Ritual Magic 101: Middle Pillar, LVX Energy, and Magical Training Without a Nearby Golden Dawn Temple

by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

In reply to to my earlier article, "Questions About Ritual Magick 1: "Where Should I Begin?" (HERE),  Dr. Jeeves wrote:

"Thanks to John Miller and Imperator Griffin for this post. It raises a couple of questions which have been on my mind as well. 

I am in some ways like Mr. Miller: I have read a good deal of material over the years but only in the last few months have I been practicing ritual magic daily and in earnest, including the two rituals Imperator Griffin mentions. Over the last four or five months, I have been reading this blog, perusing the website as a whole, and in some cases downloading some of the material in the library section and reading it, because I also hope at some point also to apply for initiation into the HOGD/Alpha et Omega. But one thing I have not been clear on after reading through the website is: does the actual training only go on at a temple or is it just the initiation which must go on there? Since I live five hours away from the closest temple and have a family, I don't think I could train at that distance. This blog and other material I have read have convinced me that actual, physical initiation is essential; so that is not in question for me. But is the training only at the physical location? I noticed that some things are given on-line, but I can't tell if the entire training can go on on-line or not.  - Dr. Jeeves

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega is dedicated to making Magicians, no matter where in the world they live. We offer exclusively traditional Golden Dawn initiation inside of physical, fully licensed and chartered Golden Dawn temples, so this does mean that Alpha Omega members will one day need to travel to one of our temples for initiation. 

With the exception of physical initiation, everything else can be successfully completed at a distance. We encourage those who can afford to do so, to take their initiations as soon as they complete the requirements for each grade, but not everyone has the financial resources to do this easily. We therefore also permit aspiring Magicians to complete several of our curriculum sections at a time, so that they may take several initiations in one trip to one of our temples.

The Alpha Omega is committed to provide quality training for Magicians at a distance. To that end, we opened our Members' website in 1999, where you find our entire curriculum, on line examinations, tutorials fora, on-line classroom, etc.

In our continuing quest for excellence, we are once again in the process of a major restructuring. Right now, for example, I am working on our on-line class schedule for AO members for the coming year. We have some interesting new course offerings coming up, including a lecture on Critical Thinking for Magicians.

Most importantly, we are completely revamping our curriculum with the assistance of a University professor who has been developing courses for universities for 20 years. This is important, since the Golden Dawn material is daunting and most students need a step-by-step coursework to successfully navigate and master the material. As a part of this process, we are significantly changing our teaching methods to more closely resemble those of modern, on-line universities.

Dr. Jeeves continues:

A rudimentary question from a new practitioner: once I began doing the Middle Pillar Ritual, I noticed that my body began to -- quite naturally -- make rhythmic motions while doing it; perhaps a little like "dancing in place". At first I was surprised, since I was concentrating on the ritual itself and I did not expect any spontaneous movement of my body. But I have also not resisted it, since it seemed to flow quite naturally from the ritual. Your comment that the MPR "begins to charge your energetic body" has led me to think that my experiences of this are not so odd as I at first thought. While I understand the energetic and physical bodies are not identical, it still makes sense to me that the energetic charge might appear as rhythmic movement in the physical body... Am I understanding that correctly?" - Dr. Jeeves

What you are describing closely resembles what in the Tantric tradition are called "Krias." In Tantra, these spontaneous movements are frequently accompanied by small eruptions of energy along the spine. Since "Kundalini" in Tantra, "Chi" in Taoism, and "LVX" in Western Magick are merely different cultural and symbolical concepts to describe the same physical/spiritual energy, it is not at all surprising to hear about what you are experiencing while performing the Rite of the Middle Pillar.

One of the greatest challenges, the Alpha Omega faces in making Magicians at a distance is teaching aspiring Magicians how to initiate the flow of LVX energy in their bodies. Unless a Magician learns to awaken, strengthen, and direct this flow of energy, one remains only at the level of playing at Magick. You can go through all of the motions with great precision, yet they will remain empty forms and devoid of any real Magical power, unless the LVX energy is activated and flowing according to will inside of the physical body of the Magician.

I am including a link below to where you can find our more about our training program. Please feel free to post any additional questions that you may have here!

Sincerely,

David Griffin

Imperator, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Chief Adept, Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega

(EU OHIM reg 000063925)

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®

Making Magicians - Since 1888

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

Ritual Magic 101: "Where Should I Begin?"

by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

I recently received the below letter from John Miller in the comments section of the Golden Dawn Blog. It is so important I decided to answer it here instead. If anyone else would like Ritual Magic advice, I would be happy to answer your questions here too.

Mr. Griffin,

Please excuse me if the salutation is in poor taste, but I must admit I am not well learned in the "great work". I have spent much time reading books like your Ritual Magic Manual, several books by Israel Regardie, Aliester Crowley, A.E. White, Pat Zalewski and so on and so forth... but I just dont get it... the information is... well.... overwhelming... I dont know where to begin. I fear trying any of the rituals, for my sanity as well as my well being.. I want nothing more then to go to a Temple and receive initiation and education properly. However before I make arrangements to go there (No close temples) I would like to be able to be a little educated on how to begin my studies. I know your goal is to help make magicians, and that is what I truly aspire to be, I dont want to be some armchair theorist. Please any information would greatly help, I feel buried maybe you could help me with just where to begin.

Thank you!

Dear John,

Thanks for taking the time to write. Hearing your story warms my heart and makes all of my effort to teach the benefits of Ritual Magick feel worth it. 

I hear your concern, but I really don't think you need to worry about your sanity because of magical practice. 

If you choose a solitary path, I would suggest you work through the Basic Rituals section in the Ritual Magic Manual.

In any case, I would suggest you begin by practicing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and the Rite of the Middle Pillar on a daily basis. The former begins to purify you energetically and the latter begins to charge your energetic body.

Your desire for formal initiation and working within an order structure are admirable. After all, why try to reinvent the wheel? 

There are many fine Golden Dawn orders out there for you to choose from. Each one has a slightly different focus. Since you express a desire to learn Ritual Magick, it sounds like the Alpha Omega may be a good fit for you.

In our order, you will find a step-by-step curriculum that you can follow at home while you prepare to travel for formal initiation in one of our fully chartered and licensed, physical Golden Dawn temples.

I hear you that the vast amount of material out there about the Golden Dawn can be a bit intimidating. We are doing our best to meet the needs of people like you.

Together with a university professor with many years of experience in the field, we are working hard to continuously improve our curriculum and make it even more user friendly so that people do not feel so overwhelmed by the material.

I am including a link below to where you can find our more about our training program. Please feel free to post any additional questions that you may have here!

Sincerely,

David Griffin

Imperator, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Chief Adept, Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega

(EU OHIM reg 000063925)

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®

Making Magicians - Since 1888

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

Enochian, the Sublime Language of Angels

by David Griffin

Adapted from

The Ritual Magic Manual

Appendix I, Copyright 1999

Golden Dawn Imperator
David Griffin

"Enochian Magic, especially the Angelic Calls, is one of the most controversial aspects of Golden Dawn Magic ...

Israel Regardie warned "It is a very powerful system, and if used carelessly or indiscriminately will bring about disaster and spiritual disintegration."(1)

Paul Foster Case considered the Enochian system hopelessly tainted, and removed Enochian Magic entirely from the Golden Dawn material Case integrated into his B.O.T.A.

Donald Tyson even went so far as to suggested that Enochian Magic was revealed to John Dee as a means of setting in motion the destructive forces of the apocalypse, as described in the book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Bible.(2)

While there does exist a certain parallel between the English translation of a few of the Enochian Calls and the apocalyptic imagery of the book of Revelation, such imagery, in my opinion, should be considered as symbolical of spiritual realities rather than descriptive of physical events. 

In any case, much of the fear surrounding Enochian Magic has been greatly exaggerated.

I have been personally working with the Enochian system, including the Enochian Calls, for many years with great success - and without fulfilling any of the predictions of gloom and doom. 

In Golden Dawn Ritual Magic, the Enochian Calls serve primarily as Energy amplifiers ...

... and when properly used, add great power to Rituals of Ceremonial Magic. Nonetheless, the decision whether or not to employ the Enochian Calls with the Golden Dawn Magic contained in the Ritual Magic Manual must be left to the discretion and responsibility of the individual Magician.

A primary difficulty in working effectively with the Enochian Magic of the Golden Dawn lies in finding a correct or satisfactory means of pronunciation. Names derived from the Enochian Tablets are particularly problematic, since consonants therein are frequently so clumped together that Names are nearly impossible to pronounce.

W. Wynn Wescott

New pronunciation rules were laid out by W. Wynn Wescott and S. L. MacGregor Mathers for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to solve this problem. Wescott, for example, suggested that each letter should be pronounced separately. Using this method the consonant clump "pfmng" would be pronounced "pee-ef-em-en-gee." 

Mathers proposed instead that the first vowel in the name of the phonetically equivalent Hebrew letter should be employed. For example, the Hebrew name for phonetical equivalent of the letter "l" is "Lamed." According to the Mathers rules, therefore, the vowel "a" be used to make words pronounceable whenever the letter "l" appears in consonant clumps.

MacGregor Mathers

These methods are rather useful when working with Angel Names drawn from the Golden Dawn's Enochian Tablets. Unfortunately, however, the Mathers and Wescott rules have applied far too dogmatically by Golden Dawn magicians, due to the influence of the writings of Israel Regardie and modern Golden Dawn authors who have blindly copied Regardie.

This holds especially true for the Enochian Calls, where dogmatic application of the Wescott/Mathers rules result in endless strings of extraneous syllables that completely butcher the sublime and sonorous beauty of the original  Angelical language.

"Certain Golden Dawn authors today still dogmatically mimic Israel Regardie's transliteration of the word "Ozongon" from an Enochian Call as "Oh-zoad-oh-noo-goh-noo" ...

This example typifies bizarre results of unreflective application of the Mathers/Wescott pronunciation rules. The sublime beauty of the Enochian language vanishes in an ocean of gibberish-like syllables. The Mathers/Wescott rules do nonetheless remain useful in pronouncing Enochian names with consonant clumps derived from Golden Dawn Enochian Tablets.

Despite popular misconception, the Enochian language is certainly not merely strings of arbitrarily constructed syllables to recite like barbarous names of evocation. On the contrary, Enochian is a language, and a sublime, beautiful, and powerful one at that! 

As a professional linguist (fluent in eight languages), this is obvious to me. I am baffled why others did not develop this before me. (I am however, not surprised that others have followed my lead with Enochian pronunciation, such as Aaron Leitch, chose not to acknowledge or credit my research).

Back in the early 1990's, when I was finishing Enochian research for the Ritual Magic Manual, I made some fascinating discoveries though a careful examination of microfilm copies I obtained of the original Dee manuscripts from the British Museum.

The scarce availablity of the original Dee documents has changed a lot since the '90s. The internet  and modern scanning technology has changed everything. Today, you can find many original Dee documents on the internet, for example here. I therefore suggest you verify my discoveries by examining the original documents for yourself!

I discovered, for example, numerous clues to correct Enochian pronunciation in certain of these original manuscripts(3), which were written in the handwriting of John Dee. The manuscripts clearly indicate that the dogmatic application of rules like Mathers/Wescott to the Enochian Calls was never intended by John Dee nor even by the Angels that dictated calls. The Angelical Calls, properly pronounced, are sonorous in the extreme, reflecting the vibrant beauty of the language of Angels!

The Enochian Calls contained in the Appendix of the Ritual Magic Manual, I retransliterated from Sloane Manuscript 3191. In preparing this new transliteration, I made every effort to to restore the pronunciation to that most likely originally intended by John Dee and the Angels. The student who prefers to use the Wescott-Mathers method will find the Calls elsewhere so transliterated by Israel Regardie(4) and repeated over and over in a host of modern rehash books.

The fresh transliteration of Sloane MS 3191 contained in The Ritual Magic Manual presented numerous difficulties and raised interesting questions. To begin with, the word spacing in the handwritten version of the Angelic Calls is so bad in certain places that is nearly impossible to distinguish where one Enochian word ends and the next one begins. Furthermore, the fashion that the English translations are arranged above the Enochian text in the original manuscript is of little use in overcoming this problem. Every effort has therefore been made to reproduce, as closely as possible, the original word spacing of the Enochian in the transliteration given below.

The most fascinating question regarding pronunciation raised by an examination of Dee's handwritten version of the Angelic Calls in Sloane MS 3191, involves Dee's copious use of diacritical marks. This mystery appears to have been completely overlooked or ignored by magical scholarship prior to the Ritual Magic Manual in 1999. The primary diacritical marks used by Dee are ´, ^, and ¨, and they are used over vowels in ninety-five per cent of all instances. Although other authors have repeated my discoveries without crediting my research, as is common in the Golden Dawn, I am nonetheless pleased that these ideas have now so thoroughly penetrated the mainstream of magical thought.

Diacritical Marks in Sloane Ms. 3191,

John Dee's original handwritten Angelical Calls

In my 1999 transliteration of John Dee's Enochian Calls for the Ritual Magic Manual, I included John Dee's diacritical markings as faithfully as possible. In each instance where an Enochian word is given, the exact spelling used by Dee in Sloane Ms. 3191, including his diacritical marks, has been reproduced side by side with its new transliteration shown in bold type. Unfortunately, certain substitutions for the diacritical marks used by Dee were obliged by available fonts and editorial considerations. The mark ^ as in "up" has been substituted for the mark actually used by Dee, which most closely resembles the upward pointing curve used in modern English to indicate a short vowel sound.

An examination of Sloane MS 3191 together with various Professors of modern and classical European languages, unfortunately was not able to conclusively ascertain the precise meaning of John Dee's diacritical markings. It was conclusively determined, however, that their usage does not match neither that of Latin, Greek, nor any Germanic, Latin, nor Slavic derivative language - neither as they are employed today nor as they were used during life of John Dee.

It is therefore likely that they represent a phonetical code devised by Dee for his personal use. Based on the opinions of numerous linguists, I consider these diacritical markings likely to be a guide to vowel pronunciation and syllable stress. This is the methodology I incorporated into the Ritual Magic Manual.

The transliteration symbols that I used throughout the Ritual Magic Manual, including my fresh transliteration of the Enochian Calls, is found at the beginning of Chapter 1, Basic Rituals, which you can download free here.

It takes no more than five minutes to master the pronunciation key. You will find the pronunciation key useful not only for the pronunciation originally intended by John Dee and the Enochian Angels for the 48 Calls, but also of the corrected Hebrew pronunciations, verified in pre-Golden Dawn sources, then coded with correct pronunciations with the assistance of a rabbi well versed in ancient and contemporary Hebrew, as well as Kabbalah. The same holds true for the Golden Dawn's Egyptian hierarchies, which were verified by a Professor of Egyptology.

You may download a free copy of my 1999 transliteration of John Dee's Enochian Calls here.

1. The Golden Dawn (The original Account of the Teachings, Rites, and Ceremonies of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) [1937], revealed by Israel Regardie, 6th ed. (St. Paul: Llewellyn, 1989), p. 626.

2. Donald Tyson, "The Enochian Apocalypse," Gnosis, No. 40 (Summer 1996), pp. 56-62.

3. Sloane MS 3191 [1585?], Dr. John Dee (London: The British Library).

4. Israel Regardie, The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic (Santa Monica: Falcon Press, 1987), Vol. 10, pp. 56-74.

(EU OHIM reg 000063925)

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn®

Making Magicians - Since 1888

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

Demons, Magical Hierarchies, and the Golden Dawn

by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

Serious students of Golden Dawn magick are well aware what a monolithic tome the Ritual Magic Manual [1999: Golden Dawn Publishing] is. What is less known are the years of research that went into its preparation. For example, I left no stone unturned in attempting to find earlier sources for and to verify and correct, where necessary, the hierarchies used in Golden Dawn Magick

Readers of the Golden Dawn blog have seen some of the fruit of this research, for example, in articles I published here, here, and here. Understanding the need for additional research, I have never been shy to point out areas where additional research might prove particularly fruitful. 

For example in the footnote on page 610, I wrote:

"The Sephirothic Qlippoth may be found in The Kabalah Unveiled (from the Latin 'Kabalah Denudata), trans. S.L. MacGregor Mathers [1887] ... Further research regarding earlier sources of this Hierarchy remains indicated."

- David Griffin

I am therefore quite pleased this week as I noticed that Frater A.M. (Olen Rush) just wrote:

"The Mathers lecture (or whoever transcribed it) on Qliphoth is a direct cut and paste of the Rosenroth description of his figura XVI in Kabala Denudata. This information is gathered from diverse sources within the same tradition. We have RaMBaM, RaMBaN, RaMaK, the Tikkunim, Emek HaMelekh, Zohar, Beth Elohim, Gate of Heaven, and Garden of Pomegranates for sources. They are listed in some detail preceding the text."

- Olen Rush

I am glad Frater Rush is following my lead by conducting additional research in this important area, and is going more in depth regarding the Arimaic and Hebrew origins of the Qabalistic hierarchies of Golden Dawn Magick. Such research is long overdue.

I have no doubt Frater Rush will prove more than equal to the task.

SPECIAL: Ritual Magic Manual, from $49 (1999 Price) on Ebay (New, Signed)

Note: Due to Bizarre Ebay rules, the RMM needed to be relisted

This morning on the International Golden Dawn Forum on Yahoo, "cydoc1986" wrote:

"I was curious if David Griffin had any intentions of providing a second print of his RMM for purchase."

J Zulikowski replied:

"I second this notion. Why was the RMM not kept in publication for such a popular text? Since the material seems to be undergoing even more correction, can we expect a 2nd edition sometime in the near future?"

Actually, in 2005 I pulled the Ritual Magic Manual out of print. The reason for this is that the need for the Ritual Magic Manual was replaced by the on-line curriculum of our undergraduate level, First Order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

It had become apparent that Self-Initiates and Solitary Magicians using the manual were not getting the guidance, feedback, or support they really needed in their practice.

I therefore integrated the contents of the Ritual Magic Manual as e-lessons in our undergraduate level, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn curriculum, where solitary practitioners could get support, guidance and feedback from our College of the Adepti.

I never like to speak in absolutes, but I currently have no plans for a second print edition of the Ritual Magic Manual. The Manual's entire magical curriculum remains available already in our H.O.G.D curriculum along with proper Adept support.

I have in the past awarded electronic copies, in searchable .pdf format, to aspiring Magicians who demonstrate merit by attending one of our Ritual Magic 101 webinars, in-person training sessions, etc. and reserve the right to do so again occasionally in the future.

I do, however, remain concerned about scalpers abusing aspiring Magicians on places like Amazon marketplace, where the least expensive new copy of the Ritual Magic Manual is offered today for a minimum of $1,000.

This is outrageous and I intend to do something about it.

As a Christmas gift to the Golden Dawn community, I have today listed a NEW, SIGNED deluxe hard-bound copy of the Ritual Magic Manual on Ebay, with bidding beginning at the original 1999 price of $49.

This ought to help drive prices down to something more affordable for aspiring Magicians.

Don't miss this unique offer on Ebay HERE.

Sincerely,

Golden Dawn Imperator David Griffin

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

SPECIAL: Ritual Magic Manual, from $49 (1999 Price) on Ebay (New, Signed)

This morning on the International Golden Dawn Forum on Yahoo, "cydoc1986" wrote:

"I was curious if David Griffin had any intentions of providing a second print of his RMM for purchase."

J Zulikowski replied:

"I second this notion. Why was the RMM not kept in publication for such a popular text? Since the material seems to be undergoing even more correction, can we expect a 2nd edition sometime in the near future?"

Actually, in 2005 I pulled the Ritual Magic Manual out of print. The reason for this is that the need for the Ritual Magic Manual was replaced by the on-line curriculum of our undergraduate level, First Order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

It had become apparent that Self-Initiates and Solitary Magicians using the manual were not getting the guidance, feedback, or support they really needed in their practice.

I therefore integrated the contents of the Ritual Magic Manual as e-lessons in our undergraduate level, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn curriculum, where solitary practitioners could get support, guidance and feedback from our College of the Adepti.

I never like to speak in absolutes, but I currently have no plans for a second print edition of the Ritual Magic Manual. The Manual's entire magical curriculum remains available already in our H.O.G.D curriculum along with proper Adept support.

I have in the past awarded electronic copies, in searchable .pdf format, to aspiring Magicians who demonstrate merit by attending one of our Ritual Magic 101 webinars, in-person training sessions, etc. and reserve the right to do so again occasionally in the future.

I do, however, remain concerned about scalpers abusing aspiring Magicians on places like Amazon marketplace, where the least expensive new copy of the Ritual Magic Manual is offered today for a minimum of $999.

This is outrageous and I intend to do something about it.

As a Christmas gift to the Golden Dawn community, I have today listed a NEW, SIGNED deluxe hard-bound copy of the Ritual Magic Manual on Ebay, with bidding beginning at the original 1999 price of $49.

This ought to help drive prices down to something more affordable for aspiring Magicians.

Please note that Ebay pulled the item due to bizarre rules. It has been relisted here.

Sincerely,

Golden Dawn Imperator David Griffin

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

Qabalah and Planetary Magic

Alchemical Qabalistic Magic

.
by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

Since I published my recent article on Qabalah and the Golden Dawn (HERE), scholars in the Golden Dawn community have requested I provide references to substantiate inaccuracies in the Golden Dawn's Qabalistic hierarchy for Planetary Magic.

I first presented this evidence in 1999, on pages 142-144 of the Ritual Magic Manual. I reproduce it here for the convenience of scholars of the Golden Dawn tradition:

"Regarding the Planetary Hierarchy of Divine and Angelical Names, new research has revealed the traditional distinction between Sephirothic and Planetary Hierarchies to be false.  The correct distinction lies rather between Sephirothic and Kameothic Heirarchies.  In the "Planetary" Hierarchy, the Divine Names are those of the Sephirothic Heirarchy, whereas the names of the Planetary Inteligences and Spirits derive from a system of Magic Squares called the Kameoth.  

All that remains of the "Planetary" Hierarchy are the so-called Archangels of the Planets, spelled in most modern sources as: Cassiel, Sachiel, Zamael, Michael, Anael, Raphael, and Gabriel.  Interestingly, of all the Hierarchies, these "Archangels" are the only entities whose Names Regardie does not give in Hebrew.  Furthermore, the Hebrew spellings given by Aleister Crowley for these Names in 777 (Aleister Crowley, 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings, ed. Israel Regardie (York Beach:  Weiser, 1973), p. 35) are completely inaccurate, likely representing a retransliteration into Hebrew of the English transliteration given by Regardie. 

Various versions of Sepher Ratziel, an important Jewish magical text, clearly demonstrate the origin of these Names in the Sephirothic Hierarchy. (See Aryeh Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah, The Book of Creation, in Theory and Practice, 1st Paper ed. (Yorke Beach:  Weiser, 1990), p. 168) for examples of various versions of this Hierarchy from Sepher Ratziel.) 

Interestingly, the names of the Archangels Michael and Raphael are not always transposed in the various versions of the Sepher Raziel manuscripts as they are in the "Planetary" Hierarchy.  Furthermore, earlier manuscripts indicate that the notion itself of a "Planetary" Hierarchy likely originates as a Qabalistic adaptation of an earlier system of Planetary Magic, apparently Chaldean in origin. (See The Wisdom of the Chaldeans  in Three Works of Ancient Jewish Magic, ed. and trans. Moses Gaster and Samuel Daiches (Hastings:  Cthonios, 1986) for the transcription of an early manuscript indicating the likelihood of a Chaldean origin and Qablistic adaptation of this material.) 

Once restored to correct Hebrew spellings, it becomes clear that the names of this Hierarchy are indeed not "Archangelic" in nature at all. (See, ibid, for the correct spellings of the names of this Hierarchy.) 

For example, when correctly spelled in Hebrew, the name of the "Archangel" of Mars is in reality the arch-demon "Samael". With one notable exception, most of the other names of this Hierarchy are virtually identical with the Archangels of the Sephirothic Hierarchy.  Interestingly, the name "Sachiel" given by Regardie as the "Archangel of Jupiter" comprises but a corrupt transliteration of the Name of the Sephirothic Archangel of Chesed, "Tzadqiel". 

It seems likely that the Planetary Hierarchy originated when early Qabalists wished to adapt a yet earlier system of Planetary Magic for Qabalistic use.  In the earlier system, the entities are of a nature similar to the characteristics adttributed to the Planets in traditional Astrology.  The creators of the Qabalistic Hierarchy apparently replaced the names from the earlier magical system with the names of Archangels drawn from the corresponding Sephiroth on the Tree of Life. 

The Malefic Planets, Mars and Saturn, presented a unique problem, however, since Sephirothic Archangels could not adequately represent their destructive energies.  The Qabalists therefore attributed the Demon Samel to Mars.  For Saturn, they found a classical Qabalistic solution.  They permuted the Name fo the Archangel of Binah, "Tzaphquiel," by exchanging its first and third letters, "Tzaddi" and "Qoph."  The resultant permutation, "Qaphtziel" adequately represented the malefic energies of Saturn.  Apparently, ignorant scribes later corrupted "Qaphtziel" through transliteration into "Cassiel." the form in which Regardie published this name and authors have copied and republished it ever since.

As I pointed out in my recent article on this subject, what we likely have here isa Hebrew retransliteration of a hopelessly corrupted English transliteration of  a Latin transliteration of the original Hebrew. In short, the Hebrew spellings of this hierarchy you find in 777 and other modern Golden Dawn books results from the sort of mess children enjoy when playing the game of "telephone.

I conclude in the Ritual Magic Manual:

In conclusion, the Planetary Hierarchy previously employed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn should no longer be used.  Instead, Rosicrucian Magic must henceforth distinguish between Sephirothic and Kameothic, rather than Sephirothic and Planetary Hierarchies.  Therefore, when performing Planetary Invocation, when performing Planetary Invocation, Magicians should first inovoke the Divine Name, Archangel, and Angel from the Sephirothic Hierarchy, followed by the Kameothic Planetary Intelligence.   

In Magical Evocation, the Magician would follow this with an Evocation of the Kameothic Planetary Spirit.  Never invoke the Kameothic Spirits, however, since their nature is clearly demonic.  The Planetary Rituals in the Ritual Magic Manual fully integrate the results of this new research."

Saturn Talisman - Front Side - from the Ritual Magic Manual

I was largely successful in finding pre-Golden Dawn sources for most of the Qabalistic hierarchies used in Golden Dawn magic. I painstakingly footnoted these sources and integrated corrections into the rituals of the RMM, where necessary, again with the appropriate footnotes. Thus, the Ritual Magic Manual is not only a valuable resource for practicing Magicians, but also for scholars of the Golden Dawn and Ritual Magic.

Alchemical Kameothic Magic

.
As I stated in my last article HERE, I remain concerned that aspiring Magicians are not being taught to critically reflect on the sources they use. It is high time that students of the Golden Dawn wake up and realize there are a lot of errors in the books they have been using. In fact, most of the printed material the Self-Initiate follows is riddled with errors.

In the case of Ritual Magic, such errors can be potentially dangerous, such as in inadvertently invoking the Qabalistic arch-demon "Samael," misrepresented in the Golden Dawn as the non-existent "Planetary Angel" "Zamael"!

Beware of wrong Magical names.

Think different!

Ritual Magic Manual

Golden Dawn Self-Initiates BEWARE: Magical Hierarchies Wrong!

by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

My recent article on Golden Dawn Qabalah that you can read HERE has stirred no small controversy in the Golden Dawn community. Several people have written me, asking, for example:

"Since the results of your research correcting the Magical hierarchies of the Golden Dawn has been publicly available information since you published the Ritual Magic Manual 13 years ago, then why have so many Golden Dawn authors continued to republish the same errors over and over?"

I really have no idea. I doubt those Golden Dawn authors intentionally mislead people. It has been somewhat strange observing this phenomenon again and again over the last decade though. What I find most peculiar is how, when the Ritual Magic Manual came out, there were a host of Golden Dawn authors who proclaimed loudly all over the Net that "the Ritual Magic Manual is riddled with errors." 

There are indeed a few editing mistakes that were not caught in the first edition of the Ritual Magic Manual, mainly a few instances of erroneous pentagrams or hexagrams. In such a huge and thorough manual (666 pages), this is unsurprising. I have been keeping a record of these for correction in future editions. Any Magician using the manual in a correct, critically reflective manner will easily notice these and use the correct forms.

This is very different, however, than ignoring research and republishing errors as though they were gospel truth. When it comes to the Magical hierarchies used in Golden Dawn Magic, slavishly republishing errors in Regardie's Magical hierarchies is grossly irresponsible.

My intention here is not to speak negatively of particular Golden Dawn authors. It is noteworthy, however, that the same people who were quick to attack the Ritual Magic Manual are often same ones who still republish the errors in magical hierarchies from Regardie's Golden Dawn book.

What concerns me most about this is that aspiring Magicians are not being taught to critically reflect on the sources they use. It is high time that students of the Golden Dawn wake up and realize there are a lot of errors in the books they have been using. In fact, most of the printed material the Self-Initiate follows is riddled with errors. 

Golden Dawn authors have done a huge disservice to the community by practically encouraging people to treat existing texts as infallible documents. They are so accustomed to the Bible they assume all spiritually-oriented texts are flawless.

In science, there are methods for evaluating a text to determine its worth. Scientists evaluate texts using the (1) Internal Test, the (2) External Test, and the (3) Bibliographic Test.

How to Evaluate a Text Scientifically

1. Look for internal consistency within the text. Does it contradict itself?
2. Does the text conflict with any known historical facts?
3. The work must contain either direct eyewitness accounts or a second-hand report based on eyewitness accounts. 

Since few people are aware of these common methods, they have no basis for evaluating a text. This leads to slavish following of books that are misprinted or where the author screws up, as my previous post highlights. How can the GD community get itself out of being considered uneducated, superstitious Neanderthals if they can’t even read a text like a scientist?

What would be a huge service to the GD community is if someone found all the mistakes in a common text, like Regardie’s, and told the reader how many they should find. Imagine if a Neophyte was told there are 1,243 (this number is made up) substantive errors in Regardie’s Golden Dawn book. Until you find each and every one of them, you have no business using that text for Self-Initiation.

People need to be encouraged to keep their own database of names, colors, and all other correspondences and then double check them scientifically like I did when writing the Ritual Magic Manual. In the Ritual Magic Manual, you will find all of my corrections painstakingly footnoted, with references to all original sources where they were verified.

Sadly, a full decade later, the Ritual Magic Manual even today remains the ONLY Golden Dawn book where you will find reliable Qabalistic Magical hierarchies for Golden Dawn Magic.

Dare to think for yourself!

Golden Dawn Qabalah

by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

The Alchemical Qabalah

There has been yet another interesting discussion on the International Golden Dawn Yahoo Forum of late. If you have not yet visited the forum, you should. You will find it HERE.

Cydoc1986 (HERE) wrote:

"I have a question about about the hebrew alphabet itself. When would you use Teth for T instead of Tau for T and vice versa? I know if you need the Th sound, you should use Tau. When it comes to just T though how do you know which to use?

This is more of a linguistics questions. I would love to have a deeper understanding of the hebrew language instead of just knowing the words that have already been translated in various GD works.

Thanks!"

Gal Sofer (HERE) replied:

"Dear cydoc1986,

As someone who Hebrew is his first language I can tell that There are no specific rules for that - some words uses Taf (or Tav) and some uses Tet. For example - in the word Taor (pure) the T is Tet, while in the word Targil (an exercise) the T is Taf. Both, as you can hear, are similar. I know some Orthodox Jews from my synagogue who claims that there is slightly different in the pronunciation- Taf is soften than Tet. But, this is a very slim nuance.

Regards,

Gal Sofer"

Frater Barrabbas (HERE) answered:

"According to my Classical Hebrew professor, the difference between these two letters represented an original difference in phonetic sounds, such as are found in Arabic today. Tav was a normal or softened T sound, and Tet was an aspirated T sound. Like in all occurrences of phonetic differentiation, the use of the Tav or Tet would indicate a different word root, just as it does in English with, let's say, the letters T and D (Time vs. Dime).

BTW - I cover the Hebrew alphabet a bit in my new book which is coming out later this month or early next. It is titled "Magical Qabalah for Beginners" and published by Llewellyn Worldwide.

You preview this book HERE.

Frater Barrabbas"

There are a few things I would like to add to this discussion.

First off, before Frater Barrabbas' "Magical Qabalah for Beginners" went to press I had the pleasure to review the manuscript. 

I am pleased this book is coming out. "Magical Qabalah for Beginners" fills a need for beginning Golden Dawn students for a good introduction to Qabalah.

Before my 1999 Ritual Magic Manual, most modern Golden Dawn authors unreflectively followed the angelical hierarchies as given in the Golden Dawn's Knowledge Lectures as published by Israel Regardie.

Before the Ritual Magic Manual, there also was no scholarly Hebrew pronunciation guide around for beginning students of Golden Dawn Magic. Sure, there were a couple of tapes by Israel Regardie, but Regardie had a strong Cockney accent that rendered his Hebrew pronunciation somewhat ghastly.

This is why, when doing preliminary research for the Ritual Magic Manual, I was quite fortunate to collaborate with a Hebrew professor versed not only in ancient Hebrew, but also in Kabbala. This was of enormous value in cleaning up Hebrew pronunciation in the Golden Dawn.

He gave me, regarding the pronunciation of the letters Teth and Tav, more or less the same guidance that Frater Barrabbas gives above. 

Gal Sofer is completely correct that contemporary Hebrew no longer makes a distinction of the letters Teth and Tav.

This has not always been the case. In ancient Hebrew, there was definitely a subtle difference. The pronunciation guidelines in the Ritual Magic Manual are those of ancient Hebrew.

My goals in Qabalistic research for the Ritual Magic Manual were to eliminate corruptions and transliteration errors, correct pronunciation, to verify Hebrew spellings of Qabalistic names from pre-Golden Dawn sources, and to add correct Hebrew vowel pointation. Vowel pointation, prior to the Ritual Magic Manual, had never been included in the Golden Dawn.

I was successful in most this. In the Ritual Magic Manual, you find correct pronunication guidelines for Qabalistic magical names in all rituals. You also see the reliability of Qabalistic magical hierarchies at a glance, since all spellings and pronunciatioins verified in pre-Golden Dawn sources, include correct vowel pointation in the RMM. The few names that were impossible to verify do not include vowel pointation.

I was also largely successful in verifying the correct Hebrew spellings of nearly all Qabalistic magical hierarchies in pre-Golden Dawn sources. Most of these were easily verified in either Biblical or Rabbinical literature.

Cornelius Agrippa

One hierarchy was a problem though - the so-called "Planetary Angels" given in the Golden Dawn Knowledge Lectures. It is no accident that this hierarchy was given only in English in the Knowledge Lectures and that Regardie published this hierarchy only in English transliteration. Either Kenneth Mackenzie (who most scholars agree encoded the Cypher Manuscripts - the founding documents of the Golden Dawn) or Golden Dawn founder, S.L. McGregor Mathers, lifted this hierarchy directly from Cornelius Agrippa, who gives this hierarchy only in Latin transliteration of the original Hebrew.

Let's be clear about one thing. 

Modern books that give Hebrew spellings for the Qabalistic "Planetary Angels"  are inaccurate. What they give is a Hebrew retransliteration of a hopelessly corrupted English transliteration of  a Latin transliteration of the original Hebrew. In short, the Hebrew spellings of this hierarchy you find in modern Golden Dawn books results from the sort of mess children enjoy when playing the game of "telephone."

I puzzled over this problem for years, until by sheer stubbornness I one day found this hierarchy in a relatively early Hebrew magical text. Shortly thereafter, I was able to verify this discovery in a second Hebrew magical text from approximately the same time period. The results of this discovery were quite surprising.

It turns out these so called "Planetary Angles" are not really a separate magical Hierarchy at all. In reality, these "Angels" are a merely an almost identical copy of the Qabalistic Archangels of the Sephiroth used in the Golden Dawn, with two noteworthy exceptions - the traditional planets in ancient astrology considered as malefics: Saturn and Mars. 

In reality, Hebrew magical texts give this "Angel" of Mars as SAMAEL. The Golden Dawn's "Zamael" does not exist at all. It is a mere transliteration corruption, hopelessly corrupted already in Agrippa's time.

For the "Angel" of Saturn, Jewish magicians used a stock Qabalistic swap by inverting two letters from the name of the Archangel of Binah, Tzaphqiel. By inverting the letters Tzaddi and Qoph, Tzaphquiel became "Qaphtziel," the Archangel of Binah rendered malefic though letter inversion.

"Cassiel," as given in the Golden Dawn knowledge lectures, is nothing more than a corruption that came from transliteration of Qaphtziel into English.

Moreover, Samael and Qaphtziel are not really "Angels" at all, but malefic spirits of the traditionally malefic planets; Mars and Saturn. Such corruptions likely entered the Golden Dawn by Mackenzie or Mathers slavishly following Agrippa, much as contemporary Golden Dawn authors unreflectively follow Regardie far too often.

Due to my discoveries during the five years of research leading up to the Ritual Magic Manual, I left this hierarchy of "Planetary Angels" completely out of the RMM, using the Archangels of the corresponding Sephiroth instead for planetary invocation. These entities are quite adequate in themselves, and do not contain any malefic spirits.

Please do not merely take my word for all of this though. I encourage advanced practitioners to do their own research. There are plenty of contributions remaining to be made to the lore of the Golden Dawn. We help you gain the necessary research skills in our undergraduate level training program, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Click here to explore our outer order training program, the H.O.G.D.

Alpha Omega

We don't just hand out grades ...

We Make Magicians!