Security!

Today when downloading and installing the emergency security patch for Internet Explorer 7, I started to think about security and secrecy in Golden Dawn.

[For those of you who have not heard, someone published the fact that Internet Explorer 7, as well as the other versions of Internet Explorer, had a huge hole in its security. In defense of the publisher, they thought that Microsoft had already addressed the issue; Microsoft hadn't. So an emergency security patch for IE 7 was released today. If you use any version of Internet Explorer, I strongly suggest going over to the Microsoft website and installing the patch. Better safe than sorry.]

Now I, myself, don't pay much attention to the whole idea of secrecy in Golden Dawn. It is something that is there, but it is not something that is important to me personally. Everybody knows that I am a member of Golden Dawn, and that the lodge I belong to is in Denver, Colorado. I learned about the system's existence though a book; it should be noted that I didn't have much knowledge about the system before actually stumbling into a lodge, but a book did send me in the right direction of an existing lodge.

Most of the people that know of me, know that I am a writer and that I write about Golden Dawn. The members that let me into the system knew that I was a writer, and they guessed that someday I would write about the system; they did not care. Therefore, I am amused by those who run around swearing that absolute secrecy is necessary.

If absolute secrecy is neccessary to a secret society, how do you explain the continued existence of secret societies like the Freemasons? Or better yet, the continued existence of Golden Dawn?

And having seen some of the information that the rabid secrecy crowd are hiding in their Inner Orders, I have to ask where is the harm of releasing this information? It is not like you can levitate cats, heal gunshots instantly, or win the Powerball jackpot. In fact, I suspect that this information is being kept secret purely for ego and due collecting purposes.

Note that I am not against secrecy; I just find the extreme that some people take it to be either frightening or just plain silly depending upon who is doing it.

Locally, we practice secrecy. It is just not the absolute form.

The curriclum is dealt with in a step by step mode. The foundation must be laid first before one attempts to climb to the heights of the Temple.

Some of our members work in jobs where the hint of being something other than a rabid Christian Fundementalist can get them fired; their identities are top secret.

Our experiemental areas, the cutting edge stuff, is secret. Though that is more along the lines of "don't try this at home."

Honestly, I don't know of anybody in the Golden Dawn system that would not agree to this type of secrecy. It is good common sense.

But it is the extreme that some people are willing to go that worries me. When it starts looking like a cult, I start to worry; those who know my history will understand why.

Using the Microsoft model (ignoring the fact that Microsoft issues their system to everyone), lets look at Golden Dawn security. Lets presume that the current is like the internet. Our seasonal passwords are like our normal security passwords on our computers and websites. The fear is that with the published information that anyone can hack into the egregores of our respective lodges and Orders.

Yeah, it is called doing the work.

The only reason that you would not want people to do the work is if you had something to gain if they went though your branch of the system and no other. And that is the only need I see for absolute secrecy.

All the current members of my lodge know all the other members in good standing; it is not like you can fake it. Just being able to parrot information out of a book is not good enourgh. And even material that was developed and published out of Bast Temple is not good enourgh to fake it.

Now, I will admit that there are esoteric reasons for secrecy, but they do not require absolute secrecy or security patches; furthermore that is a post for another day.