Looking over the few blog posts about David Griffin "suggesting" to his members that they rush over to Amazon and give Nick Farrell one-star negative reviews for his alleged insulting remarks about Griffin's HOGD/AO that did not originate from the two parties involved, I have noticed that the general opinion is that Griffin has lost his flaming mind. And I understand how one would believe this; I thought this when I saw the first puppet master post (really there is a global conspiracy against Griffin and his Order? it is not just simple loathing for a man who seems determined to destroy the greater Golden Dawn community because we refuse to bow down to his infinite wisdom?).
But the writer and business manager in me saw something more going on.
First, it was the launch of a major promotional campaign. Same as all of his campaigns, it features him knowing the truth and the rest of us as fools being too stupid to follow him. (Gee, I wonder why the rest of us loathe him.)
Second, it was launched just before his magical confab, one that was ill-timed for any leader in another Golden Dawn Order to attend. (Gee, could it be that Griffin did not actually want leaders from other Orders to attend?) That was too big of a coincidence for me.
Third, before the confab even started, Griffin was foaming at the mouth that Farrell was violating his Order and his copyrights. Here is a man who does not understand copyright law. Or any of the other laws that he threatens people with.
So I do not believe that Griffin has gone insane. No, I believe that he has other reasons to send his troops at Farrell. And yes, they willingly voluteered to do so. The poor fools.
One of the quickest ways to bond a group together is to give them a common enemy. In this case, Nick Farrell. If Robert Zink was still around and active, he could have been the sacrifical victim, but it is the community's loss that Zink is currently rebuilding his empire. And Pat Zalewski didn't have anything recent to rant about. So it had to be Nick. Poor Nick.
Now, how do I know that this is not what it appears to be? Simple, bad book reviews do not actually hurt the sales of established writers. In fact, the buzz and shouting probably helped Farrell's book sales. Therefore, considering Griffin is not stupid, and presuming that he has not went insane (ok, there is a possibilty there), why would Griffin do this campaign?
The only answer I have is the common enemy bond. These freshly minted Adept Minors have been given a common enemy to fight against. It is a minor form of brain washing.
And it does not matter if Griffin consciously meant this campaign to do that or not---he still gets points on the various cult danger evaluation forms for calling his members to fight in this campaign. And the fact that his members willingly hopped to defend their and his honor gets him even more points. And if you wait a few days, the final unveiling of the puppet master, who is supposely controlling the venom that flows in Griffin's general direction (it can't be the simple fact that people loathe the man), will gain Griffin even more points on the cult scales. Unless he has lost his flaming mind, in which case, the situation is even worse than I think it is.
[The opinions expressed here are mine. Remember that I PDFed a lot of what has happened, and no judge in the land is going to rule that this commentary is off-limits thanks to how silly this situation looks.]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
29 comments:
I was having similar thoughts this morning. The best way to bond a group is with a common enemy and to tell them they are being oppressed. His group may have been slipping away from him and he decided he needed to do this to get them back. It is interesting for someone that claims thousands of members only a handful have spoken up. That indicates either his claims are exaggerated or he doesn't have much pull anymore.
But I still wouldn't rule out him loosing his mind. His group slipping away may be what drove him over the edge. Just because he's nuts wouldn't mean he wouldn't still be trying to manipulate things.
Griffin, in spite of his supreme douchery is no fool. He does not lie. He misrepresents, he twists things, but he does not lie.
For example, the Secret Chiefs... I've been looking, and I've yet to see anything that does more than imply that the Secret Chiefs are invisible ghosts. If you look, he's phrased it in ways that make it look like he's possibly meaning that, but he never says it. Based on what he's said, the Chiefs are more likely to be in the flesh than anything else.
Oh, I believe that Griffin is in contact with flesh and blood human beings that he believes are Secret Chiefs (Third Order). But I do NOT believe that they are the contacts that Mathers was in touch with. I also believe that these contacts have their own agenda, and it is not nearly as spiritual as Griffin thinks it is.
Wow, Morgan, that's a plot worthy of a direct-to-DVD "occult" movie!
Hmmm... these so-called Secret Chiefs are in actuality the group known throughout history by many names, but one encompasses them all: the infamous... [ominous music] Black Brotherhood![orchestra hit] These shadowy beings have concocted a nefarious plan to destroy the only threat to their world-wide magical dominance - the Golden Dawn Tradition itself! [da-da-da-DAH!] [thunder]
Their evil plot required one unsuspecting victim to play their unwitting lackey, to contrive a means to put every Order, Guild and Coven at each other's throats. (Yes, Coven - they have already made one attempt at subverting Wicca, more are likely to follow. We'll leave that for the sequel.)
Finding in one Golden Dawn magician a desire to unify and lead the Golden Dawn revival under his own banner, a longing all too easily corrupted, they unleash the power of the most insidious and powerful Malefic Magic of all - the spell to cause one's enemies to actively destroy themselves, and blame themselves for their own downfall!
(One wonders if they have access to a Tepaphone...)
The only thing standing in the way of this plot are the plucky, free thinking mages of the GD community, who somehow resist the temptation to descend into disorder and hopelessness, and realize that in fraterity and mutual respect, they are together more powerful than they dared hope. But is it enough???
The plot unravels when a minor aspirant doing menial duties at A+O HQ discovers a scrawled telephone number marked "S.C.s", and tweets it to various occult twitter feeds. It is traced by the plucky GDers to a cabal of aging anarcho-magicians in Prague, the last survivors of the Freemasonic Order of the Golden Centurium, wrecking their final revenge against the descedants of the London Adepts that had, unbeknownst to the world at-large, all but destroyed their original FOGC order in magical combat early in the 20th century.
But before the FOGC wizards can deliver the killing blow to the approaching GD Adepts, their Tepaphone instrument is neutralized and destroyed by unexpected allies, the ultra-secret Order of the Mentalic Builders, sworn enemies of the FOGC across the decades. The OMB had tracked the location of the evil device with a powerful radionic camera, and subjected it to White Light bombardment generated by multiple Hieronymus Machines built into Enochian Tablet boxes. The resulting magical blowback drives the last FOGC "Secret Chiefs", and one fluffy white cat, into gibbering insanity. The GD Adept squad enters the compound, finding all of the various "new magic" formulas intended to destroy the GD egregore, and publish them all on Facebook, rendering them "profaned" and useless.
(A mighty cheer goes up, various love interests hook up with the objects of their affections, someone adopts the fluffy white cat, angel choir sings, roll credits...)
Somebody get Guillermo del Toro on the phone, and pass the popcorn...
(I want to be played by Johnny Depp.)
Hi Joe,
I'd totally buy that movie ... I think that the scenario you've been presenting would overshadow any of Dan Brown's work.
Vic
@Rufus What is the difference between a lie and intentionally twisting something around till it means something else? All good lies have an element of truth in them to make them more believable.
On the secret chiefs, from his posts I think I remember him stating that the secret chief was flesh and blood. I think the secret chief uses the same motto as Mather's secret chief implying that they are the same person, though he has never addressed that.
I am not so sure he actually has any secret chief. I put it 50/50 that he made it up to give himself an air of legitimacy. The other 50% that someone did contact him and conning him into believing they are a secret chief. Either way, for people to accept as proof that the S.C.'s are real and valid based on receiving a teaching through Griffin is being willful blind. The teachings can come from anywhere. David may even have made them up.
Another aspect of the 'gone nuts' theme. I lived in Las Vegas for about 3 years. The energy there is messed up, it almost killed me. When you first get there you can feel the static in the air. It is somewhat inebriating and at first invigorating. But when you start trying to do magic you find the area is dead and the directions feel off. Eventually the energy wears on you and causes extreme stress - which to me ended in a bleeding ulcer and me almost dying (even though I made more money than I ever had in my life and had a cushy job). I attribute the strange energy to the fact that about 75 miles N of vegas they used to do above ground nuclear tests. You could see the plumes from Las Vegas (based on pictures - I wasn't alive then). This energy could be pushing Griffin over the edge.
Awesome! This made my day. I have surely missed the Max humor!
LOL, beautiful, Joe, absolutely beautiful!
I think the biggest problem y'all have is that you're too evenly matched when it comes to occult power. Obviously his curses failed, and I'm sure one or two of the other side have launched the occasional SCUD Goetia of Solomon spirit as well.
I don't think anyone's taken the war to the level necessary to truly end it. No one's exercised the nuclear option. I figure it's got to be one of the following reasons:
* The tech is lacking - GD magic"k" isn't capable of actually destroying rogue Orders; The current's designed for other things (healing the sick, and that without charge), and its members haven't integrated the forces necessary to pull it off on their own.
* The intent is lacking - No one with the power to pull off a nuclear option gives a shit what the Outer Orders do or say.
* This is really what the GD is supposed to be like - Evidence indicates that all this inter- and intra-Order warfare is fairly typical of the GD current since forever, and this is part of how the Egregore does things, on purpose, for whatever mysterious reason.
* ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
Clearly in this case no common enemy needed to be "created" as Farrell has been out there attacking the FOUNDATIONS of the true Traditional Golden Dawn for ages.
Since you are repeating so many of his talking points here yourselves, you must be part of the same movement that is hell bent on destroying the GD Egregore at its roots.
You continue to insult the intelligence of every Traditionalist member in the world today, with your distortions of the facts and your belittling of their motives in standing up to defend what they hold dear.
There was no ordering involved - much as you hate to admit to such inconvenient facts.
Let it not be forgotten that Farrell is the attacker here. He started this petty little campaign and now you are carrying it forwards and adding your sad little personal digs at the GH Imperator.
To bring this back to FACTS rather then getting dragged off into Farrell's diversions - you can state your guesses and opinions as to the existence of Third Order Secret Chiefs as much as you like, but not one of you took up the challenge and came to the Conclave. You evidently do not want to see any proof. You are only interested in vomiting spite onto your blogs.
Vilification of Mathers, the AO, the Rituals, the Third Order - these are all the proof the wider community needs that you are enemies of GD Traditionalism and cut from the very same cloth as lunatic Fundamentalist Christians.
The facts are there for any who care to read the standard attacks launched by the Fundies with those you are now indulging yourselves with... since the cap fits, you have labelled yourselves.
Morgan, you're saying his Secret Chiefs and the Third Order are the same thing here. My understanding is fuzzy when it comes to the Third Order. I had previously believed the Third Order were the discarnate ascended masters of the Rosicrucian current. Now the HOGD says they're in the flesh. What's the real deal?
@ Rufus--I am positive that this is the normal behavior for Golden Dawn.
Please remember that if you believe Crowley, our nuclear option is peas in a sieve. It seems to be working. *wink*
And yes, Griffin has came out and stated that the Secret Chiefs are the Third Order, and that they are flesh and blood. Personally, I believe it is an attempt to corner the Secret Chief market...because everyone can contract the astral version with enourgh mugwort.
@ Deanna, if David is nuts, he was nuts long before moving to Vegas. He has been acting this way for twenty years...yes, the conspiracy has been trying to destroy him and his precious Order for twenty years.
You are not the first person to tell me that the energies around Las Vegas are completely messed up. But Griffin should be ok, he works with eclipse energies.
@ Aletheia--I am sorry I thought surviving my Senior Seminar in History was more important. I also thought that my duties and obligtions to the Order that I belong to were more important.
So I have been an open pagan/Wiccan all these years to help destroy your Order---wow. You guys really are important for the conspiracy to use sleeper agents like me.
@Aletheia:
Ah, yes, the A+O's much vaunted respect for the hallowed institution of Golden Dawn probity and proprietry. That is, they are allowed to say anything they want, compare their critics to Mafia gangsters and evil alien cyborgs, spam-bomb their critics' Amazon reviews, but no one is allowed to respond about how dumb it is no matter how obliquely, humorously or full of grace.
Ye gods, I don't think I've ever seen this much existential angst outside of a Monday night emo goth club. Next thing you know they'll be staring at a blank wall, weeping silently while listening to Smiths albums and cutting themselves.
The biggest problem with all this is, like Mark Twain said, "Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."
For those people who keep score of such things, over the course of my lifetime, I have been called an insane Satanist, a tree-hugging pagan, a cat-worshipping hoarder, and now (I think) a Christian Fundie. Obvivously, only one of these things can be true. And because I am developing a real dislike for a certain person and their happy little friends, the last one has to be true despite all the evidence that I hoard cats.
This post has just became one of my ten most-read blog posts of all time. Let's see if we can get it up to number 2, beating out the Zink's post.
@Morgan. Apparently both of us have been called out on Griffin's blog, so I expect you will get the hit now. You have a great blog if they take the time to go back and read past entries (I spent a whole day doing that once). My blog doesn't matter, it is fairly trivial stuff. I post a response on Griffin's blog, lets see if it gets posted without censorship.
@Joe Max - Over the years we have been treated to all the misrepresentations and more that you list; Reconstructionists, Borgs (Star Trek), and now Fundamentalist Christians, legal threats and lawsuits.
It is interesting to note that those that spout these wonderful claims against the GD Community are really on the outside looking in, trying to tear down that which they cannot hope to comprehend.
It is true that there have been attempts to unravel the exaggerations expounded by Mr. Griffin. They are exaggerations and do not meet with any historical proof. (I realize that I will now be attacked for demanding proof and not accepting Mr. Griffin as the Messianic Prophet that he so desparately wishes to be).
Here is a plot by Mr. Griffin that is rarely discussed (stop me if you have heard this theme before):
In the early 1990's Mr. Griffin had three golden talismanic rings made and offered them to three GH Chiefs of the HOGD (the real one, not the one Griffin claims). These rings were to be worn and used in specifically timed rituals of Mr. Griffin's devising. As some point the rings were to be returned to Mr. Griffin on demand.
This plot failed of course because at least two of the GH Chiefs were discriminating enough to see this as improper and highly unusual. As for the third Chief, well she was sleeping with Mr. Griffin, thus already calling into question her powers of discrimination.
Sauron, Mr. Griffin is not. He is not even a poor copy or imitation.
Now he manipulates his followers to attack, misrepresent, and shout down all those that oppose him and his plans. What does this say about the qualities of Mr. Griffin or those that follow him?
Omnia Veritas Vincit - Truth Conquers All.
Let us armor ourselves with the Truth of FACT. Let our Words and Actions speak for themselves.
In LVX,
Samuel
May I point out, that for the last several weeks, not only has Mercury been retrograde, but so have Mars and Saturn. Eek.
Which explains a lot when you think about it. It's an exceedingly bad time for "opposing sides" to be discussing anything. Miscommunication, belligerence and stubbornness are sure to abound.
(That was some great magickin' there, oh greatly honored adepts! Nobody bothered to check the astrology before scheduling retreats, releasing books, or launching internet propaganda campaigns?)
Mercury goes direct on the 3rd, Mars on the 13th, but Saturn doesn't release until mid-June. Don't anybody try to found an Order until then, you'll be sorry!
Having watched this dog fight from the outside since 1999, I have to say that I have never seen a good time to discuss these things. It doesn't matter what is direct and what is retrograde, etc., the two parties really do not get along. One side believes that their opinion is the absolute truth, and the other side believes that the goal is to drive them into extinction. The story stays the same, the players merely change.
What I do know is that every time I put forth an opinion that differs from Griffin's current official version, whether it is a forum post, blog post, book review, etc., I get accused of trying to start a flame war which sole goal is to destroy his Order. And this has been going on for years.
I am getting sick and tired of his opinion and official version of Golden Dawn history being the only version allowed.
I am getting tired of censoring myself to appease this man and his Order.
And thanks to the flak I brought in this current round, I think my days of being polite are over.
The Golden Dawn I belong to is NOT his Golden Dawn---and my opinion is just as valid as his.
@Morgan - The problem is that the Golden Dawn is not Mr. Griffin, no matter how much he likes to think or claim that it is.
For that matter Mr. Griffin is not a member of the Golden Dawn - at least anymore... I seem to recall that he was kicked out of the only REAL Golden Dawn Order that he was ever a member.
Had to go off and CREATE his own GDesque Order after that.... so that what we currently have is him claiming to be Imperator of an Order that he is not a member of, in the US where he cannot legally use that name....perhaps he has forgotten about the court case which he so often likes to threaten folks with...
Interesting how his version of events, especially over the last 20 years does not quite match up to the factual events themselves.... Not a real surprise from him at all...
Perhaps it would be best if his members were to do some investigation of their own into the events and actions that really took place rather than merely accepting the word of their "leader".
Perhaps the use of Discrimination on their part might be helpful rather than relying upon the false myth that they are being spoon fed.
In LVX,
Samuel
Let the truth be told---Elvis is more wonderful than Griffin.
http://path-to-the-stars.blogspot.com/2012/03/david-griffin-was-right-conspiracy.html
Joeseph Max: You can end that with the funny diatribe, but what you said initially displays deep GD insight.
It really rings true to me, and answers some of my biggest questions about the attitudes, or lack thereof of the main players.
Appreciate that.
I'm not a member of any Golden Dawn order and I've only worked with GD material filtered through a Dion Fortune prism. So I could be accused of being an ignorant outsider and a pesky Revisionist, but not of being part of a 20-year Fundamentalist conspiracy (phew).
Alarm bells always ring for me when I see a magical order with a trademark. It gives out one of two messages. Either: "I'm a commercial entity and I want to make money from this system" or, "I want sole and exclusive ownership of the system so that nobody else can have it." One or both of these things is always involved because there isn't any other reason to trademark anything. Not that that always means there are bad intentions, but you have to ask yourself why anyone would feel the need to trademark a spiritual group.
I'm also slightly wary of adepts who make a big show of their adepthood. All the genuinely spiritually empowered people I've ever met have had a natural humility and even an ordinariness about them. (This of course is the meaning of the Rosicrucian edict about wearing the clothes appropriate to your country – a warning about making an exhibition of yourself.) Not that there's anything wrong with being open about your magical work, but if you post pictures of yourself prancing about in your robes and boast about how much work went into consecrating your tools, it sends out a message that you're hung up on the outer glamour of the work rather than its inner purpose.
I first encountered Mr Griffin a year or so ago when he misconstrued something I'd written in a blog comment and ignored me when I corrected him. I thought he was rather rude but didn't think any more of it. The only thing that bothered me about it at the time was that he was using his adepthood as some kind of mark of authority for expressing his opinions. He would begin every sentence with "As a Golden Dawn Adept …" or "As a practising Rosicrucian…" in a way which implied that you couldn't argue with his viewpoint because he was blessed with a superior status which gave his arguments a special weight over and above whatever plebby and unenlightened views you might have. I just took it as a sign of spiritual immaturity, and moved on. It was only recently that I discovered he was claiming to be some kind of grand arch-mage of the entire Golden Dawn system, trademarks and all. In some ways it surprised me, but then again, it didn't.
Forgive me if I'm a little cynical about temple grades, because I think they're only meaningful within the context of each temple. There are no absolutes, and once you start thinking your Adeptus Major is better than someone else's Adeptus Minor then you're at the level of little boys comparing the size of their willies. The late Arthur Chichester of the Society of the Inner Light always reckoned you could tell somebody's level of achievement by the way they expressed and dealt with the vice of the corresponding Sephirah. Something to think about there, anyway.
Why seek ye to enter these Mysteries?
"I desire to know in order to serve."
Not, "I desire to know in order to assert my superior status over others and have greater authority when I spout my opinions on the internet."
I wrote this on Fr. Griffin's blog, but either it got lost in cyberspace or it was not approved.
re: The GD Witch Hunt
Fr. Griffin, do you have a Plan B in case those you oppose choose to continue holding their view?
Have you considered that the more time you spend refuting them, that prospective seekers may conclude that the alternate views must be worth considering and carry considerable weight?
They will then have to go out and buy all of Nick and company's books to fully understand it, and start reading their blogs . . .
My point being that Attention is Life Force -
Choose carefully what you decide to give life to . . .
If it were me, and I had a complete system and Secret Chiefs to back me up, I would be so busy with the Work of the Order and helping and working with aspirants, that I wouldn't have time to debate what I knew was falsehood.
I would encourage those who were in darkness to keep working their system, whatever system that was, because in due time they will ripen and see through appearances to the Reality that lies behind.
Just 20 more page views and this post will be more widely read than any of the cat posts that I ever did. (That would make it the second most read post on my blog ever---he needs about seven thousand more to beat the number one post about search engines.)
I think Rebsie has hit the nail on the head on a several points. And not just 'cos we use the same metaphor of comparing grades/lineage length with boys worrying about the size of their dicks (is that vile language?).
Really, no one can take the likes of David seriously when they bang on about grades, lineage, titles, powerful wands (that's a giveaway) and then claim to be a Rosicrucian.
All this just drags the GD down further. And really, it's not hard to avoid. I mean there are plenty of leaders out there who do not parade titles, grades and wands...
whatever griffin is trying to accomplish, he does not seem to be succeeding.
over the past couple of months i've met two of his former members in england- kind of rare as there were never many of them - who are now ... surprise, surprise, in the ORC.
the trouble is that a lot of DG's lineage claims revolve around things that were alleged to have happened in the london occult scene, and everyone in that scene knows firsthand that things are not as he and robert word insist they are.
therefore he can never find anyone based in the UK to fight his corner.
he likes to pretend this is becaus eof the baleful influence of the SRIA, but in essence it's because the real world just won't cooperate with his delusions.
the big problem is remoteness from the source, the cultural gulf between americans and the english, which is exacerbated by the extreme personalities involved on the american side - which just repels english occultists, and reliance on bad information, like ithell colqhouhoun, who was highly partisan in her commentary on the GD's descendants, and guys like robert mcgregor reid, who wanted to pretend their fathers were something they were not.
Post a Comment