Thursday, September 10, 2009

Refutation of Pat Zalewksi's Review of David Griffin's Ritual Magic Manual

The Following refutation is in response to Pat Zalewski's unsubstantiated accusations that I, David Griffin, somehow plagiarized his work in my Ritual Magic Manual. As will be shown below, such allegations clearly have no scholarly basis, but are rooted in mere political sniping from a competing Golden Dawn order.

I would like to begin by clarifying that Pat Zalewski is correct in his assertion that in the research involved in my integration of the Enochian materials of John Dee into the RR+AC systems of Planetary and Zodiacal magick, I relied mostly on primary reference materials, primarily the original manuscripts of John Dee obtained on microfilm from the British Museum, together with the papers of S.L. MacGregor Mathers. In the rare instances where any secondary sources were used they were, of course, properly footnoted.

Zalewski's cited example also clearly demonstrates how thoroughly referenced the Ritual Magic Manual actually is, in itself quite unusual for modern Golden Dawn books. In this sense, my quickly written above statement quoted by Pat Zalewski is indeed slightly inaccurate, which I readily admit and for which I readily apologize, of course, for any potential resulting misunderstanding.

Nonetheless, Pat Zalewski's above statement does nothing to support his repeated and unsupported claims that I have 'plagiarized' his work. On the contrary, the footnote he references from the RMM actually provides solid evidence of how groundless his accusations of plagiarism actually are! I am therefore grateful to Mr. Zalewski for pointing out this footnote and providing me with an excellent opportunity to further refute his baseless and unsupported allegations of 'plagiarism.'

The American Heritage Dictionary defines 'plagiarism' as "the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own." This is clearly not the case in this present instance, as I have obviously referenced Mr. Zalewski's work according to proper academic standards. Moreover, I mention Mr. Zalewski's work in order to demonstrate how I consider the position he sets forth in "Golden Dawn Enochian Magic" to be flawed. This is followed by my own position which is based on a careful examination of the original John Dee documents, in this case "Earthly Knowledge, Aid, and Victory," in Sloane MS. 3191. This is completely acceptable scholarship according to all academic standards and certainly does not constitute 'plagiarism' as Mr. Zalewski would like us to believe. On the contrary, this example goes far to prove that I indeed did 'not' plagiarize Mr. Zalewski's work, but rather took issue with it.

Zalewski's position that I consider to be flawed in this instance is properly referenced in the Ritual Magic Manual as: Pat Zalewski, Golden Dawn Enochian Magic, St. Paul: Llewellyn, 1990, pp. 31, 32. Mr. Zalewski's position is flawed because it is based merely upon an unreflective aping of the position set forth by S.L. Macgregor Mathers in a lecture to members of the Golden Dawn, entitled "On the Twelve Tribes of Israel and the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac," in which S. L. MacGregor Mathers attempts to explain the Golden Dawn correspondences according to the distribution of the twelve Tribes of Israel encamped in the desert as they appear in the Old Testament. Mathers attempts to elucidate these correspondences by weaving a tapestry of associations with the Tribes, derived primarily from Biblical sources. These include the children of Jacob, their various Mothers, their order of birth, and the blessings of Moses and Jacob upon the various Tribes. Interestingly, Albert Pike presents a nearly identical exposition of similar associations in Morals And Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Mathers then comments upon the various armorial bearings ascribed to the twelve Tribes. This ascription exactly corresponds to that of the twelve ensigns attributed to the twelve Tribes in English Royal Arch Freemasonry. Thus it becomes apparent that the source from which the Golden Dawn borrowed this particular set of correspondences is English Royal Arch Freemasonry, and in his own work, Pat Zalewski merely followed these correspondences without even considering the difficulties underlying the arrangement MacGregor Mathers copied from Royal Arch Freemasonry.

The successful and correct integration of Enochian material from John Dee into Rosicrucian Zodiacal Magic has historically met with two difficulties. The first impediment arises because John Dee, in "Earthly Knowledge, Aid, and Victory," attributes the Twelve Tribes of Israel to the Signs of the Zodiac differently than does the R. R. et A. C. The Signs of the Zodiac thus correspond differently with the Enochian Zodiacal Kings in the Dee versus the R.R. et A.C. system. The second difficulty relates closely to the first and concerns the best method of attributing twelve Divine Names from the Elemental Tablets to the Zodiacal Signs.

In his work, Pat Zalewski does not even recognize these difficulties, but merely copies MacGregor Mathers in an unreflective manner without any consideration of underlying conflict with the original John Dee Enochian manuscripts. The above cited arrangement from MacGregor Mathers and aped by Zalewski, although seductive, is seriously flawed. The Elements of the Tablets from which the Divine Names originate do not correspond with the Elemental Triplicities of the Zodiacal Signs. When used in Ceremonial Magic, the failure of this arrangement becomes obvious. For example, it requires the Magician to invoke Sagittarius (a Fire Sign) using a Fire Invoking Pentagram while vibrating ARSL, a Divine Name from the Elemental Tablet of Water. Furthermore, the attribution of the Elements to the Quarters in this arrangement bears no resemblance to anything else in the R. R. et A. C. system!

What I point out in the Ritual Magic Manual is that John Dee clearly intended a different arrangement than the one that MacGregor Mathers chose, however, and that Dee's arrangement is implied in a diagram, entitled "Ordo Israelis Dispersi, hoc Estate 1585," illustrated on page 635 of the Ritual Magic Manual and available in my paper "The Book Of the Concourse of the Planetary and Zodiacal Forces" that you may download for free from our website at:

http://golden-dawn.com/goldendawn/UserFiles/en/file/pdf/concourse_p_z_forces.pdf

The diagram that I provide on page 635 of the Ritual Magic Manual (and reproduced in the aforementioned free download) illustrates an alternative, superior means of integrating the John Dee Enochian and RR+AC systems of Zodiacal Magic. Although Dee does not include the Glyphs of the Zodiacal Signs, but rather the numbers one through twelve, his intention is nonetheless easy to deduce. When one assigns the Zodiacal Signs from Aries as one through Pisces as twelve, the resulting attribution of the twelve Tribes of Israel to the Zodiacal Signs exactly matches those given by Cornelius Agrippa in his book on Celestial Magic. Dee clearly intended to attribute the twelve Tribes of Israel as well as the Enochian Zodiacal Kings to the Signs of the Zodiac according to the correspondences used by Agrippa.

Dee's diagram, thus understood, aligns the Zodiacal Signs according to their Elemental Triplicities in each of the four Quarters. The Fire Signs thus find their place in the East, the Earth Signs in the South, the Air Signs in the West, and the Water Signs in the North. This arrangement exactly coincides with the Golden Dawn attribution of the Elements to the four Quarters according to their "Natural position in the Zodiac." Thus it provides an excellent vehicle for the complete integration of the John Dee Enochian and the R.R. et A.C. systems of Zodiacal Magic.

In conclusion, the example cited by Pat Zalewski in no way supports his baseless accusation that I have plagiarized Zalewski's work. On the contrary, it actually shows in the present instance that I have correctly referenced his work according to proper academic standards. It also shows that not only have I not copied Zalewski's work without crediting him, but that I have actually taken issue with it, because Zalewski's work is in this instance based on an unreflective copying of MacGregor Mathers, and fails to even consider how it conflicts with the arrangement that Dee intended.

My contribution to Golden Dawn scholarship in this particular instance, as enshrined in the Ritual Magic Manual is to recognize the conflict between the Dee and the MacGregor Mathers attributions and to find a satisfactory solution to this problem that integrates well with both systems.

No such arrangement is perfect, and deviating from the arrangement that MacGregor Mathers borrowed from Royal Arch Freemasonry indeed causes issues with other aspects of the R.R. et A.C. system. However, as far as Zodiacal magic is concerned, this heretofore unrecognized arrangement successfully finds a way to integrate the arrangement intended by Dee with an arrangement already present in the RR et AC, according to the 'natural position of the elements in the Zodiac.' This is not plagiarism. It is scholarship but rather an original contribution to the continuously evolving magical system of the Golden Dawn.

Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum, Yeheshua
G.H. Frater Lux Ex Septentrionis
Imperator Ordinis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Chief Adept, R.R. et A.C.
Archon Basileus, Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega

"Ex Deo Nascimur.
In Yeheshua Morimur.
Per Sanctum Spiritum Reviviscimus"

A Refutation of Aaron Leitch's Review of David Griffin's Ritual Magic Manual

Since 1999 when the Ritual Magic Manual first appeared, written by me, David Griffin, erroneous and unsubstantiated allegations of 'plagiarism' have been repeatedly and erroneously made by Mr. Aaron Leitch, the Secretary of the Board of Directors of a competing Golden Dawn order. Let us set aside for a moment the questionable ethics of Mr. Leitch having published such a scathing review of my The Ritual Magic Manual while pretending to be an "objective" reviewer - when he was in fact acting at an agent of a competing Golden Dawn order, yet concealing this fact.

I have frankly never even taken Mr. Leitch's allegations of plagiarism seriously, since I had never even heard of him until after the Ritual Magic Manual had already been published and Leitch published his much quoted, allegedly "objective" review of my work.

Tonight, however, since I am already taking the time to once and for all refute the baseless allegations of plagiarism made by Aaron Leitch. I therefore went to his website at: http://kheph777.tripod.com/rev_rmm.html

Where I found Aaron Leitch making the below false allegations of plagiarism by me:

Finally, I should once again mention the author's discussions of the Sidereal Zodiac. The rear cover flap of the book proclaims:
"In the most significant breakthrough… David Griffin has herein achieved a brilliant new synthesis of Enochian and Astrological Magic." I can't help but to agree with the significance of this new synthesis (on pages 635-639), especially since I published the material originally in the Spring 1998 issue of Eschaton Publishing's Terminal Journal. The essay is entitled A Discourse on the Enochian Watchtowers. The curious reader can obtain back issues from http://www.eschatonbooks.com/ The text itself can be found archived (and discussed!) at the Enochian-L mailing list: http://www.hollyfeld.org/heaven/elists/enochian-l.phtml Also, for easier reference, it can be read on my own homepagehttp://members.aol.com/kheph777 Unfortunately, you will not find any of these sources in the bibliography of Mr. Griffin's book.

Tonight, while tidying up refuting assorted defamation regarding alleged plagiarism by me, I actually managed to find and read this article by Leitch for the first time, at:

http://kheph777.tripod.com/art_discourse.html

Now I must admit that although I had suspected that Leitch's "review" had all along been nothing but a politically motivated hatchet job on my Ritual Magic Manual by a member of a competing Golden Dawn order, I nonetheless was open to the possibility that Aaron Leitch had perhaps made the same discoveries based an independent but similar careful study of the original John Dee manuscripts from the British Museum and had reached identical conclusions that I did. After all, stranger things have happenned!

So tonight deciding to get to the bottom of this once and for all, I read what all of Leitch's wailing and gnashing his teeth over the years was really all about:

Leitch writes:

As above, I again point out that the Elders upon the Watchtowers are Zodiacal in nature. This view comes mainly from my study of the Shem haMephoresh- the 72-fold Name of God- which is related to the Decans of the Zodiac. Tradition holds that the Elders of Revelation hold these Divine Names (each Elder with three of them inscribed on His crown). Thus is the Zodiacal association of the Elders apparent- with two Elders for each Sign. The next question, of course, is how to know which Signs the Elders are aligned with. First, I'll address the Watchtowers themselves.

OK, so Leitch is coming at this from a completely different angle than I am.

Originally, I had attempted to place (for instance) all Air Signs in the Eastern Tablet, all Fire in the South, etc. However, there is no basis for this outside of Golden Dawn Tradition, so I had to do something more concrete. I attempted to see if the Parts of the Earth and their Zodiacal Kings would help (remember the Parts' Names are what the Watchtowers are composed of).....but after working them out I saw that the Signs were dispersed through the Watchtowers in no particular pattern. And, the reasoning for this is clear when one reads the Call of the Aethyrs- which deals with separating the Forces of the Earth into chaos.

Allright. Leitch tried the allocation of the elements to the four quarters. This doesn't work to integrate the two systems, but at least he seems to have recognized that there is a problem with the Mathers arrangement borrowed from Royal Arch Freemasonry, which is more than can be said of Zalewski!

Leitch continues:

And so, I continued with the most simple concept of all: I wrote the 12 Signs down in their circular order as seen in the sky: with Leo in the East, Taurus in the South, Aquarius in the West, and Scorpio in the North. Then, dividing this Circle into four parts, I ended up with four groups of three: a Cardinal, a Fixed, and a Mutable. However, I later discovered that this method of writing down the Zodiac was in error. The old Grimoires did not list the Zodiac in proper order in such cases- and the Shem haMephoresh provides the best example: the Zodiac is written down by way of the Tetragram- with the Triplicities grouped together by Element. First Fire, then Water, then Air, and then Earth.

In other words, Leitch also tried the other arrangement of the elements that we use in the Golden Dawn, "according to the natural position of the elements in the Zodiac." Logical. He then also examined how to distribute the three triplicities. Bravo! At this juncture, it looks like on this one we might indeed have discovered the same thing independently.

But Leitch continues:

As for Enochian material, see the figure given on James' page 103 (The Holy City which is mentioned in Revelation), where the 12 Zodiacal Kings are placed 3 to a direction, and each associated to a Hebrew Tribe. Then, see Agrippa (whom Dee was familiar with and influenced by) for the Zodiacal associations of those Tribes. You will see that even Dee placed the Fire Triplicity upon the Eastern wall of the Holy City, Water in the North, Air in the West, and Earth in the South. This is the zodiacal attribution of Elements to Directions- and is applied to the Watchtowers as well.

In other words, Leitch even thinks of consulting the diagrams in "Liber Scientiae Auxilii et Victoriae Terrestris." Impressive. At this juncture I can "almost" understand his accusations of plagiarism, even though I approached the problem from a completely different direction. Leitch is so close to finding the key that he is looking for that it is almost painful to watch him grope. Unfortunately, however, he doesn't examine "Liber Scientiae Auxilii et Victoriae Terrestris" closely enough. Otherwise, he would have discovered, as I did, independently, that the key to integrating John Dee's Enochian system with RR et AC Zodiacal magic lies not in Dee's first diagram in "Liber Scientiae Auxilii et Victoriae Terrestris" that Leitch cites (The Holy City which is mentioned in Revelation), but in the second diagram contained therein entitled "Ordo Israelis Dispersi, hoc Estate 1585," that contains the key that Leitch completely misses and that I discovered, which proves conclusively that I did not 'plagiarize' Leitch's work. Admittedly, we independently followed similar lines of thinking, yes, although we each came at the problem from a different direction and moreover I managed to solve the underlying problem whereas Leitch did not, which is why we each came to such radically different conclusions and correspondences! Which most conclusively of all demonstrates the mutual independence of our respective research in this arena.

The answer was sitting there right under Aaron's nose all along. He simply did not see it! All he had to do was apply the Zodiacal signs to the numbers 1 to 12 in Dee's "second" diagram, Aires through Pisces, and he would have discovered the actual zodiacal attributions of the Kings in "Liber Scientiae Auxilii et Victoriae Terrestris" that Dee had intended all along, together with the key to successfully integrate Dee's Zodiacal system with R.R. et A.C. Zodiacal magick as I accomplished in the RMM.

Leitch did not, however, whereas I did. Under these circumstances, I can certainly understand Leitch's sour grapes, but this does not support plagiarism at all. To his credit, Aaron Leitch did not merely unreflectively ape the Zodiacal correspondences that S.L. MagGregor Mathers merely borrowed lock, stock, and barrel from Royal Arch Freemasonry. Even more to his his credit, Leitch independently did indeed at least recognize that the solution to the correct integration of the John Dee's Enochian material lies in the correspondence with the elements "according to their natural position in the Zodiac." Because he did not pursue this line of thinking far enough, however, and did not closely enough examine John Dee's diagrams in "Liber Scientiae Auxilii et Victoriae Terrestris, he apparently completely missed the pivotal diagram entitled " "Ordo Israelis Dispersi, hoc Estate 1585,"

Consequentially, Aaron Leitch ended up missing the proverbial boat and wound up merely making a muddle of things by preserving S.L. MacGregor Mathers' quite arbitrary correspondences between the signs and the Enochian Zodiacal Kings that Mathers had borrowed from Royal Arch Freemasonry. Leitch therefore failed to discover the secret key that Dee had cryptically left us that fully enabled my compete integration of the divergent Dee and RR et AC systems of Zodiacal magic in the Ritual Magic Manual.

It is quite natural that separate researchers writing at about the same time on a subject with limited primary source material like Golden Dawn Enochiana might consider similar problems with that limited material. To dispel any remaining doubt, however, it should be noted the Ritual Magic manual is a thoroughly referenced work, as I recently demonstrated in refuting Pat Zalewski's unsubstantiated and politically motivated plagiarism allegations. Had I actually read Leitch's paper prior to having written the Ritual Magic Manual instead of for the first time tonight, I would certainly have taken issue with his preserving MacGregor Mathers correspondences between the Zodiacal signs and Dee's zodiacal Kings, as I did with Zalewski over the same issue already in the RMM and as I did in this refutation of Leitch tonight. It therefore should be clear to any reasonable person that Mr. Leitch's allegations of 'plagiarism' are also specious.

Moreover, I am quite surprised that in searching for Mr. Leitch's article this evening, I stumbled across another other more recent article from Mr. Leitch, dated 2006, wherein Mr. Leitch himself clearly builds upon "my" observations that "I" made about Dee's use of diacritical markings in my own recension of the Angelical calls in the RMM already in 1999, without crediting "me!"

As substantiation of "this" observation, the interested reader should refer to my article on the Enochian Calls, written published in the Ritual Magic Manual in 1999 and now available for free download at:

http://golden-dawn.com/goldendawn/UserFiles/en/file/pdf/enochiancalls.pdf

Particularly the following quotation from page 8:

"The most fascinating question regarding pronunciation raised by an examination of Dee's handwritten version of the Angelic Calls in Sloane MS 3191 is his copious use of diacritical marks. This mystery appears to have been completely overlooked or ignored by contemporary Enochian scholarship. The primary diacritical marks used by Dee are ´, ^, and ¨, and they are used over vowels in ninety-five per cent of all instances. These diacritics have been included in the new transliteration as faithfully as possible. In each instance where an Enochian word is given, the spelling used by John Dee in Sloane 3191 including his diacritical marks has been reproduced side by side with its new transliteration shown in bold type. Unfortunately, however, certain substitutions for the diacritical marks actually used by Dee have been obliged by 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. It is hoped that the inclusion of these diacritical markings shall stimulate additional research regarding their actual meaning."

Note that Aaron Leitsch was obviously aware of my research in this arena as he mentions it in his review of the Ritual Magic Manual. Now compare the above with Leitch's 2006 article at

http://kheph777.tripod.com/art_angelical_pronunciation.pdf

particularly the section entitled: "Dee's Pronunciation Notes" and draw your own conclusions.

I have no objection to someone building further on my research, but I find it disturbing that Aaron Leitch, of all people, should be building on my work without referencing "me" considering all of the bru-ha-ha without substantiation that Leitch has himself proliferated over the years falsely accusing me of plagiarism.

In conclusion, in light of the foregoing it should be obvious that Aaron Leitsch's reveiw of the Ritual Magic Manual (David Griffin, Golden Dawn Publishing, Beverly Hills: 1999) may not be considered as any sort of legitimate, objective review, but mere political sniping by the Secretary of the Board of Directors of a competing Golden Dawn order.

Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum, Yeheshua
G.H. Frater Lux Ex Septentrionis
Imperator Ordinis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega
 
"Ex Deo Nascimur.
In Yeheshua Morimur.
Per Sanctum Spiritum Reviviscimus"

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

The Astonishing Truth About Golden Dawn Lineage

Frater TDO, on Robert Zink's Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn forum recently wrote:
Ave, In my opinion, lineage means nothing, it it only a tool for certain orders to claim superiority over others...TDO
VH Soror FSO, also on Robert Zink's Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn forum recently wrote:
I'm just curious as to the communities opinions on the importance of lineage in an Order...is it necessary for the current to be present or is lineage just another way to give yourself "credential" ...please do not put down any Orders..I am just curious about everyone's opinions.
Care et VH Soror FSO et Frater TDO,

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

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

Pat Zalewksi recently wrote on the same subject:
The two things I would encourage the novice to do is give a wide berth and lineage freaks who tout this as something akin to the touch of the bishop. Lineage does not cut it any more and it is what you get out of it that counts. 
In Christianity, the doctrine of Apostolic Succession maintains that the Christian Church today is the spiritual successor to the original body of believers in Christ, composed of the Apostles. In pre-Protestant Reformation Churches, Apostolic Succession is claimed as having been passed through unbroken lines of bishops beginning with the original Apostles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moreover, I have heard other members of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn comment in the past:
Lineage does not matter. All that matters is to do the work.
This depends on how you define the work of the Golden Dawn. If all that you are interested in is to practice the techniques published by Israel Regardie, then you do not even need a Golden Dawn order for that. You could get by nicely by purchasing Regardie's Golden Dawn book together with my Ritual Magic Manual

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

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

Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum, Yeheshua
David Griffin
G.H. Frater Lux Ex Septentrionis
Imperator Ordinis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega
 "Ex Deo Nascimur.
In Yeheshua Morimur

Debate About the Golden Dawn's Secret Chiefs


There has in recent weeks been an interesting debate on various Golden Dawn fora between Pat Zalewksi, of the Order of the Golden Dawn, and Robert Zink, of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn, about the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn's Third Order. This debate is enlightening, as it demonstrates the fundamental philosophical, magical, and spiritual differences between the Robert Zink's EOGD, Pat Zalewski's OGD and our order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega. Pat Zalewksi recently wrote:
Lately I have lampooned the secret Chiefs concept because some, groups are placing people, either real or imagined, in a combined role prophet and angel. This is quasi theology. Even spirit guides are just that -not directors... This Order we are in and spiritual essence we have tapped into is very real. The problem is that is does not give you common sense and the spirit world for many becomes a real world of fantasy, as some have shown in recent years.Mr. Zalewksi is being unusually polite in the above quote. Elsewhere, Mr. Zalewski has basically called people "mad as a hatter" that believe in the Secret Chiefs.

Robert Zink's Astral "Secret Chiefs"
In response to Pat Zalewski, Robert Zink recently wrote:
Greetings,
When I read about connection to the Secret Chiefs or whatever you want to call these spiritual Beings, I am often shocked at the answers I hear, and from people I really respect. The problem with the Secret Chiefs is that if you have had a tangible experience with them, if you have worked with them, if they have appeared in physical manifestation then all seem rational and normal. For example we know that Mathers was in connected with the Secret Chiefs and when the good brethren rebelled against him, his magic through the power of these Secret Beings of Light destroyed the order into numerous bits.
So, if you have had contact with these Beings of Light, then it is normal. If however you have studied the GD for years, gone through all the manuscripts, done all kinds of rituals, and have never so much as received a post card from them, then they become aspects of your Higher Self, or parts of your personality or some other assignment. The point is to discredit them as fast as you can because you don't have a path to them. So in this situation the Secret Chiefs are subjective. If you know them, there real, if you don't there not.
Zanoni (Robert Zink)
P.S. I wonder if these people who discredit the Secret Chief also discredit the arch angels, or the planetary spirits? Maybe we are all on a trip and none of it is real. If this is your belief, get out of the Golden Dawn, you are in the wrong group.
To this Pat Zalewski recently responded:
Then you have people running orders that are in direct contact with astral beings such as astral masters. That makes the chiefs word almost omnipotent. You can't argue with invisible entities who give instructions. Usually this will come out in sexual exploitation. That's the potential Waco and Jones syndrome.
The above posts make clear that both Robert Zink and Pat Zalewksi, following the lead of Dion Fortune and Robert Felkin, each consider the Secret Chiefs as some sort of "disincarnate entities" or "astral masters" like Blavatsky's Mahatma's.
In fact, Robert Zink is reputed to channel these alleged disincarnate entities to influence members of his EOGD order. This emphasis on channellng is quite understandable considering the decidedly New Age direction that Robert Zink has gone in and away from classical Golden Dawn.

Alleged Astral Masters & 
Schismatic Golden Dawn Spin-Offs
Robert Zink's claiming this kind of "inner plane contacts" is not uncommon for occult societies., however. In this mistaken "Astral Master" view of the Secret Chiefs, Robert Zink is in good company - with schismatic members of both the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and expelled members of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega. For example, once Robert Felkin betrayed S.L. Magregor Mathers and founded the schismatic Stella Matutina, Felkin also claimed such contact with "astral" Secret Chiefs that Felkin called Sun Masters. Likewise, Violet Firth (aka Dion Fortune), following her expulsion from the Alpha et Omega, also claimed such "Inner Plane" contacts. In fact, Dion Fortune often used techniques common with spiritualism, i.e. putting herself into a passive state of receptivity and receiving channeled messages.
The New Age community has been privy to this kind of practice and New Age bookshelves are filled with channeled communications, one more fanciful than the other. Reading this kind of literature readily shows that mediums often fall into the trap of self-deception and self-delusion, common in nature to the so called "regression therapies".

New Age Channeling Vs. Traditional Golden Dawn
Robert Zink's channeling of his imagined "Secret Chiefs" has nothing to do with traditional or classical Golden Dawn teachings, however. Unlike today's New Age community, the Golden Dawn, from its very inception in 1888, always has been very clear in its condemnation of these kind of practices as potentially dangerous for the human spirit. The Golden Dawn tradition has always scorned passive mediumship and idealized active seership as the only true alternative for a Magician. For example, the original application form of the Golden Dawn in 1888 illustrates this point quite clearly:
The Chiefs of the Order do not care to accept as Candidates any persons accustomed to submit themselves as Mediums to the Experiments of Hypnotism, Mesmerism, or Spiritualism; or who habitually allow themselves to fall into a completely Passive condition of Will; also they disapprove of the methods made use of as a rule in such Experiments.The original Neophyte Obligation from 1888 underscores this condemnation of "passive mediumship" or "channelling" even more:
I will not suffer myself to be hypnotized, or mesmerized, nor will I place myself in such a passive state that any uninitiated person, power, or being may cause me to lose control of my thoughts, words or actions.Thus we see that, contrary to the claims of Robert Zink, putting oneself into a state of mediumistic receptivity, as in the case of New Age "channeling", not only runs contrary to all traditional Golden Dawn teachings, but is even an outright breech of obligation for traditional Golden Dawn initiates. Contrary to what Robert Zink has been teaching members of his "Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn," there is no way of getting around this fact. Robert Felkin and Dion Fortune's methods were not and are not compatible with the Golden Dawn, nor are any of the New Age methods of channeling and communication with entities. Period.
Moreover, Pat Zalewksi quite correctly points out the danger for of potential abuse of power if one buys into the notion of Secret Chiefs as channelled entities. In this regard, I find myself in rare agreement with Pat Zalewski.

What S.L. MacGregor Mathers Says 
About the Secret Chiefs
What both Pat Zalewski and Robert Zink fail to properly consider, however, is that the Golden Dawn did not just fall out of the sky. S.L. MacGregor Mathers, for example, claimed quite specifically that the Secret Chiefs were real people that he met in Paris in 1891. He also claimed that they gave them the material for the Golden Dawn's Second Order, the R.R. et A.C.
So, who should we believe about the true nature of the Secret Chiefs? S.L. MacGregor Mathers, who says that they are real, physical people who are responsible for the creation of the Golden Dawn, Robert Zink, who claims that they are Astral Masters whom he has a unique calling to channel, or Pat Zalewksi who claims that anyone who believes claims like those made by Robert Zink, who "channels" his "Secret Chiefs" must be "Looney Tunes"?

The H.O.G.D. Position On the Secret Chiefs in the A.O.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the outer order to the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega is quite clear and transparent regarding our philosophical position concerning both the original and actual "Secret Chiefs" of the original Golden Dawn's projected (and the Alpha et Omega's actual) "Third Order."

Kenneth MacKenzie and the Origins 
of the Golden Dawn
In 1850, Count Apponyi, a representative of the “Secret Chiefs,” initiated Kenneth Mackenzie in Austria. Apponyi gave MacKenzie the Hermetic lineage, rituals, and teachings of our First Order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (H.O.G.D.). These MacKenzie later encoded into the famous Cypher Manuscripts used by Wescott and MacGregor Mathers to found the Golden Dawn in 1888. The much touted "Anna Sprengel" story was, in reality, little more than a red herring designed to protect the true identities of the Secret Chiefs. In this regard, W. Wynn Wescott, in his "History of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia" writes not only of:
MacKenzie’s Rosicrucian initiation in Austria while living with Count Apponyi as an English tutor,” but also writes that “MacKenzie had been in communication with German Adepts who claimed a descent from previous generations of Rosicrucians that had admitted him to some grades of their system and had permitted him to attempt the foundation of a group of Rosicrucian students in England, who under the Rosicrucian name of the information that might form a partly esoteric society.
W. Wynn Wescott here writes unusually candidly about the true origins of Golden Dawn. In this context in the April 1874 edition of The Rosucrucian, Kenneth MacKenzie also makes cryptic reference to an elusive
Hermetic Order of Egypt
In his Royal Masonic Cyclopedia, MacKenzie adds that:
To these Hermetic Brothers of Egypt appertains the Philosopher’s Stone and the elixir of life, the art of invisibility, and the power of communication with the ultramundane life.
MacKenzie further describes these elusive Rosicrucian Adepts that:
They are men of moderate competence, blameless lives, austere manners, and almost ascetic in their habits…
In describing their method of teaching, MacKenzie states that :
They cheerfully answered questions, but appeared not to court enquiries.
S.L. MacGregor Mathers met in 1891 these same “Secret Chiefs” in Paris. In describing these secret Rosicrucian Adepts, MacKenzies’ comments are interesting that:
They courted no publicity
and that:
They never remained long in one country, but passed away without creating notice, or wishing for undue respect to be paid to them.
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.

Mathers and the Secret Chiefs
Next, in 1891, Golden Dawn founder, S.L. MacGregor Mathers, visited Paris where on July 30 he was initiated by representatives the same Continental European order of Hermetic alchemists who had initiated Kenneth MacKenzie, to whom Mathers henceforth referred to as the "Secret Chiefs." As was the case with the "Anna Sprengel" story associated with Kenneth MacKenzie's "Cypher Manuscripts," a new story was invented as diversionary tactic to protect the true identities of the Mathers' Secret Chiefs involving a fictitious "Dr. Thiessen."
From the Secret Chiefs in Paris in 1891, S.L. MacGregor Mathers received the same Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages transmitted earlier to MacKenzie by Count Apponyi, as well as an esoteric corpus and skeletal initiation rituals with which to create the Golden Dawn's Rosicrucian "Second Order," the Rosae Rubeae et Aurae Crucis (R.R. et A.C.). Immediately upon having founded the R.R. et A.C., Mathers moved to Paris to be near his Secret Chiefs, where in 1894 Mathers founded the Ahathoor Temple No. 7. While living in Paris, Mathers received advanced teachings about spiritual sexuality from his “Secret Chiefs,” notably certain techniques of "Hermetic Inner Alchemy" and "Alchemical Magic," which were intended for eventual inclusion in the Golden Dawn's projected Third Order.
In 1909, Mathers founded the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega (also known simply as the Alpha et Omega or A.O.) as a superstructure for the Golden Dawn's projected entire 'three order' system, with the H.O.G.D as its first and the R.R. et A.C. as its second order. As Chief of the Alpha et Omega, Mathers took the title, “Archon Basileus.”
Unfortunately, Mathers passed away in 1918 before he fully mastered the techniques of "Hermetic Inner Alchemy" and "Alchemical Magic" well enough to manifest the Alpha et Omega's planned Third Order. Mathers nonetheless did communicate some of the more advanced teachings regarding spiritual sexuality to certain select students, notably to Edward Berridge.

The Secret Chiefs & 
The Golden Dawn's Third Order
Exactly one hundred eleven years after S. L. MacGregor Mathers' historic (1891) meeting with the Secret Chiefs in Paris, representatives of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega were invited once again to Paris to meet with a with a representative sent by them. Astoundingly, at this historic Paris meeting in 2002, the emissary of this secret order once again introduced himself as Frater Lux E Tenebris! ...And as the Secret Chiefs had done with Mathers before, they gave to us essential esoteric transmissions. In 1891, the Secret Chiefs gave Mathers everything necessary to formulate the Second Order of the original H.O.G.D. 111 years later, in 2002 (and once again in Paris), the Secret Chiefs gave the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega the initiation rituals and teachings that had been intended from the beginning for the Third Order of the original H.O.G.D. At that historic 2002 meeting in Paris, Frater Lux E Tenebris, initiated Jean-Pascal Ruggiu and myself, David Griffin, and transmitted to us the Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages, rituals and teachings with which to complete the highest grades of the Golden Dawn’s Third Order. This Third Order curriculum includes the practices of Hermetic Inner Alchemy, which represent the most secret part and the capstone on the pyramid of the entire Western Esoteric Tradition.
As a direct consequence of the October, 2002, meeting in Paris with Frater Lux E Tenebris, for the first time in history a successor of the original H.O.G.D. now possesses the complete curriculum of the Third Order, including the complete sexual mysteries of Hermetic Inner Alchemy and Alchemical Theurgy once given by them to S.L. MacGregor Mathers himself. Thanks to the faith and trust placed in our order by the Secret Chiefs, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega has finally completed the entire "three order" system that had been intended for the original H.O.G.D. from its inception, from the 0=0 grade of Neophyte all the way through the 10=1 grade of Ipssissimus.
Contrary to the speculations of Robert Felkin, Dion Fortune, and others, the true Third Order is not reserved exclusively for discarnate, astral masters, but comprises what has at all times been the highest teachings of both the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions. The initiatic authority of the Alpha et Omega no longer rests not merely on charters, affiliations, and trademarks (although we do have these things), but more importantly, the Alpha et Omega is a true vessel of the highest Hermetic and Rosicrucian mysteries entrusted to us by the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order.

The True Nature of 
Golden Dawn Lineage
The primary lineages of our order are Hermetic and Rosicrucian in origin, the importance of which remain largely misunderstood and underestimated by the general public. Many people misunderstand the primary importance of these lineages as some sort of appeal to legitimacy or initiatic authority. Whereas these things indeed have a minor importance, to consider Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages merely from such a limited perspective is to completely miss the forest for the trees.
The true Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages of the Golden Dawn in general, and of the Third Order of the Alpha et Omega in particular, do not merely imply a sort of apostolic succession in the sense that such a notion is understood in Christianity, nor are they merely institutional like the lineages of Freemasonry (based on mutual recognition). Neither are they a mere means of merely asserting some sort of legitimacy or initiatic authority.
Instead, like the spiritual lineages of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism in the East, the Western Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages carry with them very specific sets of spiritual exercises and techniques that lead to particular exalted states of consciousness and spiritual attainment. The techniques of these lineages are transmitted in documents, yet with oral instructions essential to their mastery revealed only to initiates.
Our Hermetic lineage arose in Egypt, was carried to Europe with the Greek and Roman empires, and has been passed down from Hermetic master to disciple through centuries in an unbroken chain of initiates, and was transmitted to our order by the secret Continental European order of Hermetic alchemists, commonly referred to as the “Secret Chiefs” (Geheime Oberen), who are the “source of origin” of all of the initiation rituals, teachings, and spiritual practices of all of the grades comprising all three orders set forth in the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Hermetic Inner Alchemy:
Physical Transmutation & Energetic Evolution
The “Hermetic Inner Alchemy” of initiates of these Hermetic lineages has to do quite specifically with the transmutation of the physical body into pure Solar energy accompanied by a radical transformation of consciousness. The secrets of Hermetic Inner Alchemy have been kept extremely secret among initiates for millennia and still remain so until today. The reason for the secrecy is that these practices can be extremely dangerous unless your energetic body is properly prepared in advance of their practice.
Thus, the transmutation of Lead into Gold so often referred to in alchemical literature has in reality nothing to do with trying to manufacture gold. Rather it refers by analogy to the transmutation of the physical body, or Prima Materia, into pure energy and the cultivation of the energetic body. This is also referred to as the cultivation of Soul, with the ultimate goal of giving birth to a ‘body of light’ or ’solar body.’
As an Adept learns to project his or her consciousness into that solar body, he or she becomes more and more conscious of his or her immortal nature, even while still alive. At the conclusion of the Great Work, at the moment of death, the Adept separates his or her consciousness from their physical body and projects it into their ’solar bodies,’ thus achieving liberation from further incarnation and becoming consciously immortal.
This “Opus Magnum” or Great Work of completing human evolution into pure Solar energy is the true object and goal of all Hermetic spiritual practice. This may be completed in a single incarnation only using the secret processing of Hermetic Inner Alchemy, to which allegorical reference is made in the long descriptions of laboratory processes of certain classical alchemical texts. Hermetic Inner Alchemy works upon the human body itself as a First Matter or Prima Materia, and cooks it using the subtle fires of the body itself, including love and sexuality. In this way, the highest practices of Hermetic Alchemy also involve a uniquely Western form of sacred sexuality. As these techniques can be extremely dangerous for those whose energetic bodies have not been sufficiently and properly prepared, they have remained the most hidden part of the Western Esoteric tradition.
These techniques involve the preparation, rectification, and multiplication of the Philosopher’s stone, as is described in the Book of Causes in the commentaries on the Emerald Tablet of Hermes. Very little may be revealed to non-initiates about the true preparation of the Philosopher’s stone, or regarding its rectification and multiplication.
Thus the primary importance of Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages are spiritual and have to do with attainment, as is the case with the great spiritual lineages of the East. Everything else, including any sort of assertion of secular legitimacy or initiatic authority, is secondary and of relatively minor importance. Any analysis that does not properly take this into consideration of necessity misses the main point of these Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages.

The Alpha et Omega 
Answers Demands for Evidence
On several occasions, our order has been challenged to provide "evidence" of these claims. The first challenge we were presented came from the Sun Order of the Cromlech Temple, about whom pretentions were being made that they were the “true” Third Order of the Golden Dawn. The second challenge came from Pat Zalewksi of the OGD. The third challenge came from Robert Zink of the EOGD.
Both Pat Zalewski and Robert Zink attempted to limit the notion of "evidence" in this context to "historical evidence," a great deal of which has been presented above in this blog. It should be noted that neither Mr. Zalewksi nor Mr. Zink are at all objective in this matter, as much of their credibility has been built on the mistaken notion that the Secret Chiefs do not exist as real people.
Beyond the historical evidence presented above, however, I am severely limited in what I may present by the desire of my teachers that their true identities remain secret. This restriction is compounded even further by traditional initiatic vows of secrecy.
For example, I have personally examined the entry in Third Order roll books documenting S.L. MacGregor Mathers 1891 initiation into the Third Order in Paris, yet I remain unable to present this documentation as it would completely reveal the true identities of both Mathers' and my teachers. As the interested reader may have observed, competing Golden Dawn orders have not hesitated to use these limitations in their marketing campaigns against the Alpha et Omega.
This does not mean that the Alpha et Omega has not provided any additional evidence to substantiate our above asserted claims, however. On the contrary, we have presented "initiatic evidence" on three distinct, separate occasions in response to challenges.
From the point of view of Arcane lineages, however, what constitutes “evidence” may not be properly limited merely to historical evidence. What really matters, after all, is SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT - together with the preservation and continuing unprofaned transmission and practice of our common spiritual heritage. One must therefore consider that both the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions are historically “operative” traditions. Both of these streams of Western esoteric wisdom have historically been concerned primarily with three spiritual disciplines - the practice of Magic (Theurgy), Astrology, and Alchemy.
In this latter sense the Alpha et Omega has already provided substantial evidence to back up our central claim: namely, that the Alpha et Omega “possesses, initiates, and teaches the highest secrets of Hermetic Inner Alchemy.” Everything else, including historical evidence, is by comparison of relatively minor importance.
The true meaning and processes of Hermetic Alchemy remain until today the most carefully guarded secrets of the Western esoteric tradition. Thus, on three separate occasions, the Alpha et Omega’s has provided solid “initiatic” (operative) evidence to back up our claims by revealing new and hitherto undisclosed details regarding the true nature and processing of Hermetic alchemy. After all, what we are speaking of here, at the heart of the matter, are the spiritual lineages of Hermetic and Rosicrucian alchemy. As Israel Regardie once said:
There is something more important than the Golden Dawn – Magic.To this I would add that:
There is something more important than even Magic – Hermetic Inner Alchemy.Of course, persons with a vested interest, like Pat Zalewksi and Robert Zink, will remain focused myopically on "historical evidence" and ignore all evidence having to do with true initiatic secrets. They will, as a matter of strategy, dismiss such initiatic and alchemical evidence as somehow irrelevant. But on the contrary, we are speaking of Arcane lineages - and thus - such evidence is precisely the MOST relevant.

The Traditional Test of True Rosicrucian Initiation
& How The Alpha et Omega's Detractors Have Failed It
In providing such initiatic evidence, the Alpha et Omega perhaps has even gone even a bit over the line according to what is permissible according to tradition. Nonetheless, there is historical justification for this - in both Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages - wherein it is permissible according to tradition to test the level of initiation of another who also claims to be a Rosicrucian or Hermetic alchemist - by proving to one one another by revealing ON A RECIPROCAL BASIS, back and forth to one another, one's relative level of initiation into the sublime mysteries of Hermetic Inner Alchemy, the greatest secrets of the Western esoteric tradition.
In each of the three instances in which we were challenged, the Alpha et Omega’s response has been the same. We have offered to meet each of these challengers according to traditional Hermetic and Rosicrucian rules, in which it is permissible to to test one another’s level of initiation in Hermetic Inner Alchemy by reciprocally revealing to one another certain hidden facts about the true nature and processing of the Opus Magnum.
In each case, the traditional, initiatic challenge issued by the Alpha et Omega in response to demands for “evidence" went, of course, unanswered by those who so arrogantly had sought to challenge the A.O.'s initiatic authority. As expected, each challenger failed to provide even the the most inconsequential Hermetic or Rosicrucian "operative" information regarding the Opus Magnum. Thus, unless the aforementioned organizations and individuals should yet surprise us by truly meeting us in this traditional test, one may, according to the traditional rules of both the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions, safely conclude that none of above are true initiatic schools of the Arcane lineages of Hermetic or Rosicrucian alchemy.
Despite the complete failure of our would-be challengers to provide any evidence that they themselves have actually been initiated even into the least mysteries of Hermetic or Rosicrucian Inner Alchemy, the Alpha et Omega nonetheless followed the traditional rule itself - and in each case demonstrated our level of initiation in the lineages of Hermetic and Roscrucian alchemy - by publicly revealing unpublished, hitherto secret information about the true nature and processing of Hermetic Inner Alchemy, as follows:
1. In the first instance, following the challenge posed regarding Cromlech Temple's Sun Order, the Alpha et Omega revealed the true Prima Materia as the physical body and that any other interpretation of the Opus Magnum other than as the transmutation of the matter of the physical body into solar energy (Spirit) is mistaken.
2. In response to the challenge issued by Pat Zalewski (OGD), the Alpha et Omega revealed that the transmutation of lead into Golden in reality has nothing to do with "manufacturing" gold, but rather is an allegory for the aforementioned transmutation. Moreover, we additionally revealed that the true nature of alchemical processing has to do with the “cooking” of the physical matter of the body using the subtle fires of the body itself - including love and sexuality. (This latter revelation caused quite a stir. It provoked ignorant marketing slogans, for example, like "“No sex magic in the traditional Golden Dawn" on Robert Zink's "Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn" website.
3. In response to the challenge issued by Robert Zink (EOGD), in the traditional test, despite Robert Zink’s complete failure to demonstrate even a Neophyte's level of initiation into Rosicrucian Inner Alchemy, the Alpha et Omega nonetheless followed Rosicrucian protocol and revealed yet another hitherto completely unknown and unpublished piece of information about the true nature and processing of Hermetic alchemy - namely that the true nature of the rectification and multiplication of the philosopher’s stone has to do with using the stone to charge one’s subtle bodies with the forces of the Elements (in the case of rectification) and of the stars (Zodiac) in the case of multiplication. Moreover, the A.O. further revealed that this is accomplished in Hermetic Inner Alchemy by performing certain alchemical operations according to certain quite specific astrological cycles. It should be noted that, despite the sensationalistic slogans that Robert Zink continues to publish attacking the A.O. on the EOGD website, he has until today completely failed to provide any evidence whatsoever, that he has himself been initiated into even the most rudimentary aspects of Hermetic or Rosicrucian Inner Alchemy.
Thus it is clear that the Alpha et Omega has on three separate occasions already provided substantial initiatic evidence that we are a true Arcane school in the lineages of Hermetic and Rosicurian Inner Alchemy. Those who have sought to challenge us, on the other hand, have themselves completely failed the traditional test.
Nonetheless, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega reaches out to our brothers and sisters in all Golden Dawn orders, as well as other esoteric fraternities, and Arcane schools here in the West and offers to collaborate with you in the preservation and transmission of the highest aspects of our common spiritual heritage!
Sincere aspirants are welcome to contact me directly at alchemy@golden-dawn.com.

Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum, Yeheshua,

David Griffin
G.H. Frater Lux Ex Septentrionis
Imperator Ordinis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega
"Ex Deo Nascimur.
In Yeheshua Morimur.
Per Sanctum Spiritum Reviviscimus"

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