Thursday, July 9, 2009

Golden Dawn (Tiphareth) Incense

Occasionally during the course of researching something, I trip over something else that makes me say "Huh? Who decided that this was right?!"

Tonight, I was going though herbology formula books looking for an incense to use with geomancy workings (discovered a couple of possible ideas; open to suggestions). One of the books I was going though was Ancient Wisdom: Master Grimoire (herbs, oils and incenses: their magical uses and formulas) by Pat Kirven Sawyer. It is a fairly good book if you are into making oils and incenses, stuff like that.

But I did stumble across a recipe that made me question the authority of some of the sources used in the book.

Behold the recipe for Golden Dawn Incense (also listed as Tiphareth Incense)

Dittany of Crete (Mint)
Pine
Myrhh
Dragon's Blood
Patchouli
Balm of Peru

It does not sound too bad. Except that the description for its use said that it is for invoking evil spirits (for the casting of hexes and curses), and that the incense draws its power from the dark side fo the Tree of Life.

Huh? Says who?

I have yet to make a batch (I am sorry, but the description has me curious and don't act like you are surprised that I am willing to experiment with it); but looking over the recipe, I do not see anything that makes me think that it is a dangerous (evil) recipe. So am I wrong? Or is it the source?

Cue organ music: I guess we will have to experiment and see, won't we? Bwahahaha!

5 comments:

Frater Yechidah said...

When was Tiphareth ever a source of evil on the Tree of Life, never mind the Golden Dawn?

Sounds extremely questionable.

LVX,
Dean.

Lazy Magus said...

You're right. The ingredients don't seem to be the type to invoke evil. One would think that Dragon's Blood and Myrrh would do the opposite. And as far as hexes and such, I can't see Dittany of Crete doing just that. Odd. I look forward to hearing about your experimentation, though.

Quaero Lux said...

This sounds more like an editing mistake in the book than anything else... it will be interesting to see what your results are.

Devin Moore said...

This is a little bizarre. First of all, I don't really see anything related to Tiphareth in the recipe. If I remember right, the incenses for Tiphareth are frankincense and cinnamon. Secondly, just as Dean said, what does this have to do with evil?

I think that there may be a bad attitude among some Pagans towards the Golden Dawn, at least in my experience. A friend of mine told one of her pagan friends of my interest in the Golden Dawn and she responded saying that Golden Dawn Magic is Black Magic. Then of course a lot of Pagans use Crowley as a source without looking any deeper, and he had a habit of portraying the Golden Dawn as a Black Lodge (see Moonchild). So if that is their only exposure to the Golden Dawn, then they may have a pre-formed view of GD as being Black Magic.

Of course, I am generalizing, so maybe Quaero is right and it's just an editing mistake.

aprilenchanted said...

So I was thinking about this one Morgan and had the thought that perhaps the astrological association of these plants had something to do with the raising of the dark elements. But then I went and did that research and found nada...
Mint/Venus
Pine/Mars
Myrrh/Moon
Dragon's Blood/Mars
Patchouli/Saturn
Balm of Peru(aka Peru Balsam)/Mars

Now, there is a lot of Mars there and being an evil Aries person myself I suppose this could be indicative of evil! ;-) More seriously though, I think the presence of Venus and the Moon help to balance out the fire element. But, the presence of Saturn may tend to bring out the masochistic element. So let's look at this...
1 part masochist/Saturn +
1 part divine feminine/Venus +
1 part emotion (or lunacy)/Moon +
3 parts fire/Mars.

Looking at this more closely, I see this as the perfect oil blend for woman who has spent her life being a doormat. I suppose it would work for men of this type too. I don't see evil here, but I do see an oil blend that would help facilitate some change in many situations. But, that's just my take on it. Anyone else? I would love to hear all of your thoughts on this!