What is an egregore?

One of the terms that you hear tossed around in esoteric circles, especially those circles manned by the lodge system, is the term "egregore."

But what is an egregore?

Quite simply, an egregore is a "group mind" of a group of people. Well, perhaps calling it a group mind is being too generous. In all honesty, an egregore is like a hotbed of neurosises that is transmitted from one member to another--well, at least, it is when the egregore has taken ill from taking in an excess of unsuitable members.

So why use such a dangerous tool? In part, because we have no choice in the matter. No esoteric system that wants to escape the one-on-one single master teaching a single student method can avoid the effect of egregores.

Egregores are a natural occurring phenomenon. Every human being has encountered an egregore, and is part of at least one egregore. The only way to escape the effect of egregores on humanity is to grow a single human being in a test tube and raise them with only the aid of machines on a planet far, far away from the rest of humanity. Only a human completely isolated from the rest of humanity would be able to escape the effects of egregores.

(At this point, a student might ask, "What about sociopaths and psychopaths?" No, even those types are affected by egregores, even if they themselves are not as deeply connected to them though the recesses of their own minds as the rest of humanity, as long as they live among other human beings.)

Egregores occur naturally; they do not need to be created. For instance, sport fans at a bar will create a low level egregore. As the moods of the fans gathered wax and wane, the emotions felt by each fan in the room affect the other people in the room. Given the right input, the fans can spill out of a bar and turn into a mob looting and pillaging.

It is the ease that an ordinary crowd can turn into a mob that makes Adepts avoid crowds when they can.

And egregores form from all types of human gatherings: families, Amway conventions, crowds of shoppers, protestors, churches--all generate an egregore. Many of these egregores are short-lived, breaking apart quickly when the gathering is over. We have all experienced the high from a conference, feeling like we could take on the world, only to have our confidence rapidly fall apart as soon as we got home.

Now, the quick esoteric student will point out that they are not in lodge that much, therefore if egregores exist (and we have not proven that they do), then they would only affect the student for the duration of the ceremonies and meetings which they attend. And that would be true if the egregores of the esoteric traditions were ordinary egregores. Unfortunately, the egregores of the esoteric traditions, due to the rituals of their systems, are bigger, stronger, and longer lasting than most egregores that spontaneously arise in society. Only the egregores that influence the natives of nations, the steadfast members of religion, and of ethnic cultures can rival the egregores of the esoteric traditions.

And that is because they all share something in common--the use of ritual.  

(Some students will say that no amount of evidence will prove that the egregores exist--after all, it is not like you can weigh an egregore on a scale. The student might also argue that the occult theory of egregores can be replaced by social theories or psychology models instead. And they are right. No one can prove that the egregores exist. And other models of reality provide models that can account for the same behavior that the occultists credit the egregores for. But egregores are how the members of the esoteric traditions are taught to think about the behavior of groups of human beings, and therefore it is what I chose to use here in this series of posts--a gold star for such a student, who will probably leave the esoteric traditions in a blaze of intense pride that they are smarter than the assembled Adepts and Masters of the esoteric traditions...while the esoteric traditions breathe a deep sigh of relief that another know-it-all decided that the halls of knowledge were beneath their notice.)

Structure of esoteric egregores. 

If America invented Golden Dawn

Secret Chief Wisdom #76: The American flag makes a wonderful bed for one's massive ego.

Today, someone (let's call him George Washington) made a comment that got me thinking about something: Exactly what would Golden Dawn look like if it had been an American invention?

First off, there would be absolutely no chance that what George Washington is fighting for, his ideal of what Golden Dawn is, would be what the Americans would have invented. No, it would be something very different.

I can't imagine that an American Golden Dawn would have paid much attention to any esoteric tradition that started on the European continent, nor anywhere else before 1776. The whole idea that wisdom is handed down guru to guru is alien to the American idea that anyone can rise up to the greatest of heights of power. And if there would be anything about a secret tradition, it would be like the image of the noble Red Indian as used in the fraternal societies; images used to prop up the American myth of independence and freedom.

There would be no national Order, not alone a international Order. No, very state would have its own little Grand Lodge. Cross the state line and you are in a different jurisdiction.

Furthermore, the emphasis on lodge attendence would be non-existent. No, you would recieve all your lessons through the post office. (My proof of this is BOTA and AMORC.) As long as you keep sending in your dues, you keep recieving the weekly lesson. The oral tradition would be completely absent.

An American Golden Dawn would supply you with decent health insurance at a reasonable rate. There would be lots of networking opportunities for those looking for employment and business deals.

An American Golden Dawn would be deep in spiritiualism. Table tapping, ring and disc, and seances would be the height of American Golden Dawn spiritual techniques, and the magical tools would be straight out of Pennslyvania Dutch hexcraft. Everything would be clothed in the Bible; there would not be an Egyptian god in sight, not even in the Adept Extemptus material.

In an American Golden Dawn, all officers would be elected. The budget and membership figures would be known by all members. We would also have Golden Dawn license plate holders for our expensive cars.

And best of all, the Zelator Grade initiation would not cause the initiate to have financial and health hardships. No, America is about money; both the Law of Attraction and the Master Key System are American inventions. Heck, making money would be the height of the American Golden Dawn system (again, I point to BOTA and AMORC as proof--though it should be noted that I read the material through the eyes of a happy little cynic). Spiritual development? Magical development? These are only necessary if they help you earn more money and take it to heaven when you die.

The only thing that George Washington has right is the fact that an American Golden Dawn would have a Grand Lodge (the Nevada Grand Lodge of the Righteous Golden Dawn) in Las Vegas, which is the symbol of what Americans most want--money, sex, drugs, and lots of gambling.

Sorry, but Golden Dawn, just like Wicca, is a British invention. There is no way that those two systems could have developed anywhere else in the world.

If you feel differently, please go to the blog of George Washington and leave your comments there; after all, his massive ego can handle the attention of being told that he is absolutely right.

You do not have to out yourself

One of the traditions that the BIORC holds to, enforced by our secrecy oath, is that only the individual member themselves have the right to reveal their membership in the tradition. Unless the member themselves steps out of the broom closet or the Vault, their membership is considered a SECRET.

Furthermore, the details of their lives and how much they share about themselves is determined by themselves. In addition, they have the right to write under a motto and never have to reveal their real legal name or any other identifiying information to the public.

(I am sure that I do not have to remind anyone of what happened to Westcott according to the famous story told by Crowley.)

This is a really old custom if you believe the history of the Rosicrucian tradition. Think about it. How much do you really know about the founder of the RC tradition? Do you ever know his name? Do you know anything about him beyond the information contained in the three original RC manifestoes?

Why no name change for this RC reformation?

One of the questions that I often kick around is: How much change has to happen before a Order becomes a new Order?

Is changing the Grade Signs enourgh?

The Passwords?

The Rituals?

The Oath of Obligation?

Curriclum?

The ultimate secret?

The focus of the system?

At what point in time, do the changes add up to a new Order? When does an Order have to adapt a new name because it is no longer the old Order?

Looking over the history of the Rosicrucian periodic reformations, we see the rituals change, the focus change, and we ALWAYS see a name change. Except for this time. This time, we saw the group claiming the reformation trademark the name and change everything else. Why?

The entire system has been changed (to keep the Current and Tradition pure from traitors to the system), but they are still using the same old name. And when one starts to kick around the possible reasons, well, I can't think of a good reason for the old name to be used with what is essentially a brand-new system.

Could it be that the Rosicrucian reformation is actually happening in another group? Could it be that the Golden Dawn is not where the reformation is happening?

It is something to think about.

How big is the Golden Dawn market part 3

[If you have a tendency to get upset about my posts that look at Golden Dawn from the viewpoint of a businessman and economist, you may want to go read something else instead. Maybe read or re-read the Harry Potter series---your high blood pressure will thank you.]

A few weeks ago, I was talking to a friend about how the current disagreements among the various Golden Dawn Orders look downright pleasant compared to the flame wars from a dozen years ago. When my friend asked me why the flame wars were worse a decade ago, I answered with what I believe is the true answer.

The flame wars were started by someone who wanted a monopoly.

My friend asked me to explain my reasoning for this answer, so I did.

One of the things that someone steeped in business like myself want to know about the Golden Dawn marketplace is how much you can get on average from each person in the market. It is not enourgh to know how many people there are in the market, you also need to know how much they are willing to spend.

The actions you take catering to such an audience depends upon your opinion of how much of the market will be interested in your product, and how much they are willing to pay for it.

Overall, I estimate that the average member of the Golden Dawn market is willing to shell out a hundred dollars beyond the cost of assembling such products every year. Please note that I am assuming that the product creators are getting paid for the expense of their products (books, membership packets, robes, tools, etc.); that the hundred dollars that we are talking about is the extra margin that the Golden Dawn consumer is willing to shell out per year beyond that cost.

A hundred dollars profit, that is it. And as you know from my previous posts in this series, I estimate that the Golden Dawn market is only maybe a thousand people all together. That is a hundred dollars worth of profit to be divided up among ALL the Golden Dawn product producers per Golden Dawn consumer every year.

In my case, I figure my market share will even be smaller than the whole, and the amount that they will be willing to give me nowhere near approaching the total they are willing to shell out to the entire market.

Figure a hundred people, a dime of profit each, during a good year. Therefore for me, devoting myself to Golden Dawn product production is not a sound economic decision. In my defense, I like talking about the Golden Dawn more than I love the sound of Gold-Pressed Latinum.

(Hey, I heard that groan. I have been told that I should use more Star Trek references on my blog...because Golden Dawn members really love Star Trek. Who would I be to ignore such potential profitable advice? Besides, this column does involve Ferengi-like behavior as you are about to see.)

But consider this---what if you could get ALL the members of the Golden Dawn market to give you ALL the money that they are willing to spend on Golden Dawn in a year? And continue to do so year after year?

A dozen years ago, someone tried to do exactly that.

Think about it. A hundred dollars times a thousand people equals...a hundred thousand dollars a year...equals a million dollars per decade.

But the only way to get all the money was to destory get the rest of us to leave the production end. So the biggest flame war in Golden Dawn history was started.

(Please note that this is a personal theory to explain what happened. Who the guilty party was depends upon who you talk to. And the guilty parties will promptly insist that I am wrong.)

The hoped-to-become monopolist doused everyone with gasoline and lit a match. People tossed back gasoline to defend themselves, their reputation, and their right to discuss Golden Dawn.

If you do not believe me about this theory, just wait until you see someone new come into the Golden Dawn who has decided that they want to be the only authority on the block. This economic theory explains their behavior just as well as theories saying that their egos are out of control.

And I am not the only one that is using the theory either; I am just the only one willing to state what the percieved prize is---a hundred thousand dollars a year.

Every writer that is accused of writing a Golden Dawn book just for profit is a victim of this theory. (And lets be honest, that accusation will be tossed at me, sooner or later.) Every Order Head is accused of only doing it for the money. (That day is coming for me too.)

The sad part is that we do have people who are doing exactly that...but MOST are honest people who just like talking about Golden Dawn.

So how do you separate the hope-to-be monopolists from the passionate talkers? Simple, if you see them give out things that level the playing field, odds are that they are merely passionate about Golden Dawn. And if you see actions that imply that they are the only source of real Golden Dawn information and esoteric wisdom, odds are they are a little budding monopoly building Ferengi.

And yes, I do realize that I am nothing more than a happy little cynic. Remember to tip your waitress. Enjoy the rest of the show, starting with the rebuttal by...

Group founders as cornerstones and keyholes

One of the things that I always find fascinating is how the egregores of the various esoteric traditions were [are] developed. In the Bible, we are told that at first, there was the WORD. In esoteric traditions, at first---there was the FOUNDER.

The founder of a system, or esoteric group, is the cornerstone upon which the entire system develops around; they are the keyhole, or first gatekeeper, that stands between the other members and the energy of egregore.

Think of the founder of a group as the initial programmer that creates a new computer program or operating platform. (Operating platform is probably more descriptive of the tradition in general; while the individual Orders and "Churches" are probably more akin to individual programs that run on the operating system.)

Except that not only is the founder the initial creator of ideas behind a group, they are also part of the very structure of the group.

In Hollywood myth, we are told that computer programmers always leave a backdoor into the systems that they create. In esoteric tradition, and religion for that matter, the founder does not have to create a backdoor, for they are a door into the system---in fact, they are the primary DOOR into the system.

Now, there are some implications to this, for instance you can't get rid of Jesus from Christianity---but you can get rid of Paul (vide gnostic literature). You can't remove Buddha from Buddhism (I am unaware of any attempts to do so). And you can't get rid of the creator of the Cipher Manuscript in Golden Dawn.

But note that you can build new structures upon their system once the founder is gone. I doubt that Christ or Frater Cipher would recognize the various multitude of structures that later people built on their ideas, and I really doubt that they would consider the "Bibles" of the various groups to be true statements of what they intended.

There are implications to this idea...if you think about them long enourgh, certain occult statements start to make sense. Of course, you do not have to worry about me being right---after all, the esoteric tradtions and religions are not like computer systems at all. *wink*

Just breathe

One of the most useful techniques of the esoteric traditions (in my less than humble opinion) is the simple act of breathing. You can do it anywhere and at anytime.

In the grocery store line
Waiting in rush hour traffic
During those pesky TV commericals
While feeding the cat(s)
Listening to someone pour out their heart
Rolling your eyes at someone's blog post

Remember, the goal of life is to keep breathing as long as possible.

To loon or not to loon

Every once in awhile, you hear someone say that XYZ was a loon (fill in the XYZ with your favorite lunatic), therefore they were wrong about some magical or spiritual technique. Personally, I find this to be the biggest cheat ever to prove that someone was wrong. As one of my friends says, "Even an idiot (or lunatic) is allowed to have a good idea occasionally---the trick is to spot and steal it as quickly as possible."

Let me tell you a secret. We are all loons. It is only a matter of how loony we are. Name your favorite occultist...they are a loon. Name your least favorite...they are a loon. In fact, everyone in the world is a loon.

Here is another secret: In the midst of their maddness, every lunatic's world has a logic to it. So when you hear that so-and-so was a loon, and therefore some technique is wrong, you can either wholeheartly accept that the technique is wrong or you can attempt to understand the logic behind the technique.

Often, it turns out that a loon will have completely loony ideas. But every once in awhile, they stumbled across a good idea. And you would have to be a lunatic not to steal a good idea that is not bolted down.

When does it become a different tradition?

A thought that I occasionally kick around in our polarized tradition---exactly when does a group or style of working become a different tradition? At what point, are so many changes made that a system of working simply ceases to be what it started out as and becomes something completely different? At what point in time does the teachings and beliefs of a group become so different that it is no longer recognized by its parent tradition?

Given that every group (coven, lodge, Order, etc.) has an egregore which taps into an energetic current, and the keys of tapping into the energies that the egregore guards are encoded in the rituals and procedures used by a group, sooner or later enourgh changes to the rituals and teachings would prevent a group from tapping into a current and force it switch to another current---in essence, enourgh changes creates a new system.

This set of questions is very close to the surface of my thoughts today. The workings and beliefs of the system that I work have been declared "dead-ends" by another group, and they have changed their code-keys. Are we different traditions yet? They are going back to a style that pre-dates the system that I work (and have been for years). At a certain point, the two styles became different systems---and despite this other group's efforts to drag us all back into that style, the rituals of my tradition still have power; they still have a purpose.

At certain point, the egregores of the two styles started to obey different rules. From my viewpoint, there are two traditions sharing the same name, but who are on completely different paths. And it has been this way for years---I wonder if I am the only one that sees this?

Hammer and Chisel

One of the things that can be said about occultism is the tendency of many to write about it in an extremely dense manner, so wordy that one needs a hammer and chisel to figure out what they are going on about. This may or may not be a bad thing depending upon what your purposes are. If your purpose is to figure out what the writer is going on about, it is a bad thing; if you are trying to conceal something, then it is a good thing.

I was reminded of this today when a new writer got added to my “What is this writer prattling on about” list. I tried to figure out what they were talking about, but gave up after a few minutes and several articles. If I want to work at chiseling meaning out of something dense and convoluted, I have pretty of university homework to do.

Basically, if it takes you forever to get to your point, or if it is concealed under layers of nonsense, I wander off and start doing something else. I suspect that the same is true of many readers.

So why do people write about the occult, and magic, in such a manner? My current theory is that they are trying to conceal how much ignorance they have about the subject; they figure if they imitate the classical writers on the subject (or academic writers) that no one will notice that they have not a clue. Or that they are trying to attract a following that associates that style of writing with knowledge and scholarship.

Personally, I just find it easier to admit that I don’t know everything. It saves time and effort for both me and my readers.

Ebb and flow of the esoteric traditions

Today while reading a question on a private membership forum, I was reminded that our tradition at one of the low water marks as far as the general history of the esoteric traditions is concerned.

One of the interesting things about the esoteric traditions is that it ebbs and flows. And while I am not sure if is currently ebbing or flowing, I do know that this is one of the times where the esoteric traditions are relatively impoverished. Membership in the mysteries is down, whether you are talking about Freemasonry, Wicca, or esoteric Christianity.

But it is not just the lack of warm bodies that indicate that we are at the lower end of the esoteric tide. The posting that I was reading was about geomancy, and it made reference to the older geomantic texts. I understand the student’s comment because I have seen some of the material that he was referring to. I have also seen some documents that expand upon the technique that he mentioned. Yet, I know that I am one of the few people who have learned anything about this aspect of geomancy in recent years.

The art and science of geomancy has been ebbing for the last sixty years; I know what caused this particular ebb. But it is not just geomancy that is ebbing. The entire esoteric field seems to be getting simpler and less complex all the time. I have some theories about why it is happening, but that is a subject for another time.

What I want to draw your attention to is the very existence of the ebb and flow of information about the mysteries. I want you to think about it--are the esoteric traditions getting stronger or weaker? And does the answer concern you?