The Secret Chiefs UNVEILED (Part II): On the True Nature of Golden Dawn Lineage

by Golden Dawn

Imperator David Griffin

His Holiness Dalai Lama

"All major spiritual traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness. The important thing is they should be part of our daily lives."  

- His Holiness Dalai Lama

In a desperate attempt to divert attention from the still fomenting Satanism & SRIA scandal (here), SRIA/GD leaders are wheeling back out every controversial topic they can think of. First they resumed spreading massive misrepresentations about the Secret Chiefs (refuted here). Now they are trying desperately to divert attention with a rehash of discussing the true nature of Golden Dawn lineage.

Today's Golden Dawn community is made up of a continuum between two poles. On the one hand, we have traditionalist Golden Dawn orders like S.L. MacGregor Mathers' Alpha Omega that view the Golden Dawn as a living, evolving tradition and are Magical in their approach to spiritual development. 

At the opposite end of the spectrum, reconstructionist Golden Dawn orders see the Golden Dawn as a dead object of historical curiosity to be reconstructed. Most reconstructionist G.D. orders are led by SRIA members and are primarily Mystical in their approach. For a thorough analysis of the fundamental difference between Magick and Mysticism, see my previous articles here and here.

SRIA is a Trinitarian Christian segregationist, Freemasonic society dedicated to amateur historical research. SRIA is not an accredited academic institution and its research can not be considered as reliable scientific data.

For example one SRIA/GD leader this week wrote:

"If people claim that [MacGregor Mathers] was part of a mysterious Third order (and all that that entails) then the answer is simple enough - they have to prove it. So far there is much talk but no one has stepped up to the plate to bat- nor will they in my opinion."

In reality, the above argument has been refuted over and over, and solid evidence presented, for example here, here, here, here, and here, yet no meaningful factual dialogue whatsoever has ensued - not even once. Instead, SRIA/GD leaders merely repeat their same arguments over and over in violation of all academic protocol, propaganda style, pretending they have never received any answer.

Such use of propaganda rhetorical strategies makes it clear that SRIA is not merely an amateur research society as it purports to be, but deliberately employs propaganda methods in a dishonest attempt to manipulate esoteric organisations and entire communities.

Moreover, when examining controversial topics, SRIA/GD leaders insist that only historical data may be considered as "evidence" or "proof" of anything. This ridiculous propaganda game has gone on now for over a decade.

For example ne SRIA/GD propaganda agent this week issued a "challenge" to the Secret Chiefs to "prove" their existance by telling him the super secret decoder ring password he has invented to "test" them. Considering how this SRIA/GD leader has deliberately ignored all actually presented evidence for years, this is obviously just the latest in many years of cheap propaganda ploys.

As we see yet again in the above example, SRIA/GD agents always insist on an inappropriate, overly narrow, definition of "evidence" in order to stifle any meaningful, scholarly dialogue. The Golden Dawn, unlike SRIA, is not an amateur research club, but rather a initiatic spiritual tradition, similar to the great initiatic spiritual traditions of the East, such as Zen or Tibetan Buddhism.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
Shambhala Buddhist Lineage

Frequently, what is of the very essence to initiatic spiritual traditions is dismissed by SRIA/GD amateur historians as irrelevant, as it does not fit into their arbitrary, deliberately over-narrow definition of "evidence."

Therefore, discussion of controversial issues in the Golden Dawn, such as the Secret Chiefs or Golden Dawn lineage has remained stagnant for decades, due to SRIA/GD leaders refusing to even look at the evidence that actually has been presented, insisting on a yardstick that completely misses the point when it comes to the great initiatic spiritual traditions of the world. It is noteworthy that they have even threatened their students with expulsion should they examine the actual evidence for themselves either.

We recently witnessed the clash of these diametrically opposed approaches to the Golden Dawn in  Part 1 of "The Secret Chiefs UNVEILED" (here), On the True Nature of the Secret Chiefs. When considering the true nature of Golden Dawn lineage, this fundamental difference in approach between G.D. traditionalists and SRIA/GD reconstructionists comes into even sharper focus.

The greatest problem is that SRIA/GD reconstructionists view Golden Dawn lineage merely as a matter of historical curiosity. This week, one SRIA/GD author wrote:

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

Curiously, the author wrote this comment in reply to his article entitled The Death of Alpha Omega Lineage. The question naturally arises, if lineage does not matter to this author, then why is he obsessed with debunking Alpha Omega lineage?

The short answer is "power and control." SRIA/GD leaders are terrified of the spiritual lineages/practices the Secret Chiefs have now made available to the entire Golden Dawn community, as control and domination of the community is slipping through their fingers.

The Death of Alpha Omega Lineage claims that, since all outer order Alpha Omega temples ceased operation for a time, Alpha Omega lineage ceased to exist in the 1940s. This argument is shocking not because of the allegations it makes, but in that it reveals that SRIA/GD leaders still do not even understand the true nature of Golden Dawn lineage, even though I have explained this over and over for years, for example here, here, here, here, and here.

The problem is that amateur SRIA/GD "historians" understand Golden Dawn lineage only as though it were merely the sort of formalistic "lineage" one encounters in Freemasonic groups like SRIA. In Freemasonry, lineage indeed amounts to little more than a formal means of mutual recognition, using paper trails of charters to establish so-called regularity.

In the Alpha Omega, we do have our charters, etc., which we are very proud of, but we also understand there is more to spiritual lineage than mere paper trails of charters.

What SRIA/GD leaders pretend still not to understand, is that the Golden Dawn is first and foremost a spiritual tradition. Therefore, charters and such are by no means all that matter.

"In all of the great initiatic spiritual traditions, both East and West, lineage carries with it a set of spiritual practices that lead to specific states of spiritual realization."

Let us return, for a moment, to the SRIA/GD argument that: "Lineage does not matter. What matters is to do the work." This is certainly half true. "To do the work," however, one must first have the necessary spiritual practices, as is also the case with Buddhist lineages, for example.

Spiritual lineages, in reality, boil down to sets of spiritual practices transmitted by spiritual traditions across time, each that carries with it a specific state of spiritual attainment. In the case of the Golden Dawn, one can legitimately argue that all Golden Dawn groups that use the spiritual practices contained in Israel Regardie's The Golden Dawn each has a certain amount of spiritual lineage, because spiritual lineage is embedded in the spiritual practices themselves.

In recent years, the Golden Dawn's Secret Chiefs have made their existence and their presence known by releasing vast quantities of hitherto unknown Golden Dawn material, including essential spiritual lineages/practices that lead to even more rapid and effective spiritual attainment.

SRIA/GD leaders, desperate not to lose power, domination, and control over the Golden Dawn community, desperately refuse to admit is that Golden Dawn, Hermetic, and Rosicrucian lineages do not begin and end with what Israel Regardie published. Using their usual inappropriate yardstick, they also scream daily across the Internet that there is no "historical proof" that the Secret Chiefs even exist.

All of this is completely irrelevant. What really matters is the effectiveness for spiritual growth of the newly released spiritual practices themselves. And effective they are, as is proven by "the work" itself!

Academic anthropologist, Leslie McQuade, explains this with the following scientific analogy:

"There are two ways to trace your heritage as a physical human being, just as there are two ways to trace your spiritual heritage.  SRIA would have you believe there is only one-way: that of paper documentation.  This equates in physical terms to birth certificates, which clearly show who begot who.  If records have been destroyed, whether purposely or accidentally, or were never issued in the first place, one finds a dead end to the genealogical search. 

In our modern age though, things have changed significantly.  The DNA in our cells carries important information about our physical heritage which, unlike paper records, cannot be altered to suit expediency or political agendas. 

We are all familiar with the idea that birth records can be altered to hide problematic sires.  We similarly know that the genetic record cannot lie.  For example, documents may show that the red hair you have is a result of a long lost Scottish ancestor. The genetic record however, shows that you are in fact the milkman’s child. 

Spiritual lineage is best equated to this genetic record.  This is because although the names of your ancestors cannot be shown, the result of their physical presence in your genetic makeup is undeniable.  The Golden Dawn spiritual lineages/practices recently released by the Secret Chiefs while they may not obey the artificial construct of a Freemasonic paper-trail, do confer upon the practitioner certain undeniable characteristics of spiritual attainment, thus proving their authentic existence as much as red hair or shovel-shaped incisors."

- Leslie McQuade

SRIA/GD leaders are so desperate to retain power, they would completely deny access to these superior Golden Dawn lineages/spiritual practices to their students. For SRIA/GD leaders who claim to be spiritual stewards, this is an unspeakable abdication of responsibility and act of aggression against their students.

"The extreme effectiveness of the magical practices speaks for itself. The Alpha Omega has proven this to Adepts and Initiates from across the entire Golden Dawn community, who came to our International Golden Dawn Festivals and saw for themselves."

Here is what Golden Dawn members from around the world say about spiritual lineages recently released by the Secret Chiefs, available for the entire Golden Dawn community to practice today:

"To anyone who doubts the existence of the physical Secret Chiefs or the authenticity of their Golden Dawn teachings, if you would have attended the Festival, you would have seen it for yourself. I along with many others who did attend, ARE the proof of its power and authenticity. The Festival was open to anyone who wanted to come, so no one who was not here can rightfully deny the authenticity or power of the new material. I attended the whole week of the Festival and I can personally attest to just how powerful the  supplementary Magick newly released by the Secret Chiefs really is." 

- Frater O.B., Alvin, TX

"The spiritual practices hidden behind the symbols of the Golden Dawn are finally being revealed. The Golden Dawn is finally becoming what it should have been since the beginning." 

- Soror FL, Atlanta, GA

"The new material is astonishing in the simplicity of the techniques and the purity of energy. I could really feel that this is what the Golden Dawn was meant to be. If anyone of those present had their doubts about the authenticity of the Secret Chiefs, it truly has been cleared out by the material released the second day alone." 

- VH Frater K, Berlin, Germany

Frater ATLV, Houston, TX 

"A new unbroken oral tradition and direct transmission instead of just the same old stuff from books. 

I attended the entire week of this year's Festival. I truly feel that the Magical material newly released by the Secret Chiefs brings the AO back to a state of unprofaned wisdom and authenticity that has not been seen in the Golden Dawn since the schism of 1903.  

To those who may criticize or deny these new teachings. You had the chance to come and you could have seen it for yourself. My experiences over the week, although short was proof of the potency of the new teachings. I feel honored to be one of the very few in the world who have received this knowledge until now." 

- Frater ATLV, Houston, Texas  

"The vibration very efficient - overall, interesting and energizing. in concept." 

- Soror SKH, Montenegro

"The supplemental materials for the Neophyte grade fits like hand in glove. Some of it is advanced, but when you see it together with the rest of the material it is simple and obvious. You can see that the original material is for learning purposes and the supplemental material is for practical application of the old material. It seems like a natural extension. It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of this historical moment. This Festival has been a page turner in my life."  

- Frater NTI, Gothenburg, Sweden 

"Basically, I felt the purity of the newly released supplemental Magick and it not being tainted by past energy of others. It all feels so clean and undiluted. Working with this GD Magic is a rare experience. When working with GD Magick from published material, you just don't get that undiluted power." 

- Soror LET, Melbourne, Australia

"The fantastic new energy that shined into my being as we did the advanced Neophyte meditation and the rectified Middle Pillar touched my Soul. First to silence, peace, and fulfilment and later brought tears to my eyes. I could really feel the solar energy and the feeling that it stayed with me."

- Soror DSLO, Ostersund, Sweden 

"I have been practicing Golden Dawn Magick for 25 years and I have never experienced a meditation so profound and effective as the 2.0 version of the Neophye Meditation transmitted to us this week from the Secret Chiefs. Understanding that this is just the barest foreshadowing of what is to come, I am thrilled for the future. Truly, a new day for the Golden Dawn. We have been waiting and we have been answered." 

- Soror PPAS, Amsterdam, Holland

"J'ai resenti les effets sur le corps. Tres bons. On le resents immediatemnet."  

- Frater JR, Duola, Cameroon

"I have been practicing the Magick Golden Dawn for 11 years. I was quite astonished today when I learned the newly released Magick. No one is grafting anything onto the Golden Dawn."  

- Frater C.F., Mexico City, Mexico 

"Just reading some of the new rituals unveiled in the Neoophyte grade is enough to develop an astonishing spiritual exaltation. I was so surprised to experience this before even actively performing the rituals. 

After some 26 years of working with Golden Dawn ritual and basing magical operations on the structures of the Neophyte grade ritual, it finally makes sense. 

I have been perpetually groping towards this level of understanding and now it is as though the light has been switched on. The world's great esoteric streams all use certain methods of blinding and encrypting teachings in their outer grades. Finally we can experience this authenticity of lineage here in the outermost grade of the Golden Dawn."

- Frater IVIOL, Manchester, England

In case you missed, you can still read Part I of The Secret Chiefs Unveiled HERE.

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SPIRITUAL LINEAGE: Common Ground With Nick Farrell

by David Griffin

Nick Farrell recently wrote:

"I was also aware that my former teacher David Goddard had been teaching material ... which he described as a system of Angel Magic which pre-dated John Dee was was more reliable because "it did not come through a tainted scryer like Edward Kelly." He also claimed he was one of the few in an ancient line of Angelic initiators who had the right to teach it."

In the past, Nick Farrell has argued that lineage has no value in spiritual traditions. I was encouraged reading his latest post where he acknowledges the importance of his teacher, David Goddard, toward his own spiritual growth.

Since we at the Alpha Omega have always held a strong belief in working from a tradition (lineage), it's good to finally see some common ground with Mr. Farrell, even if he may not have intended it!

TRUTH: Golden Dawn Lineage and YOU!

by Golden Dawn

Imperator David Griffin

His Holiness Dalai Lama

"All major spiritual traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness. The important thing is they should be part of our daily lives."  

- His Holiness Dalai Lama

One of the most contentious subjects of discussion in the Golden Dawn community is the question of Golden Dawn lineage. There are those in the Golden Dawn community who believe that:

"There is no way a piece of paper can give you a lineage. Charters and that sort of rubbish does not give you any special lineage any more than an IOU can buy you your weekend groceries."

Out of respect for diversity, I acknowledge the right to hold this position on lineage, even though it is factually inaccurate. Some in our community still believe lineage is worthless merely because they not not yet have access to oathbound Golden Dawn information beyond that published by Israel Regardie. If these individuals had access to better information, as in the spiritual techniques of the Golden Dawn, Hermetic, and Rosicrucian traditions that still today remain oathbound and secret, they would quickly abandon such a position.

What those who hold such a position fail to consider is that the Golden Dawn has always been, first and foremost, a spiritual tradition, similar in magnitude to the great Tantric, Tibetan, and Zen spiritual traditions in the East.

Thus, written charters and such, although they do serve a legitimate function similar to Dharma transmission in Zen, are only of secondary importance. Far more essential are the spiritual transmissions and accompanying realizations carried with lineage in all of the great spiritual traditions, both East and West, including in the Golden Dawn. To dismiss the importance of spiritual lineage leads to a fundamental misunderstanding of the Golden Dawn.

Zen Buddhism, for example, maintains records of their historical teachers who, according to the traditional history of the 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.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
Shambhala Buddhist Lineage

What those who dismiss lineage lightly fail to properly consider is that, as one of the great spiritual traditions of the world, the ultimate aim of the Golden Dawn is to help individuals "to become more than human,” which means spiritual development through energetic evolution.

"If those who dismiss lineage lightly had access to the Golden Dawn's advanced spiritual techniques and realizations beyond the material published by Regardie, they would not so lightly dismiss a spiritual lineage as important as the Golden Dawn."

 - Imperator David Griffin

The Spiritual Mission of the 

Alpha Omega

The Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega is not just another Golden Dawn order. Whereas most GD orders, including Mr. Farrell's, offer their students little more than the well known spiritual techniques published long ago by Israel Regardie, the Alpha Omega has a great deal of new, traditional, supplemental and corrective material to offer - including highly effective techniques for spiritual realization and energetic evolution - so far available nowhere else in the Golden Dawn.

To improve the spiritual effectiveness of the Golden Dawn, these lineages were recently transmitted to the Alpha Omega by the Secret Chief's, the Continental European source of origin of the original Golden Dawn tradition.

These lineages are certainly not just paper charters either. The mission of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and our parent order, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, is to facilitate the spiritual development and energetic evolution of human kind, by providing the advanced spiritual technology necessary "to become more than human."

In the Alpha Omega, we make advanced spiritual technology of the Golden Dawn, Hermetic, and Rosicrucian lineages available in a variety of contexts. As the HOGD, we provide traditional initiation and training in the Golden Dawn materials published by Israel Regardie, together with supplementeal and corrective spiritual exercises recently released by the Secret Chiefs. As the Alpha Omega, we teach Ritual Magic, alchemy, and a vast array of spiritual techniques that go far beyond the merely Golden Dawn.

The Alpha Omega holds that human life on Earth is but the caterpillar stage of a higher, energetic form of life that human beings are evolving towards. Similar to the "rainbow body" of the Tibetan Dzogchen lineage, the spiritual practices of the Golden Dawn, Hermetic, and Rosicrucian lineages involve the cultivation of a Solar Body of Light.

For the Golden Dawn Adept, the goal of the Opus Magnum is the projection of consciousness into a fully mature Solar Body at the moment of death. This culmination of the Opus Magnum bestows conscious immortality on the SOLAR PLANE - at the speed of light in the universe inside the stars.

Sincerely,

Imperator David Griffin
HOGD, AO,  33, 90, 96

Pseudo-Historians & the Golden Dawn Feud

by David Griffin

I Ain't Feudin' - I'm Writin' "History"

Nick Farrell today published yet another pseudo-historical rant on his blog, in which Farrell once again merely repeated the same, worn out talking points, while completely failing to address any of the host of subtantial rebuttals to his talking points that have been raised over and over again from scholars from across the entire spectrum of the esoteric community. Mr Farrell does not yet appear to yet understand the incongruence of his claiming to he a "historian of the Golden Dawn, yet failing to even the most basic rules of academia!

On the Golden Dawn forum, Mr. Farrell was recently taken to task for his propaganda-like approach to "history" by acacemic anthropologist, Leslie McQuade, who wrote:

Anthropologist Leslie McQuade

SUBJECT: When Magicians Play Historian 

"As an academic and a trained anthropologist, it has been extremely entertaining over the past couple of days to observe the group of quasi-academics play historian, while ignoring the most basic rules of academia.  No matter how much I disagree with my detractors, the rigors of academia require that I acknowledge and engage counter arguments to the points that I am presenting. 

To merely repeat "talking points" over and over, like a broken record, whether in forum, book, or blog form, while completely ignoring any rebuttal may work well in the rough and tumble world of Republican politics, but in in real world academia it will likely cost you your peer review. Thus my judgement of esotericist/magicians "playing historians" (like fire-weilding bonobos) seems to be very apt when it comes to the arrogance and complete disregard for even the most fundamental of academic rigors and protocols recently exhibited by Golden Dawn lay-historians." - Leslie McQuade

Mr. Farrell is once again playing with fire in his self-appointed role of "myth busting conooclast" attacking fundamental aspects of the Golden Dawn using a pseudo-historical yardstick. Mr. Farrell has been taken to task by real academics for this on numerous occasions as well. Here is what anthropologist Leslie McQuade recently wrote, for example:

"As an anthropologist, I find it fascinating that Pat Zalkewki and Nick Farrell, who purport to lead Golden Dawn orders, do not understand that it is initiatic proof rather than historical proof that is the correct yardstick with which to measure the "oath bound" material of any initiatic tradition. 

You see, as a trained anthropologist, I have had the opportunity to study cultures, and to have the permission of those cultures to learn things usually hidden to other researchers. This is because of my dual status as not only as anthropologist, but also as an initiated witch. This is a process called "participant observer". It is a scientific method whereby in order to understand some aspects of culture it is necessary to actually "become" a member of the society at a certain level. Usually this means undergoing certain rites of passage which are age and experience appropriate, but also, as in my case, pursuing my interests in magic in the field. 

I am not really surprised to find this phenomenon in the Golden Dawn community. In the Pagan community, we have frequently had to deal with historians trying to play anthropologist, even though untrained in the ethnographic method. 

In Mr. Farrell's case, his experience as a tabloid journalist does not compensate for his lack of academic training in the historical method. In the case of the contemporary Golden Dawn, we find a bizarre situation where esotericists like Mr. Farrell make sweeping judgements about esoteric material as though they were trained historians, which they are not. Even if they were, by the way, they would nonetheless be out of their depth, as the evaluation of a living occult tradition is the proper pervue of the anthropologist rather than the historian. 

What we are witnessing today in the Golden Dawn community are a group of occultists pretending to be historians while, based on motives that are purely political, passing sweeping judgements on material which is anthropological rather than historical in nature to begin with." - Leslie McQuade

TRUTH I: The real reason Nick Farrell keeps trying to debunk the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order of the Golden Dawn and the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega is jealousy, as was also the case in the Hatfield-McCoy Feud.

TRUTH II: The root of the problem is Nick Farrell leads a Golden Dawn order  with nothing to offer his students but well known magick you can buy anywhere in a cheap Llewellyn edition. Farrell therefore writes entire books trying to prove no one else has anything more or better to offer than Llewellyn rehashes like he does.

TRUTH III: What is driving Mr. Farrell off the rails is that the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega offers Adepts from the entire Golden Dawn community a vast amount of advanced magical practices and systems that were recently transmitted by the Secret Chiefs to the Golden Dawn community through the Alpha et Omega.

TRUTH IV: The real reason Mr. Farrell attacks lineage, the A.O., and the Secret Chiefs themselves is because the Secret Chiefs chose the A.O. instead of Mr. Farrell's order to transmit this material.  Rest assured ... had the Secret Chiefs chosen Farrell's order, you would have heard him singing praises instead of attacking the Secret Chiefs!

TRUTH V: Regarding lineage, Farrell desperately ignores that it is the "body of teachings and practices" themselves that define lineage in a spiritual tradition, and not some pseudo-historical nonsense. I have covered this subject already thoroughly here.

And the absolute root of the problem?

TRUTH VI:

"The A.O. has new Golden Dawn magic to teach. Nick Farrell has only old rehash."

And contrary to Nick Farrell's propaganda ...

TRUTH VII: The Alpha et Omega is not asking anyone to take our cornucopia of new, advanced Golden Dawn teachings on "faith." As my grandmother used to say:

"The proof is in the pudding."

In other words, it is the advanced Golden Dawn magical and spiritual practices and teachings - in themselves - that are the real proof. Mr. Farrell's specious claim that we are asking people to take these things on "blind faith" is merely a word game. As Ms. McQuade mentioned above, Farrell is inappropriately demanding "historical" proof, when the real yardstick is "initiatic" proof for oath bound initiatic material.

... And the Alpha et Omega sharing this concrete and indisputable proof with the entire Golden Dawn community at the International Conclave of Golden Dawn Adepti, beginning March 9, 2012 near Las Vegas, Nevada. Here you will find complete details. Hope to see you there at this historical event!

At the end of the day, there is plenty of room in the Golden Dawn for both Mr. Farrell's order and the Alpha et Omega. There is no need at all for Mr. Farrell to be so obsessed with attacking/"debunking" our order and the Secret Chiefs.

There are plenty of people that come to the Golden Dawn looking for history. These people are better off in Mr. Farrell's order.

There are, however, also plenty of people who join the Golden Dawn wanting to learn magick. Many of these people are familiar with the published Golden Dawn material and are not looking for just a Regardie book study group.

These people want to learn new magical systems and are looking for accelerated spiritual growth through advanced magical practices and techniques. These people are better off joining the Alpha et Omega.

Thus the two orders serve the needs of completely different types of students, so there is no reason, jealousy aside, for Mr. Farrell to continue with his obssession with our order.

We wish Mr. Farrell and his order well, even though we do wish Mr. Farrell would mind his own business and teach his own students more, instead of trying to rewrite history in veiled attacks on our order all the time.

I, for one, have much better things to do with my time than to go on refuting the same talking points from Mr. Farrell over and over.

One would hope Mr. Farrell also has better things to do than to go on repeating them endlessly.

Lineage and Spiritual Traditions East and West

by Alpha Omega Imperator

David Griffin

There has again been significant buzz in recent weeks on the Golden Dawn fora and blogs about the importance, or lack thereof, of lineage in the Golden Dawn tradition. The concept of lineage is found not only in esoteric orders, but also in the great spiritual traditions of the East, as well as in Christianity and Freemasonry in the West.

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.

In its formal aspect, lineage may amount to little more than a formal means of mutual recognition, as in the case of Freemasonry, which uses charters and systems of mutual recognition between Grand lodges to establish ‘regularity.’

George Washington

Of course, in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and in the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, we have our charters, which we are very proud of, even though we understand that there is more to spiritual lineage than just charters. The Golden Dawn is not unique in in this regard, either.

In Western esotericism, numerous orders use lineage as a means of ensuring a direct transmission of spiritual principles and energies. Lineage, like trademarks, is also a basic form of protection for the public, that what members find is actually what they associate with the name or the spiritual tradition. Who wants to join a Martinist order, only to find Hindu teachings instead, or to join the Golden Dawn looking for tradtional initiation and to learn Hermetic and Rosicrucian magic and alchemy, only to find New Age teachings and "Astral" initiation instead?

Louis-Claude de St. Martin

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.

Let us not forget, however, that the Golden Dawn is first and foremost a spiritual tradition. Therefore, charters and such, are not all that matter. In all of the great spiritual traditions, both East and West, lineage carries with it a spiritual transmission or realization, 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.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
Shambhala Buddhist Lineage

I have often heard people in the Golden Dawn community say that: "Lineage does not matter. What matters is to do the work." This is certainly half true. "To do the work," however, one must have the necessary spiritual practices, as is the case with the Buddhist lineages.

The various lineages of the Alpha Omega carry with them a vast corpus of knowledge and spiritual practices from the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions. These include advanced magical and Hermetic Internal Alchemical systems that the Alpha Omega already shares with a number of traditional Golden Dawn orders.

Golden Dawn Lineage, Nick Farrell & Historical Revisionism

by David Griffin
Imperator Ordinis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®

Nick Farrell, head of the AA magical order, has recently been pursuing an agenda of drastic historical revisionism of Golden Dawn history. VH Frater SR, the Scandinavian Imperator of the HOGD/AO, recently took Mr. Farrell to task for recent revisionist remarks concerning the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn. Morevoer, SR is presently working on an article refuting Mr. Farrell's historical revisionist book that unfairly attacks Golden Dawn founder, S.L. MacGregor Mathers.

GD Historical Revisionist Nick Farrell

I am dismayed that, despite the recent removal of Robert Zink from the Golden Dawn scene, I nonetheless remain obliged to continue to refute blatant misrepresentations about the Golden Dawn tradition being made by leaders of other Golden Dawn orders. I am writing this article in response to misrepresentations recently made on Nick Farrell's blog. These misrepresentations are so serious as to either betray a blatant agenda of rampant historical revisionism, or as an alternative, at the very least, as to betray a deep ignorance by Mr. Farrell of some of the most fundamental elements of Golden Dawn tradition.

Nick Farrell wrote:

The myth: That it is incredibly important to have a connection with the original Golden Dawn. It is vital that your group claims some lineage.

The reality: If Lineage had any magical use the GD would be dead in the water as there would not be a Golden Dawn order in existence that could claim it. For Lineage to take place you would require written permission from the Chiefs of the last surviving Orders given to a fully initiated person of at least Tham.

Magically there is no advantage in having your chief received a piece of paper signed by another chief. What matters is the ability of your temple and its officers to initiate.

To begin with, Mr. Farrell's assertion is completely inaccurate that lineage in the Golden Dawn has traditionally been conveyed from Temple Chiefs to Adepts of the Theoricas Adeptus Minor grade. This appears to be historical revisionism pure and simple. It certainly has no historical precedent whatsoever in the original Golden Dawn or in any of its offshoots. In reality, the various Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages that have traditionally been transmitted through the Golden Dawn and its offshoots, have throughout history been vested in the 7=4 Grade of Adeptus Exemptus. All other assertions, such as that claimed by certain BOTA offshoots that lineage is conveyed from Chief Adept to Chief Adept, as well as Mr. Farrell's latest fabrication above, are patently false.

Secondly, when Mr. Farrell argues that "magically there is no advantage in having your chief received a piece of paper signed by another chief," he betrays a fundamental ignorance of the true importance of lineage and the actual role it plays in not only the Western esoteric tradition, but in all of the great spiritual traditions of the world as well.

Mr. Farrell erroneously suggests that lineage amounts to nothing more than a piece of paper used to fabricate some false sort of "credential." It must be granted that 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 of 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" or "Self Initiation."

Let us give Mr. Farrell the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is not deliberately attempting to deceive his readers with historical revisionism when touting his newly fabricated definition of what "lineage" means in the Golden Dawn. Even when given every benefit of the doubt, however, it nonetheless remains clear that Nick Farrell has utterly failed to even to grasp the true relevance and function of lineage in legitimate esoteric traditions.

Granted, 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.' Mr. Farrell is dead wrong, however, in conflating this sort of formalistic lineage, granted by a mere succession of formal charters, with the sort of spiritual lineages transmitted through the great spritual traditions of the world, including those of esoteric orders like Martinism and the Golden Dawn here in the West.

This type 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.

Here in the West, the sort of spiritual lineage transmitted through esoteric orders is not unique to the Golden Dawn. In Western esotericism, numerous orders use lineage as a means of ensuring a direct transmission of spiritual principles and energies. Martinist orders, for example, all claim lineage deriving from Louis-Claude de St. Martin.

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.

Dr. Gerard Encausse - "Papus"

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.

There are many examples of precisely this same sort of spiritual lineage in the East. 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.

Indeed, it is precicely such sets of spiritual exercises, practiced in order to achieve very specific spiritual realizations, that typify all of the great spiritual lineages of the world, both East and West. Here in the West, this is precisely the case with initiation into the higher transmissions of the legitimate Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages.

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 objective 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.

Hermetic-Rosicrucian Internal Alchemy

In answer to the questions raised by Nick Farrell, if all one is interested in is merely studying or practicing the basic Golden Dawn techniques published by Israel Regardie, then Mr. Farrell may be correct that lineage is relatively unimportant. After all, can one not equally study this material on one's own with a used $5 Regardie book? If one follows Mr. Farrell's argument to its logical conclusion, moreover, the inevitable consequence is that the vast majority of Golden Dawn orders are equally as superfluous as Golden Dawn lineage - including Mr. Farrell's own order.

If, however, one is interested in the significant potential for accelerated spiritual development that the living Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages still today have to offer - in orders and schools that are not mere study groups for published information - but instead remain legitimate outer vehicles for higher Hermetic and Rosicrucian spiritual practices - then actual initiation in these living lineages is, in fact, extremely important.

Finally, Nick Farrell once again raises the other red herring that has so often been raised by solitary practitioners of published Golden dawn material, namely that:

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

Well ... this depends on how you define the "work" of the Golden Dawn. If all you are interested in is to practice the relatively elementary Hermetic and Rosicrucian magical techniques published by Israel Regardie, then why do you even need a Golden Dawn order? Can you not get by nicely merely by purchasing Regardie's Golden Dawn book together with my Ritual Magic Manual?

On the other hand - if you are interested in the true "Opus Magnum" - following a uniquely Western path with advanced spiritual techniques from ancient Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages that go far beyond what either Regardie or I ever published - then both Golden Dawn initiation and lineage do matter - a LOT.

For nearly a decade, leaders of other Golden Dawn orders, like Nick Farrell, have tried to say that our order, the HOGD/AO, has provided "no proof" that there even exist any Hermetic or Rosicrucian spiritual practices beyond that which was published by Israel Regardie or in my Ritual Magic Manual.

Well, they can't say that any longer.

For years, leaders of other Golden Dawn orders have also tried to say that the HOGD/AO claims to be the only legitimate Golden Dawn order.

Well, they can't say that any longer either.

Long ago, our order fully embraced diversity in the Golden Dawn community. Why not Thelemic Golden Dawn orders like the OSOGD? Why not New Age Golden Dawn orders like the EOGD? Why not Historical Revisionist Golden Dawn orders like Nick Farrell's?

It is precisely this diversity that helps our Golden Dawn community to grow. If people are interested in Thelema, then they should join the OSOGD. If they are more interested New Age practices, then they should join the EOGD. If they are more interested in Nick Farrell's revision of the Golden Dawn, then they should join Nick Farrell's order.

Let us remember, however, that the Golden Dawn did not just fall out of the sky. The Golden Dawn has always been part of both the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions. And whether the leaders of all of the diverse Golden Dawn orders want to accept it or not, the Golden Dawn was created from the beginning to serve as a recruitment vehicle for higher Hermetic and Rosicrucian teachings and practices, intended for the higher grades of the order.

As important as it is to embrace diversity in our community, it is equally as important that at least one Golden Dawn order continue to serve this original mission. This is why the Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages do, in fact, matter a lot to the HOGD/AO. Our order is today the only Golden Dawn order that continues to serve as an outer vehicle for higher Hermetic and Rosicrucian spiritual practices and lineages.

The HOGD/AO has, however, also said all along that, although we are presently the only "Golden Dawn" order that serves as an outer vehicle for higher Rosicrucian and Hermetic lineages, we are certainly not the only initiatic school that serve as such a vehicle.

In recent months, I have provided conclusive proof of all of this, by creating an entirely new outer vehicle for salient aspects of the higher Hermetic and Rosicrucian mysteries in America, that we call The Great Rite. If you have not yet checked out The Great Rite website, you should.

Because of The Great Rite workshops, the HOGD/AO is no longer the only school in America that teaches mysteries of Hermetic Internal Alchemy. These teachings are too important to be kept only in the highest grades of any Freemasonic-style order, including the Golden Dawn. If you are interested in learning Hermetic Internal Alchemy, you should certainly enroll in the workshops of The Great Rite. 

On the other hand, if you are interested in Ritual Magic or the Golden Dawn, you should absolutely join the HOGD/AO. In my honest opinion the HOGD/AO is the best and most thorough school of ritual magic that exists anywhere in the world today. Moreover, the HOGD/AO still remains the only Golden Dawn order that serves as an outer vehicle for the higher Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages and spiritual practices.

And before Nick Farrell or any other Golden Dawn leader comes up with the bright idea to try to misrepresent this - as has happened with our order so often in the past - let me clarify once and for all: The entire Second and Third Order curriculum of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega is unique unto our order. Even the teachings and practices of Hermetic Internal Alchemy taught in the AO are different than those taught in The Great Rite workshops.

This means that, in the HOGD/AO, beyond the published Regardie material, you will find advanced practices that come directly from ancient Hermetic and Rosicrucian lineages, and not from Thelema, the New Age movement, or that have been fabricated wholesale by Pat Zalewksi or Nick Farrell.

Again, the HOGD/AO has nothing against any of these other Golden Dawn orders. We fully accept their right to exist and appreciate the function that they actually fulfill. We do not, however, want to be confused with them either.

In our diverse Golden Dawn community, our order, the HOGD/AO, today still remains a Hermetic and Rosicrucian bastion, standing proud as a thoroughly traditionalist alternative to the plethora of New Age, Thelemic, and Revisionist Golden Dawn orders that make up much of our diverse Golden Dawn community today.

Where No Man Has Gone Before ...