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(Number 99)
Answer to a question about Golden Dawn, etc....
Greetings,
Thanks for the info Armon and I hope you guys can have fun looking
into it and discussing it. Your historical study might be
interesting if laid out in some files (in the group) for those that
are also interested.
For the Pagans in the Group, including myself, I am interested in
some of its workings only, for similarities and/or comparisons to my
own work and beliefs, I had looked into the subject in my early
years, because basically that was all there was to read in the fields
of magick and mystery, but it was really beyond me and didn't fit my
beliefs, religious, or otherwise.
But it was still interesting to know what it is/was, so as to give
oneself a more solid foundation in one's own search and life's
journey. I had friends who were deeply interested and they often
bantered back and forth about who the real school and Order was in
those days and whether it survived the changes and break ups from the
original Order. It must be even more complicated in these days with
resurrected orders coming up all the time and all vying for
authenticity.
Anyway, for the casual readers of our Group, maybe a little
background is in order regarding the Order and thereby confuse
everyone even more – just for interest. If there's anything I've
misquoted, let me know guys, as that is what these pages are all
about, for exchange of information into occult in general and the
myriad of various practices around the world, to help our own studies
and knowledge advance without limiting ourselves to any narrow
perceptions within the whole.
Again, right at the start, it is better to say up front, that
this/these systems are Judeo/Christian in their foundations and are
built upon a belief in their one God. As I was never Christian and
still have not the least iota of wishing to be, it didn't and still
doesn't have anything to offer me personally, but as I say, it is
good to know of such things as the Qabalah is introduced into their
magick and is definitely Judeo in its foundation and confuses Pagans
nowadays as to its mistaken introduction to many Pagan paths.
So here goes, Once upon a time.....the Golden Dawn is a system of
magic that was developed in the late 1800's by Dr. William Wynn
Wescott and S.L. MacGregor Mathers. The core of Golden Dawn was
based on an old cipher manuscript that was discovered by Dr. Wescott
in the British Museum.
Golden Dawn is based on the synthesis of three mystical religions:
The Egyptian Religion, Judaic Mysticism in the form of Kabalah, and
Christian Mysticism in the form of Rosecrucianism. What is usually
discovered by the serious student as he / she begins upon the path,
is that when all three of these systems are taken together they tell
a story of human evolution that could not be conveyed by any other
means.
The basis of Enochian Magic is from the year of 1581 through the
extraordinary efforts of Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly, the secrets
that were lost with the patriarch of the Bible known as Enoch were
returned to those who thirst for the knowledge of Light. Dee kept
close records of their intensive work. Although some of Dee's work
has been lost, much of it is to be found in Sloane Documents 3188,
3189, 3191, 3677, and 3679. These documents are to be found at the
British Museum in London.
One of the most important breakthroughs in the rediscovery of these
lost secrets was an entirely new language. This language contained
its own grammar and syntax. It is an Angelic language often referred
to as "Enochian." Dee and Kelly used great care and effort when
receiving the lost knowledge of Enoch. The beginnings of Enochian
Magic then came into place, but the information was just information.
It was not a system of any usable value. Thus, for the most part, it
remained dormant, undefined and unusable.
Then, over 200 years later, this body of raw knowledge that Dee &
Kelly painstakingly uncovered was given form and life by the so-
called genius of S.L. MacGregor Mathers. Under the tutelage of
Mathers, the Second (Inner) Order of the Golden Dawn began working
(they say) the most powerful system of magic the world has or may
ever see. (mmnn)
Years later in Chicago, a disgruntled Paul Foster Case (after being
expelled from the order by Moina Mathers) ,would lead a quieter
crusade to convince fellow students that Enochian Magic was "volatile
and dangerous." Case would even go so far as to have it sliced and
diced out of all Inner Order Teachings of a group he founded called
the "Builders of the Adytum." Others would follow in Case's
footsteps, claiming Enochian was too dangerous.
Without entering into the debate on the "dangers" of Enochian Magic,
when used with caution and in accordance with Second Order Teachings,
it is not only safe, they still doggedly believe it is utterly
effective in the physical world, and illuminating in the area of
Spiritual development! (Of course everyone to their own).
With regard to the ENOCHIAN TABLETS, Dee and Kelly were the pioneers
who blazed the trail. Along the trail of forgotten and lost
knowledge were the Four Watchtowers of the Universe. These Watchtower
Tablets were adapted by Mathers to represent the Four Elements of
Fire, Water, Air and Earth, (which predates this Order by millenia).
There is a definite hierarchy to each of these tablets though. The
hierarchy in its highest form is not to be found on the Tablets, but
comes from the study of the Qabalah. It is the Divine Name of the
Element in Hebrew that first must be intoned and invoked. The reason
is that the Hebrew represents the Celestial influence and governance
and the Enochian hierarchy represents the Assiac or material
governance.
In each tablet there are three Secret Holy Names of God, which are
extracted from the horizontal cross bar of the central cross of each
Tablet. In all there are twelve Holy Names on four Tablets, which
infer a serious connection and bridge between the Macrocosm and the
personal Microcosm of one's own "sphere of sensation."
These Names are invoked during the four Elemental Grade Ceremonies
(initiations) by the Hierophant of the Golden Dawn in the Outer.
Through the power of the Secret Names the general nature of the
element involved in the initiation is filtered through the Tablet
into the "Aura" or sphere of sensation of the advancing candidate.
The result is the establishment of a magical link and affinity with
the element of the Initiation. This sort of serves to empower the new
candidate in that new elemental powers are now available to him or
her, (effective for belief factor needed to work any magick guys!!).
This process depends on a trained and empowered Hierophant, and can,
in fact, be performed in full Temple "astrally" to allow the
elemental link to exist for members who live hundreds or even
thousands of miles from a Temple.
The Elemental Tablets are introduced one at a time in the Grade
Initiations of the Golden Dawn. There is an important Initiation that
is not depicted on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. It is the Portal
Initiation. It is attributed to the top point of the pentagram which
is Spirit. Thus, in the Portal Initiation of our Order, the Tablet of
Union is introduced as it represents the building Spirit or actuating
glue between the elements.
The highest name of Spirit in this Tablet is EHNB. This is the purest
Spiritual force and is only invoked when some empowering is required
from the direct force of spirit. The Tablet of Union is placed on the
center Altar to act as the central hub from which the Elemental
Tablets are spokes.
This only reveals a miniscule amount of information on Enochian
Golden Dawn methodology. In fact, much of the body of the Second
Order Enochian Work remains unpublished and safely in the hands of
the College of Adepti.
Enochian Magic requires a solid and firm foundation in the study of
the Qabalah, Geomancy, Tarot, Alchemy, and Astrology. It is very
complicated with many twists and turns that are sometimes hard to
follow, to me anyway, but the adepts still expound that the teachings
are not a toy, but a powerful system that should be employed with the
same caution a prudent person uses who would handle a loaded gun.
(Isn't any magick, or....?
There are some very good books on Enochian out on the market.
However, some are extremely incomplete and over-simplified so a to
attract more readers and sell more books. These books (many crammed
with faulty information) which confuse the average person and might
even be dangerous in the hands of the novice. If not dangerous, then
completely ineffective perhaps.
Hermeticism is a path of magic which has evolved from a diverse
blending of influences during two key periods. The first period was
during the Renaissance, when Christians of a mystical bent combined
newly unearthed Greek, Hebrew and Arabic mysticism with native
Alchemy, Freemasonry, and heretical Christian Theurgy and
Thaumaturgy. The second period was during the Victorian era, when
colonization of orient brought back a variety of meditational
techniques (including Tantra) which were combined with the previously
mentioned influences and both Spiritism and Theosophy. (Phew,
everyone still awake?)
Anyway, to continue the rather muddled story, we must look into where
it went to and how it got there. This was even more complicated to
me in the early days, but Crowley fascinated me, like everyone else
in the early days of the 60's and 70's.
Arising from the muddle of so many secret organizations, as we have
said, was the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which basically,
(like everything else, even revivalist Wicca to a certain degree - no
pun intended) is definately a pseudo-masonic organization which
claimed to be descended from the Rosicrucian's, (whooo themselves
were never really proven). This organization harbored a good number
of English aristocrats as members, as well as theologians, poets, and
people still known primarily for their occult work, just like
Freemasonry and sometimes even overlapped in those early days.
One such person was Aleister Crowley, who left the Order very angrily
and began work with Ordo Templi Orientis. Claiming to descend from
the Knights Templar, (another pseudo masonic link), this organization
was largely centered in Germany and was focused primarily on Tantra
(sexually induced trances.) Crowley added his own ideas to the mix,
including his "Book of the Law", a kind of Holy Bible to the religion
he founded called Thelema.
During roughly the same period, Crowley's students and contemporaries
added an immense amount of public literature to Hermeticism; largely
because the Hermetic Orders were splintering into factions. New
organizations devised new material in a flurry of inspiration, and
individuals published the previously secret papers of dying Orders
for the sake of posterity and even now it still seems to be going on
in new bursts of energy.
Anyway, during this period came forth individuals like Austin Osman
Spare and Kenneth Grant, whose ideas on Hermetica go off into
controversial directions (and border on, or are an early form of
Chaoticism, or Chaos Magick, which is touched on in our site at Coven
of Cythrawl.) Nevertheless, the history of Hermeticism is extremely
complicated and highly disputed to say the least.
Armon, I couldn't find your link you sent working with .org at the
back, but did find it with .com. As you say, the main resurrected
Order offers distance learning and might be the best site for a basic
in understanding. How much they actually practice is another thing,
or whether it has become a thriving business, like the modern day
Rosicrucians, (AMORC) and perhaps the Order of Bards, Ovates and
Druids, (OBOD). Another discussion perhaps….
Interesting links for those who wish to just point and click and
don't want the trouble of searching.
http://www.golden-dawn.com.
This is perhaps what Armon is discussing and it features information
about the order system of initiation, magic, theurgy, and alchemy,
along with a Golden Dawn discussion forum. One can easily join this
Order from here, if ya got the buck$.
http://www.hermeticgoldendawn.org/index.shtml
Nonprofit organization promotes the Western esoteric traditions,
including hermetic, Rosicrucian and cabala practices. Another site
that is attached to the first.
http://www.geocities.com/lvx_120/
Offers access to texts and an overview of the organization and
purpose of this Hermetic order.
http://www.hermetic.com/gdlibrary/
The Golden Dawn Library project is a collective effort to see the
entire corpus of materials deriving from the Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn. This library will eventually contain, (they say), as
many Golden Dawn and Golden Dawn derived documents as can be found.
Currently, a transcription of the original Cipher Manuscript, the
foundation document, is available along with gif format images of its
pages which might be interesting for some.
Good luck – it's not an easy subject…..
Blessings,
Azaz
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