REVELATION: The Secret Chiefs & the Golden Dawn's Rosicrucian Inner Order

by Frater Lux E Tenebris

Special Envoy of the Secret Chiefs of the

Third Order of the Golden Dawn

Translated by David Griffin

(GH Frater Lux ex Septentrionis)

TRUTH: The Golden Dawn's 

Rosicrucian Inner Order & Initiations

I have been asked by the Secret Chiefs 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 Rosicrucian 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 true 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 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 is 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 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," "duat," 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 Golden Dawn orders today even claim 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 have 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 Secret Chiefs 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 (David Griffin), I accept his view that there is today a need for diversity among orders in the Golden Dawn community. 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 important that there are Golden Dawn orders like the Alpha Omega that remain faithful not only to the original Rosicrucian tradition - but even to the dark and hidden roots out of which the Rosicrucian rose first grew, and from which the R+C Rose continues to nourish itself even today.

Thus, in this strange, modern world in which we live, where the leader of one modern Golden Dawn order today claims that "the higher R.R. et A.C. grades are 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 Hermetic maxim in the following alchemical image:

"What use are torchlight or glasses,
for those without eyes to see?"

From the fertile darkness - the hidden light of the Mysteries,

Frater Lux E Tenebris, R.C.

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Dark Night Mystic - or Golden Dawn Magician?

by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

Over the past month or so, there has been a fascinating discussion, which has gone far to clarify the differences between the goals and methods used by various Golden Dawn orders. The discussion centers around the very real differences between the Magical spiritual path and the Mystical spiritual path.

All science grows in three main phases. These are (1) a common vocabulary, (2) correlation, and (3) effect-cause-effect. This means that every known science began by first establishing a common vocabulary that permitted its proponents to communicate. Without a clear definition of each term, conversations end up turning into arguments even when both sides are actually proclaiming the same truths.

Aristotle was quite adamant that we must always begin by clarifying our terms. Unfortunately, when important terms and concepts, such as “Magick” and “Mysticism” are used with imprecision, we end up fighting about something that isn’t really important. I won’t bother with the last two phases as they are not relevant to this discussion.

Despite having attempted to clarify the distinction between Magick and Mysticism in two previous articles, there nonetheless remains a tragic amount of confusion among aspiring Magicians about the actual differences between Mysticism and Magick. As long as leaders of our community continue to use the words "Mysticism" and "Magick" interchangeably, instead of as representing two distinct, spiritual paths that are diametrically opposed in both their methods and their goals, we should not be surprised by continued confusion among our students.

The discussion began when Peregrin Wildoak HERE wrote:

"In the first Order we purge or purify our personality selves, allowing them to be loose and clearer enough to handle the Illumination we generate via our magical practices in the second Order. This second Order magical work illuminates us enough that, eventually, we become who we are and realise (not just know) we are actually the One, and thereby we experience Theosis in the third Order." 

Peregrin above perfectly outlines the Christian Mystical approach to the Golden Dawn that found its finest expression in A.E. Waite's Fellowship of the Rosy Cross. It does not reflect, however, the methodology of the traditional Golden Dawn.

Immediately following the 1903 schism, William Butler Yeats wrote an article entitled "Is the Golden Dawn to remain a Magical order?" Ever since, a chasm has emerged between those orders in the Golden Dawn community who gravitate more towards Mysticism and those who gravitate more towards Magick. This has created fundamental differences between one Golden Dawn order and the other, which endure in our Golden Dawn community even until today.

Since these fundamental differences are not so easily recognized by aspirants or by an unwary public, it has become rather urgent to clarify them. In short, it is high time that Christian Mysticism no longer be confused and conflated with Hermetic Magick.

This was further underscored when Donald Michael Kraig recently wrote an article entitled "Dark Night of the Soul" on the Llewellyn blog, in which Kraig equated the "Dark Night" of the Christian Mystical spiritual path of St. John of the Cross with the Golden Dawn's "Crossing of the Abyss," which derives from diametrically opposite Magical path of the Hermetic tradition. You can read Frater Kraig's entire article HERE.

Those who have followed this discussion will understand my frustration that the debate appears not to have progressed, despite my having already addressed these issues in two previous articles (HERE) and (HERE).

Instead, this time it was Nick Farrell who today published a new article (HERE), again entitled "Dark Night of the Soul," yet again using the terms "Mysticism" and "Magick" interchangeably (as did previously both Kraig and Wildoak) as though these two terms were synonyms describing a single spiritual path and methodology.

What each of the above referenced articles have in common is that Fratres Kraig, Wildoak, and Farrell each describe a spiritual path whose aims and methodology closely resemble the Christian Mysticism of A.E. Waite, as distinct from the aims and methods of the spiritual path of Hermetic Magick used by the traditional Golden Dawn.

From the perspective of the Hermetic and Magical traditions, including luminaries such as Giordano Bruno, Marcilio Ficino, Cornelius Agrippa, Gerolamo Cardano, Pietro D'Abano, Theophrastus Paracelsus, and Eliphas Levi (not to mention the entirety of Egyptian, Chaldeaen, and Sumerian Magick), the goals and methods that Kraig, Farrell, and Wildoak each describe in the above referenced articles are not those of Magick at all, but purely those of Mysticism.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with Mysticism as a traditional spiritual path. Mysticism is a great path and even the right or the only path for some people. It is however, diametrically opposed to the traditional Magical spiritual path in both its goals and its methods.

I am also not saying that modern Golden Dawn orders must remain static as the Golden Dawn was in 1888. It is natural that most Golden Dawn orders have evolved in a Mystical direction and have adopted many of the the aims and methods of Waite's Christian Mystical, "Fellowship of the Rosy Cross."

Nonetheless, Mysticism and Magick remain two quite distinct and separate spiritual paths. The primary difference between Magick and Mysticism lies codified in the actual methods of practice, together with the Mystical or Magical inclinations of the practitioner. 

Whereas the Mystic seeks union with the Divine without, through subordination or "loosening" of the ego, Magicians instead are conquerors of the ramparts of heaven. Magicians seek not union with any sort of Divinity outside themselves. They seek rather to liberate from the chains of matter the "Divine spark" that lies hidden within each human being.

The Mystical path refers to the capacity and will of the practitioner to place oneself in a passive position in relationship to eternal Being and the forces of nature, which the Practitioner begins to invoke and pray to, so they may manifest and enlighten one, thus spiritually uplifting and exalting the practitioner.

The Magical practitioner, on the other hand, does not place him or herself in a passive state towards natural and Divine forces, but rather in a positive state. Recognizing the Divine Spark inside oneself, the practitioner actively collaborates with Eternal Being rather than waiting for its manifestations.

In Mysticism, the practitioner expects Divinity to manifest itself, and to ascend the staircase that leads from below to on high aided by the Divine hand that takes us and leads us ever upwards.

Magick does not expect this, instead conquering the Inner Planes through one's own effort rather than through Divine aid. Thus, whereas the Mystical approach is one of submission, the Magician instead is a conquerer.

A perfect example of the Magical path may be found in the Mithraic Ritual deposited in Paris, which shows one such practice of divine Ascension of the Magical initiate. While rising towards Divinity to be received like a prodigal Son or Daughter, the practitioner greets the Gods as equals that gradually appear, not fearing them or subjugating oneself before them, but admonishing them and blandishing them with Magical words that open the gates of heaven.

Whereas Magick is based on knowledge, Mysticism is based on ignorance in the literal sense of "ignoring" or "unknowing." In fact, one of the most important mystical texts in all of Christianity, "The Cloud of Unknowing," speaks of making oneself obscure, humble and ignorant before the unmanifest - to remain there, in silence, gradually emptying oneself, while waiting for something or someone (God) to come and fill the void thus created.

Thus two completely different modalities become evident. Whereas the Mystic reflects the Divine light that is poured out upon him, the Magician generates this light, becoming an emitter himself.

A.E. Waite

The foremost exponent of the Mystical path in the Golden Dawn was Arthur Edward Waite, who completely suppressed Magick in favor of Christian Mysticism in his Fellowship of the Rosy Cross and its Inner Order, the Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, Rectified Rite. Waite's Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, reconstructed in recent years and open only to Christians, today remains the most Mystical order in the Golden Dawn community.


The foremost exponent of the Magical path in the Golden Dawn was the great Mage, S.L. MacGregor Mathers. Mathers understood that the Golden Dawn primarily as a Magical rather than a Mystical tradition. Over time the Magical spiritual path has become more and more pronounced in Mathers' Alpha Omega. The A.O. today therefore remains the most Magical order in the Golden Dawn community.

In between the Alpha Omega and the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, which most clearly exemplify the diametrically opposed Magical and Mystical Golden Dawn paths, there today exist a host of Golden Dawn orders that lie somewhere in between ... that have not gone so far as to suppress Magick outright as did the Waite order, yet nonetheless remain quite Mystical in their approach to the Golden Dawn, as is clearly evident in the above referenced articles written by Donald Michael Kraig, Peregrin Wildoak, and Nick Farrell.

One type of order in today's Golden Dawn community is rooted in Mysticism, uses methods like those set forth in "The Cloud of Unknowing" (purgations, humility, "loosening the ego" and waiting for illumination to come from outside/on high), and draws on Mystical experiences like the "Dark Night of the Soul" of St. John of the Cross, like we have seen in the above writings of Donald Michael Kraig, Nick Farrell, and Peregrin Wildoak.

The other type of Golden Dawn order is that of the Hermetic, purely Magical spiritual path, as taught and practiced in the Alpha Omega, which proceeds instead through spiritual exaltation, and holds the Hermetic philosophical position that every human being contains a Divine spark of the One, which is the entire Universe.

Whereas the goals of what remains of "Magick" in most Golden Dawn orders today has become deviated by Mysticism; with passive methods, and self-negating aims (full of purgation, ego loosening, etc.) ...

... the Hermetic Magick of the Alpha Omega remains positive, active, and life-affirming. Recognizing the Divine Spark inside oneself, the Magical spiritual path actively collaborates with Eternal Being, rather than waiting for its manifestations.

Whereas Mysticism is passive and seeks illumination bestowed through grace from an outside Divinity, Magick is live-giving and self-illuminating, kindling the Divine spark present inside every Magician.

The wonderful thing about today's Golden Dawn community is that our diversity gives spiritual aspirants a plethora of choices. Aspiring Mystics will find their spiritual quest greatly facilitated in one of the Mystical Golden Dawn orders, where they will find all of the purgation and ego loosening they need to eventually attain Mystical illumination.

Thus people seeking a Mystical spiritual path are best joining either the Christian Mystical, Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, founded by A.E. Waite, or one of the Golden Dawn orders led by Donald Michael Kraig, Peregrin Wildoak, or Nick Farrell (at least judging by the mystical goals and methods they each teach on their blogs).

Aspiring Magicians, on the other hand, will find all of the training, support, and guidance you need - in all aspects of the Magical spiritual path, immediately upon entering the outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Again, I am not saying the Alpha Omega is the "best" Golden Dawn order. However, our goals and our methods are very different than most other G.D. orders. For example, it goes without saying that in the European headquartered Golden Dawn - we do NOT make Mystics ...

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Mystical and Magical Orders of the Golden Dawn

by Alpha Omega Imperator

David Griffin

Recently, Golden Dawn authors have suggested that Golden Dawn offshoots and orders have grown in divergent directions, one "Masonic" and the other "Magical." My own independent research confirms the development of divergence, albeit in a somewhat different direction.

All Golden Dawn offshoots and orders have a Freemasonic structure, since  the Golden Dawn itself is a 19th Century reformulation of the Egyptian mysteries of the earlier Hermetic tradition, re-veiled in the symbols of Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism.

This is by no means the only such reformulation. In the early 17th Century, with the publication the Fama Fraternitatis (1614), the Hermetic tradition was reclothed with the symbols of the nascent Rosicrucian tradition. In the 18th Century, the Hermetic and Rosicruican traditions were again reformulated, this time with the symbols of nascient Freemasonry, finding its most visible expression in the Gold und Rosenkreutz order of 1777 Germany.

Since the Golden Dawn is a Freemasonic and Rosicrucian reformulation of the Egyptian mysteries preserved by the Hermetic tradition, it becomes obvious that to call one order more "Magical" and another more "Massonic" has little meaning regarding the Golden Dawn. A fundamental distinction does exist, however, in different directions in which the Golden Dawn evolved following the 1903 schism.

Immediately following the 1903 schism, William Butler Yeats wrote an article entitled "Is the Golden Dawn to remain a Magical order?" Ever since, a chasm has emerged between those in the Golden Dawn community who gravitate more towards Mysticism and those who gravitate more towards Magick. This has created fundamental differences between one Golden Dawn order and the other, which endure in our Golden Dawn community even until today.

This is natural, since Mysticism and Magick are two quite distinct spiritual paths. The primary difference between Magick and Mysticism lies codified in the actual methods of practice, together with the Mystical or Magical inclinations of the practitioner.

The Mystical path refers to the capacity and will of the practitioner to place oneself in a passive position in relationship to eternal Being and the forces of nature, which the Practitioner begins to invoke and pray to, so they may manifest and enlighten one, thus spiritually uplifting and exalting the practitioner. 

The Magical practitioner, on the other hand, does not place him or herself in a passive state towards natural and Divine forces, but rather in a positive state. Recognizing the Divine Spark inside oneself, the practitioner actively collaborates with Eternal Being rather than waiting for its manifestations.

In Mysticism, the practitioner expects Divinity to manifest itself, and to ascend the staircase that leads from below to on high aided by the Divine hand that takes us and leads us ever upwards.

Magic does not expect this, instead conquering the Inner Planes through one's own effort rather than through Divine aid. Thus, whereas the Mystical approach is one of submission, the Magician instead is a conquerer.

A perfect example of the Magical path may be found in the Mithraic Ritual deposited in Paris, which shows one such practice of divine Ascension of the Magical initiate. While rising towards Divinity to be received like a prodigal Son or Daughter, the practitioner greets the Gods as equals that gradually appear, not fearing them or subjugating oneself before them, but admonishing them and blandishing them with Magical words that open the gates of heaven.

Whereas Magick is based on knowledge, Mysticism is based on on ignorance in the literal sense of "ignoring" or "unknowing." In fact, one of the most important mystical texts in all of Christianity, The Cloud of Unknowing, speaks of making oneself obscure, humble and ignorant before the unmanifest - to remain there, in silence, gradually emptying oneself, while waiting for something or someone (God) to come and fill the void thus created.

Thus two completely different modalities become evident. Whereas the Mystic reflects the Divine light that is poured out upon him, the Magician generates this light, becoming an emitter himself. 

A.E. Waite

The foremost exponent of the Mystical path in the Golden Dawn was Arthur Edward Waite, who completely suppressed Magick in favor of Christian Mysticism in his Fellowship of the Rosy Cross and its Inner Order, the Rosa Rossa et Aureae Crucis (Rectified Rite). Waite's Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, reconstructed in recent years and open only to Christians, today remains the most Mystical order in the Golden Dawn community.

The foremost exponent of the Magical path in the Golden Dawn was the great Mage, S.L. MacGregor Mathers. Mathers understood that the Golden Dawn primarily as a Magical rather than a Mystical tradition. Over time the Magical spiritual path has become more and more pronounced in Mathers' Alpha Omega. The A.O. today remains the most Magical order in the Golden Dawn community.

It should therefore go without saying that, unlike most other Golden Dawn orders - in the Alpha Omega - we do NOT make Mystics.

Alpha Omega

We make Magicians!

In between the Alpha Omega and the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, which most clearly exemplify the diametrically opposed Magical and Mystical Golden Dawn paths, there today exist a host of Golden Dawn orders that lie somewhere in between. Most Golden Dawn orders still teach Magick in their Second Orders, but there nonetheless remain vast differences in their approaches and goals.

There are numerous Golden Dawn orders that have not gone so far as to suppress Magick outright as did the Waite order, yet nonetheless remain quite Mystical in their approach to the Golden Dawn. Such Mystical Golden Dawn orders do not teach Magick at all in their outer order, and provide no guidance or support to their Outer Order initiates who are practicing published Golden Dawn Magick on their own. Mystical Golden Dawn orders view their Outer Order instead as serving primarily to "purge" the personality self, in preparation to receive Mystical illumination from outside the practitioner in their Second Order.

Mystical Golden Dawn orders teach that it is necessary to "loosen the ego" in preparation for Mystical illumination and that the practice of Magick in the Outer Order will stunt what they hold as the necessary purging of the personality and ego. Such methods are identical to the methods of Christian Mystics such as St. John of the Cross and Mother Theresa and other Christian mystics and have been proven effective for centuries for those seeking Mystical illumination. Clearly, aspiring Mystics are best suited for one of the numerous mystically oriented Golden Dawn orders.

That most Mystical Golden Dawn orders have not completely suppressed Magick has led to a very curious situation in the contemporary Golden Dawn community where, even though they use many of the same basic practices, two distinct types of Magick have firmly established themselves.

One type of Magick is rooted in Mysticism, holds the philosophical position that we are all born as sinners, and uses methods like those set forth in "The Cloud of Unknowing" (purgations, humility, "loosening the ego" and waiting for illumination to come from outside).

The other type of Magick is that of the purely Magical spiritual path, as taught and practiced in the Alpha Omega, which proceeds instead through spiritual exaltation, and holds rather a Hermetic philosophical position that we are all children of the Divine; holographic manifestations of the One, which is the entire Universe.

Whereas the Magick of most Golden Dawn orders today is Mystically oriented, passive, and negative (full of purgation, etc.), the Magick of the Alpha Omega is positive, active, and life affirming. Recognizing the Divine Spark inside oneself, the Magical spiritual path actively collaborates with Eternal Being, rather than waiting for its manifestations.

Whereas Mysticism is passive and seeks illumination bestowed through grace from from an outside Divinity, Magick is live-giving and self-illuminating, kindling the Divine spark present inside every Magician to burn brightly, shining like the Sun and Stars.

The wonderful thing about today's Golden Dawn community is that our diversity gives spiritual aspirants a plethora of choices. Aspiring Mystics will find their spiritual quest greatly facilitated in one of the Mystical Golden Dawn orders, where they will find all of the purgation and ego loosening they need to eventually attain Mystical illumination.

Aspiring Magicians, on the other hand, will find all of the training, support, and guidance in all aspects of the Magical spiritual path, immediately upon entering the Alpha Omega's outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which is a Magical order and not a Mystical one.

Again, I am not saying the Alpha Omega is the "best" Golden Dawn order, only that we do things differently. it goes without saying that, unlike many Golden Dawn orders - in the Alpha Omega - we do NOT make Mystics.

Alpha Omega

We make Magicians!

Click HERE to explore our Outer Order, undergraduate level Magical training program, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn!"

Don't miss:

The Golden Dawn Website

The Journal of the Golden Dawn Research Center

The Golden Dawn FAQ

The Golden Dawn YouTube Channel

The Golden Dawn Channel on Blog Talk Radio

The Golden Dawn Saga: Episode 3: The Dark Secret Unmasked

by David Griffin

I am about to reveal to you a Dark Secret  ...

For years, incongruities in Nick Farrell's actions have made no sense at all. Farrell purports to be a Golden Dawn leader, yet actively tries to destroy the Golden Dawn. Contradictions surrounding Nick Farrell are well documented throughout the esoteric community.

Alexandrian Wiccan elder, Frater Barrabbas, analyzes, for example, how Farrell as "myth busting iconoclast" contradicts Farrell as "Golden Dawn leader." Barrabbas demonstrates how Farrell's arguments are but thinly disguised attacks on the Golden Dawn. These include Farrell's systematic profanation of secret Golden Dawn documents and teachings, Farrell's claim of a Golden Dawn Hoax, his portrayal of the Secret Chiefs as fantasy, his overwhelmingly negative attitude towards S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the Alpha Omega, etc.

Things have changed rapidly over the past couple of weeks.

Recent events have brought the paradox surrounding Nick Farrell into sharp focus. First came revelation of a Nick Farrell attack on the Golden Dawn in the introduction of his latest book, where he fear mongers up a myth of a modern "Golden Dawn Cult". When this attack on the Golden Dawn was exposed last week, Farrell desperately issued frenzied denails and diversions.

These quickly fell flat, however, when Farrell was caught for a second time in less than a week attacking the Golden Dawn tradition. This time Farrell published fear mongering "Golden Dawn Cult" rumors on his personal blog. Uttered through the mouth of "Anonymous Nick" trolls on his blog, Farrell, as blog moderator, personally published these "Golden Dawn Cult" rumors, making further denial or diversion virtually impossible.

Realizing his blunder, Farrell desperately tried to sanitize evidence from his blog. Farrell's cover-up effort came too late, however, as his true agenda had already been exposed to the whole world ...

A definitive pattern has emerged revealing Nick Farrell as a turncoat posing as Golden Dawn leader to more effectively destroy the Golden Dawn from within. In fact, Farrell's new book as a whole is in many ways a broadside against the entire Golden Dawn. Likewise are suggestions on Farrell's blog that "there is something deeply rotten in the egregrore of the Golden Dawn."

This is not the first time the Golden Dawn has been attacked with fear-mongering "Golden Dawn Cult" rumors. What is shocking this time around, is that the attacks come from someone claiming to be a Golden Dawn leader. In the past, such "Golden Dawn Cult" slurs have come only from outside, from fundamentalist Christian groups trying to destroy the Golden Dawn.

Similar attacks with this same "Golden Dawn Cult" slur have in recent years appeared sporadically on "anonymously" published blogs as well. The authorship of these blogs no longer remains much of a mystery though, since they each bear Nick Farrell's signature "Golden Dawn Cult" rumor, tied positively to Farrell this week through slip-ups in his books and on his personal blog.

Now that Nick Farrell has been caught red-handed fear-mongering against the Golden Dawn ...

Expect Farrell this week to unleash another army of "Anonymous Nick" Trolls again on his blog, calling me paranoid and a conspiracy nut for outing him and exposing his real game.

Expect Farrell to launch another one-man, Golden Dawn pseudo-flame War, to divert attention from these revelations.

Expect Nick Farrell to issue more mocking denials and diversions ....

But proof paints a very different picture - a picture a turncoat in our midst pretending to lead a Golden Dawn order, while bent on the destruction of the Golden Dawn tradition.

As evidence of the accuracy of these statements, I invite you to read the web page linked here, published by a fundamentalist Christian group called Uncommon Sense Ministries, whose overt purpose is to discredit and destroy the Golden Dawn.

Here you will find extremely damning evidence, exposing what Nick Farrell is really up to.

On the Fundamentalist Christian, anti-Golden Dawn attack page entitled, "The Dawn of a Golden Hoax," we find all of Nick Farrell's usual arguments attacking the Golden Dawn - From his Golden Dawn Hoax theory, to dispargement of the Secret Chiefs, to calling Mathers a liar, and much, much more.

I would recommend anyone about to read Nick Farrell's new book, King Over the Water, to read the "Uncommon Sense Ministries" website first. You will find all of Farrell's arguments here already, so you can save yourself $25. Even Farrell's description of the Horos scandal reads like he copied it directly from Uncommon Sense Ministries' attempt to destroy the Golden Dawn.

In fact, this anti-Golden Dawn attack page so closely mirrors Nick Farrell's arguments, The Dawn of a Golden Dawn Hoax reads as though written by Farrell himself!

So why are Nick Farrell's arguments identical to those of the of sworn enemies of the Golden Dawn? It does not matter whether Uncommon Sense Ministries is the source of Farrell's book, or instead Farrell himself wrote this anti-Golden Dawn attack website. In any case, only one inescapable conclusion remains - Nick Farrell is a turncoat out to destroy the Golden Dawn.

With this in mind, Farrell's fear-mongering "Golden Dawn Cult" rumors suddenly make sense:

Nick Farrell is a trojan horse, that has penetrated into the very heart of the Golden Dawn!

Nick Farrell: Sal Tessio of the Golden Dawn

Luckily, the betrayer has been discovered in time, and can now be delt with for who he really is in the Golden Dawn family.

And yet, other important questions still remain unanswered ...

Has Nick Farrell been acting on his own?

Or does a dark hand still lurk in the shadows, pulling strings?

Be sure not to miss the next exciting episode of ...

The Golden Dawn Saga

SCAM ALERT: The Golden Dawn & Historical Revisionism

Pat Zalewksi today wrote:

Let us: "Try to form our own peer reviewed panel, as due to some tripe coming out recently that masquerades as Historical research, it is needed. We have qualified, people performing that function on this forum"

Clearly the Golden Dawn community's historical revisionists are still reeling from the academic rejection of any semblance of credibility surrounding Nick Farrell's historical revisionist attack books against S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the Alpha et Omega.

So the historical revisionists are are now setting about trying to create a better illusion of objectivity and academic credibility by setting up a kangaroo court board for so-called "peer review" consisting entirely of Farrell, Zalewksi and their historical revisionist buddies.

Well ...

Considering the lies that Pat Zalewksi spread for 5 years following the death of Desmond Bourke that Zalewksi had a letter from Bourke denying any involvement with the Golden Dawn ...

And considering how this nonsense from Zalewski was exposed as a bold faced lie once Zalewksi was forced to publish the completely unrelated letter ...

How can any reasonable person put any credibility at all into the so-called "peer review" kangaroo court Zalewksi is now trying to set up?

Let us remember that this gang of historical revisionists have for years ignored every factual challenge to their revisionist agenda from anyone outside their revisionist gang, and have just kept repeating their revisionist "talking points" instead like a broken record.

Don't these guys have anything better to do?

Like maybe teach magick to their students once in a while?

The Exquisite Corpse Golden Dawn

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!"

SCANDAL: The Debate Surrounding Release of the Advanced Golden Dawn Curriculum by the Third Order

- 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!

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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.