Some comments that I just have to make

I apologize to my regular readers for the following rant post. But there are times that I just have to say "What the F***?!" And last night on the blogosphere I ran into one of those moments.

It was a post by Robert Zink, headwarden of the EOGD, and he is talking about how both him and Mathers have both victims of the "Blemish" game, a tactic used to justify actions by finding faults in others. In both his and Mathers case, the Blemish game (the term was coined by Eric Bernie, I think) was used to justify schism.

(By the way, the schism happened in 1900, not 1904. Sorry, one of my faults is that I am a double major [Literature and History] currently attending university---little mistakes like that disturb the S*** out of me.)

Zink went on to say that he believes that the current went with Mathers because he was the Third Order contact, a point that I have never seen enourgh proof of to believe in. Nor have I seen enourgh proof of the implied fact that Zink is not mentioning here.

(For the record, I would have voted against Mathers the day he decided that playing politics was a more valuable use of his time than making needed repairs to the Vault of the Adeptii. I don't care if your are the voice of Third Order; my concern as an Adept is my own work which requires a fully repaired Vault.)

"Often we play this game with leaders, it is a common game with dire consquences." Ok, leaders lose their jobs to this game. Of course, I am always surprised by the things that leaders should have gotten the boot for that does not come out until after they get the boot. One of the things that can be said about having political power is that it allows you to keep a tight lid on the members of your group who would talk of your faults and abuses.

After a brief comment about his favorite enemy, we finally get to the part that I have to comment on. Zink mentions that Jeff Randich and Alex Walker, along with some other members, "have decided to create their own group", the OGD/CSS.

Zink says that he feels bad about the way that they left, as he thinks that the EOGD should have a method for those who have been in the Order for a long time to be able to create their own Orders. He notes that they will be a new lineage, and that he was proud to be the Second Order initiator of all those who schismed against him.

Ok, here are my primary comment. None of the Golden Dawn Orders (no matter what their names) have ever been good at being able to hive off new Orders. One of the differences between Wicca and the esoteric Orders one will notice if one studies the first decade or so of the re-invented English Wicca is that they had a rules about how  and when to create new covens. (I don't know enourgh about European Wicca to know how they dealt with this---sorry about the English bias.)

For instance, once a coven got to a certain size (typicially over a dozen members) and had enourgh members of certain degrees, then the group had to "hive off" according to the rules. There was no finding fault with the current parent group leadership; the rules said that the group membership had to be divided. Furthermore, the group could not have contact with each other for a specified time period (typically a year), so that the new group leaders could develop their own skills without someone second-guessing them at every turn.

Of course, this plan will not work in any Golden Dawn or esoteric Order that insists that Third Order contact equals a REAL Order. Presuming that Zink is truthful about his feelings, there is no system that can be invented that allows a new Order to form if Third Order contact is monopolized by a single individual.

So what we get in Golden Dawn is schisms and expulsions. Either you rebel or you p*** off the current leader so badly that you get expelled---those are the only two commonly used routes that Golden Dawn allows you to form your own Order. Oh, there are two other routes, but the one is hardly ever used and the other is considered illegitimate by those who insist that they are the font of all knowledge.

Zink, I acknowledge your stated feelings and the fact that you believe that your faults are not great enourgh to justify members leaving your Order, but honestly there will never be any other option for those who are ready to head their own Order. Because deep down, you believe that you are the heart of your Order and can do no wrong. You like your monopoly too much and we all know it.

As noted already, I apologize to my regular readers for the rant. I also apologize to anyone who do not think I went far enourgh in my statements, or that I did not go far enourgh. I will be weighing comments on this post based on how much gasoline I think that they are soaked in---note that I do not want my blog to burst into flames.