Correct political thought does not equal magical skill and ability (and vice versa)

On any given day, you can find some self-declared Big Name Occultist (or Magician, or Witch, or Shaman, or Mystic, or...I could go on for hours) loudly proclaiming that some respected or better known occultist said something that is politically wrong, and therefore is a Offender. This is followed by the BNO's own beloved supporters declaring that they will never buy another book by said Offender, will defriend them on Facebook, defollow them on other social media sites, and leave any forums moderated by such an evil Offender. And this is how it should be because the Offender cannot be a real occultist if they hold such erroneous political views.

How a numpty thinks Adeptship works vs the harsh reality.

Quite simply, there are some numpties that believe that Adeptship (or their tradition equivalent) means that one has the correct political views, is of the correct religion and virtue, and has a certain level of perceived magical skill (which can range from none at all to being able to raise the dead) that is always heavily advertised by those who have it.

In other words, as far as the Numpty is concerned, Adepts think exactly like they do. And that Adepts will give them cookies for being as brilliant as the Adepts are (if not fall over themselves bowing down to the Numpty's superior wisdom--for all numpties know that they are the most advanced magician and mystic in the world).

It is just too bad that it is easy to fake all three requirements if you are a sociopath. Just like voters fall for politicians who are not anything like they claim to be, numpties fall for and support occultists who are faking their political beliefs (or at least radically relabeling them for public consumption), would not know the mysteries of religion if they got bit in the butt by one, have vastly overstated their magical ability and knowledge, and have all the virtues of a Mars bar without all the tasty sugar.

Numpties prefer to have Adepts defined by these requirements, mainly because they themselves might be able to claim Adeptship someday if they only have to master their talking points, parroting the "correct" answers that their own future followers will go ape over.

Never mind the fact that there are some a**h***s who believe that Adeptship is rooted in actual initiationary experiences (such as actually undergoing the initiation rituals), arcane lore, and at least enough magical ability to hex one's way out of a wet paper bag. The opinions of a**h***s don't count, only the howling of the courageous wolves of occultism, who should never be mistaken for sheep, not alone the lemmings that the more dubious occult leaders treat them as.

Remember that real Adepts think exactly as you think they should.

Big Name Occultists would not be so upset about the Offenders, if they would only shut the f**k up and quit breathing. And the numpties would not be so upset if they did not desire one day to lead their own horde of lemmings. Because if there is one thing that an Offender is good at, it is not recognizing the true occult geniuses in their midst.

This lack of recognition is why Big Name Occultists have to tell you all the evil stuff that Offenders do, such as misreading the Bill of Rights, voting for the wrong politician, believing that sexual offenders have no place in the esoteric Orders (or politics for that matter) and deserve a good binding.

If the Big Name Occultists don't do this, the Numpty might accidentally start believing the other falsehoods that such Offenders spread, such as: pointing out that certain parties did not actually undergo the initiation rituals of their tradition, only know the mysteries of using a photocopier and bovine end-product generators, and quite frankly could not hex their way out of a wet paper bag if they had to.

If the Offenders were true occultists, they would totally agree with everything that the Big Name Occultist did. Sue your competition into extinction--fine. Rebel and claim that your teacher had no ethics (or rather the wrong ones)--excellent. Make up a totally bogus lineage and set of teachings--good god man, I must have some of that; take my money please!!!

Annoy someone important--buy this banned by BNO book.

The evil of Offenders is so dangerous that if the numpties don't scream bloody murder on their own, the Big Name Occultists would have to create lists of banned books, magazines, blogs, podcasts, videos, and websites that their followers are not allowed to read. And you can tell that the Big Name Occultist is protecting you because hey, if the Offender can't get their political ideas and religious beliefs in order, how could they possible know anything about the occult?

Or you could just presume that you already know everything.

And numpties are quite happy with this, for they know that they already know everything. There is nothing that an Offender can teach them. In fact, the only reason that the Numpty puts up with the Big Name Occultist is that they recognize the greatness of the the Numpty.

I am not saying this is why the occult world can't have nice things...

Now, I can hear you say, "Dear Uncle Morgan, you express political ideas all the time; surely you think people should agree with you."

Yeah, but they don't--that is why I have to keep repeating myself. Besides occasionally I am wrong about politics...because my magical skill and ability and evil magical lore gives me the exact level of knowledge about politics as it does about gasoline engines; in other words, none at all. Everything I know about politics came from watching my parents volunteer and canvas for political candidates and listening to my dad's comments about what we heard on talk show radio on long trips. That and watching Nixon announce that he was resigning (sad when your first memory of a President is of the forty-fourth worst President)...which made me believe that all politicians are corrupt in one fashion or another. And reading and watching stuff about politics. I had to work hard to know as little as I do about politics unlike Big Name Occultists who get a completely perfect and correct set of political and religious ideas in the same Cracker Jack box that they received their Grade of Most Advanced Occultist Ever from. 

Just like you should not judge my magical ability based on my politics, you should not judge my politics on how much I have suffered in the name of magic and the mysteries. I would still be a nasty evil witch even if I agreed with your political and religious opinions.

Besides I wanted to make a living as a newspaper columnist--but somehow ended up making jokes about occultists instead. (Honestly, I have no idea how it happened--one day, I realized that I had spent an hour comparing a Big Name Occultist to a novelty condom and was too lazy to hit Delete.) You wouldn't deny me my dreams, would you? If Emma Bombeck could make jokes about suburban life and raising a family and still have political opinions,  why can't I make jokes about the esoteric traditions and the strange people that I encounter while pursing the mysteries and still have political opinions? It is not like I am asking to be the Head of your esoteric tradition...that would be the job of your favorite Big Name Occultist--all I am asking is to do is to be allowed to tell funny stories, to convince you to care enough about politics to get involved and at least vote, and teach you to be suspicious of anyone who claims to be the True Head of All of the Mysteries and Esoteric Traditions.

Obligatory apology about how we are misjudging you for the Numpty that you ain't.

Of course, it should be noted that I am on a few Banned lists. Because of my politics? Because I think numpties can learn? Because I mock Big Name Occultists and their traditions? Who knows?

And as such, I should be apologizing for my Offending Ways. Not that I am good at apologizes. The last one I write read something like this:

"On the behalf of the group, I would like to apologize for not recognizing that you are the most important person in the world. You see, we are bitter old hags who had to work hard for the little bit of recognition that we have received. We were not allowed to walk in with a sweet a** story, and declare ourselves the most important person in the world. No, we had to kill someone, and help someone else hide a body or two. This makes us happy little cynics. So when you walk in with your special snowflakish, all we want to flush your various body parts down a toilet. It is nothing personal--it is just how the world works. As a sign of apology, let me buy you a drink of poison."

Now imagine that I am apologizing for my wrong political and religious ideas.

Do you feel better?

No.

Well, I guess you are going to have to agree with your Fearless Leader and fire me as an occult authority.

Remember that you have to think exactly like your Fearless Leader if you want to become an Adept.

Treating the rituals of Golden Dawn as a literary text

(Please remember that one of my majors in college was literature while you are reading this. I wrote this as comment in a Facebook discussion on associating the officers of Golden Dawn with various Tarot cards, and believe that some of my readers might be interested in this comment, even if they do not belong to that FB group.)

I think that a lot of the layers in the GD rituals are hardwired into the system by the Cipher Manuscript and the basic set of assumptions that eventually find their expression in the original Z documents. It does not matter if you use the Spirit model or the Psychological model or whatever other model you want. The Cipher Manuscript, the ritual scripts, and the Z documents are a piece of literature, and it can be analyzed though the lens of literary studies.

The Cipher Manuscript associates the Tarot with planets and deities. Once you bring in the idea that the officers, and other forces (places of potent power on the floor of the lodge) are associated with deities (in the form of god-forms), it is natural to make the link between the officers and invisible stations to the Tarot (though the planets and deities).

This linkage creates a situation that once the idea is put forth that (for instance) the Hierophant is the Sun, that we will also associate the Sun card with the office. Furthermore, it opens up the box that says the other six officers who move in the Neophyte ritual are associated with the other six classical planets, and their associated Tarot cards.

Because the creator of the Cipher Manuscript did this type of linkage, and the first generation of GD initiates read this type of linkage into the system, following generations have discovered that though a process much like literary analysis that they can puzzle out more linkages that have always been present, but invisible upon first reading of the text of the rituals. (Note that a performance of a ritual is a reading of the text, much like the performance of a Shakespeare play is a reading of the text of that play.)

What students of the system, such as Jack Taylor, Pat Zalewski, and myself, are doing is merely exposing the implications of what the original authors of the text (Cipher, ritual, Z docs) wrote into the text itself. Now what you do with it will depend upon what model you are using, but the task of literary analysis remains the same no matter what model you choose to use (just like in literature, you can read the same text using several different literary theories).

You drove me into the conspiracy

[This post is being written on September 27, 2012--and it is a prediction of the HOGD/AO reaction to the fact that a book of Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls has been published. I am writing it now because I am sure if what I am predicting comes true, I will not feel like being even this polite.]

Yes, I willingly volunteered to write a commentary on one of the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls when a member of the "evil conspiracy" asked me to. Yes, I knew that the profits were going to the Golden Dawn Legal Defense Fund. And yes, I knew who else were writing commentaries.

Well, the first statement is true. The other two statements were good guesses on my part. (I saw a partial "proof" copy just a couple of days ago, so I know that my guesses were true.) I will admit that I didn't ask certain questions once I heard that it was a "non-profit" community project, and that Nick Farrell was involved.

Now, I do not necessarily agree with everything that Nick says. I think that he knows this. For one thing, him and me have different opinions about what goes into running an esoteric Order--I suspect this is because I come from the "back of the bookstore" and "let's talk about this over coffee" schools of training; in many ways, his training was better than mine (not hard to accomplish at all). For a second thing, Nick casts Samuel Macgregor Mathers in the role of evil genius; I am not sure that Mathers was nearly as conscious of the effects that his instructions would have. (I will talk more about that in another blog post--if I haven't already by the time this entry is actually published.)

So why would I willing volunteer for this project, especially when I knew that it would get me labeled as a member of an evil conspiracy.

Because the HOGD/AO has already claimed that I am a member of the evil conspiracy.

When I was asked to volunteer for this project, it was just after the little McTroll name-calling session that occurred after the Biased Book Review Battle of 2012 (aka Nick Farrell's positive book reviews must be all written by members of an evil conspiracy--no one could actually think that Farrell's books had any real merit). In the case of that battle, I got labeled as a "McTroll."

After being labeled a member of the conspiracy (which I wasn't) and having my reputation dragged through the mud--yes, I willingly volunteered to do this project.

I did briefly think about withdrawing from the project when the HOGD/AO announced their Peace and Harmony Pow Wow. Clear up to the second that I realized that peace between me and the HOGD/AO meant me ceasing to write about anything occult.

In particular, two comments kept me in the project. The first one was by an anonymous commenter, who lumped me into a list of bad writers and bloggers.

It is a laundry list of who the HOGD/AO considers to be agents for the conspiracy.

A couple of people on this list are friends of mine. And a couple of them I would love to work with, even if it is only getting an article into the same book as them. Plus, lets be honest, they have influenced my approach to magic and Golden Dawn more than Griffin ever has.

The second comment got my Irish up. (Note, both of these comments were made after the HOGD/AO announced their peace effort...hence, my opinion that only my complete disappearance would be classified as peaceful from their viewpoint.) And it is by Griffin's own wife. Even assuming that she was reacting to a death threat, I found it highly disturbing as a writer.

Now, let's be honest--I do not agree with her base opinion that I was hurting the egregore of Golden Dawn, especially the part of it that belongs to the HOGD/AO. But her tone implied that they (the HOGD/AO) can do anything that they want and not have to apologize for it, while the rest of us need to get permission for everything that we do.

(For the record, the part in red is my personal commentary...for it describes how I felt about the comments.)

Having dragged my reputation through the mud, and labeling me an "evil conspiracy member"---it was natural for me to say, "Yes" to a project that I knew was going to be classified a plot by the conspiracy.

In fact, I am not sure that I would have qualified to be involved in this project if it wasn't for the HOGD/AO. After all, I was a neutral clear up until they decided to declare me a member of the conspiracy for giving Nick's book a positive review. And let's be honest, I never bothered to prove that I was a Golden Dawn expert, preferring to remain a lunatic with a soapbox. I honestly think that the HOGD/AO labeling me a McTroll got me this gig.

So I would like to give the HOGD/AO a big thanks for labeling me a member of the conspiracy, and allowing me to get involved in this latest project. I learned a heck of a lot from this project, and it is going on my resume.

Happy birthday Pat Zalewski

Vintage Kitten wishes you a Happy Birthday!

It is Pat Zalewski's birthday. We all know Pat Zalewski, right? And if you don't...well, you haven't been reading my blog for very long, have you? Yes, his ideas color my idea about what Golden Dawn is and can be.

Are hardcover occult books worth the cost?

Hmm, I am a little slow some days--I still not be able to figure out who said what.

One of the latest bits of news is that the ROGD is almost out of signed hardbound copies of Pat Zalewski's Golden Dawn Rituals and Commentaries. The few remaining copies are currently for sale through the HOGD site.

This got me thinking about something--are hardcover occult books really worth the cost?

In this case of this particular book, I brought a signed hardcover shortly after they came out. I picked my favorite number (the sum of the traditional planets). For me, it was worth the cost. I brought a copy of the previous edition from Pat years ago. It is a book that I consult quite often; it is also a book that I have inflicted bits and pieces of onto my fellow and lady lodge members. Given the amount of use that I have gotten out of the previous edition, I figured that spending some extra money on a hardcover copy was well worth it.

My friends who are familiar with my magical practices can tell what books that I use; they are the books held together with packing tape, or which have fallen out of their covers with the pages now residing in three-ring binders. The exceptions are the books that I own in hardcover...and even they show some wear and tear if they are among the books that I actually use. There is a red hardcover that I own that is blackish with fingerprints.

777 and Other KBL Works (Crowley), Golden Dawn (Llewellyn edition--has been replaced twice), Godwin's Cabalistic Encyclopedia, Modern Magic (the old edition--Kraig), a couple of reference books by Scott Cunningham, a couple of books by Pat Zalewski, and a book by the Ciceros: all of these are taped and falling apart. There are a few others.

On the other hand, I have got some books that show absolutely no wear and tear at all.

"This book is in mint condition. How long have you had it?"
"Since it came out. Karen special-ordered it for me."
"Huh. So in ten years, you have opened it how many times?"
"About two dozen. It is a pretty useless book."
"Yes, I can tell--it is still in mint condition. Still you could probably sell it."
"I will, once I find someone who is willing to submit to highway robbery."

Of course, that is the potential problem with hardcover occult books. Especially those from unknown writers or source books you have never actually seen. You could end up with an expensive hardcover that is good only for weighing down papers that you are gluing together (an actual use of heavy hardcover books in my house).

But overall, I will admit that hardcover editions--the limited editions, that is--tend to hold their value, at least from a collector's viewpoint. And occasionally, even one of the useless ones will leap up in value--provided that you can locate the right buyer--making the investment worthwhile. If you can actually use them, it is a bonus (though in all fairness, you should never use a copy that you brought solely for investment purposes--use of a book wrecks its resale value).

Truth about the conspiracy against Griffin and the AO



Conspiracy writing cat listens to Elvis between blog posts.

Ahh, we all knew this day would come. One of the Sorors involved in the conspiracy against David Griffin and his completely awesome AO Order has finally cracked, telling the truth for the whole world to know.

I no longer have to lie about the conspiracy. No longer do my cats (Secret Chiefs) have to come up with new and better lies to hide the truth. Finally, I can tell the truth.

Elvis is a better spiritual leader than David Griffin.

Furthermore, Nick Farrell and Pat Zalewski both know it. Their respective Orders are all about listening to Elvis albums and trying to understand the full awesomeness of the King---Elvis Presley. They have all his albums, and one of them even has some of his sweat in a vial.

And to prove that this is the truth, I will tell you a startling revelation---the Vault of the Adepts is made with painted velvet walls, and all the Third Order members wear blue suede shoes. It is true. All the proof you need is to know is that Elvis lived, died, and will be revived in the future.

The Secret Chiefs say, Meow--you are nothing but a hound dog.

Elvis fans know the truth.




Call for Secret Chief Adoption Day

Sometimes, Pat Zalewski cracks me up. Earlier today, or yesterday (depending upon how quickly I type), Pat Zalewski said:

"Heck we can have a [Secret Chief] adoption day- pick one old order at random and our troubles will be gone!"

And I think that this is a really good idea---for the blogosphere---I suggest that all the bloggers who read this post to please consider researching and posting about some obscure and possibly extinct esoteric Order.

Please note, Pat did not say when this magical event should occur---feel free to vote in the comment section---but I am thinking that it should be December 24.

(In case, you are wondering some people say that the Mayan calendar ends on December 24, 2011 and not December 21, 2012...personally, I think we should plan on doing something to celebrate the end of the world that is not going to happen this year and maybe not ever. Bwahaha!)

Happy Day of the Dead

There are days that I can't help thinking about what my ancestors (both physical and spiritual) would think of my current activities. Today is one of those days. Today is Dia de los Muertos, (Day of the Dead).

What would my ancestors think of me, a non-traditional university student who seems to think that cats are the Secret Chiefs and that writing essays about the occult and posting them in public is perfectly fine?

Ironically, the two physical ancestors that I would most be concerned with their opinion, probably would have no problem with my activities. One of them used to ask why it was ok to have pictures of Jesus everywhere, but not pictures of the horned god. The other one would only find fault in the fact that it took me so long to enroll in college, and that I am not treating my business as a writer as seriously as I should.

No, it is the spiritual ancestors that would have a problem with me. Mathers would hate me for not believing many of his claims (my left foot is more Scottish than you are). Westcott would hate me because I am not as serious in lodge as I should be.  Yeats would hate me for not studying more poetry.

And of the spiritual ancestors that would sort of approve of me, Crowley is hardly a prize. In fact, Crowley would think that I need to annoy more people.

As for my living spiritual ancestors, who know who they are, I am quite sure that there are days they wonder how I managed to get into the clubhouse.

Of course, someday I will be dead, and someone's ancestor...I plan on haunting that person a lot.

I swore I have earned the love of my ancestors---sort of.

One Lone Nut in a Mixed Bowl of Nuts

I mentioned briefly in a previous blog post that Pat Zalewski wrote his latest Golden Dawn book, Alchemy and the Golden Dawn, for a single student. (Maybe "student" is the wrong term, maybe "friend" would be a better label---I am just not sure.) Then I got mail. It happens.

Yes, Zalewski wrote his alchemy book with a single student in mind. It is not just marketing hype. There is actually a student out there who was responsible for this book being written. A single student.

Hathoor Temple had a saying that even a Neophyte could function as a Secret Chief. I think that aphorism is related to my father theory that all it takes is one "bad" neighbor to start mowing their lawn and putting in a flower beds to get an entire neighborhood to fix itself up. Or maybe not.

All I know is that I have seen changes in the esoteric community before that could be traced back to a single member of the community.

Should we thank this student or condemn them? I am not sure. Time will tell.

So why hasn't this student weighed in with their opinion of the book? (Really?! I am surprised that someone asked this question.) It is the height of brilliance that this student has kept their mouth shut about their involvement. If it was you, would you admit to it?

I know that there are people just dying to know who this person is---just so that they can use this person's inexperience against them. You know that they are going to get a mailbox full of invites from groups and teachers worse than Pat's once their identity is figured out. "Gee, if you needed Pat's book, then my group is just perfect for you also."

Besides, one of the facts that is oath bound is the identity of the tradition's membership. If this person does not want to admit that they were involved, they do not have to. Even when you are a known member of the tradition, you do not have to tell all about your memberships. Personally, there are a couple of groups that I held memberships in that I would never publically admit to---though in all fairness, the groups would prefer me not to mention being a member either.

And yes, I actually know the student in question. It is a small tradition.

And no, I am not responsible for guiding this person to better teachers, friends and groups. They are free to associate with whoever they want to. Just like they are free to read whatever they want to. It is their time, energy and money; they can spend it however they want to.

They are a lone nut in the big bowl of mixed nuts that is the Golden Dawn community.

Now that I have answered my mail about this, I still have one more comment to make.

David Griffin mentioned in a comment to the blog post in question that he wished that Pat would have just gave this person the manuscript and left it unpublished. But let's be honest, David. No one forced you to read the book; you could have saved your money and time. Other people have reviewed the book without reading it---you could have done the same.

And seriously, I am not sure that it is your duty to protect the whole Golden Dawn tradition. People get exactly the type of instruction that they are ready for. It is part of being human. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, "It is all a matter of life experience." Sometimes people need to experience certain teachings and people, so that they can grow.

Putrefaction is an ugly, smelly, disgusting process. But it is necessary. Trying to avoid it, just slows down the acquistion of...well, the important stuff. Take for instance, my compost pile. It is ugly, it is smelly (sometimes), and there are bugs, worms and noisy birds that fed there. I am sure that my neighbors are not fond of my compost pile. Yet I need to have it if I ever hope to restore the soil of my garden without having to use expensive (and ultimately toxic) fertilizer every year.

Pat Zalewski's book serves a purpose. Eventually, its readers will move onto a better understanding of alchemy; it is a necessary way-station in their alchemical understanding. Trust the process, and take comfort in the fact that people get exactly the type of teachers they need to match their level of development. Embrace the putrefaction.

QoD Pat Zalewski on Secret Chiefs

Over on the Golden Dawn Group yahoo forum, Pat Zalewski wrote:

I have been asked many times why I have no dealings with Secret Chiefs. Well, the first response is that they have not contacted me. The second is that believing in the secret chiefs and what they say [brings] the GD into a "belief order" and in my book either crosses the line into theology or is a step closer to it. You can say anything and place the secret chief tag over it and it's a done deal. Common sense goes out the window and when the secret chiefs are in charge you have a defacto cult or call it what you will. I have never heard of any secret chief producing documents of late that is significant and that is the key. I would rather see the GD without the control of secret chiefs and other such nonsense to plain old fashioned hard work and study. I produce papers almost on a weekly basis for my GD group and if I can do it the others can as well. So lets skip the bullshit and simply do the work.


To this my cats, the real Secret Chiefs, say:

Meow.

If you are interested in Pat Zalewski correspondence course

If you are interested in Pat Zalewski's Adept Minor correspondence course, Pat is kicking around starting another intake. In his message announcing this, he mentioned that he does not want a large group of people, "but a small core group that will work their arse off."

How much work does the course require? Well, I know one person who is taking the course, who jokes that every week, Pat adds another month (at least) of work to the big pile already on his desk. Poke this person a little bit more, and you will get him to admit that he believes that Pat is running the members through a Golden Dawn officer program.

The big question is: What does the course cover? That question is generally met with silence, but some hints have been given. According to this source, the stuff Pat mentions publically is just the tip of the iceberg; plus the analysis of the Outer Order rituals is just a minor part of the correspondence course.

This source does stress that "you damn well better be an Adept Minor, otherwise you will never survive the correspondence course." He also stresses that you really need to be able to move past the idea that the famous Adepts of old were perfect and their work is without fault.

Attempts to squeeze more information out of this source have been met with absolute silence. Gee, I am not that big of a blabber-mouth, am I?

My own experience with invisibilty

The subject of invisibility had cropped in a couple of places on the internet lately, so perhaps I should share the little experience I have with the subject.

(For the record, the reason I kept silent when Pat Zalewski recently stated his opinion was simply the fact that I heard someone else say something really inane on the subject a few years ago. After hearing their opinion, it takes a lot to get me to step forward and say anything about the subject. What Pat said was nothing in comparsion to this another opinion.)

For the record, I have not tried the full-blown Z operation for invisibility (another reason to remain silent). What I have tried is more in line with the "Do not notice me" or "I am someone else's problem" school of invisibilty. My results for the most part might be completely delusional; after all, it is impossible to field-test this under strict scientific conditions.

(Since then, I had a few choice tidbits fall into my lap...but considering I have not the time to test them yet, who really knows if they are tidbits or just more crackpot theories.)

Some of my results may also be pure paranoia. For instance, after doing some of this work, I thought that drivers had a hard time seeing me for quite some time. I never had so many people try to run me over in my entire life in the space of a couple of weeks...and cell phones were not common yet (at the time, they were still pretty big and almost no one had them). But it may just be paranoia and not an actual result.

I learned not to "go invisible" when someone I did not want to talk to had not noticed me yet, but was in line-of-sight of me...for some reason, they could see me instantly if I tried. On the other hand, if someone passed between us, I could "go invisible" and not be troubled at all.

I have noticed that a lot of people do not notice my presence whan I am "deep in my own world."

The strangest story I have to tell involves the grocery store and a week that I had very little time to mediate. I have learned to mediate in less than ideal conditions; much like a cat I can keep a partial eye on the world while deep in my own ponderings. (Ok, it is not mediation if your mind is not a complete blank...I know, I know.) Anyway, I am resting my brain while keeping one eye on the cashier. (No matter how I tell this story, someone is going to say that I am in the wrong...hence why I did not share it on Martin's forum.) Finally, I get to the front of the line. Suddenly the guy behind me is screaming, "Where did you come from? Did you just cut in front of me?" The cashier, bless his soul, looked at the guy and told him that I had been there all along.

Make of that story what you will. For me, I associate it with invisibility because this was around the same time that I had been experimenting with this particular subject. Obviously, if the cashier saw me, then I was not invisible. I am not sure how to explain the guy behind me in the line, but I do have a few theories. If you have a theory to share, please leave it in the comment section.

Neat Tarot artwork

I went over to the Llewellyn's blog this morning (I think it was to avoid doing my homework), and was reading a few of the recent posts.

In one post, Donald Michael Kraig talked about how much printer ink cost (something I complained about on Facebook recently), and how speakers at the conventions made their money doing back room sales (something that I suspected for a long while).

But it was another post by Barbara Moore that I found the most interesting. She was talking about a neat discovery concerning the artwork in the Initatory Tarot of the Golden Dawn deck. Turns out that the Empress, Emperor and the Hierophant are all parts of a single piece of artwork.

(Ok, I must admit that I did not notice this before she called my attention to it. Otherwise I would have mentioned it in the book review I did on the Initiatory Tarot of the Golden Dawn.)

Now, the question is: How does this affect the meaning of these three cards?

For those who have not listened to Pat Zalewski lecturing on this, the picture of a Tarot card is the most important part of the card. It is the ruling pivot that reconciles all the associations assigned to a card. If it wasn't important, we could get by with the symbols of the planets, signs, and Hebrew letters written on index cards.

Now in the back of my mind, these three cards have always been related since the first time I stepped in lodge.

The Emperor is the Imperator; the Empress is the Praemonstrator; and the Hierophant is the Hierophant (of course). The connection is that they are all dais officers.

(Attending lodge members will notice that we are missing the Cancellarius; this is not a big problem considering that in many ways that officer is a mixture of the other three officers. Therefore the entire unit here is Thoth, while the individual parts are more focused in their operations.)

Now, from a pure Golden Dawn training position, this idea is slightly wrong (the dais officers are represented by other cards); but on another level, this is a really neat bit about the artwork of the Initiatory Tarot of the Golden Dawn.

Developing Enochian Chess

Last month, Frater A.I.T. of the HOGD/A&O posted a blog entry on Enochian Chess. In the entry, he asked the question about why we do not see more people playing (and perhaps developing) the game. At the time, I did not have the time to write down my own opinions about the issue...I forget who I was annoying that week, but I do remember that I kept getting sidetracked.

It is an old question.

Why do we not see more Golden Dawn students playing the game?

Regardie asked it.

A bunch of people asked it after the HOGD/A&O declared all the published material to be Outer Order. A lot of students thought that they would be playing Enochian Chess after making Zelator...funny, no one actually sees them around.

I know Enochian Chess Steve tried to get more people to play the game. He was quite impressed with the system; he thought it could replace the entire Golden Dawn/A&O system. It is just too bad that all the conversations he started ended up with him trying to sell you books and a membership in his course.

I do not know anyone who ever graduated from his course. I have heard both good and bad things about the Enochian Chess program that he sold.

I have tried to get people interested in the game...needless to say I have failed to spark any interest in the game.

Now I have kicked it around. I think that a large part of the problem lays with how Enochian Chess is taught, or rather not taught. The way we have Enochian Chess today and we first get exposed to it is much like being taught to swim by being thrown in the deep end of the pool.

(For the record, you can actually be taught to swim this way. I am proof. I am also proof that it makes a person not want to swim or go near any large bodies of water ever again.)

First, we get exposed to a system that was never developed. I know that the Mathers crowd is going to burn me for saying that, but I feel that is the truth. We do not see anyone develop the system until Chris Zalewski comes along. Of course, that book is out of print; my copy was brought used at a public library sale (the fact that it was being sold says that no one was ever checking the book out).

We are also expected to be a full-fledged Adept when we are exposed to it. As far as I can determine, the exact level the papers for the game was issued originally was at PAM (Practicus Adeptus Minor); later it was dropped down to ZAM (Zelator Adeptus Minor) when the higher Adept Minor subgrades were removed from the system by Mathers.

The game is occasionally mentioned by Pat Zalewski as a tool to study the polarity interaction of the Outer Order officers. This technique has been used by at least one of his students, but to what extent I am not sure of.

For divination purposes, Enochian Chess (I have been told) is the best system to use for figuring out how governments, businesses, sport teams are going to behave in the future.

Nevertheless, despite the importance of the game for these functions, I know maybe a half dozen people who have studied the game. And they are scattered all over---we would have to play by email (something that one of my cats would just love---he likes to wander off with the chess pieces).

Of course, it does not help that one has to spend hours analysising the game afterwards. Nor does it help that most people no longer play ordinary exoteric chess.

Now I have kicked around developing a couple of items for the game. One is the ugly subelemental chess piece set I made. Another thing I have attempted to do is to create a single (double sided) page set of rules for the game. Heck with throwing people in the deep end of the pool, we need a shallow end of the pool to begin people off in.

(Yeah, yeah, I know the HOGD/A&O has moved it all to Outer Order...you are aware that I am not a member of the HOGD/A&O, and I am still against the curriclum change?)

We need to introduce people to the Enochian Chess system the same way we teach them the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. First, we teach them the moves, slowingly adding more to the system as the previous lessons become automatic.

Of course, my idea will not be adapted...I am not a Third Order contact, not a super-Adept, or any of the other things that one would need to convince people to accept this course of action. But I can dream of the day when I can actually sit dwn and argue about Enochian Chess with someone as we play, can't I?

Fun Equinox ritual planned

An interesting side lecture and exercise is going to happen this Equinox meeting at my local (Denver) Golden Dawn lodge, Bast Temple.

Over on Martin's yahoo forum (he runs the show), the Golden Dawn Group, Pat Zalewski (who is only a loud guest there; he is also Martin's mentor) has been talking about how the zodiac matches up to the floor of the Neophyte Hall.

Now his theory puts the zodiac in a position that as a Wiccan I would not have considered on my own. He also has it rotating in the opposite direction than we are accustomed to.

I have followed his reasoning up to a point, mainly though hints and some information from both my current and previous Inner Order mentors. I have also traced down some published support of his theory.

One of the things that is going to happen at the Equinox meeting is that Pat's theory is going to be explained to the members attending; then as we go though the ritual, we are going to be watching for points that confirm or denies his theory.

It should be interesting to see whether or not, the lodge though our working, Pat's theory holds up.

Enshrining Regardie

Pat Zalewski, over on the Golden Dawn Group yahoo forum, is busy taking another tilt at convincing people that Regardie had a limited view of Golden Dawn.

I doubt that he is going to succeed in convincing anyone to change their mind.

Outside of a couple of people who have reason to see Regardie as a vemonous toad who broke all possibility of them being able to milk members for the privilege of seeing the Outer Order material (stuff that most of them would not have obtained if it wasn't for Regardie in the first place), most of us view Regardie as a beloved Frater of the Order who has became the unofficial Godfather of Golden Dawn.

And either you enshrine the man for saving the system, or you shrug your shoulders and get on with the Work.

Those people who enshrine Regardie hold his books up as the limit of what Golden Dawn and the RR et AC can be. For them, the rituals beyond Neophyte have no corresponding godforms despite indiciations that Adepts always perform the Work with the aid of godforms. For them, the last Grade of the system is ZAM (Zelator Adeptus Minor 5=6).

(There are also people who enshrine Mathers, Crowley, and the Secret Chiefs; all this enshrining limits what Golden Dawn can be.)

Those who just shrug their shoulders and move past the limits of what Regardie thought have learned already that his viewpoint was limited. It is a matter of experience. Those who are experienced know firsthand that there are things past the limits of the Regardie material.

In my own case, I got lucky. My first encounter with Golden Dawn was with a group of people who saw Regardie as a human being complete with flaws and warts. This group would have gotten along with Pat---scary thought as that is. I never even got a chance to enshrine Regardie.

As someone pointed out in an online class I attended today: Regardie only attended ritual seven times.

Read that again: seven times.

My cat has attended more rituals than Regardie did. My cat probably also has a better understanding of the rituals than Regardie, or Mathers for that matter, ever did.

It is one thing to read the works of Regrdie, but one should use a grain of salt when using them as Holy Writ; they are not a true indiciation of what Golden Dawn can be.

I wish Pat luck in his windmill tilting session. But I am not going to hold my breath that he is going to succeed in convincing a single person to change their mind.

Book Review: Inner Order Teachings of the Golden Dawn (Pat Zalewski)

One of the difficulties in studying the Golden Dawn tradition is that many of its Inner Order teachings have been lost, unpublished, or sometimes never even fully completed, forcing the modern day esoteric Orders that have been built from the Outer Order information (compiled and published by Israel Regardie) and the Adepts connected with these groups, to create their own Inner Order teachings, a major problem for some; Pat Zalewski in his book "Inner Order Teachings of the Golden Dawn" addresses this problem.

The book, not to be confused with Zalewski's earlier book, "Secret Inner Order Rituals of the Golden Dawn" (1988), mainly consists of THAM (Theoricus Adept Minor) lectures written by one of the three co-founders of Isis-Urania, the original Golden Dawn lodge (Temple), Macgregor (Samuel Liddell) Mathers, along with papers written by Pat Zalewski that supplement the Mathers' material. There is also information about the diagrams studied in the PRAM (Practicus Adept Minor) subgrade, alchemy and the Tarot, the Lunar Diagram on the Tree of Life, and the Chief Adept's (Caduceus) Wand, all of which were written by Pat Zalewski.

To read more of this review of Inner Order Teachings of the Golden Dawn, click here.

Planetary Associations of the GD Hall Officers

I just mentioned in a posting that I did on the Golden Dawn Group yahoo forum that I once read that each of the Neophyte officers could be associated with a planetary energy. For anyone who does not know the list, or does not own The Equinox & Solstice Ceremonies of the Golden Dawn by Pat & Chris Zaleski, here is the list:

Hierophant: Sun
Hegemon: Moon
Hiereus: Mars
Kerux: Mercury
Stolistes: Jupiter
Dadouchos: Venus
Sentinel: Saturn

Happy Birthday Golden Dawn!

One hundred and twenty years ago on March 1st, the Order of the Golden Dawn was formed. So happy birthday Golden Dawn!

While there are some who claim that the system is older, my opinion is that the Isis-Urania lodge was actually the first lodge. Perhaps someday, I will change my mind about that, but it would take some really good evidence to convince me otherwise.

What impresses me is that the Golden Dawn is still around. In the last century, countless number of Orders have faded away, dying off, and disappeared. Yet Golden Dawn may even survive for another hundred years unlike some of our fellow esoteric and fraternal Orders.

For instance, depending upon who you ask, Freemasonry is expected to become extinct within the next fifty years, or twenty-five, or ten (as I said it depends on who you ask).

Given the fact that Golden Dawn started out small (the original group only had three hundred members) and other Orders have disappeared, why is Golden Dawn still around?

I think it has to do with the fact that first Israel Regardie, then later writers like Pat Zalewski, wrote about the system. Even writers like Steve Nichols and myself have helped keep the system in the public's eye. And if the Order does disappear, which did happen once already, there is enough material to reconstruct the system.

Anyway, happy birthday Golden Dawn! And many happy returns.

Bast Temple Curriculum

The subject of the week seems to be curriculum.

First, Pat Zalewski posted a posting about change in Golden Dawn on his forum: Golden Dawn Group. That is a curriculum issue for as he states, "With the various GD groups using [new] material to fill the void at the Inner Order level, an entire infrastructure is needed to support it." Well-defined steps and levels are necessary according to him to prepare people for the new material. In other words, a curriculum.

Then today, I was talking to someone who wanted to know our curriculum. Which is hard to describe considering that lately we have been focused less on paper lessons, and focused more on Temple Ritual work. I have yet to figure out how to describe the importance of Temple Ritual, other than say it ties into our Inner Order curriculum.

This is not a new problem. I could only show the first intake of members the importance of the rituals by making them practice. The same is still true today. It is fair to say that I teach the way that I was taught. Doing was more important than theory.

The closest thing Bast Temple has to an official curriculum is the summary that was done for the original contact sheet (public flyer). It said:

Neophyte (0=0)"newly planted"
Learns the basic symbols of the elements, astrology, and kabbalah. Also learns basic lodge protocol and lodge-kit.

Zelator (1=10)"zealot"
Continues studying of astrology and kabbalah. Starts the study of alchemy. Learns about the various elementals, Earth of Malkuth in Assiah, and Malkuth of Malkuth in Assiah. Studies the theory of geomancy.

Theoricus (2=9)"student"
Continues studying of alchemy and kabbalah. Also continues studying of astrology, including how to erect astrology charts. Learns about the various kinds of spiritual entities, Air of Malkuth in Assiah, Yesod of Malkuth in Assiah, and the Moon.

Practicus (3=8)"practitioner"
Continues the study of kabbalah. Learns about the lineal figures, magic squares, sigils, Water of Malkuth in Assiah, Hod of Malkuth in Assiah, and the planet Mercury. Starts the study of the Golden Dawn Tarot.

Philosophus (4=7)"lover of wisdom"
Continues the study of kabbalah, alchemy and the Golden Dawn Tarot. Learns about Fire of Malkuth in Assiah, Netzach of Malkuth in Assiah, and the planet Venus. May chose to study the electionals of isopsephos ("Greek kabbalah") and the tattwas.

Today, that summary is a little out of date. It was written when the lodge had deeper ties (reciprocal recognition of Grades) with the Hermetic Sanctuary of Maat (Hermetic Order of the Stella Matutina). We were trying to match our requirements with theirs. Today, it is more of an issue to figure out how to properly stage (prepare members) for the incoming changes of the Inner Order material.

Naturally, given the fact that I am involved, a lot of the changes are written on the backs of pieces of paper. Some of the material already exists in our documents (there are currently over two hundred and fifty items that have been issued to at least one member of the lodge); other parts of the material are still deep in the planning stages.

Like for instance, the following planned lessons for the Forty-two Assessors:

Adept Minor Neophyte (5=6 AMN): Z documents
Adept Minor Zelator (5=6 ZAM): Assessors' placement and purpose in ritual
Adept Minor Theoricus (5=6 ThAM): Enochian attributes of the Assessors
Adept Minor Practicus (5=6 PrAM): Coloring of the 42 Assessors
Adept Minor Philosophus (5=6 PhAM): [nothing has been noted for this subgrade yet]
Adept Minor Adept (5=6 AMA): Assessors' use in minor talismanic work
Adept Major (6=5): Use in "Justice" workings
Adept Extemptus (7=4): Use in "personal development" [spiritual] alchemy
Magister Templi (8=3): Comparsion between Outer Order and Inner Order judges

It will be awhile before most of these lessons are written. For one thing, as much of the seven layers (Physical, Etheric, Astral-Emotional, Lower Mental, Higher Mental, Causal {Archetypical}, and Spiritual) information as can be gathered must be assembled before the lessons can be written.

In the end, I think my problem with being able to sum up the curriculum rests in its scope and how much of it has yet to be charted out. Hopefully, I do a better job of it the next time the question arises.

[Updated--June 21, 2013--removed the link to the Hermetic Sanctuary of Maat (HOSM), for it was a dead link to a group that no longer exists; the HOSM still exists; it is merely the self-initiation web support site that no longer exists. Eventually, the BIORC will provide some support for self-initiates.]