If everyone is entitled to be an Adept

Today on Facebook, I was reminded of one of my favorite bugaboos. It came in the form of a conversation.

The conversation started out with some eager student asking a question. A couple of us old-timers answered. (By old-timer, I mean people with twenty years or more of Golden Dawn experience.) Then someone with less than a month of experience (and who is proud of the fact that they have not read a single book on Golden Dawn) came by and told the eager student that the old-timers were wrong.

Yes, the screaming you heard in the distance was me ripping out hunks of my beard.

One of the modern misconceptions that plague the modern day esoteric traditions is the idea that everyone is their own best teacher, that the answers you come up with by yourself are better than any answer that someone else can give you, and that the Adepts of the esoteric traditions have to accept every damn answer given...even if one of them is obviously wrong.

In other words, everyone is entitled to a ribbon saying that their answer is right and that they are the smartest person in the room.

By the way, this means that no esoteric Order can reject a single applicant or refuse to advance a student.

Welcome to the world where everyone is already an Adept.

Of course, if everyone is already an Adept, or at least entitled to become one no matter how little understanding of the system that they have, then I do not have to grade test papers, help answer questions, or even serve as an officer during initiations. After all, if one can have complete understanding of the system without ever cracking open a book, undergoing an initiation, or doing any of the work, then there is no need for the higher Grade members to actually deal with new students ever again.

Acknowledgement does not mean universal acceptance. 

QoD PhoenixAngel on the buying your spirituality

PhoenixAngel yesterday posted some thoughts about what Adepts are truly like. Here are two quotes that I really like: One is about Adepts, money and the nature of spirituality; the other is about the returning phone calls and emails in a timely manner (and the person I am laughing at knows who they are).

They are not RICH men, as far as material wealth goes. Their resources lie in their loyalties from other people. They basically have spent many years building their magick, not their entrepreneurial, and the last time I checked you cannot order a side of esotericism with your double cheeseburger and you cannot buy your spirituality at the same time you get your laundry detergent and a dozen eggs. Their life's work cannot be sold and charged to Visa, because it truly is priceless. Some however, do sell their services but also seem to have daytime jobs too.


And finally, they are not the best at getting back to you immediately and especially when you feel like your life is falling apart. In fact, they never seem to be around when it happens.

How many Neophyte Grades does it take to be an Adept?

The other day, I was talking to someone who was trying to impress me. And in desperation (I guess), they mentioned how many groups that they have been in over the space of their esoteric career.

(Ok, "career" is probably not the right word to use here. But I can't think of a better one off the top of my head. Free feel to make suggestions in the comment section.)

Poking at it with a stick, I learned that they have never got past first or second stage in any group. So in Wicca, think First Degree (maybe); in Golden Dawn, think Zelator (maybe).

Exactly how many times though Neophyte does it take to become an Adept?

(Hey, I hear that groan from the peanut gallery.)

Truth be told, it does not matter how many times you went though Neophyte, or your Year and a Day, if you do not get much further than that.

I have several Neophyte Grade experiences, and you only hear me talk about two of them. And you only ever hear me talk about one Year and a Day. I had more than just these three, but these are the only ones that matter to me or anyone else for that matter. I don't think that I mention all the groups I have been in over the years.

Likewise, I have been exposed to several correspondence courses. Again, how many do you actually hear me mention?

(I sometimes think that I have seen everything that might make its way into a correspondence course. Then I get surprised by something.)

Truth of the matter is that it impresses no one when you tell them how many groups you have been in, or how many courses you have studied (or in some cases, paid for and never opened).

What we are curious about is what is the highest level you have obtained. And we do not want to hear you brag about it---we want to see proof in your actions and skills. Anything else and we suspect that your Grade is merely a peice of paper (if that) and that you might not be worth our time and trouble.

Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe there are people impressed by it. What do I know? After all, I am the person standing on top of a soapbox.

My get out of jail free card

Early in my personal Golden Dawn history (before I learned what I joined was not really Golden Dawn according to the most vocal historians and pundits), I learned a very important phrase: I don't know.

It actually started before I joined Golden Dawn (I will continue to call it GD because I believe that it is GD despite opinions that tell me that I am wrong). My sponsor spotted me in public with Donald Michael Kraig's Modern Magic (How to Become a non-GD Adept in Eleven Easy Lessons). It is a book that most of us own.

He started right in on me: Why are you reading that book? does it really work? why do you have to learn the Hebrew alphabet?

My standard response, after I got done being frustrated, was: I don't know.

To this day, I am not sure why he decided to sponsor me for membership in Hathoor Temple. But I continued to use the phrase well into my membership. It is an useful phrase. It allows me to ask questions, assign research projects (Temple Officers are mean that way), and helps keep my ego under control (well as much as it is possible for my ego to be under control).

Unlike several Adepts I have ran into over the years, I don't have to dodge behind secrecy ("You will learn that in a higher Grade"), nor do I have to make up answers. If I don't know something, I just admit to it.

And if I do, I either tell the person the answer or give them a full run-down of what all they need to know before I can give them an answer that will actually make sense to them.

(That is a form of secrecy in itself: an answer that makes no sense unless you know X, Y and Z.)

After all, my office and oath requires me to teach and not merely hide the information that I do know. Preservation of information is my burden, not secrecy.

(For those who are concerned with secrecy---if it is already in public domain, why not talk about it? and do you know what I reserve exclusively for the members of my own lodge? are you sure that the public knowledge is all that there is?)

I am not sure if this is the right way to do things or not. It was acceptable in Hathoor, and it is acceptable in Bast Temple. It is my way. Is it the best way to do things? Honestly, I don't know.

Roots of Golden Dawn: Part Two

“Where is the foundation of Golden Dawn? What are its roots? What is the essential core of the Golden Dawn system?”

At fist glance, these questions may seem to be the same question, but they are not. I am not talking about a single question, but rather a set of highly related issues that dovetail into each other.

One thing that causes no small amount of confusion and grief in Golden Dawn, and other esoteric circles, is the way that initiates use words and language. One thing to bear in mind when reading the writings of initiates, or talking to them, is that language, and the subtle ways to use it, is one of the hidden tools of the mystery traditions.

I remember a conversation that I had with a Soror a few years ago. She was reading a book by one of the famous initiates. Encountering words that she had never seen before, she exclaimed that the initiate was making up words. I asked her what words she thought he was making up, then I reached for my dictionary (ok, I admit that I never heard of these words either). Behold, he was not creating new words; the words were in the dictionary.

Some Adepts use words very precisely. The Adepts of previous ages were also the product of classical education, with better vocabularies than we tend to have today. They choose their words carefully with a purpose in mind. And there is often more than one layer to a lot that they say. Many of us initially have difficulty coming to grips with this fact.

This habit of carefully choosing words is more apparent in the circles where secrecy is given more weight, but it can show up in any esoteric environment.

One of the side-effects of secrecy, if you truly embrace it for an extended period of time, is that you start to become aware of the words coming out of your mouth and pen (keyboard). You have become aware of the possible subtle meanings that might be hidden in the words of others. It makes listening to politicians, oh so very interesting.

But there are drawbacks to this precise and subtle use of language. One of which is the trap of thinking that everything that comes out of someone’s mouth is precise and/or was purposely chosen; other drawback is mistakenly believing that other people are defining their words in the exact same manner as you are.

My most used examples of words that might not mean what you think they mean are the names of the elements (Spirit, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth), angelic names (not all entities named Michael are the same), and the word “lineage.” To this, you can add anything that comes out of a politician’s mouth.



~~~To Be Continued~~~