'm just curious as to the communities opinions on the importance of lineage in an Order...is it necessary for the current to be present or is lineage just another way to give yourself "credential" ...please do not put down any Orders..I am just curious about everyone's opinions.

Care et VH Soror FSO et Frater TDO,

You each appear to have not yet fully understood the true relevance and function of lineage in esoteric traditions. In certain traditions, lineage may indeed merely be a formal means of mutual recognition, as it is in the case of Freemasonry, which uses charters and systems of mutual recognition between Grand lodges to establish 'regularity.'

VH Sroro FSO gives only two alternatives, when in fact there is another as well. In answer to VH Soror FSO's first question, I have no doubt that using the Ritual Magic Manual to generate a great deal of magical current. So, magical current certainly can be generated using the magical technology presently available to the public. However, this does not mean that the only other alternative is that esoteric lineage is a mere "credential" as you suggest. This is not at the case with Hermetic and Rosicrucian spiritual lineages, however.

Pat Zalewksi recently wrote on the same subject:

The two things I would encourage the novice to do is give a wide berth and lineage freaks who tout this as something akin to the touch of the bishop. Lineage does not cut it any more and it is what you get out of it that counts. 

In Christianity, the doctrine of Apostolic Succession maintains that the Christian Church today is the spiritual successor to the original body of believers in Christ, composed of the Apostles. In pre-Protestant Reformation Churches, Apostolic Succession is claimed as having been passed through unbroken lines of bishops beginning with the original Apostles.

If lineage in esoteric orders were strictly limited to either of the above forms of lineage, indeed, you might correctly say that lineage was only about "credential." When it comes to the spiritual lineages of both Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions, this, however, is not at all the case.

Admittedly, lineage, like trademarks, is indeed is supposed to provide a basic form of protection for the public - that what members find is actually what they associate with the name or the spiritual tradition. In the case of the Golden Dawn, one important aspect of lineage in this sense means that you will find, for example, classical, traditional, physical initiation in real Golden Dawn temples rather than recent, New Age inventions like "Astral Initiation" and "Self Initiation" as is the case with several recently started Golden Dawn variants.

The Golden Dawn is not unique in this respect. In esotericism, numerous orders use lineage as a means of ensuring a direct transmission of spiritual principles and energies.  Martinist orders, for examples all claim lineage deriving from Louis-Claude de St. Martin. 

L'Ordre Martiniste (the Martinist Order) came about in 1884 when Gerard Encausse (Papus) met August Chaboseau. They discovered that they had both apparently received Martinist initiation through two different chains of succession, which linked back to Saint-Martin and his original disciples. 

Papus claimed to have come into the possession of the original papers of de Pasqually and to have been given authority in the Rite of Saint-Martin by his friend Henri Viscount Delaage. However, Encausse realized that there was a "missing link" in his own chain of succession: he and Chaboseau therefore "swapped initiations" in order to consolidate their lineages.

The above questions raised by EOGD's Frater TDO and VH Soror FSO, and by OGD's Pat Zalewski fail to fully consider the primary function of lineage in spiritual traditions. This is not surprising, considering that even Golden Dawn scholar, Pat Zalewski, apparently has not yet fully comprehended the true nature and spiritual importance of Hermetic and Rosicruican lineage for the Golden Dawn and its initiates. 

The concept of spiritual lineage is found not only in Western esoteric orders, but also in various spiritual traditions of the East. Lineage, much like trademarks, may indeed serve to prevent public confusion about a given spiritual tradition, but in the case of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions, these lineages carry with them sets of spiritual transmissions or realizations, precisely as in the case of Dharma transmission in Zen Buddhism.

Zen Buddhism, for example, maintains records of their historical teachers who, according to the traditional history of that school, have passed the Dharma from generation to generation in an unbroken line since the time of the Buddha. Dharma transmission is the formal confirmation by a master of Zen or Chan Buddhism of a student's awakening.

This one-to-one transmission is said to trace back over 2,500 years to Gautama Buddha when he gave dharma transmission to his disciple Mahakasyapa, who is regarded as the first patriarch of Zen in India. Each of the initiations of the lineages of Zen or Tibetan Buddhism carry with them certain sets of spiritual exercises that are practiced in order to achieve very specific spiritual realizations. This is exactly the same case with initiation into the higher transmissions of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions!

One case in point is Hermetic and Rosicrucian Internal Alchemy, which uses the subtle fires of the body, including love and sexuality, to cook the "prima materia" of the body itself, to produce rapid growth of the energetic bodies of the initiate. The goal of this true "Opus Magnum" is the cultivation of a Solar Body of Light, with the goal of achieving conscious immortality in the the Solar dimension during the lifetime of the Adept, thus eliminating the need for further incarnations on a planet at the material level.

In answer to the questions raised by Pat Zalewksi, Frater TDO, and VH Soror FSO, if all you are interested in is merely studying the Golden Dawn techniques published by Israel Regardie, then both initiation and lineage indeed are relatively unimportant. If, however, you are interested in the astounding spiritual development and realization that the living Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions have to offer you, then actual initiation in these living lineages is extremely important.

Moreover, I have heard other members of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn comment in the past:

Lineage does not matter. All that matters is to do the work.

This depends on how you define the work of the Golden Dawn. If all that you are interested in is to practice the techniques published by Israel Regardie, then you do not even need a Golden Dawn order for that. You could get by nicely by purchasing Regardie's Golden Dawn book together with my Ritual Magic Manual. 

However, if you are interested in spiritual development, then it is impossible to complete the true "Opus Magnum" following a Western path without initiation directly into the living Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages that go far beyond what either Regardie or I published. The advanced Hermetic and Rosicrucian techniques are revealed only to initiates, as is true even in the lineages of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism in the East.

So in this very real, and purely spiritual sense - lineage does matter - a lot!

Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum, Yeheshua

David Griffin

G.H. Frater Lux Ex Septentrionis

Imperator Ordinis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega

 "Ex Deo Nascimur.

In Yeheshua Morimur