The sexual misdeeds of Aleister Crowley (Creepy Uncle of Wicca and Golden Dawn)

The other day, some imp forwarded a Facebook notification to me--someone declared that it was time to reveal Aleister Crowley's sexual abuse of....


*yawn*


Seriously, is there any occultist alive today who does not know the legend of Wicca and Golden Dawn's creepy family member, the randy Aleister Crowley? Of the hearts he broke? Of the demons and drugs he ingested? Of the goats he touched?


It is not news that he did such things. In fact, I am fairly sure that he bragged about doing such things. I could be wrong about the bragging; I haven't read any of his works in over a decade.*


[*Yes, I know--I have to turn in my magical union card right now, for ignoring all the great things found in Crowley's works. But I have been busy: hexing Presidents; causing tires to fall off the back of trucks; cleaning litter boxes; debating about whether or not, I want to go back to university to earn my Masters degree; writing a horrible satire about the true history of the modern occult world--you know--unimportant stuff.]


My rule of thumb: Assume Crowley sexually harassed everyone he ever met. And that he porked everyone who didn't run away fast enough. If he was alive today, he would still be the creepy uncle saying, "You are sexy. Want to do drugs and make out?"**


[**It should be noted that there are a couple of people in the modern occult community that I think that even Crowley would say, "Thanks, but no thanks" to if the possibility of porking them ever came up. In fact, some of his greatest haters fall under the label: "So fugly that even Aleister Crowley would not do them."]


The wonderfulness about my rule of thumb is that I do not have to waste time wondering if he sexually harassed, and possibly porked someone. I can go directly to the question that his lifestyle always generates: "Could Creepy Uncle Al be right about the nature of the universe?"


And the question comes up a lot.


The genius occult leader who came out and shouted, "It is time to reveal Crowley's worst sexual misdeeds!!!" is a little late to the party.*** I understand that talking about powerful men abusing their positions and grabbing pussy while stroking their pickle is the hot topic of the month. Yes, let's hop on that flaming dumpster fire of a parade float, shall we?


[***In all fairness, the occult leader may have gone on to do something witty, like post pictures of cute goats--I don't know--I do not read his posts because: 1--I am not interested in Alt-Right politics, 2--He has been making up lies for nearly twenty years about all the greatest occultists, 3--It is more fun to clean out the litter boxes, and 4--I am banned and blocked from his Facebook group. The most important reason for not reading his stuff is number three; least important is four...because I could make a sock if I really, really wanted to read his posts.]


 That flaming dumpster fire of a parade float comes by once a day if you live near the intersection of MagicIsFun and CrowleyWasTheGreatestAdeptEver. And it has been running for years--it is more reliable than any bus or train I have ever encountered. At least once a day on the internet, someone says...


"Aleister Crowley was a sexual predator; and therefore, we should toss all his stuff into a dumpster and set fire to it because there is absolutely no way that a pervert could create a decent occult system with any merit in it."


Wait, that sounded too educated. Let me try again...


"Crowley! Sex! Drugs! Satan! Bad! Very bad! Run away!"


This is the type of person who does not listen to eighties hair metal because the musicians are indulging in Sex! Drugs! Satan!...and maybe Crowley!


Because nothing entertaining and interesting has ever been created from that evils of a rock and roll lifestyle.


And Aleister Crowley was definitely someone who lived a rock and roll lifestyle. It is expected that such people live such a outrageous lifestyle. If you met Crowley, you would be disappointed if he didn't offer you some candy and a ride in his van. (You don't want to be one of the fugly people, do you?)


So the real issue is not that Aleister Crowley was a sexual menace to society, but rather "Does the work of Aleister Crowley contribute to our knowledge of the occult sciences and its history?"


And the answer to that is: Yes.****


[****More so than photocopying the same ritual fifteen times, and declaring it a masterpiece.]


Like it or not, Crowley contributed ideas and beliefs to the modern occult world. He is a source for what the early Golden Dawn looked like. His works have been raided for lessons and rituals by many modern occultists. He influenced a lot of people, including members of both modern Golden Dawn and Wicca. He is important.


And not liking his rock and roll lifestyle does not change that fact.


Sorry.


Next time you want the internet to go wild, I suggest posting pictures of cute goats.

If you do not find Aleister Crowley sexy, then there is something wrong with you...like you have eyes.

Everything you need to know about the history of the Golden Dawn flame war

[This blog post was written February 13, 2015, and was never published because everyone said that the days of the Flame Wars! were over---I am publishing it today because someone just started screaming that someone was trying to start a new flame war against them.]

The history of the twenty year plus long Golden Dawn flame war is (more or less) as follows:

In the late 1990s, two different Orders trademarked the name "Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn." One was based in Europe, and the other one was based in the United States. The trademark was fought over in a lengthy court battle, a battle that also spilled over onto the internet.

In addition to this, two GD gurus decided that they wanted to turn Golden Dawn into a business, one where they had the monopoly over the entire Golden Dawn system. To help accomplish this, both parties also fought it out on the internet by defaming the other party, and anyone who supported them.

Both of these battles resulted in at least one party using sock puppets and their human followers to post the most vicious and nasty lies that they could think of to describe the other parties and people that they wanted out of the Golden Dawn business.

During the course of all this, sooner or later, everyone got called a Neo-Nazi, Satanist, and a criminal. Needless to say, there is a lot of hurt feelings.

Who is guilty? Well, each party involved blames someone(s) else for the whole nine yards.

So basically, some parties decided that it made good business sense to call other people names, in order to convince students of the Golden Dawn system that they were the only logical choice to teach and lead Golden Dawn, given the fact that all of the other Golden Dawn leaders and teachers were complete and utter dogs intent on ripping people off and using them for their own evil pleasure.

As always, remember "Buyer Beware!" for some people are very good at appearing to be other than what they really are.

Why didn't Sprengel write in English?

Today, I was reading an old post of mine, Reading the Sprengel Letters, and the comments that people made about it. And a question arose in my mind--why didn't Fraulein Sprengel write to Westcott in English?


One of the features of the Sprengel Letters is that they are written in a god-awful form of German. Some claim that it is an older form of German. Other people claim that it is German as it would be written by a person whose native tongue is English. There is also indications that a man was writing the letters, and not a woman (something to do with gender and the German language); or someone who did not know the correct gender tense.


(Honestly, I do not speak a word of German, so I forget the technical aspects to the arguments---hence why I am not even using the right terms for what other people have seen in the German of the letters.)


Now, in the very first letter, November 1887, Sprengel says that "Frater 'In Utroque Fidelis' my secretary, often writes my letters for me." And in the last letter, 23 August 1890, Ex uno disce omnes, the person who informs Westcott of Sprengel's death says, "We are afraid that the young I.U.F. the secretary who has written letters to you for S.D.A. [Sapiens Dominabitur Astris] during recent years will have to stop his studies and take to business."


If I.U.F. was a German speaker, and secretary to Sprengel, he should have written the letters in decent German, even if her command of German was less than perfect. After all, one of the jobs of a secretary is to clean up the drafts of the letters that your boss writes.


If I.U.F. was an English speaker, or Sprengel was, better equipped to communicate in English, given the address of Westcott (England), why wasn't Westcott asked if he would prefer to write and receive communications in English?


It may be a simple thing, but if I received a letter from an Englishman while living in a strange land, I would ask if I could use my native tongue rather than a language that I was not perfect in.


(The cherry on top of this, by the way, is that Mathers introduced an American, Madame Horos as Fraulein Sprengel to the members of the Ahathoor lodge in February of 1900--a definite speaker of English. This was accompanied by an accusation that Westcott forged the Sprengel letters--but not the Cipher Manuscript or the German address that Sprengel was supposed to be living at.)

Cypher lunch (What the Cipher Manuscript says and does not say about the Tarot)

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The theme of this Samhain Tarot Blog Hop is feasting with our honored ancestors. Out of all the ancestors that I could raise a glass of mead with, the one that I would like to have a discussion with the most is a spiritual and magical ancestor, and not a blood relative.

One of the spiritual and magical ancestors of all students of the Golden Dawn tradition is the creator of the Cipher Manuscript. The Cipher Manuscript is the foundational document of the entire Golden Dawn system---without the Cipher Manuscript, the Order of the Golden Dawn would have never existed. The Cipher Manuscript is an outline of the Outer Order Grade rituals and subjects of study, enciphered with a substitution alphabet. 

The most likely creator of the Cipher Manuscript was a Kenneth Mackenzie, Masonic scholar and occultist. Exactly who Mackenzie meant the rituals outlined in the Cipher Manuscript for we will probably never know for sure---but we do know that the rituals were not meant for Westcott and Mathers. Probably written sometime between 1860 and 1875, the Cipher Manuscript came into the possession of William Wynn Westcott after the death of Mackenzie in 1886. Westcott, with the help of his friend, Samuel Liddell Mathers, deciphered the Cipher Manuscript and fleshed out the rituals, creating a working Order in 1888.

A page from the Cipher Manuscript---part of the 2=9 (Theoricus) initiation ritual.

 One of the features of the Golden Dawn system outlined in the Cipher Manuscript is a Tarot scheme that has became a part of the way many people read Tarot, even if they have never heard of Golden Dawn.

Cipher Manuscript--Universe card description.

The first mention of the Tarot in the Cipher Manuscript occurs in the Knowledge Lecture outline of the Zelator Grade---it is a list of the four suits of the Tarot.

The second mention of the Tarot occurs in the Theoricus Grade initiation, a ritual where the initiate is shown a key of the Tarot. In this case, it is the Universe card, which is described as 72 circles around Queen Isis, who is also Sandalphon, who bears wands and has crossed legs; there is also a seven pointed star, and four Kerubim in the corners of the card.

Cipher Manuscript--drawing of the Judgment card.

The next initiation ritual (Practicus) introduces the initiate to two more of the Tarot cards. The first card is Judgment. Of this card, the Cipher Manuscript mentions that it "is much more than the last judgment."

Cipher Manuscript--drawing of the Sun card.

The second card introduced in the Practicus ritual is the Sun. Both Judgment and the Sun are roughly illustrated in the pages of the Cipher Manuscript.

Among the knowledge to be learned in the Practicus Grade is a system of "synonyms in tarot divination," a system of astrological correspondences that has made its way outside of Golden Dawn and is used by many Tarot readers, often without knowing that the system that they are using was a creation of the mysterious creator of the first draft of the rituals of Golden Dawn.

If you have ever used "Emperor is Aries; Hierophant (High Priest) is Taurus...," then you have used the system of correspondences that were first outlined in the Golden Dawn Cipher Manuscript.

Also included in this section of the Cipher Manuscript was a Tarot Lecture, talking about the four suits of the Tarot corresponding to the four worlds of the Kabbalah. The Lecture expounds for the initiate to "behold the true attribution of the Tarot--ponder it in thy heart--[reveal] not to the profane." The Lecture also mentions that the Keys of Strength and Justice need to be switched to correspond to the true attributions of the esoteric system of the Tarot, the true Book of Thoth.

Cipher Manuscript--drawing of the Moon card.

The next Grade initiation ritual (Philosophus) has three Tarot cards, all illustrated in the Cipher Manuscript. The first card is the Moon card, complete with crayfish.

Cipher Manuscript--drawing of the Star card.

The next card is the Star, which is Sirius, with Isis kneeling with water at her feet. There is a Tree of Life and the seven classical planets also on the card.

Cipher Manuscript--drawing of the Tower card.

The final card illustrated is the Tower, which the Cipher Manuscript associates with the tower of Babel. A downward symbol of Mars, a regular Tree of Life, and a Tree associated with the Qlippoth (evil inclined astral shells) surround the broken tower and falling figure.

At the end of the Philosophus ritual, the Cipher manuscript comes to an end. And while the Cipher Manuscript gives the "true" astrological correspondences to the Tarot trumps, there is a lot that the creator of the Cipher Manuscript does not tell us.

For instance, we are only shown the "true" depiction of six of the trump cards. One of the things that I would love to conjure the ghost of the creator of the Cipher Manuscript, and ask of it is "What do the rest of the Tarot trumps look like?" While later leaders of the Golden Dawn tradition have fleshed out the reminder of the Tarot deck, we have no idea what the original creator of Golden Dawn had in mind for the rest of the Tarot deck.

Likewise, we have no idea of what the rest of the rituals of the tradition were originally meant to be like---the additional rituals that we have were created by other people. Nor do we know what other sections of Tarot study that the creator of the Cipher Manuscript meant to include in the system.

Quite frankly, the creator of the Cipher Manuscript left more unfinished than finished when you actually look at the whole of the system. Nevertheless, without this slim outline, the tradition of Golden Dawn and its way of reading the Tarot would have never happened.

And I am not the only student of the Golden Dawn tradition that would like to ask the creator of the Cipher Manuscript a few dozen questions. I am merely one of the pushy ones at the front of the line.

Happy Samhain!

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How Matherites rewrite Golden Dawn history

Good luck with your attempt to turn Mathers into a Saint. 

The best way to start this post is to perhaps to state upfront that I actually admire the work that Samuel Liddell Mathers did, especially the work he did alongside with William Wynn Westcott. I view the duo of Mathers and Westcott much like I view the duo of Dee and Kelley, two men who helped create a system bigger and more grand than they were. And much like Dee and Kelley, I feel that they were better operating as a duo than separate individuals. Also like Dee and Kelley, I do not think that Mathers and Westcott had the slightest clue of how vast and complicated the system that they helped birth really was. And just like Dee and Kelley, I do not believe that Mathers' word and instruction about the system he helped create is the last and final word.

Then again, I do not believe that a final word is possible about the Golden Dawn system of initiations and instructions--at least, as long as the system remains a living system. I do not think that Westcott, Waite, Regardie, Crowley, the Ciceros, or anyone else understood/understands the system so completely that their word has to be taken as absolute gospel and the only correct way to work the system.

Yet over the years, I have encountered dozens of people who have held up Mathers as the final word of how the system is supposed to be worked, right down to the level of accepted behavior that a leader has to meet. These people brush the more ugly aspects of Mathers' behavior and the troubling aspects of Golden Dawn history that make the man look all too human under a rug. Often it is because they consider themselves the spiritual successor to Mathers' Golden Dawn, right down to even creating a fake charter.

Seriously, I have encountered someone who created a fake charter from the man, not just a simple lineage and historical claim to be the man's successor. It was a rather sad and pitiful attempt to look like more important than they really were. I was not impressed, having a decent knowledge of art techniques that are designed to mimic the works of the masters. Being a happy little cynic probably also helped.

So what are some of the changes that the Matherites like to make to Golden Dawn history? And what is actually closer to the truth?

Mathers was popular and welcome in many different Orders. Actually, no, he was not. In fact, Mathers was barred from joining several groups, due to the intense dislike that some had of his character. In terms of memberships in multiple Orders, Westcott was far more active than Mathers.

Mathers was learned in many languages. Only partially true. Again, Westcott was the better of Mathers.

Mathers was a military man. Only if being a private makes you a military man. Or if translating a book from French does.

Mathers was hard working and reliable. Seriously? At least, one person who hired him to do translation would have argued differently, as well as all the people he borrowed money from and never repaid.

Mathers was really of Scottish noblity. Based solely on Mathers' claims, of course...of which there is no actual historical evidence to back the claim that he was "Comte MacGregor do Glenstrae."

Mathers was a ritual writing genius responsible for what Golden Dawn is. No, no, no. The Cipher Manuscript was written by someone else, probably Kenneth MacKenzie. The Outer Order rituals were mainly fleshed out by Westcott, a fact that Mathers never denied. The Portal ritual, originally part of the 5=6 ritual is a mess magically from an initiation analysis point of view. And large parts of the 5=6 ritual were actually lifted from the original RC manifestos (a point that can be proved by highlighting everything found in the Adept Minor ritual that also is found in the original RC manifestos).

(There is also a rumor that the whole Vault of the Adepts, color scheme and all, was lifted from another group--but in all fairness, I have not seen proof of this claim.)

Mathers was completely ignorant of the Westcott creation of the Sprengel letters during the opening days of Golden Dawn. Seriously, if Mathers was ignorant that Westcott was creating a set of letters and stories to boost the reputation of the Order, then he must have also believed that the Order was hundreds of years old. Often Mathers and Westcott was taking action before they recieved the "official approval" though the Sprengel letters--was Mathers really so dense that he did not notice this?!

Mathers moved to Paris to be in contact with the Secret Chiefs. Actually, he moved to Paris to accompany his wife, Moina, who supposed to go to art school there. Then, after moving to Paris, he claimed to have made contact with the Secret Chiefs and to recieve the Second Order material.

There was a logical reason for him to believe that Madame Horos was really a 5=6 member of the Golden Dawn. If there is one, no source has ever revealed it. And the excuse that he had been cut off from contact with the Secret Chiefs does not cut it either. Quite simply, why didn't he test the woman and her companions on the very basics of the Golden Dawn security procedures and rituals? Surely, the Horos did not fake the passwords, Grade signs, and knowledge of the rituals of the Grades they claimed to have...because if they did, they would had no need to steal documents and rituals from Mathers.

Mathers meet with physical Secret Chiefs. Actually, while Mathers claimed that he believed that he believed that the Secret Chiefs were living on Earth, he said that he only saw them in astral form--"the rendezvous was made astrally by them..." In other words, he never shook hands with a Secret Chief...which would be the ultimate proof that they were flesh and blood beings, so we only have his stated belief that they were physical beings.

The promotion of Crowley and/or actions of the SRIA were the real reasons for the schism against Mathers. No, the problems within the Order, the harbringer of the schism, started to show up as early as 1892, several years before the entry of Crowley into Outer Order, not alone into the Inner Order. And the actual schism in 1900, preceeded Mathers' removal from the SRIA by two years (Mathers was removed from the ranks of the SRIA for inactivity).

(For the record, given Mathers disregard for the wishes of the London Adepti, including his refusal to help make repairs to the Vault of the Adepts, I would have voted against him. His behavior alone, regardless of whether or not he was in contact with Third Order, was enough to cause a significant amount of the membership to rebel against him. The real reason for the schism is simply that people don't always get along with one another, especially if some of the people involved are arrogant ass-holes who believe that people are plotting against them.)

Mathers was cut from contact from the Secret Chiefs for the third and final time in 1906 when the Secret Chiefs realized the mess that he made of their teachings when Aliester Crowley published the Golden Dawn material. There are a few problems with this idea. The system, if guided by the Secret Chiefs, was always "hands-off"--one can hardly blame the worker if the supervisor is never on the job site. The Cipher Manuscript was fleshed out without any input by the Secret Chiefs--hence the entire Outer Order could be wrong. Secondly, it took Crowley publishing for the Secret Chiefs to realize that Mathers was cocking the system up? What they never asked Mathers any questions about how he understood the material?! Thirdly, Mathers AO was not even using the same set of Z-documents and rituals as the ones that Crowley published--or at least, not doing the rituals as if the Z-documents had any actual bearing on the effectiveness of the system.

And Mathers was in contact with a group of physical Secret Chiefs at the time of the Mathers/Crowley court case. And if the Secret Chiefs were physical beings, why did they not at least send a letter to Mathers to show the judge? Crowley got sent several charters and letters to undermine Mathers' claims to be the sole RC representative, why did Mathers not get any from the people most concerned with his claims. It is one thing for them not to show up in court, but why no letters?!

(In fact, why no letters at all from the Secret Chiefs beyond the Sprengel letters? A single physical letter would have proven that they were physical beings living on Earth...yet not a single letter exists to prove that they knew where Mathers lived. And for that matter, why did no one in the Order outside of Mathers and his wife ever met them? Surely, the Secret Chiefs knew where the lodges were located at, and could have proven that they had more right to be there than anyone else did.)

Mathers fully understood the system, and should be considered the final voice in how Golden Dawn and its Inner Order should work, including the acceptable behavior of an occult leader. No, Mathers did not fully understand the system. For one thing, he had not experienced the rituals from the viewpoint of the initiate--there are experiences that only initiates have (things that initiates use to see if someone has done more than just read the GD rituals in a book). Two, he ignored stuff from the very documents and lessons that he wrote (following the Z-documents make it impossible to do the short-cuts to the rituals that he allowed, not alone actually allow people to claim Grades simply by swearing the oath of the Grade and paying an advancement fee--aka rituals done without the person being present, something that shows up in the log books of his own lodge). As for his behavior being acceptable as a leader, tell me again how it is ok to piss off the membership to the point that they rebel against you.

Mathers was selective about who he let into the Order. If Crowley is not proof enourgh that Mathers quality control was lax, how about the Horos? Is there any evidence at all that Mathers ever rejected a single applicant who had the money to pay the dues and fees?

There is at least one lineage today that traces back to Mathers and is authorized. No, none at all. No one was authorized by Mathers to take over the Order after his death. Not even Moina Mathers had authority to run the Order after he died. And by 1940s, every lodge of Mathers' AO had closed its doors.

Of course, let's be honest, none of the facts will ever prevent people from trying to turn Mathers into a Saint or prevent them from claiming that they are his one and only true spiritual successor. And in fact, one can probably put good money on the fact that this little blog post will be called complete and utter lies by at least one Matherite...but then again, me and Matherites never get along with one another, so what else is new?

Nick Farrell challenges the Secret Chiefs to a duel!

I suspect that the Secret Chiefs are too lazy to go to an important meeting.

The big news of the week is that Nick Farrell has challenged the Secret Chiefs to a duel. Go on, read his challenge to them (right here at this link). I will wait until you are back. You are back. See, I told you that Nick challenged the Secret Chiefs to a duel.

What do you mean?! That is not a duel challenge...are you sure? Because it sounds like one to me.

And we all know what is going to happen--no Secret Chief is going to show up to chat with Nick. Because he is a secret dog lover. I mean you can't have a real conversation with someone that is guilty of kissing dogs. (And this explanation of why the Secret Chiefs did not show up might not be the most silly one that results from this challenge...if you see a sillier one, please post the link in the comment section for my readers to amuse themselves with.) Seriously, my cats are too lazy to go prove to Nick Farrell that they are also his superiors; besides his head would explode being in the presence of so much cuteness.

Now, seriously, seriously, the problem is that Nick Farrell wants what he considers true independent verification of the existence of the Secret Chiefs. Independent as in not coming directly from the mouth of a gatekeeper, or from the people that the gatekeeper has blessed with their teachings.

The closest that Nick is ever going to get on that front is one gatekeeper declaring another gatekeeper a villain, and electing themselves as the one true gatekeeper to the Secret Chiefs.

This is the closest we ever got of independent proof of their existence.

Go though the historical records of the Secret Chiefs, including the primary documents being generated by the current round of gatekeepers and supporters, and all that you will find is declarations by gatekeepers that they are the one true link to the Secret Chiefs, advertising endorsements by their followers, symbolic and un-provable theories about why the Secret Chiefs only reveal themselves to the gatekeepers, declarations that other gatekeepers are frauds and liars and that the accuser is the only true gatekeeper (or at least, their close personal friend), and attempts to use the idea of the Secret Chiefs and connections to them as a means to control members of esoteric societies.

We would be better off if the whole lot of them just sat down and played a game of Magic the Gathering to figure out who was the gatekeeper of the hour was.

As for instruction being proof, that requires an element of faith even if the material is completely new and unknown. I have seen too many con-artists use the Secret Chiefs and secret knowledge as proof, and then use this proof to justify the mistreatment of the membership of their groups. I have in the past been presented with "new" information to prove the Secret Chiefs, only to later discover the same information in a relatively unknown document.

Of course, that type of experience is why even if the Secret Chiefs (in human or astral form) showed up on my doorstep, I would not believe and trust their information and stories completely. Basically, I am a happy little cynic that mistrusts everyone to a lesser or greater extent.


Of course, when I think of dueling, I think Magic the Gathering.

[Update--July 25 2013: Interesting note about the picture in the middle--the official statement (by DG) is that Jean Pascal Ruggui made the statement in error (and removed his statement at the request of the Secret Chiefs...it took them a month to make the request, I guess), and at the time one of the Secret Chiefs was living at Griffin's house transmitting the supplemental traditional Golden Dawn teachings and magic, of which the 0=0 level was transmitted at the April 2013 International Golden Dawn Festival. The Secret Chief had spent four months at Griffin's house doing this work. Griffin was unable to admit this openly until July 25, 2013 when the Secret Chief left for Europe. What is most interesting about this statement is the fact that one of the Secret Chiefs was in the United States, living with Griffin at the time of the conference and no one met them other than Griffin and his wife. I guess that is why Hathoor Temple used to say that a Secret Chief could even be a Neophyte (because you think that the other attendees would have figured out that the person was a Secret Chief if they did not come across as a complete knee-biting Neophyte). I also guess that Secret Chiefs are immune to assassination and death because we all know that Griffin had numerous death threats in the last year, and quite frankly the thought of living with him and his wife for four months gives me a bad case of the screaming willies.]

Israel Regardie's 105th BDay

Tabatha Cicero and Israel Regardie (1984 or 1985).

A hundred and five years ago, Isreal Regardie was born (November 17, 1907). As an young man, Regardie first worked with the system of Aliester Crowley, doing much of the material laid out in the published AA material (Crowley did not actually teach him), before entering the Stella Matutina in 1934. His SM motto was Ad Majoren Adonai Gloriam "To the Greater Glory of Adonai."

His contribution to the modern Golden Dawn movement first came in the form of books. Before entering the Stella Matutina, he wrote The Tree of Life and A Garden of Pomegranates (1932). His book, The Middle Pillar, in 1938, while viewed as a Golden Dawn book today, along with his ritual, the Middle Pillar ritual (actually a shortened version of a much larger RR et AC exercise), deals with tying psychology, kabbalah and magic together.

By 1936, Regardie had decided that the only way to safeguard the Golden Dawn system was to publish its rituals. This decision has led to a polarity of how people view Regardie. Some people really like him for publishing the core of the Golden Dawn system. Other people really loathe him for the exact same reason. Interestingly enough, even those Golden Dawn people who loathe him do their best to prove that they are honoring his wishes to see the Golden Dawn preserved for future generations.

Of course, everyone knows the question that I like to ask of people who hate Regardie for publishing the Golden Dawn documents: Without Regardie, would you have ever found the Golden Dawn? No one has yet to be able to give me an answer that does not amuse me. It is amazing how even the people who argue that the system should have been kept absolutely secret, and in danger of disappearing as hundreds of secret societies did, must admit that it was Regardie's (or Crowley's) writing that informed them that Golden Dawn was an option.

So here is to Israel Regardie, the much hated savior of the Golden Dawn system. We all owe him a debt, for leaving a trail of bread crumbs to our magical and spiritual home. INRI. LVX. IAO.

Concord and Peace of the Three

S.R. just posted an appeal for peace in the Golden Dawn community. Having experienced the Denver Witch War of the 80s and having been an "active bystander" in the flaming Golden Dawn feud of the last decade (only half of its length), I doubt peace will actually occur. I honestly do not see any chance for peace in the Golden Dawn community until one of the camps steps completely away from the Golden Dawn label, especially considering how wide the gap is between the perception of the two parties of what Golden Dawn is about.

As proof that such a peace is possible, S.R. notes that he was taught that Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers (Head of the Rosicrucian Order of the Alpha et Omega), Dr. Robert William Felkin (Head of the Stella Matutina), and Arthur Edward Waite (Head of the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn) met and agreed to mutually recognize each other's Orders.

This is only partially true. A "working truce" occurred, but there is no evidence that it ever was a formal meeting and recognition between the three. And it fall apart quickly.

Initially, there was a concord between the Stella Matutina and the Independent and Rectified Rite (Waite). This concord broke because Waite discovered that Felkin was communicating with J.W. Brodie-Innes, Mathers, and Westcott. Waite could not tolerate peace with Mathers or any of his supporters.

And officially, there is a lack of peace between the three Orders.

When the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross formed in 1915, after the Independent Rite suffered a series of schisms, its constitution said "The Independent and Rectified Rite, with its dependencies, if any, in so far as now in activity, and the Stella Matutina Temple, together with its dependencies, are not in communion with the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, and cannot be Visited or Joined."

Likewise, the 1916 New Constitution of the Stella Matutina says, "Members of any other Temples applying for admission, must be clearly warned that they will be required to give a definite pledge not to work in future with or under D.D.C.F. [Deo Duce Comite Ferro--Mathers], S.R. [Sacramentum Regis---Waite], Sub Spe, or Dr B. [Brodie-Innes]." Furthermore, in the section about the conditions where expulsion of memebrs is talked about, besides mentioning that six members were expelled when the Order broke with D.D.C.F., it says, "I have had to ask one Member to resign, because she told me she intended to join S.R.'s new Society."

And people outside the Concord of the Three did not foresee lasting peace between them. For instance, Westcott presumed that after his death that the Three, along with "Crowley and Co." would "make claims on my G.D. properties and may each make public claims derogatory to my historical interests in the G.D. and Isis [Urania] Temple."

Based on all this, if there was ever a meeting between Mathers, Felkin and Waite, the resulting peace did not last very long (and I really doubt that the meeting actually happened). And can you really picture Mathers agreeing that anyone else was legit?!

As for a possible peace between the two current Golden Dawn camps, I will not hold my breath; for the one side will only allow peace when the other side acknowledges their absolute right to rule the entire tradition, and the other side refuses to allow themselves to be repeatedly trashed as being less than fully Golden Dawn. That is how I see it. If you disagree, you know where to comment.