I want to clarify something I said in an earlier entry; the entry in question is about the Book of the Tomb and its recent publication.
I wasn't just blaming just one side or one person for what happened.
I was blaming everybody.
There are no heroes in this story; but then again, I am not sure that there are any villians either.
There are just people in this story.
And what is to be blamed is actually human nature: SOB.
STANDARD OPERATING BEHAVIOR
(And all this time, you thought it meant something else.)
At the start of this situation, as a scholar and an initiate, and as someone who came from a really bad family and has been in some really bad groups, I could predict what was going to happen.
And why could I do this?
Because what was about to happen was based on SOB; the actors were all human (or at least they all started out that way); standard operating behavior was going to determine what was going to happen.
Sad, but true.
You can not blame one person, one side, one Order for what happened. The fault lies in the entire bloody Golden Dawn community, and perhaps even the entire world.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Made my blurb for the June 5th Open Full Moon
The June 5th 2009 Open Full Moon, “The Egyptian God Paper Doll Hour”, is going to be led by two of the members of Bast Temple, one of the local Golden Dawn lodges.
Golden Dawn is an esoteric tradition that formed in 1888. It was one of the first Orders to use actual Egyptian lore in its system, rather than the myths that the Hermetic tradition created after the ability to read the Egyptian hieroglyphs was lost. Yet despite being cutting edge at the time of its creation, as a lodge system, a society with secrets, the lore that they continue to use to this day is sadly out of date, something that many modern students of Egyptian lore have an issue with.
This ritual will address why the outdated lore is only an issue if you are interested in historical accuracy, and how an outdated system of lore can still produce results when used in a magical setting. There will be paper dolls of Egyptian deities involved in this ritual.
The Hearthstone Open Full Moons are held at the First Unitarian Church at 14th and Lafayette, Denver Colorado. The doors open at 7pm; community announcements happen at 7:30 pm; the ritual starts after the community announcements are completed. The event is free to attend; a five dollar donation is suggested to help offset the cost of the rental of the ritual/meeting room.
Golden Dawn is an esoteric tradition that formed in 1888. It was one of the first Orders to use actual Egyptian lore in its system, rather than the myths that the Hermetic tradition created after the ability to read the Egyptian hieroglyphs was lost. Yet despite being cutting edge at the time of its creation, as a lodge system, a society with secrets, the lore that they continue to use to this day is sadly out of date, something that many modern students of Egyptian lore have an issue with.
This ritual will address why the outdated lore is only an issue if you are interested in historical accuracy, and how an outdated system of lore can still produce results when used in a magical setting. There will be paper dolls of Egyptian deities involved in this ritual.
The Hearthstone Open Full Moons are held at the First Unitarian Church at 14th and Lafayette, Denver Colorado. The doors open at 7pm; community announcements happen at 7:30 pm; the ritual starts after the community announcements are completed. The event is free to attend; a five dollar donation is suggested to help offset the cost of the rental of the ritual/meeting room.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Unwelcome professions
One of the things that surprises me is that none of the modern Golden Dawn Orders have openly banned writers and historians from joining. Their very training and professions make them more liable than most applicants to be risks to absolute secrecy. It would make sense on a paranoid level, and given the weight the esoteric Orders place on secrecy and the mythical history, it just amazes me that any Order would allow writers and historians to join their ranks.
I think about this a lot. After all, I am a freelance writer (this last semester I wrote an astrology column for one of the local college newspapers) and besides being a literature major, I am also a history minor. I have always been a writer; I started writing in high school.
In my case, my best success as a writer has been writing about paganism, magic, and the occult. Those subjects are part of my pot boilers. And if you believe in absolute secrecy, where even the very substance of the rituals and lessons of an Order, the subject matter itself, falls under the secrecy oath, then I am walking, talking, writing secrecy leak.
And my training that I am undergoing as a student of history, let's just say it is not helping if you are concerned with people who might be attempted to publish stuff.
I know why I am thinking about this so much today. Late last night, I read a response to Nick Farrell publishing a document from the Alpha and Omega: The Book of the Tomb. And given my response to how it was being used as evidence in a discussion, I had the urge to release the pdf copy that was in my possession.
Plus my life is complicated by the little oath that I was put under by Hathoor Temple: the one that says that I will do everything in my power to preserve the lore of the tradition, and if necessary I would publish stuff. This oath was to protect the lore of Hathoor Temple, but it applies to all past Orders that I belonged to and all future Orders. It is why Archive Officers are viewed as accidents waiting to happen by the Big Name Orders: if the only way left to preserve the lore of the tradition is to publish, then Archive Officers are required to do so.
And the oath of an Archive Officer can not be rescinded; it is something that one bears for the rest of one's life.
In this case, given the fact that the same pdf was given to me by more than one source, I decided that it was already being circulated enourgh without me having to worry about it disappearing. At least, in the current time period...of course, now thanks to Nick, I do not have to concern myself about the future fate of that document.
Of course, as an Archive Officer, I look upon Crowley, Regardie, Zalewski, and Farrell in a completely different light. They are people who made decisions like the ones that I had to ponder; they have done things I hope that I never have to do.
Given the present circumstances, I know that I could have been the one to step into the doghouse. And it is just a reminder that a person like myself is not welcome in many circles, especially the Big Name Orders.
I think about this a lot. After all, I am a freelance writer (this last semester I wrote an astrology column for one of the local college newspapers) and besides being a literature major, I am also a history minor. I have always been a writer; I started writing in high school.
In my case, my best success as a writer has been writing about paganism, magic, and the occult. Those subjects are part of my pot boilers. And if you believe in absolute secrecy, where even the very substance of the rituals and lessons of an Order, the subject matter itself, falls under the secrecy oath, then I am walking, talking, writing secrecy leak.
And my training that I am undergoing as a student of history, let's just say it is not helping if you are concerned with people who might be attempted to publish stuff.
I know why I am thinking about this so much today. Late last night, I read a response to Nick Farrell publishing a document from the Alpha and Omega: The Book of the Tomb. And given my response to how it was being used as evidence in a discussion, I had the urge to release the pdf copy that was in my possession.
Plus my life is complicated by the little oath that I was put under by Hathoor Temple: the one that says that I will do everything in my power to preserve the lore of the tradition, and if necessary I would publish stuff. This oath was to protect the lore of Hathoor Temple, but it applies to all past Orders that I belonged to and all future Orders. It is why Archive Officers are viewed as accidents waiting to happen by the Big Name Orders: if the only way left to preserve the lore of the tradition is to publish, then Archive Officers are required to do so.
And the oath of an Archive Officer can not be rescinded; it is something that one bears for the rest of one's life.
In this case, given the fact that the same pdf was given to me by more than one source, I decided that it was already being circulated enourgh without me having to worry about it disappearing. At least, in the current time period...of course, now thanks to Nick, I do not have to concern myself about the future fate of that document.
Of course, as an Archive Officer, I look upon Crowley, Regardie, Zalewski, and Farrell in a completely different light. They are people who made decisions like the ones that I had to ponder; they have done things I hope that I never have to do.
Given the present circumstances, I know that I could have been the one to step into the doghouse. And it is just a reminder that a person like myself is not welcome in many circles, especially the Big Name Orders.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Three days lost
Well, just in time for the three day weekend, my wife got sick. So I ended up doing no writing this weekend, and next to no work on preparing for June 5th Open Full Moon Ritual that I am leading. And true to form, having dealt with her being sick for three whole days, and getting nothing accomplished, today all I have really done is to stroll around a new Golden Dawn forum. Hopefully, tommorrow I will get back into work mode. As for the rest of today, I think I am going to go read and nap with my familiar.
Book of the Tomb is now public
A few weeks ago, there was a bunch of talk about how to properly paint the colors of a Golden Dawn (RR et AC) Vault of the Adepts. One of the pieces of evidence trotted out was the Book of the Tomb.
The Book of the Tomb was a (probably) Alpha and Omega document; in recent times, it has been circulated among those involved in building Vaults for their respective Orders. When it was used as evidence, it was done in such a way that I knew that it was about to become public knowledge. Basically, it was a "Trust me, this is what it says" statement.
Today, as the tradition stands, you can not cite a unpublished document and expect people to trust you. Thanks to the publication of so much of the Golden Dawn material and (let's call it) the War of the Orders, the general Golden Dawn community distrusts anyone who claims to have exclusive access to unpublished material. And to cite an unpublished paper as evidence, especially when numerous copies are in various Temple libraries is just begging for it to be published.
Whether this is a good thing or not is debatable. I have my opinion about it; I think that most people know my opinion without me repeating it yet again.
What important is that just a few weeks later, someone has put up a copy of the Book of the Tomb up on the internet. And a lot of people are going to thank him (it is Nick Farrell if you not stumbled across the pdf yet); others are going to throw rocks.
And what can we learn from this? Don't brag about having access to an unpublished document, citing it as evidence, if other people also have copies of it. That type of behavior just invites people to publish stuff, especially when they read the instructions completely different than you do.
[For the record, if anyone from Bast Temple is reading this, I passed Hathoor Temple's test on this material before seeing a copy of the Book of the Tomb.]
Anyone who is looking for a copy of this pdf Book of the Tomb can find it on Farrell's website.
The Book of the Tomb was a (probably) Alpha and Omega document; in recent times, it has been circulated among those involved in building Vaults for their respective Orders. When it was used as evidence, it was done in such a way that I knew that it was about to become public knowledge. Basically, it was a "Trust me, this is what it says" statement.
Today, as the tradition stands, you can not cite a unpublished document and expect people to trust you. Thanks to the publication of so much of the Golden Dawn material and (let's call it) the War of the Orders, the general Golden Dawn community distrusts anyone who claims to have exclusive access to unpublished material. And to cite an unpublished paper as evidence, especially when numerous copies are in various Temple libraries is just begging for it to be published.
Whether this is a good thing or not is debatable. I have my opinion about it; I think that most people know my opinion without me repeating it yet again.
What important is that just a few weeks later, someone has put up a copy of the Book of the Tomb up on the internet. And a lot of people are going to thank him (it is Nick Farrell if you not stumbled across the pdf yet); others are going to throw rocks.
And what can we learn from this? Don't brag about having access to an unpublished document, citing it as evidence, if other people also have copies of it. That type of behavior just invites people to publish stuff, especially when they read the instructions completely different than you do.
[For the record, if anyone from Bast Temple is reading this, I passed Hathoor Temple's test on this material before seeing a copy of the Book of the Tomb.]
Anyone who is looking for a copy of this pdf Book of the Tomb can find it on Farrell's website.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Updated website
Added a blurb about the June 5th Open Full Moon to the Bast Temple's website.
Then I got sidetracked on Facebook for awhile.
At this pace, I might have the entire ritual written by the time that me and my fellow voluteer perform it.
Then I got sidetracked on Facebook for awhile.
At this pace, I might have the entire ritual written by the time that me and my fellow voluteer perform it.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Prototype Egyptian dolls done
Managed to get the first draft of the OFM newsletter blurb and the prototype paper dolls done today before attending the Reiki circle. I still have a lot of work to do, making the heads for them promises to take up a lot of time.
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