Remains of the Undesirables (Open Full Moon follow-up)

For those who attended the June Hearthstone Community Church's Open Full Moon Ritual, where I told three slightly warped myths, and for those who could not attend (but are still curious): Here is a picture of the remains of the "undesirables," those things that we did not want to have in our lives anymore. (Information for those who did not attend:) We gathered a little note from everyone stating something that they did not want in their lives, and placed the notes in a shoebox coffin and duct-taped it shut. The shoebox was burned in the possession of the other lodge members that weekend (because it wrong to burn things in a church that has already suffered a major fire). We discovered that duct tape burns faster than paper and cardboard---a helpful tip that I might use for magical effect in the future (I do a lot of fire sacrifice magic). The reason for the photo being posted so late is simply that it has been sitting in the camera for days on end.

Furniture of a Golden Dawn lodge

One of the constants in a Golden Dawn lodge is the furniture. We have two pillars, a Throne for the Hierophant, and a central altar. In addition, there are smaller side altars. In theory, we also have a raised dais where the Hierophant's Throne sits. Additionally, we have the Banners of the East and West. The dais and the Banners I am classifying furniture because you have to work around them; you cannot walk though them.

(Now, someone will point out that the other officers have seats also. But I am generally going to ignore them in this post. After all, a folding chair can take the place of those stations. By tradition, the Hierophant has the best seat in the house---in theory, the Co-Chiefs has to settle for a folding chair if only one good chair [throne] is available.)

Now, one of the habits that Golden Dawn picked up from the other Orders are speeches describing the symbolism of the furniture. According to esoteric tradition, someplace in the world of forms, there is an image of the ideal Hierophant Throne. It is probably not avocado green; it probably also does not need to be periodically vaccuumed because the cats think that it is the best (most comfortable) sleeping spot in the room.

The Ciceros in one of their books describe a design for Thrones for the officers. Symbolically, I can see where they are coming from, but it looks so uncomfortable that I just don't see it happening in the lodge that I work in. My idea of a proper Throne comes right out of Freemasonry, and even that is uncomfortable; but at least I do not have to worry about falling off of it or straining my back.

Now as I said, esoteric tradition claims that the form and symbolism of any piece of lodge furniture comes from the world of forms. I believe that this is false. I believe the reason why we end up with descriptions of the ideal  furniture is merely because someone needed an esoteric idea to explain why certain pieces of furniture were the way they are in the lodge room. If we did not throw a blanket over that chair, I am sure some member would come up with an explaination of why it has to be that particular shade of green (maybe it is the flashing color of the actual color that the Throne is upposed to be).

I am a happy little cynic, ain't I?

Now in ritual, the furniture ends up taking an aspect of the Visible Stations. For instance, the Throne of the Hierophant takes on related symbolism of the Hierophant. And many of the pieces of furniture do not move, they are constantly there. As since, they becomes ritual constants. Hence the Throne of the Hierophant becomes a goal that we are constantly moving towards. And it is always in the East because that is where the Light dawns, or is the greatest (depending on what layer you are looking at).

This is slightly false. The real reason that the Hierophant's Throne never moves from the East is simply that it is too heavy to move. This is especially true if it is actually the same one used for Masonic meetings; the Master of the Lodge's chair tends to require three people to move it. And if it is actually on a dais...well, you get the idea.

Look at the furniture that is moved around in a Golden Dawn lodge and the furniture that is not. It is a clean line; the only pieces of furniture that get moved are the ones that are easily moved quickly (the Banners, and to a lesser extent, the Pillars).

The non-movable pieces of furniture end up becoming "Landmarks." They end being the solid parts of various diagrams and energy patterns. For instance, let's say we have a diagram where one side is light and one side is dark. Odds are the light side is going to end up being on the same side of the room as either the Hierophant's Throne or the Pillar of Mercy. There are times this is not true; but if you poke at the other layers, you generally discover a good reason for the difference. There is also an up and down orientation to the diagrams---East is generally "up" and West is generally "down."

Ideally, an initiate's private working space should be modeled on the lodge room. For instance, one should have a double cubical altar and two pillars in the room where you do your private rituals.

Now, there are some that give me a hard time because I mix Wicca with Golden Dawn. It is impossible for me not to do so, for I have two pillars in my working space. The only way I would not see Pillars in Wicca is if I resigned from Wicca and adapted another religion (ain't going to happen) or I removed the Pillars from my ritual room (again, not going to happen).

But the curious thing that I have noticed is that Wiccan rituals have an underlying flow of energy beneath them, one that matches the furniture that I am used to in Golden Dawn lodges. Now sommeone will be sure to jump to the conclusion that it is my furniture causing this. There is just one slight problem with that conclusion---I felt the same energy patterns in Wiccan rituals before becoming a member of Golden Dawn.

Doing Wiccan rituals in a Golden Dawn room merely has allowed me to see something that is invisible. Wiccans use different explanations for why the energy curves the way it does, but the flow is the same. Either there is a Golden Dawn element to the Wiccan rituals (Gerald Gardner lifted a lot of stuff during the creation of the Gardnerian rituals), or there is a common energetic background to both systems. So when I talk about Golden Dawn and Wicca being related systems, I am not bending either system to the other; I am merely observing what is going on.

And it brings me to the punchline of this post: What are you missing when you do ritual in a room without the proper furniture in place? What is invisible that you cannot see (or feel) because you do not have the proper furniture indicating where the Landmarks are?

Dues, warm bodies, and officers

The dissolution of the RMWT has got me thinking today about the resources neccessary for the functioning of lodges and covens. A lot of people think that all it takes to run a lodge or coven is someone wanting to do so. Yes, that all that it takes to start a group, but it requires a lot more if the group is going to stick around and be functional.

I invite you to stroll around the internet for awhile. There are some groups on the internet that look functional; but in reality, never hold meetings and in fact, can be said to consist solely of the webmaster and a couple of minions. I have heard rumors that one of the Big Name Orders does not have a single lodge in existence, and I know of another that is trying to look like a Big Name Order and doesn't have any lodges. Looking good on the internet does not neccessary mean that a group is actually functional.

And by functional, I mean that members occasionally met face-to-face, initiations and rituals are performed, lectures are given, and the occasional handout is issued. By this standard, many esoteric groups are not actually functional.

So what resources does an esoteric group need in order to be functional?

Dues (money): Money is neccessary for a group to function; it allows them to buy supplies (incense, candles, ink cartridges, the occasional ritual prop) and to rent a meeting place. Some groups also kick in to compensate the chief officers for their time, and it takes a lot of time to run an occult group if it is growing and developing.

Many people object to dues. They say that the wisdom of the ages should be given to everyone for free. These are the same people who think that writers, Hollywood film companies, and musicians should give their product away for free.

"The wisdom of the ages does not belong to you; it should be given away for free to everyone who is interested in it."

By the way, these are the same people who complain almost the loudest about the fact that there are no cutting edge occult books, and that most occult books are just copy and paste jobs. Why are there no cutting edge occult books? Simple, no one is willing to pay for them; therefore, publishers do not commission them, and writers do not write them.

(In fact, many occult books are now being done by small publishers or print on demand services because the bigger publishers only want mega-new-age books that sell better. The quality suffers because of this.)

Furthermore, these are the same people who believe that all the expenses of an esoteric group should come out of the wallets of those who run it. They don't want to chip in for incense and supplies even. Of course, if they become leaders, they will expect their members to chip in. And so it goes.

There are also some people who scream loudly that certain occult leaders are robbing their members by charging them dues. Ironically, some of the loudest in that category charge their own members dues.

(Yes, some of the politics of the occult community is actually about money, and who is making it.)

And there are some leaders who generally have an aversion to collecting dues, and believe that the wisdom should be taught for free. Generally, the groups they form dissolve because they don't have enough resources to continue operating.

When Bast Temple formed, the costs for the meeting were read out loud for all to hear, a custom lifted from Hathoor Temple. A couple of the members were surprised to learn how many expenses were actually involved in running a group; it was something that they were never exposed to before. Within a couple of meetings, one of the members (not the founder of the lodge) proposed a dues structure, and it passed; to this day, the Bast Temple dues are set by the active membership of the lodge.

Dues come from the members; and if you have enough members, most of a group's needs are taken care of.

Members (also known as warm bodies): One of the most important resources a lodge can have is members. Without members, a group is just a paper and/or an internet group, existing only in the mind of its founder and whoever falls prey to the illusion.

From the members come the dues, the experiences, and the people neccessary to actually do the rituals. Without members, rituals are impossible to do in a group setting. It is possible to get away with less than a full number of members, as Bast Temple has proven with their revised Neophyte ritual; but some members are always neccessary.

And without members, especially the occasional new member, an esoteric group is doomed to extinction. The reason for this is that the membership is the pool that new officers are pulled from.

Officers and leaders (the people who attempt to herd cats): Without officers and leaders, it would be impossible for occult groups to exist. The number one case of occult group dissolving and disappearing is the lack of leaders and officers. The history of the occult is littered with groups that died out and disappeared when its leadership got burnt out or died.

For any occult group to survive more than a single generation, officers have to be replaced. And for a group to survive for more than a couple of years, officers must be able to avoid becoming burnt out and/or bankrupt.

Of course, the real trick here is for the officers to learn to set their egos aside, teach younger members to replace them, and actually step aside and allow them to take over. This is harder to do than it looks. It depends on being able to say, "I don't know. I need help doing this work. It is no longer my problem." Tough words to say under most situations.

And looking at the RMWT and its dissolution, I know that the cause of its death was rooted in the fact that only a couple of people were carrying all the expenses, the membership numbers were dropping, and a couple of people were stuck doing all the work. It was a deadly combination for any esoteric group.

Secret Chiefs and the Golden Dawn

One of the things that has been part of the Golden Dawn since its original formation is the Secret Chiefs. Basically, the Secret Chiefs are beings that are considered to be the true rulers of the Golden Dawn system.

If they exist, I am quite sure that they do not like me. I have been in too many occult groups where the leaders have dodged behind the ruse of communication with the Secret Chiefs to claim to be able to do whatever they wanted to without any regard to the health of the group. To say that I am a loud protester is perhaps a understatement. Quite simply, I believe that whenever a Officer invokes the authority of the Secret Chiefs, things have gone very wrong and perhaps it is time to flee.

How did the concept of the Secret Chiefs get wrapped up in the system of Golden Dawn? Quite simply, they were a method (most likely a fraud) to justify the formation of Golden Dawn. Even today, there is a belief that only someone with a lineage and enlightenment can run an occult Order. Golden Dawn is based on a Cipher Manuscript; it does not actually give anyone the authority to start an Order based on it.

So Golden Dawn started off without any charter or warrant. The founders had no authority to start a new esoteric Order. Without a charter from a Mother Lodge, they needed something to be able to satisify the demands of the members for some form of legitimacy. What they decided to use was a old trick.

Today, we are more likely to associate the concept of the Secret Chiefs with Theosophy. But that is only partially true. The concept of enlightened beings, who are hidden from profane view, is a part of the beliefs of many spiritual systems. The Kabbalists have the thirty-six righteous, who guard the existence of the world (there are similar concepts in other systems).

And more importantly, for us, is the fact that certain branches of Freemasonry (such as the Strict Observance) included the concept in their systems. While many say that the concept of the Secret Chiefs come into Golden Dawn from Theosophy, I suspect that it is equally likely that the founders lifted the concept from Freemasonry.

So do the Secret Chiefs actually exist in Golden Dawn? Yes and No. Odds are that if you hear a leader saying that they are in contact with them, that things are already going bad (leaders who tend to invoke them are notorious for abusing their power). On the other hand, the concept of the Secret Chiefs does explain certain phenomena that one can encounter when using the system; though claiming authority from them is like building a system on the advice of the Qlippoth.

My personal advice to all is to treat the Secret Chiefs as a myth, and nothing more. If the Secret Chiefs really exist, they would chose vessals that are hidden, or at least more humble than those who shout their contact with them at the top of their lungs.