One of the things that every student of Golden Dawn needs to be aware of is the assumptions that themselves and other students (especially lodge and Order officers) have about the Golden Dawn system. These assumptions are constantly in the background, and they color the opinions of those who hold them.
What are some of the assumptions that I hold?
Grades represent a level of learning in the system. And while they are associated with a sephirah and certain spiritual states, they are NOT the sephirah and states of consciousness themselves. The Grade is a Gateway to those states, but just because someone has the Grade does not mean that they permanmently dwell in that mental state.
The baseline of Golden Dawn is the Outer Order material, that the entire system is built from the bottom up. There are some that say that the further development of the Golden Dawn system depends upon knowing what the Third Order teachings are--I disagree. It would be an awful poor mystery tradition if all you had to do to kill it was kill off the superior Grades in the chain.
I believe that the history of Golden Dawn is both simplier and more complicated than people can imagine. My basic view of Golden Dawn history is that Kenneth MacKenzie cobbled together the Cipher Manuscript for a group that never used it, and that Westcott and company created a myth to match it after it came into their possession.
Therefore actual contact with Third Order is impossible. Third Order, if it arises, will come from a further development of the Golden Dawn system. Any group that claims to be Third Order is involved in a plot to control Golden Dawn.
As one can guess these assumptions color my opinions about Golden Dawn. To convince me otherwise, one has to cough up actual evidence.
One of the most important assumptions that one can make about Golden Dawn is about the nature of initiation. Considering initiation is the backbone of the system, having a clear idea of what initiation is and is not is important. What is it supposed to accomplish? To put it simply, initiation's purpose is to bring you in contact with certain energetic sources that are tapped though symbols; the energy flow that results is used to develop spiritually and magically.
Personally, I believe that Temple Initiation is best. I firmly believe that one should belong to a community of scholars and mages. Failing the option, second choice is Self-Initiation. I consider Astral Initiation to be a compromise between the first two options.
My beliefs about the hierarchy annoy many people. I believe in electing officers. Many believe that one must have a place in the hierarchy to hold an office, and that it is true to a certain extent. But a member of the hierarchy does NOT have to hold an office to influence the system and the world.
I believe that Golden Dawn is NOT a religion. I believe that members of any religion can join the system, though I will admit that certain religions have a harder time in the esoteric Orders than others.
And most impotantly, I believe that I am allowed to change my mind about the assumptions that I have today. I am allowed to learn. Others are allowed to convince me that their assumptions are more correct. So if you think that I am in error, you might be right and I might agree with you tommorrow.
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- Morgan Drake Eckstein
- Denver, Colorado, United States
- A cross between Douglas Adams, Robert Heinlein, Erma Bombeck, Sybil Leek, and Wednesday Addams, Morgan Drake Eckstein writes in multiple genres and under many pennames. A survivor of several secret societies, MDE has served as a pagan (Wicca) community church board member as well as a Golden Dawn Hierophant. Today, he is (along with his wife, Khari) a minister of Fireside Wicca Community Church in Denver, Colorado. Among his pennames are Michael Ramalia (the New Egyptian Space Empire) . . .
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Copyright 2007-2018 Morgan Drake Eckstein. All rights are reserved. [The Magical Witch was formerly called "Gleamings from the Golden Dawn" and "Esoteric Comedy Show" at various points in the lifetime of this blog.]
2 comments:
Fra. Morgan,
That's well said. However, I would like to comment on a few aspects:
1. Seems to me that your statement "Therefore actual contact with Third Order is impossible. Third Order, if it arises, will come from a further development of the Golden Dawn system." imply in a contradiction. Because if you accept that the Third Order could be a further development of the GD system it is not impossible. And seems that something like that is already happening acc to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (http://www.golden-dawn.com/eu/displaycontent.aspx?pageid=173-biography-david-griffin). The HOGD (David Griffin) claim that they HAD a contact with the Secret Chiefs in 2002 when they passed on the required material for the development of the Third Order, which they claim is dedicated to Hermetic (Spiritual) Alchemy.
2. Regarding the origins of the teachings provided for the Third Order, we need to talk about the existence of the Secret Chiefs. On that I also found striking similarities between GD and AMORC. The latest have what they called the Secret Mansions of the Rosicrucians from where all Rosicrucian movements have sprint and oversee by that community of high Adepts. It is worth to visit and read the excellent material provided by Raymond Bernard (http://www.plotinus.com/raymond_website_copy.htm). Also visit my blog for further discussions on this subject (http://rutilusdiluculo-cmills.blogspot.com/2009/10/are-amorc-golden-dawn-off-shots-of-old.html).
3 The third point is related to the part "...second choice is Self-Initiation. I consider Astral Initiation to be a compromise between the first two options." I would like to say that according to my experience studying 40 years with AMORC, which rely basically on private Sanctum study and initiation (home based) for their members, self-initiation and the Astral aspect of it are totally inter-related. I would say, the same thing. Thus any self-initiation to be real needs an astral component working. The student need to develop an astral contact with Order's core to make their self-initiation effective; and the student also need to make astral contact with the Order's egregore to receive the influx of Light for that Path. I think the same is applicable to the GD system.
Fra. TAS
FRC :..:
When you said "Grades represent a level of learning in the system. And while they are associated with a Sephirah and certain spiritual states, they are NOT the Sephirah and states of consciousness themselves. The Grade is a Gateway to those states, but just because someone has the Grade does not mean that they permanently dwell in that mental state.", I would like to expand on that.
From start, I totally agree that Grades 'represent' the target level of learning and understanding expected from the student in the system. The Sephirah related to the Grade express the level of consciousness to be attained in that Grade. The student, if meditating into the Sephirah should attain, during their meditation, the insights related to the akashic records related to that Sephira as well as reaching momentarily the state of consciousness provided by that level. Staying on that level is another issue. I think it is possible with extensive practice and full dedication. Probably not with our current life style. If I would, I wouldn't be expending all that time writing but immersed in the Sephirah "NOW" state accessing the pure knowledge available to me...
Fra. TAS
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