Hate Bloggers Attack Nick Farrell: Golden Dawn Fundamentalism?

by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

Nick Farrell's Peace Initiative

You are likely by now aware of MOAA leader, Nick Farrell's, peace initiative to end defamation in the Golden Dawn community. I fully support this initiative, as I set forth in the below State of the Golden Dawn address, which I released last week at Candlemas.

The truce arising from the Farrell initiative has held for over a week now. There have been no attacks on any Golden Dawn leader posted on Mr. Farrell's group nor any other major Golden Dawn group on Facebook.

The only sad news this week came when Golden Dawn hate blogs attacked Nick Farrell for silencing them by no longer allowing them to promote posts on his Facebook group, thus depriving them of any meaningful traffic or readership. Nick Farrell deserves much credit for standing up to these hate blogs.

In other developments, Olen Rush commented on YouTube beneath my "State of the Golden Dawn" video, pointing out that he has completely taken down his blog where once numerous attacks on our order were housed. Mr. Rush pointed out that negative references to that blog still remain today on the Golden Dawn Blog. In respect of Mr. Rush's effective takedown request, I yesterday removed any and all reference to Olen Rush from the Golden Dawn Blog. I took this action unilaterally and unconditionally in yet a further effort to support Nick Farrell's peace initiative - as well to inspire others in the Golden Dawn community to also do the right thing.

Nick Farrell deserves much credit for persevering in his peace initiative, despite being attacked by the hate blogs this week. There have always been - and will always be - a handful of extremists in the Golden Dawn community - and hatred will never be completely banished. Extremists can not continue to tarnish the reputation of the Golden Dawn, however, unless we allow their hatred to continue to have a disproportionate voice.

But does this mean that there can be no legitimate debate in the Golden Dawn community? Especially when it comes to the legitimate differences between one Golden Dawn order and the other? Does the public not have a right to know these differences?

This idea is being put to the test today over on Nick Farrell's group, where my name is being invoked once again this morning, this time in connection with the position of various Golden Dawn orders on the practice of Magick in the Golden Dawn's outer order.

Today's discussion arose when Dean Wilson, leader of Ireland's "Ancient and Honorable Order of the Golden Dawn" set forth his position that:

"the Elemental Implements should not be made in the Elemental Grades" of the Golden Dawn's outer order.

Golden Dawn author, Pat Zalewksi, leader of the Canadian "Order of the Golden Dawn" replied:

"You have get me here Dean as I have never heard of a GD order making elemental weapons in the outer order. Its bloody ridiculous for many reasons."

Morgan Drake Eckstein, of the Colorado based BIOGD, replied:

 "(I have heard of these Orders doing this.... ) I personally think that they should be made as a set in the Inner."

Samuel Scarborough, representing an order I can't mention here by name due to a legal agreement you can view HERE wrote: 

"Unfortunately, Pat Zalewski, there are those that claim to do GD work, yet do drop Inner Order material into the Outer. Those organizations previously named certainly are the most well-known for this particular (and other) set of practices."

Another group member made clear who they were talking about, suggesting "Griff's order" "does quite a bit of this sort of thing".

A leader of Sam Scarborough's order wrote:

"Amen and Amen! Bravo Dean!"

Let me first make clear why I am summarizing and replying to this discussion here rather than directly on Nick Farrell's group where it occurred. I am banned from Nick Farrell's group. Even today, despite Nick's peace initiative, I continue to be mentioned in discussions on Mr. Farrell's group, yet denied any possibility of direct reply. This dynamic has contibuted heavily to decades of Golden Dawn community polarization.

Moving on to relevant points of discussion, we observe that there is a faction of orders in the Golden Dawn community that do not permit use of the Golden Dawn's elemental implements in their outer orders. 

In fact, these orders reserve all practice of Magick for their Inner Orders. Not one of these groups will give you any Magickal instruction or coaching until you reach their Inner Order, which typically takes at least five years.

The position of our order, the European headquartered, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, in this matter is quite different that those of other orders stated above. We are, in fact the ONLY Golden Dawn order that will teach you Magick from the very first day your are accepted for membership in our order.

In 1888, in Victorian England, it made sense to make people wait until the Inner Order to learn the secrets of Magick. But today, when you can buy all that same "secret" magick for $37.95 from Llewellyn (discounted to $24.50 on Amazon), does this still make sense? Times change and no one can put the genie back in the bottle. The reality is that, due to the publication of basic Golden Dawn material by Crowley and Regardie, there is an entire army of self taught solitary Golden Dawn magicians out there picking up bad habits and in desperate need of proper training, guidance, and coaching. Our order's position is that it makes no sense at all to make people wait for years on end without proper Magickal training. We are a school of Magick, after all, and not of history.

For the sake of argument, let's say you join one of these orders that make you wait years before Magickal training? Just what Magick will you learn once training finally arrives?

This - And little more.

This is not at all the case with our order. We are Golden Dawn traditionalists. All of the Magick and Alchemy we teach in our First, Second, and Third orders comes straight from Hermetic, Rosicrucian, and Golden Dawn initiatic sources. 

We are very fortunate to have far more to offer our students than just what's in a Llewellyn book. In our order, we offer the complete three order training program originally envisioned for the Golden Dawn, but only partly realized by S.L. MagGregor Mathers.

Let us return to the discussion that prompted this article, the question of whether or not the Golden Dawn's elemental implements should be used by Magicians in the Elemental grades of the Outer Order. In our order, students do use these Magickal tools in our Outer Order. They use them to master the Forces of each Element using invocation of published Qabalistic and Enochian Magickal forces.

Unlike other Golden Dawn orders, however, our Second Order contains a great deal of unpublished Hermetic Magick. One part of this is Chaldaen Magick. Our Adepti Minori also make and consecrate new Elemental tools, but tools that use unpublished Chaldean Magickal entities, names, and sigils. These are used for secret Chaldean Hermetic Magick that is available in no other Golden Dawn order.

Is it any wonder that we are today the world's largest and fastest growing Golden Dawn order? In case you are interested, here is a direct link to our order's application process.

I respect that other Golden Dawn orders choose to make people wait for Magick like in 1888. It is our diversity that makes our Golden Dawn community so rich. I am not not implying that any of my colleagues from other orders are Golden Dawn Fundamentalists. Still, we as a community should be ever vigilant for the dangers of all forms of extremism including dogmatism and fundamentalism.

The Golden Dawn is not a religion, Israel Regardie is not Martin Luther, and the Llewellyn book is certainly not a "Golden Dawn Bible."

I am not claiming that our order is better than any other - only that we do things differently. There are important differences between Golden Dawn orders and the public deserves to know what these differences are.

One thing has became clear today. Despite ongoing success of Nick Farrell's peace initiative, meaningful debate about differences between Golden Dawn orders remains hobbled across different Facebook groups and blogs rather than in direct dialogue. I am optimistic that also this situation may yet improve. In any case, we as a community must not allow Nick Farrell's peace initiative to be scuttled by extremism in any form.

BOOK REVIEW: Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls - by the Golden Dawn Community

by Alpha Omega Imperator

David Griffin

"A valuable addition to the library of any Golden Dawn Magician"

- David Griffin

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn saw its beginning in its present form in 1888, when Isis-Urania Temple Number 3 was founded by S.L. MacGregor Mathers, Robert Woodman, and W. Wynn Wescott. 

The order is a late flowering of a Hermetic and Rosicrucian initiatic center in Continental Europe, whose lineages and teachings were carried to England by Edward Bulwar-Lytton and Kenneth MacKenzie.

Count Apponyi of Hungary was a Rosicrucian, representing an extremely ancient and secretive Continental European order of Hermetic alchemists, to whom S.L. MacGregor Mathers would later refer to as the "Secret Chiefs" (Geheime Oberen in German). Apponyi transmitted to MacKenzie certain Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages together with esoteric transmissions with which to found what in 1888 became the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in Britain.

Upon his return to England, Kenneth MacKenzie founded this esoteric society that would later become the Golden Dawn under the original name of “Fratres Lucis” or “Brethren of the Cross of Light.” MacKenzie’s temple was Number one, followed by the Bristol temple of F.G. Irwin as Number two. Isis-Urania therefore became Temple Number three when the Golden Dawn was "founded" in 1888. The teachings for this order were coded using Trithemius “Stenographia” as “Cypher Manuscripts” that were later obtained by Wescott from MacKenzie’s widow following the latter’s death in 1886.

Although the Golden Dawn never attracted great numbers of initiates under Wescott, Woodman, and Mathers, the publication of the Golden Dawn's teachings by Aleister Crowley and Israel Regardie nonetheless caused the Golden Dawn to impact and influence nearly every aspect of today's Western esoteric tradition. 

As a fitting testament to the enduring power of the Golden Dawn, the tradition has managed to survive and thrive even unto the present day, despite over 120 years of persistent take over attempts by rival Rosicrucian order, the SRIA.

Not only has the Golden Dawn survived, it has flourished, blossomed and given much diverse fruit. From the earliest offshoots, the Alpha Omega, Stella Matutina, and Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, to the myriad diversity of orders and temples that make up today's Golden Dawn community.

It is precisely our diversity that is the greatest strength of today's Golden Dawn community. From fully independent, Pagan-led orders like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega to Christian oriented orders directed by SRIA - From Thelemic Golden Dawn orders to the smallest independent temples - From Magical G.D. orders like the A.O. who remain under the direction and protection of the physical Secret Chiefs in Europe to mystical orders that channel "Secret Chiefs" as "Astral Masters" - today's Golden Dawn community comprises greater diversity than at any previous time in history. 

As Peregrin Wildoak writes in his Preface to Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls:

There are more Golden Dawn orders, groups, and magicians today then ever before and the tradition itself is in an exciting phase of development and growth.

- Peregrin Wildoak

Seekers today are able to approach Golden Dawn groups that emphasize vastly different approaches: from magical to mystical, Christian, Jewish, Egyptian, or Pagan, to Nonsectarian and Ecumenical. Despite this great diversity, all of these groups are united by common Hermetic and Rosicrucian roots, and a common base line spiritual technology to offer today's spiritual aspirants.

Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls is a volume edited by Nick Farrell and published by Kerubim Press, a publishing house belonging to Golden Dawn members, Nick Farrell and Dean Wilson. Commentaries a collaborative effort by a wonderful selection of authors from a vast cross-section of our G.D. community, each bringing forth their own unique experience and point of view. Commentaries represents a noble effort to present to the public a snap shot of the kaleidoscope of our rich G.D. diversity. 

The book is organized by the numbers of the Flying Rolls, which essentially translates into chapters, with each chapter including one or more articles commenting on the content by various authors in the Golden Dawn community. As the commentary is separate from the Flying Roll material itself, one may easily read only the original Flying Rolls to come to a unique and personal understanding of the material without the colorations of commentators.

Although many of these Flying Rolls have been previously published by Francis King in Astral Projection, Ritual Magic, and Alchemy (Aquarian Press: 1987), there are several Flying Rolls in this new collection that have not been seen in print before. Moreover, there is a great deal of valuable information to be gleaned from the commentaries themselves, based on individual research or personal magical experience of the authors.

The book contains a Table of Contents at the beginning and a short biography of each commentator at the end. In a perfect world, I would have like to have seen each commentary also listed in the table of contents together with the author to make it easier for the reader to find a particular author's articles.

In the Introduction, there are short biographies written by Nick Farrell of the various Golden Dawn Adepts who authored the original Flying Rolls. To enjoy this book, one need not agree with everything that every commentator writes. For example, in Farrell's biography of S.L. MacGregor Mathers in his Introduction to Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls, Farrell writes that Mathers "developed the Second Order and its teachings by Inner Plane communication with an entity Mathers believed was the archangel Raphael and used the magical name Lux e Tenebris."

There are several problems Farrell's thesis that Mathers saw his contact with the Third Order, Frater Lux E Tenebris, as the Archangel Raphael - and that this proves that Mathers did not see the Secret Chiefs as physical persons.

1. Mathers (in primary sources) claimed to be in contact with the Secret Chiefs both astrally and physically, so the two notions are not in any way mutually exclusive.
2. Even if Mathers saw Frater Lux E Tenebris as the Archangel Raphael in 1888, this is long before Mathers (in primary sources) claimed to have established physical contact with the Secret Chiefs in Paris in 1891.
3. Primary sources indicate that the notion of the Secret Chiefs as physical persons was generally accepted by various Adepts following the G.D. schism of 1903, including the founders of rival Golden Dawn offshoot orders, A.E. Waite and R.W. Felkin, who counted among Mathers' greatest critics.

For a complete analysis of these problems as well as of the weaknesses in Mr. Farrell's research methods, see my introduction to Sincerus Renatus' well researched article, On the True Nature of the Secret Chiefs, that you can read here.

As outlined above and demonstrated in detail here, there are serious problems with the historical reliability of certain of Nick Farrell's biographies in his Introduction to Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Roles. Nonetheless, Nick Farrell still deserves much praise for the initiative he took to make this book a reality. As regular readers of the Golden Dawn Blog already know, the Alpha Omega has led the way for years in launching one initiative after the other to foster ever greater harmony in the Golden Dawn community.

For example, we invited every Adept from every G.D. temple and order of the entire Golden Dawn community to the 2012 International Conclave of Golden Dawn Adepti (here). This year, the 2013 International Golden Dawn Festival (here) was additionally open even to members of the outer order of every temple and order of the entire G.D. community. To foster true harmony, we deliberately chose to exclude no one.

It is therefore wonderful to observe Nick Farrell follow in the Alpha Omega's footsteps and spearhead a community effort which resulted in Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls. It is even more precious to witness such fine contributions from so many varied members of our richly diverse Golden Dawn community. 

Authors who contributed to Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls each deserve much recognition and much praise. Commentaries is packed with fascinating information.

For example, there remains a persistent misunderstanding in the Golden Dawn community that Golden Dawn training should be free. This is not true, since anything of spiritual value is also of material value. Nick Farrell clears up this misunderstanding, by showing how things were done in the traditional Golden Dawn, when he writes:

"The cost of each flying roll was between 2/6 (half a crown) and 7/-. ... In a time where an average worker made £10 per year, and you could buy a reasonable sized house for £500, half a crown represented two thirds of an average workers monthly wage. Owning a full set of flying rolls would cost a Golden Dawn member about £5. If a group were to charge the same amount of money in today's terms, you would be expected to part with £1,400 [$2130] for a couple of sheets of paper...

Membership fees were half a crown [two thirds of an average worker's monthly wage] and then on top of that they had to pay for their papers, which seemed to be a similar price to the flying rolls."

- Nick Farrell

Thus, Nick puts the question of Money and the Golden Dawn to rest once and for all by making clear that in the original Golden Dawn, merely owning a complete set of flying rolls cost Golden Dawn members half a year's wage for an average worker. According to statistics published by the U.S. government, this would equate in 2012 to $21,347. On top of this came membership dues and initiation fees, and members were expected to pay for their grade documents as well.

In my opinion, it is the spirit of fraternal cooperation underlying the Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls project that matters most, and the resulting book is a worthy testament to the diversity that comprises today's Golden Dawn community.

The republishing of the Golden Dawn's flying roles in yet another edition, however, also underscores the major challenge the Golden Dawn community presently faces. The greatest problem before us today is that virtually all of the 1888 Golden Dawn material already been published.

The good news is that for several years the now physical Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn's Third Order have been transmitting vast quantities of supplemental Golden Dawn material that finally give our Golden Dawn community essential new teachings and spiritual practices for the first time in over a century. These materials reinvigorate the Golden Dawn from the lowest to the highest grades of the order.

For Fratres and Sorores longing for something more than the published 1888 Golden Dawn material, the supplemental teachings and spiritual practices recently transmitted by the Secret Chiefs to the Golden Dawn community through the Alpha Omega are already waiting for you! As always, the Alpha Omega remains willing to share these teachings and practices with all orders and temples and their members in our Golden Dawn community.

All you have to do is knock, and the door will open for you. Why not come in out of the cold?

Here are a some original highlights from various commentators contained in Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls:

Lisa Llewellyn, from the Universal Order of the Morning Star, writes regarding Flying Roll IV:

"What is most interesting about this working [contained in Flying Roll IV] is that it is a vision of the Divine Feminine, of the Goddess. This was occurring at a time when most esoteric societies, such as Freemasons and SRIA had all male membership and spoke only of God as "He and Him." Here we have a working revealed in the words of Soror SSDD and Soror F (et R) "The Great Mother Isis, the Isis of Nature.
This was at a time when ... society was really quite patriarchal."

- Lisa Llewellyn

Frater Yechida (Dean Wilson) of the Ancient and Honorable Order of the Golden Dawn, co-owner of Kerubim Press together with Nick Farrell writes regarding Flying Roll V:

"The key to this paper is that imagination, the construction of a virtual form within the mind, is real within the appropriate realm of its existence (the astral and higher planes). It may or may not have a physical presence, but that does not diminish its reality. To the dreamer the dream is real."

- Dean Wilson

Frater YShY of Thuban Temple writes regarding Flying Roll VI:

"[The] few lines [of Flying Roll VI] actually contain one of the most useful and potent formulas in all of the RR et AC, which is to invoke the highest first in every operation. The suggestion is simple, when working with the color red, it is a symbol of Will and hence Gevurah and Mars, and one should always invoke Kether first."

- Frater YShY

Regarding Flying Roll VII, Rachel Walker, of the Order of the Golden Dawn: Collegium Spiritu Sancti, writes:

"Mathers frequently said "Invoke and Invoke often." This does not merely refer to engaging in ritual invocation, but more importantly to invoking the Divine into every activity that we may become  part of the "living tradition" of magic where every enterprise is a magical act and an expression of the Divine."

- Rachel Walker

Regarding Flying Roll IX, Soror AID, Deanna Bonds writes:

"The tree of life is a geometric glyph that represents the structure of the Universe and everything within the universe as a fractal pattern of the whole. The tree of life can be viewed as creation itself, God, man, or anything in between."

- Deanna Bonds

Regarding Flying Roll X, Samuel Scarborough of the Ordo Stella Matutina writes:

"[Apotheosis is] to raise oneself closer to the Divine, or in the case of the Magnum Opus, to unite with our Divine Self, thus becoming more divine and closer to God."

- Samuel Scarborough

 Regarding Flying Roll XI, Jayne Gibson writes:

"The magical visionary arts can lead the magician to realms of intense beauty and knowledge. The methods of skrying, travelling and rising on the planes take time to master, but there are great rewards to be had after the work is done."

- Jayne Gibson

Regarding Flying Roll XII, James French of the "Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn" writes:

"Any practical occult work that is of any use should leave the operator feeling exhilarated. ... If one is drawing on cosmic energies, as should be the case if the Adept is diligent with her practice,  the result, again, ought to be ecstatic, not draining."

- James French

Regarding Flying Roll XIII, Joseph Max of the Thelema oriented, "Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn," writes:

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" ... is the most famous maxim of Thelema, and Crowley drew a clear distinction between "Will" and simple desire. The maxim does not mean simply "do what you wont," but rather to spend one's life discovering one's True Will, and following it."

- Joseph Max

Regarding Flying Roll XV, VH Soror QQDAM, member of the Magical Order of Aurora Aureae writes:

"The Golden Dawn is not a religion, nor does it purport to be. That is very clear. It is a fraternity, the common ground of which is the acceptance of the 'Hermetic ancient philosophy; as expressed in the Ritual, and Pictorial and Symbolic representations' which are given at the different stages of progress."

- VH Soror QQDAM

Regarding Flying Roll XVI, Ian Cowburn (Frater L), member of SRIS and the order of Brigita Beatica Britanniae, writes:

"As to the etymology of the word Rosicrucian, several derivations have been given. The more reasonable derivation is from rose and cross. This was undoubtedly in accordance with the notions of Andreae, who was the founder of the Order, and gave it its name, for in his writings he consistently calls it the Fraternitas Roseae Crucis, or the fraternity of the Rosy Cross."

- Ian Cowburn

Regarding Flying Roll XVII, Eric V. Sisco, member of the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis (SRICF) writes:

"In the summer of 1891, S. L. (MacGregor) Mathers, one of the founders of the Order of the Golden Dawn took a trip to Paris, and allegedly, by serendipity alone, happened to make contact with a group of Continental Adepts in the Bois de Boulogne....
...How the Cipher Manuscripts, for both the Outer and Inner Orders, managed to find their way into the hands of Wescott and Mathers respectively, remains a topic of much controversy."

- Eric V. Sisco

Regarding Flying Roll XX, Aaron Leitch writes:

"The Microcosm--Man is one the most important documents given to students of the original Golden Dawn ... It was intended as an Inner Order essay concerning the practical application of Qabalistic Psychology within the Order's system of spiritual rectification ... it is a veritable guide to the Great Work of the Adept."

- Aaron Leitch

Regarding Flying Roll XXI, VH Frater Philomancer of Thuban Temple writes:

"Advancing through the Outer Order is no small task. Every grade is a milestone, each initiation a rite of passage, until at length the initiate has conquered all obstacles through perseverance."

- VH Frater Philomancer

Regarding Flying Roll XXII, VH Frater Iaodaf Oias Vooan writes:

"We can choose to remain in blissful ignorance, or we can pursue the path of the magician. It can be our will to attach ourselves to the material plane and base our existence upon the attainment of material wealth and nothing more. Alternatively, we can study occult science, practice a system of high magic and eventually surrender our wills to the grand design."

- VH Frater Iaodaf Oias Vooan 

Regarding Flying Roll XXIII, Christopher Bradford, Frater AIT, former Alpha Omega member who left the Golden Dawn to practice Palo Mayombe following the tragic death of his son, writes:

"The inner worlds are limitless--and without structure, a vision is meaningless. Mental masturbation, instead of useful travel. Inspiration is like a bolt of lightning, and structure is the conductor enabling the transfer of its power to the magician."

- Christopher Bradford

Regarding Flying Roll XXIV, Lauren Gardner of the Ordo Stella Matutina writes:

"For those comfortable and familiar with the horary method of astrological divination, perhaps the only benefit to be gained from studying the original Flying Roll is the opportunity to note certain minutia of the technique used by members of the Order while interpreting horary charts."

- Lauren Gardner 

Regarding Flying Roll XXVI, Frater AM Olen Rush writes:

"We learn quite a few things regarding the Planets, Tattvas, and Elements through Flying Roll XXVI. One of the most significant and revealing of which is the relationship to certain Compound Elements."

- Olen Rush

Regarding Flying Roll XXVII, Frater Goya of the Circulo Iniciatico de Hermes writes:

"Although ritualistic and showy, the Golden Dawn was able, thanks to the brilliant mind of its creators, especially McGregor Mathers, to remove many of the magical techniques that were almost standard in Europe that period. The Golden Dawn was the first group imminently magical, who dismissed in its rituals any type of sacrifices involving blood."

- Frater Goya

Regarding Flying Roll XXVII, Sam Webster of the of the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn writes:

"Theurgy is the core of what we do. Invocation, the assumption of God-forms, oracular possession, and working with spirits are all used in theurgy to spiritually advance the practitioner and make us 'consorts of the Gods'. Handed down through history, from Iamblichus who explained it, to Agrippa who fused it with Christianity and Kabbalah, to the Golden Dawn where it was developed into a school, this ancient stream of spiritual practice underpins all we do today."

- Sam Webster

Regarding Flying Roll XXVIII, Morgan Drake Eckstein of Bast Temple writes:

"It is not the magician who must be perfect and not concerned with the world; it is the mythical being that the Order is meant to produce, a person who is more than human, who is perfect and above worldly concerns and connections."

- Morgan Drake Eckstein

Regarding Flying Roll XXXVI, VH Frater Amoun Ra of Thuban Temple writes:

"To visualize is to project an idea in anthropolomorphic and symbolic terms to have better clarity when studying anything from Yoga to Ceremonial Magick. ... The more one spends their time developing these techniques, the more one opens their mind to receiving information from the Akashic Record."

- VH Frater Amoun Ra

Remember though, for Fratres and Sorores longing for something more than the published 1888 Golden Dawn material, the supplemental teachings and spiritual practices recently transmitted by the Secret Chiefs to the Golden Dawn community through the Alpha Omega are already waiting for you! As always, the Alpha Omega remains willing to share these teachings and practices with all orders and temples and their members in our Golden Dawn community.

There is no need to leave your present temple. All you have to do is knock, and the door will open for you. Why not come in out of the cold?

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

Alpha Omega

We make Magicians!

Don't miss:

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Peace, not An Eye for an Eye (Reply to Morgan Eckstein)

by David Griffin

assuming the God Form of...
Mahatma Gandhi

"An eye for an eye...
...makes the whole world blind."
- Mahatma Ghandi

Morgan Eckstein wrote:

"I apologize upfront for anything that you decide is offensive in my latest blog post." 

What can I say to this except:

"Apology accepted for all hurt and animosity...

... real or imagined...

...both past and present!"

Let us begin by understanding that we are not "enemies." Instead, you and I are merely people with a different vision of the future (different personal philosophies). If you were to accept our vision today, or if I would accept your vision, we would be friends tomorrow.

I deeply appreciate your words of apology written above. The cultivation of understanding and peace, however, requires not only words, but also actions. For years now, I have not only read your words, but I have also observed your actions.

In the process, even though we disagree about many things, I have nonetheless come to respect and admire you as a principled individual with a coherent personal philosophy. My only criticism is you allow yourself to be moved by passion at times to act in a way inconsistent with your own high standards - For example, your recent promotion of anonymous hate blogs by linking to them from your blog, and publishing comments on the hate blogs themselves.

But you do not need me to tell you this. You already know your philosophy and high standards far better than I do, as well as when you are not always able to fully live up to them. Let us therefore put negativity behind us and endeavor together to move forward to more fully embrace peace and love.

Morgan wrote:

 "I believe that it is better to admit that I am struggling with making peace with the HOGD/AO than to just disappear and never write about Golden Dawn again."

I appreciate your struggle with peace and commend you for your emotional honesty. Letting go of old hurt and animosity is always a challenge.

Let's face reality though.

Even though the internet is a wonderful tool, it is also very impersonal. How can one ever be sure about others, especially about an entire order full of others, that one has never yet even met in person?

If ever there is to be true and lasting peace in our community, it must be rooted in personal experience. I invite you therefore yet again to come and share food, magic, and good times with us at Golden Dawn Pow Wow. 

Why not wait to make up your mind about us until you have met us, looked us in the eye, sat down with us, and yes, even shared with us?

These are things that true and lasting peace is made of.

Golden Dawn Pow Wow 2013

Peace and Love NOW!

"Honest disagreement...
is often a good sign of progress"

-Mahatma Gandhi

Golden Dawn Imperator David Griffin

Book Reviews and Flame War Propaganda

by GH Frater Sincerus Renatus

Morgan Drake Eckstein just published a "review" of 'Mathers’ Last Secret' yesterday. After his usual barrage of snide remarks against the HOGD/AO (the “trademarked AO”), he wrote the following:

Morgan Drake Eckstein

"One of the big conversations about this book, and the Neophyte ritual that Mathers created for his Golden Dawn offshoot, has been about the shortcuts that Mathers says are permissible "[if] time be of some importance." Most of the Opening becomes optional, large parts of the lecture for the Grade, and even the "Admission ceremony" is optional. Basically, the only thing you cannot skip is the Oath of Obligation."

"In other words, instead of not admitting an Neophyte until a full initiation ritual with a full Opening can be performed, a person could become a Neophtye [sic.] by just paying their dues and committing to keep the AO secret and remaining loyal to Mathers. This reminds me of some of the fringe Freemasonry rituals that I have seen, where a person takes an oath and gets another honorary title to add to their collection."

Again he uses that popular anti A.O. term "optional" the describe Mathers’ motives. What is even more astonishing with Morgan's comment that "even the 'Admission ceremony' is optional" is that he is taking an even further stretch in his smearing of Mathers' reputation than does his friend Farrell! 

Good work Morgan! Everyone who has read Farrell's book knows you are twisting the truth beyond recognition. If this isn’t proof of history revisionism, what is?

I didn't think I would ever have to say this but, I ALMOST wish that people would read 'Mathers’ Last Secret' so that they may found their own opinions about the A.O. 0=0, and see that most of the Mathers / A.O. bashers’ opinions about it is mostly sensationalist fantasies.

For you that haven't read it, let me tell you what is actually possible to abridge in the Admission ceremony:

1. The passing of the Gates can be shortened to contain two or one circumambulations (which BTW is more in harmony with the Cypher Mss. than the original G.D. version)
2. 2. The "Explanations of the Symbols of the Grade" by the Hierophant, which may instead be delivered in a later opened Temple or as a lecture.
3. The "Address of the Hiereus" at the end, which also may be delivered later as in (2). 
4. The "Subjects of study" delivered by the Hierophant, which may instead be delivered later as in (2).
5. And "perhaps the effect of the fluid" at the end.

This leaves the majority of the Admission, including all of the purifications, obligation, passing of the gates, the restoration to Light, conference of signs, etc., i.e. the most fundamental magical points of the reception. What is left out is the lighter magical pars / intellectual information. 

This spreading of disinformation about a competing branch of the G.D. (i.e. a non-Stella Matutina lineage) is beyond comprehension, especially when spread by professed "initiates" and "scholars" of the Golden Dawn.

This speaks volumes about Mathers’ detractors, rather than about him.

It is highly interesting to see how the trolls behave when a truly independent book review comes along, like the review of Farrell's "King Over the Water, written by Wiccan elder and highly respected Pagan author, Frater Barrabbas, that you can read here:

Responding to this thoughtful and thorough review, Pat Zalewski wrote:

"It was interesting to read a review of King over the Water, which has recently popped up. The author cited Sword of Wisdom as a good Mathers biography and essentially admonished Nick for his analysis of Mathers. Now most of us know that Sword of Wisdom was an informative book, but was essentially a whitewash of Mathers and depicted him as a hero throughout. Now Nick does not need me to defend his work as he is quite capable of doing it himself. What I am commenting on here is how people (like the reviewer) have an idealized mental construct of Mathers and don't want that view shattered with some facts getting in the way, as did the author of Sword of Wisdom. The review was a defence of the mental image of Mathers and what he should have been like, not like he was. He apparently cannot differentiate the work Mathers did from the character. Howe lays it out table as to what Mathers was. Though Howe's work is dated, the new material on Mathers that has come to light since Howe, is more peripheral than core.
The reviewer was clearly out of his depth, going by some of the contrasts given. What Nick did in his book was to try and get rid of the fantasized Mathers and let the real one stand up. Now not everyone will agree with all of Nick's comments, but at least he tried to separate fact from fantasy which is a lot more than the reviewer did.
While I admire what Mathers did as far as the GD goes, because I follow his teachings, I do not enshrine them. I also do not confuse the teachings with the personality who brought them through. This is what the reviewer has done by not accepting what a flawed individual Mathers was, and how his teachings deteriorated in the AO when things were pruned out of the old GD rituals, like making the circumambulation optional."

This is the usual rethoric used by Zalewski, that any and all scholarlay critique of Zalewski's and Farrell's Mathers bashing is "putting Mathers on a pedistal". It is nothing of the kind. We fully know and acknowledge our founding fathers faults, and that he eventually fell out of grace of his Secret Chiefs, but that doesn't mean that we are trying our very best to drag his reputation into the mud, as Zalewski and Farrell is doing. That is what all true initiates react against, not paying a past Chief and Adept and Initiate due respect, regardless of his faults. They seem to have forgot the 3=8 lecture on the "General Guidance and Purification of the Soul", which says:

"Be not hasty to condemn other’s sin. How knowest thou that in their place thou couldst have resisted the temptation? And even were it so, why shouldst thou despise one who is weaker than thyself? Be thou well sure of this, that in slander and self-righteousness is sin."

One such example is twisting the fact and hold it against Mathers, such as "how his teachings deteriorated in the AO when things were pruned out of the old GD rituals, like making the circumambulation optional."

What Mathers says in the A.O. 0=0 is that during meetings where time is constricted, the circumambulation (and some other stuff) may be passed over in the Opening and during the initiation reduced to two or one round. To say that it is "pruned out" or “optional” is a streach, at least in my eyes. Mathers says “If time be of importance, some Abridgement of Ritual is permissible”. This doesn't imply a usual conduct but a species of exception from the normal protocol. What Zalewski and Farrell aren't aware of, or wilfully is witholding, is that the minutes of the Ahatoor Temple have a standardized phrase which reads "Opened in full", something that is said in the majority of the entries.

S:.R:.

Reply To Internet Attacks on our Order

by guest blogger

VH Frater OO (5=6)

Rosicrucian Order of AO

Readers of the Golden Dawn Blog are aware that Nick Farrell has been caught attacking the Golden Dawn community with exactly the same arguments extreme Fundamentalist Christians  try to discredit and destroy the Golden Dawn with. You can see the Fundie attack website here. I quote from GH Frater LES recent blog.

"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!"

Unsurprisingly, Nick Farrell has so far not oferred any word of explanation for this shocking behavior. Instead (surprise, surprise) his buddies from the GD reconstructionist camp have jumped in with both feet flaming the members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega and our leaders on their blogs.

There is a misperception being created by the GD reconstructionist faction that this is a flame war.

There is no flame war.

There is only more of the same twisted game the Golden Dawn reconsturcitonist faction has been playing for 20+ years now. They play tag team in attacking the HOGD/AO and defaming our leaders, then when anyone in our order speaks out to defend our reputation against their constant bullying, they then accuse us of flaming THEM, etc. Here is what VH Frater AA wrote about this last week:

1) Farrell, Zalekwsi, Peregrin and their other reconstructionist, pseudo-academic buddies attack AO at every opportunity – publishing our rituals, promoting vile rumours, using information hacked from our private spaces, writing snide accusations in books behind a cover of not explicitly naming us, using spies… the list goes on…

2) When AO defends itself against this aggression – the same attackers then turn on us and accuse us of promoting flame wars, poisoning the GD Egregore, pretending there are attacks to unite our order, that our leaders are only paranoid, etc.

Let me be quite clear about this. The HOGD/AO is not flaming anyone and there is not a flame war going on. There is only an array of blogs belonging to Golden Dawn reconstuctionists spewing hatred all over the internet about our order and its leaders. This is not a flame war. It is a unilateral vomiting of hatred by Golden Dawn reconstructionists trying to discredit and destroy the HOGD/AO, its leaders, and all of our members.

Our order is showing great restraint. We are not flaming our attackers back at all. We are only defending the reputation of our order by exposing what our attackers are actually doing. We are not allowing them to falsely portray us as aggressors either.

It seems that this week the reconstructionsist Golden Dawn faction have all gone on a flame fest, publishing any nonsense they believe might hurt the members of the HOGD/AO

Deanna Bonds, for example, just published a string of blatent lies and misrepresentations that would take all day long to refute. Here are just a couple of hatred dripping gems from our sister:

"Throughout this whole time Griffin has tried to get the GD name solely to himself. "

Actually the opposite is true. It was the HOGD/AO that was sued in the US by another Golden Dawn style order that attempted to deprive our order of the right to call itself Golden Dawn. They failed.

The rest of Sister Bonds statements about our order and its leaders are equally false, misleading, and misrepresentative. They can all be summed up in the simple statement that she hates our GH Imperator. This is fine, but does she really need to drip hatred all across the internet about it?

The title of her article, for example, is:

"Has David 'flimflam' Griffin Gone Nuts?"

Now with GD reconsturctionist blogs across the internet bursting into flames attacking our order, its members, and its leaders like this, Morgan Drake Eckstein nonetheless has the nerve to write:

"So I do not believe that Griffin has gone insane... One of the quickest ways to bond a group together is to give them a common enemy... The only answer I have is the common enemy bond. These freshly minted Adept Minors have been given a common enemy to fight against. It is a minor form of brain washing. "

And then says that, with this the HOGD/AO is earning points on the cult scale."

First of all, we have Morgan Eckstein joining in the Nick Farrell chorus calling the Golden Dawn a cult. Wonderful. Who needs Fundamentalist Christians to attack the Golden Dawn when our own leaders in the Golden Dawn community are doing their dirty work for them!

What is more interesting though is Morgan's aburd suggestion. In truth, the entire membership of our order is fed-up with Morgan Eckstein, Peregrin Wildoak, Nick Farrell, Pat Zalewksi and the other GD reconstructionists playing tag team attacking our order, its leaders, our lineages, our teachings, our Secret Chiefs, etc. on their blogs and fora for 20+ years now.

Enough is enough already.

And now, to add insult to injury, the same GD reconstructionists even have the unmitigated nerve to claim that our order is not under attack at all, despite all of the poisonous, hate filled words dripping like puss from their blogs and fora.

No, if you believe Morgan Eckstein, all of our members are only imagining that their blogs and fora are dripping hate filled puss and Deanna Bonds blog is just filled with loving words about our order and its leaders!

Just as sick, Morgan and his pals are also claiming that our leaders are just paranoid and are imagining attacks where none exist, and now Morgan is even arguing that the whole thing is just a manipulation from our own leaders to unite our order against an outside enemy.

Hey, Morgan. Just how stupid do you think the esoteric community really is? Do you think your own initiates at Bast temple and BIORC are that stupid as well?

In truth, you and your GD reconstructionist buddies have been flooding the internet with crap about our order and its leaders for 20+ years now.

And at the same time you claim we are imagining things or making up all of the hate filled trash flooding the net from your blogs and fora.

Give us all a break, will you, and quit trying to insult the intelligence of the entire esoteric community.

Enough is enough, already. 

Just cut the crap and quit attacking the members of our order and our leaders.

Stop it now. 

And also quit trying to paint our order as agressor, merely so you can justify your hatred and your envy.

All of the hatred in the world is not going to change the fact that it is the AO the Secret Chiefs chose to transmit the higher mysteries. So just deal with it and quit making spectacles of yourselves.

Your game is completely transparent and it will not work any more.

Stop it. 

Stop it NOW.

SO SAY WE ALL!

Last Word to Morgan on Flamewar

Is Morgan Serious About Improving Communication in the GD Community?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is my rebuttal:

Care Frater Nick, 

Have you still not grown tired repeating the silly talking points over and over like a broken record like your worn out meme of "Griffin vs. the rest of the universe"?

Has the time not long passed for such cheap rhetorical tactics better suited to the world of propaganda and merely derail real fraternal discourse and scholarly debate?

I for one certainly have better things to do than to go on refuting talking points you and Pat spout over and over "ad nauseum" for yet another decade!

The reality, whether we like it or not, is that traditionalist Golden Dawn orders like the HOGD/AO and the August Order of the Mystic Rose (just to mention two visible examples) will likely never agree on everything with reconstructionist Golden Dawn orders like your MOAA and Pat Zaewlski's OGD.

This, however, is no justification to continue the sort internet sniping contained in your above comment and that has plagued our commmunity for nearly two decades now. 

I invite you to abandon merely repeating propaganda "talking points" over and to instead engage in sincere fraternal dialogue and debate instead.

The Golden Dawn community has suffered more than enough already due to cheap rhetorical tactics like these. 

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

Enough is enough already. 

Fraternally,

David Griffin

An Open Letter to Morgan Drake Eckstein

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

Care Frater Morgan,

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

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

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

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

Next you wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

And guess what?

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

And guess what else?

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

Enough is enough already.

Sincerely,
David Griffin

Golden Dawn Blog Fleet

Readers of Golden Dawn blogs will have noticed  over the past week that the Golden Dawn blog fleet has been rapidly expanding. First, we observed Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise D engaging Borg reconstructionists over on the Gyllene Gryningen blog.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701D

For a while, it even looked like GH Frater SR may have been assimilated! by the collective.

Traditional GD or Reconstructionist Collective?

Shortly thereafter, Captain "AIT" Sisko, from the Heaven's Within Earth blog brought the Defiant to Kirk's aid, foiling Grand Nagus Zink's latest scheme.

USS Defiant NX -74205

It seems that Star Trek subtext is rapidly spreading throughout the Golden Dawn blogosphere. Yesterday, on Morgan Drake Eckstein's Gleamings From the Golden Dawn blog, I was called to account by Dirk, one of Morgan's readers, for mistakenly suggesting that the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701A) was a Galaxy class starship.

Here was my reply to Dirk:

"My favorite starship, despite its lack of shields, inferior weaponry, and top speed of only Warp 5.2, will always be the Enterprise NX-01, commanded by Johnathon Archer. 

I even like the armor hull plating. But then again, I am also a big fan of classic cars. The NX-01 reminds me of another personal favorite, the 57 Chevy Bel Air. 

Here is what I mean:"

 

This in turn led me to notice Morgan Drake Eckstein bears an uncanny resemblance to Jonathan Archer, the first Captain of the very first Enterprise. 

Here, see for yourself:

From where I sit, it looks like Enterprise NX-01 just came out of mothballs, and the GD Blog Fleet just got another new Captain. After all, why should there not be Blog Fleet Captains who are not members of the HOGD/AO?

USS Enterprise NX-01

Come to think of it, I think we might still have one more Blog Fleet Captain somewhere out there in Cyberspace ...

USS Voyager NC-74656

So there you have it! The Golden Dawn blog fleet as it stands in the Blogosphere today:

Golden Dawn Blog Fleet Command

So Captain Morgan ...
When can I take the NX-01 out for a spin?